#does freak accident really sound right in this context

[fueioekjfisks]

Im so sorry im losing my absolute mind but please hear me out for a second.

Mild tw for implied SA - NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENED PEOPLE JUST THINK IT HAPPENED

You know the common misunderstanding au in the danny phandom rn about vlad being a creep and people thinking hes like a CREEPY CREEP and not just a supervillain creep?

Well imagine danny is going on break or something and his dad wants to bring the whole family up to vlads castle for whatever reason.

Danny, obviously, does not want to waste his ONE FREAKING CHANCE of getting some god damn sleep being tormented by vlad and his stupid birds. Plus, vlad will probably plan some big murder plot for his dad and danny CAN. NOT. HANDLE. THAT. RIGHT. NOW.

So danny decides to make a PowerPoint presentation about why he doesnt want to go.

Obviously he cant reveal vlad or his own halfa status so its mostly just really jumbled information about vlad being creepy.

He gets backup from sam, tucker, jazz, and even val. He also knows his mom already dislikes vlad and knows hes a total creep so all he really needs to do is convince his dad.

But??? As hes compiling evidence??? And rehearsing his presentation with hes friends??? He realizes that it sounds super fucked up???

And like, it’s mostly just bad without all the context. But he realizes that Vlad is actually kinda sick in the head. Danny knows he would never actually do something that terrible, but its supper concering how similar his actions are to like, actual bad people.

Danny isnt mad about it or anything, he’s actually just worried about it Vlad.

Danny is not perfect by any means. But Vlad is the only other member of his species besides, like, his fucking clone (which holy shit Vlad what the fuck) or maybe dan who is also fucked up.

Danny knew that Vlads death definitely messed him up, but he never really thought about Vlads actions beyond “obsessive fruitloop, at it again :/“ and is just now realizing that vlad might need psychological help. Which he feels pretty (REALLY) bad about.

Danny has no idea what to do, and no idea who to go to.

So he sneaks out, doesnt even go ghost as he takes the powerpoint to vlad who obviously freaks tf out because holy shit thats SO MUCH WORSE THAN ANYTHING HE COULD HAVE POSSIBLY IMAGINED. What if he had actually hurt daniel? What if he had hurt his precious Madeline?? He needs help like yesterday! How did he ever get so bad???!

So Vlad freaks, trashes his own house, apologizes to danny, and books it through the portal to find the far frozen or somewhere else he can get help.

Danny is somewhat shellshocked about the whole situation. It doesnt get better when people start investigating Vlads disappearance.

The state of the manor indicates foul play and the police look into it further. Find security tapes. They see danny, frazzled and paranoid, enter Vlads property, everything goes to static, and only danny leaves.

Hes arrested of course, and he and his friends/family are interrogated.

Everybody vehemently denies that Danny would ever do such a thing, but when they are asked if danny has potential motives everyone (except for jack) gets all squeamish.

Its practically common knowledge in Amity Park that the mayor and the weird Fenton child had beef. People just were unsure why.

I think it would be really cool to focus a story around the polices pov of the investigation/ random Amity Parkers interpretation of the events.

Danny being kinda creepy after the accident (because death) could totally make people assume he did it and that would be awesome.

We can also add in de-aged Dani/Ellie and or Dan for that extra spice.

Imagine the fentons finding out about Dannys supposed kids in the context that they are MOTIVES FOR THEIR SON TO MURDER THEIR COLLAGE FRIEND ( AND DANNYS OWN GODFATHER) WHO APPARENTLY GROOMED HIM???!? AND THEY DIDNT EVEN NOTICE??!?

This could totally be a crossover too. Lucifer tv show. Batman. Supernatural. All are good.

Anyway, thought this could be kinda interesting

Please continue if you want

[tomarry-harry-meet-more-harry]

Typical time-travel tomarry Harry meet Typical A/B/O Tomarry universe; 3- A Favour?

Context: Following a typical A/B/O Tomarry story, Harry would be an Omega, Voldemort (let's go with snake-face) will be an Alpha. However, the view of Omegas in these omegaverse tend to lean towards weak and easily dominated- so, assuming Harry wasn't born an Omega (otherwise Voldemort wouldn't have deemed him worthy of being the 'chosen one') and instead presented later during his teens, the context I'm going for in this one is the Omegaverse Order summon an other Harry Potter from a different universe to take the place of their own Omega Harry Potter, whom they consider too weak to fight.

Harry blew gently into the mug of hot chocolate he had been given.

Sitting in an armchair next to the fireplace at Grimmauld Place was giving him all manners of deja vu ; if he closed his eyes, he could pretend he was visiting Orion during the Easter Break with Tom lurking just an arm's breadth away, but he could also remember crouching in anticipation with the Weasleys around this exact place, waiting for news of Arthur Weasley's condition after Nagini attacked him.

A good moment and a bad moment.

What does this one count as?

He wasn't even sure how he felt right now.

"….So," he begun slowly. No-one had spoken since Dumbledore (not his own, another one, who looked and sounded and acted just like the one who fell from the Astronomy Tower) explained to him what had really happened. Their gazes weighed heavy on the back of his neck, prickling with pity and caution. It itched on his skin. "To summarise, you guys summoned me, from my universe, into your universe, because different universes exist now, to defeat your Voldemort, because you thought the other me- your Harry- was too weak to do it?"

There were murmurs of affirmations from all around the table.

"Oh," he couldn't stop his voice from coming out strange. His hands trembled around the mug and he clutched it tighter. "I thought…"

Remus (his heart palpitated within his chest so painfully Harry almost glanced up to check if someone had cursed him) reached across the table to fold Harry's hands within his sympathetically. "I'm so sorry, Harry. You must've thought the Sirius of your world was brought back to life?"

That was not quite it, but Harry didn't want to explain the whole time-travelled-back-to-the-1930s-by-accident thing, so he nodded mutely. He would just bring it up later if it became important.

(He had hoped, for one disastrously vulnerable moment that he had been brought back to his own time.)

(Stupidstupidstupidstupid.)

The hands around his own squeezed tightly in encouragement. "I understand if you want to leave-" Moody made an angry noise in the background. "-but we have to get rid of Voldemort. Could you help us? Please, do us a favour?"

Harry remained silent for a moment.

He was angry, for starters.

Voldemort. It was always Voldemort, from his cradle to his cupboard, to Hogwarts, to the Horcrux Hunt, to the 1930s, and now here. Every single aspect of his life always seemed to have Voldemort as centre stage, and nothing seemed to be separate from him. It didn't matter if he in a separate universe, it always seemed to loop right back to Voldemort.

Secondly, he felt so out of place.

He was firstly The Freak at Dursley's, then The Chosen One at Hogwarts, then time-travelled Harry Evans the Transfer Student Who Punched Tom Riddle On The Train, and now this.... whatever this could be.

Lastly, he was tired.

It was also always 'Harry, could you help us?', 'Harry! Help!', 'Save us, Harry!', or 'You're the chosen one, Harry!'. He had loved it at first; handing the Remembrall back to Neville felt like being wanted for the first time in his life. But then-

then-

-dirt blood screaming run run running away HELP HELP HELPUSPLEASE YOUHAVETODEFEATVOLDEMORT ANDDEATHLURKSWITHIN-

Yet Harry always answered.

How could he not?

He often acted first, then thought later, and even if he didn't he knew his conscience would gnaw him hollow inside.

"Alright." he said. It felt like signing his death warrant; tasting bitter at the back of his mouth. "I'll do you this favour. What do you guys know about Horcruxes?"

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence, brief sexuality and language

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/03/review-eight-legged-freaks-2002.html>

Score: 3 out of 5

Eight Legged Freaks is a self-conscious throwback to '50s monster movies that does the job it sets out to do perhaps a little too well. It's the kind of movie you'd imagine American International Pictures themselves (the Blumhouse of the '50s and '60s) would've made back then if they had a big budget and modern CGI technology to spare, a film that gets right up in your face with all manner of icky arachnid goodness that it takes every opportunity it can to throw at the screen, and even though the effects may be dated now, it still works in the context of the lighthearted B-movie that this movie is trying to be. It's a movie where, as gross as it often is, going for an R rating probably would've hurt the campy tone it was going for. Its throwback to old monster movie tropes is a warts-and-all one, admittedly, especially where its paper-thin characters are concerned, such that it starts to wear out its welcome by the end and could've stood to be a bit shorter. That said, it's never not a fun movie, especially if you're not normally into horror, and it's the kind of film that I can easily throw on in the background to improve my mood.

Set in the struggling mining town of Perfection, Arizona, the film opens with an accident involving a truck carrying toxic waste accidentally dumping a barrel of the stuff into a pond that happens to be located right next to the home of a man named Joshua who runs an exotic spider farm. He starts feeding his spiders insects that he sourced from the pond, and before long the spiders start growing to enormous size, eating Joshua and eventually threatening the town, forcing its residents to start banding together for survival. I could go into more detail on the characters, but most of them fall into stock, one-note archetypes and exist mainly to supply the jokes and the yucks, elevated chiefly by the film's surprisingly solid cast. David Arquette's oddly disaffected performance as Chris, the drifter whose father owned the now-shuttered mines and returns to town in order to reopen them, manages to work with the tone the movie is going for, feeling like he doesn't wanna be in this town to begin with and wondering what the hell he got himself into by returning to the dump he grew up in. Kari Wuhrer makes for a compelling action hero as Sam, the hot sheriff who instructs her teenage daughter Ashley (played by a young Scarlett Johansson) how to deal with pervy boys and looks like a badass slaughtering giant spiders throughout the film. Doug E. Doug got some of the funniest moments in the movie as Harlan, a conspiracy radio host who believes that aliens are invading the town. Every one of the actors here knew that they were in a comedy first and a horror movie second, and so they played it broad and had fun with the roles. There are various subplots concerning things like the town's corrupt mayor and his financial schemes, the mayor's douchebag son Bret, and Sam's nerdy son Mike whose interest in spiders winds up saving the day, and they all go in exactly the directions you think, none of them really having much impact on the story but all of them doing their part to make me laugh.

The movie was perhaps a bit too long for its own good, especially in the third act. Normally, this is the part where a movie like this is supposed to "get good" as we have giant monsters running around terrorizing the town, and to the film's credit, the effects still hold up in their own weird way. You can easily tell what's CGI at a glance, but in a movie where the spiders are played as much for a laugh as anything else, especially with the chattering sound they constantly make that makes it sound like they're constantly giggling, it only added to the "live-action cartoon" feel of the movie. The problem is, there are only so many ways you can show people getting merked by giant spiders before they all start to blend together, and the third act is thoroughly devoted to throwing non-stop monster mayhem at the screen even after it started to run out of ideas on that front. There are admittedly a lot of cool spider scenes in this movie, from giant leaping spiders snatching young punks off of dirt bikes to people getting spun up in webs to a tarantula the size of a truck flipping a trailer to a hilarious, Looney Tunes-style fight between a spider and a cat, and the humans themselves also get some good licks in, but towards the end, the film seemed to settle into a routine of just spiders jumping onto people. It was here where the threadbare characters really started to hurt the film. If I had more investment in the people getting killed and fighting to survive, I might have cared more, but eventually, I was just watching a special effects showcase. The poster prominently advertises that this movie is from Dean Devlin, one of the producers and writers of Independence Day and the 1998 American Godzilla adaptation, and while he otherwise had no creative involvement, I did feel that influence in a way that the marketing team probably didn't intend.

The Bottom Line

Eight Legged Freaks is a great movie with which to introduce somebody young or squeamish to horror, especially monster movies. It's shallow and doesn't have much to offer beyond a good cast, a great sense of humor, and a whole lot of CGI spider mayhem without a lot of graphic violence. Overall, it's a fun throwback to old-school monster movies.

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

tw mention of someone dying, manipulation

I'm coming to terms with the fact that my mother is really manipulative, but idk if I'm dumb or used to it but she'll say things that sound super normal but when I think about it more it might be really odd?

She claims to be a psychic and can talk to the dead and stuff. Well, a family friend (my dad's new best friend) died of a freak car accident (actually the second family friend in the past year that that's happened to). My mother decided to speak to him from the dead, and ask about his final words.

More stuff happened, but one of the key things she told me was that he said to her that "I thought your whole deal was rather odd but I just didn't say anything. But now I know that you're performing miracles to help the world around you. Thank you."

For context, my mom and I have a bit of a rocky relationship because sometimes she'll be in the headspace where she is pretty chill and we can talk about her interests and stuff, and sometimes she is in a headspace where she has a bit of a god complex and says and does a lot of bad things (not physical, though she has taken away my access to water before).

I'm never good enough for her and she kept me as isolated as she physically could, even moving to a completely new place where the legal age of adulthood is older so I wouldn't have adult rights.

So like, it's weird that she's trying to say that our family friend that very recently died and expressed disinterest in her psychic stuff and being offput by it while alive has now changed his mind. In a conversation that only happened between him and her because she claimed it happened. And now he apparently believes that people should accept her and her "powers" because she's actually really awesome and great actually

idk.. I wasn't as close to him as my parents were but that still feels kinda disrespectful? maybe?? it's not the first time she's pulled this, she's done it MANY MANY times before (family friend dies, a friend at school moves away and she "checks in on them psychically", a pet dies, even when we moved houses she said the "spirit of the house" said stuff along the lines of "she is wonderful".

Is this manipulation? Would it be considered abusive? Thanks for the help

Hi anon,

I'm so sorry about what you've been going through.

It's not right for your mom to withhold water from you, as well as isolate you, make you feel like you're never good enough for her, and move to a place where the legal age of adulthood is extended just to limit your rights. These things could be described as manipulative or abusive.

In terms of mediumship, it's a bit of a controversial topic, but what I would say is that, I can see where you're coming from and how it seems to be that she's speaking not only on behalf of the deceased, but she's essentially putting words in their mouth that are inconsistent with their beliefs when they were alive, and I don't think that's right. Especially how it seems like she claims the deceased are all just saying good things about her, when in reality she has many problems worth addressing. So you could say it's manipulative to speak for someone who cannot speak for themselves, especially if it's inconsistent with that person's actual beliefs and creates a seemingly perfect image of her character that may not necessarily be accurate.

I hope I could help. If anyone else has any comments or suggestions, feel free to add on. Please let us know if you need anything.

-Bun

[slugmouth]

I’ll just tell myself it was a freak antcident and it won’t happen again lol

ugh now that there was an ant I feel like ants are crawling all over me 😖😖😖

[headinthestaticsky]

Sanctuary with the Enthralling Moon: Jasper Hale x Fleur Swan, Chapter 4

Authors notes: I think this is my least favorite chapter I have wrote... but, I hope you guys like it anyway.

All rights go to Stephanie Meyer, none of the characters in Twilight are mine.

“Stay afloat When it feels like it's all going nowhere And you wanna know But the tide keeps trying to pull you under Let it go You can't fight the waves, boy, it's no wonder If you wanna grow Don't fight what's natural.”

Rush by, Kali Uchis

POV: Back to Fleurs.

Today I had woken up on my own and according to my alarm clock, it was already the afternoon. I stumbled down the stairs, almost running into a wall before making my way to the kitchen. I put my head on the table, trying wake myself up. It was crazy how fast the months had gone by. November and December came by in a flash and Leah and I had been hanging out more. I had almost dosed off in the kitchen when I heard my dad speak.

 “Hey Petal, Sam called... he wanted to see you today.”

“Sam? I didn’t except him to want to see me.”

“He was asking for you.”

“Okay, I’ll head down there now.”

I felt nervous on my way down there, I wondered why Sam was wanting to see me, why Bella was all of the sudden going down there. I stopped the car and sat there for a moment, collecting my nerves and unanswered questions and putting them in the back of my mind. When I got out I saw Sam, he looked pretty different from last year. His hair was cut short, he was way more buff, and he had a tattoo.

“Hey Fleur.”

“Sam.”

I sighed and then started walking toward the beach, Sam was trailing behind me.

“So... Jacob and Bella huh?” Sam started.

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t heard anything about it?”

“No, Bella hasn’t had a civil conversation with me for a solid 5 months.”

“Oh... they’re apparently building dirt bikes down at Billy’s.”

“... She’s trying to kill herself... she won’t make it 5 inches without getting into some kind of accident.”

“Yeah...”

“Look... why did you call me? We haven’t talked for an entire year.”

“ I know you saw Leah yesterday, what did she say to you?.”

“We caught up, and then she told me what happened between you two. Why would you do that to her?”

“Do what?”

“Uh, break up with her after 3 years to then date and get engaged to her cousin? Someone who she was extremely close to mind you.”

“I wish I could tell you Fleur, but it’s complicated.”

“It seems to be all you do lately... You never explained to me why you didn’t want me to date Jasper so bad.”

“Because he’s a...”

“A what? Besides, I’m still dating him... I lived.”

“Of course you’re still with him. Your brain must’ve gotten fried back in Arizona.”

“Hey, don’t you dare insult my intelligence! What is with you? Why are you such a DICK all the time! Besides this isn’t about my relationship, this is about yours!”

“Don’t call me that Fleur.”

“Don’t insult me.”

“Hey, what’s going on down here?”

“Paul, stay out of this!”

“I’ll tell you whats going on, your friend here is being a complete dick!”

“Aww, did he hurt your feelings?” Paul said mockingly.

“Calling someone stupid tends to piss them off.”

“Well you don’t exactly look the intelligent type.”

I whipped my hand back and smacked him, He turned his head back around and started panting heavily. His face was red with anger and rage.

“Fleur... get back. Paul calm down.” Sam said

I slowly took a few steps back. All of the sudden Paul morphed into a wolf, I was frozen in my spot. Paul then took off, away from the beach.

“Sam... saying you turn into a wolf is not complicated... it’s pretty freaking clear. “hey Fleur... I turn into a giant ass werewolf.

“Come on, let’s head back to the house.”

“I would go with you... but I can’t move.”

Sam sighed before picking me up, he started running back down to the house.

“So... I’m going to assume being a werewolf has something to do with what happened Leah huh?”

“Yeah, it does...you see us werewolves have the ability to imprint on someone. This person could be a lover or just have a brother/sister relationship. We’re a protector to that person we imprint on.”

“So you imprinted on Emily...”

“Yeah, the second I locked eyes with her... I couldn’t stop myself from imprinting, it was as if someone else had over taken my body.”

“I get it now, you don’t really have a choice as to who it is, it chooses you.”

“Exactly.”

“Now that I got that part of the context clues it makes you seem way less of a dick...I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“So... if your tribes legend is right, you know that the Cullens are vampires.”

“Yeah we do.”

“Listen, the Cullens are not bad people, they don’t even go after humans.”

“They’re still a bunch of leeches.”

“You need to have some faith in me here Sam. Jasper’s amazing, he would do anything for me. I would do anything for him... we protect each other. Even though, he does a lot more of the protecting than me.”

He sighed

“Okay, okay... I’ll trust him...  but that’s about as far as I will go on that.”

“It’s progress...”

Timeskip: A week later

It seems I was always going down to the reservation anymore after meeting Emily and having the whole imprinting thing cleaned up I was hanging around Sam a lot more. Today I was going to visit Billy and Jacob. I wanted to see if those rumors on the dirt bikes were true. Bella still wasn’t talking to me so... I would have to figure it out myself. When I got there I started walking toward an old red shed, I knocked on it, waiting for someone to answer.

“Come in!”

“Hey Jake, it’s been a while!”

“Fleur!” He ran toward me and spun me around in a hug.

“So are the rumors true? Where are the dirt bikes?”

“Yeah...what are you doing here Fleur.” Bellas voice had jumped in, venom leaked out of it.

“You haven’t talked to me in 3 months Bella. When I hear that you’re somewhere I have to investigate it... Me seeing you is a rare phenomena, it’s like it happens every 100 years.”

“Well you saw me, you can leave now.”

“Make me leave.”

“Okay you two, cool it. You can come with us if you want  We plan on riding the bikes down by the beach.”

“Oh...”

“No... she will not come with us.” Bella interrupted

“No don’t worry about it... I was going down to Sam’s I thought I would stop by on the way.”

Bella scoffed.

“Of course you’d hang out with Sam, Jake has told me about him, I heard he tries to influence people too.”

“Are you trying to insinuate that I made the Cullens leave, again?”

“Glad to know your brain still works.”

“I’m not starting this with you Bella, you’re not worth it I need to go, Emily is excepting me soon. It was nice to see you again Jake.” 

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” Jake looked between us... he looked trapped, caught in the middle of our childish fight.

POV Change: Bella’s

“Can you believe her Jake? I know she’s just trying to get me in trouble with those bikes... she’s probably on her way home telling Dad right now.”

“What’s up with you and Fleur? I really don’t think she came here to find proof of you doing this just to tell your dad.”

“You don’t know her like I do, she’s a manipulator...”

“I’ve just never known Fleur to be like that...”

“You haven’t been around her long enough to know her like I do... Can we talk about something else please?”

“Sure... we need to go anyway.”

Timeskip: To Sam and Emily’s AND a POV Change: Back to Fleur

Emily was making food in the kitchen, she was excepting the rest of the pack to come over today so she had her hands full. I was peeling potatoes and carrots while talking to Emily. It was nice, it was like talking to an older sister.

“So you Bella aren’t doing so well?”

“No... it was so weird, we had been getting along a lot last year... Then all of sudden we got into a fight in Arizona and we haven’t been the same ever since...”

“I understand how you feel, It’s the same way with Leah and I. Ever since Sam and I got together... it just hasn’t been the same.”

“I might be able to help you out with this one... Let’s say that the situation with Sam was flipped. He was with you, vanished for a week, and then imprinted on Leah when he came back. It would be a lot to take in for someone... I don’t mean to make you sound like the bad guy but... if you put yourself in her shoes, you might understand her a bit better.”

“Yeah, you’re right... I couldn’t imagine how that must feel. But, what do I do?”

“Just give her sometime. I’m positive she’ll come around, the way she talks about you to me seems full of love. She just needs some time apart right now.”

‘Okay, that’s fair... I’ll give her some space... thanks Fleur.”

“No probl...”

“Fleur come quick! Bella hit her head she’s bleeding.” Jacob said, he was panting as he if he ran down here. His shirt was missing too.

“Damn it... I knew she shouldn’t of gotten on those bikes... She trips walking on a flat service with nothing in front of her.” 

I ran out of the house, Jake was running quickly behind me, I could see Bella leaning against her truck, holding Jake’s shirt on her head. 

“Do you need me to drive you to the hospital?” I asked.

Bella didn’t even look at me, her head was turned to the side.

“Look, you can still hold a grudge against me... we don’t have to talk the entire way. But you literally bleeding out of your head... you need patched up.”

Bella groaned in annoyance, before throwing me her keys. She opened the truck door and then slammed it shut.

“Thanks for tell me Jake, I better go,”

“No problem.”

We didn’t say one word to each other the entire trip to the hospital, nor did we talk the entire ride home. I of course, had to explain to dad why she had a patch on her head.

“She and Jake were walking on the beach, the sand was a bit too slippery and she fell and hit her head on a rock.”

A week had gone by, Bella was even more tense than usual. Jacob had stopped talking to her after an incident at the movie theater with her and Mike. At least, that’s what dad had told me. My dreams with Jasper were getting more real and intense. The last phone call I had with him seemed like the dreams were starting to get to them. 

Flashback to phone call.

“I saw you again, you were following me where ever I went, but you disappear before I can talk to you.”

“That’s so strange...”

“One day I’m going to call out for you, and you’re actually going to be there.”

“I hope so, I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too.”

Flashback over

“Petal, Harry and I are going on a fishing trip. Watch out for Bella, if she goes anywhere, follow her. I don’t know how she’s doing right now since Jake is talking to her... We don’t need another woods incident.”

“Sure, no problem.”

It seemed as soon as dad had left, Bella planned on leaving, I caught her before she could reach the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Does it matter?”

“No, I was just planning on going for a walk...I thought I would invite you to go with me.”

“Really? Where did you plan on walking then?”

“To the woods.” I lied on the spot

“Fine... I’ll go with you.”

We walked in the woods for a bit, the only sound I could hear was crunching underneath my feet.

“Do you know why Jake hasn’t talked to me?”

“No.” I half lied, I thought I knew what was happening...Billy had said Jacob had mono and he couldn’t even go outside. But, I thought he was changing, that he would become a werewolf soon. 

“Oh come on Fleur, I saw you two talking outside before you went to drive me to the hospital... You want me to be completely isolated from everyone.”

“Are... are you insane? Did that hit you took from the bike accident damage your brain somehow? All I did was thank him for bringing you back.”

“Whatever... this is all your fault!” Bella said, she then sprinted out in the woods, trying to lose me.”

“BELLA!” I yelled and began to chase after her. I found her quickly though, and I saw her hunched on the ground, picking at dead bits of grass. I heard rustling on the other side of the field. Bella heard it too and looked up, she then gasped.

“Laurent?” 

[sixofpomegranates]

Rain in California - Act 1 - California

🥀Mini Series “Rain in California” Act 1 - Part 1 - California🥀

✨My Main Masterlist✨ | 18+ | AO3 | Wattpad

🥀Soundtrack🥀 | ✨Aestethic Trailer✨ |  🥀Masterlist🥀 | Words: 9.4k

A/N: The music used in this story is not owned by me (obviously) & I used it in the same style that 'Rock of ages' and 'Mamma Mia' used songs. I gave them a different meaning and context. The meaning and context are NOT representing the one that the ORIGINAL ARTIST had.

TW: ANGST, mention of loss/death/addiction/sobriety/murder, suicidal thoughts/tendencies, depression, addiction, substance abuse, drugs, alcohol, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP, stalking, death by overdose, mentions of OD, passive aggressiveness, arguing,

Songs in this Chapter: La di die – Nessa Berrett Going to Hell | My Medicine | Heaven Knows – The Pretty Reckless

“Spence?”

 Spencer looked up from his book.

Oh, so now he was allowed to talk with them about the case.

Since the briefing they hadn’t talked to him about anything. Spencer had to beg them, to let him work on this case.

He had really felt left out and why?

Because the stalking victim was a famous Rockstar with addiction issues. Spencer was hurt about his team not wanting him to be on the case because of this. Yes, he had struggled with addiction in the past, but he had been clean for over ten years now.

Was this unfair treatment…this distrust in his sobriety, ever going to stop?

It wasn’t like they had cared much about it when Emily had faked her death or when Maeve died, but this, for them, looked like a too high risk? Because there was a pretty girl involved?

He tried his best not to sound passive aggressive when responding.

 “Yeah, JJ?”, with success.

“I asked if everything´s okay.”

“Sure. Why should anything be wrong?”, the blonde shrugged a little, an apologetic look on her face.

“Well the case-“ “It´s just a stalking case. Nothing we haven’t already seen. I actually wonder why we even need to come. The stalker isn’t aggressive and hasn´t hurt anybody. Right now he´s just importunate. The police should be able to catch this unsub themselves.”, he had accidently let a little of his passive aggressiveness slip and Emily, who was sitting next to JJ, looked at him.

“The record label convinced the police to contact us. They seem worried about their artist.”

“From what I know…this girl can take care of herself.”, Luke snickered, earning himself a ‘Come on, really?’-look from Emily. “Sorry, but have you seen or listened to her music? She could probably beat Reid in a fist fight.”

“Just because she´s making rock music, doesn’t mean she´s tough. But we should talk a little about the case, Reid if you ever feel unco-“, he quickly interrupted her with a snappy tone.

“Why, because she´s an addict? I don’t care about that.”, Emily lifted her hands in a calming manner.

“Okay, jeez. Just the way you´re on edge, since the briefing, doesn’t look like you are okay.”, Spencer took a deep breath, trying to talk calmer this time, now almost pleading in tone.

“I-I know. But I´m clean since was twenty-six. I never touched anything again and I don’t feel the need to. I even regulate my alcohol intake, never drinking more than a beer, maybe two glasses of whiskey. Which means, that statistically all of you are at a higher risk, of becoming addicted, during this case, then I am. You guys need to trust me.”, the dark haired woman sighed and nodded.

“You´re right. I´m- We´re just worried. You´re our friend, Spencer.”, she handed him a file. “Just promise me you talk to one of us, if something changes.”

 He nodded opening the file. A picture of [y/n] looked at him. Dark heavy make-up, dark clothing and jet black hair with colorful streaks.

His younger self would´ve been as attracted as terrified of her.

He flipped through the pages. [y/n] [y/l/n]. Twenty-six years old. Stalker since approximately two years. Nothing extremely outstanding for a stalking case…which was kinda outstanding. No letters, no calls, no pictures, no break in, no threats…sometimes she would get random, expensive present delivered to her mansion, but that was it. Given that she was famous, this presents did not even have to be from a stalker.

 “Are we sure there´s even is a stalker?”, Spencer frowned at his own question, Emily shrugged as a response.

“According to the manager, Philip Schuyler, since the first time she played his concerns down, he gets these calls of a man asking for [y/n] and how she is doing. The label didn’t take it serious after he told them, but then the unsub stole the last finished album from [y/n]´s band ‘Shot Monarch’, before it could get released and distributed, also erasing every digitally existing copy. He then called the manager and send the owner of the record label a letter; typed on a computer, no fingerprints; stating that he wanted to be taken serious. Later [y/n] got the USB, containing all her songs, with a dozen white lilies, her favorite, back per mail with an apology letter; stating that she had done nothing wrong and didn’t need to worry, since he could never harm her or her carrier. That´s when the label pushed the police to contact us.”

“Because they are worried about the music…not the woman.”, JJ sighed, shaking her head.

“Well, that´s the industry. At least her manager is worried. Police states that he got himself a gun license after that and tries to be everywhere [y/n] is.”, Luke added.

“Something about that is off.”, Spencer whispered, rubbing his stubbles, before looking at JJ, Emily and Luke again. “There is nothing that indicates a stalker, but every time somebody doubts his existence, he does something noticeable. I know she is famous and that comes with the stigma of having crazed fans as stalkers, but most stalking in general is committed by someone known to the victim, such as an ex-partner or acquaintance. We should check that out.”, JJ nodded.

“It would also be smart if one of us stays by her site.”, Luke quickly raised his hand.

“I volunteer. I- Like- Really! If necessary I´ll sleep in the SUV.”, Emily raised an eyebrow.

“Can it be that you´re a fan? I heard you and Penelope freak out a little over the case earlier.”, a shy smirk appeared on his lips.

“‘Shot Monarch’ has really good music. Since my road trip a year ago, I love their stuff. Penelope actually tol-”, Spencer interrupted him determined.

“I´ll do it.”, Emily quickly shook her head.

“Reid, no.” “Why not?”, his voice got high, making him quickly cleared his throat. “Because-“ “Because she is taking drugs. Do you trust me that little, Emily?”, Spencer snapped at her and she leaned back into her seat. Sure the others from the team were older than him, but he was in his late thirties, and yet was treated like a child.

 “Fine. If you think you can handle it, do it. But stop being so sassy, I hate that.”, Emily looked at look in defeat. “Luke tell him what you know about [y/n] and the band.”, he nodded pulling out his phone.

“Okay so, [y/n] is the lead singer of ‘Shot Monarch’. She´s from a small town in Ohio and came to LA when she was eighteen, to become a singer after going viral. They are a band since five years, the name never really got explained by them, but it has something to do with the butterfly; at least that’s a fan theory I now from Penelope. Plus it makes sense, because [y/n] has a tattoo of one on the back of her hand.”, Luke flipped through some pictures of older man, reminding Spencer of bikers and insurance agents at the same time. Like middle-aged fathers that liked rock but still had a nine-to-five job.

“Hank, the guitarist, was a lawyer before and in a cover band with his high school friends Tom, the bassist, who worked for an insurance company, and Leroy, the drummer, who was history teacher and is also married to Hank. They met [y/n] at an open mic night and even though she´s twenty-six and they are in their late forties, early fifties, they got along so well, that they became a band. That´s ‘Going to Hell’ by the way. One of the more controversial songs.”, Luke pressed play on the video and already moved the lips to the lyrics.

  “Father did you miss me,

Been locked up a while.

I got caught for what I did but took it all in style.

Laid to rest all my confessions I gave way back when.

Now I'm versed in so much worse,

So I am back again, and he said

For the lives that I take, I'm going to hell!

For the love that I make, I'm going to hell!

Gettin' heavy with the devil, you can hear the wedding bells.”

  “The guitar you´re hearing is a classic Hank. That guy knows what he´s doing.”, Luke added, seemingly in his element, reminding Spencer a lot of Garcia when she was excited.

 Spencer nodded and watched the music video, the overall theme was dark and heavy. [y/n] voice was nice, a little smoky and strong, but everything just sounded so angry. Not really his style, although he preferred older, classical music in general over the ‘normal’ things ‘normal’ people liked. [y/n] wore tightfitting latex, while the men from her band mostly just wore black jeans and shirts, sometimes leather jackets. At one time, she was surrounded by snakes, only wearing white lingerie. She was really pretty, red lipstick making her look like a biting version of Snow White. Like a princess that would rather save herself, becoming the villain along the way, before letting someone else save her.

  “Father did you miss me,

Don't ask me where I've been.

You know I know, yes, I've been told I redefine a sin.

I don't know what's driving me to put this in my head.

Maybe I wish I could die, maybe I am dead!

And he said

For the lives that I fake, I'm going to hell!

For the vows that I break, I'm going to hell!

For the ways that I hurt, when I'm hiking up my skirt.

I am sitting on a throne while they're buried in the dirt.

For the man that I hate, I'm going to hell!

Gettin' heavy with the devil, you can hear the wedding bells.”

  The lyrics and symbolistic in the video mocked parts of the Christian belief system. Such as the bite Eve had taken from the apple, showing [y/n] taking a bite from the forbitten fruit. The last supper and the crucifixion were shown with a dark twist too. This could be a hint of rebellion, to cope with religious trauma, or simply be a way to cause controversy.

“Please forgive me father,

I didn't mean to bother you.

The devil's in me father.

He's inside of everything I do.

For the lives that I take, I'm going to hell!

For the laws that I break, I'm going to hell!

For the love that I hate, I'm going to hell!

For the lies that I make, I'm going to hell!

For the way I condescend and never lend a hand.

My arrogance is making this head buried in the sand.

For the souls I forsake, I'm going to hell!

Gettin' married to the devil, you can hear the wedding bells.”

As the video ended Luke took his phone and put it back into his pocket.

“Their earlier stuff had a little more emotion to it, was about heartbreak, suffering and made you feel. This is one of the more recent ones and you can hear that it´s now mostly just stuff like sex, drugs and anger. Most people think that´s because [y/n] writes all of their music and she´s…seen better days…”, Luke sighed, trying to make it sound as polite as possible.

“Because she started taking drugs?”, Spencer raised his eyebrows, but Luke shook his head. “Oh, no. She, according to many rumors and an interview with her father, has taken drugs since she was a teen. But at this point…she just simply seems to have given up, having chosen to not go deeper with her songs anymore. I mean, they still slap. They just don’t slap your heart anymore, you know?”

“Not so nice, when your father talks to the press about your addiction. Could her father be a suspect?”, JJ asked, making Luke shrug and shake his head at the same time.

“Most likely not. He said in that interview that he wishes her the best, but doesn’t want to speak to her again.”, Emily mouthed a silent ‘ouch’, the whole talk about the rockstars private life making Spencer think.

“Maybe that´s part why she´s taking drugs? Often people use them to cope with-“, Emily interrupted him, profiling [y/n] and her substance abuse, quickly.

“Reid. We´re not going there to fix her, just the stalking situation.”, he nodded, knowing that he had a savior complex, always trying to help and save everybody.

“Exes?”, Spencer asked and Luke shook his head.

“Just one is known, Dean Lennox, singer, now married with kids. He and [y/n] were together for two years and according to him it was toxic. Like, always fighting, jealousy, distrust, fear of being left but she still didn’t want him close at the same time, lying. After their last breakup, he told a gossip magazine, he just couldn’t watch her destroy herself anymore. She never commented on it.”, JJ looked at Spencer worried.

“She seems like a handful, are you sure you can handle her alone?”, he chuckled while nodding.

“I´ve been through worse. How hard can it be to watch a twenty-six year old? When she, like Luke said, really doesn’t want anyone close, I´ll just sit on her couch and let her do her thing.”

*****

After landing in Los Angeles and checking into their hotel, the team drove to police station. There already waited a massage for them with an address. It was from the manager, he wrote that he was terribly sorry, but they needed to come to the recording studio, since the band was on a tight schedule all morning. Luke had tried his best, but Spencer could see his excitement through his tough-guy-façade. He, JJ, Luke and Emily took one of the SUV´s and drove to the address.

 The building they entered was large and with great security. Expensive, white marble flooring in the entire entrance hall. They showed their batches to the lady at the front desk and the security, she called somebody and soon a short, pudgy man, dressed in a designer suit walked out of the elevator and up to them. He smiled at them friendly and shook everyone’s hand.

 “Ah, the agents. I am so glad that you´re here. Hi. Hello. I´m Philip Schuyler, the manager of ‘Shot Monarch’.”, Emily shook his hand and pointed at the team.

“Nice to meet you. I´m unit chief SSA Prentiss, those are SSA Jareau, Alvez and that´s Dr. Spencer Reid. He will take on the job as bodyguard for Miss [y/l/n].”, the man scratched his brown hair, avoiding the bald spot on top.

“Yes, uhm, please just call her [y/n]. She really dislikes being called Miss [y/l/n]. We also already have police and security around her house, so I don’t know how important a personal bodyguard is. I really want this case solved and it would be terrible if we would hinder your work.”, Spencer lifted a finger.

“Actually, it would be better if I´m able to stay close to [y/n]. Normal police and security could probably oversee minor details about the stalker, Mr. Schuyler.”, the man waved off.

“Please, Mr. Schuyler was my father. Philip is completely fine. Everybody calls me that.”, he started walking to the elevator and the agents followed him. “Right now the band´s having a little break. After that, we need to record one more song for the ‘live in the studio’-version of their new album, that just came out. Are you familiar with their music?”, they got into the elevator and Luke already nodded.

“Yeah. Really great. Big fan.”, Emily lifted her hand, silencing Luke.

“I´m sorry. If that´s a problem we can-“, Philip laughed, interrupting her.

“Oh, no, no. [y/n] will love that. She likes meeting fans and showing off her music.”

 They got out of the elevator, walked through the little hallway and entered the large double door in front of them. There was the recording studio. A lot of technical things, Spencer didn’t know much of, and a large glass wall in front of it, showing another room.

 The recording room was large, with a black leather couch and beanbags in it and nice, warm, wooden flooring. A drum set was placed on an vintage looking, red carpet and the overall lighting was warm and inviting as well. The door to the room was open and he could hear the three men, from the band, talking and laughing inside.

 “Guys, can you come out for a bit?”, Philip asked them and they looked up, walking up to them. “Okay, uhm, guys, those are the agents from the FBI. You know? The once coming because of [y/n]´s stalker.”, the largest man, a head taller than Spencer, smiled through his long grey beard that contrasted his bald head.

“Nice to meet you then, I´m Hank. That my husband Leroy,”, they shook hands with the dark skinned, skinny man, who in contrast to his husband was cleanshaven, with short black hair and glasses, “and that´s our friend Tom.”, the chubby, white, blond waved at them friendly.

“Why would like to talk with each of you individually, later at the police station, if that is possible.”, Emily said before introducing her team again, also mentioning Spencer´s duty as bodyguard. Leroy grimaced his face.

“Uh, [y/n] will hate that. The girl does not like being babysat.” “I´m not going to babysit her.”, Spencer answered, making Leroy chuckle. “That´s not how she will see it though.”, Hank sighed and put a hand on Spencer´s shoulder.

“Our girl is going through a lot right now. So it would be nice of you, to not take everything she´s saying personally, okay?”

“Personally?”

 Spencer raised his eyebrows. He desperately hoped [y/n] wouldn’t be a bitch the entire time, since he couldn’t promise to not give her a piece of his mind, if so.

“[y/n]´s a little belligerent…Easy to get triggered and then she blows up like a bomb.”, Tom said and JJ cocked her head. “Is the stalking getting at her?”, Leroy shook his head. “Not really. But her mother died a few months ago and since then…little rough patch. She´ll get better. We all hit rock bottom once.”

“Is she going to therapy?”, Emily asked straight forward, making Tom, the chubby one chuckle. “Not since she hit the last therapist a few years ago. We paid his medical expenses and he was nice enough to not sue her. But we are here to help her, once she´s ready to let us.” “Must be exhausting, for you.”, JJ said empathetic and all the men waved off.

“Because of the drugs? No, it´s not that bad. She´ll collect herself. I have seven kids. Four of them are going through puberty right now. Phil has a toddler and Leroy and Hank have three rescue dogs and a couple of snakes. We can handle her.”, Tom laughed and the rest of the men started too.

“And that little stalker…Imma just say, I´m gonna rip him a new one, should I ever get the chance of meeting him. Counts for all of us.”, Hank added with everyone nodding in agreement.

“[y/n]´s a really nice girl and she´s been through a lot. If you´re nice to her, chances are high she´ll warm up to you and you won´t have any problems.”, Tom said to Spencer making him nod.

“And if she doesn’t?”, the tall doctor didn’t get an answer and just witnessed the rockers share a look.

 Nice girl. Drug issues not so bad. Be nice and maybe she´s nice to you. For Spencer all of that sounded like he would have to walk around on eggshells, while she would blast through walls like a wrecking ball. The manager, Philip, checked his watch and looked around.

 “So, where´s [y/n]? One more song and we´re done. Would be great not to hold up the investigation for too long.”

“She went to the toilet thirty minutes ago. We just ate our sandwiches. She said she wasn’t hungry.”, Leroy answered and at the same moment [y/n] walked in.

 Spencer looked at her and for a moment forgot how to breathe. Short, high waisted, leather skirt, low cut, tank top and biker boots, all black, rounded off with fishnet stockings.  [y/n] looked like she had climbed out of a teenagers wet dream. The perfect, little goth-girlfriend. She stretched a little and Philip looked at her.

 “Bonjour, Philly.”, she said with a sassy undertone, while walking up to him and leaning on his shoulder. He was the same high as her, which wasn’t really tall, about 5,4, if Spencer had to guess.

“Hey, where were you?”, the pudgy man asked her.

“Took a nap in my car.”, she booped his nose and gave him a sheepish little smile. Spencer knew she was high. In fact the whole room knew it.

“You drove here?”, Tom asked shocked and [y/n] grinned sarcastically.

“I guess so, else somebody explain to me why my car´s here.”, Phillip patted her shoulder, looking worried as she took four pills out of an orange pillbox from her bag. He gave her a glass of water and she swallowed them. The men from her band looked at her concerned, making her give them a pearly white smile.

“Headache.”, she explained and they only nodded. Spencer couldn’t help but think, that she wasn’t having a headache and even if she had, it was probably a withdrawal symptom.

“You know that I don’t want you to drive when you´re…”, her manager looked at the agents and stopped talking, making her look at them as well.

“What? Why´d you stop talking? That the fun police?”, she started giggling at her own joke, making the band chuckle, since she clearly didn’t know how accurate she was with her joke.

“That´s the FBI, Princess.”, Hank told her and she made a fake shocked face and then laughed again.

“Officer- No wait, agents, right? I swear I did nothing wrong. Weed´s legal in Cali.”

 The team shared some looks and Spencer couldn’t help but roll his eyes. [y/n] was not just on weed. Most definitely not just on weed.

 “They are here because of your stalker.”, Philip explained and she shrugged almost disappointed.

“Oh, that guy. Well, then hello. Nice to meet you. I´m [y/n].”

 She shook hands with JJ and Emily as they introduced themselves. Luke couldn’t help but breathe in sharply, as he shook her hand and almost choked on his own spit as an aftereffect. She started patting his back with wide opened eyes.

 “Shit, you okay? Asthma?”, [y/n] reached into her black, designer handbag and gave him a bottle with clear liquid. Luke took a sip, quickly grimaced his face and began coughing harder.

“Vodka.”, he stated through his coughing. [y/n] quickly took the bottle from him and took a sip too, without flinching. She then started cracking up at her mistake.

“Whoops. Mixed up the bottles, the other´s probably in my car. Philly, can you bring him…?”, Philip nodded and gave Luke a fresh water bottle from the mini fridge.

 Wow. Vodka hidden in a water bottle. Spencer licked his lips, taking in the view of her bandmates looking at each other. ‘Not that bad’ looked different. ‘Not that bad’ would not have her sleeping in her car, midday, with a bottle of ‘water’ and coming back high as a kite. Luke, by now, had stopped coughing and [y/n] stepped away from him again.

 “You good?”, she asked him, watching him wipe away his tears.

“Y-Yeah. Sorry.”, the black haired girl waved him off.

“Nah, don’t worry. I had asthma till I was twelve.”, he shook his head.

“I- I- No asthma. Just a really big fan.”, she started laughing again and although the light was dimmed, Reid could clearly see Luke´s cheeks turning red.

“Oh, that´s cute. But ‘Take My Breath Away’ is by Berlin.”, that sentence actually made the whole room laugh except for Spencer, who didn’t understand the reference. “What´s your name?”

“Luke Alvez.”, she shook his hand again, this time he didn’t almost choke.

“Well, nice to meet you, Luke. What´s your favorite song of ours?”

“25, no doubt. Really amazing. Like a James Bond song.”, the bandmates chuckled.

“We said that too.”, Leroy snickered, patting Luke´s shoulder and [y/n] nodded.

“It´s also my favorite. Excited to hear one of the new songs?”, Luke nodded excited and she turned her head to Spencer. “We both don’t know each other yet. Hi, I´m [y/n] and you are?”

 She sounded quite collected. Clearly high, but able to think straight if necessary. [y/n] must´ve been doing this for a while now, seeming to have figured out, how much she could handle while working. Spencer had been at that point too once. You wanted to do your work and be good at it, but needed to be high, to make it through the day. So you just tried over a period of time, bit by bit, how much you were able to take before doing a shitty job. ‘Not that bad’ didn’t make you figuring out a system to be high all the time.

 “Dr. Spencer Reid.”, he shook her hand.

“Dr. Reid will be your bodyguard, [y/n].”, Philip explained and quickly earned an angry look, as she let go of Spencer´s hand instantly.

“What? I don’t need a bodyguard, we talked about this.”, she hissed at her manager, but then started laughing after looking Spencer up and down. “And then that guy?”, Philip nodded as she rolled her eyes at him. ‘Do not take it personally’, Spencer told himself.

“I am more than capable of protecting you.”, he stated as friendly as possible, making her giggle.

“From what? A difficult math question?”

 [y/n] mocking tone started to piss him off, but as Spencer felt Emily´s look on him, he played it cool. After all, he had to proof himself able to handle her.

 “Your stalker.”, he corrected her and she licked her lips, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, looking at Luke.

“Since you don’t have asthma, would you mind if I…?”, Luke shook his head and she smiled. “Nice.”, she looked back at Spencer, at his gun. “Philip has a gun too.” “But Philip isn’t an FBI agent.”, Hank told her, making her shake her head in protest, like a little child.

“That´s ridiculous. And all of that just because a stranger sends me stuff, people send me stuff all the time.”

“You should be more worried about this guy.”, Leroy said and Tom nodded in agreement. “Yeah, what if he´s dangerous?”

“What´s the worst that could happen, like honestly, Doctor?”, she cocked her head at Spencer, looking up at him with an almost flirty smile.

“He could kill you.”, he gave back objectively, making the rockers obviously worried. “Geez. You make that sound like it´s a bad thing.”, she snickered and looked over to Luke. “Luke, wanna hear some music?”, he nodded.

“It would be an honor.”, his sentence made her giggle as she walked past him.

“You´re really cute.”

 [y/n] walked into the recording room, Tom, Leroy and Hank following her. She put on her headphones and lit a cigarette, putting the package on the little table next to her mic. Philip closed the door and started pushing some buttons on the sound mixer in front of him. JJ whistled impressed.

 “You do the technical stuff too?”, he nodded, chuckling.

“Since the stalking started, I try having as little people near [y/n] as possible. Thought it might just be a little crush from a weirdo and when he doesn’t get to see her, he gets over it.” “We need a list of the people that worked here though.”, Emily told him and he nodded.

“Of course.”, then he pushed a button and started talking into his microphone. “You guys, ready? Last song. ‘My Medicine’, then we can go home.”

 They all approved of his words and started to playing. [y/n] relighting her cigarette and clearing her throat. Spencer couldn’t tell if that was her simply not caring or doing it for the feeling of the song. However, it seemed to fit the style.

“Somebody mixed my medicine

Somebody mixed my medicine”

“I love this already.”, Luke whispered and JJ chuckled.

“You haven’t even heard anything yet.”, she snickered.

“Doesn’t matter, the feeling is there.”, he lifted his arms, showing her his goosebumps.

“Well you hurt where you sleep and you sleep where you lie

Now you're in deep and now you're gonna cry

Got a woman to your left

And a boy to your right

You start to sweat so

Hold me tight 'cause

Somebody mixed my medicine

I don't know what I'm on

Somebody mixed my medicine

Now baby it’s all gone

Somebody mixed my medicine

And somebody's in my head again

And somebody mixed my medicine again, again”

Spencer watched [y/n] starting to move to the rhythm, swaying her hips and tapping her left foot to the beat, then looked to Philip pressing some buttons.

 “She´s gonna be happy with that one.”, he whispered almost to himself and the next time Spencer looked at the band again, it almost felt like she was attentionally singing in his direction.

“Well I drink what you leak and I smoke what you sigh

See you cross the room with that look in your eye

Got a man to his left and a girl to his right

You start to sweat so

Hold me tight 'cause

Somebody mixed my medicine

I don't know what I'm on

Somebody mixed my medicine

Now baby it’s all gone

Somebody mixed my medicine

Somebody's in my head again

And somebody mixed my medicine again, again”

She started moving her head in a way that made her long black hair fall in her face, framing her features almost delicately. While Spencer starred and earned some grins from [y/n], he could hear Luke whisper with Emily, who actually seemed to like the music too.

“There's a tiger in the room and a baby in the closet”

The room laughed and Spencer looked confused, having JJ tell him, that it was a movie reference. Sometime he felt like an alien, having such simple references fly over his head. Star Trek or Book references would´ve been easier for him…although he still didn’t know what that ‘Twilight’ book was Penelope and JJ talked about a couple of times. Or that other book all the women had talked about in their break….what was it called, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’? They had told him it was a romance novel, so he just assumed it was like ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen.

“Pour another drink mom I don't even want it

Then I turn around and think I see someone that looks like you”

Philip pressed some buttons again, [y/n] now harmonizing with herself.

“Well you hurt where you sleep and you sleep where you lie

Now you're in deep and now you're gonna cry

Got a woman to your left

And a boy to your right

You start to sweat so

Hold me tight 'cause

Somebody mixed my medicine

I don't know what I'm on

Somebody mixed my medicine

Now baby it’s all gone

Somebody mixed my medicine

Somebody's in my head again again

And somebody mixed my medicine

Again, again, again

Again, again, again

Again, again, again”

The music started to slow down again, just like [y/n] movements, making Luke whisper words in awe.

“Somebody mixed my medicine

Somebody mixed my medicine

Somebody mixed my medicine”

Philip and the team applauded as [y/n] took her headphones off and the men put their instruments away.

 “I´m happy with that.”, she said looking at Philip. “You, Philly?”

“Sounded great to me.”, he gave back, happy to answer.

“What about my new favorite fan. Luke?”, Luke quickly pushed Spencer aside to get to the microphone.

“Loved every second of it! Like- Amazing! Really!”, she giggled, throwing her head back and came through the door.

“What about my new guard dog?”, Spencer pointed at himself, not knowing if she was talking about him. “Of course you. So, what do you think, Doctor?”

“I- I don’t really know.”, she raised her eyebrows at his answer.

“Okay? Was it the drugs or just the music in general?”, he felt himself go pale. “Ah, okay. You´re prude, get it. I mean you already have that whole tutor-thing about you, so…Bach or Chopin?”

“Pardon?” “Which one? Or is it Mozart, or the deaf bitch, Beethoven?”, she grinned snarky.

 [y/n] had a mocking tone in her voice, making Spencer feel embarrassed and like he was in school again, when the other kids in high school were making fun of him for not being cool enough. But he was too old to be bullied by a little junkie, who thought she was better than him.

 “I´m surprised somebody like you would even know them.”, her smile vanished.

“Little bitch.”, she snapped at him, stepping closer as he cocked his eyebrows at her. Philip quickly walked between the two of them and smiled.

“So, what are we doing next? The albums done. Taken care of. [y/n] have you eaten something today? You wanna go out for dinner?”

“No, I haven’t and no, I don’t want to, when THAT is around.”, with ‘that’ she clearly meant Spencer.

“Now don’t be grumpy, Princess. You started it.”, Hank told her and she started to pout, shoulders relaxing.

“Wasn’t worth my time anyways.”, she murmured and Spencer felt himself getting proud. This was the first person, trying to bully him, he had stand a chance against.

“So, we´re gonna need you at the police station, if that´s okay?”, Emily asked Leroy, Hank and Tom, who nodded. “And Spencer, you should take [y/n] home and check out her house.” “Mansion.”, [y/n] corrected Emily. “I have a mansion. Worked too hard to have it being called a house.”, Emily only nodded, not letting herself get bothered by her words. Philip nodded, completely ignoring his clients snappiness too.

“I follow you in my car.”, he told Spencer. “[y/n] give Dr. Reid your keys, please.”, she shook her head indignant.

“No. That guy is not driving my car. I´ll drive.”, the whole band now started saying no.

“[y/n], you´re not driving.”, Tom ordered and Leroy nodded. “You´ll get an DUI so quick, it´s not even funny.”, Spencer lifted his hand, waiting for the key. “Oh, come on.”, she groaned, looking at her bandmates like her childish behavior would change their mind.

 A nice sound. An annoying person, not getting what they want. Almost as beautiful as her [y/e/c] eyes, that actually were rather bloodshot, when Spencer thought about it.

 “Should the police pull you over and see that you´re high, they´ll look through your car and I don’t think you want be taking in custody for drug possession, right?”, she handed him her keys and Spencer couldn’t help it and whispered “Thank you”, in the most mocking tone he was able to.

“Fucking cunt.”, she whispered back at him and he just chuckled.

“I´ve been called worse. So your little words don’t hurt me…sorry.”, she then grinned.

“Things like Spencer?”, [y/n] asked him, spitting his name like poison.

 Spencer took a deep breath and watched her go out the door, telling himself to not answer her.

 “Hey, kid.”, Spencer looked at Hank and he just lifted his thumb.

“You held yourself better than we thought you would.”, Leroy added, Emily looking at Spencer concerned.

“You sure you can handle her?”

 He nodded, walking out the door and to the elevator which doors [y/n] was holding open for him.

 “Hurry up, bitch boy! I wanna go home.”

 *****

 Of course the rich, spoiled brat drove an imported sportscar. When Spencer got in, he firstly had to push back the seat, not having enough room for his legs and then tried getting [y/n] to tell him where she lived.

 “Try google, smart ass.”, was her answer and he sighed.

 [y/n] then rolled down her window and grabbed a joint from her glove compartment. Spencer quickly leaned over and snatched it from her hand, making her whine as she tried getting it back.

 “You´re such a bitch. Give me-“, he interrupted her whining.

“No. First tell me you´re address.”, she sat back into her seat.

“Fine. I´ll lead you there.”, [y/n] said, making grabbing motions with her hand and he handed her the joint back. She lit it and smoked out of the window.

 Spencer knew he should have questioned why she gave up and let him win so easily. After ten minutes they weren’t at her mansion, they were at a McDonald´s.

 “You´re fucking kidding me, right?”, he snapped at her and she began to giggle.

“You´re kina hot when you´re angry.”, her flirty grin and the way she bit her lip made him furious, because it was hot.

“What is wrong with you?”, Spencer almost yelled and she leaned back and pointed somewhere. “I´m hungry. Drive-Through. Over there.”

“No.” “Come on. Don’t be a bitch, dog.”, she snickered, resting her feet on the dashboard.

 He looked at her, for a second thinking about simply getting out of the car and leaving, before he could hurt her. Maybe she was really too much for him to handle, the drugs were manageable, but it was her personality that drove him mad, yet he wasn’t someone to give up easily. Cars started to honk behind them.

 “You´re holding up the traffic. I just wanted something to eat.”, [y/n] said, now almost annoyed because she wasn’t getting what she wanted. Spencer took a deep breath.

“Okay.”, she looked at him confused.

“Okay?”, he nodded, pulling into the Drive-Through. He was above this. ‘Give her what she wants, so she´s at least quiet.’

“You win.”

 She started clapping and hugged him, smelling like marijuana and something he couldn’t quite make out. When they came up to the microphone box, [y/n] crawled over Spencer´s lap, forcing him to look and think respectfully. She ordering a bunch of stuff and then looked at him.

 “What do you want? I only have booze at home, so…”, he looked at her a little startled. Was she trying to be nice to him?

“You wanna buy me something?”, she nodded like this behavior was normal to her. “Sure.”

“Surprise me. I never eat fast food, I don’t know what´s good.”

 She nodded and then told the voice from the box to double her order. Sitting back into her seat, [y/n] took out a hundred dollar bill from her purse, handing it to Spencer. When they pulled up by the window, taking their things, the woman in the window nearly lost it when she saw the rockstar, starting to cry. [y/n] was really nice to her and asked her if she wanted to take a photo in the parking lot. Of course the woman said yes and after paying, where [y/n] had left almost fifty bucks as a tip, Spencer had to park and wait till they had made the photo and given an autograph.

 “Okay, now drive before it goes viral. I wanna eat that stuff before it gets cold.”, she told him, taking a sip of one of the milkshakes.

“That was nice.”, she shrugged and then told him her address, telling him she´d scream when they reached it.

 *****

 Lo and behold, no twenty minutes later they parked in front of [y/n] mansion, next to another, more run down car, belonging to Philip. The mansion would´ve made Rossi´s mansion cry. At least twice as big and the property was enormous. In contrast to [y/n], it was very light and minimalistic from the outside and the inside.

 “Most rooms are empty. Too big.”, she explained walking straight into the open living area, that had a large terrace with pool and a view over the Hollywood hills. She put the paper bags filled with food on the large kitchen island and sat on a barstool.

“You could sell it and buy a smaller one.”, [y/n] shrugged and took out a burger, starting to eat it.

“Philip says I´m gonna grow into it.”, she answered, mocking the tone of voice her manager had probably had.

 Spencer watched her type something on her phone and a minute later Philip came into the room.

 “Hey, where were you? I got worried.”, he asked them and [y/n] handed him a salad.

“It´s the one you always have.”, he smiled at her.

“Thank you. You´re so nice.”, she shrugged at his words, not really caring.

“Yours is in here too, dog.”, she now told spencer.

 Ah, yes. She was being bitchy again. Spencer had only waited for it to happen. He said nothing, but walked up to the white kitchen isle and took the bag she pointed at.

 “Milkshake, burger, fries. Fast food essentials.”, she stated, finishing her small cheeseburger and getting up to her fridge, taking out a beer. She held it to Spencer who declined and then to Philip who did the same. “Lame asses.”, she chuckled, opening it and standing at the counter, watching Spencer eat. “So you´re here for…?”

“Technically it would be the easiest for all of us, if I just stayed.”, she raised her brows.

“Staying like, in my house staying?”, he nodded and she shook her head. “No chance. I enjoy my solitude.”

“[y/n]. If it´s easier for the agent and better for you…”, she sighed, opening a drawer and taking out some pills, swallowing them with her beer. “Fucking hell. But don´t expect me to be considerate of you.”, the rockstar told him.

“Should you consume them with alcohol?”, Spencer asked, taking a bite of his burger and she shrugged.

“I´m going to sleep…you guys…do what you want, I don’t care…”

“Do you need me to do your laundry?”, Philip asked and [y/n] shrugged again, it seemed to be her favorite motion. As she walked down the hallways and Phillip yelled after her. “Don’t forget that you have a gig tonight, [y/n]!”

“THAT`S WHY I`M GOING TO SLEEP NOW, DUMB ASS! WAKE ME UP WHEN WE NEED TO GO!”, she yelled back, followed by the smashing of a door.

 “She´s a nice girl.”, Philip said in the middle of the silence, as Spencer took place on one of the barstools.

“Like a car crash.”, the man in his fifties chuckled.

“I know she´s difficult, but in here she´s good.”, he pointed at his heart. “She has suffered a lot of losses in her life.”

“Then, just as a random thought, you should get into therapy before she OD´s.”, Spencer answered sassy.

“I know what you mean. But as long as she doesn’t want help or overdoes it…she has a system.”, Spencer let his head fall back and groaned.

“You know about that fucking thing?” “You too?”, Philip asked back in surprise. “Profiler. Took me no longer than the nap in her car, to figure that out.”

 Yes, a small lie from Spencer, but it sounded better then: Oh yes, I was addicted to dilaudid once. I had a system too!

 “Tell me, how does that train wreck of a system work?”, Philip leaned back from his salad.

“Well, she takes her painkillers in the morning and smokes some cannabis to get out of bed. When we´re touring or she has to be at shootings, interviews or anything else that needs her to focus, she only smokes and takes the pills all day, alcohol in water bottles is a new one though.”, Spencer sighed and thought if he even wanted to know more.

“And when she´s alone or not busy?” “Then she does the harder stuff.” “Harder stuff like cocaine, LSD…?”, Philip nodded. “Nothing with needles though…she´s scared of them.”

“She will not always be, if she continues like that.” “I know. That´s why I do my best to keep her busy. She even has her own recording studio here, knows how to handle everything herself. I thought it might make her spend more time making music than getting high. I also go out with her a lot, to a point where my wife starts to get jealous.”, he laughed bittersweetly. “Have you ever been to Disney World, agent?”, Spencer shook his head. “I take [y/n] there once a week, because she likes it there. I spend more time with her there then with my own daughter.”, [y/n] was famous, no chance people wouldn’t notice her.

“Does she even get to do anything there?”

“Not often. She mostly meets her fans there, but she loves that a lot. She is really sweet to them too, they mean everything to her.”

 That was the first time Philip had said something that was true about [y/n]. She had, not once been mean to a fan. The complete opposite actually. She had been nice and thoughtful, going out of her way to make the woman at the Drive-Through happy and was nice to Luke.

 “I know she was a little mean to you today, but she also bought us food, seeing it as a matter of course. There are two sides to every person, like a coin.”, Like a coin, just that [y/n] sides flipped as quickly like one too. Philip sighed and got up from his barstool. “I´ll show you around a little, if you want to.”

 Spencer nodded, getting up, following the short man around the house.

 *****

 [y/n] had been right.

It was way too big and many of the rooms were empty. When Spencer asked Philip about the necessity of such a big mansion, he told him, that he had hoped to motivate [y/n] to have a family one day. But now the only rooms in use were her bedroom, one of the five guest bedrooms, which Spencer got to stay in, the open living area with kitchen and living room, the recording studio and a little library. The latter made Spencer a little jealous. In the middle of the room even stood a white piano with notes on it. [y/n] also had a lot of books, all dusty, because she never read anymore. He would´ve killed to have his own library…she probably didn’t even value what she had.

 When they returned into the living area, Philip gave Spencer some spare keys, beginning to clean up a little and putting the food in the fridge. [y/n] didn’t lie, when she said, she only had alcohol at home. JJ came over and brought Spencer his go bag, asking him how it was going. Of course he said he was doing great, but couldn’t help but rant to her about [y/n]´s behavior.

 “Well, she is an addict, Spence. You know how erratic some drugs can make you.”, he nodded.

“Yeah, but she really tries pushing me and then, one second to the other, she´s nice and polite. Have you talked to her bandmates?”, JJ laughed.

“Way too long. We had interviews with them and then Luke just couldn’t stop talking to them, he has also taken about a million pictures with them and facetimed Penelope so she could meet them too.”, Spencer chuckled.

“Sounds like they had a good time. Anything else happened? Found out something?”

“[y/n]´s mother was an addict and left the family when she was younger. When she found out her daughter was famous, she got back in touch with her, to borrow money. [y/n] didn’t care and even got her to live with her, in one of the guest bedrooms. She overdosed a few months ago, since then [y/n]´s addiction got worse.”, Spencer´s eyes got wide.

“She didn’t die in the guest bedroom though, right?”

 Just as JJ wanted to answer, [y/n] walked in. Philip walking behind her with a duffle bag.

 “She died in the bathroom and she didn’t overdose perse, she drowned after falling unconscious in the bathtub, while being high.”, she answered cold, seeming to have overheard their conversation. [y/n] grabbed a beer from the fridge and continued calmly while taking some colorful pills. “I found her. The bathroom that it happened in is always locked. Don´t worry.”, Philip fidgeted a little with his hands, looking for his keys.

“Uh-Uhm. Agents? We need to go. The concert…”

“You coming too?”, [y/n] asked, looking at JJ and she shrugged. “We could also invite the cute one…Luke. It´s about 20.000 people so two more won´t hurt…right Philly?”, Phillip nodded.

“You´re all invited. SSA Prentiss as well.”, he said and JJ smiled at them.

“Thank you. That´s very nice, but I´ll have to talk to them first.”, [y/n] shrugged at that and drank her beer.

“You have my number, just call when you know. We start half past eight.”, Philip then took the empty beer bottle from [y/n] and threw it away. “Show time.”

 *****

 Half an hour into the concert Luke had shown up, completely hyped.

 “What did I miss? We had some ex-staff members to talk to. Did they already play ‘Going to Hell’?”, Spencer nodded. “Argh, dammit. Doesn’t matter, that song´s amazing too.”

 During the whole concert Spencer watched [y/n]. The music wasn’t that bad, a little harsh, but it was mix of hard and alternative rock after all. At least that´s what Penelope said, when Luke started facetiming her. After the last costume change, Spencer pulled [y/n] aside. He asked her to not be so ‘touchy’ with her fans. Since she would kneel down and hold their hands. He tried telling her about the risks of having the unsub in the audience, but she only laughed.

 “I´ll be as touchy as I want, bitch.”, he started to frown.

“At least don’t stagedive. Luke says you always do that and the risk of the unsub use-“, she interrupted him, wanting to go on stage.

“Fuck off, dog.”, he held her arm, trying to reason with her.

“Can you ple-“, she tried pulling away, like an angry child.

“No.” “Stop being so fuck-“, [y/n] interrupted him again.

“Stop trying to fucking babysit me.”

“I just want to hel-“, she ripped her arm away. “Yeah, fuck you too.”, the rockstar answered, not letting him finish and walked back on stage.

 Philip walked up to Spencer, having seem the ordeal of him trying to talk to [y/n] and him now  driving the heel of his palm into his eyes. This girl gave him migraines.

 “What happened?”, Philip asked and Luke answered for Spencer.

“He told her not to stagedive.”, Philip laughed a little and shook his head.

“Oh yeah. Never tell her what to do. She hates that and then does it out of spite.”

“You don’t say?”, Spencer answered sarcastically.

 On stage [y/n] took her microphone, saying something to her bandmates and then smiling sweetly, while talking to her fans.

 “This next song is for my lovely new babysitter, who thinks he can tell me what to do.”, the crowd started booing and she laughed. “I know, I know. But it looks like he doesn’t know how things work around here…So I think we have to help him out a little.”

 The music started to play and Luke patted Spencer´s arm.

“She dedicates ‘Heaven Knows’ to you! Penny have you heard? She sings ‘Heaven Knows’ for Reid!”

“NO! SHUT UP!”, the blonde on the phone squeaked.

 He and Garcia started to freak out while Spencer watched [y/n] clapping her thigh and stomping to the beat.

“Jimmy's in the back with a pocket of high

If you listen close, you can hear him cry

Oh Lord, heaven knows, we belong way down below

Sing it!”

She lifted the mic to her audience she started to sing for her.

Oh Lord, heaven knows, we belong way down below, way down below, way down below

“Judy's in the front seat picking up trash

Livin' on the dole, gotta make that cash

Won't be pretty, won't be sweet

She's just sittin' here on her feet singin'

Oh, Lord, heaven knows, we belong way down below

Go!”

Again her fans obeyed her, Luke and Penelope freaking out next to Spencer. If it wouldn’t have been a moment, were he had to fear which move she had planned next to unnerve him, he might have even enjoyed this song and the involvement of her fans in it.

Oh Lord, heaven knows, we belong way down below

“Sing, oh Lord, tell us so, we belong way down below”

She now looked at him for a moment, while her audience sang. Before, again, walking around the stage, touching her fans hands.

Oh Lord, tell us so, we belong way down below

Way down below, way down below, way down below, way down below

“I've had better days, man, I've seen better days

I've had better ways, man, I know better ways

One, two, three and four, the devil's knocking at your door

Caught in the eye of a dead man's lie

Show your life with your head held high

Now you're on your knees with a head on low

Big man tells you where to go

Tell them it's good, tell 'em ok

Don't do a goddamn thing they say”

Spencer was surprised how well her fans knew her lyrics. She would just have to point at them or lift her mic and they would instantly sing were she stopped. Not missing a beat.

Oh Lord, heaven knows, we belong way down below

Oh Lord, tell us so, we belong way down below

Way down below, way down below, way down below, way down below

“I've seen better ways, and I know better ways

I've seen better days, man, I've got better days”

[y/n] now stood at the edge of the stage, back turned to her audience. She smiled directly at Spencer, fingers held like a gun to her head.

“Gina's in the back with a pocket of high

If you listen close you can hear the cryin'”

At the last word she mimicked shooting herself and let herself fall back into the crowd. Her fans got wild and continued her song, while Spencer certainly not in a long time, if ever, felt so much spite and frustration against a woman, other than Cat Adams.

Oh Lord, heaven knows, we belong way down below

Oh Lord, tell us so, we belong way down below

Singin' oh, Lord, heaven knows, we belong way down below

Oh, Lord, tell us so, we belong way down below

The crown placed [y/n] back on her stage, where she walked up to her bandmates again, waving at Spencer and Luke with the sweetest smile.

Way down below, way down below, way down below, way down below, way down below

Way down below, way down below, way down below, way down below, way down below

 *****

 After the concert and the encores she and the band got behind stage, where Spencer for the least thirty minutes had waited to give her a piece of his mind. As [y/n] giggled and walked up to him and Luke. He grabbed her arm, a little harsher than planned.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”, she blinked at his yelling, answering with her innocent eyes blinking and a mocking tone.

“What´s the prob, dog?”

“What´s- Do you really care so little for your own safety?”, Hank came up to them, having seen Spencer´s grip on the girls arm.

“Hey! What´s going on here? [y/n], are you okay?”, Spencer quickly let go of her.

“Yeah, the dog is just pissing himself because I stage dived.”, he quickly took a deep breath.

“I´m not pissing myself, [y/n], but I told you not to do it. What would you have done when your stalker would´ve been in the crowd and lost it? Nobody would´ve been able to get to you fast enough and help!”, Hank looked at her in disappointed shock.

“Is that true, [y/n]?”, the black haired girl ignored her friend and just continued arguing with Spencer.

“Well, maybe I don’t want anybody’s help!”, she hissed at Spencer.

“Then why are we even here?”, Spencer hissed back. “BECAUSE I BRING MONEY! Else the label would let me rot in a fucking corner! GOD! You are ruining my after-show-high. I hate you!”, [y/n] yelled and Spencer tried not to yell back, tried to be the bigger person, only hissing back at her.

“Oh, trust me. That feeling is mutual.”, she swallowed hard and then turned around, stomping away.

 *****

After half an hour waiting, Spencer got a call from Philip, telling him that [y/n] refused to see him again and would be sleeping at his house tonight. He told him, that he should just let himself into the mansion and eat what´s in the fridge. It wasn’t from use, to try talking to [y/n], when she was that angry. Tomorrow Philip would call him and bring her back into Spencer´s care.

Spencer did as told, Luke driving him to the mansion, telling him that it wasn’t his fault. He then got into the large, empty mansion and grabbed himself a well-deserved beer. Being alone in this big house was depressing. After his third beer he stopped, walking into his room.

He pulled his blue and gold sobriety token, he had gotten for being clean ten years, out of his bag. Thumb rubbing over the golden X in the middle of it. He actually had deserved a twelve year token by now, but since prison didn’t actively attended the meetings anymore, having grown past it. Yet, he still kept the tokens he had, close to him.

They reminded him of his achievement, reminded him to be proud at himself.

Spencer never wanted to fall back into the dark hole he was in, when he was addicted, and even when [y/n] would throw tantrum after childish tantrum, she wouldn’t cause him to relapse. He was stronger than this. Stronger than her.

To be continued...

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[potato-an0n]

Part 2 of my really long oddly specific levihan now family fic no one asked for

(part 1 is right here)

Context for this: I'll be using Sophie's (aka drinkyourfuckingmilk) levihan children ocs, but made a few tweaks (here's more info on Samson and Leelu here)

Their personalities are still the same (well, I might tone down their crackhead-ness just a bit) the only difference is their birthdays, and instead of being 1 year apart, they're a few minutes apart, and Samson is the oldest twin by 5 minutes XD.

So...this is going to be REALLY long so be prepared for that.

Ok enjoy!

- Levi came up with the name Sam but Hange thought it sounded basic, so she came up with Samson.

- Levi also came up with Leighla, and then Hange started calling her Leelu as a nickname.

- Samson was a pretty loud baby as Leelu was pretty quiet, however she does get aggressive.

- Leighla once almost slapped Levi in the face when she was hungry.

- Samson makes weird noises whenever Levi is around, and he look at him confused, which made Samson giggle.

- Hange and Levi switch nights to watch over the twins.

- I can imagine Levi singing them to sleep and it actually works.

- Sometimes, Hange would watch from the door.

- Hange would ramble on and on about her experiments to the twins, despite Levi telling her they're not going to get it since they're babies and to at least wait until they can talk.

- When they take the twins outside, Samson would look around the environment they're in, meanwhile Leighla sleeps.

- Hange's parents came to visit to see the twins and offered to babysit them since Levi and Hange looked like they haven't slept, so they let Hange's parents babysit them as they catch up on some sleep.

- Kuchel and Kenny visited at one point to see the twins as well, and Kenny almost dropped Samson bc Samson wanted to be tossed.

- Levi was pissed but held back bc his mom, Hange and the twins are there, however, he didn't let Kenny carry him for awhile.

- The twins took a liking to Erwin, Mike, Nanaba, Moblit, Nifa, Farlan and Isabel.

- Samson and Leighla would sometimes pull on Isabel's pigtails.

- They also pulled Mike's hair and Leighla would lightly slap his face. Levi was amused by this.

- They were surprisingly calm when Erwin and Farlan held them. The twins would just stare at them and then lay on their shoulder.

- Nanaba played peek-a-boo with them and they seem to enjoy it.

- Moblit was a bit hesitant holding the twins, but they took a liking to him bc they started giggling.

- Samson took a huge liking to Nifa.

- Levi didn't feel comfortable with the twins around the 104th squad until they could stand (at least) bc he's afraid either they'll break the twins or the twins will break them.

- Mikasa asked about meeting the twins when she was helping out at the tea shop and went home with Levi to see them.

- Mikasa let out a soft smile as the twins started babbling to her and tried to touch her hair.

- She would try to get them to say her name but failed every time.

- Both Samson and Leighla are pretty active babies. Once they were able to crawl, they would crawl all over the house to the point where Hange would chase after them (she had fun chasing them around though and would praise at how active they are).

- Levi definitely baby proofed the house (and the tea shop)

- Once Hange was able to go back to work, Levi would take the twin to the tea shop to watch over them. They would be in the playpen in his office.

- Petra, Olou, Eld, Gunther, and Eren played with them a lot and gave them a lot of attention.

- As they were nearing their first birthday, the twins learned how to walk (or waddle) .

-Levi would watch them from afar in strict dad mode (aka how he usually is) but later eased up a bit.

- He gave the 104th kids a VERY stern warning to behave (specifically warned Jean, Eren and Connie), be gentle with the twins and made sure that their hands are clean.

- Samson loved the attention he was getting, meanwhile Leighla felt a bit overwhelmed until Armin carried her, she started to feel at ease.

- They occasionally enjoy Connie's silly peek-a-boo face.

- Sasha ate their baby snacks "on accident."

- Jean and Eren would bicker who the twins likes more, but turns out they like Armin, and Mikasa the most.

- Sometimes Ymir and Historia will join the 104th squad and play with the twins.

- Marco sometimes like to watch them crawl around and they'd chill on his lap sometimes.

- One time, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie came into the tea shop and at first, they were confused on what's going on until they saw everyone was playing with Samson and Leighla.

- Samson and Leighla saw Bertholdt and started making grabby hands towards him.

- Bertholdt was a bit nervous, but held them anyways.

- When Bertholdt tried to give them back, they would NOT let go.

- Leighla did not like Annie. She got pretty aggressive when Annie tried to hold her at one point.

- Samson would poke Leighla repeatedly on her face to get her reaction until one time he accidentally poked her eye. She started to cry out of pain and then punched Samson in the face and he started crying.

- You can imagine how that went for Levi and Hange.

- Leighla and Samson were playing with the 104th squad and Leighla wanted Armin to carry her so her first word was Armin.

- Mikasa totally wasn't salty about that.

- The whole squad was freaking out and Armin felt honored.

- Leighla felt proud of herself.

- Levi was about to tell everyone to keep it down, but when he heard Leighla say her first word, he felt so proud of his little girl. He didn't show it, but when he took her to his office to feed her, he softly smiled at her and basically had a little father-daughter bonding time.

- Hange basically twirled her around screaming how she can now talk and smothered her with affections.

- The family was walking in the park, with Hange carrying Samson and Levi carrying Leighla. Samson spotted a butterfly and pointed at it saying bug.

- Hange started squealing "that's my boy!" and then gave a huge lecture on butterflies.

- Even though Samson has no idea what the heck she's saying, he seemed interested.

- Levi sighed, but gave Samson a soft smile and a pat on the head.

Toddlers- 4 years old

- They would make a mess in the living room bc they like to throw pillows at each other.

- Levi obviously scolded them and taught them how to pick up after themselves and where to put their toys away. Remind you they were toddlers.

- At least they learned where to put their toys and didn't scatter them onto the floor.

- They LOVE listening to Hange ramblings, especially Samson.

- She made bedtime stories more interesting, the twins looks forward to that.

- Levi would cuddle them close and listens to Hange telling them bedtime stories.

- Leighla really likes fairy tale stories, I would say her favorite would be Cinderella.

-Idk why, but I feel like Samson would like Alice in Wonderland, actually, they both like Alice in Wonderland.

- Hange would tell them the Grimms brothers version of the fairy tale classics, and although they were fascinated by it, in the long run.....that wasn't a good idea.

- Levi told Hange she shouldn't do that, but ofc, she didn't listen (spoiler, he gave her the "I told you so" look after an incident later in the future)

- Things started getting really busy at the tea shop, so grandma Kuchel would watch over them and they LOVE her, she's so sweet. She would tell them Levi's childhood stories.

- Isabel once babysat them and it was pretty chaotic. They made a blanket fort with her and they would cuddle up watching a movie together, it was so cute.

- Levi wasn't really happy that he's gonna have to clean that up but it was cute and the twins are in one piece so he let it slide.

- Hange took a picture.

- The twins liked riding on Mike's shoulders bc he's so tall.

- Nanaba would sometimes chase them around (idk I thought it'd be cute)

- One time, Hange brought her kids to her work and they wandered off.

- Luckily, Moblit found them in the lab staring at Hange's guinea pigs, Sawney and Bean.

- Moblit took them out for a bit so they can hold them.

- Hange came barreling into the lab out of breath and panicking to Moblit that she can't find the kids, only to find them playing with Sawney and Bean and Moblit.

- Hange ended up rambling about Sawney and Bean to the kids and went into too much detail.

- Nifa saw them playing with Sawney and Bean and decided to join them.

- When they go to the tea shop, Levi would lecture them on what rules to follow, things like not running around, disturbing the staff, steal pastries and don't exit the tea shop.

- Sometimes staff would make them iced fruit teas and give them a cookie to snack on.

- Connie would teach them how to do pranks. He had them one time sprinkle salt into Jean's tea and uhhh Jean spit it in Eren's face which resulted in a fight.

- Levi broke it up and was furious at Connie and the twins.

- He made Connie and the twins apologize and clean up the spill.

- He gave them a really strict lecture when they got home and uh, lets just say that was the first time they've seen Levi genuinely mad and it scared them a bit.

- Their punishment is to clean that they have to do house chores and help out with the tea cafe, they can't be with the 104th squad for a week.

- Hange bursted out laughing when she heard what they did, but stopped when she saw Levi wasn't happy.

- She could tell Levi had a stressful day, so she snuggled against him to comfort him.

- She saw the twins peaking from behind the entrance of the living room and called out to them to join them.

- They hesitantly went to into the living room and sat on the floor next to Hange.

- "What's wrong kiddos? Come here, don't be shy, it's just us."

- Samson and Leighla both squished each other on the left side of the couch and kinda hiding behind Hange.

- Hange picked up what's happening and brought the kids closer to them and gave them a pep talk.

- "Kids, I know you feel scared and guilty, but you know, even if you guys messed up, your dad and I still love you very much ok? And it's ok to make mistakes, it happens to the best of us, even you're perfectionist of a dad messes up sometimes, especially when we first got together but that's another story for when you kids are older. Anyways, the importance of making mistakes is that we make them so we learn from them and grow as people. And in the lab, we make mistakes or errors, but we don't give up, we learn from those errors and study past errors in order to find a way to thoroughly run an experiment and come to an accurate conclusion, there's this one experiment-"

"Hange, I think they get the point."

"Right, so in short, it's good you feel sorry for what you did, and it shows you genuinely care, but even though there will be times where we're going to have to be tough on you, we'll always love you ok?"

- Samson and Leighla apologized for their earlier actions and Levi apologized for yelling at them, and cue the sweet family bonding time on the couch.

This got way too long so part 3

[stxphxn-strange]

truth tea (i’d love it if we made it pt. 2)

a/n: i rewrote this like 7-8 times and I’m happy with this version, so this is the story I’m sticking with! this is the continuation of collegeAU!Tony confronting and opening up about his past (sort of) after his wisdom tooth surgery. there are probably medical inaccuracies and also tw for mention of abusive and unhealthy relationships

summary: the truth was as uncomfortable as waking up in a stuffy room on a summer day. luckily, it was just as easy to open a window as it was to evade the truth

“Pepper you’re so amazing… you’re a godsend.” 

“You’ve said that, Tony. You told me that seven times while we were in the car” 

“Well I’m saying it again! I like giving my friends compliments… unless it bothers you, then I can stop. I don’t want to bother you or make you feel bad, because then I’m a bad friend.” 

“You’re not a bad friend, you’re sweet. You’re a good friend.” 

“I like being Stephen’s friend, and I like- no, I LOVE being his boyfriend. I miss him. I didn’t think you could love someone and be happy with them at the same time.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t think I’d be allowed to be happy and be in love. That would be perfect, and nothing is! Nothing except Stephen, and I miss him! Sometimes I worry I’m going to drive him away, then I’ll be really sad but I’d probably deserve it. He’s the best friend—besides Rhodey!— and the best boyfriend, I’m so lucky to have him!”

“How was your surgery?” 

“Speak of the devil, it’s Rhodey! Honeybear! Sorry. My teeth are gone so my voice carries more. That’s how it works.”

“That’s news to me, but I’m glad to hear that you’re okay.”

“I feel like... I’m at probably 81%. Get it? That’s a B- since I’m minus a boyfriend right now.” 

“He’ll be back soon. You could always sleep, to technically speed up time. He might be back when you wake up.”

“Maybe… Rhodey will you stay with me while I sleep? I feel foggy, and I don’t like it… It reminds me too much of old parties, and I’m a little scared.” 

“Don’t worry Tones, I won’t leave. I won’t let anything like that happen to you again.” 

++++

Anthony fell asleep immediately, curled up between Rhodey and Christine with his head on Rhodey’s shoulder, and he was still deeply asleep when Stephen and Bucky came home. How he managed to sleep through their yelling Christine would never understand. 

Rhodey shushed them immediately, fixing Stephen with a joking look of disappointment. “You of all people should know not to wake up your boyfriend while he’s asleep. Come on dude.” 

Stephen nodded. “Yeah Bucky, why would you make me so angry that I almost wake Anthony up?” 

“You’re testing my patience today, Strange,” Bucky replied. Then he addressed the group. “Is it ethical to cheat in Monopoly? There’s a right answer.” 

“If you’re good enough at it, you won’t need to,” Rhodey said. 

“I was going to say the same thing, but I need context about why you’re arguing? Don’t tell me this is the first time you’re finding out that Stephen cheats when we play?” Christine asked. 

“I only cheated one (1) time, and it was for a good reason,” Stephen argued. 

“I’m not sure if impressing your boyfriend who’s already madly in love with you and who you’ve known forever counts as a good reason,” Bucky said with a shrug. 

“And you know what, exactly, about being in a relationship?” Stephen teased. 

“Well I was going to say that my boyfriend is visiting next weekend,” Bucky explained. “So I actually do know some things about trying to impress your partner, and cheating in Monopoly isn’t the way to rock Steve’s world.”

“Steve?” Anthony mumbled, halfway between awake and asleep. “I still feel foggy.” 

“Go back to sleep Tones, you’re alright. Bucky and Stephen are talking about something,” Rhodey said. 

Anthony forced his eyes open. “Stephen’s back?” 

Stephen sat across from his boyfriend, on the coffee table that technically no one was supposed to sit on, and smiled softly. “Hey.” 

“I missed you,” Anthony said, clumsily reaching for one of his hands. “I don’t feel right. But you’re here, and Rhodey is here, so I don’t think I need to worry. Should I worry?” 

“No, you don’t need to. You were right,” Stephen soothed. “Go back to sleep for a little bit, I’m sorry I woke you up.” 

Anthony closed his eyes again. “I thought I heard someone talking about Steve?” 

“That’s my boyfriend’s name,” Bucky explained from where he sat in the kitchen. 

“I had a Steve,” Anthony mumbled. “He didn’t like me very much, but no one does. Isn’t your boyfriend supposed to like you? Stephen, do you like me?” 

“More than that, I love you,” Stephen replied, his words reminiscent of one of Anthony’s earlier rants. 

Anthony opened his eyes again. “Will you still make me food? And you’ll tell me about your day?” 

“I will, I promise,” Stephen said. “Sleep, that way I won’t bore you with my story later.” 

“You’re never boring,” Anthony murmured, closing his eyes for the third time and falling asleep against Rhodey again.

Stephen smiled sadly as he walked into the kitchen, trying not to give in to his urge to hit pots and pans together. 

“He’s too adorable,” Bucky remarked, somewhat detached from the conversation as he scrolled through his phone. “I didn’t know he had an ex, let alone one with the same name as my boyfriend.” 

“Yeah.” Stephen just shrugged, living the role of the boyfriend who didn’t find his lover’s ex an interesting topic. 

“He sounded fond of him, I’d watch your back, Stephen,” Christine teased. 

Stephen shook his head, a bit angrily. “It’s not my business, but that’s not at all what fondness sounds like. By the way, if you want to play a vanilla game of Monopoly, go ahead. Even if I wasn’t busy, I wouldn’t want to play.” 

“Cool, I’m going to text Hope to come over,” Christine offered.

++++

Anthony woke up again not much later, a little freaked out, slightly disoriented, and far too warm. He still felt foggy and uncomfortable, and his mouth was starting to hurt. All of this was an imperfect storm of feelings and muscle memories that reminded him of unpleasant things, and the mental pain was almost worse than the physical. 

Almost. But Stephen was there, holding him closely and protectively, and that helped to scare some of the memories back into the corner they belonged in. 

“It’s loud in here,” he complained. “Too loud.” 

“Do you want to go to bed? Or just in my room? It should be much quieter,” Stephen offered. 

“I want to sleep. I don’t want to do anything else,” Anthony replied. “Except maybe watch a movie.” 

“Or a TV show?” Stephen suggested. 

“Either, I don’t care. I just don’t feel like doing anything,” Anthony said. 

Stephen heard and understood everything that Anthony said, as well as everything he didn’t say. “I know. You need your rest anyway.” 

“I might never volunteer to sleep again, write this day down for the future.” He was still too warm and nervous and uncomfortable. Anthony knew that Stephen understood what he was saying even in his short responses, but he didn’t want to talk about it. Defaulting to self-deprecating humor always felt like a safe haven. 

For some reason. 

Stephen stood up, gently gathering his boyfriend into his arms. “By the way, now that you’ve gotten your wisdom teeth out—”

“If you ask me whether or not I feel wiser, I’m going to break up with you,” Anthony teased, no heat in his words. “It’s cute how you think you’re funny.” 

“I am!” 

“You’re not.” “I’ll have you know that I’m the greatest comedian of my lifetime.” 

++++

“Now that you’ve all reminded me of how competitive I am, I have an idea,” Bucky said. 

“Oooh everyone shut up, Bucky is about to present his one (1) idea of the month!” Christine announced. 

Bucky rolled his eyes but ignored her. “As I was saying, I had a great idea! My boyfriend is visiting this weekend— yes I know I told most of you that earlier, thank you Christine— and I was thinking we could have a couples’ Uno tournament?”

“What boyfriend?” Anthony asked.

“Remember earlier when I was talking about him?” Bucky replied.

“I remember singing in Pepper’s ear in the car and waking up when Stephen got back, but nothing else,” Anthony said. “So who did I accidentally embarrass?”

“I would say only yourself, you said nice things about everyone but then you wouldn’t stop gushing about Stephen” Christine looked over at Stephen. “He doesn’t know how to shut up when it comes to you.”

“Who wouldn’t talk about me for hours? I’m perfect,” Stephen quipped.

“You cheat at Monopoly, and I haven’t forgotten that time you ate my yogurt,” Christine said.

“It wasn’t labeled, and it was an accident!” Stephen rushed to his own defense. 

“A likely story. I don’t think Ant would ever eat another person’s yogurt,” Christine argued. 

“Don’t drag me into this,” Anthony replied. “I’m shrouded in plausible deniability.” 

Bucky tapped his fork against his plate. “No offense, but can we talk about me again please?” He asked, half jokingly. 

“I think we should talk about me,” Stephen replied. 

“Absolutely not, you haven’t been interesting a day in your life,” Wong teased. “Even the textbook collecting dust at the very back of our bookshelf has more personality than you.” 

Anthony slyly passed his iced tea to Stephen. “You might need this, for that burn.” 

“I thought you loved me!” Stephen pretended to faint, steadying himself by leaning against Anthony’s side. “Anyway, go on Bucky?” 

“What do you think about my idea?” Bucky asked. 

“I feel like playing an Uno couples’ tournament is a bad idea, but in the best way,” Anthony said with a shrug. 

“It’s about the chaos! I don’t even think my boyfriend is that chaotic, but I could be proven wrong,” Bucky said.

“Sorry wait, what boyfriend?” Anthony asked. 

“I think you were asleep when I mentioned him? He goes to school in Vermont but he’s visiting for the weekend. As I understand it he has the same name as your ex?” Bucky replied. 

Anthony looked at him with genuine confusion on his face. “How do you know? I’ve never mentioned Steve to you guys.”

“You did earlier,” Christine told him gently.

“Yeah I don’t remember any of that,” Anthony replied. “Small world I guess.”

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, his name’s Steve Rogers. He’s tall, kinda blond I guess, and he’s an athlete.” 

“That makes no sense to me, you don’t seem like the kind of guy who falls for an athlete,” Wong said. 

“I didn’t think I was, but now I’m living something out of a romantic comedy,” Bucky replied. He made a pitiful attempt to hide his blush. 

Anthony on the other hand made no attempt to hide his forced smile. Perhaps it was lucky that most people assumed it was residual pain from his surgery.

“Tony are you feeling okay?” Christine asked.

“Yeah I’m fine, but a little tired. I might go back to sleep soon. I’m sorry Bucky,” Anthony mumbled.

“For what? You didn’t do anything,” Bucky asked. 

“It’s not a big deal, but… yeah. Sorry,” Anthony repeated. 

“I don’t even know what you’re apologizing to me for,” Bucky replied. “You haven’t done anything, I’m confused.”

“I’m pretty sure the Steve you’re dating is my ex, and that’s just kind of awkward for a lot of reasons. I don’t remember what I said about him, or even if I said anything, but if I talked shit about him in front of you then I’m sorry. I’m not sorry for doing it in general, but just for doing it in front of you,” Anthony said. He shifted nervously in his chair, carefully triple checking everything he thought or said. Now wasn’t the time to go into any of the gross gory painful unpleasant details, not when the Golden Boy evidently made Bucky so happy. 

That would just be selfish. In a way, that would validate everything he said when Anthony finally got the nerves to leave him. He was jolted awake and back into the present when Stephen patiently tapped his shoulder. 

Anthony tried to pretend like nothing was wrong, like he’d just zoned out for a minute and hadn’t almost replayed his breakup like it was a movie matinee. “What? Sorry, I was thinking about something else. I probably should go back to sleep.” 

There was light, awkward chatter around the table as Anthony tidied up and refilled his water bottle. 

“Dude, if something I said made you upset or—”

Always the people pleaser, Anthony cut Bucky off. “No no! You’re fine. It’s weird hearing that your friend is dating your ex but I’m not upset about it. I’m not upset at all, just tired.” 

“You sure?” Bucky asked. “I don’t want to put pressure on you.” 

“And I don’t want you to feel bad, I’m fine.” Anthony smiled, his pleasant expression clearly forced again. “I don’t know how to convince you that I’m not upset, but I’m really not. I’m sorry.” 

Anthony hoped that something he said was believable enough, just so the conversation could end. Yes, he wanted to go to sleep, but he needed to stop talking or thinking about his ex. Unfortunately that was easier said than done, and it was already feeling like sleepless night...

Tags: @stark-strange-love2 @kitkatfat15 @chocopiggy @spooky-n-spunky @maya-custodios-dionach @taruyison @katninjagirl97 @thespacecryptid @majesticnerdynerd 

[bitchapalooza]

More hetalia highschool AU, 🌟magic team🌟 edition :)

Under the cut bc it is long ❤️

Vladimir is that one kid obsessed with Twilight but only for the vampires; it was his first ever exposure to vampires thanks to his dad thinking Twilight was an appropriate book for a 11 year old. Team Edward going strong for five years, he'd proudly declare like it actually mattered. He tries his best to dress goth at school even though his uniform gets in the way. Fake ear piercings(his parents won't let him pierce them yet), over the top makeup, he's dyed the top half of his shoes black because his parents were concerned about his obsession with black and wouldn't buy him the black tennies he wanted— "mom look, these are marked down for back to school! Can I pleeeease get them???" "....may I know why the black ones specifically?" "They match the ever nothingness of my soul." "Yep! The white ones it is then!" "Mooooooooooom!"— Vladimir has been dubbed the cringy vampire kid of course.

Lukas is into pretty much anything concerning cryptids and magical creatures because they can't be proven to be fake or real, which intrigues him. He carries a book about mushrooms at all times and info dumps on pretty much anyone about identifying poisonous mushrooms and which mushrooms are safe to eat. His backpack is covered in buttons and pins to show off his interests. He keeps an amethyst in the front pocket of his backpack, reason unknown other than to just randomly pull it out and let Mikkel look at it. He's that kid that always wears his hoodie no matter the season, he never takes it off. Under his hoodie is always a crude worded t-shirt that the school would not approve of, much less his parents. He's relatively quiet and because he's quiet he's considered a weird kid.

Arthur can't decide if punk is his style or if goth is. Either way, his way of self expression at school in addition to the uniform is horrible. Checkered black/red shoes his grandma got him with his older brother's hand me down worn out greying socks—"can I PLEASE just have my own clothes???" "we have perfectly good clothes for you in the garage! I can fix them up to fit you better and everything!" "but I want cool NEW clothes!" "those are cool clothes and as far as the other kids know, they're also new. Now get your transformer backpack and get to the car. I put a new patch on it last night so that should hold it for the rest of the year."— Old Pierce the veil shirt, with holes chewed into the collar from his older brother Dillan, peeking out from under his white polo. A black and red choker to match his black and red slowly tearing apart too big flannel on top of a black pull over. A deep blue beanie, the hoodie of his pull over almost constantly on top when outside the school. He dyes a part of his hair a different color every month. He spikes his hair using too much gel and is convinced he looks good. He talks too much about bands and always gets Vlad and Lukas going on and on about fictional creatures he does not FULLY believe in himself. He does, however, believe in magic and loves Harry Potter, more specifically the Weaselys, to bits.

Natalya is a sophomore, a year behind the boys, and she just kinda pushed her way into the friend group until they eventually accepted her into it. They were the only three she knew who liked occult related topics. She's on the baseball team because she wanted an excuse to hit things with another thing and NOT get detention because of it. She wears the khaki uniform skirt and takes full advantage over being able to wear any kind of tights underneath; skull pattern, plain black, blood splatter pattern, fire pattern. Anything that makes her feel like a badass. She's always talking about antiques and forging weapons, more specifically knives. She has a whole collection of fidget toys but her favorite is this pea pod keychain her father gave her. She's always talking about how she'd like to be a medical examiner and to just prove that she's serious, she'll bring up a picture of a human model and point out the difference between a self inflicted fatal wound and a homicide. She puts up a charade of being able to see and talk to ghosts to freak out Alfred, her extended friend first met through Tolys.

They collectively believe they're cool and that other people know this. They're genuinely blind to the obvious snickers sent their way, being called losers and nerds. They're really knowm for like really pathetic things like; Natalya is Ivan's, tallest and most intimidating member of the wrestling team, weird younger sister by a year. Lukas is just the weird quiet kid that reads by the courtyard garden during lunch. Vladimir is not only the vampire goth kid but the kid who's parents believe the teachers are giving his son low grades on purpose and will yell at them for it. And Arthur is just. He's another Kirkland, immediately assumed to be a massive trouble maker because of his now graduated brother Alistair and one grade above him brother Dillan. Everyone loved his eldest brother Darick and sometimes compare him to Darick.

Compared to what others THINK they do, such as witch craft for some odd reason, the four of them do pretty typical teen activities. Like hang out at the mall. Do their honework together. Play video games and D&D when they have the chance. The boys do have sleepovers still as they have since meeting each other in middle school, Nat not really being a fan of sleeping where she doesn't live but comfortable enough to go to their houses and just chill for the day. They have become friends because of their related interests but thats not what they're ALL ABOUT.

Fun facts/stories about these losers I thought about while bored as fuck:

• Lukas, in his freshman year, went on a nature hike field trip with his lit class after reading Into The Wild. And he brought his mushroom book of course. They walked around, looking at the sights, talked about the book. Lukas just stops at one point, falling behind the class. He picks up a mushroom, goes to the teacher and is like "You see this? Its not poisonous." And straight up fucking eats it without warning. The teacher called an ambulance even though Lukas kept telling him he was fine and that that mushroom was 100% okay to eat raw, but for sure better off cooked. Lukas calmly shows the paramedics his book and they're like "yeah that actually was safe to eat, we don't need the book to confirm that, but um. Please don't ever pick something off the ground and eat it again. Just. Please don't do that, son." .....he did it again before leaving to go back to school but this time he didn't tell anyone.

• In elementary school, Natalya brought in a model of the human brain she asked her dad to borrow. He had to say yes because she was his only child genuinely interested, not bored of, his medical profession and he found it very cute and honoring. So she's at show and tell, its her turn right, and she silently goes up to the front of the class and pulls out the model brain. Teacher tries to step in because, hey, these are 6 year olds—AND WHY DOES THIS 6 YEAR OLD HAVE A PLASTIC BRAIN??? But Nat just shooshes her. In surprised shock, the teacher is just quiet as Nat begins to explain parts of the brain and their function— which was all wrong actually. She knew the words and everything but she didn't get the locations right. She sounded confident and smart and she was telling this to a bunch of 6 year olds so they believed her of course. End of the school day, her dad is having a hilarious conference with his youngest's teacher about the brain incident.

• Vladimir loves reading. He's loved it since he began to learn how, even if his dyslexia gives him grief along the way. So since he loves to read he'll always get excited and read ahead in class or in the public library reading club. One summer, the reading club was reading The Giver and it was getting really good. Vlad was loving the story, so much so that Vlad began to read ahead in his own time when he really wasn't supposed to be, the club was reading it together out loud and discussing it. Now he's read enough and worked hard enough to figure out how to help himself focus better and understand each word and sentence without having to reread it all multiple times over or get stuck. But sometimes the meaning and context to what he's reading doesn't ALWAYS process with the words as he's too focused on reading the words right and it passes right over his head. So Vlad is reading ahead and he's getting to the part where The Giver has given Jonas the memory of the sled again. And Vlad just sits there after reading that paragraph. He rereads it. And rereads it again. And then he leaves his book on his bed, goes to the the hall closet and takes out the ironing board. He grabs a plastic container to use as an ill attempt of a helmet and he just. Rockets down the staircase and hits the wall. He screams and cries and his parents rush in from the livingroom. When asked what happened he just says "I wanted to understand the sled scene better! Now I do and I feel really bad for Jonas!" He just couldn't quite grasp WHY the sled accident hurt, never had a broken bone nor sled afterall, and needed to find out. And that's how Vlad got his first broken arm at the age of 12.

• When Alfred and Matthew moved in with Arthur's family, Arthur didn't like it. He was a moody young teen but he was also just tired of the full house. His cousins were loud and nosey. He had to share a room with his four older brothers already and now with Matthew while Kathleen and Alfred got a room to themselves. Arthur thought this was so unfair. So his solution was to run away. He was 13, he needed a place to have some peace and quiet for once. So he texts Francis and Lukas, the only two of his friends living in his neighnorhood. Francis is not on board with helping him run away at first but then Lukas brings literally all his camping gear for Arthur's use and then Francis is on board because he had the feeling Arthur was going to get himself killed somehow. So as the elder one of the group he accompanied Arthur and Lukas out to the short stretch of woods behind the last street of their neighborhood, intending to go to the big clearing before hitting the roads leading to the airport and whatever else buildings. They're out there setting everything up together and they're done by like 4 pm. They sit down and talk, munch on oreos and other snacks Arthur deemed as essential survival foods. Then Francis looks at his cell and remarks "wow its already 6! Ah, Lukas, we should get home. Afterall, neither of us ran away so we still have supper to eat. Come on Lukas, let's go before our parents come looking for us." They exchange goodbyes, Francis trying his best to hide his cocky smirk. So Lukas and Francis start walking off, Arthur crawls into the tent and eats half a cookie before frowning and feeling too alone. He didn't expect to feel alone because all he wanted was to BE ALONE. Before he knows it, he's running out of the tent yelling after his friends to stop and wait up. "Oh whats wrong, Arthur? I thought you wanted to run away." "I— I forgot I hadn't fed my rabbit is all! I'll run away tomorrow! I'm not... Feeling lonely if.. If that's what you think...." Arthur did not run away the next day. Buuuuuut the three plus Vlad made a tree house together in the Kirkland backyard that they still use today!

[snickiebear]

yo nadia <3333 i'm bored in my online classes and u reblogged the questions thingy at the right time lmao, so get ready: 1, 4, 5, 9, 10, 17, 23, 24, 28, 30!!!, 34, 38, 39, 40 (the intimacy of being understood) (imma stop here lol) (also i'm sorry u're not feeling well, ily and hope u'll feel better soon!! <33333)

ELE ILY. (and thank you, i’m stayin home today cause,,, yeah. i appreciate you sm.) you’re the literal best, i adore you. 

1. How long ago did you start reading fanfiction? Writing fanfiction?

The first fanfiction i read was for The Lunar Chronicles when I was like 11?? and it was 100% on accident and it scarred me because it was a hardcore porn one with a period kink and i was like WHAT IS THIS??? OH MY GOD???? LMAOOOOO i didn’t pick it back up until i was 13-14 and really got into the Fairy Tail fandom. I still reread my favorites on ff.net cause i love them. 

As for writing, I wrote a horrible, terrible x-men fanfiction when I was twelve. (my friend still brings it up and REFUSES to delete it so it still gets comments and views, that shit HAUNTS ME ELE.) then tried again for Fairy Tail, posted like two chapters before taking it down cause i wasn’t really feeling it. And then I posted The Intimacy Of Being Understood and here we are. 

4. Link your three favorite fics right now.

OMGG okok 

@murd3rm1ttens ‘s The Problem How Time Works IF YOU HAVENT READ THIS YOU GUYS NEED TO HOP ON IT ASAP. MITTEN’S WRITING SO SO SO SO GOOD. SAKURA AND INO ARE TOTAL BADASSES. KAKASHI IS A SIMPPPP. ITS SO FUCKING GOOD. 

@mouseymightymarvellous ‘s We Were Screaming In Color (Only A Possibility) yes, yes I KNOW. i always point into mousey’s direction but i WILL always advocate that everyone reads her fics, they’re literally so beautiful???? i just happen to be rereading WWSIN rn 

@safelycapricious ‘s Shaking Up And Breaking Down series. I found this like?? idfk but i’ve been raving about it ever since. ALSO CHECK OUT THEIR FICS IN GENERAL. 

fuck i have more than three but also check out @ambivalens999 ‘s Masks

i do wanna make a fic rec thing where i just rav about my favs,,, might do that later or sum

5. What are your fanfic pet peeves? Do they have a huge effect on whether or not you decide to read something?

Omniscient third person. I don’t like it. Like I can understand that it can be a little hard to stay in one person’s perspective but, in my opinion, if you can, it shows how disciplined you are as a writer. Plus, i just get so confused when I go from A’s thoughts to suddenly what B is thinking about A. 

When writers use ‘ ‘ instead of “ “. When writers put thoughts in ‘ ‘ instead of just italicizing them. It’s small things but like they just bother me sO MUCH. most of the time i can ignore it and try to enjoy but other times i just dip. 

9. Tag 3 fic writers you think are underrated/unknown in the fandom/fanfiction community.

@espoir-et-reves !!!!! THEIR SHISAKU FICS ARE SO SO SO SO SO GOOD. And they have a warring states one going on THAT I AM SO OBSESSED WITH. 

@writer168 idk if they’re really “underrated” but THEY HAVE SUCH GREAT FICS ON AO3. Like theres an AU with sakura, kiba, and shino that i reread constantly because it just. is. so. fucking. GOOD. and they posted a new one that i’m YELLING about. 

@eggtoasties okay they only have 2 in the naruto fandom (one shisaku which is still ongoing) BUT THEIR WRITING STYLE IS SO NICE?? I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. I still go back and reread their shikasaku one cause UGH i can’t get enough. I love it. 

10. What’s your favorite fandom, pairing, or character to read fic for?

Fandoms: Naruto, Soul Eater, The Old Guard, ATLA

Parings: KakaSaku/ShikaSaku/ShiSaku/MultiSaku, SoMa, Joe X Nicky, Zukka

Character: SAKURA. I will read anything with Sakura as the main character and her being a fuckin badass or becoming a badass. I love her.

17. How obsessively do you sit and stare at your fic after you’ve just posted and wait for feedback?

aha.. haha.. well. I check my email like three times an hour. its the first thing i check in the mornings too. I’m literally a whore for praise and literally eat up feedback like its going out of style. I also reread a lot of my stuff because i make so many mistakes and spelling errors, or the spacing is weird oR SOMETHING. plus, literally any and all comments make my day, i go back and reread them cause they just make me feel so tingly and warm like “wow. this person enjoyed the fic/my writing enough to tell me. thats HUGE!”

23. What’s your absolute favorite trope to write?

Angry, feral, bloodied, morally gray women. They aren’t bad guys, they’re probably the good guy, but that doesn’t mean they cant be fucking raging at the world with raw knuckles and blood on their teeth. I just love an angry woman who struggles with her emotions and just has so much inner conflict but that doesn’t take away from her character or badassery, it adds to it. 

24. What’s a trope that you’d like to never hear about as long as you live, let alone write?

The fake dating or miscommunication troupe. LIKE GUYS JUST TALK. AND TELL EACH OTHER OMFG. the entire like obliviousness of “nah they dont like me” while the They holds their hand and kisses their cheek. MOFO WHAT. it makes me so impatient and like mad HAAHHAHA. its probably because i’m a pretty confrontational person so seeing stuff like that just “cmon bro, USE YO HEAD.”

28. How do you deal with writing pressure (ie: pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc)?

I have yet to receive a negative comment! Which i was really surprised about tbh. As for deadlines or pressure to update, i just kind of do whatever. I do set goals, but i set them flexible enough that hey, if i can’t do it, that’s okay. 

I have a lot of mini goals, like “i want to write this chapter and get it done this week” and then the large goal is “FINISH BY END OF MAY” so i have time. 

Actually, now that I think on it, the entire pressure to update thing is probably why i’m waiting until I have all of OL&W written to post it weekly,, cause well. I wouldn’t wanna leave you guys waiting as I tried to write and work out the next chapters and stuff, you know?

30. Post a snippet from your current WIP without context - no more than 300 words.

AAAAAA YOU KNOW I LOVE THESE AHAHAHAH

Have you seen the way the dead dance, World Breaker? They roar, half mad and starving. Do you not wish, do you not hope to see them twist and bend and dance to your will?

Shikamaru snarls, looking behind his shoulders to where his Shadows lay. “Patience.” He spits. “Is of the essence, Things of Ancient. Know your place as the dark you are.”

34. How much of yourself and your life experiences do you put into your writing? What do you think your readers’ image of you is?

None of my experiences match up to anything I write tbh,,, probably the only thing that is me in my writing is maybe the emotional turmoil? I’m pretty emotionally and mentally mature because from a pretty young age i started forming my own opinions, started looking into the world around us and being like “dude what the fuck this is not what disney advertised”. Then i started talking (read: arguing and debating) with my dad about a lot of it. So, like emotions are kind of hard for me. Like i’m pretty good at controlling them or understanding them, but still. idk its hard to explain ig.

Like the weight of stress, the anger, the sadness. It’s kind of therapeutic to write. Cause i don’t know how to put those feelings to verbal words so writing them really helps. 

As for my readers’ image? Probably like some kind of hunched over figure typing away in the dark with a maniacal grin on their face. I honestly don’t know AHHAHAHA but it is fun to think about. I think they’d see me as someone with potential but a lot of room to grow and someone who is imperfect but in a charming way LMAOOOO

38. What does your writing process look like? How chaotic is it on a scale of 1 (very tame) to 10 (you can’t handle this kind of chaos)?

I’m gonna be real honest. Its probably like a 2. I’m a bit of a control freak so I almost always go in chronological order, my writing is pretty linear. Unless, i get bored and jump to one of my fav parts. It's pretty much i sit down, i open the doc, read over my notes and just start writing. 

It’s a little boring to explain AHAHAHA but once i get into the groove of things its really fucking great, I can like feel myself in the world, I can feel what i want the characters to, i love it. I catch myself mouthing the words as i type too, which i find hilarious.

39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

I rather like how raw my writing is sometimes. Which might sound really vain, but i do like the way i word things or describe things. I love juxtaposition and repetition, or making a good ole circle back to some minute detail that wouldn’t stand out until i repeat it at the end and you’re like “omg” AHAHAHAHA.

Like those little poetic snippets or certain wording i just sit back and go “damn thats kinda good nadia! go you!’ HAHAHA  

40. How did you come up with the idea for The Intimacy Of Being Understood?

AAAAA this fic is like my first child, my pride and joy LMAO

so the idea initially came when i was reading some fic, idk if it was even naruto, but i was like “i don't like this, but i do like the rain symbolism.” And I knew i wanted to write something kind of slow paced, something a little sad and angsty, but would show KakaSaku slowly but surely falling in love.

Idk if you’ve noticed but a lot of my fics, the pairings don’t change each other dramatically. They accept each other as they are and then they grow with together. Like that acceptance is something i just love writing, its so subtle, it isn’t something you declare. Its simply “I am going to love you. I am going to love you despite your flaws and faults. I am going to love you unconditionally because I know you, I understand you, and there is nothing you could do to drive me away.” 

The fic kind of wrote itself after that first scene. I kept going back to the rain, go being ghosts, and resurrection, and the small epiphanies one gets. I wanted to focus on each character’s growth with each other. They didn’t find light in life because of each other, but with each other. And i think that’s my favorite thing about that fic. 

I wanted something raw and real and just something beautiful. I’m actually really proud of it tbh. Would i go back and rewrite/edit it? Oh of course! I’d do that with every single one of my fics, but i’m not gonna cause i think its in its rawest form right now. :))))

ask me shit plz

[atlas-of-a-human-soul]

frENEMIES, pt. 3 {Quarterback AU}

Summary: Locked in the supply closet together, the pair actually manages to resolve some of their issues but new ones arise when they realize the other side of hate is love and while one is willing to accept to cross the fine line, the other one will run scared.

Warnings: angst, swearing, panic attack, sexual innuendos and talk of sex

Part 1   Part 2

"Just stay with me tonight. Okay?" Grayson takes her hand, gingerly pulling her closer and while he wishes he could ignore the turmoil in her eyes, the hesitation in every inch of distance she closed between them, he can't help but wonder if she'll ever stop hating him.

After the past 24 hours they had, he hoped she would find a way. He just wants a chance, a fighting chance to show her he isn't the idiot, dumb jock she sees him as. He can't exactly deny the playboy accusation, but the rest of it wasn't very fair to him. At least he saw it like that.

"I feel like this is a slippery slope. I stay tonight and we...what? Have sex? Maybe just cuddle? Or talk? Next thing I know, you'll catch feelings and I don't really see how that would be good for either of us." Biting her lower lip, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt, not in a violent or sexual way, just as a way to ground herself, to find a footing in the insanity of her actually considering willingly being around the man she hated for years. And her hate wasn't unfounded.

"Don't worry, my sneaky little princess. That's not going to happen. At least not to me, but I can't promise anything on your behalf. I'm quite the charmer, ya know?" Chuckling as she pushed him back with all her might, Grayson lands on the bed with a throaty laugh she found quite pleasant. However, when Grayson told her nothing of the sort would happen, he forgot to mention it's because it's too late, at least for him it is - he already caught feelings.

How this came to be, you may ask? Last time we left these two, love was the last thing on their mind...at least for Y/N.

Well, it all started with a push from a very bald Ethan who decided to lock the frENEMIES in a room.

"Seriously?!" Y/N pounded on the door as she realized she's stuck and the only reason why that happened is because she wanted to make amends with Ethan and Amina. That's what happens when you're trying to be nice.

Ever had a big fight with your best friend and actually have them be right but you just won't admit it? Y/N sure as hell found herself in a lot of trouble with her best friend when Ethan got caught in the crossfire and while she apologized to Ethan, profusely, Amina was just done with her. It hurt when she chose to side against her even before the incident that left her boyfriend without hair. Isn't your best friend supposed to have your back?

Ethan forgave her, or so she thought before he gave her and Grayson a push before locking them up in the supply room on campus and while Y/N pounded on the door, she realized she was doing that all on her own. She figured the ostentatious, loud quarterback would be breaking the door down by now and yet she found no resistance on his behalf...just silence.

Frowning, she turned to the unusually quiet Grayson only to find him in the corner of the room, eyes wide open, heaving.

"Dude, you good?" She really didn't want to come closer and check but when he shook his head no, she felt her heart start pounding. The last thing she needed is him having an asthma attack now, because he might think she didn’t notice, but she saw him hiding the inhaler in his bag after taking a few puffs and while she didn’t understand why he’s ashamed of that, she didn’t say anything. Just as he’s hiding his dyslexia, something she didn’t know about until the dinner they were forced to have and he stared at the menu as if it was in a foreign language before asking his brother in their ridiculous twin language what to order. 

"Why? What's happening right now?" Carefully, she approached him because he seemed freaked out as it is and she had no idea how he might react to her in this moment.

"Not a fan...of closed spaces." Managing to explain through a few quick breaths, he had closed his arms around his folded knees and for the first time in forever, she saw Grayson fucking Dolan isn't invincible. She’s become all too aware of that.

"Oh." She let nothing else pass her lips as she sat right before him, chewing her bottom lip with her eyebrows furrowed and her nose crinkled as she pondered what she could do to help him. If a man as big as him freaks out in such a small room, she might not be quite safe. Would he ever hurt her?

"Why is football so important to you?" And that's when she spoke up, this time with a question she hoped would help keep his mind occupied, derailing the possible panic attack he seems to be facing. She knew all about panic attacks for they've tormented her since she was eighteen. She knew he feels vulnerable and terrified and she wanted to give him a chance to talk about what he loves, is confident in and is also passionately involved in. It’s not something she talks about, just as he doesn’t talk about his asthma and dyslexia. 

"Huh?" Grayson looks at her, his lips quivering, his chest hurting and his heart hammering against his cheat and he couldn't believe he was breaking in front of the girl that hates him more than anyone ever has and he could already see her using this against him.

"Tell me. I want to understand." But there is no malice in her voice and the way she looks at him is...merciful. She's never been this nice to him and for a moment, he can't help but wonder why. Why would she care?

"Please." The softness in her tone is enough to make him trust her. Maybe it's because he wanted to trust her with all his heart regardless, but he found himself speaking to her about what he never talked about to any girl...only to very few people in his life that mostly included his family.

"My dad. It was sort of our thing. He was the most supportive...It....Playing football makes me feel closer to him. I guess I just want to make him proud. Besides, I love the attention. I do. I love when they cheer for me, when they pat me on the back after a win and most of all, I love how powerful I feel on the field." Rubbing his chin absentmindedly, he flashed her a smile, the cocky one she usually saw on his face and it lifted a weight off her chest she felt ever since she saw the great quarterback cradling himself in a state of sheer panic.

It almost breaks her heart to see him that way, because having your mind and body betray you like that is an indescribable feeling to know you can't trust yourself anymore. Despite all the voices in he read screaming at her not to, she reaches out, placing her hand over his so tenderly he thought he imagined her touch.

"Awe, you actually care!" Grayson cooed teasingly and she rolls her eyes, scooting away from him a little, taking her hand with her.

"Bite me, quarterback." And while they were definitely having a moment, he couldn't help but wonder if he could use this time to learn why she really hates him.

"Ooh, kinky! Where?" Winking at her, Grayson purses his lips and her exasperation is evident but he can't let her leave without at least some truth being revealed.

"So, I have a question." He says with a small smile and she raises an eyebrow at him, her left eye narrowing ever so slightly at him.

"I don't care." Sassing back, she turns her body away from him, trying to hide from his over-analyzing stare. His eyes, the way he looks at her always makes her feel naked. It's intense and it's unveiling and frustration and she didn't want any of it right now. She’s always had trouble with emotional connections and anyone getting too close made her nervous and Grayson particularly made her want to run away screaming.

"You asked one question, I get to ask one too. So...why do you hate me? I mean, I can't even understand what I did to you that's so bad...except for the eyebrows sophomore year BUT it was an accident and I apologized to you at least a hundred times." Looking over at him, her glare is clearly showing his jokes are not entertaining and she's had enough but if it means he'll shut up, she'll tell him.

"You stole my first kiss without even asking me the first time we met." She states through gritted teeth and the horror and confusion on his face is baffling to her. "Don't pretend otherwise. We were talking and I actually liked you before you thought it would be okay to just kiss me out of the blue before running off to puke in the bathroom."

"I SWEAR I", he was going to say he doesn't remember but it all sounded too familiar and he...well, he thought he dreamt that.

"Oh, God! I'm sorry! I was drunk off my ass that night and it was the first and last time I got drunk. I swear I thought I dreamed it. I really am an asshole." Running his hands through his luscious locks, Grayson hid his face as he wondered how the fuck did he forget about kissing Y/N fucking Y/L/N.

"Then there's the time you told Mike I was a snake and to stay away from me." She continues but he was shocked there's more than one reason and while he does remember doing this, she took it out of context.

"You got that all wrong. Mike was bragging around, saying he banged you and I was telling him he's a snake and I'd break his jaw if he keeps talking shit about you. He wasn't the guy for you. He just wasn't and I'm not sorry for that. I just wish you talked to me before assuming the worst of me." Leaning back against the wall, Grayson held her gaze fiercely. This was no time for weakness, he had to be brave and face her and make things better. It's been years and he...well, he's always had a thing for her.

One night stands were fun, but no girl ever challenged him nor intrigued him like her. She was so unapologetically herself, so beautiful even without trying and her mind works in such interesting ways that he was always in awe of her opinions, of her writing, of the way she sees the world.

"Alright...then how about when you conditioned the university to take Ethan on a full football scholarship or you wouldn't be going here? Did you ever wonder who you cost their lifelong dream? Because I know the guy who lost his spot and now he works at a gas station. And he deserved a lot better."

That was unexpected to say the least. If he were completely honest, it never crossed his mind someone might get cut when he insisted Ethan be accepted with him. Mostly because it was the only way for them to stay together and to be close to their dad in his final years.

"I didn't. I didn't think, I just felt. And it was wrong. I know that. But it also gave me and my brother a few more years with our dad and I'm sorry your friend got screwed over but I can't be sorry about why I did it. Just that I did it." Swallowing thickly, he watched her nibble on the lower left corner of her lips, her eyes falling to the ground and he could see the wheels in her head turning. She's overthinking, probably conflicted with what he told her and while it's not right, he knows she understands it.

"There were a bunch of pranks there as well, but these were the major reasons." She finishes, her eyes still fixed on the floor, unblinking and with a deep breath, Grayson moved closer to her.

"I'm really fucking sorry for hurting you, but I never meant to do any of those things. I just want to be your friend."

Chuckling, she finally blinks and looks up at him with more light in her eyes than he ever saw her looks at anyone but Amina with.

"Riight."

"I won't lie, I'm attracted to you, but I'd settle for friendship for now." Risking it, he places a hand on her back, craning his neck so he'd be in her line of sight for she turned her head away from him as soon as he started speaking, but she didn't fight his touch and that was encouraging enough.

"How about we make a little bet? Start this friendship right? Like...come to my next game and if we win, I get to ask anything of you. If we lose, you can ask me never to talk to you and I'll oblige. Is that good?" Expecting her to refuse, drowning in all the things he wants to tell her but he can't not yet.

He can't tell her he saw how her style evolved from wearing all black to actually having a colorful wardrobe. He saw the ring she ways wears on her right index finger and how she twirls it nervously before every exam or how she hates high heels but would still wear them to parties only to take them off an hour in. He saw how she struggled with her back in the second semester of freshman year, right after she fell on ice on the first day after the holidays. He knows she can't take a compliment but appreciates them, how she gets so involved with every book she reads that she makes the most beautiful faces when something interesting happens - she laughs, she cries, she loves the characters and after every book, it takes her a few days to remind herself it's all fictional, to say goodbye before finding a new book to obsess about. He also knows she has a waterfall as the background on her phone and that she wants nothing more than to visit Bali and Australia. He knows so much, yet so little and a from just observing her when she thought no one cared.

Grayson cared and he still does. He can't imagine a day he doesn't.

"Sure. Why not."

And as she agreed, the door opened and there was nothing better than the fresh air in their lungs after being stuck in there for what felt like forever.

However, Grayson won that game the next day and Y/N found herself actually cheering him on from the stands. It was definitely a new experience, but she didn't care. She didn't want to hate him anymore. It's exhausting to hate a guy who seems to be so painfully human that it's inspiring. There's nothing wrong in being human, in making mistakes and she decided to let go of his. As hard as it is, she had to. She couldn’t hate him forever, not when she knew his reasons and when she knows her friend had other choices and he gambled them all on his own.

"You really asked me to come to your room like that's not weird at all." She folds her arms over her chest and she can't help but be surprised with how tidy it is or the smell of wildflowers that fills her nostrils, she actually never imagined this is how his room would be. And she definitely didn't expect a keyboard in his room. He was full of surprises, the good kind.

"Just stay with me tonight. Okay?" Grayson takes her hand, gingerly pulling her closer and while he wishes he could ignore the turmoil in her eyes, the hesitation in every inch of distance she closed between them, he can't help but wonder if she'll ever stop hating him.

After the past 24 hours they had, he hoped she would find a way. He just wants a chance, a fighting chance to show her he isn't the idiot, dumb jock she sees him as. He can't exactly deny the playboy accusation, but the rest of it wasn't very fair to him. At least he saw it like that.

"I feel like this is a slippery slope. I stay tonight and we...what? Have sex? Maybe just cuddle? Or talk? Next thing I know, you'll catch feelings and I don't really see how that would be good for either of us." Biting her lower lip, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt, not in a violent or sexual way, just as a way to ground herself, to find a footing in the insanity of her actually considering willingly being around the man she hated for years. And her hate wasn't unfounded.

"Don't worry, my sneaky little princess. That's not going to happen. At least not to me, but I can't promise anything on your behalf. I'm quite the charmer, ya know?" Chuckling as she pushed him back with all her might, Grayson lands on the bed with a throaty laugh she found quite pleasant. However, when Grayson told her nothing of the sort would happen, he forgot to mention it's because it's too late, at least for him it is - he already caught feelings.

"Seriously, what exactly am I doing here, quarterback? Expecting to get lucky?" She couldn't shake it though, that annoying feeling it was more than she could imagine. The way he is around her is just...disarming and equally alarming. She can't get too close. She just can't love him. Grayson Dolan is a womanizer and she'd be damned if she gives a man like him her heart.

She’s never loved anyone and she didn’t want her first love to be a guaranteed heartbreak. She wasn’t a part of the hookup culture, she didn’t know how to function in that world and she refused to learn. And while Grayson might have good intentions, he’d be onto the next one in the month. It’s all fun and games when they’re just flirting and annoying each other, but to actually involve her heart? It terrified her, pushed her body on an invisible ledge she didn’t want to jump from. 

"Do you really think I brought you here for sex? I mean...I don't want to be presumptuous, but why would you come here if you think that's the reason why? Do you want to have sex?" Sitting up with the notion that this is a more serious conversation, Grayson quickly took a look at her and she was fidgeting, nervous as if...as if she never had sex.

"No. I just...I don't know, I'm not exactly the type that does this." Raising both his eyebrows, he realized he is right. His little devil is actually an angel. A fallen angel like Lucifer, but an angel nonetheless.

"I didn't bring you here for sex. I just wanted us to talk and...actually sleep next to each other. I can sleep on the floor if you want me to." As sweet as it is, she still couldn't relax. A man like him didn't seem quite content with nothing happening and she...well, she never slept next to a man before let alone more.

Overthinking took over and she found it harder and harder to breathe as her heart picked up speed and the possible outcomes of this night started to freak her out to the point of losing focus, losing touch with reality. The world felt like it moved too fast, her brain couldn’t fully comprehend anything around her. She found herself back in the black pit where a panic attack was preying on her like vultures pray on those lost in the desert.

"Y/N...are you...are you scared of me?" His voice breaks as reality sets in and he can tell she's shivering, her arms wrapped around her as she glances at the door every few seconds. But he had no expectations of that night but a long talk and getting to know her better. He just wanted to show her who he is, but she didn't seem to believe that.

"Look, I'm not like you. I didn't sleep around. I had my first kiss in college with you and I tried dating a few guys after who somehow all ghosted me once they started hanging with you and I'm guessing they were a versions of Mike so thank you, but I never had sex, I've never even held hands with a boy before! I can't do this. I just can't." And before he had a chance to react, she was gone. His beautiful mischievous girl ran from him and this time it wasn't because she hated him, but because she realized she might actually care for him.

Tags: @mendesficsxbombay​​​ @beinscorpio​​​ @peacedolantwins​​​ @dolandolll​​​

PART 4

[mannatea]

Fireside Dreams, a Rose of Versailles ‘fic

Words: 5,176 Summary: Oscar was in love. Pairing/Character: Oscar/André Extra Info: This was originally posted on Fanfiction.net back in 2008. It is a full rewrite. Rating: I’d say T bordering on M, but it’s rated M on AO3 just to be safe. :) Genre: Romance and Friendship with a dash of Angst. Kind of character-study-ish, too.

Notes, if  anyone’s interested in them.

All right, so...if you read the original version of this story, you’ll notice the rewrite is...very different.

A few little things:

I use the French manga as my usual reference, so you’ll see a lot of lines quoted that might not match up perfectly with the Japanese-to-English translations that many people are used to. There is one line I did pull from the Japanese though, I believe it was: “One eye isn’t too much to sacrifice for you, Oscar.”

The French version says, instead, “I’ll always be ready to sacrifice an eye for you, Oscar.” I like this too, but I don’t think it really conveys that deep emotional impact that the scene was supposed to have on the reader. Rather, it almost sounds goofy (since he only has one other eye to sacrifice)! 

I guess I could have gone with a loose translation of the French (maybe, “If it’s for you, Oscar, I’ll sacrifice my other eye without complaint.”) but I wanted something the audience would be familiar with.

I do believe the intent of the original line is supposed to convey: 1) I’d do it again, 2) No regrets, and 3) harken back to André’s promise to put his life on the line for Oscar some day...even though the eye thing was a complete accident in the manga.

The lines for the lips I know are my creative translation of the French manga.

I feel like I shouldn’t HAVE to put translations for the French in here, but...I dunno. Why did I put them in the story like some kind of ouiaboo? Because there are some words that just don’t have the same meaning in English, my dudes.

Mon Dieu = My God!

d’accord = okay, yes, [agreement] 

Whenever Oscar tells André to do anything, in the French manga, this is how he responds. I could have just written “okay,” but I can’t help but feel that it’s too informal/not respectful enough, and “yes ma’am” (which is closer to how I read it) just feels too formal.

Je t’aime = I love you. André shouts it over and over in The Incident Scene, which is what I’m referring to by using it.

I actually hate the title (“Fireside Dreams”) but I’ve known it as this for so long I couldn’t change it.

I changed the ending A LOT for reasons I’ll talk about below, but...I kept the cheesy last line. Well, I rewrote it, but I kept the general feeling of corniness that existed in the original!

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

Goals when writing this were as follows:

Try for a tone that felt as if it could have been part of the manga.

Eliminate André’s POV (more on this later).

Deep-dive into Oscar’s POV.

Treat the story like a fanficcified Character Study piece.

The manga tone thing was frustrating, because the manga lends itself to this really flowery, romantic language that I don’t actually think Oscar would use very often (mostly because the entire series tells us that she is Not That Kind of Person and I don’t appreciate her suddenly Becoming That Person Because Love). A lot of the fandom will disagree with me on this point, and that’s okay. I tried to strike more of a balance where Oscar thinks some of these types of things, but says Logical Oscar Things.

André’s POV originally came in when he did: at Oscar’s door. It also transitioned suddenly into third person omniscient from third person limited, aaaaand when I reread it...I didn’t like it. I felt like it made it harder to follow! The original was supposed to be more of Oscar’s story anyway, so I just committed to it in the rewrite. Overall I do feel this was better for the story, but I lost some lines I really liked from the original that were in André’s POV! Who knows, though, maybe they’ll make an appearance in another story, someday!

Regarding this story as a character study, though... Okay, I’ll try not to let this get long, because I haven’t eaten all day and it’s already getting late here, but I want to address this.

Something that always stuck with me about the manga was how Oscar confessed her love to André quite early on compared to the anime, and how it felt to have their relationship evolve before the end of the series (when she asks André to marry her).

1. I am always ALWAYS ALWAYS a sucker for the woman to ask the man to marry them, ESPECIALLY in period dramas, and

2. See the image below.

Oscar as a character has always interested me greatly, and been highly #relatable, but on my last rewatch I feel like I understand her better than I ever did as an early 20-something.

Despite being in a relationship with André when she asks him to make her his wife, she’s still afraid of actually following through with the act! That’s not something we get to see in the media very often, so I enjoyed getting a peek at it in Rose of Versailles.

Additionally, I felt that Oscar’s whole romance arc was kind of its own character study for her in the canon. She spends most of her life being efficient and logical. Love confuses her. Feelings are difficult to navigate and express. She would not have defended André so passionately I think if she did not love him, but when faced with those feelings she doesn’t even tell him she cares. If the author wanted to make Oscar astute/in tune with her own feelings, she could have written that scene a hundred different ways, but instead we get “I didn’t do it for you, I did it for Nanny! Hahaha!” Part of Oscar’s issue is most assuredly due to the way she was raised, but I feel it didn’t create that character trait so much as it expanded upon it.

Anyway, something difficult to put into words is Oscar’s wondering in the story about being “broken.” I’m writing this from a very specific perspective, but I feel like Oscar’s feeling is relatable to many different types of people. I mean, raise your hand if you’ve ever felt like you were broken, if there was something deeply wrong with you. Now raise it higher if you feel that way and yet...you’re also pretty satisfied with yourself and like who you are, and you don’t really wish to change.

Oscar’s in an interesting position. She’s a woman who identifies as a woman, but she lives as a man. She wears men’s clothes, she does men’s work, she has men’s hobbies, and she’s expected to publicly Act Like a Man. She’s good at these things. She enjoys these things. She delights in her own skill, and has a lot of fun springing the fact that she’s a woman on poor unsuspecting people (like Rosalie, lol) while also shooting down things typically associated with being a woman (like when she glared at André for suggesting she had an understanding of something because of women’s intuition). It’s easy to understand Oscar’s POV: she wants to be free to be herself, and that means picking and choosing from gender stereotypes as she sees fit, identifying herself as what she is and what she is not.

At the end of the day, Oscar is...Oscar...which is how I imagine André feels about it.

I’m sure if you read the story, and you went out of your way to read this far, you probably have a personally complex view of Oscar yourself, so please don’t feel as if my view of her has to match yours. Everyone will read her a little differently!

I wanted to explore the confusion that Oscar feels. The confusion that makes her put on a dress even though she isn’t comfortable in one, the confusion of falling for someone you already knew from the beginning was unattainable (though I didn’t go into detail on this particular point), the difficulty in expressing feelings when you’ve been raised to not do that, and the understanding that different does not mean broken.

Oscar is not broken. You are not broken. I am not broken.

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

One last note about this story, and it’s related to The Incident Scene. I’m choosing to interpret it in my own way, so if it’s different than yours, I hope my interpretation wasn’t too jarring!

I look at the scene, particularly in the manga, to be kind of a Domino Effect of less-than-stellar choices. Oscar tries to communicate her feelings but does a very poor job of it, and in the process hurts the person she’s trying to communicate with. As a result, he makes a bad choice and hurts her in turn. I don’t feel that any of the hurt was intentional (these two people love each other, after all), but circumstances have put them into positions where some kind of hurt was inevitable.

André undoubtedly would have been rejected by Oscar no matter when he confessed (just because she wouldn’t be mentally capable of processing it quickly enough to spare him), but he chose to confess to an Oscar 1) as part of an emotional outburst/explosion, and 2) physically.

Oscar is not used to Intimate physical contact, and understandably freaks out. She’s also not used to André as a Passionate Person. He’s always been so mellow! It’s frightening to her on multiple levels.

NOTHING EXCUSES ANDRE, BY THE WAY! Taking his frustration and sorrow and fear and emotion out on Oscar was terrible.

But context is important, I think, to understand how manga!Oscar forgives him before he even leaves her rooms. André’s outburst was never about him being horny, or him wanting to be intimate with Oscar. If you look closely I think it’s clear that it’s a chain of André trying to communicate to her in turn, and failing repeatedly until he rips her shirt (that he’s already holding onto)—something I don’t believe he meant to do, or he wouldn’t feel such immediate shame for it.

It was an outburst of fear that she was abandoning him. It was an explosion of all the love he legally wasn’t allowed to feel for years of his life. It was frustration and sorrow over seeing the person he loves best denying Who She Is in the face of an unrequited crush.

I never felt that André was insisting she was a woman instead of the man she wanted to be so much as he was insisting that Oscar Is Oscar, and she cannot change that, and shouldn’t change it out of fear or embarrassment AS WELL AS SAYING, “You are who you are and I LOVE YOU FOR THAT! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! PLEASE HEAR ME AND DON’T HURT YOURSELF BY TRYING TO BE SOMEONE YOU’RE NOT!”

Unfortunately André fails to speak plainly enough and the whole thing Backfires. (Now you can consider how he was raised to speak to his betters.)

I know all of the above wasn’t necessary to read the story (or even afterward), but I thought it would assist if anyone read my ‘fic and came away from it wondering if they’d read/watched a completely different version of The Incident. 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I sure hope you leave a comment over on AO3, since you can do so anonymously, and Feedback Is Life!! ♥

[lonesomedreamereccentriclover]

This past decade(s) there have been few great horror movies. Lost in uninspired sequels/prequels and few original storytelling and mostly based on cheap jump scares instead of truly scary moments told in actual pictures, the modern horror movie seems to struggle with delievering horrifying sequenses and being, yeah well, truly scary.

Sure, there have been some great exceptions, like “The Witch”, “The Babadook”, Ari Aster’s first two full feature films “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” - but all in all they are just a few bad (as in really good) seeds midst all rotten fruits.

During the 2014 edition of Cannes Film Festival in France a director named David Robert Mitchell broke out with his truly original and horrifying “It Follows” and it was immediately praised for its original take on STD’s and stunning visuals even if shot on relatively low budget.

The film starts out in the suburbs on a calm evening, only a mother is out packing out her car of groceries, when suddenly a young lady is storming out in panic. The mom on the other side of the street packing out her car asks if everything is alright, and the young lady answeres “yes” but we can clearly see that’s a lie. But we really don’t have a clue what is going on. Not yet anyway.

The girl is running back to her house, now with her father worried sick, but only to get her (fathers) car keyes. She drives off and it now seems that she is being hunted by someone. Or something.

Ending up on a beach,  a place for the youth to relax and enjoy one another (in one form or another), the young lady seems to feel safe - for the moment. But by the arrival of the morning she’s no longer alive. As so often in horror movies the first character(s) we meet is not the protagonist nor the heroine, but an establishment of how great of a threat someone - or by the state of the properly tufted young lady rather SOMETHING (more than a human)!

Shortly thereafter we meet another young lady. She, Jay, is much clearly “in focus” as we got to spend time with her in her room dressing up for a date. Just as her, the audience believes the date is something special - and as they meet up outside a cinema (that is showing Charade with Audrey Hepburn) it really seems so. They play a game, that first seems very sweet and innocent. They pick a person around them who they would like to switch lifes with. The guy starts, and as they bought tickets and have entered the lobby and without Jay guessing right about who he (her date, that she by the time think is “Hugh”) has choosen he reveals that he would like to change place with a little kid. They joke around that he can then poop himself anytime he wants, but when he later gets killed by the entity it has taken the form of his mother - that probably took advantage of him sexualy when he was younger - and just wants a normal family to be taken care of. But now I’m getting ahead of myself. Lets wind back!

In the movie theater, waiting for the film to start, Jay now take her turn in the game and chooses someone she would switch with. She does so pretty quickly and when he tries to guess who she have choosen he takes a wild guess at a girl in yellow dress. Which confuses her just as much as the audience - since such a girl is nowhere to be seen in the saloon. That freaks him out, but not for the obiously reason we might first think. They rush out of the saloon and he excuses himself with the need for air - and maybe some coffee.

If we “look” at the the girl only “Hugh” can see we are only given very little information. She cannot be seen by others than “Hugh” and 2). she wears a yellow dress. It sounds cheerful, pretty and warm, but in color analysis yellow also have negative associations. According to this site yellow also stands for cowardice, sensationalism and mental illness. Does that means that he is “seeing her” only in his mental state? It could appear so, but shortly after they have sex he then drugs her. Which is confusing, because he doesn¨t have to drug her to have sex with her - which the situationen otherwise suggest - and that the director really “playfully” uses to create confusion and uncertainty.

When she wakes up again she is constrained to a wheelchair. The situation is just as bad for her as for the viewer. Has he taken her there to kill her? It could appear so but soon he calms her down with the assurance that he hasn’t taken her there to harm her. But why? A person is walking towards them and he explains that now that he has “passed it on” by having sex (hence the interpretation that the film is about STD’s) and that she under no circumstances let those persons walking towards her touch her. Which might be confusing and scary for Jay, but the viewer now get the connection to the girl in the beginning. That is dramaturgically called an catalyst (or: plantation), where a person or happening is introduced but only to give the story bigger meaning later on.

Jay is dropped of outside her house, and then “Hugh” dissapears. Which could be seen as a comment on modern “dating” where a guy (or girl in some cases) dumps the “victim” right after having sex. We live in a society where we throw away stuff way to easily and that seems to have been taken on even socially.

From the porch, Jay friends and one sister Kelly, sees everything and rushes to her to make sure everything is alright. But it isn’t (obviously). So they call the cops. But as the sex was consensual and he didn’t really hurt her, and his identity seems scetchy they can’t really do anything. But he will play a part and has not yet been played out in the story. We just don’t know how yet.

The next day, when Jay is in school, she is approached by an old lady. She don’t recognize her, but was told to watch out for shady people walking slowly towards her - even if “It” is taking the form of a stranger or a more familiar person to get close to its victim. And if we now presses paus and goes back a bit to “Hugh” and his lady in yellow dress. WIth this new information we understand that she was “it” trying to get close to him. And with the older information about yellow being  a “color of cowardness” we can now “read” that the “it” also can take the form of the fear and guilt of the victim. He feeling bad for taking advantage of her, simply put to get laid but in the context of the story to “pass it on” and no longer being the first target in line. We also learn that it’s only the first (latest) person in line to be haunted by “it”. Which only cements Jay’s role as the protagnoist - who ALWAYS should grow and evolve through the story (wheter it might be an childrens story, a book in general, a video game or in this case a movie) towards the morality of the story.

So, what might the morality of the story be then? Maybe the answere is in the way “It” approaches its victims - by assuming familiar characters thats also seems to hold some personal trauma to them. By running away from the fear and hide away and hopes the problem just dissapears, people die. Maybe it’s traying to say to us: don’t walk away from your fears, or trauma, but try to meet them and work against them so you by time can move on from them without taking to much psychological harm in the long run.

One of her friends is Paul (played by Kier Gilchrist that some years later would get a wider brakethrough in the Netflix-show Atypical where he plays a young man with Asperger syndrome) who seems to have a more than friendly history with Jay (played by Maika Monroe) which is made clear throughout the storyline as he tries to “get in her pants” but with his logic only to be “heroic” by letting her “pass It on to him” and thereby getting her out of the haircross of “It”.

But Paul is not her first choice. Maybe she doesn’t like him back, but probably beacuse she doesn’t want to put her friend in danger. The “lucky one” is instead a neigbhour with a car and a tough appearance. He helps her get to places and after an accident he sleeps with her - with the same motive as Paul, or at least he says so. Appearently, he doesn’t really believes in her “crazy theories” (since he doesn’t have all the information the other characters, and we as viewers, have) but just wanted to have sex. Which is going to punish him. But why? Because of the souless sex? Or because he doesn’t take the problem, the fear, seriously and tries to really solve it but instead live on with his life as nothing have happened? Probably both! Lying to get what you want is not very nice.

As she can see to the neighbour’s house across the street from her own window, she can see when a stranger (everyone who “has it” can see them walk around, but not anyone else) aproaches his house and throws a stone through the kitchen window - that also happened to her the evening after she “got it” - so now David (who both directed and wrote the film) plays with something that is called repetition - simply because something is happening more than once to improve the dramaturgelly effect, and the second time around escalate evertything - in this case by making “It” visible, and something Jay now can take action against. The first time, when it happened to herself, she only heard the noice of a window getting crashed (or, it was Paul sleeping on her cauch who heard it and then alarms her). This is very effective since Jay sees the intrusion as it happens and she now have a moral obligation (as the protagonist also always should be a moral compass for the viewer and always act “right” to not alienate the viewer to much) to help him. Which she’s really tries to do. But as “It” takes the form of his mother, probably by confronting him in form of someone familiar but also with a boob hanging out so maybe tries to comfort him by breastfeeding, who now is banging on his door - and as he opens she jumps him and his storyline is now literally over.

An interesting detail that is established early on in the story is that one of Jay’s friends - Yara (played by Olivia Luccardi) - is reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky on her “e-reader” and as she later on is hurt badly and put in hospital she use the text to “use it” on her friends and their situation. Especially Jay is reflected by it:

As she understands that she can no longer run from “It” but have to confront it (her fears, that seems to be related to giving birth as she sees “It” as a burned out woman who’s water just broke... and later as a very scary child that almost looks more like something of a monster in a video game) and no longer just run away frorm “It”. So they go to a swimming pool to set a trap for “It” and it finally seems that the gang has the upper hand in all this. A well telled story “always” make us feel like its all hopeless but then let a ray of light shine through!

As they are going, “It” now appears on the rooftopp in form of a naked man. As Jay drives out of the garage and out on the road, she gasps as she sees the man on the roof. Because he is naked? Maybe partly, but mostly because “It” probably have taken the form of her father - who have never been seen in the film, so he’s probably “out of the picture”, maybe because he was molesting her as a child and have been kicked out - or maybe, even better, put in prison for it.

As they set the traps around the pool they still feel they have the upper hand in the situation. But as Jay puts on her bathing suit and goes into the pool, some beautiful shots of her under water (and the reflection of her body on the surface) suggest that she no longer have a personal face and have lost herself to “It”. This goes hand in hand with the paragraph from The Idiot that Yara later reads to Jay in the hospital. The struggle and personal questioning gives her... if you all excuse my choice of words... depth.

As the final confrontation takes place nothing goes according to plan. All their planning and preparations is wasted in a blink of an eye. But as everyone who tackles with their personal problems in life realises that you can never plan your life to full - because so much other stuff is going to happen that you possibly can’t take into calculation, but rather have to be adaptive and improvise to overcome all obstacles - our group doesn’t give up but reorganizes and finally overcomes all problems. Together. Hiding all alone and trying to solve her problems all by herself wouldn’t help much but rather end in her death.

As Jay and Paul “find each other” (see: the gif where their hands toches) earlier on, they “finally have sex” but since it’s just for helping her, and he probably feels that she doesn’t really want, he doesn’t feel like it was so great that he hoped it would be. But as he stood by her all the time, and had more romantic intentions with her all along, they end up together. At least in a way. And as they walk down a road in the end, and we see a person walking behind them, we are suggested that they never fully killed “It” and that it’s still after them. Which probably both is a play with the expectations that horror movies ends with an “open road” to an sequel - but also tells us that even if we start to tackle our problems, trauma, with for exemple therapy, our ghosts will never really leave us alone. But that it’s getting easier by time, especially with someone on your side. Linou have studied film production for a year in Stockholm, and are now studying screenwriting in a program of three years (180hp) in Dalarna. This is what he came up with after re-watching the film and read “Hansel and Gretel” with his class and the teacher breaking down all terms for us.

[wingsofkpop]

When You Love Someone - Part Four /// Eros

pairing(s): Park Jaehyung x Reader, Day6 x Reader

genre: High School!AU, Young Love!AU, pretty much all Angst this one is

warning(s): None

word count: 2,7k

synopsis: There are many paths in life, but the longest of all is the path to the heart. In your eyes, what does it truly mean… to love?…

chapter directory

In the entire four years of your friendship, you and Sungjin have only had one meaningful fight that led to eventual disaster. It was right after winter break of junior year at the high school’s annual Winter Formal event. To be honest, you can’t remember the true details since the entire night was merely a blur of fake snowflakes and mediocre music—all except it was the first time you’ve ever seen Sungjin lose his temper. 

From what you can remember, you had been dancing with Jae—both of you agreed to remain friends after your breakup—when Nayeon and her entourage ended up spilling their cups of punch on your mother’s old homecoming gown, a dress that her own mother had given to her in the past. It was an accident, until Nayeon laughed and said you could pass for a tramp on the side of the road. You blacked out with rage after that, so the rest is a little fuzzy, but the last thing you remember is Sungjin dragging you outside the party and angrily chastising you for causing a scene—it's also important to note that this was where you first learned the two were dating. Anyway, still blinded by your temper, you ended up saying some pretty nasty things about not only the cheerleader, but your friend as well. And he, the same to you. 

Long story short, the two of you avoided each other like the plague for almost a month. However, you were the one who caved first and waited almost an hour on his doorstep to apologize to him in tears. It’s something neither of you have talked about since then, being mutually agreed that it’s definitely not one of the best moments in your friendships, nor have you really thought about it much. Until now. 

After your screw-up, you tried to call Sungjin the next day as well as the day after. You tried to call once in the morning, twice in the evening and once before bed���knowing that he’s probably up late studying or working on some last minute college stuff; Sungjin’s always been an overachiever like that. You also tried to catch him at school, but no matter how early you arrive to his classrooms or how late you stand outside the building, his face never comes into view. It’s as if he has vanished from your life with as little as no trace to find him. 

It’s ironic… cause you miss him more than ever. 

You watch the soccer team battle against one another, likely practicing for an upcoming game. The sight of a dozen students in bright, neon uniforms chasing after a black and white ball was boring, but mind-numbing. Not enough to completely distract your brain from the ache in your chest, but enough to at least calm your thoughts. Your eyes twitch when you spy one of your own friends, Jihyo deliver a kick that lands the ball in the opposite goal. Shouts and cheers emerge across the field—you meant to call out your own praise, but you couldn’t find the voice. You couldn’t find a lot of things lately. 

“Since when do you watch soccer?” Your gaze snaps to the side at the familiar demand of your best friend. Wonpil carefully climbs his way down the bleachers to where you’re currently sat, lowering next to you with a sigh of exhaustion, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” 

You shrug still not meeting the newcomer’s eyes, “I needed some air.” 

“Long day?” 

“I guess.” Wonpil huffs at your reply, but makes no attempt to scold you for your indifference. Instead, he also turns his attention to the active players, eyes darting back and forth as the ball rolls about the field. You find yourself suffocating in the awkward silence—completely aware that Wonpil wanted to say something more—and turn to face the boy with a glare. He catches your gaze with an expression of surprise. 

“What?” 

“If you want to say something, Pil, then just say it.” 

His face goes blank. “It’s not my place to say anything, noona.” 

“You say that every time-” You chuckle, the sound laced with sarcasm. “-can never have an opinion, can you?” Once the words leave your lips, guilt immediately spreads through your body. Your eyes flutter shut with another sigh, “Sorry… that wasn’t fair.” 

Wonpil shrugs, “I’ll let it slide. I know you’re having a hard time, right now.” 

“I just don’t know what to do, Pil.” You confess, carding a hand through your wind-blown hair. “He won’t talk to me, much less see me.” 

“You hurt him,” Wonpil says. “Can you blame him?” 

“Of course not. I just don’t know how to fix it.” You bury your face in your hands, “I mean… what if he never forgives me?” 

“You’re so blind, noona. Both you and Sungjin.” 

“What?” 

“After all these years and you still haven’t noticed,” He shakes his head with an impatient sigh. 

Your eyebrows furrow, “Haven’t noticed what? What are you talking about, Pil?”

“I’m talking about the fact that Sungjin is in love with you,” Wonpil answers, “and you’re obviously in love with him.” 

The first feeling that enters your chest is the incredulity that your best friend would even consider saying something like that, but when you open your mouth to retort and defend, you find your own throat dry with speechlessness. It’s not like you’ve ever not thought about what it would be like to date Sungjin—hell, every person has thought about what it would be like to be romantically involved with their best friend at least once in their life—but you’d never let it go farther than that… right?

You think back to the most golden of moments you’ve shared with the boy, analyzing each one in closed-detailed context: He listens when no one else will. He accepts all of you, the worst of your flaws included. He always has your back even in the most inopportune of situations… But aren’t these all things that best friends do for each other—with some extra benefits in between? Like the skinship and nicknames… or the fact that your heart beats a million times faster whenever you hear his voice… or maybe that you never feel truly complete until he’s around...

Your stomach aches at the realization—because you know better than to lie to yourself and certainly not your own heart.

“...Why did he never say anything?” You murmur finally, already physically and psychologically exhausted from the thoughts bouncing through your mind. With tears welling in your eyes, you meet the gaze of your other best friend. “I mean… after Jae and I broke up, I thought he would at least-” 

“-He didn’t want to hurt you anymore than you already were, noona.” Wonpil moves a hand to your knee, sympathetically squeezing the flesh. “That’s why him and Nayeon started dating… so he could get over you…” 

“But I just-I still don’t understand… Why stay away all those months?” 

Wonpil sighs, “He was afraid that he would ruin what little time you have left together before graduation—so I told him he needed to figure out what he really wanted before it was too late.” 

“You…?” You whisper, “All those times you tried to get me to talk to him… so he could-” 

“-so he could see how much he needs you, or at least, you could realize.” He chuckles sarcastically, “Like I said though, the both of you are just so freaking blind.” 

You shake your head, still drowning in disbelief, “...What do I do?” 

“That depends… Do you love him?” 

“I-I… I think so.” 

“No, noona.” Wonpil’s gaze is stern, almost as if he were scolding a small child. “Do you love him?” You shiver beneath the intensity, but gradually relax as more and more intrusive thoughts settle themselves within your mind. Soon only one remained: 

“I do.” 

Wonpil smiles, “Do you want to be with him?”

A smile of your own forms for the first time in the past few days. “Yes, I do.” 

“Then go.” 

“What?” 

“Honestly, noona-” Your companion delivers a hefty shove to your shoulder and points back toward the school, “-you’re killing me here! Go get your man!”

Your eyes widen, “Right now? But he won’t talk to me-” 

“-Just go!” A surprised gasp escapes your lips when you realize your and Pil’s conversation had attracted the audience of the soccer players. You almost laugh at their invested expressions, but decide not to test just how far their and your best friend’s patience goes. Instead you take off across the field and back toward the building with your heartbeat pounding in your ears. 

You can only hope Sungjin will be willing to listen one final time.  

“I just can’t believe Mr. Nichkhun won’t allow me to write a song in place of a story for our project.” Wonpil explains as the two of you watch Kang Younghyun shove his way through a bunch of giggling sophomore girls. He continues to sail his way through the crowded hallway, passing the two of you without so much as a second glance. You hold back a laugh as Wonpil visibly shivers and continue to pilfer through your locker even as he drags on about the teachers of the school are limiting student expression.

“Don’t give up just yet, Pil,” You say, switching out your trigonometry materials for your sociology ones. “If you prove to Mr. Nichkhun that you really want to do that, I’m sure he’ll change his mind.” 

“I can’t help it.” Your companion sighs, “I really don’t want to have to write a fairy tale.” 

“Then why on earth did you take creative writing?” 

“It seemed like an easy A at the time.” 

You shrug while rearranging your art supplies, “That’s why you shouldn’t always go for the easy way out.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Your laugh at the boy’s defensive tone, but the sound gradually dwindles when you peer past his shoulder. Barely a couple feet ahead was Sungjin, deep in conversation with some other students you recognized from the student body, and at his side was none other than Nayeon, the head cheerleader herself. 

Wonpil, startled by your sudden mood change, looks over his own shoulder. His features soften as he observes the sight as well, turning back to you with a sympathetic expression. You avoid his likely apologetic eyes and continue to search for a pencil, even though you already have two tucked away in your notebook. 

“You know-” He pauses for a moment as if arranging his words, but quickly resumes, “-The dance was weeks ago, noona… You should go talk to him.” 

“And say what? I think Nayeon’s the most self-centered, dramatic, privileged brat that I ever met and have no idea what he sees in her?” You slam your locker door with a huff before turning to face your companion, your tone a bit more softer than before. “I can’t talk to him, Pil. Not after everything we said to each other.” 

“I’m sure Sungjin is missing you just as much as you miss him, and if you just tell him how you feel-” 

“-He could care less about how I think they’re incompatible. He made that very clear.” 

“Are you sure that’s the real reason why you don’t think they should be together?” You freeze at Wonpil’s question, nearly sending your books crashing to the floor. After taking a moment to compose yourself, you glance back—unaware of the panic in your eyes. 

You shake your head, “What other reason would there be?” 

He stares back, his expression completely blank. “I don’t know. Just wondering.” 

You take his statement for what it is, feeling relief when Jae appears from somewhere amongst the crowds. You bid your best friend a final farewell before slipping your arm through your other friend’s and dragging him down the corridor toward your next class. When you pass Sungjin, you make sure to laugh a little louder at Jae’s joke. 

—As if it would distract you from the slight ache radiating from your chest.  

You managed to track Sungjin down in the hallway, having just caught him leaving a National Honor Society meeting in the library—memorizing his after school activities schedule does have an ounce of worth. Upon your arrival, the boy obviously notices your presence and attempts to duck behind his other club members in order to escape. 

“Wait, please! Sungjin!” Dashing around the group of students, you stop Sungjin just as he reaches the threshold of the front doors. Once again, the boy tries to maneuver around you to slip out the exit, but you block the doorway before he can pass. “Will you please just talk to me?” 

“Move, (Y/N). Please.” 

“Not until we talk.” He moves to push past you again, and this time you go for his wrist. “Sungjin, please...” 

At your whine, Sunjin stills. A brief moment of silence encompasses the atmosphere before it’s interrupted by his murmur, “What, (Y/N)?” 

 “About the other night,” You begin, “I’m so, so sorry-” 

“-You’re sorry? That’s what you came to say?” 

You frantically shake your head, “Well n-no, but I needed you to know that.” 

Sungjin stares at you for a moment, his eyes filled with something that you couldn’t read. His gaze sends tremors to your knees, but you stand your ground, your conversation with Wonpil echoing in your head like a motivational symphony. However, anxiety floods your system as an expression of frustration emerges over the boy’s face. His sigh of exhaustion sends more shivers through your body. 

Sungjin’s head rocks back and forth, “I can’t keep doing this with you.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“This.” He says softly, “I’m always there for you, (Y/N), whenever you need me.” His eyes finally lift from the floor to meet your gaze and you find your heart shattering at the absolute pain present within the chocolate irises, “but the one time I need you, you’re not there.” 

His statement has tears welling beneath your lids, guilt and dread blossoming in your chest like a poisonous flower. You step closer to your companion, moving your hands to his elbows. He continues to hold your eyes even as salty droplets begin to spill from his own. 

“I know I messed up-” Your voice cracks. You take a moment to compose yourself, to stop the tears from escaping, before continuing, “-but if you just let me explain and let me fix this...” 

“Enough damage has already been done, (Y/N).” Sungjin pulls away from your grip, leaving your arms to helplessly fall to your sides. You can’t bear to watch as he heads toward the door, instead keeping your eyes on the linoleum floors. You don’t bother to hold back the tears this time, allowing them to flow down your cheeks like rivers of fire. However in the very corner of your vision, you notice his figure pause just beyond the door. For a moment, you had hope—until his cracked comment met your ears: 

“Some things are just best left broken..” He smiles sadly, “I hope you find whatever it is you want, sweetheart.” You watch Sungjin exit the school, his silhouette fading with each step he takes into the blinding sunlight—and you’re left with nothing but another round of fresh tears and a heart broken to pieces. 

“(Y/N)-noona!” You quickly dry your tears as Wonpil appears from the opposite end of the hallway, a red-faced and gasping Jae not too far behind him. You meet them halfway, somehow finding the strength to move your legs, and the bright grin across your best friend’s face immediately falters when he takes notice of your tear-stained cheeks. 

“It’s like I told you, Pil. He won’t talk to me.” 

“Then we’ve got some work to do.” Your companion grabs your wrist and pulls you forward with Jae following not too far behind, leading you toward the exit where Sungjin disappeared only moments before. “You’ll need that prom dress first.” 

“I already told you, Pil.” You say, comfortably adjusting your limb in his grasp. “I can’t afford the dress, especially after I quit from the store-” 

“-We bought the dress for you, (Y/N).” Shock invades your body like an electric current at Jae’s amused reply. He bumps his shoulder against yours before sending you a mischievous smile: 

“-but you owe us, and not only for the dress—but for finally setting you up with the guy you’ve been madly in love with for nearly all of high school.”

[bluepenguinstories]

Remoras Full Chapter XIII: Yield

Everyone was in such a panic, including the kid, and I was clueless. I was in my room when it all went down, listening to some classical music, and brainstorming what kind of weapon would fit best for me. All that good stuff. All I knew for sure is that I wanted to be a total badass.

That all got interrupted with a thud and a crash. I tore off my headphones and rushed to the door. My head poked out of the room and I called out.

“What’s going on out there?”

Heavy footsteps and heavy breaths were heard before Sunny came into view.

“Oh good! You’re awake!” She grinned. Even though her words were rushed and it was obvious that she was stressed. “Ray had a bit of an accident, so he’s going to be in the hospital for a while! Maybe just a few days! Or a few weeks! Not sure yet, but it’ll be fine!”

If you’re in distress, you can say so. Just because your name is Sunny doesn’t mean you have to be sunny all the time. What am I thinking? Enough with these blunt thoughts! I need at least one person not to be mad at me!

At least I managed not to say that out loud.

“Anyway, can you watch Tigershark while Remora and I are gone?”

“Um…” Of course. I should have said yes. I had no reason not to. But sometimes the things that came out of my mind didn’t correspond with the things I should have done. “I mean...it’s a lot of pressure...I’d be all alone, and…”

...And I’ve never done anything akin to babysitting before, I sure was glad I didn’t say that part out loud.

“I bet Remora would appreciate it,” Sunny winked and it was as if she transferred her short breath onto me. Not only that, but my heart pounded against my chest. How Sunny could say that name so casually was beyond me.

“Of...Of course!” I stammered.

“Great! There’s plenty of food, Tigershark can cook for herself, so really, it should be a piece of cake! See you two in a bit!”

I held out my thumb and winked. “You can count on me!”

Now, the idea of ANYONE entrusting me to take care of a child sounded like recipe for disaster. I didn’t even like kids. I liked fish. And badass tall ladies.

...But never mind all that. Sunny was right. For the entirety of the day, the little orange shark was a breeze. I thought she’d be upset the whole day because of Ray, but when I told her it was us two for a while, she just smiled and said, “okay! I’ll make lots of pudding!”

“Sounds good!” I replied, then planted myself in a booth and kicked my legs up on the table. Given that all was quiet and Tigershark knew what she was doing, I took it upon myself to brainstorm what kind of weapon I’d want. Or maybe if I was a superhero, what kind of power I would have. Then, there was the matter of what kind of cape I’d have. What kind of outfit. And what outfit would match what weapon. It grew to be exhausting.

I started to doze off. Napping in an empty diner. The perfect life, really. I had a pleasant dream where I was having a picnic with someone/no one in particular and a school of jellyfish were swimming across the air. Then ninjas appeared. And a whole bunch of peaches fell down from the tree which there wasn’t a peach tree before, but hey, it was a dream. All was going well and that someone or no one in particular and I shared a peach together and then ��

“HEY!” An outside force yelled and I heard a slam. I jumped up and saw Tigershark with her hands slammed down on the table and an angry expression on her face.

“Sheesh,” I rubbed my eyes. “Why so violent?”

“I wanna go exploring!” She demanded. I looked out the window. Nothing but a blanket of white for miles. Well, I noticed a faint outline of the airport in the distance, but truth be told, I was kind of avoiding that place ever since I tricked that pilot/stewardess. “Won’t be fooled again”, right?

“There’s nowhere out there to explore,” I stared her dead in the face and expected her to take the argument without question.

“Wrong! There’s polar bears! And seals!”

Well, couldn’t argue there. Guess I would have to try a different approach.

“Indeed. And they all wanna eat ya!” I opened my mouth wide and raised my palms as if they were claws. She just did it right back.

“I’ll eat them first!”

Abort! Abort! New plan!

“Err...about eating, know what you want for dinner?”

She put her finger on her chin and went, “hmm…”

Hmm...indeed. Whatever she was having, I knew I wouldn’t have it. Too many meat eaters ‘round these parts.

“Hákarl!” She announced with the utmost glee. “Ray says it’s the only thing he himself won’t eat!”

From the sound of it, that didn’t sound all that bad. Perhaps it was a vegetarian dish of sort.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Fermented shark!” She sounded like that was the coolest thing ever, but did she know? Did she know what the word ‘fermented’ meant? How could anything ‘fermented’ be good?

I started to make gagging sounds. First, it was something ‘fermented’. Second, it was meat. Totally meat.

“Yeah, you help yourself to that.”

In the end, she ate the gross thing, which I don’t think she liked, given the expressions on her face, but she acted like she did. Probably just to spite me. As for me, I just had an orzo salad. What could I say? I knew what I liked.

All in all, taking care of Tigershark proved to be a breeze.

...So how did it turn out like this?!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAA –” Tigershark yelled as she ran out of my room and into the hallway.

“Get back here! I’m not done yet!” I chased after her, holding my book in one hand.

“NO! YOUR STORIES ARE SCARY!” She ran through the kitchen and back out into the dining room. Chairs were knocked over in an attempt to keep me away from her. Lucky for me, they were pretty easy to jump over once they were knocked over. In fact, I was just about to catch her when the door opened up.

A customer? Crap. I am so screwed if that’s the case. Wait. I’m screwed even if that’s not the case. How do I explain this?

“Hey, we’re back!” Sunny’s voice called out in that same kind of voice I imagined the sun on a Raisin Bran box had.

Both Tigershark and I stopped dead in our tracks and looked up to see the towering presence of Sunny and Remora.

“Uh...I...can...explain…” I uttered the words in spite of how futile I knew they were. No. I couldn’t explain. But luckily, before I could embarrass myself further, Tigershark stepped up to the plate to explain for me.

“I asked for a bedtime story and she told me something scary, instead!” Tigershark whined in front of them.

“Okay, for context: I just told her about the Greenland shark that’s local to the area. That’s all,” there. I made my case.

For further context: yes, Sunny did get me that field guide of fish in the arctic. I wish I was more excited to have gotten such a gift, but each time I looked at the book and thought about opening it up and reading it, I found myself lacking any interest. So when Tigershark barged into my room (I thought for sure I locked it…) and demanded a bedtime story, the conversation went a little like this:

Me: I don’t have any stories*. Sorry.

*Note: I did have some fics bookmarked on my phone, but some of them were a little embarrassing to read out loud.

Tigershark: Make something up!

Me, after noticing the field guide on the stand next to my bed: Hold on! I can tell you about the thing you ate for dinner!

Next thing I knew, she freaked out and ran out of the room. I was just telling her how the shark’s skin and meat were poisonous and that they lived in the depths and were among the largest species of shark. I wasn’t even finished talking about all that great biological stuff by the time she ran out. Let it be known that at least one person was intimidated by fish facts, and that was Tigershark.

“I swear, everything was cool for most of the day! I did well! You guys just came back at a bad time!” I felt like I was on the verge of tears, but of course I wasn’t. Tigershark was, though. She sobbed up a storm.

“Well, I’m glad to see you two had fun!” Sunny grinned.

That’s not reassuring at all.

“Yeah! We had fun!” Tigershark grinned. “I made lots of pudding!”

I balked. “It’s hard to tell if you’re actually upset or not!”

In response, Tigershark went right back to the waterworks. Remora knelt down next to Tigershark.

“Here, I’ll tell you a bedtime story. Have you heard The Snow Queen before?”

Tigershark shook her head.

“It’s a great one, a fairy tale from the same author of The Little Match Girl. My favorite part is in the beginning when Kai gets glass shards in his eyes.”

“WHAT?!” Tigershark cried out.

Remora looked around. “What? Was it something I said? I don’t get it. It’s just a fairy tale.”

What kind of fairy tale involves glass shards being put in people’s eyes? I mean, sounds like a really cool fairy tale, especially if Remora liked it. Like, something I would want to read right away and think of her all the while. But that still begs the question, what business does a fairy tale like that have being so cool? No. Better question: would that be the kind of fairy tale to tell as a bedtime story?

“Heya Tiger, how about I tell you about the time Ray and I pulled off a heist at a royal ball?” Sunny suggested, which brightened the kid.

“Shark!” The kid replied.

“Hm?”

“Tiger and Shark! Because I’m a tiger that’s also a shark!”

Does...does she not know there’s an actual species of shark called the tiger shark? Oh, forget it.

While I wanted so bad to approach Remora in an attempt to say or do something to make her proud of me, to see me, I disregarded that goal. I already embarrassed myself for the night, so the way I saw it, my chance was over. Instead, I turned to Sunny.

“Hey Sunny, before you go to tell her your story, can I ask you something?” I leaned over to make sure Tigershark wasn’t around. Maybe it would be great if Remora was, though. She could hear my idea and maybe she’d be proud of me.

No. Enough with that. Focus.

“Sure thing!” Sunny replied, chipper as ever.

“I’ve been giving it some thought, and I think the best way to figure out what kind of weapon I’d want would be to meet this blacksmith friend of yours. I mean, no matter what, I’ll need to train myself to utilize whatever I choose, so I may as well figure out what I’d like to train myself with, yeah?”

“Hell yeah! That’s the spirit!” I was blown away by Sunny’s enthusiasm.

“So can I go? Like, right now? Hmm?”

Sunny turned around and called out to Tigershark, “I’ll be just a couple minutes, okay little tangerine?”

Little tangerine? Oh. Right. Orange hair.

“I’m glad you’re so eager to go, but it’s a little late. Shouldn’t you try to get some sleep first? Besides, Remora and I are still going to be visiting Ray in the hospital periodically, so it would be better if you stayed here so you could watch Tigershark for now.”

Right. Crap. Slow and steady and all that. Responsibility sure liked to put a halt on things.

“We could just alternate. It’s not like we both have to go there at the same time,” Remora chimed in.

Eep. Was she still there the whole time? Did she hear me?

“Oh! You’re right!” Sunny snapped her fingers.

I turned around. Still towered over me, like a titan, Remora stood.

“Yeah, I heard the conversation,” she answered before I could even ask. “It’s a good excuse to get out of the house, and the fresh air might clear your head. Maybe you’ll come back with a new perspective on things.”

I didn’t know what any of that meant. All that registered was, “you have my approval.” I think that’s all the takeaway I needed.

With that, Sunny told me how I could get there and I was off within the next few minutes. Yes. You heard right.

When I awoke, I stepped out of the submarine and onto the docks of the town of Olympia. All around me was a thick, deep purple air which signified nightfall.

“Wow, that was fast!” I remarked. “It’s still night and everything!”

The ferryman poked his head out of the door of the submarine, his head covered with nylon mesh, presumably to obscure his face.

“Actually, this took about a day and a half. Even accounting for time zones,” he corrected me. Sheesh. You mean I had to pay someone AND get corrected? What lousy service.

“Well, thanks again,” I waved, and the submarine lowered itself back under the waters.

Once it disappeared, I dug into my pocket and pulled out the note that Sunny wrote for me:

“After you arrive in Olympia, you’re gonna wanna look for Hephaestus. Any other blacksmith and you know you’re gonna get a shoddy job. But Hephy’s a cool dude. Charges a high price, but considering the quality of his craft, it’s all worth it. I stashed some money in your other pocket. Should be enough to get you something small. Anyway, have fun, stay safe, and remember to keep a coin on you so you can pay the ferryman to bring you back home!

Sincerely, Sunny.”

Sunny sure came in clutch. I’d have to thank her when I returned. But for the moment, my main objective was a simple one: seek out Hephaestus’ shop.

Past the rows of houses with their dim orange glows, I looked for any signs of a shop that might still be open. That was the first clue. Not that it made it any easier. The further I walked, the more clear it was that Olympia wasn’t like your typical city and more like one of those small coastal towns that didn’t get a lot of visitors.

After a while, I found it: a wood building that didn’t stand out from any of the others, but held the sign above its door ‘Hephaestus’ shop’.

“Well, if that wasn’t any more obvious, I don’t know what would be,” I noted, before opening the door.

As soon as I walked in, I sneezed. The air was quite dusty, cobwebs all over the place. My attention was drawn not toward the weapons, but a lamp which rested on the counter of the shop. Its glow illuminated the room, although not by much. Absent was any sign of a blacksmith. Not that I could blame the guy, seeing as it was whatever ‘o clock.

“Hello?” I called out. No one answered. No one appeared.

So while I waited for someone to show up, I took a look around at the weapons on the walls. There were swords and axes of all varieties on the walls. Broad, long, thin, thick. If you could name it, it was probably there.

“I feel like I deserve a sword, but those things tend to be heavier than they look,” as noted by my one attempt at holding one.

There were other things to consider. Like bows. Or spears. Halberds? Lances? The possibilities really were dizzying.

“Can I help you?” Boomed a low voice with a thick Mediterranean accent.

“Eep!” I jumped. Startled, my hairs standing on end, I turned around and saw an old hairy guy whose body resembled a slab of meaty muscle more than a human’s body. Like, such a thing shouldn’t have been possible, yet it was. Really, it was incredible, but not in a “wow, that’s so cool” sort of way, and more like “I bet if I shaved off his beard he’d look like a giant thing of meatloaf”. In case it wasn’t obvious, that sort of thing really wasn’t my cup of tea.

“Are you going to keep standing there looking dumb, or what?” He bellowed.

“Yes! Er...I’m interested in your wares!”

“Anything in particular that you’re looking for?” He asked. That was a toughie.

I looked around. Nothing really spoke to me.

“I was thinking like a sword, but because of my size and my lack of strength, that may prove difficult. Fantasy novels really make it look a lot easier than it really is, y’know? Like, you got kids picking up swords and slaying dragons and here I am, an ex-college student…” Crap. I was rambling.

“So a short sword? A dagger?”

Oh. Those were things. I totally forgot.

“Something like that. Totally.”

He pointed down.

Under the counter was a glass case where short swords, daggers, and all other pokey things lay.

“Hmm...Hmm…”

Well, Sunny specifically gave me enough money to get myself something small, so I may as well be searching here anyway. Oh! That one! It’s got a really nice look to it and I like the asymmetry! Because everyone knows that symmetry doesn’t make for ‘cool’.

“I like that one!” I pointed at the knife which piqued my interest. It wasn’t just the way the steel was crafted. No, it was that the handle was coated in a purple finish! “A yakut knife?” He asked, as if telling the name would make me reconsider.

“I don’t know what that is, but yeah.”

He smiled and shook his head. “Ah, that one takes me back a few years when I went to visit a friend in Siberia. He showed me how to make those knives. Fun times. Later, we made love.”

Did he have to add that last bit?

“Um. Yeah. Can I buy it?”

He nodded while continuing to smile. Great. I had the old dude in dreamland.

I fished (no pun intended) the money out of my pocket and handed it to him. He sifted through each note and then broke the news.

“You’re short,” he told me and handed the money back.

Like, yeah. We all know that. No need to rub it in.

“Am I some kind of joke to you?” I shot back.

“I’m talking about change. You’re short a few euros.”

Dammit, Sunny.

“Can you give me some kind of ‘newbie discount’?” I knew that wasn’t such a thing, but I had to try my luck with something.

“No can do. If you got your sights set on that one, come back when you have enough cash.”

“How much more do I need, anyway?”

He leaned over and whispered the amount into my ear. In response, I whispered, “fuck.”

“Well, jeez, man. Anything I can do to make enough money around here? I don’t wanna return to Sunny empty handed.”

“Did you say ‘Sunny’?” He asked, and I thought my tides were about to turn in my favor.

“Yep. She said you were the real deal and that you could hook a gal up.”

“That explains why you would want an arctic knife…” he muttered.

Oh huh. I just learned something new. Maybe I could tell Remora when I got back to the diner.

“Yeah. Brr…” I shivered for added effect.

“In that case, it will be about a thousand euros more.”

“What?!”

“Sunny owes me a lot of money. Last time she was here, she got drunk and got in a shootout which resulted in my forge getting wrecked.”

GOD-DAMMIT, SUNNY!

“Anyway, to answer your question, you could always check out the bulletin board in the local tavern. Sometimes people post requests there. Work enough odd jobs, and I’m sure you can afford this beauty.”

What am I in? An RPG?

“Yeah. Totally. No problem. I’ll be back in a day. Two days tops. Maybe a week at most. Let’s just say two weeks, for the sake of leeway.”

“Fine by me. See you around.”

This was supposed to be a simple trip. Of course it couldn’t just be about one thing, could it? Ah, but I should have known when Sunny explained how I would get to Olympia:

“My blacksmith friend lives in a place called Olympia. Now, I know you’re excited to go, but as I said, it’s late; there’s not a plane that would take you there at this hour,” she told me. “Besides, there’s only one way to get there from here and it’s via the ferryman.”

“The what?” I asked her.

Sunny went on to explain further:

“He’s a mysterious figure who operates a submarine. It’s said that no matter where you are, if you drop one of his coins into the ocean, he’ll show up and take you to Olympia.”

“That sounds weird. Are you just pulling my leg?”

“Afraid not. Plus, due to his secretive nature, he requires every passenger be unconscious if they wish to ride in his submarine. So if you want to go now, I’ll have to sedate you. Then, he requires the passenger wrapped in cloth.”

Remora spoke up, and be still, my heart, in my defense: “if this isn’t a joke, then it’s sus at best.”

“Ain’t disagreeing with ya there. But rules are rules. So what do you say, sprout?”

“When did I become a ‘sprout’?” I groaned. And yes. That did seem sus. But I was willing to give it a try nonetheless. “Anyway, yeah. Go ahead.”

Whatever I had to lose, I decided to take my chances.

I trudged myself back out onto the streets. Well, I suppose it wasn’t a total loss. I could probably stay at a motel for a bit with the money Sunny gave me.

Okay, sorry. I know you can’t read my thoughts, but I was just a little frustrated back there. You’ve still been a huge help, Sunny.

While an inn would’ve been a great idea, I decided against it. The way I saw it, I’ve already been asleep for a day and a half, and besides, I was hungry and the night was still young. So off to the tavern I went. I pulled out the map app on my phone and let my legs do the rest. Within the hour, I was there. In the rowdy and chaotic atmosphere that was a tavern.

“What’ll it be?” The server asked as I stood next to the bulletin board. I didn’t pay the server much mind, but I knew I needed to order something.

“Give me a hard water.”

“On the rocks?”

I waved my hand away, with a €20 note in between my fingers.

“Just a hard water with ice, please. I don’t need any rocks in my drink.”

Now that that was out of the way, all my focus was on the bulletin board. Most of these paid very little for very demanding tasks. Things like helping some folks with yard work to someone looking to buy loaves of fish. None of those were of much interest to me, save for one request: “help me find my family’s necklace. Willing to pay over €1,000,000 to whoever brings it back. Call this number for more details.”

Now, I was on that shit. As soon as I saw the post, my thumb found itself planted firm on the dial pad. Not even half a minute later, someone picked up.

“Hello?” Answered the voice of a middle-aged lady. Her husky voice reminded me of those femme fatale type characters in action movies. Or a phone sex operator. There was no in between.

“Um. I think I may have gotten the wrong number? Hold on.” I pulled the phone away from my ear. Nope. Same number that was on the poster. “Or maybe I didn’t? I don’t know.”

Thick laughter followed. Her voice was alluring, not going to lie. However, it was in one of those kind of upper-class refined type voices where they really let each syllable marinate.

“Is this about my family’s necklace?” She asked once she calmed down.

“Yes. Er. Did you ever find it? Still need help looking?”

She began to sob, something I did not expect.

“No...it’s still missing,” she said at last. “Please. I think it would help if we talked more in person. I’ll text you my address.”

“Sounds good. See you in a bit.”

I hung up and saw that there was a new message.

That was fast.

I copied the address and pasted it into the maps app, then headed down there. To think that she would let me into her humble abode so late at night...I had to be careful. It could have been a trap.

Relax. It’s just to get more info about the mission...er...request. I better not act all timid like this once I show up at her place. I gotta act professional.

When I arrived at the address, I was awestruck. Despite how much money she was offering, she didn’t live in some big mansion. Well, maybe it was like a small mansion. I think my mom would’ve called it a condo. I had to climb up a long flight of stairs in order to reach the front door, and when I did so, I knocked.

The door opened to reveal a woman with curled silver-gray hair which didn’t even extend to her shoulders. She had long, curled fingernails, which I only noticed because of how hideously long they were. Just as she was. Like, really? Why did everyone have to be so tall in comparison to me?

“Come on in,” she beckoned, her lips curled into a smile.

I followed her in and she sat in a plush chair. Next to her chair was a small table where an ashtray lay.

“You don’t mind if I smoke, do you?”

Yes! I mind so much! If I get breathing problems because of you, I’ll take that necklace and shove it --

“Not at all,” I shook my head. I had to keep my cool.

I watched her lift up a long stick and inhale, then blew out smoke from it. The scent was rather perfumey and not what I would have expected from tobacco.

“Um. What are you smoking, by the way?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s patchouli scented.” It took me a sec, but then I just had to follow up on that.

“Wait. Are you smoking incense?”

“I don’t know,” she looked away. “I’m distraught.”

Clearly.

“My condolences,” I replied. Intrusive thoughts would be the death of me.

“Thank you,” she set down the incense stick and crossed her arms. “Now, let’s get into business, shall we?”

“Yes. Let’s.”

“As you know, the necklace I lost is an important family heirloom. I hope to have many children one day and have them all fight to the death to see which one will receive it.”

I...what? No. Never mind. She was probably joking. I mean, that wasn’t how the necklace was passed down to her, was it? Of course not. That would have been ridiculous.

“When was the last time you saw it?” I pressed on. If I was going to play detective, I had to ask the real questions.

“Just a few nights ago, it was in its glass case next to my bed post. The next morning, gone. Along with my husband.”

Again. What?

“OK. You never mentioned anything about a husband.”

“Oh yeah. If not for him, I’d already have many kids. He’s always running off looking for the next lay. Catch my drift?”

Yes, but I really wanted to focus on the necklace.

I nodded along. That was for the best.

“If he’s constantly cheating on you, why don’t you just divorce him?”

“Because, dear. Everything that’s his is also mine. Which extends to his mistresses.”

Oh. It was that kind of relationship.

The more I learn, the less I want to. Could we PLEASE get back to the mystery of the missing necklace?

“So do you think your husband took the necklace to impress someone new?” I asked. There. Nice segue, nice save.

“No,” she dispelled that theory. “He’s not so shallow as to try to impress others with material goods. The stolen necklace and my missing husband are unrelated.”

Oh. My. Gods. I so wanted to bash my head against an invisible wall. But I held back.

“So any idea on what happened to it, then?”

She gave a short nod before giving her reply.

“You have to understand, this accessory is worth a fortune. I suspect it’s the work of thieves.”

Ah. There we go. That made sense.

“If that’s the case, they may already be far away from here.”

“Thankfully, I know for a fact that they’re still in town. I almost caught the thieves, but they were well armed, and me, being a poor defenseless lady.”

“Got it. Where did you last spot them?”

She looked around the room all absentminded. I decided to do the same. One key detail stood out to me: the vases, the clocks on the walls, the furniture, it all had this vintage and antiquated feel. It probably wasn’t because she was all that old. Maybe she just wanted to give off this vibe of living all high class and didn’t feel the need to live in some huge place.

“Over next to a warehouse by the docks. They may have moved locations since.”

That made sense. If they were spotted once, why would they stay in the same place. But for real, those must have been some lousy thieves if they thought staying in the same town altogether was a good idea. That mission was going to be a piece of cake. I pointed my thumb toward myself and grinned.

“You’re in luck I showed up! I’m a professional when it comes to this sort of thing!”

“So I can count on you, then?” Her voice, a pleading but hopeful echo. As if I were her potential savior. Finally, it was my time to shine.

“That’s right! Or my name isn’t Demisexual!”

She tilted her head. “Demisexual?”

“Er...it’s my superhero name. It’s a work in progress.”

“It sure is an attention grabber.”

“What about you? Is there a name I should call you?”

Her head bobbed. Tipsy? Maybe. Or maybe the incense fumes have gotten to her. “We’re close enough that you can call me by my first name, yes?”

Not really. This is just for a job. But go ahead.

“Sure,” I shrugged.

“I’m Hera.”

As soon as she uttered those two words, it was like something snapped within me. All the blunt force thoughts I’ve done my best to keep in. My best not to be ridiculous. My best not to comment on the ridiculous. It was all culminating in this moment.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I aired out my complaint.

“What? Is something wrong?”

“Come on! I was passed out as a ferryman took me here, first off! Then I arrived in Olympia! Then I meet a blacksmith called Hephaestus! Then there’s you! Oh, I should’ve seen your name coming when you mentioned your husband, but I was sooooo focused on recovering that necklace! Let me guess: your husband’s name is Zeus?”

“How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess. I mean, it couldn’t possibly be that I stepped into Ancient Greece Reference Land, could it?”

She let out a heavy sigh, and then smiled.

“Deary, I cannot speak for any blacksmiths. That kind of thing’s not something I’m interested in. But as for my husband and I, let me assure you that it’s just a coincidence. While not the most common, there are many people in the world with the name Hera. It would be an insult to them to suggest their names could be chalked up to a reference.”

“Yeah,” I looked down. “I’m sorry about that. I’ll still get that necklace, though!”

“I await your return, hun,” she replied as she saw me off. Really, I shouldn’t have snapped like that. She seemed like a nice enough lady.

As I raced back down the stairs, I decided I needed to pay Hephaestus another visit.

“Hey Heph...Heph…!” Ack. I needed to catch my breath. I really did race back to the shop.

He emerged from the back of his shop, still the same mass of muscle upon muscle.

“What can I do for you? Got the money?” He got right down to business. Guess it made sense. He did own a business, after all.

“Actually, I was wondering if there was something else I could afford.” I handed him the money once more.

“Hmm…” He gave it some thought. Then pulled out a stiletto. “You can have this. It didn’t take me long to make.”

“Good! I’ll take what I can get!” I snatched it away from him.

“So no longer interested in the yakut knife?” He asked.

“Oh no, I still am. And I’m going to get it. I just took a job and it’s going to pay me plenty. But I gotta have something to defend myself with.”

“Look, whatever you got going on, just leave me out of it. I’ve got a reputation to uphold. I’m a craftsman, not an arms dealer.”

“Not a problem! See ya!” I ran back out to embark on my investigation.

Now let’s see...she said a warehouse along the docks, right? They probably weren’t there anymore, but it still seemed like a good idea to check. Eventually I reached a series of white marble buildings which served as a great contrast to the night sky. If I had to grade it, I’d give it a B+ for the composition, even though really, the architecture work was boring.

As I approached the warehouse buildings (I mean, I have to assume that’s what they were), I heard voices around the corner. I clung to the building and listened in on their conversation:

“So did you hear Jerry and his guys are in the hospital right now?”

Huh. Jerry. That name reminds me of that guy whose foot I shot. Probably a coincidence, though.

“What? Really?”

“Yeah, apparently Sunny’s got herself an apprentice now. Some unhinged college student or something like that.”

Oh. Nope. It’s the same Jerry. Well, that’s cool, I guess. Wait. What was that last bit? ‘Unhinged’? Really?

“Dang. Every time it seems someone’s got an upper hand on Sunny, she pulls a trick like that.”

Hello? Where’s my recognition? Oh, whatever. At least I was building up a reputation now.

“Well, now that we’ve stolen this necklace from that snobbish woman, we’ll be swimming in bread.”

Necklace! Snobbish woman! That must mean Hera’s necklace! I have to find a way to sneak around and take it back!”

Right when I took a step back, I kicked back a pebble. Just a little. Measly. Pebble.

“Huh? What was that?” One of the thieves asked. Alerted.

It was always the little things that gave someone away, wasn’t it? If I wasn’t being so literal, that would have been poetic. Instead, it was pathetic.

Great. New objective: run. Hide. Get out of there before you get caught.

But just as I turned around and bolted away, I bumped into someone and fell onto the ground.

The ‘someone’ in question was a big and burly man with a big burlap sack and a black and white shirt along with a black and white pair of pants.

“What do we have here?” He asked, in that big burly voice.

“Ow, me bum,” I winced.

Behind me ran the footsteps of the two who I heard conversing with each other. I turned around and crawled over to face two, no, three men in grey business suits and raybans on (if that was their idea of concealing their identity, it was a terrible fashion choice). One of the three stepped forward and pointed a pistol down at me.

“Say, aren’t you the apprentice of Sunny I’ve heard so much about?” He asked. Presumably, the leader. In spite of him holding a gun, I was more concerned about the guy behind me. That guy could’ve grabbed me and held me in place while the skinny one with the gun shot me down. But the skinny one? Yeah, I could take that dude.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I turned my head and spat on the ground.

“Oh? Acting all tough, are you? You’re surrounded.”

Shit. He’s right.

“Now, tell me what you’re up to and maybe I’ll let you walk away.”

“I came for the necklace,” I relented. At least I growled while doing so. Had to sound tough somehow.

He began to laugh, and the other three joined in.

“So you think just because you’re an apprentice of Sunny, you think you can do whatever you want now?” He still had that gun pointed at me, but I didn’t care. I had to set the record straight (even if the rest of me wasn’t).

“I’m not an apprentice! I’m a bonafide vigilante! You can call me Demisexual!”

They all looked at each other. Confused. Greeeaaaat.

“Demisexual?” The leader asked.

“Look, it’s a work in progress. It’ll catch on.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace, dangled it above my head. All the while, his other hand held onto that pistol.

“This what you wanted? You thought you could play hero for some rich woman who wouldn’t even be able to tell if her necklace was replaced with a counterfeit?”

“Actually,” I corrected. “I thought I could play antihero, but I guess I’m not good at that one, either.”

At first, their expressions were blank stares, but then they burst into laughter. Great. I was the butt of all jokes wherever I went. Well, I figured I may as well make the most of a painful moment and make things even more painful. So while they were all distracted, I reached up and with one hand, grabbed onto his wrist which held his gun, and then I let the stiletto slip out from my sleeve and plunged it right into his arm. The sensation left him screaming and he dropped the necklace.

Damn, I didn’t think it would cut through his skin that deep. For such a small weapon, it sure did its job. Still, I will miss it. To think I had to part with it so soon all because it’s lodged into some guy’s arm.

Now, I had to act fast. No doubt the others also had guns. Not only that, but the big guy behind me tried to grab me, but I jumped out of the way and took off with the necklace in my hands.

As I bolted further into the shipyards, I ran between two warehouse buildings and into an alleyway. There was still gunfire behind me and I was just grateful none of them managed to hit, let alone graze me.

Once in the alleyway, I noticed a wall, and I felt my luck run out. It wouldn’t take them long to find me, as it wasn’t like I ran very far, and I couldn’t just turn around. All I had to my advantage was a dumpster which I could possibly hide inside, but ew. I had standards.

However, I noticed along the wall next to the dumpster, there were little gaps that I might have been able to climb up.

It’s a long shot. I mean, that temple was one thing, but I’m not much of a climber. Still, I’ll take my chances.

So I stashed the necklace into my pocket and began climbing. I thought I would lose my balance several times within the short minute it took, but I held on as tight as I could, even as the marble from the walls scratched against my palms.

One moment later, the gang of thieves ran into the alleyway.

“Where’d she go? I could have sworn she ran in here?”

“Dude, check the dumpster. She may have been crazy enough to hide in there.”

Ha. Glad I didn’t dirty myself up thinking that was a good place to hide.

I poked my head down from the rooftop. Those guys really were looking every which way but up. I slunk back down and pulled the necklace out of my pocket.

The more I examined it, the more pretty I thought of it. The little sapphire beads and the red brooch that lay in the middle. It reminded me of one of those cursed amulets you’d see in movies.

I wonder if Remora would be proud of me. Maybe she’d pat my head and say, “good job.”

Maybe it was the exhaustion setting in, but I continued to stare at the thing. Then, knowing that those guys didn’t find me, it was all so hilarious. I couldn’t help but to laugh as well.

“Hey! She’s up on the roof!” I heard one of them yell.

“Damn it!” I hissed. Right when I thought things were going my way.

“Let’s split up and go around each side. I’ll go inside and climb up to the rooftop. Either way, we’ll get her.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. No!

I ran toward the far end of the rooftop and looked down, behind the alleyway. There was a whole sea of shipping containers strewn about the place, which gave off the appearance of a maze.

They haven’t reached the other side yet. I’ll climb down and lose them in those shipping containers.

Again, long shot. But it worked once, so no reason why it couldn’t work again, right?

Once I went about getting myself down, however, it proved to be a different story; I hung from the ledge of the rooftop and moved my legs about, trying to find a place to prop my foot on. To no avail. My hands began to slip and I fell down.

How come this was easier in the temple?

What I fell onto wasn’t the ground, however. Instead, I found myself in the arms of yet another large muscled man. This one looked like he was a good five hundred pounds. His entire face was covered in hair. Beard, mustache, sideburn, all that. Oh, and he was shirtless.

“Ew! Ew! Let go of me!” I squirmed. He set me down.

“Whoa there! I just saw you were in trouble and figured you could use some help!”

“I was doing just fine! If I wanted to fall off a tall building, that’s my choice!” Seriously. What was up with my luck?

“Say, you’re kinda cute,” he remarked. Even worse. Now I had some guy in his 50s (probably) hitting on me. Totally uncool.

“Sorry. I’m only into strong women. Not strong men. Also I’d prefer if they were my age. And their name started with an ‘R’.”

He lowered his head and smiled. “Ah, I see you are a woman of culture as well.”

“Uh-huh. Culture. Right,” I had no idea what he was talking about. But before I could linger in my confusion, the voices of the thieves rang through my ears.

“It’s her! Get her!”

Actually, maybe this would be a good opportunity to get away from the creepy dude.

“Look, dude. Thanks for not letting me die and all, but I gotta bolt.”

So I slipped into the maze of shipping containers. I knew they’d follow me in there, so I took off the jacket I had been wearing and threw it on one end of the maze while I ran in the other direction.

“She went that way!” I heard them yell. It seemed my idea worked. Soon I would be out of this place and back toward Hera to deliver her necklace. My pace picked up as soon as I saw an opening and the outline of houses came into view. I was so close toward freedom.

– Then gunfire rang through the air. Followed by screams.

I froze in my tracks. I always forgot how loud, how startling that sound could be. I turned around. Of course they weren’t anywhere near me. Yet questions swam through my mind.

“Who shot who?”

“Am I next?”

Those questions repeated with greater intensity as I heard footsteps approach. Next to me, one of the doors to a shipping container was open. I slipped inside and closed the door behind me.

“That’ll teach those thieves,” a familiar husky voice seeped through the air.

No way. That couldn’t be.

“Did you really have to kill them, hun?” That sounded like the shirtless old man. Wait. No. It was all coming together.

“Those guys would’ve tried to kill me if they knew I was trying to take my necklace back. Besides, it’s not hard to dispose of their bodies.”

“Hey hun, been a while, huh?”

“Who all have you been sleeping with now?” Her voice sounded more gruff than earlier. More serious. Almost like Remora’s.

“Uhh…”

“You know our arrangement. You can sleep with whoever you want, so long as the person is also someone I’d be interested in sleeping with. Of course, they’d also have to be okay with us as a group.”

“Oh, no need to worry about that! I’ve found some potential candidates! For sure! I’ve not made any moves yet, though. I wanted you to be there with me!”

It was definitely them. How I wish I could block out their conversation.

“Strange. My tracker says the necklace is nearby, but I haven’t spotted it. I didn’t even spot any of those thieves with it.”

She had a tracker? Really? Was I just used as bait or something? If I held onto the necklace, would I be next? Was there never going to be a reward?

My mind raced, but I thought up an idea; I reached into my pocket and pulled out a phone, then I texted Hera:

Me: I got the necklace! I stashed it away in a container, but I’ll meet you at your place and then we can go back and get it together!

I felt like a fool. There was no way that would work, was there? Well…

“Oh. I got a text. Looks like she hid it somewhere near us.”

“Who?” Zeus (I presume) asked.

“My little helper. Seeing as I caught you holding her in your arms, I take it you already met her. Flirting and everything.”

“You got it wrong! She’s not my type! She’s small! And gay!”

That’s right! I wanted to shout out for joy, but I knew better.

“How deplorable. To think you would stoop so low as to go after someone who wouldn’t be attracted to you.”

“Anyway, should we stay here and keep looking or go home?” He deflected.

“Let’s go home. I’d rather make her show us where she hid it than be out here all night.”

Yes! It worked!

As soon as I heard them walk away, I opened the door and poked my head out just to make sure the coast was clear. Once I was sure it was, I decided to follow through on my end and meet the two there.

I huffed and puffed as I made my way up the stairs. I thought that with all my running, maybe I could’ve made it back to their house before them. I was proven wrong when I opened the door and saw each of them seated in that chair. To be more precise, Hera was sitting in Zeus’ lap. I really wish I could have erased the image from my mind.

“Hey...hey…” I waved while hunched down with my hands on my knees and gasping for breath.

“Drink some water, dear,” Hera suggested.

Did I ever take that water I asked for when I was in that tavern? If not, then I really am a fool, now aren’t I?

“Just...just a sec,” I tried to breathe a little slower.

“So, you retrieved the necklace?” She asked.

“Yeah. Just like I said I would. It was a bit tough. Those thieves really did a number on me, but I –”

“Good. Hand it over.”

“Huh? I can’t do that. I left it back at the shipyard. Just like the text said. We can go there right now and I’ll show you.”

Hera and Zeus looked at each other, and I wished I wasn’t looking at them. Then, Hera looked back at me.

“Come on. You can drop the act,” Hera smiled as if she were about to dig into a meal. “I know it’s in your pocket.”

“What?” I reached into my pocket. So it was. It seemed that in my carelessness, I forgot to leave the necklace behind. Well, the cat was out of the bag. I pulled the necklace out. “How’d you know?”

“There’s a tracking device hidden within the brooch. But you already heard me say as much back at the shipyard, didn’t you?”

I gulped.

Congratulations, Demetria. You played yourself.

“Are you going to kill me now?” My voice grew fearful, desperate. “Is it because of your husband? Or because I lied to you? Or maybe just because I have your necklace and you want it back?”

The two looked at each other yet again. I was expecting laughter. It did seem to be a recurring theme of the night.

You know, now that I think of it, those two remind me a bit of Sunny and Ray. Except less tolerable. If anything, they made me appreciate Sunny and Ray’s presence all that much more.

“Hey hun, isn’t she just adorable?” Hera asked Zeus.

“She is,” Zeus agreed.

This is gross. If you’re going to kill me, just do it without the humiliation.

Hera turned her attention back to me. “Now dear, why would I kill you? We had an arrangement, didn’t we? You would return the necklace, and I would reward you.”

“Yeah, but what about those thieves? You killed them.”

“Yes, because they stole something from me. But you intend to give the necklace back, don’t you?”

“That-” I struggled to find the words. I knew better than to act badass. I had lost the one weapon I managed to purchase. There was nothing in my environment that I could use to my advantage. Still, I already came that far. “That depends: will you kill me once I hand it to you? ‘Cause if you’re going to kill me either way, I’ll just swallow the necklace.”

Hera laughed up a storm. There it was. The laughter I expected at any moment. But I was serious.

“I will not kill you, dear. Promise,” she crooned. I still wasn’t totally convinced.

“Sign a contract, then! Saying that you won’t try to kill me!” I barked.

“Very well.” Hera pulled out some pen and paper out from a drawer in the table where the ashtray lay. I stared at her, and all the while, she scribbled down on the sheet of paper. She stopped to ask me my name.

“Demisexual,” I told her. She shook her head, her crooked smile never waved.

“Come on. We’re all friends here. You can tell me.”

I hesitated.

“Tell you what: I’ll add an addendum to the contract. Stating that whoever you are, I will not use your name to track you down. If your name is such a secret, then you can rest assured that your secret is safe in this home.”

I gulped. “Demetria,” I told her. “Demetria Root.”

“See? Now that wasn’t so hard, Demetria, now was it?” She crooned once more. It really irked me.

She went back to writing down the ‘contract’, then took a picture of it on her phone and texted it to me. It stated: “I, Hera Juneau, hereby declare that I will not make an attempt on one Demetria Root’s life.”

I approached her and set the necklace down on the table. In response, she chuckled.

“Oh, Demetria. It’s adorable how easily trusting you are. If I was less reputable, I wouldn’t have honored such a hastily scribbled contract. I would have shredded it, shot you, then destroyed your phone and disposed of your body.”

“Hey! You said!”

“Relax. I am the type to honor contracts, however they come about. Besides, just as I said, I wasn’t going to kill you.”

Whew. Okay. Maybe I was a little quick to jump to conclusions.

“Not to mention,” she added. “You were fun. It was entertaining watching you run around.”

“Um. Thanks?”

“You may be interested to know, but I used to accept contracts all the time. Back when I was in my prime, I lived as an assassin. Both Zeus and I. That’s how we met, in fact.”

My jaw dropped. “You mean...like, you got paid to kill people? Did you take pleasure in that sort of thing?”

She closed her eyes and nodded.

“It wasn’t so much that I enjoyed it, but I was good at what I did and I enjoyed doing my job well.”

“I see.” Yeah. I was still in dangerous territory. “But you quit? You’re done with that life now?” I asked. Naive as ever.

“I wouldn’t say I quit. Those who quit tend to find themselves on the wrong side of a contract. But...in a roundabout way, they laid me off. Technically, I would still be employed by them, except after a certain age, they decided I wasn’t as good as I used to be and stopped offering me contracts. I’ve tried to settle down, but it’s not been easy.”

Huh. I could imagine.

“Oh!” It looked like she had one of those lightbulb moments. “Now that I think of it, I think you have the potential to make a fine assassin, yourself, Demetria.”

I shook my head. “Hell no. I’m not about to kill people for money.”

“That’s a shame. Not to say you would make a fine assassin now, but give it a year, and I’m sure you would. But that’s okay. I don’t want to force a career down the younger generation. Hmm…” She placed her finger on her chin. “Maybe you could have been a janitor.”

“Excuse me?”

She waved her hand away. “That’s just what they’re called. Or were called. Last I heard, they all got wiped out. Seems someone killed them all. Shame, too.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s still custodians around,” I pointed out.

She laughed her villainous laugh. “No, dear. Janitors were like assassins. Called such because they would go around and ‘clean up other people’s messes’. Many of them weren’t even killers. If you had a niche to fill that they could utilize, you could have been among their ranks.”

That actually did sound pretty cool. But it was too bad those people didn’t exist.

“How did one become a ‘janitor’ anyway?” Oh no. I was sucked in.

“If they wanted you to be one, they would come to you and make you one. That’s how they worked. Went across multiple universes searching for their candidates. It really was a doozy, from what I heard.”

Multiple universes? Really? Did anyone really believe that sci-fi nonsense? It was just like that Tony guy I met at Ray’s diner that one time.

“Anyway,” Hera seemed ready to wrap up our deal. Good. So was I. “How would you like your money? As a check? Wired to you?”

Good! She’s still going to stick with that, too! I’ll be rich! But wait...I don’t need to be rich. I just want a cool weapon.

“Actually...I have something else in mind.” After I told her what that something else was, she agreed, and we saw each other off. As glad as I was to get rid of her, I couldn’t help but feel just a little bit excited. After all, I got to fight some guys, and I got to have a weapon for a short while. Oh! And I learned some lore!

It was about a couple days later in which I returned to the diner. I didn’t remember how I acquired a red sweater vest and yet I was wearing one.

“Huh?” I remarked. “Maybe the ferryman put it on me while I was asleep.”

Before I could really take in my surroundings, Tigershark ran up and hugged me.

“Yay! Babysitter!”

I looked down.

“That’s what I am now? Since when?”

Sunny appeared in frame with a big ol’ smile on her face.

“Since you got back! Now that you’re back, I’m going back to the hospital to visit Ray!”

Jeez. I just got back like five minutes or so ago and already Sunny was leaving.

“Aren’t you gonna ask me how it went?”

“Oh yeah! What weapon did you choose?” There we go. Now Sunny was excited.

“It’s a surprise! I don’t have one right now!”

Sunny’s face lowered. Disappointment was written all over.

“But that’s OK! Because I still managed to get something! Hephaestus said he’ll mail it here for me, so I can’t wait to show you when it gets here! He even threw in an extra weapon when I told her Hera got me the money. Though he looked a little scared when I did.”

“Hera?” Sunny tilted her head. “Hephy’s never mentioned anyone named Hera before. Wonder why.”

I shrugged. “Beats me! But yeah! It’ll be great!”

Sunny grinned. “Well, I’m glad you had fun, dear.”

I looked around the diner, but Remora was nowhere to be found. The most likely answer was that she was at the hospital with Ray at the moment, but I hoped to see her all the same. Even if she still wanted me to keep my distance.

I hoped I could tell her all about how my trip to Olympia went. Maybe one of these days.