#did wolf waltz into the bathroom to check on them?

[bassomega]

I HOPPED ON THE TREND BOYS

[echo-hiraeth]

Princesa - Frankie Morales x F!Reader

Summary: Frankie is eager to find out what it is his girl does for a living, but she’s rather reserved about it. Until they run into each other at a birthday party.

Warnings: Profanities, mentions of injury, little bit of angst, but overall very fluff

Masterlist

A/n: I didn’t pick a specific princess, so everyone can feel included :)) feel free to imagine whichever one lol, go wild!

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”, he asked, leaving a trail of kisses on your neck.

You scratched at his scalp, smiling down at him. “I get what you’re trying to do”, you chuckle.

“What? Bull-shit! Me, a secret agenda?”, he jested, lying his absolute ass off.

“You jerk! Pretending to care about my safety huh?”, you continued to taunt.

He poked your sides, burying his scruff in your neck. “Can you blame me? You work in ‘entertainment’ that could literally be anything, I just want to knowwww”, he whined.

“Patience, my dear, is the greatest virtue of all. Now unhand me, I have entertainment business to attend tomorrow.”

He pouted, tightening his strong arms around you. “Why can’t you just stay the night, princesa?”

“Because I have a lot of getting ready to do”, you answered, wiggling out of his iron grip.

“Alright, alright, fair enough, but let me come see you after”, he bargained, handing you your shirt off the floor.

You put it on, standing up to button your jeans. “I’ll text you, okay? I love you Frankie.”

He kissed you goodnight, walking you to your car and waving as you drive past. Luckily he had something to preoccupy his mind tomorrow, it was one of Redfly’s girls’ birthday. Tom had invited all the guys to help him out, a bunch of seven year-olds not exactly something he was equipped for.

The two of you had been dating for about half a year now, though you’d only gone public in your fourth month. Frankie had introduced you to some of the guys already, Redly and Ironhead being the ones you had yet to meet. So when you got an e-mail seeing if you could attend a seven year-old’s birthday tomorrow as a Disney princess. The one big mystery had been your job, you’d roughly told Frankie what you did without ever telling him what you did. It had been a big deal to you, some of your exes either breaking up over it or being really creepy about it. Everything had gone so smoothly with Frankie, as if it was always meant to be, and the longer you were dating, the more the talk about your job stressed you out.

The next morning you were up early, showering while trying to think of a way to tell Frankie. Too bad you weren’t allowed to drink on the job, you could use a shot for courage right about now, at ten am in the morning. Getting out of the shower you made your way to your wardrobe, pulling out the drycleaner’s bag with your dress for the day. You put on all the layers, trotting back to the bathroom to do your make-up and put on that damned wig. They really didn’t pay you enough for this, more than once had you nearly passed out from the heat, the wig and excessive uniform nothing short of restricting and suffocating in summer.

You sat down in the kitchen, eating a quick lunch and checking up on your work e-mails before heading off. The drive was supposed to be just under two hours, so you had time to rehearse your little act in the car, singing along to the karaoke version of the assigned princess’ song. You loved it though, seeing those kids’ faces light up as you walked into the room, tugging on the skirt of your dress, singing along with you. It was a very fulfilling job, but a tough industry nonetheless, more than once had a father taken you aside, asking you if you did anything else on the side. It was downright inappropriate and having to walk it off and smile hadn’t always proved easy. You had a good feeling about today though, humming along to the music as you drove, waving at kids and parents in passing.

As per usual you parked a couple houses down the road, not wanting to blow your cover of being a mundane girl rather than a glorified princess. You texted the father of the kid, communicating that you were ready to go. He texted you the OK, telling you to just come around the back. You took a deep breath, putting on your trademark smile as you opened the fence, walking into the garden.

“Look kids, the princess is here!”, somebody announced.

About a dozen of little heads turned your way, some squealing and screaming went along with it, as per usual. You waved excitedly, making a reverence to the birthday girl.

“Tessa! Happy birthday darling!”, you cooed, engulfing the little girl in a hug.

Some of the kids gathered around you, immediately starting the crossfire of interrogation, asking where your prince was, if the other princesses would be coming too, where your castle was, and so on and on. You answered each and every one of their questions, giggling and chuckling as they grew more and more excited.

Frankie was in the kitchen when you arrived, flipping pancakes with Santiago. “Think the princess is here”, he sighed.

“Think she’s hot?”, Pope asked.

“Hope not, Benny won’t be able to keep his hands off”, he chuckled.

Will walked in with some empty bottles. “Those kids are gonna sleep well tonight.”

“Ironhead”, Santi called, “she hot?”

He wolf-whistled, fervently nodding. “Drop-dead-gorgeous is what she is! Go have a look, I’ll take over.”

The two of them went outside with some new bottles of soda and water, setting them down on the table before looking in the direction of all the commotion. Frankie was sipping on some coke as he followed Santi, nearly choking on his drink as he spotted you.

“No way, Fish!”, Santi laughed, doubling over in his enthusiasm.

“That your girl?”, Tom asked with a confused look on his face.

He was rendered speechless, just slowly nodding as he looked at you. This was your “entertainment” job you refused to tell him about? So you weren’t like a private dancer? Just a.. princess for hire? He didn’t know whether to be relieved or not, feeling bewildered more than anything. When the initial shock settled he could actually take a good look at you. Will was right, you did look gorgeous, beaming like that. The dress was beautiful too, making you look regal, if not divine. It was a sight Frankie could get used to, you were adorable. You looked up from where you were crouched, talking to some kid and locked eyes with him.

A fucking deer in headlights. You felt your heart drop, blood rushing to your face. You cleared your throat, trying to regain your composure, not wanting any of the kids to suspect anything was off. But fuck, this wasn’t the plan at all.

He disappeared back into the kitchen, a mischievous smirk plastered on his face. At least Benny would keep his hands off. Will clasped his shoulder, grinning wickedly. “Goddamn Fish, you got yourself a whole princess, huh?”

Normally you felt rather comfortable in your role, singing and dancing for and with the kids as they please, but now, knowing that your boyfriend was here.. it was gonna be a long two hours. Everything was fine until Tessa tugged on your corset, beckoning you to bend down a little.

“Yes, dear?”, you asked.

“My uncles are staring at you”, she whispered, “maybe you should dance with them.”

Your lips curled up involuntarily, your bashfulness gaining the upper hand. “Is that what you really want, Tessa?”

The little girl nodded, twisting some of your locks around her tiny finger. “But uncle Frankie has a girlfriend, so you can’t dance with him”, she explained.

“Of course, that would not be very ladylike”, you assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Your pick, love.”

She hauled you over to Santiago of all guys, giggling as she ran away, leaving the two of you just awkwardly standing there. “Tessa wants us to dance”, you sighed, picking at your fingers.

“Did she now?”, he humoured, “Well who am I to turn a princess down.”

He extended his hand, motioning for you to take it. And so you did. The two of you walked back over to the improvised dance floor. Everyone’s eyes were on you now, as Santiago placed a hand on your waist, the other one holding onto your palm. It was one simple waltz, where he learned this you didn’t know, but as you spun around you caught a glimpse of your surroundings. All the way in the back stood Frankie, leaning against a doorpost.

“Don’t worry about him, he can take it”, Pope soothed you, circling around once more.

You twirled out of his grasp, only to come back in four counts later. “I just feel bad that I didn’t tell him.”

“He’ll understand, but for now, let’s annoy him a bit more.”

You couldn’t help but huff out a laugh at this, nodding before you devoted all your attention to the dance again. At the end you curtsied, as did he, pressing a tender kiss to your palm. You saw Frankie shift in the corner of your eye, Benny already making his way over to you.

“Got one more for me?”, he asked, clearly wanting to play along.

You made another reverence, accepting yet again. “How pissed is he gonna be?”, you questioned as he laid his hands on you.

“Fuming”, Benny chuckled, starting to sway along to the music.

It became clear that he was an inexperienced dancer when he stepped on your toes for the fourth time. You just smiled at him, despite wanting to curse him out. He wasn’t doing it on purpose though, offering a mumbled apology each time it happened. That was until he stepped on your foot mid, twirl, making you bend it at an awkward angle. You heard somewhat of a crack before losing your balance. Because he was so close he had no issue steadying you.

“I think I just sprained my ankle”, you whispered, smile faltering due to your discomfort.

“Can you stand on it?”

You get tried to put some more weight on it, nearly falling in your attempt. Benny caught you yet again, putting your arm around his shoulder, guiding you towards one of the chairs.

Frankie was by your side before you could so much as blink, crouching down next to your chair. “Everything alright?”

“Her ankle’s fu- not good”, Benny informed him, grabbing the nearest bottle of water.

“We should take this inside, away from the kids”, you whispered, noticing the little heads turned in your direction.

Frankie nodded, sliding an arm under the backs of your knees, swiftly picking you up. He carried you into the house without a word, setting you down on the couch. You bent over to slide your heel off, whining at the sensitivity.

“What happened out there?”, he asked from the kitchen.

You lifted your skirt to get a good look. “He stepped on my foot and I bent it.”

“Shit – think it’s broken?” He knelt down again, resting your foot on his thigh as he carefully laid some ice on it.

You flinched at the touch, pursing your lips as you nodded rather frantically. “Yep, yep, yep. That’s never a good sign.”

“Okay, I’m taking you to the ER, c’mon”, he announced, once again picking you up. “I know my truck is no carriage but..”

You playfully hit his shoulder. “Don’t you dare make fun of me now.”

 He sat with you the entire time you were in the ER. Since you weren’t injured that badly you mostly were just stuck in the waiting room, in pure agony. You got some strange looks in your dress, but you’d abandoned the wig and corset. Frankie stuck by your side the entire time, kissing you forehead and holding your hand when he felt like it.

“I think you’re up, princesa”, he murmured, pointing towards the doctor approaching you.

 You had indeed fractured your ankle. The x-rays proved as much, a clean break on the bone. The doctor gave you some advice as to how to treat it and what not to do and left you in a small room with Frankie, waiting for a nurse to come apply your cast.

“Are you mad?”, you asked quietly.

He quirked a brow at you, trying to read you. “What?”

“Well.. the dancing and just not telling you and-“

He kissed you, shushing you with his mouth. “Honey, you were doing your job and the guys were just playing around. Why would I be mad?”

“It’s just that.. well in the past my job has.. you know, put an end to things…”, you said with a trembling lip.

He cupped your face, making you look up at him. “I don’t care about what you do for a living, baby, princess or not, you’ll always be my princesa.”

You blinked away a few tears, leaning back in to close the gap once again. “I love you so much, Frankie.”

“Te quiero mucho, mi amor. But.. you do owe me a dance.”

[daydreaming-nerd]

Smaller Than This (Sebastian Stan x Reader)

Request from anon: Hi, I was wondering if you could do one with either bucky/Sebastian where the reader is insecure and thinks they’re going to leave them for someone else please?

Summary: You’re super insecure that Sebastian is going to leave you for his beautiful costar Margot Robbie.

Warnings: Insecure reader, eating disorder, negative self talk, reader feels the need to workout a lot, fluff, implied smut, 

A/N: When I first got this request I totally read it wrong lol so I wrote for a totally different prompt so I guess I’ll post that too. Sorry these are taking forever! Also Margot is an angel and for the sake of the story she is not yet married.

I woke up to an angry cab driver laying on the horn on the city streets below. I rolled over to find Sebastian's side of the bed empty, he was still gone doing press for I Tonya. Just one more week and he would be back home.  I rolled over and grabbed my phone.

Sebastian: Good morning baby! 

I smiled and replied with a ‘good morning!’ and went to check my social media.

I saw pictures of friends and family and even some pictures of Seb and the cast at their interviews. I knew I shouldn’t be able to stop staring at Sebastian but it was his costar Margot Robbie that I couldn’t keep my eyes off. She’s by far the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life. I would even go as far as to say she’s the most beautiful and sought after woman in the world. Not to mention she’s the sweetest person ever. 

I turned off my phone and went to get dressed and ready for my day. As I pulled on one of Sebastian’s old t-shirts he left behind for me I looked in the mirror. All I could see was the fat on my stomach and thighs. Margot didn’t look like this. I’ve seen her in The Wolf Of Wall Street before and she was absolutely perfect.  

I couldn’t help but think about the fact that not only is Sebastian with her right now, but that he’s kissed her multiple times. He saw her more than he saw me for two months. She’s the most beautiful woman in the world, how could he not fall for her. 

I let a tear escape from my eye as I looked at myself again before pulling the shirt all the way over my head. All of the sudden I wasn’t too hungry for breakfast. If I wanted to keep Sebastian I had to work for it, that is if it already wasn’t too late. 

I grabbed my phone again and called Don, Sebastian’s trainer. 

“Hey Don its y/n,” I said into the phone.

“Hey y/n what’s going on?” He asked happily.

“I was wondering if you could start training me? I’ve been really stressed lately and I think the exercise will do me some good. I just wanna make sure I’m doing it all right,” I said.

“Sure I can do that! When can you get down here?” 

“Gimmie an hour?” 

“I’ll see you then!”

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

It was Friday the day that Sebastian comes home. I had been doing two hour sessions with Don all week long which has been absolute hell but I’m already seeing small results. I’ve been living off bananas and apple cider vinegar for the whole week. One banana to 6 tablespoons of straight apple cider vinegar a day to be exact. Not very yummy but like I said I’m already seeing results which is way better than eating. 

I had just gotten back from another grueling workout with Don. Sweat was pouring off my body as I took another dose of apple cider vinegar. I knew Sebastian would be home within the hour so I went and showered real quick.

When I was taking my clothes off in the bathroom I looked in the mirror at myself. I looked better. I was just barley able to see the outline of each of my ribs now. Don wanted me to take the weekend off but I knew I couldn’t. I told myself I would just run over the weekend. After my shower I cleaned myself up and put on some of the clothes Seb left behind and blew my hair dry. I suddenly heard the door open.

“Baby?” I heard him say dropping his bags.

As excited as I was to hear his voice I have to admit there was a little bit of fear in my heart as to what he might say about Margot but I gave into the happy side of things and ran into the living room. I saw him there in his sweatpants and t-shirt and he never looked better I jumped into his arms and he buried his face in my hair like he always did. 

“I missed you so much,” I cried into his shoulder.

“I missed you too baby,” he said squeezing me tighter.

“You smell good,” I said causing him to laugh and let me go.

“You smell good,” He laughed.

“Well I just got out of the shower,” 

“You showered without me? I’m hurt,” He said putting his hands on my hips. 

“Well why don’t you give me. a reason to shower again Stan?” I said smirking.

“Don’t mind if I do,” He said throwing me over his shoulder and waltzing into the bedroom.  

He tossed me on the bed and pulled my shirt off. Normally he would look at me with lust but for the first time ever he looked at me in a puzzled way.

“what is it?” I asked.

“You look like you’ve lost some weight,” He said.

“Well thank you,” I said pulling him into another kiss feeling more confident but he stopped me.

“You haven’t been trying to lose weight right?” He asked

“No,” I lied. 

“Good. You’re beautiful just the way you are,” He said sincerely.

“Kiss me already Stan,” I laughed pulling him into a kiss. 

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

I woke up the next morning to my phone going off in the bathroom where I had left it after my shower. I must’ve forgotten to turn my alarm off to go to the gym.

“Baby, you’re closer to the bathroom will you go turn. my alarm off for me?” I asked as sweetly as I could. 

“Sure,” he said getting up and waltzing over to the bathroom to grab my phone. “Why the hell is Don calling you?” He asked showing me my phone with Don’s name flashing on the screen my blood ran cold.

“I don’t know. Here I’ll find out,” I said reaching my hand out to take the phone.

“No I think I’ll find out,” he said hitting the answer button. “Hey Don this is Sebastian...yeah I just got back last night...No y/ns asleep right now...yeah I’ll relay the message over to her...alright man...bye.” 

“Don wanted me to tell you that he’s going out of town for a conference till Tuesday and he won’t be back till Wednesday,” He said throwing my phone towards me. 

“Oh okay,” I said getting up and rummaging through my wardrobe looking for my yoga pants. 

“Were not gonna talk about this?” He asked.

“What is there to talk about?” I said trying to keep the conversation from going the way I thought it was. 

“Are you seeing Don?!” He said starting to get riled up.

“Of course not Sebastian!” I said finishing getting dressed.

“Well than why did he call you to tell you he would be out of town?” 

“Because I’ve been working out with him Sebastian,” 

He stood there dumbfounded like he was trying to make sense of the last two minutes.

“where are you going?” he said as I walked out the door and grabbed my head phones. 

“I’m going for a run,” I said lacing up my shoes. 

“Since when do you run?” He asked . 

I took a deep breath.

“Since I saw how beautiful Margot was,” I said before walking down the hallway leaving Sebastian confused as ever in his boxers.

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

I had never gone for a run on my own before and this probably wasn’t the best day for it. I couldn’t stop crying thinking about what had happened this morning. What if Sebastian thought I was crazy? What if he thought I was sleeping with Don? What if he realized that he can do so much better?

I ran and ran until I got so tired I just walked home. 

I got off the elevator and thought about what I would say when I saw Sebastian again but I honestly didn’t have a clue. 

When I walked through the door I saw Sebastian sitting on the kitchen table with his head between his hands. When he heard the door close he jolted up and looked at me. His eyes were a little watery signaling he had been tearing up. The first thing that crossed my mind was that he thought I had been cheating on him but that all changed when he ran over to me to pull me into a hug. 

At first I sat there in shock that after everything that had happened this morning this was his follow up. I heard him let out a sob into my shoulder and I immediately wrapped my arms around him. 

“what is it baby?” I said.

He pulled away and wiped his nose.

“I went to make breakfast and there wasn’t any food in there and then I put it all together, the no food, the training with Don, you going on a run, what you said about Margot and then I realized that I was such a piece of shit y/n. I’m so sorry,” He said.

“Seb what are you talking about? How are you the bad guy in all this?” I said grabbing his hands.

“I didn’t love you enough to make you believe you were beautiful. You’re so fuckin’ pretty baby and I love you so much and I’m gonna beat myself up for not reminding you everyday how beautiful you are. I don’t want you to ever change and I don’t want you to ever feel like I would leave you for someone else cause god I love you so much y/n. I can’t live without you or even think about leaving you. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry.” He said before pulling me into another tight  hug.

I was the one crying now as I buried my face into his t-shirt.

“Sebby you’re not a piece of shit I love you so much and I just want to be good enough for you. You didn’t do anything wrong!” said pushing him back so I could look him in the eye.

“y/n you’re starving yourself,” he said looking at me. 

“Not anymore,” I started. “No more starving no more gym time no more comparing myself to Margot. Just being your girl says enough and it should’ve said enough from the beginning.” I said putting my hands on either side of his face. 

“You’re so beautiful y/n. Please don’t ever torture yourself like this again. If something ever happened-” 

“Shhhh nothings gonna happen to me.” I said. “Now let’s order some breakfast and be together, I’ve missed you so much and I’ve still barley gotten to see you.” 

“Okay,” 

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

After breakfast I cleaned up the dishes. Seb had returned to his happy go lucky state after seeing me finish all of my McDonald’s breakfast. I was cleaning out our coffee cups and couldn’t help but feel his eyes burning into my back. 

“What?” I laughed putting the mugs back in a cabinet.  

“You’re just so breath taking,” he smiled. 

“You’re saying it so much I’m starting to believe you don’t mean it,” I said walking over to where he sat on the stool.

“Well then maybe I need to just show you how beautiful you are,” He said smirking. He stood up and as he did he picked me up wrapping my legs around his waist pulling me into a passionate kiss. 

A/N: I can’t tell if liked this or not but then I remembered that I need to not be so overly critical of myself :/  I hope you guys like it! Please give me feedback so I can improve and do better!

[mal-warebytes]

A Day Out: Obey Me! Levi x Reader

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

You open the door to your room, 'no one's there', look around and lying on the floor is a brown box. "Yes! It's here!" You pick and the box and quickly shut your door. Walking over to plop down on your bed you start to open your package and pull off the tape holding it together. Sitting down you empty the box on the bed and start going through the contents of it. "Levi is going to be so surprised!" There's accessories, shoes, outfits and the main thing you were looking for... 2 tickets to the TSL convention in Tokyo. "Eeee! Now I just need to go find Asmo." You throw everything back in the box and head out to Asmo's room.

Once to his room you can barely hold your excitement and just waltz right in without knocking. "Asmooo dearrrr!" You hear a faint, "in the bathroom darling! You're lucky it's you and not one of my idiot brothers. Otherwise you'd be getting a stern talking to about just barging in like you own the damn place. Actually... I might just spank you so you learn a lesson." You walk around the corner, his in the tub. Nothing you haven't seen before so you just continue the conversation.

"Yea ok, maybe later you lusty little demon you, " you joke. "However, right now I need your beauty expertise." You toss a towel in his direction, he catches it before it hits the water.

"Oh, well in that case," he stands up and you turn away. "Oh darling, I get that you have this 'thing' for Levi but you could at least humor me every now and again. Don't be so shy!" He drapes the towel around his waist, "alright, alright head into the bedroom and I'll be right there." You walk on over to his bed and dump the box and lay everything out across the sheets. Asmo walks in dressed in a robe and sits down on the bed eyeing all the accessories and whatnot. "What is all this? Oh those are cute! Is that... NO! You didn't! Sweetie, is that? Is that... oh it is... You bought cosplay outfits! What fun!" Asmo picks up one of the outfits and holds it up to take a better look. "Honestly darling, they're... well ugly," he drops it on the bed. "You could find something... sexier?"

"They're The Lord of Shadow and Henry's outfits from TSL, and actually that's why I came to you," you pick up The Lord of Shadow's out fit and hold it up. "I need your help to alter this a bit for me."

He looks at you quizzically, "Oh? Well Levi is way better at alterations than I am, why don't you just ask him? I'm sure he'd love to..."

You cut him off, "I need you're help to make this one... um, slightly on the more sluttier side. Not like tooooo slutty but just enough to make a certain TSL fan.. yeaaaa. Let's just say I'm hoping this is going to be something Levi will never forget." You blush and hold the outfit up to your body. "I need you to make me completely irresistible, to even the shyest otaku."

Asmo, "Sweetie, I could dress you in sweats and have any man... err, demon for that matter, howling at you like a wolf to the moon. Now, strip down and let's get to work!"

A few hours later and Asmo is finally done. "Tada! Mmhm honey, I could eat you alive! I'll leave that to, well you know," he winks and pushes you in front of the mirror.

"It's perfect Asmo! Thank you!" you turn around and kiss him on the cheek, "do you have a jacket I could borrow? I don't want Levi to see me in this yet."

"I've got the perfect one!" He hands you the jacket and you throw it on, toss the rest of stuff in box and wave at him as you head out the door.

You walk down the hall heading towards Levi's room. 'Oh I better message Diavolo so Barbatos can meet us at the portal.' You love the fact that all you had to do was convince the future demon king that this trip was educational to learn about human pop-culture. He was so interested in what you had to tell him that he insisted you go. 'We'll be there in about 30 minutes. Thank you again!' Send. Now at the door of Levi's room, you knock.

*knock* *knock* "Levi! I got a present for you!" You hear a rustling of what sounds like Levi tripping over boxes, he more than likely purchased recently, as he scrambles to the door.

He throws the door open and eyes you suspiciously. "Why are you wearing a jacket? Are you going somewhere? Wait!? You said you had something for me?"

"Actually we're going somewhere..." you hand him the box. "You can't say no, Diavolo is having Barbatos meet us. Put this on and meet me downstairs in 15 minutes."

"Wait! What!? Diavolo? Barbatos? You're not making sense! Why are we meeting..." you push him in his room and shut the door.

"15 minutes!" You yell through the door, "don't be late or else!"

Levi gulps and looks in the box. He starts to pick through the items and starts to realize, "wait a second... is this... it is! It's Henry's outfit! What is this?" He sees a note at the bottom of the box. 'Stop drooling, put on the clothes and let's go!' Slightly embarrassed he complies and semi-excitedly changes into the Henry cosplay. Not wanting anyone to see him, Levi grabs a jacket, throws it on, peeks out the door and takes off down the hall. You hear him coming around the corner.

"Great! You're here," you look him over, "you're wearing the outfit right?"

Levi, "Yeeess, of course... I didn't really want to find out what 'or else' was... so? Where are we going?" He looked around nervously, he wanted to make sure none of his brothers saw him leave his room.

You grab his hand and head toward the portal, "you'll see!" Barbatos was there waiting to escort you both through. He bowed to the two of you and simply stretched out his hand toward the portal. "Whenever you're ready."

Levi gulped, "where are we going!?" He looked at you with a uneasy smile.

You raise the tickets up next to your cheek, "probably the most nerve-wracking, scariest, make you want to crawl into a hole and die, 'wish I never left my room' place in the three realms, ooorrrrr an otaku heaven. Guess you'll see." You shrug your shoulders, grab his hand and jump into the portal. Levi screaming in your ear, "Nooooooooo I change my miiiind..." as you're both dragged up to the human world.

As the portal light fades, Levi is still squeezing your hand and his eyes shut tight. "What's that sound? It's so noisy, where are we?" He slowly opens his eyes, "Is that? Are we!? Are we in Akihabara? Tokyo? ARE WE IN TOKYO!?" His eyes dart everywhere, "We are! We are, we are, we are! Wait!? What were those tickets you held up?"

You wave the tickets in the air, "you mean theeeese? Oh nothing special." You feather them in front of his face, "just tickets to the TSL convention."

"Tickets.. to.. TSL.. conven...," he looks like he's going to faint. You stand slightly behind him as he starts to fall backwards and push him back up.

"Come on! I figured you'd feel right at home if we popped up in Akihabara. Let's hit up Mandarake to see if they have any figures your missing, one of the maid cafés for lunch and then head off to the convention!" You grab his hand and head off into the crowd. You spend a couple hours shopping and finally finish up at the café. Levi has at least twice as many bags as you do by this point. "Slow down with the shopping Levi, otherwise you won't have any money left to spend at the convention." You look up at one of the many flashing signs and find the time. "We better head off, the doors have already been open for a little over an hour now." You both finally make it to the convention, hand the tickets to the door guy and enter into a whole world of TSL.

Levi has already stripped off his jacket and tossed it into one of the bags. "Thank you so much for this! I really feel like Henry!" a huge smile spreads across his face as he looks toward you. "Aren't you going to take off your jacket? It's starting to get pretty warm in here."

"Oh, yea... um, could you hold the bags for a minute then while I take it off?" you hand him the bags, "oh, and could you turn around?" He gives you an odd look but shrugs it off and turns around. You take off the jacket and tosses it at the back of his head.

"Hey!" he catches the jacket and turns around to face you. His jaw practically falls off. His mouth agape he manages to stutter out, "Lord offfff Shadows," he gets down on one knee, "please allow me to devote myself to your service." His hand is quivering as it reaches up to take yours and gently places a kiss upon it.

"I'm guessing I look ok?," you shyly giggle as he stands up. "Asmo didn't alter this too much, did he?"

"Noooo, you look aamazinnng!" he stands up, you notice something starting to bulge in his pants. "Um... maybe, maybe you should put the jacket back on." He looks around and casually put his hand in his pocket to try to cover what's happening. He starts to notice others staring at you as they walk by. His eyes scan the main entrance, he spots a janitors closet, "actually come with me." He grabs your hand and takes off towards the closet. Checking to make sure no one is watching he opens the door and drags you inside. "Ok we should be safe in here."

"Levi.. why are we in a closet? We're going to miss all the booths and activi..." his mouth is upon yours before you can even finish the sentence. "Mmhmm," your hands drop down to your side and you feel his fingers interlocking with yours. His tongue slowly enters and massages yours, sending shivers down your spine. You feel his hands start to glide up your arms making their way up to your face, cupping it oh so gently as the kiss deepens. You can feel his bulge grow, pressing against you as he slowly backs you up against the wall.

His mouth parts away from yours, "I think we're going to have to go to the next convention." He backs away slightly, "we need to go back home." He runs his hands through your hair, "I'm not letting anyone else see you in that outfit." He buries his face in your neck and starts to leave a trail of soft kisses up to your jaw. "This conversation will continue in my room." He places your jacket back on you and drags you out of the convention center back to the portal.

"Farewell Tokyo, until next time."

[tvdiaries-imagines]

Old Flame

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1491

Author’s Note: Not everything will be accurate with the TVD & TO timeline. Bits and pieces of the shows plots will be off. Also, I didn’t include pairings like I normally do because it’s going to be a bit all over the place for now, but Klaus will appear later. I hope you enjoy wherever the story takes us!

OLD FLAME MASTERLIST: CLICK HERE

Your eyes peer open, blinking numerously to gain focus of the surroundings of your bedroom. The comforter over you did not fail to keep you warm. You sit up, throwing the covers off of you and setting your feet to the floor as you make your way to your en-suite bathroom to start on your morning routine. Brush. Floss. Shower.

Once you are dressed and ready to start on your day, you waltz down the long hallway towards the stairs to the kitchen on the first floor. Stefan is already awake, sitting on the dining chair table, reading a newspaper. You noticed his plate of hash browns and bacon is half finished. Alongside is an empty coffee mug.

It has been over a year that you have been living with the Salvatore brothers. Damon was the first brother you befriended. You’re a bartender at the Mystic Grill and Damon was a regular there. There was a night that you happened to be at a bar across town with a group of friends and Damon happened to be there. The two of you got a few drinks in and the next morning, you wake up in the bedroom of your apartment with a naked Salvatore brother beside you.

After that night, you never slept together again. However, you ended up becoming very close friends. To the point where he trusted telling you about his vampire nature.

You chose to stay on the sidelines when it came to the supernatural drama with Damon’s gang, but you surprisingly ended up being romantically involved with an enemy of theirs. Niklaus Mikaelson.

You even made a bold decision to give up your apartment and move in with someone you thought you’d have forever with. He is the one who turned you.

But things went downhill from being caught in the middle and you broke it off. The Salvatore brothers suggested you live with them since getting a place of your own is a hassle.

When reality set in and your belongings vacated Klaus’s mansion, a wave of pain hit you. You took a few days off of work and locked yourself in your new bedroom. Even blocking out your friends. Feeling so distraught for days from the heartache, you started to regret your decision.

And after finally deciding to clean yourself up, you grabbed your car keys and drove to the hybrid’s mansion, hoping you could mend things. But you found that his place was completely empty and learned from a neighbor that he moved out the day before.  

Every now and then you’d have the urge to call his phone. But your pride would not allow it. It eventually got to the point where you deleted his number entirely. And nowadays he rarely crosses your mind.

“Morning.” Stefan greeted, eyes never leaving the newspaper.

“I’m guessing Damon’s still asleep from his night out.” You rolled your eyes playfully.

“Yup. Coffee’s cold. But I threw in your favorite ingredient.”

“You know me too well.” Your eyes widened in excitement from the filled coffee mug with dark roast, a teaspoon of hazelnut creamer and spoonfuls of your favorite ingredient. Human blood. Standing, you brought the cup to your lips, savoring each sip as if it were your last. “Thanks Stefan.” You said. Stefan responded with a hum.

“I wanna read.” You made known, sitting on the chair beside him.

“You lot should really lock your doors.” A familiar female voice with a distinct accent caught both of your attentions. Rebekah Mikaelson. Also known as the sister you never had.

“Rebekah?” Stefan said questionably.

“What are you doing here?” A line appeared between your brows. You’re delighted, yet bewildered that she’s here.

“How impolite. Nobody missed me?” Rebekah placed her hands over her hips, slightly tilting her head as she’s fake pouting.

You shake your head. “Sorry, Beks. I’m just shocked. That’s all. It’s been way too long.” The corners of your mouth quirked up and you bring her in for a hug. You hadn’t realized you missed her until your arms wrapped around her.

“I see you live with the Salvatores. Now, which one is your man candy?” Rebekah smirked. Flickering her eyes from you and Stefan.

“Ew. Neither of them.” You walked past Rebekah, guiding her to the infamous living room, sitting beside each other on the sofa. “Damon’s with Elena and Stefan’s...Stefan’s my friend. Anyways, what brings you to town? You missed me that much?” You raised a brow.

“Oh sister, I do. But that isn’t my reason.” Rebekah glanced away nervously, bringing you to narrow your eyes in curiosity.

“It’s about Nik.” She said.

A chill ran down your spine and your heart sank into your chest. You swallowed, rising to your feet. Unsure how to react hearing a name that you felt like you haven’t heard in ages.

You took in a deep breath before responding. “What about him?”

“My brother has been out of our control-”

“Okay? That’s not news.”

“This is different. Sure he was a pain in the ass after you split-”

“I’m aware. And he got some wolf girl pregnant too. What’s this have to do with me? Aren’t they a happy family now?”

“Bloody hell, Y/N. If you don’t let me finish!” Rebekah shot up, clenching her fists at her sides.

“Fine fine. Sorry.” You threw your hands up in defense.

“First of all, my brother and Haley are not romantically involved. The pregnancy was an accident and a miracle. Secondly, I am here because...because he lost his daughter and he’s in a lot of pain. None of us are able to tame him.”

“What are you trying to say? That I can?” You chuckled darkly.

Rebekah sighed dramatically before responding. “As mad as it sounds. I believe that you can, Y/N.”

“This sounds insane. I haven’t seen him or spoke to him in over a year.”

“And?”

“What do you mean, and?”

“Nik still loves you, you know.”

“Yeah right. If he still loves me, he…” You glanced away, clearing your throat as you nearly choked on your words. “He would’ve called.”

“You broke his heart, Y/N. And you know how bloody prideful my brother can be.”

“Okay well I don’t know what to tell you. That part of my life is over. I’m sorry you flew all the way here for nothing. Next time call me. I have to go.” This conversation about your ex started to aggravate you, so you started marching out the door.

“Well I’m not leaving without you! Whether you like or or not!” Rebekah shouted to your back.

Sure, you felt a little bad for brushing off Rebekah. Especially since she flew all the way here to come and see you. Well...use you.

(Meanwhile…)

Rebekah fought to keep her frustration with you in check. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and called her brother, Elijah.

“Elijah, Y/N won’t budge. She’s just as stubborn as Nik.” Rebekah muttered over the phone to her noble brother.

Elijah sighed in his unique way. “She is by far our only hope, sister. Do keep trying.” Click.

“What the hell are you doing here, blondie?” Damon appeared under the threshold with a puzzled expression, glass of human blood in hand.

“I am here for your stubborn little roommate. I plan to bring her back with me to New Orleans.” Rebekah slightly raised her nose in the air, feigning confidence that she’ll succeed in her task.

“Y/N and NOLA? No doubt she’ll run into her ex.” Damon briefly widened his eyes.

Her chin tilted downwards at eye level with Damon, eyes narrowed. “That’s the bloody point.”

“Am I hearing you correctly?” Damon stepped towards Rebekah, standing merely inches apart. “What does that psycho need with her? He’s grown and her life is…” He glanced away. “...decent here.”

“What’s going on?” Stefan appeared in Damon’s previous spot, brows furrowed.

“The original sister plans to reunite Y/N with her ex. All the way to the French quarter.” Damon replied, raising a brow.

Stefan snorted in amusement, grinning with his arms folded over his chest. “You have an extra plane ticket too, right?”

“We don’t need you, Stefan. Just Y/N.” Rebekah spat.

“Sorry let me clarify.” Stefan started, “The new burden in town is obsessed with Y/N. He’ll follow her wherever she goes.”

“He follows and Nik will tear him apart.” Rebekah responded bluntly. “He doesn’t do well with jealousy.”

Stefan and Damon glanced at each other with excitement. “We’re in.” The brothers said in sync.  Now, they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of your follower permanently. Even if it means sending you away to rekindle an old flame because their new enemy has caused too much havoc in Mystic Falls.

Rebekah steals Damon’s glass and plops herself on the couch. “Now who in Mystic Falls is obsessed with my sister?”

[falseroar]

Silver and Peppermint (Part 5)

((Part 5 of a fantasy AU, where Monster Hunter Abe and his reluctant partner, the DA, are trying to track down a murderous werewolf. When Abe’s questions are a bit much for one of their suspects/potential victims, it’s time to do some snooping around.

Links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6, Part 7, and the Epilogue.))

Less than ten minutes later, Abe and the District Attorney stood back and watched as the paramedics rolled the banker out of his own home on a stretcher, an oxygen mask strapped across his face.

“I still think he could be faking it,” Abe said.

“Really, Abe? He could be faking a heart attack,” the District Attorney said, not even bothering to hide their disbelief. “The paramedics thought he was dead when they first got here.”

“Which proves they can be wrong.” Abe turned to follow the District Attorney as they walked away, shaking their head. “What? He just happens to have a major medical emergency right when he’s about to spill the beans on who our murderer is? Who does that?”

“Someone under a lot of stress? Look around Abe. See this?” They pointed at a glimmer above the front door, and Abe slowly realized that there was a silver pattern worked into the door frame. It was decorative, sure, but now that the District Attorney pointed it out, he noticed that there was a similar lining on the window frames, and even the door knob appeared to be made of silver. “All new too. He clearly thought he might be the next victim, and knew what was coming for him. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, which probably didn’t help.”

“This wouldn’t keep a werewolf out,” Abe said, running a finger over the decoration on one of the window frames. “It’s not like a salt circle for demons or iron for those people, just having silver around won’t actually hurt a were unless they touch it. This wolfsbane mixed in with the flowers might do something, if you were to accidentally chuck the whole vase into the fireplace.”

He snorted and turned around to find the District Attorney studying him, as closely as they could from the other side of the room.

“You were here last night,” they said.

There was no accusation in their tone, just an acknowledgement of the fact, but Abe still found himself speaking quickly to explain.

“Look, I know I said I would check out Garroway, but things just worked out so I was watching this place instead, and good thing it did or else we might have had another dead body on our hands.” Abe paused to consider but didn’t correct himself. After all, the paramedics seemed reasonably sure Franklin would be okay, if not in any state to answer questions for a while. “And maybe I should have mentioned the wolf, but I was a bit distracted, okay? Has nothing to do with how it got away, don’t ask about it. Okay, fine, I missed. No one can shoot straight all the time. There. Feel better?”

“I…” The District Attorney paused, a strange expression crossing their face as they tried and failed to parse just what the hunter was talking about. “I honestly don’t know what I was about to say anymore. I’m just going to look around before the butler remembers we’re here.”

Said butler had said something about calling the other members of the board and rushed away the moment the paramedics wheeled his boss out, but Abe suspected he would want to follow him to the hospital once that was done. The District Attorney was right, they didn’t have time to waste.

While they checked around downstairs, Abe eased his way up to the upper floor, aware of the butler’s anxious voice on the phone coming from one room while he checked out the other doors. There were a few pristine guest rooms and a library that looked to be all tomes large and thick enough to knock out a reader if the books weren’t boring enough to send them to sleep on their own. Franklin’s bedroom was an absolute pigsty, which Abe could respect, but the room next door not so much. It was yet another room for entertaining guests, in theory, with a pool table on one side and a drinks cabinet opposite a massive fireplace, but Abe’s eyes were drawn to the stuffed animals that littered every available surface, from the deer’s head above the fireplace to the actual bearskin thrown across the floor. There were lamps with what looked suspiciously like lamia snakeskin in the corners, and someone had even stuffed a griffin, or at least what they thought a griffin was supposed to look like.

Abe fought back a derisive laugh at the sight, knowing that he had sold more than a few pieces of his bounties to rubes like this one for ten or more times what they were really worth, so there was no telling how much he wasted on that pitiful taxidermy hoax. He turned to go but froze when he saw something out of place on one of the small tables that dotted the room.

“What do you think you’re doing up here?”

Abe jumped at the butler’s voice and fought the instinct to reach for his jacket and make sure his find was hidden from sight. “Looking for the bathroom.”

“Well you can find one at a corner store, I’m sure, but you and your associate should leave. Now.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Abe grumbled, allowing himself to be ushered down the stairs where the District Attorney was already waiting for them, hands thrust into their pockets and the picture of innocence like they hadn’t just rushed away from poking around at the sound of someone coming. “Come on, Y/N, we’ve got things to do.”

“More people to send to an early grave,” the butler muttered behind him.

“He’s not dead,” Abe said, ignoring the District Attorney’s pull on his arm. “Well, not yet anyways—”

“Not helping,” they murmured. “Abe, we should go, there’s nothing here.”

It was so hard to resist saying anything, so Abe yanked the door open and slammed it shut behind them as fast as possible just so he could answer, “That’s what you think.”

With a flourish, Abe revealed the folder he found upstairs, the Haywood logo prominent on the bright blue background.

“You’re kidding me,” the District Attorney said. “Where did you find this?”

“Where do you think?” Abe asked, jamming a thumb in the direction of the house as he handed the folder over, unable to resist a smug smile. “He just left it sitting out in his game room for anyone to find.”

“Abe, that’s…” The District Attorney sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose. “You can’t just steal evidence from someone’s home!”

“Well, considering he stole it first…”

“That’s not how this works! And we don’t know this is the same folder. Even if it was, why would he go to all the trouble of stealing it just to leave it out in the open?”

“It’s not like he expected someone to just waltz into his trophy room, is it?” Abe said, smug smile gone now that they were clearly not responding like they were supposed to. Couldn’t they just be happy for two seconds, or did admitting he had done something right bother them that much? “Who cares, the point is this is another connection between one of our dead guys and Mr. Convenient Heart Attack.”

“Which we won’t be able to use in court—”

“In court?! We are talking about a raving, murderous werewolf who’s already torn apart four people now!” Abe became very aware that the people on the street were staring now, at least those who weren’t ushering small children to walk faster and ignore the terrifying man. He made the effort to lower his voice as he continued, “The only evidence I need is which of our suspects wears fur in the moonlight, if you catch my drift, and if playing along with this whole rounding up clues song and dance is how we get there, then fine. I wasn’t about to let that folder some kid died over sit around for the butler to tidy up his master’s mess for him.”

With that, he pressed the folder into the District Attorney’s chest and stomped away in no particular direction, being more focused on making a point than what happened next. He made it as far as the next corner before the District Attorney spoke up from behind him.

“You’ll want to turn left if you’re going to see Garroway. Or are you done with this whole ‘song and dance’ now?”

Abe stopped, if only because the traffic was too busy to cross without taking his life into his hands, and huffed into his collar, head turned down against the brisk wind picking up. Beside him there was the rustle of paper, and out of the corner of his eye he could see the District Attorney struggling to look through the folder without the contents blowing up and down the street.

“Maybe you could save that for later?” he asked.

“Maybe you could stay still for two seconds,” they answered, moving to stand so that his body blocked the wind enough for them to focus on the papers.

Abe scoffed again but didn’t move. In the following silence he became very aware of the District Attorney’s presence, close but not quite touching his back. He made a show of looking up at the sky, at the street, at his watch, but the moment somehow seemed so long and too short at the same time when the District Attorney moved, speaking as they did so.

“These are financial records for Haywood’s company, but I suppose only Marcus would know if they are the same records that he took home. Lenore could guess, but from what she said I suspect she didn’t have much time to look at them last night.”

“Anything useful?” Abe asked.

“Maybe, but I’ll have to take the time to go through them thoroughly later, and not standing on some random street corner,” the District Attorney answered. “The more pressing question is, what was this folder doing in Franklin’s home? These are internal records, not something you would hand over to a banker unless you’re trying to prove your business is solid enough for a loan, but Haywood wouldn’t need that, the company was winning contracts left and right, any bank in town would be happy to invest in them—”

They paused mid sentence and glanced at the records again, that thoughtful frown of theirs appearing just as it always did when they came across something that didn’t quite fit right.

“So why would Haywood go to ‘Honest’ John when he could get a better deal from one of the banks?”

“Maybe the company wasn’t doing as well as it looked from the outside,” Abe said. “Bit off more than they could chew and couldn’t spit or swallow.”

“…Ignoring that last part, you might be onto something.” The District Attorney looked in the folder again, their mouth moving silently as they went over the numbers.

Abe thought he could watch them all day, but no sooner had that thought crossed his mind than a new gust of wind hit him, somehow weaseling its way past every layer of clothing to send a fresh wave of goosebumps across his skin. An unwelcome reminder that summer was on its way out and the nights would soon be growing longer once more.

Speaking of, at this rate they would still be standing on this corner by the time evening fell.

“You said Garroway’s place was to the left?” Abe asked.

As he hoped, the District Attorney snapped out of their reverie and said, “Yes, yes it’s not far from here. You still think it’s worth going, or do you want to drop by the hospital to slap Franklin with a piece of silver?”

“Not saying we can’t do both,” Abe said and thought he saw a twinge of a smile on the attorney’s face before they turned away. “Besides, nothing wrong with being thorough.”

Especially not with loose ends hanging. It was a werewolf that had chased Lenore and the roommate out of the apartment last night, but even Abe found it hard to believe a werewolf would decorate their home with silver and wolfsbane, much less put a door knob on their very own front door that they couldn’t use. No, as much as he hated to admit it even in the privacy of his own mind, the District Attorney was right: Franklin was afraid, so certain that he would be the next victim he came close to beating the murderer to the punch.

So how did he come to have the folder? Was it an insurance policy of his own? Did he think it would help him any more than it had the poor clerk who had it last?

((Thank you for reading! Sorry there wasn’t much in this one, but the next part would have been difficult to split after this point.

Link to Part 6.

Tagging:  @silver-owl413  @skyewardlight  @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @purpstraw @weirdfoxalley @95fangirl @lilalovesinternet-l @thepoolofthedead @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @geekymushroom @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-anxiety-blog @shyinspiredartist @avispate ))

[fightevilandthengetblownup]

FIC: Snapshots of Lost Days

—

The sun was coming through the crack in the curtains, and straight across her eyes as if the world had a personal objection to her getting enough sleep after having gotten in at just after three that morning.

Groaning, Jo pulled the pillow from the other side of the bed over her head. The pillow was cold, and she found herself frowning as her hand moved blindly over the empty other side of the bed, searching and groping around in surprise at the lack of warm body beside her. Rolling back onto her back and lifting the pillow corner to blink, blearily, around for the other that had been there when she had rolled into bed that morning.

“Where is he…” Jo muttered to herself as she resettled the pillow over her head and tried to let herself lull back into sleep, stretched out as far as possible in the otherwise empty bed.

It took another ten minutes of counting sheep, reciting the simplest exorcism she knew, and humming the Harry Potter theme music in an attempt to fall back to sleep before she conceded defeat. Flinging the pillow across her face off in a huff, Jo sat up with a frown and the popping sound of her back. She blinked in surprise looking at the time on her phone - no wonder the sun hated her given that it was well past two in the afternoon - and scrubbed a hand at her dry eyes with a sigh.

Making her way to the bathroom, turning the taps of the shower onto an almost scalding heat and quickly using the toilet and brushing her teeth before jumping into the steaming water, Jo could feel the knots in her shoulders from the throw into a wall from the pissed off spirit she’d taken care of easing carefully. It took her fingers going wrinkly and the heat dying down from using almost the whole tank of hot water for her to finally get out of the shower, swiping a hand across the fogged mirror while drying off.

Wrapping herself up in her towel, Jo frowned as she left the bathroom at not even a call of greeting upon the door creaking loudly. Maybe Grey was out.

—

It had been almost twenty-four hours and he has still not returned.

At first, Jo had thought they’d just missed one another in the crossover of hunts. That he’d seen her in bed and gone on his own that morning and was just taking a little longer than usual, and had forgotten to write her a note or send her a text about it.

Around hour six as it hit almost eight at night, she had found herself sending off the first text to check where the other was. The sound of his ringtone from the bedroom, chiming through the house - the opening strum of his favourite song ringing out through the house - had made her jump at hearing it. Seeing the phone where he leaves it at night on his side of the bed where she had not noticed it before made the concern growing in her stomach turn into a heavy lead ball, weighing her down.

Hour ten had her screaming in the backyard for the demonic dog to show up, and then just screaming obscenities when he did not appear.

Hour twelve found her passing out on the bed where she’d last seen him early the previous morning, arms wrapping around his pillow and face stuffed tightly into the pillow itself, breathing in the smell of him as she finally gave into the exhaustion that such worrying drained her of.

She had woken up at hour twenty as it hit midday and he still hadn’t returned. That had prompted an attempt at reaching out to his sister with no success locating any little shadows to send as a messenger, and still no sign of the hulking black wolf. Nana had begun whining quietly and sniffing near the front door, laying down across the entry carpet and eyes fixated on the door as if waiting for him to waltz back in.

It was now reaching hour twenty-four, at four in the afternoon and she had not seen him in over thirty-seven hours when she’d first crawled into bed beside him and Jo felt faint. She couldn’t remember if she’d eaten or drank, or really done anything since she’d realised he was missing and not just busy.

—

“What do you mean he’s missing?”

“Exactly what it fucking sounds like!”

“Well that’s just stupid, my brother can’t just go missing. I’m sure that demon friend of his will know where he is.” Shada remarked offhandedly, tossing her hair over a shoulder as she stared back at her.

Jo found herself gritting her teeth as she looked at the other, biting down on a violent sounding hiss before it could really get started. “And I said he’d fucking missing!” Throwing an arm out, she gestured around the living room and mimicked a dust of smoke - “Poof! He disappeared! I’ve tried calling Amon but he’s gone too, and Grey left his phone and didn’t leave any messages of where he was going or what he was doing or what’s-”

“Cupcake, calm down, your smelling tasty with all this stress.” Shada moved quickly to her side, hands on either wrist and gently pulling her down onto the couch. Jo wasn’t entirely sure what was happening other than her head felt like it was full of cotton candy and her heart was so tightly squished with worry that there wasn’t anything else she could focus on. “What was the last thing he said to you?”

“I love you, now get to sleep?” Jo replied, eyes unfocused as she replayed the last moment she remembered him being home through her mind. It had been late, she had just gotten home and showered the hunt off of her; he had stroked her hair and wrapped an arm around her waist telling her how happy he was she was home. “We just..went to sleep.”

“Well that just seems weird, why would he be sleeping?”

“You know he lives life just like me, Shada.”

“Oh yeah, the whole human thing. Right.” The dark haired girl frowned to herself, tilting her head to either side before sighing. “Okay, maybe it is weird for him to have gone. Well, we’ll just have to go find him won’t we? Don’t you worry your little head about it, Cupcake, I’ll find brother and bring him home in no time!”

Jo wished she had the same confidence as the shadow as Shada stood up with a flourish and a flap of her skirt before disappearing. If only she could believe the other would find him sooner rather than later.

—

“Can you find him?” She hissed the words out, hands fisted tightly into the jacket lapels, brown eyes wide and desperate as she stared up at him. Jo chewed on her bottom lip at the impassive and almost bored look on the other’s face, knowing this was definitely not something he would want to do.

There was a shrug of a shoulder in response, and a disinterested push of his hands at her grip, trying to release himself from her grip.

Jo held of tighter, and even shook him a little through the hold on his jacket before pleading, “Please, please, I’ll… I’ll do anythin’. Please. If you can find him, I’ll do whatever - whatever - you want.”

She saw a flash of curiosity followed by the briefest flash of a pained look, before his mouth twisted into the cruel smirk she knew so well. It wasn’t at her, she could tell, but that didn’t stop the shudder running down her back as his hand moved to stroked at the unblemished side of her neck.

“Really, sweetie? You’d do whatever I want?” Gray asked in a harsh sounding whisper, fingers stroking her neck and then applying the smallest amount of pressure, eyes fixed on hers, the curiosity shining through the dark blue. Jo so wished they were the light blue ones she missed more than anything. “If I help with this little search party, you’d do anything I ask of you?”

“Yes, Gray, absolutely.” Jo nodded her head in agreement, eyes darting back and forth between each of his, trying to see if she could read his intent in them. Whether or not he would actually help her, or was just playing a game with her right now.

The shadow smirked wider, though the cruel edge seemed to fade behind real interest in it. “You’d hurt someone?” He blinked slightly at her nod, continuing, “What about kill someone, sweetie?” This time the smirk seemed to twitch slightly towards a frown for the merest moment at her nod, before his thumb rubbed against her jawline, tilting her head back up to his. Leaning in closer, Gray asked quietly, “What about something we’d both enjoy, huh? Would you submit to me, sweetie, get back into bed, or a table, or on top that bar of yours?”

“Yes, anything if you’d just find him.” Jo begged again, leaning up into him with her eyes still firmly fixed on his face and her own looks not having shifted once from the desperation written clear across her face the whole time. Not a single one of his suggestions had made her pause or flinch back, and Jo could only just keep the tears from prickling at her eyes on the off case it made him say no.

His hand moved, thumb moving to swipe across her bottom lip for a brief second before Gray dropped his hand back to his side with an unreadable look on his face.

“I’ll help you sweetie, but don’t… don’t think I’ll be cashing in any time on it.” Gray spoke quietly, hands tucked into his suit pant pockets as he looked at her inscruitably. “You know me, I like a bit of fight in you. Better to help out without ruining the fun later, huh?”

Jo felt the tears start at his agreement as he disappeared, but all she could feel was the slight throb of pain that maybe even he couldn’t find his brother, no matter how attuned to one another they were.

—

“Nobody has got any clue, Jo. You need to face the fact he might have gotten take-”

“Dean, shut your goddamn mouth you idjit.” Bobby snarled the words as Jo’s eyes had trailed over towards the other hunter, wide and brown and unseeing at the suggestion of what he had been suggesting. Bobby gave a glare towards the younger hunter and jerked his head towards the kitchen sharply as he moved to remove his cap. “How about you and your brother go suss out the kitchen situation, get some sandwiches or something together while Jo and I have a little talk, huh.”

“Sure thing, Bobby.” Sam replied softly as he passed by the back of the couch, dragging his brother out of the room after him with a large hand dragging the other by his shirt back. Jo thought she heard Dean make an objecting noise, but it all sounded like nothing after the suggestion that had come out of the other’s mouth. He might have gotten taken out.

“Don’t mind him, Jo.” The hunter’s voice was gruff as he held out a hand to her. “Now, we need something importantly and intrinsically tied to the both of you for a focus.”

Jo blinked for a second at the request as she could hear Sam and Dean shuffling in the kitchen before she twisted the ring off her middle finger. Placing it in the other’s hand, she bit her lip and rubbed her thumb over the empty space where it usually sat, feeling naked and raw without it.

“And you’re sure this spell will work?” She asked nervously, eyes on the tall contraption on the table and the swinging pendulum above the map of the country as Bobby fiddled with fitting the ring - the gift she’d gotten and never taken off since - onto the eye of the piece. “It’s not some weird hockem is it?”

“We managed to locate Lilith with it down to the street back when we were dealing with Dean and his fucking deal back in the day,” Bobby replied as he got the piece in place and set the pendulum swinging. “If it can track her, it can track one wayward shadow.”

Jo let out a sigh of relief as the pointer swung, that even Lilith couldn’t hide from it settled her nerves for sure.

That was until the pendulum began swinging faster and faster, around and around in an erratic and frantic way, before it caught alight and began to burn.

Shrieking, Jo’s hand went straight for the ring fastened at the top where the flames were starting to lick at the silver metal, fingers burning painfully as she fought to tear her ring out of it.

The next second the entire device was covered in water, the flames extinguished as Sam and Dean both threw pots of water over it and saturated the map beneath. Bobby too had a blanket in hand, ready to smother any flames that cropped up.

As the other three began discussing how on earth that could have happened, Jo continued to work and work at the small ring before she finally pulled it free.

It was a melted disc, beyond repair, and she felt a little bit of that last resistance to the idea she’d lost him for good melt with it.

—

“Well hello, you wanted to make a deal?”

“No you red eyed whore, I want you to scurry on back down there and get me your boss.” Jo snarled back at the dark haired demon that had appeared behind her at the corner of the crossroads. All the crossroads girls seemed to pick much the same bodies, and Jo almost thought she should ask one day if the black dresses were a uniform or just a factor of their uninspired group-think. “And you can tell Crowley if he leaves me waiting too long, I’ll be summoning him directly and be a lot less nice ‘bout it.”

The demon have her an annoyed look before she disappeared in a blink, and Jo fiddled with her one remaining item around her neck, gripping the ornate pendant tightly in her fist.

“Joanna. To what do I owe the pain?” The Scottish accent behind her made her jump, spinning to look at the newly arrived demon with none of the animosity she should have usually felt towards him.

“Is he with you?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be a little clearer, darling, is who with me?” Crowley cocked a brow at her as he stepped closer, the slight wariness to his approach would usually have amused her but all Jo felt was exhausted and at the last of her options.

“Do you have Grey, Crowley?” She shuffled her feet slightly, worrying her lip between her teeth as she looked across at the growing smug look to his face. Maybe this last option was the one from the way Crowley was behaving. “If he is, can you just tell me. I just want to know where he is, I just want to know he’s okay… Please, just tell me if you have him and that he’s not just gone.”

She could feel the tears starting, something she’d been struggling with as the days and weeks had dragged on and each person she called upon came up short. Shada had no idea, Gray had popped by once to say he couldn’t find him. Bobby’s pendulum spell had backfired horrifically, and even Amon just whined at her sadly each time she had seen him pass by. The idea that he might have been gone, might have gotten caught by a hunter or something that could over power him had been gnawing at her, chewing away at her resolve, and Crowley was her last bet that the absolute worst might not have happened to him.

There was a long pause before the demon responded, the crunching noise of gravel under his feet as he approached her. “I don’t have him. I wasn’t aware he’d run off and left you behind.”

That was it.

Jo felt the strength fall out of her alongside the tears at his words, her knees buckling and body dropping downwards towards the ground as her resolve crumbled.

She didn’t hit ground however, as two arms caught her around the middle tightly. It was so strange to not feel gravel against her cheek or the thud of the impact on her backside but instead the dreading grip around her waist before a shift found her laid down in the soft grass to the side of the road.

“What is all this about, Jo?” There was a weird look on the demon’s face. One Jo vaguely remembered from an age ago, and it stuck with her now as she felt the floodgates break and all she could do was sob against the soft texture of an expensive suit.

—

He was back.

She didn’t know how, or where he’d been or why he was back to her now. But all she knew was that he was back and in her arms.

The next few weeks were spent wrapped up in one another, never letting him out of sight and each of them recovering from the time apart in their own ways.

He didn’t speak at all about where he had been or what he’d been doing, but it didn’t matter to her why he’d left just that he was back. Jo had been helpless the last weeks before he returned, the clawing feeling that he had been taken from her by something she couldn’t talk her way out of, so really only the fact he was home was all she needed.

That was the case until the knock on the front door, the shattering of glass and the swollen stomach hidden beneath pink fabric.

From then on, the reason behind his disappearance had been the only thing she could think of any time something reminded of her once he’d left again. That while she’d been frantically calling for their friends to search across the globe for him, he had been caught in a twisted game of Happy Homes. That while she’d been begging for help from his brother, he’d been subjected to whatever sick machinations of the first demon’s dark imagination. And that while she had sobbed into the chest of the one person she couldn’t stand - thinking that he’d been taken from her and was left to rot in the place she knew he hated more than anywhere - that he had been impregnating the disgusting, white eyed bitch.

And that now, he had gone back to that nightmare under his own volition and left her behind again.

—

The house was getting dusty by now.

She’d barely made it back to the place in the last month after pulling herself out of the week long funk at her loss again. Jo had left the house a week to the dot of the blonde, white-eyed demon showing up and his final goodbye to her, and had not been back since. Nana had piled into the car with her but after the second hunt, she had dropped by Bobby and found him well enough to take care of the fluffy fur-ball rather than the unfairness of taking her around with her everywhere.

After a rather rough rugaru case, she’d returned to the salvage yard, said her hello’s and then taken the road back home with the dog’s head sticking out the window in the passenger seat beside her.

As they’d entered the space, she’d not been surprised by the slightly musty smell to the air inside but she was surprised by how excited her baby was upon running back through the building. That was up until the whining started again, the Bernese Mountain dog snuffling her way through every room in the house with a low whine before settling by the front door for her vigil again.

Jo had found herself doing her own version of the same - putting her gear away, hovering slightly near the spare bedroom where his sketch pads and art work still laid about as he had left them, before sinking into the couch with a beer like she hadn’t before he’d left and flicking open her laptop to search up for signs, omens and traceable factors of the first demon’s presence on earth. She stayed up until the sun rose, she drank her way through two six packs and found herself waking up with her face pressed tightly into the couch pillows and the sad, heavy thump of her baby’s tail against the entry floor still waiting for the other to come home.

—

It wasn’t at all expected when it had first happened after a werewolf case in Louisiana, and then it was just as unexpected two weeks later after an exorcism in Texas. By the third time just two weeks after that once they’d flushed out and taken care of a vampire nest in New York - it was no longer unexpected and had become more of a planned occasion.

Jo hadn’t really meant to fall into bed with the other ever, but after a few months without and as she’d patched up a scratch across his chest after that werewolf lashed out in it’s dying throws; things had just happened. One minute she’d been smoothing antiseptic over the scratches, and the next his lips had been on her neck and her top had been removed seconds later to match him.

From there, it had been a simple pattern to fall into between the two of them - one or the other would send a message about some hunt every other week, and as soon as whatever it was had been taken care of their lips and hands would be on one another until they made it back to whatever hotel room they’d spent the last few days in focused on work, and put that all behind them. It was a nice fit for the both of them; it might not have made her heart swell like her previous partner, but it was easy and took care of keeping the dark at bay.

—

“Sweetie, what are you doing out here so late at night?”

“Oh fuck off you dick.” Jo had returned with a laugh, swatting a hand out at the other as she turned about to grab a beer for the other patron next to him had asked for before she raised an eyebrow at the shadow leaning comfortably against the bar top without a care in the world. “When I’m not out on a hunt, I’m filling a space here of course.”

“That seems about right.” Gray smirked slightly at her, though she could see even in the dim lighting something to his look that seemed searching rather than his normally surface level glances. “How much you been out hunting then? How’s your little mutt going being left alone so much?”

“She goes to Bobby en route, and even Harry has dogsat lately actually.”

“Ah, that would explain it.”

“What ‘bout you? Just reminding you we don’t have a deal any more since you didn’t end up helping out though.” Jo grinned a little wickedly across at him as she saw out of the corner of her eye the few remaining stragglers leaving the bar with a wave. She grabbed a glass before raising a brow at him, hand holding up the closest bottle near her of a bourbon bottle.

He waved a hand in response at her, and appeared to stare into the dark drink pensively for a second before setting it down on the bar top, disappearing and reappearing behind her back as Jo turned to start cleaning up the bar itself. “Hey sweetie, this remind you of anything?”

“Ummm…” She span about looking up at him as his arms caged and crowded her in against the edge of the bar before the memory clicked. “You’re not going to set me on fire this time, are you?”

“Only if you ask nicely.” Jo barely held back the responding smile at his smirking down at her as he spoke. “But no, I don’t think I’d like to set you alight again, sweetie.”

“Oh good. I’ve still got the odd scar from that time so I’d rather not get more.”

“Do you now?” There was a curiosity to his tone then, and, almost in sync, Jo bounced up on the balls of her feet as he moved to grab her waist and deposit her up on the bar itself before his fists curled onto the surface beside her thighs. There was a quiet pause before he spoke again, head tilted down towards her with a thoughtful look she wasn’t used to on his face. “You still hung up on him?”

“What?”

“Are you still hung up on him, Jo?”

In response, she twisted slightly and downed the glass of bourbon rather than answer.

—

“Hey, meet me at mine?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, if you’re in the area, come stop by.”

The knock had come within three hours, his having been just two towns over and on his way to the city anyway.

It felt wrong in a way as Jo’d pushed the dog out of the way from the door at the sound and the way that Nana had gotten so exceptionally excited at the prospect that it might have been him at the door to open it up and drag the other in by the hand. The dog’s enthusiasm disappeared immediately, and she heard her make a snuffled noise before turning and heading to stare at the back kitchen door instead.

“Is it.. I’ve never been invited here before.”

“I know, but it’s my house now so… Come with me.”

They’d beat the path up the stairs together - much the same way as she had on so many occasions with the other, lips on one another and hands tugging on clothing, discarded where it was pushed or tugged off on their way up the stairs, down the small landing and into the bedroom.

He’d covered her in kisses then in a way he hadn’t before, and it had been far less hectic and rushed than the past times. It was like being in that bed rather than a hotel or whatever surfaces had been closest made all the difference between them, shifting things in such a way that it wasn’t just the emotionless fucking they’d done before now.

As he’d moved into her and held his weight above her carefully, cautious not to crush her with the size difference as she was spread across the bed, hips high and backside up as he entered from behind. Jo had pressed her face into the sheets and found her eyes watering as they moved together, the faint smell of charcoal and that cologne still hanging about after so long making her cry out, fists tugging at the sheets. It had hurt, hurt so hard as they screwed, and she’d pushed him out of the bed as soon as they were done with the promise to catch up with him on the next hunt the week after like had been planned anyway.

That had been the first night in six months she’d cried herself to sleep, and it was the one and only time she’d heard from him with a short, painful call that had started it all.

She didn’t ask William to meet her at the house again after that. It was, however, the first of every night spent falling to sleep in the same way since then knowing that now? He wasn’t coming home to her, it wasn’t he was being kept from her. He just didn’t want to come back for her.

—

Things had continued as such until she’d been greeted by the blonde demon with the simple words - “She found him” - breaking through the cloud of disinterest, disassociation and denial she had been living in.

Entering the room, Jo had realised that as much as she’d been tearing herself apart at the very seams, destroying ever part of herself that had been previously rebuilt by the sobbing monster in front of her - nothing was to the same level that had befallen him. And she couldn’t begin to think about how to start fixing it this time.

—

[boneandfur]

Riding Lessons [2]

CHAPTER TWO

Rating: for mature readers only // Words: 2388 // Summary: Juniper gets ready to ride in the rodeo, and unexpectedly sees a face from her past.

•••

"If yer still hellbent on this damn fool idea of yours, you gotta wear something else." Cliff coughs delicately, moving his finger up and down to indicate the dress. They're standing under the pines, killing time. A blush creeps up his neck. "Just think what kind of example you're settin' for Duke's girl." 

"I think it's mad cool, grandpa!" Brooklynne squeals, hugging Juniper around the waist. "I'm gonna vlog the whole thing!" 

Juniper looks at Cliff, though she doesn't need his permission, she feels chastised all the same. She looks to Brooklynne. "Brook, what size shorts are you wearing?" 

Cliff's eyes bulge. "Oh, hell no. Duke would never forgive me if I let --" but Juniper is already tugging Brooklynne towards the bathrooms.

"This dress would look real pretty on you, Brook. In fact, if you like it, I'll let you keep it." Juniper keeps talking as they head into the bathroom and surpass the line, going straight into two neighboring stalls. 

"They're actually a little too big?" Brooklynne squeaks from the next stall. 

"Perfect." Juniper may have her mama's hips, but she can make it work. "Shirt too." Brooklynne's shirt and shorts sail over the partition, and Juniper passes Brooklynne the dress. She stole it from Caitlín before she left, hell, she stole Caitlín's boyfriend, Sully, too. But he didn't touch me the way Dick Mulligan... She pushes that thought away, but the memory of his touch is branded on her skin, she's aching all over with the need for him to touch her again, Just like that. 

Seven minutes later, Juniper is in Brooklynne's hacked off jeans, now a pair of teeny tiny Daisy Dukes that hug her curves like a second skin. The tank top might be a problem, she acknowledges grudgingly to herself as she looks in the mirror. My breasts are the problem. She's wearing a red lace balconette bra that seemed like a good idea at the time, but is completely out of place under the black tank top, which barely skims her belly button.

"Here, Juniper." Asha appears, looking her critically up and down before passing her a plaid shirt, and Juniper rolls the sleeves up, tying it under her breasts. 

"That's not what I..." Asha's eyes bug out. "Never mind. Looks cute, I guess. You might even pass for one of us, if you wore it the way God intended you to." 

Is that supposed to be a compliment? Juniper doesn't answer, intent on braiding her hair, out of her face. "Thanks, babe." She blows an air kiss, and Asha recoils like she's been slapped. 

"How's this?" Brooklynne taps Juniper on the shoulder, and she hears Asha suck in a horrified breath. 

"Oh, sugar, ain't you a picture!" Her mama's words come out of her mouth before she can stop them, and Juniper coughs to cover her slip. "You look beautiful. Don't she, Asha?" 

Asha is staring at Brooklynne like she's somehow become wild, feral. "You'd better cover yourself up! Juniper," she continues in a dark, urgent whisper, "I'm surprised -- no, shocked at you! You can't let that baby girl go out in the fair looking like, like -- that." They both look at Brooklynne, who is twirling dreamily in the mirror, the skirt fanning out around her knees, looking five years older already, the kind of girl who runs off with a carnival boy and never looks back. "When her pa sees that he's gonna --" 

"What's Duke gonna do? Oh, hell." Juliette pops her head in through the door to the cement washroom. "Asha, you better take that kid to get a cover-up on before Duke and Cliff see her. Juniper, you come with me." 

"And where the hell are you taking her?!" Asha demands, exasperation coloring her tone. "The rodeo starts in..." she checks her clipboard. "In less than fifty minutes!" 

Juliette ignores her, pulling Juniper out into the sunlight. She takes a good look up and down at the tied plaid and the Daisy Dukes, letting out a wolf whistle. "Damn, girl! They gonna let you ride in that?" She waits until they're out of earshot, then her face splits into a big grin. "You're riding in the rodeo! Sawyer told me," she goes on, unaware of how her face lights up when she talks about him, like no one can tell how she feels inside. 

If this wasn't all a means to an end, Juniper would let herself give them both a little push in the right direction, but she can't let herself get attached -- it hurts too much to say goodbye that way, and she never says goodbye, not if she can help it. "What else did he say?" Juniper plays with a loose thread on the shorts, which threaten to cut off her circulation at the hips. When all of this is over, and she's made it safely over the border, she's going to take a long soak in a copper tub, sloughing off this false identity like the dirt from the road. But until then, she's here in East Podunk, lying low, safe from the long arm of the law. "What?" 

Juliette waves a hand in front of her face. "You in there, June Bug? I said that Sawyer was real worried about you, but I told him I'd take care of it. And first order of business is gettin' you some ridin' boots and a hat. You're representin' Oakley Ranch, after all." Juliette winks at her. "What size shoe you wear?" 

"Six." But Juliette is already handing Juniper her boots.

Juliette runs a hand through her dark curls. "The toe box might be a little wonky, but I think you'll be all right. Those are five and a half's. They okay?" 

The boots fit like a dream almost to the toe box, which pinches. But it's only for a few hours. Juniper feels a warm feeling of gratitude bubble up in her chest, but she pushes it away. The less beholden she is to these people, to this place, the better. She wiggles her toes. "Thanks, I think these will be fine."

By the time they finish, Juniper is wearing a red hat edged with cheap silver ribbon, and there are only fifteen minutes left before the rodeo starts. Juliette leads her to a roped off area near the gate, crowded with people and press milling around. "You just go over there and find Asha. She's probably by thie chute. She'll assign you your number. You want me to come?" 

"Nah, I got this. Thanks again." Juniper hugs Juliette quick, kissing her on the cheek. Juliette smells of bourbon and green apple shampoo. She gives a little wave to Juniper.

"Good luck!" 

•••

With a swing in her hips and a confidence she doesn't feel, Juniper waltzes up to the crowd of cowboys.  Even in Juliette's boots, it's hard to see over the bobbing sea of ten gallon hats. There are rodeo cowboys and rodeo queens with spangles on their boots, there are little boys and girls in chaps leaning on the fence watching, and teenage boys swaggering around. 

She's never seen so many girls in painted on jeans, sparkly cowboy hats, and push up bras in her life. Somewhere in the crowd, she can hear Dick's deep baritone, and the high pitched giggles of girls. She looks for a familiar face, but she's hemmed in on all sides. She spots Dick, surrounded by several stage five clingers, all spray-tanned and bleached blonde with their hair teased to high heaven. They're pouting, trying to get his attention, but he's busy talking to some dark haired guy who's dressed as casually as the others, yet looks somehow out of place. As if he can sense her eyes on him, the stranger raises his head, scanning the crowd, and Juniper ducks down, frantically backpedaling. 

Dave Reyes. The long arm of the law has found her at last. I'm not ready. Not yet, please, not yet! She feels like she can't breathe, and sucks in several deep, rapid breaths, her heart rate speeding up. Her vision swims with black spots, and as she tries to fight her way back out of the crowd,  she feels a wave of dizziness slam into her. 

"Hey now, what do we have here?" A guy with a blonde crew cut, press badge, and a blue vest over a short-sleeved flannel shirt that looks like it came from the Sprawlmart clearance rack grabs her arm, smacking his lips as he surveys her. She's too out of it to slap him the way she yearns to, and instead a feeble protest leaves her lips as he hauls her forward. 

"No!" Juniper tries to tug her arm back, but the guy isn't listening. 

"A buckle bunny! Martin, look! I got us a real live buckle bunny!" he leers in Juniper's face, addressing her breasts. "How-de-doo, little bunny. I'm TJ." He snaps a selfie with a full flash, blinding her, and then gropes her ass. "Maybe you've heard of--" TJ has barely opened his mouth to start his spiel when Dick shoves his way through the crowd to step between them, his body shielding Juniper. 

"The lady said no. Are ya as dumb as ya look, or are ya deaf, too?" Dick snarls menacingly. 

With an irritated scowl, TJ puts his hands up like he'll shove Dick in the chest, then some sense of self preservation kicks in, and he steps back. "Get your own buckle bunny, man." 

"Back off," Dick growls. "You really wanna test me, city boy?" 

TJ mumbles something Juniper can't hear, and she whimpers. Dick whips around so fast she swears she can hear his spurs jangle, and then his arms are around her and he's carrying her through the crowd, all the way to a quiet corner in the back of the barn. 

Dick sets her down on a crate, rubbing small circles on her back. He clears his throat. "He didn't hurt ya, did he, Goldilocks?" 

Dizzy and nauseous, she shakes her head, and Dick passes her a flask from his pocket. She can't even touch it, too intent on trying to breathe. 

"Good. I thought..." Dick shakes his head, then starts rubbing her back, his deep voice low and soothing in Juniper's ears. "Put your head between your legs, cup your hands over your mouth, and take some nice, easy breaths," he murmurs, beard tickling her earlobe and setting off butterflies in her stomach. "I swear to God, if I see that city boy with his hands on you again --" she hears the sound of Asha's irritated voice, and then Dick's big, warm hand leaves her back as he stands up. She can hear Asha upbraiding him for "harassing the press". 

"You okay?" Asha crouches down near her, and Juniper nods, focusing on each small breath. Asha stands up, apparently satisfied with that answer, because she pats Juniper's shoulder awkwardly, and then fades back into the crowd when someone calls her name. 

From the corner of her eye, Juniper sees Dave again, and she ducks her head beneath the brim of her hat, hoping against hope he hasn't recognized her. She starts sweating, and then she's shaking uncontrollably, trying to fight the wave of blackness that threatens to engulf her. Voices swim around her in the darkness, and then she feels Dick's hand on her back again, tethering her to the here and now. 

"You clean up real good, Goldilocks," he whispers. "Knew I was gonna have to fight 'em off the minute I saw ya in them Daisy Dukes." When she looks over at him in surprise, he tips his hat and winks at her, then stands up, holding out a hand. "Ain't you gonna wish me luck?" 

Juniper stands up, the world righting itself again. She scans the crowd for Reyes, but he's melted away, as though he never was. She bites her lip. Maybe she was just imagining things. Maybe... "Good luck? Shouldn't you be wishin' me luck, cowboy?" she pokes Dick in the chest, and then he's pressing her up against the barn, their lips a hairsbreadth away. She feels drunken, dizzy, though she hasn't touched a drop. Dick tilts her chin up with two fingers, and just as he bends his head, his breath warm on her lips, she hears Asha calling her name. 

"Juniper!" Asha's voice, so close, makes her jump, and she wriggles past Dick, making her way towards Asha, who rubs the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Did she see Juniper and Dick, so close they almost could have kissed? Undoubtedly. Asha's voice is colored by something deep and green when she speaks again, and Juniper shifts uncomfortably in Juliette's borrowed boots. Her feet are beginning to hurt. "It's not too late to back out..."

Just lay low as long as you can, honey pie, Opal Mae's voice whispers in the back of her mind, as though her mama is standing right beside her. It's living out in the open that'll get ya. Ghosters are livin' dead people's lives for 'em. If the Feds don't know where ya are, they'll never catch up to ya. 

But the money... they can start over with that kind of money, they can stop running for good. Three notes, Ellie. She thinks of the last postcard she sent, musical notes interspersed amidst her cramped handwriting. Ellie remembers, right? She must. It was all Opal ever whistled when it meant You're safe now, little chicks, the coast is clear. 

"June?" Asha touches her shoulder. For a moment, Juniper loses her train of thought as she hears the national anthem start up, and Dick Mulligan swaggers past her in his chaps and black hat, raising his brows at her and giving her a nod as he passes. 

One last con, one last game, you can do this, she tells herself. "I'm not backing out. I can do this, Asha." 

Asha exhales through her nose. "Right." She hands Juniper a number on a piece of paper. "You're after Mulligan. Remember to mark the horse out, or you'll be disqualified on the spot." Her fingers brush a stray curl that's come loose from Juniper's braid. "Lucky number seven." 

Lucky number seven. That's gotta count for something, right? 

Tag list: @walkerismychoice @lizeboredom @debramcg1106 @darley1101 @youwontlikewherewewillgo @choiceslife @regrettingnathan @viktoriapetit @thatcatlady0716 @breaumonts @blackcatkita @enmchoices @llamasgrl @littlecrookedheart @nazariobae @tmarie82 @gardeningourmet @anneross41 @ritachacha @cora-nova

(part one is on the choices archive - choicesfanfic.com under the same name. eventually i will make some new masterlists with the external links.)

[atlas-of-a-human-soul]

Someone I used to know

Summary: Y/N finally moved on from her broken heart. Will a ghost from her past change that?

Pairing: Brett Talbot x witch!reader; Isaac Lahey x witch!reader

Warnings: indications of smut, cursing, mentions of death and abuse

Word count: ~ 2k

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

I was awoken abruptly by my alarm clock ringing. I groaned and went to pull the covers over my head when I felt an arm wrap around me. I gasped in surprise and turned to face the human this arm belonged to. To my utmost pleasure it wasn't a human, rather a werewolf. My werewolf.

„Morning Beauty“ he spoke with a lazy smile on his face.

„Morning Beast“ I reply flinching at the raspiness in my voice.

I've been exclusive with Brett for almost 7 months now, although our flirtations began sometime during the dread doctors debacle. It took me a while to let him in as my heart was still broken from my previous “relationship”, but I've never once regretted it.

Brett was like a dash of fresh air. He made me laugh like no other, he understood me, he listened. Every Monday morning he'd show up at my school with a bouquet of sunflowers because he knew how much I love them. Sometimes he'd sneak inside my room during the night and we'd spend the night cuddling. This apparently happened last night as I was in shock to find him in my bed.

„I can't believe I didn't hear you come in last night“ I murmur and lean closer to him.

„You were sleeping like you were dead“ he smirked and leaned in connecting our lips in a long kiss. He placed his hand on my waist and drew me closer deepening the kiss. As we parted I saw his eyes glow a golden yellow and lips curve up into a smile and I couldn't help but smile back. His kisses always made me breathless, and I was always smug about being able to make his true eyes show. I loved his golden hues.

„We'll be late, but we could have some fun“ he says with a flirtatious tone as his face inches closer to my neck. He knows that once he kisses my neck my resistance will crumble. After just a few delicate touches of his warm, gentle lips my hands will start to do his bidding. I felt a hot breath on my neck, then the tender brush of his lips, burning as they make contact with my neck. A hand runs through my hair, as the kisses become harder and more urgent. Another hand slides around my waist, and pulls me close to his pine scented body.

I was pulled out of the trance by my phone ringing.

„Leave it“, he says as he nibbles on my lower lip.

„It could be Scott.“ I state pulling away and he releases a low growl at the loss of contact. Caller ID showed Liam and I showed Brett and got him even more worked up.

„Ignore him“ he tries to convince me, but I just shake my head and answer the call.

„Hey, Liam, what's up?“ I answer casually.

„One: you two are late. Two: Scott told me to tell you to come to practice today, it's urgent.“ Liam starts making me roll my eyes.

„What's so urgent that it can't wait half an hour longer?“ I ask as I send a coy smile in Brett's direction making him groan and bury his face in a pillow.

„Just trust me, okay?“ Liam says with annoyance in his voice and I roll my eyes once more.

„Fine! We'll be there in 10.“ I reply and get up. Throwing my phone into my bag I go to the bathroom to freshen up. Brett walks up behind me and kisses my shoulder lightly and leans his head in the crook of my neck as I brush my teeth.

„We need to get ready“ I mumble leaning into him, feeling his heart beating that always calms me down.

„I know, I just wanna enjoy this moment a little longer.“ He replies in a whisper and leaves a kiss right below my ear making me shiver.

„You're really cheesy sometimes“ I reply and finish up my morning routine. No glamorous make up today, just a touch of my favorite shade of red lipstick.

We arrive to school about five minutes later than usual. Brett goes to the locker-room to get ready as he agreed to help Liam train in order to keep his wolf side in check. Apparently every supernatural creature was slowly losing control over their abilities, but me. I should have mentioned I'm a witch. I'm not quite on the Bonnie Bennet level, but I'm getting stronger.

I walk to the bleachers and find Mason and Liam conversing. Noticing me approaching Liam stops talking and looks at me like a deer caught in headlights.

„Why are you being all suspicious?“ I raise an eyebrow and he turns to Mason and they begin their weird rambling with a sole purpose of lying their asses off, but I wasn't having it.

„One of you answer my question, slowly, coherently.“ I order and they both stiffen and start arguing about who will be the lucky one to piss me off.

Anger started flickering in my eyes as irritation rolled off me in waves and I knew Liam could sense that too. Just as I was about to resort to yelling I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around me and I instantly relaxed.

„How did you manage to piss of my girl in a matter of five minutes this time DuMbar?“ Brett questions as Liam rolls his eyes.

„Where's Scott? Why am I needed here?“ I add.

„Come with us on the field and you'll see why“, he says making me narrow my eyes in suspicion. What the hell is going on?

I walk slowly to the field with Brett, hand in hand, and just as we enter I look left and see exactly why Scott asked me to come. My heart dropped and my head was spinning. He was here.

„What's with the mood change“, Brett asks, worry laced in his voice.

„That guy right there“ I point to HIM, „He's the one that broke my heart“ I say with a slightly shaky voice and Brett looks up swiftly to see him better.

„So that's Isaac Lahey.“ He states and I nod.

Just as Brett said his name, Isaac turned in our direction and he visibly paled. I guess he didn't know I was coming here either. He turned to Scott and they started whispering vigorously back and forth and I rolled my eyes for the third time this morning and turned to my boyfriend only to see him staring intently at Isaac.

„Hey, you okay?“ I ask him, putting a hand on his cheek.

„He's kinda hot“ he replies making my jaw drop.

„Brett, don't you dare make googly eyes at my ex!“ I exclaim making him laugh lightly.

„Someone jealous?“ He questions with a raised eyebrow and a cocky smile.

„Teeny tiny bit“ I answer honestly and hug him, leaning my head on his chest seeking comfort in the sound of his heartbeat. I'm startled by a low growl rumbling through his chest a few moments later and I look up too see him looking behind me as Isaac was sitting on the bleachers and staring at me.

„Who's jealous now?“ I ask with a smirk and pull him in for a kiss. After that is the heady bliss, feeling his emotions in lips so full of love. There is something unique in all the world about our kiss, and it is that we love one another down to our souls - a sacred bridge between two minds, two souls, two bodies. Brett and I were real, true love kind of real. I was his anchor and he was mine. Nothing was going to change that. Not even Isaac.

As we pull apart he gives me one last peck and a wink before pulling his helmet down and running off to piss off Liam as much as he could. I turn to the man sitting on the bleachers who was now staring at his hands and walk to the other end, refusing to sit next to him.

About five minutes later I felt his presence next to me. I thought he got the message, but apparently I was wrong.

„Hi.“ Isaac says quietly reminding me of the shy boy he used to be when we were growing up.

I look at Brett as he takes his helmet off and gives me a 'is he bothering you' look and I just shake my head.

„Hi.“ I reply calmly and turn to look at him.

Isaac was just as beautiful as I remembered. His dark blonde hair was still perfectly curly making my stomach twist as I remembered how it felt to run my fingers through those soft curls. His large, deep-set blue eyes bore into mine almost as he looked for something he cared for dearly but lost along the way. He wasn't as pale as he used to be...I guess running away from the supernatural drama to France did him good.

„I missed you.“ He states making me scoff.

„Don't even go there.“ I say and look away. I forgot how honest and straightforward he became since the bite. I was used to the shy, timid Isaac. That's mostly how I chose to remember him.

It's a cliche, really. Boy and girl meet, become good friends. Girl falls for the boy and thinks he loves her too, only for him to fall for her friend and run away after her death without a word. I was always there for him, no matter what. Sometimes I was there to let him vent about his dad, sometimes to patch him up after his dad took his frustrations on him, other times to give him a place to stay when things got way out of hand.

I loved him, thinking he was the one, thinking he might love me back, and that's when Derek gave him the bite. He became an arrogant, power-hungry ass that didn't mind hooking up with anything that moved. First, there was Erica, and then there was Allison. Watching them become closer and start falling for each other broke apart pieces of my heart that I thought I'd never get back. Brett pieced me back together and I will always love him for that.

„I'm just saying how I feel.“ Isaac responds.

„So was I. You don't get to disappear for a year and a half without a word and just waltz back here expecting me to wait for you with open arms.“ I remark harshly.

„Oh, I'm so sorry I'm not perfect as you. I was broken and lost and I needed to get away. I needed to do something for myself and I did it. Doesn’t seem like you were lonely without me anyways.“ He replies matching my harsh tone.

„You were broken? Ever though about how I felt? I didn't just lose Allison that night, I lost you too. My best friend, the guy I was madly in love with, I discovered I had supernatural abilities! My life was spiraling and I had no one to talk to as you were the only one I was close enough to talk about all that. You were broken? Well, you broke me too! You can’t blame me for fixing what you broke. Brett made me whole again!“ I shout losing my cool as wind started blowing a bit too fast for a sunny day. My powers were getting out of control.

„You were in love with me?“ He asked stunned by this information.

„I was...not anymore...As far as I'm concerned you're just somebody I used to know.“ I reply and walk towards Brett who was already heading in my direction as he felt the wind pick up.

Brett wraps his arms around me and rubs soothing circles on my back.

„Are you alright, my Beauty?“ He questions lifting my chin up to look into my eyes.

„When you're with me? Always, my Beast.“ I answer honestly as he leans in and gives me a light kiss.

Walking out of the field I notice the net was ripped.

„You did that?“ I ask and he shakes his head.

„Liam. He's losing it.“ He replies and I lean into his side continuing our walk.

Little did I know there was someone else who noticed the ripped net, and that someone did not suspect Liam, rather my boyfriend.

[ecotone99]

[SP] The Carousel Troupe

Under the corrugated iron roof there are twenty men in vests, wearing soot and sweat and suit jackets and glasses. There they build things, tear them down sometimes even, the ground has grates for their spit and piss and, when there is an accident, blood. Together, begrudgingly, they work on a joined project, they have families to feed, a vacation coming up, they need this more than they can express. The project is a carousel. A big one. It has horses, lions leaping to catch the eagles who fly before them, bears bowing down for fish, roaring up at the clouds, a winding Chinese dragon with a seat at each one of the waves in its long python frame. There are gods on chariots, penguins, deer that have fur that changes colours with the season, unicorns with horns of ivory. Ivory is illegal in most parts of the world. Not here.

The workmen sit and spit and drink on the job. Great lengths of fired iron, writhing orange in the centre and white-hot on the outside, sharp with heat, pulled out of metal beasts with metal tools, flying above the floor and curving towards a conveyor belt that they would loop, semi-predictably, onto. Not before, of course, the person working the flaming snake jumps over it. It was a gross, ugly, dangerous, beer-drinking, piss-going, blood-pumping, fire wielding lottery. The winners got the pleasure of living, albeit with a scar, at the very least, to remind them of their time in the warehouse. These conditions were inhumane. Not here.

Up on the steel walkways the foreman would waltz around carefree, the odd spark flew his way, but he was mostly out of the danger. His position as foreman did not, however, grant him privileges to his own bathroom, so his pants would drop like flies, sometimes his fly would drop too, he was a big man. He would aim for the gutters, the grates, ‘guttersnipes’, he called his little game. That is what he would do, scream, “Guttersnipes!” and watch as the workers below scatter as if someone had announced a bombing or the death of a relative and they are compelled to run to the scene (or run away from it) without permission from the foreman. Plenty got hit with the foreman’s piss, plenty more than plenty, he would often only shout once his stream was in the air, and the sooty air meant the workers had a hard time seeing him, and he they. This, in most places, might make the news, maybe even at a reasonable hour depending on the day. Not here.

Then one day they all left, gone, poof. Moving on with their lives, new places, new people, a thousand stories of deaths and the defying of it collecting in a warehouse in the arse-end of nowhere. Leaks sprung in the ceiling, little holes in the paper-thin shield, and it filled up the grates of piss and blood and spit until they overflowed, it smelled for a while before the Winter rain diluted it, dissolved the smells or pulled them further away toward the rivers or sea.

In this time, many-a-teenager climbed in through broken roof or by cutting holes in the weak walls. Here they congregated to smoke and to drink themselves into stupor and silliness, presumably far away from society. A few more came in pairs, dipping behind stacks of wooden boxes and under the metal railings and the foreman’s platform and into debauchery. They would scream and moan and be unsure, the sound would stop at a footstep, sometime people would interrupt, they could hide for hours behind those wooden boxes, nobody ever checked.

It was behind those wooden boxes, stacked high up against a wall, that there appeared a winding trail of blood and the body of a girl, pale and cut up. Dead. She was screaming when she died, a tall man ran off into the darkness streaming red of his own as he did, he collapsed not far away in a field, a stab wound in his side. To this day that don’t know who killed who. One police officer joked to another, as they do joke in these awful situations, “Do we question the carousel?” Ah, but if they had. But if they had.

People came and went, fewer than before, and many were older people checking for younger people or crazy, twitching, poor men and women armed to the teeth with tiredness and sorrow. And those ‘crazy people’ did come, oh how they came! But never maliciously, just with desire for a bed of dirt, perhaps a carousel horse or Chinese dragon to listen to their deepest secrets, their many regrets, how they just wanted, just wanted, just wanted to stop. For that was how they said it, many of them, angrily, in a pique. “To sleep and wake up ten years ago, what a pleasure,” they would say behind their words, with the fear in their eyebrows, a scarcity or abundance of full-stops.

The police would come and ask them to leave, back to the streets, back to the alleyways, back to the wandering about at early morn till dusk, strategising their sleeping place, scurrying like rats through a sitting room, hopeful, terrified. Private property. Unused private property.

One day, a man came in, escorted by people in black shirts and pants, guns at their sides, eagle eyes sweeping over the area. They never spotted the scared old woman behind the boxes, lying on blood of a little girl and her killer.

“She’s beautiful!” said the man, he smiled wide, his teeth and craters where teeth once were on display like piano keys, “They’re beautiful.”

“Really?” said one of the armed escorts, “But it’s all banged up, I mean, look at the fuckin spider!” and laughed. The spider was missing six of its legs and half its eyes.

“This isn’t “banged-up”, this is time-worn. I’ll see that it gets all fixed.” Said the man with the big smile, doting, “Did they say it was a mover?”

The other armed escort piped up, “It’s just a showpiece sir, never made to spin.”

“It’ll spin.” He said, and continued in his beatific trance, “Oh, the canopy! It’s perfect! A Chameleon, elephants! Dolphins! Real ivory! Not illegal here! No, No, No!”

Then sun was bright in the eyes of the carousel animals as they were carried somewhere far away by a new metal beast, one they hadn’t seen before. The top blades spun like the fiery pillars that those men, the workers, would throw about the warehouse, and it flew, flew above fields and water, above houses and cliffs that drove themselves like a wedge deep into the water. Above mountains and little meadows, between caverns and glens, setting down where they would be set down, for they had no control, no freedom. The whole sky and no freedom.

The grass was pushed down as if by a heavy boot when they were brought to land again. It was a great carousel. The water rushed to all sides of the many-ton circle and escaped in one, long, diminishing tidal wave. “Where do you think we are?” said Chameleon

“Somewhere better, I hope. The other place was homey but dreadfully boring.” Said the unicorn, ivory horn casting a sword-blade shadow in the sun.

“Shit to shit, I say. Just being realistic.” Said the bear whose head was bent down to the ground, scanning the metal ground for fish

The animals debated that night, Unicorn and Bear being the two loudest voices. The men in black shirts and pants, no guns now, came to the carousel came after the sun had fell beneath the waves, they brought and screwdriver, a chisel, and a hammer. They moved to Unicorn and did a slow job on his horn, working for one whole torturous hour to rip it out of his head. Illegal here. How he screamed for that hour - and cried after. They couldn’t hear him. It rained that night, they were given no roof or embraces like they might have gotten from the odd person who slept on the dirt or metal, or one of the godly chariots that never had spun around, not even once. It was then that they had agreed, “Shit to shit.”

They were moved to a warehouse at dawn, a large crane-on-wheels rattled and grumbled and smoked a black smoke into the air as it carried them part of the way, calling three more for backup for the rest. The warehouse was clean, there was white clinical walls, yes, but it was warm, there was a roof, there was no blood on the wooden boxes near the corners, there was light from the windows undarkened by dust. There were toilet facilities, no fire-snakes, no foreman screaming “Guttersnipe,” like a mad-king from the speech-giving balcony of his great palace, from which he could watch and see, really see his power, and then, obligation to the body being primary, use his power. There was paperwork done here, signatures, not that the carousel troupe knew what that was. It looked organised, like those teenagers who would roll their sheets up, which were covered in numbers and letters and strange symbols, they called it maths, to smoke them. There was an artistry to it, it felt timeless, every generation had to do it. Or at the very least they should.

The days were long, they talked forever, when they ran out of things to talk about, which had happened a long, long time ago, they played little games. They would play something like chess, same idea anyway, one of the gods had come up with it, or was it the donkey? Spider was the best at it, he never lost. They would call out where they wished to move their pieces on the board, the board was in their heads, and they’d have two adjudicators that would remember the board as well in case either of the players forgot. They often joked that Spider had given up six of her legs and half her eyes for how good she was at the game, and she’d always say that she still had more eyes than anybody else, and still the same number of legs as the gods. As this was going on, the mystery men, the workers new, would tinker away and stare and plan and take their break sitting in the chariots or on the dragon, on the back of a galloping horse, a wolf, a great manticore.

The lights went off, everybody went home to their families and fireplaces and warm beds for the night. The side door of the warehouse opened again; light poured in from the next room over. A man came out, short, thin, with a big piano-key smile. He went over to Horse, whose plastic had been washed of its original chestnut colour and was now a pale as pinewood, his golden reins and wild reddish eyes had never lost their colour though, and so the contrast between he and his clothes grew, and he became more beautiful with time. “We shall run away together, my friend. Escape.” Said the man. Many a murmur of death was past about the carousel that night, Horse heard it all. His soul told him to run, his hooves, welded to the metal floor, his body, pierced with a great metal spear, told him otherwise.

Mr. Aubrey, with his piano-key teeth and midnight visits, was the foreman in this warehouse, factory, building. They couldn’t place what the building really was, not completely, it was too clinical to be a warehouse, not enough heavy machinery to be a factory. The words, as they so often are, were used interchangeably. The late-night visits persisted, the door would crack open, sending a line of yellow light across the clean ground from the room in which Mr. Aubrey liked to stay, and liked to, at night, amble happily out of. He would make his own little changes to Horse, he sparked little fires, shot blue licks of heat into his parts. Horse would scream, blood, if there were any, would curdle, the other plastic-metal animals, poked with spears as he was, would attempt to console him, he would try to listen. He would fail. The man opened up the side hatch of Horse, taking parts out putting new ones in, soldering glowing green and blue orbs that hung from springs and coils and plastic like bells on the leash of a cat. “There, there.” Said Mr. Aubrey, thinking him just plastic and reins, “I do my best not to leave a mark.”

Dragon saw the whole thing, he had two heads, each chasing each other’s tails like a winding ouroboros, yet he was one and could see out of both. “You are Horse no longer, I think.” He said, he had a wise voice, people listened, even if his tenor and his sentence did not match, “We’ll call you Lightning, or Sparks. For all the changes, you understand.”

During the day the workers worked, the foreman watched, at night the foreman snuck around, spoke to Lightning, or Sparks, or Horse, dragged ultraviolet fireworks from his insides, set him alight, and sealed him back up for the workers to come in the next day. This persisted, the need to run persisted, the night time visits, the working men lunching on the chariots and Manticore, on majestic beasts of old and myth, dropping crumbs and water bottles and little leaves of lettuce that flew wildly in the air as if in a hurricane. Until something changed. The other door opened, the one at the front of the warehouse, and in stumbled a man with white hair that sank down below his shoulders. He had on a spiral-patterned beanie that covered his eyebrows and coiled its way around his head. In his left hand there was the top of a bottle jutting out of the top of a brown paper bag. He sang, the words like they were water in his mouth, like waves, ethereal, unintelligible, somehow still soothing.

The new man was someone the carousel troupe had seen a million times before, a man who needed a place to sleep, away from the cold rain which now slapped with the force of hail on the roof. The man put his right hand out and felt the ground, looked absently for cover so that if someone was to enter, he might leave before them seeing, although it would be at least ten hours before a plan like that was possible on account of his loud steps and pronounced wobble. Mr. Aubrey’s door opened a crack, the light shone towards the drunk man’s foot, he didn’t notice, the door was pulled shut. They all silently hoped the police wouldn’t come, wouldn’t force this man out to freeze as they had seen them do before, if they had an inkling of what might happen next they might have prayed for the police, prayed for the man to freeze. Mr. Aubrey shot out of his door like a madman, wielding two large kitchen knives as deftly as any surgeon with scalpels. There was a coldness that ran through the plastic bodies of the troupe under the canopy of the carousel, the same feeling one might get when the see a waterfall at the end of the river they are sailing down. A coldness in the air that Aubrey breathed, a cold off-kilter manner to his half-sprint, half relaxed amble. Mr. Aubrey smiled his piano key smile and cut the man up slowly, letting him scream, but not too loud, letting him bleed, but not too much. He did have to clean it, after all. When the job was done, he put the body somewhere inside the door he always left and came back out to speak to and to change that beast he called Horse. “Mine, you’re my horse. Good horse. Tomorrow, tomorrow.”

Tomorrow came, the men seemed lighter, they had not brought lunchboxes in plastic and paper bags with them. “Ready to be done with this piece of shit?” one of the workers said to another

“Feel bad for those guys on the painting team, that’s gonna be one helluva job. And with Toothy lookin’ over your shoulder.” Said another

“We get to run?” asked Manticore

“Sounds like it.” Said Dragon

“Run where?” asked Chameleon

“Nowhere.” Said Horse, “Fucking nowhere.” He felt sick, his plastic frame and the metal spear growled and shook, he thought it angry with him for hating Mr. Aubrey. He longed for the smell of piss, and blood, and spit, or the fresh open air of the ride on that flying metal beast or the night outdoors in the rain. Anything. Not this factory with no stench, the warmth of new blood on the clinical white. “White, white, white, why is the whole thing white? Where’s the red, from last night, where the yellow and red? Where’s the feeling, the debauchery, the dipping behind the brown boxes, risk, pleasure, death? We’ve been around for too long, my friends. We’ve not changed. Surely, we must have seen small children turn to parents, turn to the police officers, the same ones we would swear at on entry to our domain, time and time again. How long has it been? Too long, I say. They bring us to life now, I say no, I say run, against the metal, against the spears. Fly, Eagle, phoenix, dragon, to the sun and moon our gods, fail and fly and run and die. Manticore, feed, kill, sprint, sweat. Chameleon, disappear, blend, terrify, confuse. My reins are plastic not leather, fake not real, I shall do no such thing as move for these puppet masters.”

The thousand bulbs stuck the canopy lit up, a jaunty circus tune came in and out of earshot menacingly, only one of the rotating speakers on the top was working. The rotation began slowly, the animals and mythical creatures began to dip, rise, dip, rise, dip, rise. Mr. Aubrey jumped on while it was moving, grasped the spear which was stuck through Horse’s chest. He bent his back so that his mouth was beside Horse’s ear, placed his hand on the side of the spear and twisted it. The spear began to dissolve into something other, it was mercurial, it slid down Aubrey’s suit jacket as he rode, it dripped off of Horse’s mane and his plastic skin and down onto the floor of the carousel. Lights flashed on and off, away and back, there was something in them, fire, new flame. The smoke came on first, then the canopy was ablaze, a thousand bulbs exploded, the glass shards spilled out around the troupe.

There was screaming from the other plastic creatures still skewered. Some breathed heavily, although they had no need to breath, other looked about regretting the fact that they had to die in such a place as this, one where you’re more likely to see a dead body that a friend. The sea-creatures screamed the loudest, for they saw it in the most colour, through the most vibrant lens. Where Horse saw an orange flame, the crustaceans and fish and sea-dwelling lizards saw ropes of colours none of the others could comprehend, terrifying colours, colours they had never seen before except at the front of the cigarettes and rolled up sheets those teenagers would roll and smoke. Horse could twist his neck as if it wasn’t plastic, as if had joints, tendons, muscles. Dragon saw Horse looking around, as Dragon sees everything.

His eyes opened as wide as is possible for a plastic dragon, “Go it, Lightning!” he screamed, “Go it, Sparks!”

Aubrey kicked Horse’s sides, his hooves tore away from the metal that was holding him down, bolts and nuts and sense going with him.

How fast he sprinted! How his legs kicked the air to dust behind him! Aubrey hung on barely, the golden reins were studded with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, false all but beautiful the same. Horse was unaware of how he got out of the factory, couldn’t even guess at where he was going, he just knew that his hooves were scraping grass and that he was running faster than any carousel ride would allow. What they had flown over, the cliffs, the glens, the voluptuous fields of golden wheat and grass greener now in the sunset. “Forward!” cried Mr. Aubrey, “Yes!”

Horse did go forward, straight forward to a cliff edge, slowing before he got there, tipping Aubrey over the edge when they arrived.

Horse ran for a bit more, sparks running off his hooves as they scraped away from rocky ground, his mane blowing in the evening wind, running unprotected by bolt or by spear, running with all the risk in the world. Right now, he could die, he could fall and break everything, he could lose himself and topple over cliff edge, die in any number of ways, and it was liberating. Now he need only pick one. His skin was hardening his fur beginning to stick together, to grey. There was a little dirt path nearby, he thought, he shall fly, like Dragon, “Go it, Lightning!” he has said. He ran to cliff above the path, neighed at the strange and tiny birds that littered the grass fields where he trotted. He reared up in the air, forelegs up high above where the cliff stopped, his head held nobly forward like a fighting ox. He froze, plastic, stone, he didn’t care. It wasn’t just his body freezing now but his mind. He smelled the fresh air one last time, the tinge of burn that followed on his run, and he knew his friends were there with him, just as free as him, all on the next leg of their adventure, as he was on his. If a horse could smile, then he was, if not, well, he tried, by God he tried.

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