#finished his walk & i made french fries then brought them down to them & they said they liked them but omar was like ‘too spicy’ like bro uy

[bibleofficial]

i’m the WORSTTT bc i’ll say ‘i’m on my way’ but that literally just means i’m getting dressed & i’ll leave in a half hour 😭😭

[kiss-theggoat]

Familiar

Ghostface (Billy Loomis) x F!Reader

Word Count: 2.4k

Summary: You've been having a shameful relationship with a certain Woodsboro slasher. One night, during a particularly passionate encounter, you discover who it actually is you’ve been spending time with.

Warnings: Smut, you don’t know you’re fucking Billy so I guess elements of non-con

“Guys come on! So what if I’m a virgin, I mean it’s normal!” Randy sat on the concrete ledge, fighting for his life against the vultures that are Stu and Billy. They cackled and fist bumped, turning back towards Randy to listen to him dig himself deeper into the virginity hole.

You overheard this conversation as you walked towards the group, lunch tray in hand and backpack slung over one shoulder, making it ache. Stu and Tatum sat furthest to the right, as usual, on top of eachother, kissing and touching, Tatum sitting on his lap. Then Sydney to their left, then Billy beside her, chewing on some apple slices Syd had brought. Randy sat furthest to the right, a few feet away from Billy. You strode over, plopping down between Billy and Randy. “What’s everyone arguing about?” You asked with a smile, also silently questioning if your school chicken sandwich would give you salmonella.

Stu laughed, tossing a chocolate in his mouth. “We just figured out that ol’ stunner Randy Meeks here is a virgin.” He threw a candy towards Randy, making him swat it away and flip Stu off. You were conflicted. You could take Randy’s side and say you were too, but that’d be a lie. If you said you weren’t a virgin, then everyone would ask who you’d slept with, because you told Syd and Tatum that you were a virgin. They’d know it happened recently, and you couldn’t exactly tell them you’d been meeting with a certain ghost-faced serial killer.

You shrugged. “Me too.” With a sneer, you peeled the bun back to reveal a questionably pink looking breaded piece of chicken. “You want this?” You held the burger out to Stu, who snatched it up and began to scarf it down like he hadn’t eaten in a month, which left you with a few bland, soggy french fries.

“A-HA!” Randy pointed an accusatory finger at Billy. “Told you! Totally normal to be a virgin. Just cause you're used to seeing movies where every single teenager is having sex doesn’t mean that-“

“It’s not the movies, Spielberg.” Billy interrupted. “Most of the people I know - in this school - aren’t virgins.”

You made eye contact with Billy, just now realizing that he was staring you down, deep brown eyes burning holes into yours. Trying to play off how nervous you were around him, you rolled your eyes. “What’s the big deal, Billy? Being a virgin isn’t embarrassing.”

Billy dropped the apple slice he was eating, leaning closer to you. Something in his eyes looked right through you. It looked like he knew all of your secrets, every little thing you’ve done in the dark. You tensed and backed up, biting half of your cardboard-like fry. “What?” You asked defensively, trying to get him to back off.

He didn’t say a word for a few seconds, staring at you with the same blank expression. “You’re really a virgin, huh?”

Did he know? How could he possibly know? Did EVERYONE know? You started to panic internally, but kept it cool on the outside. “Yes! I don’t know what the big deal is. Just because I haven’t found someone yet doesn’t mean I’m a loser or something.”

“Yeah right! You’re a total loser!” Stu yelled, finishing your sandwich. “I can’t believe a hottie like you is a virgin! Maybe you and Randy can fuck, get it over with.” He wiggled his eyebrows at you. You threw a fry at him, but it missed him, unlike Tatum’s slap on the chest, “Ugh, Stu don’t be gross.” She whined.

Randy’s face was bright red. You always thought he might have a little thing for you, but you’d pretty much had your eyes on Billy ever since high school started. You were glad to be his friend, but when he started dating one of your best friends, Syd, you couldn’t help but be consumed completely with jealousy. She knew you’d had a crush on him a little bit, and still dated him. You convinced her you were over it. Girl code, y’know?

“I’m not rushing to not be a virgin. I’m fine with it.” You said matter-of-factly and ate another fry. Billy scoffed, leaning back against his hands, which earned him a glare from both you and Sydney. You had no clue why he was being so rude about this, he couldn’t know. The bell rang out, signaling both the terrible start of your Algebra class and the blissful end of this conversation. “See you guys later.” You mumbled, taking your tray with you as you left.

The alarm clock beside you read 12:36 AM. You had been reading next to your lamp at your desk for a while, procrastinating your homework long enough to where it hopefully disappeared. With a yawn and an ache behind your eyes you decided it was bedtime. As you stood up to turn your lamp off, you jumped at the sound of your phone ringing. Your body had an immediate response, like Pavlov’s dogs. A phone call late at night usually meant a visit from your favorite ghost.

You picked up the line. “Hello?” You asked, a small smile tugging at your lips as you mindlessly chewed on your fingernail.

“Hi pretty girl…” his sultry voice had you hot in your cool bedroom, cheeks turning pink. “Your blinds are closed. I thought I told you to keep those open.”

“Sorry.” You said softly. “It was hot today…” you walked towards your curtains and moved them to the side, standing in the window.

A hearty chuckle sounded from over the line. “There she is…wearing my favorite shirt…good girl…”

You looked down at the tank top you had on, pink, simple, but low cut and revealing. Perfect for bed and, apparently, Ghostface. With it, you wore a pair of plain black lounge shorts that fit loose around your thighs.

“I’m in a hurry tonight, princess so get to it.” He said quickly, “Is the window unlocked like I told you?”

You nodded, big enough for him to see from his usual spot in the yard. You decided to listen to the man, getting to work. You set the phone down for just a second, quickly taking your shirt off. You had no bra, so he had a full unobstructed view of your tits he loved so much. You picked up the phone again and heard a small groan from him. “Attagirl…”

You shimmied your shorts off your legs, pleased that you had worn panties he liked, your girliest ones, purple with a little gemstone heart on the waistband.

“It’s almost like you knew I was coming, pretty girl.”

You bit your lip, leaning in closer to the window. “Come inside already…” You whispered needily, voice almost trembling from your desperation.

One minute your yard was empty, normal. The picture of suburban bliss. The next, it was overtaken by the shadow of a brutal, ruthless killer, threatening aura filling the whole yard. He should scare you, but your body had a visceral reaction to him. Face hot, skin tingling, panties wet. You wanted him every single night like you’d never wanted anything before, and seeing him was like lighting a fire in your chest. It was borderline humiliating how bad you needed him.

You slid the window open, screen discarded weeks ago, and you waited with vibrating skin. You watched his gloved hands grip the window sill, strong arms pulling him up into your childhood bedroom. Maybe that was part of the appeal. He was so forbidden, having a secret relationship in your home with a man like him was so hot to you.

There he stood in all his glory, black boots heavy on your white rug. He was on you in seconds, hands wandering, grabbing your tits hard with one, the other pushing your panties down. “So wet already.” He growled. His voice close-up was weird, but something you’d gotten used to. You knew he was using a voice changer, it crackled very once in a while and you could hear another voice in tandem with his deep, modulated one. His real voice. You couldn’t hear it well enough to know who it was, but you liked hearing it anyway.

You nodded, breathless, backing up to your bed while pulling him at the bicep with you. You laid back, and he slid your panties off the rest of the way, slipping them into his back pocket. That made your face flame red. The fact that he wanted to keep your wet panties was insane to you, made you feel hot, made you feel wanted. It made you feel like he needed you as bad as you needed him.

“Please…” you whined, pulling on his cloak as he stepped between your legs.

“Needy, huh? Such a pretty girl shouldn’t be acting like such a slut.” He snapped, but you could hear the smirk in his voice. His gloved hands trailed up the smooth skin of your inner thighs, stopping at the apex to admire the way you looked in the low warm light of your bedroom.

He slid his glove off, something he’s never done before. You looked down quickly at his hand, but a firm grip on your jaw slammed you back down to the bed. “No peeking, princess.”

You nodded, finally feeling his skin on yours. His touch felt so much better than the rough material of his gloves. Based on the glance you got, his hands were big, but smooth. Something you didn’t expect from him. You expected rough and dirty hands, not soft and manicured fingers.

All of your pensive thoughts were scrambled when you felt his finger push inside of you, quite easily with how wet you were at this point. He groaned at the feeling of your warm insides, eager to be inside you. A second finger slid in beside the first, curling upwards against the soft spot he knew got a reaction from you. You tensed, legs spreading further with a whine at his touch.

Warmth spread over your legs and belly, up to your chest and face. His fingers squelched as he fucked them into you, curled upwards at every right moment. Your bedsheets felt so soft against your hands as you gripped onto them, eyes closed and mouth open, wanton moans escaping you. While you weren’t focused, he slid a hand underneath his cloak, palming himself through his jeans.

He grumbled something softly, something you didn’t hear.

“Huh?” You asked, that small word the only thing you could muster between moans.

“Wanna taste you.” He said louder, grinding his hips into his hand. “You're gonna be a good girl and keep your eyes shut, okay?” He asked, but you felt a threatening undertone present in his words. You nodded quickly, but whined when his fingers left you. You felt yourself clench around nothing,feeling empty without him inside you.

You shut your eyes tightly, hearing him move to the window to shut the curtain. Your hands were clammy as they pressed over your eyes, you had to make sure you wouldn’t peek. You wanted to see what he looked like, but didn’t want to end up in the paper as the newest Ghostface victim.

For a minute, you waited, then suddenly, an eruption of pleasure as you felt his mouth on you, tongue running up your clit, hands pressing your thighs down against the bed. Without even thinking about it, your hands flew down to grip his hair. He didn’t seem to mind. You tried to gather what little information you could from the feeling. He felt sweaty, but his hair was soft, a little bit longer. But that’s all you could gather. You scrunched your face to emphasize the fact that your eyes were closed.

He sucked your clit into his mouth as two large fingers pushed inside of you. You let out a loud moan, mouth hanging open and back arching up off of the bed. “Holy shit…” you moaned, tightening your grip on his hair. He groaned, squeezing your thighs tight with his bare hands, to your delight, both gloves were off. He was becoming way more comfortable with you.

You felt yourself get close, you felt tingles on your thighs and up your waist, all the way up to your arms. Your whole body felt like it was on fire, you felt so good and you couldn’t think straight. At that moment, you wanted to see him. You needed to know who he was. Desperately, you wanted to kiss him.

“I’m…I…” you whined.

“You’re gonna cum?” He asked, voice breathy with small pants. You tensed up. His voice changer wasn’t on. He sounded so familiar but you couldn’t put your finger on it. It was bugging you, but you couldn’t focus on it too long as your orgasm overtook your body, gushing over his fingers and legs trembling as a damn near shriek left your mouth. You felt like you couldn’t see, your ears were ringing and you felt like you had just been beat up. You decided to look. You had to. His voice. You knew him.

You opened your eyes to see the man you’d been fucking the last few weeks. His lips and chin glistening with your cum, face flushed and soft pants escaping his plumped lips, hair sweaty and tousled from your pulling, falling in front of those gorgeous brown eyes.

You couldn’t believe it. You stared in shock. “….B-Billy?”

[dearviper]

Certain Dark Things Chapter 22: Your Eyes Close

WARNINGS: 18+ (minors dni!); suicidal ideation, drugging

Table of Contents | My Masterlist

The last day of your life dawned with a bleak, white sky. Such weather was to be expected for a November day in Gotham, but your heart sank nonetheless.

Silly as it might be, you had hoped to see the sun one last time. But there would be no more sunny days for you, no more cloudless skies of blue.

The day you were taken was simply the first step in a long march toward death.

You had had a good enough life before this, you supposed. It wasn’t nearly as long as you expected, but you had made peace with the life you lived the moment you decided to die.

Pulling yourself from your thoughts, you regarded Edward as he hunched over his desk. Every few minutes, he jumped up and left the room as if suddenly remembering some forgotten task.

It was almost amusing, watching him dash about. Almost, if you ignored the fact that he was preparing to commit mass murder.

Even a week ago, your stomach would have turned at his giddiness, his lust for bloodshed. Now, however, you only watched him prepare with concealed distaste.

As if feeling your eyes on him, he finally glanced up and looked at you for the first time in hours.

“Bathroom break?”

You nodded, not bothering to shy away from his touch as he untied you and guided you down the hall.

After your suicide attempt, he had reinstated the rule of making you leave the door open. It was still degrading, of course, but you couldn’t force yourself to care anymore.

This would probably be the last time you ever used the bathroom, you mused. If he was to be in police custody by tonight, you were sure your own demise was mere hours away.

After you finished, you washed your hands and walked back with Edward to your chair. You were mute and patient as he began to bind your wrists again.

He stopped almost immediately and glanced up at you. After a few seconds of silent consideration, he spoke.

“I was thinking for our last meal together we could order some takeout from the diner. End things how we started them,” he suggested.

Your last meal together. Your last meal ever. You were surprised Edward hadn’t taken the opportunity to make an allusion to the Last Supper.

“Is there anything specific you would like?” he prompted.

You shrugged uncaringly. “Whatever you’re having is fine.”

“Alright.”

Standing up, Edward strode to the front door and reached toward the knob. As his hand closed around it, he paused and turned to you with stale, rehearsed distrust on his face.

“I don’t suppose I have to remind you not to do anything stupid?”

You shook your head perfunctorily. Edward pursed his lips, seemingly disappointed by your continuing apathy.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

For the final time in your life, you were alone. You wished you could think of something to do, some profound way to spend your last few hours.

But even with your hands free, there was little to do when the rest of your body was bound to a chair, and so you simply waited despondently for Edward to come back.

It was a short wait, as he soon returned with an armful of paper cups and bags stained by greasy food. Setting them down on the counter, he dragged a card table in front of you and transferred the food there.

Without speaking, you picked at the BLT and fries he laid before you. The food was like ash in your mouth, and you eventually settled for just sipping the milkshake he had brought.

“I used to dip french fries in my milkshakes,” Edward said suddenly, startling you with the sudden break in silence.

“What?”

“When I got my first job as a teenager, I used the first paycheck I earned to get fries and a shake from some cheap diner. It was the most decadent meal I could think of at the time, far better than the dog food we got in the orphanage. I bought it every time I was paid, and every time I would dip the fries in the shake.”

Uncertain of why he was telling you this, you slowly popped the plastic lid off your shake and swirled a fry in the thick beverage. Hesitantly, you pulled it out and popped it in your mouth.

“It’s good,” you offered after swallowing.

Edward smiled indulgently at you, as if charmed by how you were missing the point.

“When I first saw you that day at the diner, that’s what I was planning to order. But you caught me off guard with your kindness, your smile. You looked at me, you saw me. And I was so distracted, so startled that I forgot what I wanted and ordered a latte.”

He chuckled bashfully as he spoke, and your mouth went dry. Swallowing uncomfortably, you tried to think of a response.

“Edward…”

He held up a hand to stop you, and you trailed off.

“I don’t give off a very good first impression, I know that. I scare people, I disgust them. But you… you didn’t see that in me. You were kind. You were warm. And so every time after the first, I ordered lattes because I was afraid you might realize what had happened that first time. That you might think I was strange. I wanted to give a good first impression. I wanted to seem sure of myself. I wanted to be normal. For you.”

His voice was pleading, desperate for understanding, and you were surprised to find tears prickling at the corners of your eyes.

“I think… I think maybe if I had been raised in a good home, one with parents who loved me, I could have been better. I could be the kind of man who walks into a diner and orders exactly what he wants because he isn’t so pathetically dumbstruck by basic human decency. The kind of man who asks a girl on a date and doesn’t run away when she kisses him. The kind of man who doesn’t need your love to redeem him. To save him.”

“Edward, you can still have that,” you surprised yourself by saying. “You can stop this, all of it. You can have a normal life.”

That sad smile turned rueful and he shook his head. “It’s far too late for that now. There are people depending on me. I can’t let them down.”

“And what about what you want?”

With a slight laugh, Edward shook his head once more. “This is what I want.”

Edward glanced out the window. Following his gaze, you watched the final sunset of your life in silence. The sun sank slowly over the horizon, eventually plunging the city into blackness.

“It’s time,” he announced, voice dangerously quiet with anticipation.

You were prepared to die. After all you had gone through, you longed for it. Even so, a chill coursed through you as he stood and picked up a syringe off his desk.

“This is the end, then,” you murmured, wincing as you caught sight of the needle. “Will it hurt?”

He shook his head with a reassuring smile. “No more than last time. It’ll just last a bit longer.”

You nodded gratefully, exhaling a shaky breath as you readied yourself for death.

“When you wake up, stay in the hospital until it’s over.”

You froze at his words.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘when I wake up’?” you asked, eyes darting across Edward’s face frantically. “Are you just knocking me out?”

He pressed his lips together but didn’t reply.

“You promised,” you stammered. “I- you were supposed to kill me. You promised!”

Edward crouched down next to you and reached out a hand, brushing away the tears that were streaming down your cheeks.

“You promised!” you choked out with a betrayed whimper.

“I’m sorry,” Edward murmured. “But after everything, despite all of it, I still… well, you know.”

Furrowing your brows, you shook your head rapidly. The movement shook the tears off your cheeks, and they splashed onto Edward’s face and glasses.

“Please, don’t. Don’t leave me like this,” you begged, grasping at his shirt and staring at him with imploring eyes.

“You’re not coming on the ark, but I won’t leave you without a lifeboat. You’ll be safe at Gotham General,” he promised you softly, continuing to stroke your cheek.

“Edward, please-”

He cut you off by crashing his lips greedily against your own. The kiss was sorrowful and covetous, as if he finally realized he was taking something that would never belong to him.

You were so distracted by his touch that you almost didn’t feel the pinch when he plunged the syringe into your neck.

Almost.

Edward pulled away, and his misty eyes were the last thing you saw before your vision went black.

The Batman grappled up into the Riddler’s apartment, the gunshot that killed Carmine Falcone still ringing in his ears.

Skulking through the silent apartment, he surveyed the disarray. Lab equipment, prototypes, a sniper rifle (the sniper rifle), an overstuffed bookshelf, and notes. So many notes.

Cautiously, he turned the corner into the furthest room, catching sight of an army green flag decorated with the Riddler’s insignia.

Slowly, silently, Batman took a step into the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Whirling toward it, he took on a defensive position and readied himself for his fight.

It turned out to be an unnecessary precaution. Lying there in the center of the room was a woman. The movement he had seen was the labored rise and fall of her chest, which doubled as proof of life.

With the assurance that she was alive (at least for now), he made his way over to the nearby window and glanced out. The Riddler was nowhere to be seen.

Always a second behind him, the GCPD officers swarmed into the apartment in a clamor. They halted behind him as they caught sight of the woman.

Turning away from her, Batman spoke to Lieutenant Gordon as he pushed past the other officers.

“She’s alive. He’s gone.”

“He’s been here this whole time,” Gordon said with disbelief, following Batman to the window and staring ou.

“Lieutenant!” An officer jogged over to Gordon and held out his radio. “Martinez.”

Leaning into the radio, Gordon spoke. “Yeah?”

“Lieutenant, we got a witness here. Says she saw someone coming down the fire escape right after the shot. She said he went into the corner diner. The guy’s sitting by himself at the counter right now.”

“Stay with her,” Gordon ordered one of his officers, jerking his chin towards the unconscious woman in the center of the room.

As quickly as they had entered the apartment, they filed out and rushed across the street into the diner.

Edward Nashton sat at the counter, toying with his coffee cup as the lifespan of his freedom dwindled away.

Seconds later the front door banged open, accented by the tinkling bell hanging above it.

“Police! Hands up!”

Edward remained unmoving, staring into the latte he wouldn’t enjoy.

“He said put your goddamn hands up, you son of a bitch.”

Pausing for another moment, Edward finally complied, raising his arms and rotating on the diner stool to face his opponents.

With a smug, composed look, he spoke only to Gordon.

“I just ordered a slice of pumpkin pie.”

As the pigs slammed him against the counter, he flexed his lips manically. When the cool metal of the handcuffs snapped shut around his wrists, the last bit of warmth from the kiss you shared abandoned him.

previous chapter | next chapter

[evermoreholland]

First Dates and Milkshakes | Tom Holland

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Warnings: Fluff, fluff, and more fluff

Word Count: 1,422

Author’s Note: This was beta read by @osterfieldnholland​, @spiderrrling​ and @0rose-blossom0​​. Thank you so much!

Most people have their first dates in high school or in their early college years, but not you. You didn’t really have time to go out on dates due to your large load of school work over the years. You were now older and ready to finally put yourself out there. You haven’t had much luck finding anyone that peaked your interest, until you met Tom. 

You met Tom at your local dog park. He was walking his Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Tessa and they both looked absolutely adorable. You were walking your dog and the two of your pets ended up crossing paths to play. Tom introduced himself politely and you the same. You were captivated by Tom’s beautiful smile. The two of you immediately hit it off. Tom had a great sense of humor and you were drawn to him because of it. He ended up asking for your number and that led you to the moment you were waiting for now: your first date. After Tom got your number at the park, the two of you began texting regularly. He eventually asked you out on a date, and you said yes.

The moments leading up to your first date terrified you. Did Tom have any idea that this was your first date? Would he try to kiss you? Did you know you have never been kissed either? Well of course not, because you forgot to mention it to him. You were incredibly nervous. A bunch of questions roamed through your brain. You also had no idea what to wear, but that was the least of your problems. 

You spent the entire day preparing yourself. You gave yourself numerous pep talks. You tried on around twenty different outfits until you found the one you liked. You finished touching up your makeup when you heard your phone ringing. You picked it up from your bed and saw that Tom was calling.

“Hello?” 

“I’m on my way, love. I can’t wait to see you,” Tom said and you could basically hear him smiling. 

“I can’t wait to see you, too. Around how long?” You asked.

“Around ten minutes.”

“Okay, great. See you then,” you said and then hung up. You finished getting ready. You slipped on your shoes, put in your earrings, and touched up your hair one more time for good measure. By then, you heard a knock on your front door. You opened it to reveal the gorgeous man you were about to go on your first date with. 

“Wow.” Was all Tom said when he saw you.

“I’m assuming that I look good,” you teased.

“You look stunning, darling,” Tom complimented you. 

“You don’t look bad yourself.”

“These are for you,” Tom said as he handed you a bouquet of roses.

“Thank you. They’re beautiful,” you said as you took them from him. “Come in so I can put these in a vase.”

You put the flowers in the vase and you were on your way. Tom was a true gentleman. He opened your door for you and he even let you pick the music for the car ride, but he still wouldn’t tell you where the two of you were going.

“Where are we going?” You asked after a couple of minutes in the car.

“How about milkshakes at my favorite diner?” Tom offered.

“Sounds good.” Tom pulled into the parking lot of the diner and you both went in.

You both ordered burgers and fries, along with two milkshakes. You got chocolate and Tom got vanilla. 

“I can’t believe you're my first date,” you mumbled.

“I’m your what?” Tom questioned. He wasn’t sure if he had heard you correctly or not.

“You're my first date. You have all of the bragging rights now,” you teased.

“I can’t believe it. There is no way that no has asked you out before,” Tom said as your food came. You both said thank you to the waitress and went on with your conversation.

“People have, I just haven’t said yes to anyone before,” you said. It was true. People have asked you out before but you haven’t been interested enough to go out with anyone, until Tom of course.

“Well I am honored,” Tom said and then ate a fry. You both began eating your food and enjoyed each other’s company. You liked talking to Tom. He was probably one of the sweetest guys you have ever met. 

“You should try dipping your fries in the milkshake. It’s really good,” you said as you dunked your french fry in your chocolate milkshake. Tom looked at you skeptically, but he eventually tried the combination.

“It is very good,” Tom said in delight.

“Why did you get vanilla? Chocolate is definitely superior.”

“Are you kidding? Vanilla is better,” Tom protested. “Try it, love.” 

The pet name made your heart flutter. No one knew this, but you were a sucker for pet names. You loved them, but obviously no one has called you them until now. Tom passed his glass over to you to try his milkshake. You took a sip but you still preferred chocolate.

“Still like chocolate better, pretty boy,” you flirted.  

“Agree to disagree, pretty girl.” 

After you finished your milkshakes, Tom paid, even though you protested. After, you made your way back to Tom’s car.

“How do you feel about a movie? I heard the drive-in was open,” Tom suggested. You loved the drive-in movie theater. It was always really fun whenever you would go with friends. 

“I would love to go,” you said and then sat down in the car. Tom began driving to the drive-in and you both jammed out to music. The drive-in was about twenty minutes from the diner and during the ride Tom placed his hand on your knees, and if you didn’t feel butterflies in your stomach before, you definitely felt them now. 

Tom pulled into the drive-in and bought the tickets. The theater was playing one of your favorite movies, Tim Burton’s: The Nightmare Before Christmas. Tom pulled up to a spot so that you could watch the movie and he got out of the car to grab something from his trunk. Tom came back to the front with a bag in his hand, along with blankets.

“I brought some treats for you, darling,” Tom said as he handed you the bag and put the blanket over your lap.

“These are all of my favorites,” you said as you looked through the bag. “How did you know?”

“You told me on FaceTime once.” 

The movie began as the sun started to set. It was beautiful but Tom couldn’t help but focus on how cute you looked while watching the film. You felt Tom’s eyes on you.

“What are you looking at?” You teased and then passed him a piece of candy. 

“How pretty you are,” Tom said.

“Cheesy,” you commented. 

“I have a feeling you like my cheesiness, though,” Tom replied and then popped a sour candy into his mouth. 

“I do. I like you very much,” you admitted. You could already tell by just one date how much you liked Tom, and he felt the same way about you.

“I like you too.” 

~

“I hope this date wasn’t just a one time occurrence,” you said on the drive home after the film.

“Definitely not. You’re too cool to pass up.” Tom said.

“Too cool?” You laughed.

“That was lame, I know.”

“I thought it was cute,” you replied. 

“Now look who’s being cheesy now,” Tom teased. He pulled the car into your driveway and put the car in park. You both didn’t want the night to end just yet. 

“I guess I am. Thank you for the wonderful date, Tom. I had a good time,” you said in appreciation. 

“The pleasure is all mine,” he said as he got out of the car and made his way over the passenger door. He helped you out of the car and walked you to your front door.

“Will there be a second date?” Tom asked, hope evident in his eyes.

“Of course. Have a good night, Tom,” you said as you pressed a kiss to his cheek. Maybe a cheek kiss was enough for a first date, you wouldn’t have known better anyway. 

“Good night, Y/n,” Tom said blushing. He cupped your cheek with his hand and pressed a gentle kiss to your lips, pulling away before you could even register what was happening.

“First kiss too?” Tom teased.

“Shut up, Holland.”

[buckyjustbelikethat]

The Fiction of Fairytales: Chapter Three

Title: The Fiction of Fairytales: Chapter Three  

Characters: Stucky x Reader

Summary: (a/b/o au that is non-cannon compliant) After being captured and forced to live as Brock Rumlow’s mate for years you are kidnapped by the Avengers. They plan to interrogate you for information on Hydra and Rumlow, but after Steve and Bucky realize they are your true mates, they realize that their kidnapping was more of an unexpected rescue.

Warnings: Mentions of assault, kidnapping, death, and abuse, and strong language.

Word Count: approx. 2300

A/N: Hello everyone! 💕 I feel like it’s always hard to get myself to start writing but once I do I become so into the story, which is why I’m not sure how long this series is going to be 😂 I hope you all enjoy the new chapter! 

Previous Chapter

You woke up hours later and saw your mates in their uncomfortable chairs beside your hospital bed, sleeping against each other. With no fear of meeting their gaze, you sat there and finally had a chance to memorize all their features. Sleep kept calling you back, but you fought back for as long as you could. In disbelief that somehow your mates seemed to be ethereal.

You fell back asleep and when you woke up in the morning Steve and Bucky were already up. There was food placed beside your bed, which you assumed was waiting for when you woke up. They were talking in hushed voices, trying not to wake you, but the moment you shifted in your bed both of their eyes were on you.

“Good morning, doll.” Bucky spoke gently.

“We brought you food, we weren’t sure if you would like it, we just tried to guess, if you want something different let us know, and we can get it for you.” Steve rambled.

You glanced over at the appetizing looking muffin and fruit that they put beside your bed, unsure why you would be opposed to it. “No, this is great, thank you.” You spoke, your voice raspy and quiet.

“After you eat, we can have the doctor come in and check on you before we bring you to your room.” Steve said.

You nodded in reply, as you started eating the food that they brought you.

“What’s your favorite food?” Bucky asked.

It was a simple question, but it held so much weight, you hadn’t thought in a very long time about what you liked, and you definitely haven’t been asked. “I’m not sure… it’s been a while … I used to like french fries a lot, and ice cream.”

Bucky and Steve smiled back at you, “Well, if that’s what you want you can have it at every meal for all we care.” Steve said.

“Maybe not every meal,” you smiled, “do… do you like them?” Bucky and Steve could tell that it was difficult for you to have the confidence to speak let alone ask them questions, but they were so happy you were trying for them. They cherished every word you spoke.

“We aren’t psychopaths, doll. Of course we do.” Bucky replied incredulously, his voice filled with humor.

You laughed quietly at his reply, and Bucky and Steve the moment they heard your laugh felt at a loss for breath. They could have sworn it was the most beautiful thing they had ever heard. They had to quiet their alpha urge to purr at their mates' improvement. Instead, they gave each other a quick glance, and they could tell they were both celebrating internally.

You all kept making quiet conversation, getting to know each other, until you finished your food. You were surprised at how they never replied harshly to your questions, and always encouraged you to ask and say anything you want. The conversation felt so foreign to you, but you could feel yourself beckoned by a sense of peace, still too afraid to embrace it, but it was there, nagging at you that maybe this feeling is something you could trust, that your mates are people you could trust.

They called in the doctor and stepped out of the room while the doctor gave you a final check before letting you go.

The check in went well, and after the doctor left you could hear her giving care instructions to your mates.

When they entered the room, Bucky asked if you were ready to leave and you replied that you were. Which wasn’t a lie, you knew that you had to leave, and you can’t stay in this hospital bed forever, but you were worried about what will happen when you leave the bubble of this room.

Steve walked up to you and offered you a hand to help you get out of bed, acting out of instinct, but you eyed his hand warily, unsure if you should take it, unsure if you were ready, and after a moment of you staring at his hand with a look of panic covering your face, he retracted his hand as if it had burned you. There was a deep frown covering your face. There was now a new panic inside of you that you angered your alpha.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to be too forward. I didn’t think about it.” Steve spoke flustered, as the alpha inside of him felt wounded by the look on your face at the idea of contact. He didn’t blame you at all, he would never blame you, but he couldn’t help the feeling upset by how traumatized you obviously were.

“It’s okay, I’m sorry.” You replied, you didn’t want him to feel bad.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Steve spoke in assurance, forcing a smile on his face to make sure you felt no guilt.

Bucky stepped in to distract from the tension, “Are you fine to walk? We can get you a wheelchair if you would like one.”

“No, I should be fine, thank you.” You stated as you got up from your bed, your body ached but it was nothing you couldn’t overcome.

Steve led the way as Bucky trailed behind like before, you noticed that even within a day, them surrounding you was starting to feel more protective than intimidating.

When you got into the elevator Steve started explaining, “We have our own floor, and your room is on our floor, like we said before, if you would be comfortable somewhere else just let us know. There’s also a common floor here for all of the Avengers,” Steve said while gesturing to the buttons on the elevator. “You already met Tony, but whenever you’re ready, the rest of them would love to meet you, but only when you feel comfortable.”

“Okay.” You acknowledged his words.

The elevator finally beeped to indicate that you have arrived on their floor. “There are security systems and only certain people are allowed on certain most floors, but we already had Friday give you access to our place and all of the avengers floors.” Steve spoke.

You heard what he had said but you also were in awe of their apartment. It smelled like them, and deep down that made you feel happy. Everything looked so cozy, and it seemed to suit your mates perfectly. Your mates were watching your reaction and pleased that you seemed to approve of their space. They had already started getting better at reading your emotions, and though you wouldn’t say it, they could tell you approved.

They gave you a tour of their whole place, and then showed you to your room.

“Tony ordered you some clothes and necessities and your closet and bathroom should be stocked, but if you need anything else let us know. And I mean anything y/n.” Bucky said the last part as sincerely as he could, trying to assure you through his words. He had to refrain from calling you omega, unsure how you would react to your title being used. He knows that for him and Steve, it’s a term of the utmost affection, but he was worried that that may not be your experience with the word.

“Wow,” you said, taking in how beautiful your room looked, you weren’t used to having your own space, let alone one so nice, “thank you… I...” you got tears in your eyes, the rush of emotions seeming to come out of nowhere. Your life seemed to be flipped within a day and while you still feared that they could flip back just as quickly, you were unsure if you deserved all of this.

“What did you want to say?” Steve asked, not wanting to let you quiet yourself out of fear in any circumstance.

Your eyes cast down to your feet, not sure if they would like you finishing your thought. “I just don’t know if I deserve all of this.”

Both men froze at your words, hurt that you could think so little of yourself. “Of course you do sweetheart, you deserve all of this and so much more.” Steve said, his voice resolute.

“Hydra brainwashed me and forced me to be an assassin. When I finally was able to leave, I had a hard time accepting that I deserved a nice life, that I deserved any joy.” Your eyes shot up at is words, surprised that this person who so far has seemed so loving could think that about himself.

Bucky gave you a soft smile and grabbed Steve’s hand. “Steve was the one that convinced me that I deserved peace and happiness. If I was worthy of that, you sure as hell are, and you have both me and Steve to remind you of that for the rest of your life.” Bucky spoke up as well.

The tears finally trailed from your eyes as you looked back at your new room, once again enticed by the fairytale seeming to play before your eyes. They took your lack of argument as a win, knowing it will take time for you to fully accept it.

“You can get settled in your room, and shower if you need it. The doctor still wants you to rest a lot, so you can either lay in your bed for a while, or there’s always the couch in the living room. We can watch movies and you can rest, but it’s up to you, this is your home now.” Steve said.

“Okay… I’m gonna shower, and then I think I wouldn’t mind watching a movie.”

Your alphas smiled at you, happy that you chose to spend time with them.

“Alright doll, we will be in the living room if you need anything.” Steve said before they walked away. At some point Steve and Bucky knew they will have to go back to work, but they were planning on taking as much time off as they can to spend time with their new mate.

After they left, you shut the door to your new room and decided to investigate before showering. You spent a lot of time in your closet, still shocked that all of these clothes were now yours. After taking it all in you finally decided to find something you felt like wouldn’t be too painful to put on and wear right now considering your injuries. You finally went into the shower, and the warm water felt so relaxing. You don’t remember the last time you were allowed to take a warm shower. You assumed your new alphas would encourage it, rather than forbid you like Brock. It was still a concern, but you were afraid to ask them if it was okay, worried about all their potential reactions.

After you got out of the shower and changed, and as the fog faded from the mirror, you got to take a long look at yourself. Your face still seemed almost grey, but there was some color creeping up. You were distracted though by staring at your bond mark, wondering how your new alpha’s felt about it, you were sure they had seen it, it was hard to miss. Were they as disgusted by the sight as you were?

You weren’t sure, but you couldn’t wait for it to fade. Your instincts were trying to get you to imagine what it would look like with the new marks of your alphas, but you weren’t ready to accept that future.

After you finished getting ready, you walked out to the living room where you saw your alpha’s cuddling on one of the couches. The couch beside them was adorned with pillows and blankets that appeared to be set up for you, and the gesture warmed your heart.

They both smiled at you when they saw you walk in, surprised that somehow after your shower you looked even more beautiful than you were before. “We tried to make the couch as comfortable for you as possible.”

“Thank you.” You replied blushing.

“Steve was telling me there are a lot of disney movies we still need to catch up on, is that something you're maybe interested in?”

You nodded back at them, happy with their suggestion. You don’t think you could handle anything too serious right now. They gave you a few options, and you ended up choosing Tangled.

You spent the day having a disney movie marathon, and you couldn’t lie, it was cute how much these big buff super soldiers were affected by disney movies. Throughout the day they seemed to wait on you, make sure you always had enough food and water, and anything to make you comfortable. Their level of care consistently surprised you, and you surprisingly were able to relax for the day, accepting that at the moment, you didn't seem to be in any danger. After spending another day with them you were enthralled by how they seemed so perfect for each other. The way they held each other showed how much their love for one another. You would catch yourself fantasizing about cuddling with them, to be in peace with them the way they seemed to find it in each other.

When the day was over. Your alphas went to their own room begrudgingly. Not wanting to be separated from you but knowing their disappointment cannot be helped. The room over felt like too far away from their mate. They would almost prefer sleeping on those crappy chairs in the medical wing to this.

They were unaware that when you stepped into your room, you also couldn’t help but feel like your room was cold compared to when you were with them. When you first stepped into their apartment you were overwhelmed by their scents being everywhere, but now your room almost felt like it didn’t smell enough like them. Unlike your mates, you “rationalized” yourself out of your instincts, reminding yourself that they were still alpha’s at the end of the day, and you were still you, and allowing yourself to crave them now might just hurt you even more when it all falls apart.

So, you locked your door behind you, and crawled into your big bed alone.

Tags (open): @dark-night-sky-99​ @fallenoutofrose​  @an-adventureland​ @xxlikeheavenxx​ @thisartemisnevermisses @coonflix @fab-notfat @snakesonastarship @thanossucks @yomama-umbridge @grandluminaryearthquake @laughsandlivia @bloo-moon-freak @this-is-a-chilis-drive-thru @sergeantrosabellaswan @rororo06 @rvgrsbrns​ @catthecreator​ @6chewwie9 @veganfangirl5​ @rachelsfandommess​ @thinkaboutmara​ @cookiecat22

[something-fanfiction-ie]

Out of the Lion’s Den

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of rape (not against the reader), attempted rape and assault (against the reader) angst, cursing, insults, the usual super dramatic shit you see in the taken down of an unsub

A/N: Wowie wow wow wow, so this is kinda long. And I know I said I was gonna post it like two days ago, HOWEVER! In my defense, I started writing it and then about halfway through I accidentally closed tumblr so it deleted everything I had. So I went to bed defeated. But it’s here now, that’s the important thing, right? Remember to like, comment, reblog, send me asks, and just be your usual amazing selves and give me the attention that my parents never gave me as the oldest of eight. As always, THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME AND I APPRECIATE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!

___

[ Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four ]

December 1998

It felt good to be back home in Georgia. The wind whipped at the trees outside of the diner you and you best friend were currently catching up at. The waitress, Flora, knows you by name and sets your usual in front of you with a ruffle of your hair and a couple of southern endearments.

“Tell me everything.” Madalyn says, reaching across the table for the ketchup that was placed on your side of the booth. You swat at her hand when she makes a grab for one of your fries. Her laugh is loud and feels like home, making you smile into your drink in a way you haven’t smiled all semester.

“I’d like to preface this conversation by saying that I feel like this would be a much cooler experience if I were the same age as everyone else.” You point out, brushing your growing bangs away from your eyes with an annoyed swat. Her eyes soften with sympathy, swirling a fry into the ketchup tucked into a safe space on her plate. She doesn’t say anything though, knowing that you have more to say.

“The classes are awesome. The campus is beautiful. I learn something new all the time, which was never happening when I was going to school here,” you pause long enough to glance around the room. It’s packed with all kinds of people, from old men clustered at the counter sipping on coffees to construction workers munching on hamburgers during their break, even big families squished into booths and tables for a nice Sunday family lunch.

“But?” You shrug in response, knowing that Madalyn will be able to read you like an open book if you meet her eyes. Across the table, the amateur profiler squints her dark eyes at you with suspicion.

“Everyone just kinda avoids me. The guys are cute, but they’re all nineteen and twenty. Most of the things to do on campus, you have to be eighteen for, so I mostly just spend my time at the library or at Aunt May’s doing homework.” At this, Madalyn stops eating, raising her eyebrows with a cheeky grin.

“I bet your grades are super rad,” You resist the urge to throw a French fry in her face after what she says next. “And besides, I’m the only friend you need in your life.”

“Actually, I have made a kind of friend?” Flora is over before you can finish the drink in your cup, filling the glass with a dark, blue pitcher. When you thank her, she reaches out to pat your cheek, mumbling something about missing you while you were gone.

“Should I be jealous? Is she pretty? She may be a big sister type, but I’m your soulmate.” You laugh into your sandwich having to cover your mouth when you take a bite and the laughter doesn’t go away.

Madalyn has been your best friend for four years, although time seems to have no meaning in your relationship because nobody would doubt it if you told them you’d known her since birth. While most kids in your age group had grown up thinking you were odd, Madalyn had decided that you were just interesting. That interest had turned into a friendship that would span years and miles more than many friendships do.

While the things you both enjoyed, like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck, certainly brought you together, it was your differences that made you click like the pieces of a puzzle. Only true friends can debate on opposite sides of an argument and then end the night eating popcorn while watching Space Jam in the living room.

“His name is Harvey.” When Madalyn’s eyebrows go up this time, it is from surprise. You’ve never been one to socialize with anyone of the opposite gender, much less become ‘kinda friends’ with them. Plus, as a young lady of very womanly curves, she’s quite aware of the way some guys cross the line on a regular basis.

“(Y/N)-” You wave your hand in the air, once again pushing at the bangs that keep falling in your face. You should have never cut them in the first place, and you never would have if you realized what a hassle they would be when you started growing them out.

“I don’t like him like that. He’s just a really nice guy, helps me with homework and walks me to a class or two. We’ve never even met up outside of school.” Her eyes are still narrowed, a stray dark wave falling from the hair comb that pins the top half of her hair away from her face.

Eventually, she changes the subject. Trusting that you are smart enough to know when things have gotten out of hand and how to take care of it.

“So why are you growing your bangs out? I thought you liked them. Didn’t you say they make you look more grown up?” You unstick your thighs from the leather booth seat, pinning her with a look that she knows all too well.

“Now that’s a crazy story.” She also makes herself comfortable in her seat, preparing herself for a story. It’s probably a good thing you’re a phenomenal story teller, or else she would have gotten tired of all the stories you tell really quickly.

“So last month a girl comes forward and reports that she was cornered by a man she didn’t know on her way from the library back to her dorm. He held her at gun point and rapes her. It got kinda big, because she was rallying a group of men and women to escort girls around campus. And, I mean, I understand the unease she must feel, and I was sympathetic, but I was kind of confused why there was so much uproar over one rape.”

Having finished your own fries, you reach across the table and steal one from your outraged best friend. Before she can grab it back, you’ve shoved it into your mouth.

“Until a second girl comes forward and says that she reported the same thing happening to her a month ago. The campus, meanwhile, is doing nothing about it. No increased security, no curfew, not even acknowledged them.”

“For two girls?”

“For five,” The pause you take is natural, scooting the bottom of your cup across the tabletop so you could sip from the straw without picking the cup up, but it reads as dramatic effect. “And that’s not even the craziest part.”

One dark eyebrow raised into her hairline, waiting for you to continue the story and also answer the question.

“Every victim was a freshman, so they’re a little on the younger side, they all had the same hair color and style, all had the same body type, all were the same height, all had the same eye color.” This time you do pause for dramatic effect, using the silence to build the tension.

“And all of them look exactly like me. Bangs and all.”

Madalyn leans forward a little, suddenly very worried about you going back next month. As she hurriedly tries to make sure you are taking the necessary precautions during a scary time like this, Flora floats around the diner, stopping to fill up the cup of a single man just behind your booth. All he has is black coffee, a textbook of some kind is splayed open across the table but he doesn’t seem to be too interested in it. Instead, he leans back in his seat, his ears listening to your every word.

“So in summary, I’m growing out my bangs because that’s obviously apart of this dude’s type.” Madalyn doesn’t protest anymore when you reach for another fry on her plate.

“Stop looking at me like that. I’m going to be fine. I’ll even color my hair if you’re so worried.” And the conversation continues, your best friend overly worried about you and your life as a fifteen year old college student, and you masking your fear for appearances sake. Harvey, however, finishes his coffee and asks for the bill.

He thought you were smarter than that. He thought you were smart enough to connect the dots and at least notice that he’d done all of it for you. That you were his everything. Apparently that was wrong. One day you’ll figure it out, of that he is certain.

For now though, you don’t even notices when he passes your table to get to the door.

Present Day

Spencer steps away from the car door, the cool wind hitting his cheeks and tousling his hair. It helps the dizziness in his head, and the nausea in his stomach, but it doesn’t help the sharp pain in his heart. His brain is swimming in all of the information, putting the pieces of the crime scene together like it was a puzzle.

“He left her in the driver’s seat after stabbing her from the backseat, walking around the front before knocking her out and carrying her to his own vehicle.” JJ looks back at the car, peering around crime scene analysts as they hurry about collecting evidence.

“She tried to leave, but her tires spun in the mud.” Rossi notes, nodding to the mud splatter along the sides of your car and the tiny graves each tire has dug into the ground for itself.

“There’s blood in the back.” Spencer finally speaks, looking away from the backseat window and back to his two partners. All eyes flick to the back seat where there is indeed two drops of blood on the floor and a smear of it on the headrest of the passenger seat.

“If he’s in any system then we’ll catch him.” Rossi said, nodding for the techs to collect what they could from the back. Spencer turns back to the car, well aware that there wasn’t anything else here for them the find that would lend them any information as to your whereabouts.

“In a system or not, I will hunt him to the ends of the earth before I let him get away with this.”

Back at the BAU, Prentiss makes calls to your mother and your best friend, Madalyn. Both answer on the first ring, and both are all the more willing to answer any questions that may assist the team in finding the man who had taken you.

“Is there anyone you remember (Y/N) mentioning that maybe stood out to you or her as creepy and stalkerish?” Your mother doesn’t recall anyone, having been focused on so many different cases during your childhood and having been so distant from you since you decided to not become a detective.

Madalyn, however, is quick to answer with a name Prentiss recalls crossing off the list of persons of interest.

“Harvey Morgenstein. They were friends in college, and although it weirded me out because he was a lot older than her at the time, he seemed harmless and I trusted (Y/N). But then he became her agent’s personal assistant all coincidentally and it just seemed too fishy to me.” Prentiss writes the name down, sliding it across the table with a pointed look at Garcia.

As quick as lightning, Harvey’s life history is pulled up between computer screens for both women to delve into.

Harvey is a short man with a wide build that, in earlier pictures, shows him to be more soft than muscly. His hair is dirty blonde but his eyes are two dark circles of coal that seem to pierce through the screen and into the souls of both Penelope and Emily.

“He’s totally not creepy looking.” Garcia remarks sarcastically, eyes sweeping across the information given to her the way Reid’s eyes might fly up and down the pages of a book or a case file.

“Tell me about it.” Emily replies, leaning into the seat designated for those on the team who so wished to give Penelope a visit while remaining off their feet.

“Harvey is a pretty normal guy for the most part. Single child of a Harvey and Lucille Morgenstein. Graduated from Georgetown in 2000 with a major in computer technology, minor in criminology.”

“The same graduating class as (Y/N).” Prentiss notes, her eyes just behind Garcia’s as articles and documents fly around the computer. Where some people talked with their hands, Garcia talked with her screens. The constant tap-tap-tapping of rings and fingers against the keyboard was like the audible churnining of cogs in her brain.

“Yeah, he spent some time as an IT guy at Georgetown before he got a job as a personal assistant. The only spot on his squeaky clean record that I can find is that he was a person of interest in a few rape cases involving some girls on campus back in the late 90’s, but he had alibis for every single one so they let him walk.” The pictures of every victim pop up across the screen in the form of a newspaper article talking about the serial rappings.

Gasps come from both their mouths as the dots connect.

“Call Reid and the others, and then call the agent. I think I may know what is going on.”

A couple of hours later and the pieces are all starting to come together.

Harvey had been the serial rapist from the 90s, attacking women who looked like you out of anger over not having you for himself, and pure obsession. After graduation, he tried to move on by distancing himself from you, but when his mother was diagnosed with cancer he fell back into his old stalkerish ways.

He followed your every move through your agent, who was the only person you spoke to the most outside of your mom and Madalyn.

After a little digging into unsolved rape cases in the area, it was obvious from the victimology and an oddly specific M.O. where he bit each of his victims on the neck, that he had also fallen back into his perverted rapist ways.

Harvey might have been content to stay like that, an obvious self esteem issue keeping him from ever approaching you directly for a date, until a month ago. Not even two days after the death of his sick mother, you and Spencer went on your first date outside of the bookstore. A double trigger.

In a sick and twisted display of love, Harvey started killing people the way you’d written deaths in your books. But with every death you continued to ignore him and see Spencer.

“Eventually it all became too much for him to handle and he snapped, kidnapping (Y/N) and calling to taunt Reid over his victory.” Hotch passed a hand over his face. The sirens blared loudly as they raced for Harvey’s house just outside of Quantico.

“This guy has been stalking her for a ridiculous amount of time.” Morgan commented with a shudder, sympathy and guilt from the earlier interrogation eating at him as the black SUV careens around a corner.

When they bust through his door, clearing each room and finding a creepy amount of pictures and papers about you, they realize that he has taken you somewhere else. And who do you call when you’re at a dead end and you need information?

“You’ve reached Penelope Garcia in the FBI’s Office of Supreme Genius.”

___

Breaking a chair that is nailed to the floor is a lot harder than it sounds, and it already sounds kinda hard.

There was a lot of kicking and hitting and some bruises were definitely starting to form, but the amount of blood coming from your leg was scary. The chances that the knife had nicked your femoral artery were relatively slim, especially given how long you’ve been bleeding, but you couldn’t help but waver on the side of caution.

After several failed attempts of throwing your body into the wood and kicking and hitting and pulling and crying and then repeating the cycle, you managed to pop a leg off. While the base of the leg stayed nailed to the floor, you spent the rest of your time trying to tear the chair from the rest of the legs, when you did you threw the top half against the concrete wall.

Taking two spindles from the back, you quickly scurry back to the mattress and wait for him to return. It’s only a matter of time before he decides to come back down here to taunt you or try something.

In your short time in what Harvey has so lovingly deemed ‘your room,’ you have come to a couple conclusions in an attempt to distract yourself from the excruciating pain in your thigh.

One being that this is not Harvey’s home. Of that you’re one hundred percent certain. Upstairs, you can hear the sound of two sets of feet thudding around. You can only assume this is his childhood home. You remember that his mother had died about a month ago, causing him to resign from his position as your agent’s personal assistant. She had mentioned to you that he planned to help his father as much as he could before he too passed away.

The second being that you were probably going to loose your leg. Any move this way or that sends a thousand knives through every nerve in your body. Your throat is scratchy and sore from how long you’ve been yelling, both in trying to get someone’s attention and in pain.

The light coming from the small window next to the ceiling hasn’t even begun to wane with the falling sun when the door opens again. The chain around your uninjured leg clatters when you pull your knee up to your chest. You don’t even attempt to move the other leg.

Harvey appears in the opening, a tray of food balances in his hands as he shuts the door behind him.

“Find some weapons?” He asks casually, setting the tray beside the lamp as he sinks to his knees on the mattress. Your knuckles are white around each spindle, the inside of your mouth is sensitive to the touch from how much nervous chewing you’ve been doing.

“Get away from me, or I’ll kill you.” You seethe, fighting through the swimming in your head that hasn’t gone away since you woke up here. He gives you a look like you’re a misbehaving child, but it’s soon replaced with anger when you slap him across the face with one of your weapons.

You were hoping the attack would break skin, but all it does is turns the skin over his cheekbone dark red.

Faster than you can blink, he pins both your wrists with one of his hands above your head on the mattress, using the other hand to deftly pluck each spindle from your grip.

“I’ve done so much for you. I’ve given you a room, and a career, and so much more, and yet you attack me.” The wooden spindles hit the wall next to the door, his body lowers to yours in a way you know means more trouble.

“You’re a creep and a perv and I don’t want you to touch me! You’ve done nothing for me. Only for yourself.” In a way that would make any young boy proud to know you, you collect all the spit and bile in your mouth before shooting it into his face. Part of it hits him in the eye, causing him to roar in outrage.

He lets you go, giving you a brief moment of relief, but he only wipes away the loogey before rocking his hand back hard enough to crack against the side of your face. In your moment of disorientation, he flips you to your stomach and undoes the cuff from around your leg. The chain rings against the ground when he tosses it to the side.

His knee went to your back, his hands went to your waist, and the moment you manage to come back to yourself, your fingers clawed at whatever flesh you could find near you. You screamed and flailed as much as you could, the shooting pain of your leg barely noticeable when your body was in panic mode.

All you can think as that this is the kind of thing you read about. People don’t actually get kidnapped and rapped by people they knew in college. But you know that isn’t true either. You are the daughter of a detective, things like this were apart of your everyday life growing up. Just never as personal as you or a friend being the victim. For some reason that makes you fight harder, a sickly feelings creeping into your throat when you felt his fingers brush under the hem of your underwear.

Then a sound pulled you from your hysteria, the door fell to the ground and a swarm of FBI Agents descended upon the concrete basement you still refused to call ‘your room.’ Spencer was the last of them to enter, but the unadulterated fury in his eyes was enough to tell you that was not a decision on his part.

To you, and maybe even everyone else in the room who managed to look at him for longer than a millisecond, he looked like an avenging angel. Every chocolate caramel curl perfectly framed his face, which looked like it was carved out of stone. His jaw was so tense you could slice your finger if your ran it along the edge. The revolver in his hands was unwavering, only growing in steadiness when he caught compromising position you were in.

The sob that came out of your throat was one of relief. Harvey lifted you from the mattress, reaching into his pocket to pull out that damned pocket knife. He held you so close to his chest that it made your skin crawl.

“Harvey Morgensten, drop the weapon.” Morgan’s voice boomed around the room. Harvey held you with one arm tensed around the front of your shoulders and the other holding a knife to your neck.

“She’s mine! You weren’t supposed to be able to find us!” He screamed, you winced away from the shrilling pitch that scraped against the inside of your ear. It caused him to push the knife into the skin over your exposed collarbone, blood beading around the the metal tip. Your heart was hammering beneath your ribs, your hands flexing at your sides, your mind racing for a way to get out of this situation.

Spencer’s lip went up in a snarl, you half expected him to let a growl tear through his chest as if he was a lion standing against an enemy. The hairs on the back of your neck stood to attention when he took a hesitant step forward, his eyes softening for just a fraction of a second when he looks down at you.

In that fraction of a second all of his defenses fall and you can see all the grief and panic in the bags under his eyes and the raw skin of his bottom lip.

“She was never yours, Harvey.” Spencer says, wincing when Harvey responds by yanking you even closer than before. His breath is hot on your neck, his lips so close that they brush against the skin on the back of your shoulder when he speaks.

“She was never yours, Dr. Reid. She is mine, she always will be.” You cry out in surprise, your fingers coming up to scratch at the arm around your shoulders when a pair of teeth sink into the crook of your neck as if you were the victim of a vampire or something equally supernatural and territorial.

The action has the desired effect on every agent watching, especially Reid, who stumbles forward before Hotch grabs him by the back of his arm. They don’t have a shot, not without hurting you. That much you can tell just from the look they share. It doesn’t take a genius to look around and see that the end of every gun in the room is pierced right through you.

It makes you angry. You grind the back of your teeth together when a dark chuckles echoes from behind you. In your mind’s eye, you see it all happening the way you see a scene from a book playing before you like a movie.

Reaching up with one hand, you grab the onto the arm holding the knife. With the pad of your thumb, you shove every bit of strength you have into the soft skin at the inside of his wrist. At the same time, you pull your head forward before sending it reeling back onto his already broken nose. This time, you can feel the crunch of bones as your skull makes contact with his face.

Simultaneously, he drops the knife to the floor with a cry and drops his arms to reach for his gushing nose. Adrenaline pumping through your veins, you manage the couple of steps forward into Spencer’s arms. In a quick and graceful display of surprising strength, he carries you back into his embrace and spins around to shield you from the monster staggering back toward you.

Prentiss is quick to catch him in his blind pursuit for you, twisting both of his arms back without an ounce of sympathy for his pain. The jingle of handcuffs precede the finality of each click around his wrists.

“Everything I did, I did for you! I made your book come to life, I ruined the reputation of those girls, I did it all for you.” Harvey struggles against the restraints, twisting his body any way that he can to get a glimpse of you curled into Spencer’s chest.

You brain is caught between reality and a distant world, everything around you feels like make believe. Only the feeling of Spencer’s sweater curled into your fingers and his hand on the back of your head feels real. Harvey’s voice is like a recording being played three blocks away, still loud enough to hear but not close enough to focus on. He’s hissing threats and insults at Spencer’s back, that psycho-something in him finally snapping under the circumstances.

Somebody is yelling for a medic and there, just underneath it all, is the sound of someone wailing in such a way that words could never accurately describe the intense pain and grief being carried on every screaming sob. As the events from the last twelve hours come rushing back to you, reality takes the reins of your mind.

It’s you that’s crying like that. That desperate, broken sound is coming from your heaving chest. When your leg finally gives out from under you, the pain too much for your body to bare, he was already there holding you.

The screams fade into small shattered sobs just in time for medics to descend the stairs. Their hands are voices are everywhere, medical jargon flying over your head as they pry your hands from Spencer’s sweater. You pull back from every touch, the thoughts in your brain flying too fast for you to keep up.

It takes them a while to get you to the ambulance, but when they do you start to panic.

“Spencer?!” You cry out, unable to move your head too much due to the neck brace and head strap holding you down. It takes only a second for him to come into view, his eyes glassy and his smile watery. His hand slips into yours before they raise you up to the ambulance, your hand is icy to the touch.

The paramedics had mentioned a possible concussion, excessive blood loss, and signs of acute compartment syndrome. The fact that you had remained conscious and walking this long was a testament to your strong will and fighting spirit.

“Don’t leave me.” You whispered, the black around the edges of your vision creeping in despite how hard you fought it. Spencer almost winced from how hard you tightened the grip on his fingers. His mouth moved, but you never heard the response, your mind fading quickly with every second.

“Don’t leave.”

The sound of a heart monitor steadily beeping was what woke you up. Groaning from all the aches and pains that surged up with consciousness, your eyes fluttered open before squinting into the bright hospital lights.

Your mother was the first thing that popped into your field of vision. The last time she had looked at you with such worry, you’d been in the ER after flipping your car into a ditch. In your defense, it was dark and, as a young driver, you over corrected when you hit a patch of standing water.

“Mama?” You pushed up on the bed, the pillow behind your head falling to the space between your lower back and the mattress. Your mom was quick to pick it up and fluff it back behind your head. She must really be concerned. Had they found cancer while you were out or something?

“Oh my goodness, (Y/N), you had me so worried.” Gingerly, you pressed the heel of your hand to the bandage that stuck to your hair and the corner of your head. Brushing the butterfly stitches that went across the cut on your cheek, you barely had time to react before she pulled you into a breath-stealing hug.

The wound on your neck smarted with the movement and you hissed in pain. Your mom pulled back, squishing your cheeks between her hands as tears began to collect on her lower lash line. Your mother was not the type to cry, about really anything, as far as you knew of. So to see her tearing up like this only added to the confusion and shock you were already feeling.

“Never join law enforcement. I thought I wanted you to, but I can’t deal with this kidnapping and near-death nonsense. I’m getting too old for it.” She teased tenderly, releasing your face from the death grip of love to wipe away the tears before they fell down her cheeks.

“When did you get here?” You asked, taking note of all the wires and tubes that connected to your body via IVs and sticky pads. A glance down at your leg eased the fear that you might have sustained a leg wound that would take your leg from you. You didn’t move it for fear of the pain you could already feel throbbing to the beat of your heart.

The bed dipped under your mother’s weight as she sat beside you, gathering one of your hands into both of hers. Scars littered the knuckles that had wiped away your tears and taught you to throw punches.

“I only got here about an hour ago, but you’ve had round the clock protection from the FBI so no need to get panicky. I can see that look creeping into your eyes.” Her own eyes squint a little, those highly observant detective skills kicking in. She’s always been able to read you like an open book, making you wonder if she would have been good at profiling.

Of course she would have, your mother was good at everything she set her mind to.

“FBI?” You’re full of so many questions, but they all fall away when you mom shifts out of your line of sight to reveal the sleeping agent tucked away into the corner of the room.

Spencer is curled onto a hospital chair that is placed into a corner beside the window looking out over the parking lot. His back is leaned against the wall, one shoulder leaned against the back of the chair. One long leg is curled into the seat and the other is stretched out next to the chair. From across the room, you can see the shadows his eyelashes cast across his cheekbones in slumber. Oddly enough, your first thought is of Sleeping Beauty.

The sight is enough to make your heart feel like it’s squeezing around a ball of broken glass. Before your mother can read too much into the mixture of emotions that, surely, skew your features, you look away.

“He’s been here since they brought you in. I met his team, they’re a fine group of agents. You didn’t tell me you were friends with anyone in the FBI.” Before she can say anything else, you clear your throat. Putting one hand, a little dramatically, to your chest you give your mother a look you haven’t used since you were a kid trying to stay home from school.

“Mama, I’m a little hungry. Can you get me something to eat?” It works like a charm. You’ve never seen your mother jump so quickly before, she races out the door like a woman on a mission. It warms your aching heart.

“Maybe you should have tried acting.” Spencer’s voice is groggy with sleep as he sits up and stretches into awareness.

“How long have you been awake?” He meets your gaze, his expression soft and earth-shaking. When you imagined seeing Spencer wake up first thing in the morning, it was never in a hospital room while feelings of betrayal and confusion stabbed into your chest.

“Just long enough to hear your mom talk about my team. She’s a nice lady.” He doesn’t move from the chair, sensing the tension in the room the way only a profiler can. He’s afraid that if he gets up, you’ll make him leave. He doesn’t need to know that he’s right.

“How long have I been out?” You’re asking every question except the one you’ve been dying to ask.

“A day. You had a pretty bad concussion and acute compartment syndrome in your leg. They weren’t sure you were going to be able to retain control of the muscle given how long you were kept hostage with it untreated, but I know you’re too stubborn to let that happen.” The silence that follows is stifling, your eyes interlocked in a battle of wills.

Was this the same man that had accused you of being a serial killer?

You’re the first to look away, fidgeting with a fray string from the blanket thrown over your legs.

“I think we need some time apart.”

“I’m so incredibly sorry.” You both speak at the same time, but your words drain the blood from Spencer’s face when they finally register. He had hoped that, by some miracle, you would forgive him of the unforgivable sin he had committed against you in the name of justice. He understood why you didn’t.

“I just,” The threads of the blanket you recognize from your childhood bedroom bump underneath your fingers when you smooth your hand over it, “I want to forgive you. But all I keep thinking is that none of this would have happened to me if you had used all those brains in your head instead of all the insecurities in you heart.”

It’s like a slap across the face, and yet Spencer can’t help but feel like he deserves it. Even still, none of it hurts as much as the crack in your voice and the tears that you try so desperately to blink away before he can see them.

It isn’t often that Spencer Reid is rendered speechless, but the guilt and heartache have stolen all the words of every language and all the breath from the air right out of his mouth.

“It’s still so fresh in my mind, I think if we distance ourselves then we’ll be able to come back to something rather than trying to scramble to bridge together the chasm that has formed between us.”

He wants to argue, everything in him screams that he needs to fight for you, but the look in your eyes stops him. If you need space, then space is what he will give you. Spencer would do anything to make this right. He wishes he had the intelligence and technology to build a time machine and go back to two mornings ago.

“I understand,” he says solemnly, trying to talk around the hurt in his chest that is growing like a tumor. “But I promised I wouldn’t leave you. I’ll give you space, but I’m only giving you the space of the wall between this room and the hallway.”

And then he’s gone, staying true to his word and sinking to the floor outside your room. When you mother comes back, holding a collection of jellos and cookies and granola bars from the hospital cafeteria, her steps falter at the sight of the young doctor outside your door.

Inside you’re curled into yourself, taking very deliberate breaths into the cotton stuffed pillow you have buried into your chest. You half expect your heart monitor to be screaming for the nurses, but despite a small quickening in the constant beeps, it gives away none of your heartbreak.

“(Y/N)?” You look up, meeting your mothers eyes with tear stained cheeks. Your head is going to be throbbing later, but for now you’re only focused on the sharp pains shooting through your ribs and clouding every other pain in your body.

Between one gasp of air and the next, your mother drops all the foods to the chair vacated by Spencer before rushing to pull you into her arms.

“Can you die from a broken heart?” You whimper, feeling like a small child as you bury your head into her chest. She smells like home, running her hand over the back of your head with gentle shushing sounds.

Outside, Spencer wipes at his own tears, a silent statue of sadness protecting you from everything but himself.

[five-rivers]

Interview With a Ghost (Epilogue: Diner)

(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3) (PART 4) (PART 5)

.

.

.

Unlike many of the eating establishments in Amity Park, Cecilia's Diner didn't cater to ghost-hunting tourists (To be technical, they didn't cater at all. It was a strictly sit-down establishment. They didn't even do take out.). Its clientele was strictly local. Pointedly so. The proprietress maintained a strict policy of banning all ghost hunting paraphernalia from the premises. A tourist could, theoretically, come in and order a sandwich, but if they gave any sign that they were there to hunt ghosts, they were summarily ejected.

There was a reason for this: Cecilia's Diner had the dubious distinction of sitting across the street from the cemetery. No one wanted ghost hunters watching them while burying a loved one, and Cecilia refused to add to what she considered to be a veritable plague.

The diner was not Danny's usual haunt. But it was useful, and gave him a good vantage point to watch the comings and goings in the cemetery. Of which there were many, even if the funeral had ended over an hour ago.

"Danny?"

"Hm?" said Danny, not taking his eyes off the window.

"Are you going to finish your fries?"

"Tucker!" scolded Jazz.

"What?" said Tucker.

Danny finally turned back to his friends. Jazz was giving Tucker a rather severe glare.

"It's fine," said Danny, "I don't want them."

Tucker reached out, but Jazz intercepted him. "Danny," she said, "you've hardly eaten all day." She nodded significantly at his plate full of fries and the sandwich he'd only taken two bites out of.

"I'm not hungry," he mumbled.

"You need your strength."

"I don't want to throw up all over myself when I do this," said Danny.

"You are doing it, then?" asked Sam. She hadn't eaten much, either. Then again, the diner didn't have a lot of vegetarian options. "Telling your parents, I mean."

"I don't really have any choice," said Danny. He picked up a french fry, and let it hang limply between his fingers. "I have to, don't I?"

"You do have a choice," said Sam. "I know you want to stay with your parents, and I like them too, but..." She drummed her fingers on the table. "I'm worried about how they'll react."

"I know," said Danny. He looked back out the window. "This is so weird. People are mourning for me, but I'm right here."

Sam and Tucker exchanged a glance. "Well, you get to do what you want," said Tucker. "It is your fune-" There was a meaty thump, and Tucker fell over, clutching at something beneath the table.

"I guess so," said Danny. He closed his eyes and sighed. He did feel calmer, now, with his body safely beneath the earth. Vlad might try to steal it again, six feet of soil and a couple inches of wood didn't do much to deter a person who could simply phase through them, but between the layer of Ghost-Zone-sourced paint Danny had stealthily applied to the inside of the coffin and the continuing threats and disdain of the ghostly community, Danny didn't think that he'd be terribly successful.

Danny would know if he was, anyway.

Tucker straightened out and pulled his PDA from his pocket. "When are those officers supposed to come get you again?"

"Detectives," corrected Danny. "Any minute now."

As if Danny's words had summoned them, the bell on the diner's door rang. They looked up to see the detectives walking in.

Jazz slid out of the booth, followed shortly by Danny.

"We'll call when it's over," said Jazz. Danny tried to smile and gave them a little wave, before turning to greet the detectives.

.

The ride to Fentonworks in the detectives car was long and mostly silent. Mostly.

"Can you stop staring at me?" asked Danny.

"Sorry," said Paterson.

"Mhm," said Collins, who, as he was the one driving, had much less of an excuse for staring.

Danny sighed.

The car pulled up in front of Fentonworks.

.

"During our investigation last week," started Collins, undertaking to explain why their children had been brought home by the police, "we came across certain facts that made us, and our captain, concerned for the safety of Jazz and Danny. Especially Danny." Of course, Collins was only doing the initial explanation. Danny was going to do the big reveal himself.

"What kind of facts?" asked Maddie.

"Facts about Phantom?" exclaimed Jack.

"Well, yes-" started Collins.

"That no good spook!" roared Jack, pulling a wicked-looking gun from... somewhere. "I'll teach him to mess with Fentons!"

"Whoa!" said Collins, leaping to his feet and holding out both his hands. He did not miss Paterson reflexively reaching for her own weapon. "No! There's no threatening going on! No threats! Let's put down the guns!"

"Don't worry, detective," said Maddie. "It's designed to only hurt ghosts."

Collins took a deep breath, and kept himself from glancing at Danny. "Why don't we continue this conversation once you've put all the ghost weapons away," he said.

Jack frowned. "Why?" he asked.

"I just think it'll make everyone involved more comfortable," said Collins. "Just as a general proposal."

.

It took some time for Jack and Maddie to divest themselves of all their weaponry, and every second just made Danny more nervous. He wanted to just get this over with. He wanted it to be done. His mind whirred, trying to come up with the best way to start explaining, and, oh, he should have decided earlier. He should have written a script, or a letter, but he didn't, thinking that the right words would just come to him.

So when Jack and Maddie came back into the room, Danny blurted out, "It was my corpse."

Jack and Maddie stared at him. Jazz put her head in her hands.

"What?" asked Jack. "What was your corpse?"

"That they found, in the park." Danny waved his hand in Collins and Paterson's direction. "The body." They still looked bewildered. "I've been dead, sort of, for two years."

Maddie stepped forward. "Danny... I don't know what's going on, but you're just- You're confused. You have a pulse, Danny. You're alive." She turned on the detectives. "And you! You know he's alive. How could you-?"

"Mom," said Danny. "I'm not lying. Look." He held up his hand and slowly rendered it invisible. "When I turned the portal on," he said, "I was- The button was inside. I was inside. It turned on right on top of me."

"Oh, Danno," said Jack, eyes wide.

"The best I can figure is, ectoplasm replaced half of the mass in my body and the other half... just sort of..." He made a splitting gesture with his hands. "Fell out. I kind of freaked out and buried it in the park. I didn't know what else to do."

Maddie sat down heavily on the couch, one hand over her mouth.

"So, like, the parts of my body that are still there, they all work fine," said Danny. "So, you know, pulse and stuff. And the ectoplasm is pretty well integrated. It's, you know, the thing keeping me together. But I'm not one-hundred-percent dead. Just, like, half." He paused. "Also, I'm Phantom."

"What?"

Collins cleared his throat. "This being the case," he said, "we're going to have to ask you to make some changes to your home and behavior."

.

A week later, Danny sat in the same booth at Cecilia's Diner, looking out the window again. The cemetery was much quieter this week, but he could still see people stopping by his grave.

How bizarre.

"Have you decided what you want yet, Danno?" asked Jack. Danny turned away from the window, to smile at his family.

"No," he said. "Not yet."

[golden-barnes]

Divinità

Prologue: Salvezza

Bucky Barnes X F! Reader

Description of the series: Au! Divinità. A deity. A goddess. One that Bucky has only seen 3 times before and now he can’t get Y/N out of his head. So he decided to put an idealized version of Y/N in his books. But what will happen when he gets to meet the real Y/N? Will you still be his deity?

Summary: (Salvation) The three times Bucky has seen Y/N and how his life changed because of that.

Warning: Curse words, grumpy Bucky, ptsd attacks and war mentions

Word count:1.5k words (I think that’s a lot for a prologue but I got carried away) 

A/N: I (loosely) based this off the Dante Alighieri and Beatrice Portinari story but with a modern twist. This is my first series in years, so I am a little rusty but I am very excited about it.

Past:

The first time he saw her: 

James Buchanan Barnes hated the center. And he made it goddamn clear that it was the worst and that he rather be anywhere else than there. After coming home from his last tour, with one less hand, Sam and Steve decided it would be for the best that he went to the Military Rehabilitation Center. He understood why they wanted him to get help and it wasn’t like they forced him, he truly wanted to get better. He was grateful that they cared about him so much to help him. And the center helped him a lot. He was getting fewer nightmares. The nurses were nice. He likes his physical therapist, even though he thinks that she underestimates him. But he is making some progress, more than anyone in the center. The food is decent, a lot better than what he ate when he was stationed. He liked going to the small library that they had in the center. There was a little park next to the center that he likes to go for a run in the mornings. He was finally starting to feel normal, or rather as normal as he could possibly get. 

His psychologist, on the other hand, is a nuisance. It wasn’t that he is a bad guy, it’s just that Bucky hates talking about himself and he swears the psychologist is out to get him.Sam thinks that he is just being dramatic but he still claims that he hates him. He recommended (even though Bucky says that he ordered him) to keep a journal. To fuck with him, Bucky decided to write some random things. They were borderline poems but Bucky would never admit that. In one of his journal entries, he wrote  about some french fries he ate in Belgium. One time he just rambled about a blue bird. Doc wasn’t pleased with that one in particular.

“You have to write about your feelings, Mr Barnes. That is what the journal is for.” He reprimanded  him in one of his sessions. But Bucky wasn’t going to go down without a fight. That is until today.

His session with the irritating physiologist started normal. The whole "How do you feel Barnes?" and "did you have any nightmares last night or any anxiety attacks?"  Which the answer was yes. He didn't particularly wake up on the right side of the bed. Meaning that this session was getting on his nerves more than usual.

Then there was a knock on a door before he could answer the doctor's questions.

"Excuse me, doctor. The director told me to come get you. Apparently there's a situation in the lunchroom." From the door emerged the most beautiful person he has ever laid eyes on. Her presence just filled the room, in a way he has never seen. It was as if she was radiating calmness. For a few minutes, all of his worries and his fears just vanished. His mind was only focused on her. On the way her eyes were warm and made him feel comfort. On the smile she was giving him. Oh that smile. He knew that he was now addicted to it and would do anything to see it again.

“Behold, a deity stronger than I; who coming, shall rule over me.”

 Was the first thing that came into his mind when she left the room with the psychologist. That night when he wrote in his journal, he wrote about her. 

A month later;

The second time he saw her

Veteran’s day in the center wasn’t as fun as a lot of people think it is. It would be crowded with family members. Kids would bring their toys to show them to their grandparents. There would be a cookout outside for all the vets and their families. Even fucking games, there were little challenges and shit for the families to have fun with. The ruckus was too much for Bucky. Bucky always made it a point not to celebrate this holiday.

 “First of all, it’s dumb. If you wanted to do something for the veterans, maybe you should give the centers more money to operate. And, I don’t know, make more fucking centers. Second of fucking all, why make so much noise? Seriously, can’t we have ONE silent holiday?” He once told Sam and Steve. To which Sam replied with a “stop being such a grumpy motherfucker”.

This year, he decided to hide in the library instead of his room. He wanted to finish this new book Steve brought him in peace and quiet. And since the library was on the other side of the rehabilitation center, he knew it was gonna be his little safe haven. What he didn’t expect was to see her there.

He stopped at the entrance, astonished and amazed. With a flowy flower dress and peonies in her hand. She was looking at the books that they had. Running her fingers over the spines of the books. Why would she have flowers? Why was she here? Was she staying?

She turned around to see him and gave him the same addicting smile that she gave him the other day.

“I thought I was going to be the only one here. I was just looking at the books. Don’t worry I’m going to leave.” Bucky swears her voice is like honey to his ears. His senses were overpowered by the smell of her perfume. Was that vainilla? Or was it cinnamon? He couldn't guess. He was stuck there. He couldn’t talk or move. She gave him another warm smile, one that made her eyes crinkle a bit. Bucky would bet anything to have her permanently smile like that.

“Oh before I leave, here’s a flower. Happy veteran’s day. Thank you for everything” She gave him one of her peonies. Their fingers slightly touched and Bucky felt a small shock. He probably looked super dumb to her. With widened eyes and his mouth slightly opened, he probably looked like an idiot. Damn it Bucky, she might think that you are a creep. 

She smiled again and pointed at the door. Fuck, I haven’t moved from the entrance. She can’t pass. Way to go Barnes! 

“Thank you soldier.”She winked at him. But little did she know that he wouldn’t stop thinking of her wink. 

Another one for the journal, I guess. He thought letting his mind run wild with the image of her.

Two months later; 

The third time he saw her

James Buchanan Barnes was consumed by two thoughts. Number one, he had finished all his physical therapy and his nightmares and panic attacks were less, but he was much better at dealing with it. So that means that it was his last week at the center. He was so happy. He has already said goodbye to all the nurses, his doctors and he even said a nice goodbye to his insufferable psychologist, who he in the end grew to like. He was packing all his things and was waiting in the reception area for Steve to pick him up.

His second thought was her. He hadn’t seen her since that Veteran’s day where he acted like an idiot in front of her. Fucking damn it. But he couldn’t stop thinking of her. Almost every night since then, he kept writing about her. It was like his brain was trapped in a box, captured until he wrote out everything he could about her. He never even formed a formal conversation with her, but he still couldn’t help but think about her. About how her presence soothes him. How her smile filled him with joy. How the flower she gave him was the most important thing he has ever received. Hell, he learned how to press flowers and made it into his bookmark. 

“These last entries were really good Mister Barnes. It is like something I would see in a poetry book.” His psychologist once noted. And he couldn't help to agree with him. She had become his muse. And I don’t even know her name.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. As if Bucky called her with his mind, she appeared. With the same heart melting smile and the brightest aura. The receptionist even smiled when she saw her. She walked in, and the room got lighter. Can a human glow? Because Bucky thinks that she is glowing, as if small specks of glitter were emanating from her body and reflecting back at him. Did it make sense? Not one bit, but Bucky couldn’t describe it any other way. 

“Good morning Y/N. I was beginning to wonder when you were going to show up again.”  Y/N let out a soft chuckle at the receptionist’s words. She reached to sign in the sign in list. 

“Buck! Hey buddy, ready to go?” Steve had walked in and Bucky hadn’t even noticed

“Ye-yeah. Let’s go” Grabbing his bags, he started to walk out the center. But not without giving Y/N one last look.

If salvation had another name, Bucky would bet his life that it was Y/N.

[captainseaweedbrains]

The Dance of the Color Guard, Op. 64 Ch. 4

Katniss and Peeta used to be best friends when they were kids, but now in high school, they're barely on speaking terms. It isn't until they are forced together as the titular star-crossed lovers for their marching band's field show that they will have to face their past mistakes and try to get along if they ever hope of defeating the notorious Capitol Height's Imperial Marching Crusaders in competition.

It's all about winning and if that means pretending to be in love with Peeta Mellark, so be it.

A/N: Thank you to @rosegardeninwinter​ for editing and helping push me to finish! You are the best and any mistakes found are mine. :) 

Start at the beginning on Ao3: X

Ch. 4 Ao3: X

June

“Peeta really isn’t that bad,” Madge said for what felt like the millionth time. Katniss rolled her eyes and flipped the page of her magazine. Ever since learning that Peeta was going to be the Romeo to Katniss’ Juliet, Madge had been defending him every chance she got. “He’s really not. And he’s so smart, Katniss. Picks up on things real quickly. So all this moping around you’ve been doing all week is stupid.”

Katniss frowned and shoved her sunglasses further up her nose, preferring the screams of the children running around them on the pool deck to Madge defending Peeta Mellark to her once again. Was she being overly dramatic about this? Maybe. Was Madge right that Peeta wasn’t as bad as she made him out to be? Perhaps. But it still sucked and she couldn’t stop complaining about it.

“I know you’re Team Peeta,” she sighed, “but would it kill you to see things from my perspective just this once? Isn’t that what girl friends are supposed to do? Side with their other girl friends?”

“Maybe if you were right about him being a bad person, I would,” Madge sniffed, picking up her own gossip magazine to flip through. “But as of right now, you’ve provided me no evidence in support of your claim.” It was times like these Katniss wished her friend wasn’t the daughter of a prestigious lawyer.

“Gale sides with me,” she argued, pointing at her tall friend standing in line between two twelve-year-old kids for their slushies. “Doesn’t that count for anything on my behalf?”

“Gale’s an idiot.”

“An idiot you’re dating.” Madge stuck her tongue out at that, unable to refute her long-standing relationship with Gale and Katniss smiled. Of all the relationships she’d seen throughout the years—and band romances had provided plenty of weird, random romances, the weirdest being Johanna Mason and Melinda “Cashmere” Hewitt—Madge and Gale’s was the only one she saw that made no sense on paper yet made complete sense in person. The spoiled rich girl with a heart of gold and the rough-around-the-edges boy from the bad part of town? She never used to buy it in the movies, thinking the concept too ridiculous, but Madge and Gale proved her wrong time and time again.

Even when they had broken up sophomore year, claiming they were just too different, Katniss was still proven wrong because they couldn’t shut up about each other—griping about how she just didn’t understand and he always has to be right and I can’t believe I lost my virginity to that, a fact Katniss could have gone her whole life not knowing. When they got back together, it was hard to say who was more thrilled about it: the happy couple or Katniss.

“Come on, Madge,” she sighed, flopping back in her lounge seat. “Why must you always be the diplomatic one?”

“Someone has to be between your impulsiveness and Gale’s anarchy attitude.

“Did someone say anarchy?” the anarchist himself joked, handing Madge her lime-flavored slushie with a kiss on the lips for a tip. He handed Katniss her watermelon one and jokingly asked where his tip was. Katniss threw her three dollars at him with a “Keep the change” rebuttal. Gale laughed and pocketed the cash, lifting Madge’s legs up and over onto his lap so he could sit.

“So what did I miss?”

Madge snorted and offered her boyfriend a sip of her slushie. “Here’s a hint: it’s Katniss’ favorite subject.”

Gale rolled his eyes and accepted the drink. “Mellark again?” He took a large sip and winced at the sudden brain freeze, handing the large cup back. “God, I’m so sick of hearing about that guy. Katniss, get over it and move on already.” Even Gale was getting sick of her talking about it? Somehow, that hit lower on the pathetic scale. Gale was her complaining companion. Her bitch buddy. The person she reserved all her annoyances for because she knew he’d have his own trivial things to complain about. Hell, their friendship was founded upon complaining, starting in 8th Grade Science when their teacher kept giving them busy work to cope with the very public scandal of his wife sleeping with their school principal. They complained about everything with each other.

And now even Gale had said enough.

Well this sucked.

“Fine,” she said, not really feeling fine about it. “I won’t talk about it anymore.” Her friends looked doubtful. “I mean it! No more talk of Peeta Mellark and how my whole summer is practically ruined because I have to have extra practices to teach him how to dance on the field. And I’m not going to talk about how that cuts into my shifts at Aunt LuLu’s store, which means my spending money is going to be next to nothing by the time school starts. So if you two ever want to do anything more fun than hanging around the school parking lot, I guess you’re shit out of luck.”

Gale smiled sweetly at Madge. “I’m so glad she’s not talking about it anymore.” Katniss scowled and gave them the middle finger, causing them both to laugh.

“I think you both are very biased over this whole thing,” Katniss said after a while. Gale and Madge didn’t say anything, too focused on tanning and summer reading homework. That didn’t seem to stop Katniss from continuing. “You’re both too friendly with him because of classes and band. He’s gotten to you.”

“One of us is biased,” Gale said, “and it’s not us. It’s you. You’ve hated him for as long as I’ve known you.”

“With good reason!” she huffed, crossing her arms. They didn’t ask her to elaborate on that, already making it clear they were done talking about Peeta Mellark and all the annoyances he brought to her life, and she hated the fact that she did want to keep talking about him. About marching band. About the whole stupid situation. But she kept her promise and kept her mouth shut. 

No one said anything further until Madge declared herself starving and Gale suggested they stuff their faces with greasy burgers and fries at Sae’s.

**********

Sae’s Diner was packed with its usual lunch crowd—men and women from the factories nearby on lunch, sitting at the worn pastel-colored counter; a couple of kids they recognized from school goofing off in the corner booth, shooting straw wrappers off the straws; and a book club filled with women in their fifties discussing some brick of a book over coffee and Sae’s famous blueberry and cream pie sitting in the center of the small diner. The old woman herself smiled warmly at them when they’d walked in, asking if they were wanting the usual. 

“You’re the best, Sae,” Gale thanked as they waved and headed to their booth next to the front door. 

As they waited for their cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes, Gale chatted about some war movie he and his brothers saw that sounded god awful boring, no matter how much he tried re-explaining the plot to them. Madge and Katniss rolled their eyes and told him if he wanted to see the movie again so badly, to go see it by himself. “I’m not going to the movies by myself like some weirdo,” he scoffed, taking his hands off the table as the waitress deposited their plates of food and drinks. 

“Why not?” Katniss asked, picking up a french fry to dip into her milkshake. “I do it all the time.” 

“Because you hate people.” 

“So do you.” He shrugged, not having much to argue there, and picked up his burger. 

“So what time is Trinket summoning you tomorrow?” Gale asked, changing the subject completely, and tearing into his burger. Grease dripped down his hands and Madge tossed a pile of napkins at him. He accepted with a smile and slid his side of pickles over to her, something he purposely ordered more of because he knew how much she liked them. Madge happily bit into one, her eyes gazing at him with such adoration, Katniss rolled her eyes. Their coupling was too much for her sometimes. 

“I thought you didn’t want me talking about marching band,” she said innocently enough, taking a bite into her own burger.

“I didn’t want you talking about Mellark,” he said pointedly, wagging a fry at her. “Marching band is different. Less annoying and less boy drama. So what time does Miss Cream Puff have you coming in?”

It irritated her that Gale simplified her great dislike for Peeta Mellark as mere boy drama because it was far more complicated than that, but there was no point trying to explain it to Gale. He understood a lot about her, but when it came to Peeta… Well, it was best to let him believe whatever he wanted. “Eight a.m. sharp,” she said sourly, dipping another french fry into her milkshake.

Gale winced. “That sucks. Why so early?” 

“Peeta couldn’t get out of working his afternoon shifts and it was either that or not have a single weekend off until November.” She was still bitter about the change in schedule. Originally Miss Trinket wanted them twice a week outside of color guard’s normal rehearsal times, but with Peeta’s work schedule not being as flexible as Katniss’, she’d decided to make it morning rehearsals and make those shorter, which forced them to add another day of rehearsal to make up for the cut time. Now instead of having rehearsal four times a week, Katniss had five with her weekends full of shifts at Aunt LuLu’s shop for the extra cash she desperately needed. This summer was going to blow.

“I still think you should’ve been picked for Juliet,” Katniss told Madge teasingly. “You and Gale, maybe?” she cooed. “The true star-crossed lovers of Athens Ridge.” 

Gale scowled. “I’d rather drop dead than have to deal with Trinket when she’s in choreographer mode. She’s a total tyrant.” 

“She’s not so bad once you get used to her.” 

“Tell me what you think after dealing with her for a whole season, oh captain, my captain.” 

Point taken.

Much like at the pool, they talked for a bit about things going on in their lives—Madge taking some online French class because her grades last semester weren’t great; Gale’s successful find for parts with Thom in the junkyard. Katniss didn’t say much as she munched on her burger and fries, afraid Madge would lecture her again on Peeta Mellark and her inability to let things go with him. That and she promised she was done talking about him. But outside of marching band and him, not much was going on in her life. She felt a bit pathetic about that. 

Conversation picked up when Sae came over, asking how things were doing. The three smiled at the old woman, happy to fill her in on all the small details of their lives. Sae was the unofficial grandmother of the Seam. Always there to show her support for her kiddos. Her small diner was covered with pictures of sports teams she’s sponsored over the years, pictures of her and kids dressed in dance gear, holding certificates. 

“Did you hear the news about Katniss, Sae?” Madge asked when the topic of marching band came up. Sae was always interested in that, loving watching her talented kids play as they wove around the field. “She’s going to be our Juliet this year! Isn’t that exciting?” 

Sae’s grey eyes warmed, turning to Katniss. “Is that so? Captain and the lead part?” She shook her head in astonishment, her salt and peppered colored hair coming loose from her hair tie. “You were always so talented with those flags. I’m not surprised. Who’s your Romeo?” 

“Peeta Mellark.” The name felt lodged in her throat, but thankfully, it squeezed out without too much of a squeak in her voice. 

Sae didn’t know all the kids on the west side, but she definitely knew Peeta. He would often tag along with her and her dad on their trips to the woods, stopping at the diner after for hot chocolate and pie. In fact, his picture was one of the first ones you saw coming in—Sae and six-year-old Peeta smiling at the camera, her arm around him as he proudly held up his lost baby tooth. Her dad had taken the picture, she remembered, and if the camera’s lens had shifted a little more to the right, it would have also captured five-year-old Katniss pouting on the side, upset that he kept losing his baby teeth when she’d lost none. It was a picture her gaze avoided whenever they visited Sae’s, unable to stomach the sight of an old friend turned asshole, the memory of her dad’s laughter as he took the photo. 

“Oh, Peeta,” Sae chuckled, the familiar twinkle she always got in her eyes when he was around. The old woman doted on him when they were kids and he ate up her attention like there was no tomorrow. “How is that boy? Staying out of mischief, I hope?” 

Gale and Madge looked to her with knowing smiles, wondering what she would say. Katniss cleared her throat and looked down at her half-eaten plate for a moment. “Fine, I guess. We don’t hang out anymore. You know that, Sae.” 

She did know that, but it never stopped her from asking whenever he came up. “Aye, girl, I do. I suppose you aren’t happy with Effie Trinket’s choice, then?” 

Gale snorted. “Happy? More like obsessively pissed. She hasn’t shut up about it since May.” She glared at her friend and he shrugged, popping a fry in his mouth. “What? You haven’t.” 

Sae gave one of her warm, crooked teeth smiles. “Maybe this is the push you kiddos need to kiss and make up.” Katniss’ cheeks warmed at the mention of kisses, remembering Leevy’s comment how they were so going to have sex by the end of the year. She still hadn’t fully forgiven her friend for that suggestion.

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, Sae,” she said, her voice still a little strained. “We’re just too different.”  

“Ah, well. I suppose we grow in different directions sometimes,” the woman sighed with a shake of her head. A woman from the book club table called for her and Sae gave them a parting wave and smile. “Tell Peeta ol’ Sae misses her boy and that he needs to come in more. I haven’t seen him in ages.”

Katniss pointedly avoided Gale and Madge’s amused smirks, focusing on the burger in front of her. “I’ll be sure to pass the message along,” she muttered, taking a big bite of her food to avoid continuing this conversation. She loved Sae. Thought of her like a grandmother. But there was no way in hell was she telling Peeta that. No way. Then he’d think she was gushing about him to anyone who would listen, thrilled to be his Juliet, a role many girls at school would kill for (Probably. Maybe. She thinks.), and then his stupid ego would just get bigger and he’d be even more obnoxious to deal with. No, best not to mention anything and lie next time she saw Sae. 

A small part felt guilty at that, though, because Sae was like a grandma who wanted the best for her, and Peeta too, she guessed, but again, Sae didn’t know what happened between them. And Katniss wasn’t going to fill her in on their broken history six years too late. 

Her phone next to her plate vibrated, signifying a text message just came in. Wiping her greasy hands, Katniss frowned, picking up her phone. Who was texting her? Everyone who’d text her was either sitting right across from her or were busy at work or camp. The little text message lit up at her touch, showing it was from an unknown number, and her frown turned into a scowl as she read it. 

Hey!!!!!!!!!1!1111!!!!!!! the message read with a thousand typo-filled exclamation marks. God, who text like that? Trinket gave me ur ######## Hope thats cool. Thought Id give mine!!!!!!!111111 🤗 Ill see u  Mon dearest Juliet ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!!!!!!!!!!111!😘😘😘😘!!!111!!!!!! 

For the briefest of seconds, Katniss swore her vision blacked out. One moment she was staring at her phone. The next, darkness. Like her brain couldn’t process the simple text on her phone and chose to shut down instead. When her vision cleared, the message was still there, glaring brightly at her with those thousand exclamation/number marks. 

Peeta Mellark texted her. He had her number.

         Her stomach churned and now she feared that what her mother always warned about Sae’s greasy food would come true now and she’d throw it all up. 

Peeta Mellark texted her. It was truly official. He had her number and she had his and they were partners now. If she had any doubts about this whole thing before—as if she had dreamt the last four weeks of her life—they were wiped clean now. Replaced with this typo-filled text message from the very boy who hurt her. 

“You okay?” Madge asked.

Katniss nodded and clicked out of the message, tossing the phone into her bag. She’d deal with it later.

[hopesbarnes]

Black Swan (15)

Summary: Y/N used to be a Russian spy under the code name Black Swan. But that was a lifetime ago, now she’s a part-time avenger, dance teacher, surrogate sister to Natasha Romanoff, and trainer to new Shield Agents. She’s come a long way from the days of killing targets and being tortured. But when someone from her past comes around will she be able to ignore her history anymore? Or will she end up falling in love with the only man her sister ever loved?

A/N: Just the epilogue left. Major shoutout to @starbxcks​ I really wouldn’t be posting this without you.

P.S. Does anyone want to see the solo costumes, and the videos I found of what I imagine the dances to look like?

With one week until competition season officially began, and arguably the most important competition of the season you were stressed. Every day was hectic with practices. Bucky tagged along every day as your unofficial assistant. He kept notes for you and learned everything he needed to know in order to assist backstage. Sometimes it was hard to keep track of that many girls at once, and while you could handle props yourself it was easier to have someone else do so. 

He kept track of your masterlist of what was required for each dance (shoes, costumes, hairpieces, props, etc) and who was in what dance. He also wrote down every little thing you needed to remember, and you have no clue how you did competitions before him. You managed to wrangle Natasha, who had watched your previous competitions, and Clint to assist. She agreed to help with stretches and hair/makeup while Clint would mostly be moral support and do the heavy lifting.

On Friday morning the four of you, in separate cars full of props, suitcases, and random assortments of things needed for the weekend, drove the three hours to the competition. All the girls (and boys) competing would head over after school ended in time for a nightly meeting you were holding. 

Bucky was practically bouncing the entire car ride, asking questions about how the weekend would run and the chances the girls would win. After the week of hanging around the studio, the girls started calling him ‘Mr. Bucky’, and even gave him a few “Team DAD” shirts to wear the weekend (one of them just so happened to be covered in glitter). He protested saying he wasn’t a dad, but they deemed him as such anyway. It just went to prove that children hold no judgments, even when a giant super-soldier with a metal arm is in a dance studio.

The rest of the day was a blur. You checked into the competition and dropped off props, had lunch with Bucky, Natasha, and Clint-which wasn’t as weird as you thought it would be. Clint and Bucky quickly fell into a joking rhythm-, met up with the team and handed them their goody bags and door decorations, wished them all a good night’s sleep, then ate in your room and went to bed early curled up against Bucky.

------

Bucky’s three alarms went off at 4:30 am and both of you got up and took a shower and got dressed in your shirts with the dance studio name on them, yours saying “COACH” and Bucky’s saying “TEAM DAD”. You applied some glitter eyeshadow and added a bow to your hair while Bucky put his in a half french braid. Within no time at all you had packed your bags for the day and headed to grab breakfast.

The entire day was packed, your first number started at 8 and the last was at 4 pm. Thankfully, everything was relatively spaced out and the little kids weren’t until 3 o’clock.

Natasha and Clint ended up joining you in the ballroom hallway at 7, both excited as well. They went off to help do hair and makeup while you gathered your two soloists for warm-up. You placed the hair strips in their hair and Bucky double checked that they would stay in place and they had everything they needed. 

They both warmed up fine, and went on stage and absolutely crushed it. All the girls from the studio cheered loudly for both of them and they both scurried off to get ready for their other dances. 

You met up with the two seniors for their duet at 11, and you walked them through stretches. Bucky and Clint were helping with props, so Natasha joined you backstage. The two dancers practiced their lifts and they went off without a hitch. You almost had tears watching them, and they weren’t even going full out with emotions or all the steps. 

As you waited in the wings for them to go on, Bucky found you and gave you a quick kiss before holding your hand as they went on stage. 

Their dance was beautiful. They took the steps you gave them and brought them to life. Every movement was purposeful and their faces depicted the emotions so well. You could see the story they were telling through their dance and let out a few tears. 

When they finished and came off stage you hugged them both tight, thanking them for the job they did. It was amazing, and everything you ever hoped for. 

---

There was a lunch intermission between the solo, duets, and trios before groups started in the afternoon. Clint brought food for you, Nat, and Bucky and the three of you found a table to eat at. The boys talked about how insane the dancers were and how they didn’t even think they could do what these kids did. Natasha talked about how she wanted to possibly join the studio on a part-time basis because she didn’t realize just how much she missed it until now. 

After finishing up lunch you gathered the little kids and made sure they all had their correct tights and shoes. You put their hair accessories in and sat them down to remind them to point their feet and smile wide. They ran through their routine fine and were adorable on stage. Afterward, you made sure each girl found their parents or were with Natasha before gathering the large group with Bucky and practicing the dance, making sure the girls were still stretched and energized. 

One girl scraped her knee pretty bad and you went to find a first aid kit, only for Bucky to open his backpack and pull out a kit with everything a dancer could ever possibly need. He disinfected the wound, bandaged it, and had the girl back on her feet ready to perform. You kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for being as amazing as he was. 

The girls were set backstage, and you had enough time to run out to the audience for this dance. You managed to grab two seats in the front and Bucky and you watched the girls give it their all.

Against all odds, every single dance was perfect and there were no major hiccups with any routine. It was by far your best competition, and you know for sure it’s because of the team you had with you. 

After a few more hours, the girls all gathered on stage and you sat in the audience with Bucky, Natasha, and Clint. They went through individual genre categories first, and all of your dances were given platinum (highest score) and managed to take first in their respective categories. All the dances qualified for nationals and that took a huge weight off your chest. 

But what you really wanted was for the solos to place top 3 overall, your groups to take first in their size group, and possibly for your duet to take overall first place. You crossed your fingers and silently hoped throughout the awards.

They announced your solos, and your girls placed second and fourth. The girl who got fourth looked slightly disappointed but smiles nonetheless. Your duet placed first for duo/trios and you jumped up excited. 

The two group dances scored first overall for small and large groups respectively. The announcer announced that the last award of the night would be the overall highest score for the entire competition. 

“And with a perfect 300, Gravity!” the announcer said and you almost screamed. Bucky and Clint jumped from their seats, while Natasha dove to hug you. Nothing mattered but the joy you felt in that moment. 

After every competition, the whole team books a restaurant. This one was no different, and after the end of the awards, all the families make it to a restaurant a couple of minutes away. The girls are all in various costume parts, or just sweatpants and their team jackets. The tables have bobby pins and lashes discarded, and giggles fill the air. In the middle of the room is the giant trophy (amongst the other smaller ones) and it’s the best feeling ever. 

You grab a booth with Bucky, Natasha, and Clint next to some of the other teachers and parents and make your way around to congratulate all the girls and see how they’re doing. When you get back to the booth Natasha excuses herself to the bathroom, and the minute she’s out of sight Clint squeals.

“I’m gonna do it,” he says and Bucky gives him a strange look while eating a few french fries. 

“Propose,” he says and shows the ring you had picked out with him.

“Oh, OH!” you say and light up. You’ve been waiting what feels like forever for this to happen.

“I’m gonna have her come outside with me in a little bit, and ask her,” he says grinning. He tucks the box back into his coat and you all pretend like nothing happened when Nat comes back out. 

“Hey, babe will you come with me to grab something from the car?” he says before she can scoot back into the booth.

“Uh- yeah I guess,” she says, stealing one of Bucky’s fries and grabbing Clint’s hand following him outside.

You see the two of them head outside and look away. This was their moment, and you didn’t want to take that from them.

“I didn’t get to say it earlier, but I’m so proud of you, love.” Bucky says.

“I never could have done it without you.”

“Okay, bullshit,” he says laughing. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

[julemmaes]

Pinky Promise - Chapter One

A/N: It’s currently midnight here and believe me when I tell you my brain is fried right now. I just wanted to finish this and post it. The real story starts with the next chapter and here we have a little more info dump cause yeah. Hope yall enjoy!

Fic Masterlist

Word count: 3,802

Rhysand had to stop by his house for a short break to change and take off that uncomfortable shirt he was always complaining about. Cassian had tried to tell him several times that being an elementary school teacher he could dress as he wanted and no one would ever tell him anything, but the youngest of the brothers didn't seem to get the message.

While they were waiting for him, Cassian had tried to start a conversation with the other two, but both had answered monosyllables and he had enough problems of his own without getting involved in whatever had happened between Elain and Azriel.

Despite all this, when they got to the Archeron house, the older had a lopsided smile on his face. The smile widened even more when they entered the apartment and saw his cousin gobbling a cracker with some cheese on it. Morrigan got up in a flash and went to greet them.

"Took you long enough." said the blonde, "We were waiting for you."

Cassian snorted, taking off his shoes and jacket so as not to wet every surface of the house, "I can tell."

"Don't be an asshole." he heard from the kitchen, Amren. She was also sitting at the kitchen table, where Nesta was chopping parsley and eating strangely long, fried things.

His girlfriend looked up at him and smiled. She had to be feeling better because she had a much more relaxed expression on her face than only an hour or so before.

He approached the table, followed by Rhys who was staring with a confused look at whatever that strange food was in front of their friend.

"What the hell is that?" Azriel asked once he had freed himself from Mor's hug.

Amren arched an eyebrow, taking another fried thing and eating it whole, "Frog legs."

Cassian, who was about to kiss Nesta, stopped, looking at her in shock, "Sorry, what?"

"Yeah, a new French restaurant opened on my street and I've been getting the weirdest stuff for a couple of weeks," said Amren smiling. "I even tasted the snails last Monday." the guys all seemed shocked.

Nesta made a confused grimace, "Actually they're not as bad as you'd think, they taste a lot like chicken."

"I'm not sure I want to kiss you anymore," murmured Cassian as he walked away slightly from the girl. Rhysand nodded beside him, pouring himself a glass of wine and passing one to Azriel.

"Oh, stop being a baby, it's just food." Amren muttered, casting a hard look at him.

He kissed Nesta on the cheek anyway while she finished cutting the onions and poured everything into a pot. The smell of meat that came out was enough to make Cassian fall in love a little more.

"I'm gonna go change," announced Elain, who had been particularly quiet the whole time.

Nesta lifted her head, looking in her sister's direction, who was already in the hallway, "Did you get my stuff?" she asked loudly.

Elain's reply didn't take long to come, "Yes, I'll bring it to your room."

Nesta shook her head, even though she couldn't see her, "No don't worry, I'll take care of it, just leave it in your room." a faint okay came from the other room and then the conversation resumed.

"One very important thing before I forget, next week Manon should come here," said Mor, clutching her shoulders, "I'd like to arrange a little something at my house, with everyone. If that's alright with you," she hesitantly concluded.

Mor and Manon had met that summer when the former went on vacation to the other continent alone. She'd stayed in Erilea for almost two whole months, going from city to city and stopping only when she deemed it necessary. Once she reached Orynth she immediately made friends with a large group of people there and when they introduced her to Manon it was hate at first sight.

More than hate, actually, Morrigan felt awkward.

Manon stared at her with that seductive look of hers that she couldn't really decipher and only when the other one had explicitly told her that hes was flirting with her, Mor understood that she could enjoy that vacation and have a summer fling with the white-haired goddess. One thing led to another and they ended up getting together at the end of August and after only a month of relationship no one had had the chance to meet her yet.

"Finally we get to know her." smiled Amren.

Cassian took a beer from the fridge and put two more on the table in case someone else wanted more than wine. "Where did you say she studies?" she asked for what was probably the millionth time.

"Oh, she attends the Academy of Fine Arts in Adarlan. Rifthold precisely." said proud Mor, smiling.

"Does she study art like Feyre?" Rhysand asked, taking another cracker and putting a slice of salami on it. Cassian saw Nesta shake her head in disbelief and had to hold back a laugh. It was impressive how he managed to squeeze Feyre into his every conversation.

Mor didn't give it much thought anyway, "Nono, she dances. She studies ballet. She has a- I always forget what they are called, but she has a group, with whom she always dances. They call themselves the Thirteen," she continued nodding, "They also have a channel on You Tube, if you're interested."

Elain walked into the kitchen at that moment, wearing only a pair of pajama pants and a VHS lacrosse team sweatshirt, with the name Vanserra on its back. She took a beer from the table, opened it and drained half of it in one long sip. She made a disgusted face and then took one of the fried frog's legs off Amren's plate, who was looking at her alarmed.

Nesta gave him a confused look, mentally asking him what had happened on the way here, Cassian shrugged.

"Hey Ellie everything's alright?" asked the older sister, turning off the stove.

Elain nodded, helping her set the table while everyone took their seat. "Everything's perfect."

Azriel laughed, not even looking at the girl, "As always." Elain's head snapped in his direction.

Elain gritted her teeth, "Maybe you should learn to mind your own business."

"And you should learn what self love is and stop letting others treat you like that," Azriel said to her in an equally harsh tone.

Cassian understood then, Lucien was involved.

Nesta sighed, placing both hands on the table and bowing her head, "Can we please have one dinner without arguing?" Elain sat down with abrupt gestures and nodded, apologizing. Azriel seemed to think about it for a second, looking at the middle sister, nodding in turn and sitting next to Rhysand.

They ate quietly between jokes, and the tense atmosphere that had created immediately dissolved. Elain and Azriel bickered so often that the group was used to it and they'd become good at pretending nothing had happened.

***

Nesta was sitting on the floor next to Cassian, practically lying on top of him, while he kept his arm around her waist. Whatever Morrigan was explaining she couldn't understand. Her brain was already clouded by alcohol. They had just finished the first game of the evening and she couldn't figure out how they were all still relatively sober after all the alcohol they had ingested. Or maybe it was just her impression and in reality they were all wasted.

She looked up at her boyfriend and put her hand on his cheek, making him turn towards her. Cassian smiled at her and gave her a peck. When she kept looking him in the eyes even after they had parted, he raised an eyebrow. What is it?

Nesta shrugged and kept following Mor's speech.

"And who draws the last king drinks the whole cup, got it?" the blonde looked around the room trying to figure out if everyone understood at least one word of what she had just said. Nesta took a sip from her glass and Mor groaned, "Come on Nesta, you don't have to drink now."

Azriel chuckled, almost as drunk as she was, "Stupid drunk."

"Fuck you, Az." she giggled, clinging closer to Cassian.

Elain nodded, raising her drink to the ceiling, "Yes, fuck you Az." she hiccupped and smiled in her best friend's direction, who gave her the middle finger. They all burst out laughing, knowing perfectly well that there was no grudge in those gestures.

She couldn't follow the game properly, but someone had just drawn a seven and Nesta knew that she had to raise her arms to the sky before the others or she would have to drink again, and although this evening was putting her in a good mood, she wasn't sure that her head would thank her in the morning. Elain ended up drinking.

When it was her turn, Nesta drew a nine and thanked every god present in that moment because if she had to find a rhyme for anything the others would say, she would surely throw up from the effort.

"I picked a nine," she said giggling, falling on Cassian, who laughed and helped her up, "and since I'm feeling rather nice tonight, I'll say orange," she slurred.

"You don't play like that," said Amren annoyed beside her, taking a sip from her soft drink. It was her turn to take everyone home that night.

Mor nodded, agreeing with the girl, "You can't take the one word that doesn't rhyme with anything."

Rhysand cleared his voice, "Sporange." he said at the same time that Elain screamed the same word. The boy brought his hand to his chest, opening his mouth wide, "I said it first."

Elain shook her head, pulling herself up and bending her legs underneath her, "No. That's not true." she said snickering, "I said it first."

Cassian burst out laughing, making Nesta's back flutter. She looked at him and winked, nothing sexy in that gesture at all and it only made the boy laugh more.

"Azriel tell him that I said it first." the girl complained, pouting. "Cassian tell him too."

"Nah ha, you have your family, they're with me." said Rhysand, getting up and staggering until he was between his two brothers. He circled both their shoulders and slapped Nesta in the face unintentionally.

"Ouch." she mumbled, pulling herself up and rubbing her nose.

Elain seemed on the verge of tears, "It's not right. I was faster than you." she practically screamed, "And I only have one sister here, it isn't fair."

Rhysand shrugged, "That's not my problem."

Their little argument went on for a few minutes before the boy surrendered and admitted that she was the one who said the word first, "But only because you don't have enough sisters for backup, otherwise we'd solve it physically," he concluded, winking at her. Elain giggled and Azriel muttered something about the physical part of the hypothetical fight that made Cassian laugh.

They all turned towards the entry of the apartment when they heard the door open.

"Speak of the devil," said Mor with a smile, "Feyruuh! Join us."

Rhysand had stood up and was smiling like an idiot, "Yes Fey-Fey join us," he repeated, approaching the small threshold.

Nesta saw the boy stiffening and immediately realized that something was wrong. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Feyre," breathed Rhysand, "what happened?

From where she was sitting she couldn't see the hall, but even Amren, who had a perfect view of the whole room, had a hard look on her face. Perhaps she should have stood up.

The alcohol in her body did not allow her to stand up without the risk of falling. It was already much that she hadn't blacked out.

"Nothing, don't worry," said her sister, finally entering the room. Nesta could see her face and understood what Rhysand was referring to. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot. She had been crying.

"Feyre..." she said, trying to pull herself up with Cassian's help.

Her younger sister raised her hand to stop her, "I didn't want to ruin your evening, I just came to say hi." she gave everyone a faint smile. Rhysand, next to her, held his breath. He suddenly seemed much more sober, more aware of what was happening. "I'm sorry... goodnight everyone." with this she turned around and walked out of the room. Mor moved to get up, but Amren placed her hand on her leg to stop her.

Elain was the first to break the silence, "That piece of shit." Nesta gasped hearing how much anger she uttered those words with. She turned towards her sister and before she could ask her, she had already started talking again, "I can't believe it." she stood up, swaying too much and falling on her knees.

Mor was immediately beside her, "Be careful."

"It's alright." she ran her hand over her legs and then looked towards Feyre's room sighing.

"Can someone explain what the heck just happened and why no one is going to see how she's doing?" asked Amren slightly annoyed. Rhysand was out of the living room before she could finish the sentence.

They all turned to Elain, who seemed to be thinking about what to say.

"I'm too drunk for this," whispered Nesta, massaging her temples, "Ellie can you please tell me if this is a life-or-death issue?" she asked again. She felt a hand on the small of her back and turned to Cassian, who looked at her with a sad smile on his lips.

Elain laughed without amusement, "No, of course she's not dying, it's always the same old arguments with Tamlin. She should just break up with him," replied Elain surprising everyone. It was very rare that her sister said something so sincere when it came to Tamlin. The only times she had done so she had risked ruining her relationship with Lucien.

"I don't think I should tell you the details, it's her business and I'm not here to gossip," said Elain after a few minutes in which everyone had started to clean up the mess they'd made, "All you need to know is that Tamlin is a piece of shit," she whispered the last part, as if she was afraid her boyfriend might hear her.

"Nothing new." Amren said, getting up and starting to pick up the cups scattered around the room.

They heard Feyre yelling something, but Nesta couldn't understand just what she said. They waited a few seconds, to see if they needed to intervene or not, when they heard nothing more Azriel spoke.

"Do you think we should tell her something?" he asked again, still sitting on the floor, tilting his head back so that it was resting on the couch. "I mean, it's already been a few weeks since I've seen her cheerful, I'm getting worried."

Nesta was surprised. It was nice to see how much Azriel cared for the youngest of them. Of course, she knew it was true, but it was rare for the boy to express his feelings so openly.

Cassian shook his head, reducing his lips to a thin line, "Not tonight," he said as he looked down the hall, "She's probably insulting Rhys in every possible way now. I guess it's a good way to cool off," he added when they heard Feyre screaming again. Rhysand answered equally loudly.

"Maybe we should get Rhys out, he is drunk after all," Azriel said standing up. Nesta did the same, following him into the corridor.

"They know that Rhys would never lay a hand on Feyre, don't they? Even if he is drunk. And angry." whispered Elain, even though they all heard very well. Nesta giggled and Azriel shook his head smiling. She was so drunk.

Cassian answered her, "No Ellie, it's not that. It's that drunk people tend to say things they don't really mean." they heard a whisper of agreement.

Azriel was about to knock on the door, Nesta right behind him, when it opened wide and Rhysand rushed out, shoving his older brother aside. Nesta couldn't see his face, but he must have been pretty upset because Azriel followed him right out of the apartment.

Nesta blinked a couple of times and then turned to her sister, who was pacing back and forth with her hands in her hair.

"Fuck!" cried Feyre. Nesta entered the room, closing the door behind her.

Feyre looked at her and grimaced, "What? Did you also come to tell me how to live?"

Nesta shook her head, crossing her arms, "I gotta be honest with you, I'm really drunk right now, so I'm struggling a little bit to understand things, but if you want to talk to me, I'm always there. You know." she said to her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Yes, yes. I know." Feyre murmured, "But right now I just want to sleep and be alone."

Nesta glanced at her and saw that she had mascara smeared on her cheeks. She had cried again.

They could not face this conversation now.

She sighed, "Alright, if you need anything call me, I'm sleeping at Cass's, but if you need anything I can be here in twenty minutes." she cautioned her as she got up. Before leaving, she turned to her sister and left a kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry, everything will work out. I'll be back for lunch, okay?"

Feyre frowned, "Why do you always treat me like a child?" she suddenly asked her.

Nesta was caught off guard, "What do you mean?"

"I'll be back for lunch. I can be here in twenty minutes," she said imitating her voice, "I don't need you to tell me your schedule, I can cook pasta, I can take care of myself." she pointed out, looking Nesta straight in the eye.

"I don't- Feyre, I was just letting you know that I'll eat at home, I wasn't implying anything. We live together, it seems normal to me to tell you about my movements," she replied, being defensive, "I didn't call you a child."

"Get out."

"Feyre-"

"I said get out." sobbed the sister, "Please."

Nesta tried to get closer when she saw that Feyre was crying again.

"Go away!" cried the other one. Nesta stiffened and nodded just once, saying goodnight and leaving the room.

Cassian was staring at her from down the hall with a worried look. Throwing a quick glance inside Elain's room, she saw that Amren and Mor were helping her change and would put her to bed before leaving, as often happened during these evenings.

She reached her boyfriend and when he hugged her, she let out a deep sigh, resting her head against Cassian's chest. "I'm sorry," he said, kissing her hair and holding her tight.

"Don't worry, we both know she's not mad at us. She better than anyone else." she looked up to him. Cassian moved a strand of hair from her eyes, placing it behind one ear. "Maybe we made a mistake, though, letting Rhysand talk to her."

Cassian chuckled, "Maybe." He leaned over her and brushed his lips against hers.

Nesta yawned in the kiss and they both laughed.

"Okay lovebirds, it's time to go home," announced Amren, putting on her shoes and helping Mor tie hers. The blonde was also in terrible condition.

Cassian broke the hug, but followed Nesta to her room while she changed and took things so she could change the next day, and then followed her to the bathroom, where she took extra tampons in case the ones at his house had finished. She strongly doubted it, as Cassian always worried about having an endless supply every time, but it was better to prevent.

"You're such a lost puppy." Mor laughed, looking at them, "Disgusting."

"You're just jealous cause you can't be with Manon every day," replied Azriel, walking back into the house at the right time, followed by a quiet Rhysand.

Mor poutted in a way that would make a three-year-old child look a saint and her eyes filled with tears. Amren threw her arms in the air, "Was that really necessary?" she asked exasperated, turning to Azriel, who apologized to her friend.

They all left the house, leaving the kitchen and living room relatively tidy, nothing an hungover Elain couldn't handle.

When they reached Morrigan's house, only Azriel and Amren went to escort the blonde home and make sure she went to bed.

Nesta took the opportunity to say a few words to Rhysand.

"It's not your fault if she reacted in that way," she said, placing her hand on his arm. God, the drunk Nesta was so affectionate. Rhysand looked at her with a wrinkled forehead.

"I know." he sighed, running a hand over his face and looking older than he actually was, "I just wish she understood how much she's worth. That Tamlin doesn't deserve her." he looked out the window, waiting to see the other two appear so he could get home as soon as possible and pass out in bed. "There may have been a moment in their relationship where things worked, but now it's getting too much."

"I agree." Nesta simply said. Rhysand didn't need her to comfort him, no. He needed Feyre to realize how much the situation she was in no longer benefited anyone.

***

Cassian slipped into bed next to Nesta and laid his arm around her waist, pushing her flat against him. She immediately relaxed and intertwined their fingers, carrying his hand on her belly. Cassian started massaging circles on her stomach, applying a little more pressure at the bottom to help her with the pain.

"Better?" he asked her, placing his head in the niche of her neck.

Nesta nodded, "Much better."

They spent a few minutes in silence like this. If he managed to tell her that he wanted to enlist, if he managed to confess to her his plans for the future and she accepted him, there would no longer be so many times when he would cuddle her. They would no longer be granted.

When Cassian was on the brink of falling asleep, with a thousand questions in his head, she asked him something.

"Hmm?"

"Tomorrow, you wanna go out for dinner with me?" she repeated, turning around so she faced him.

Cassian opened only one eye, "Like a date?" he asked, smiling tiredly.

"Sure, like a date." she answered him, tilting her chin up so that she could kiss him.

"Yes, I'll go out for dinner with you," he said returning the kiss.

"Perfect."

"I love you." he whispered to her, hugging her.

Nesta did not answer and Cassian fell asleep shortly after, dreaming of the day when he would make Nesta his wife.

acotar taglist (send me and ask or dm me if you wanna be added/removed)

@tottenhamboys20 @sjm-things @kris10maas @awesomelena555 @sannelovesreading @queenamydien29 @ireallyshouldsleeprn @messyhairday-me @ncssian @observationanxioustheorist @my-fan-side @booksstorm @maastrash @sayosdreams @thedarkdemigod @courtofjurdan @thewayshedreamed @ladywitchling

[k-llama-llama]

Can’t Be Bought

Seventeen AU: 14th member

Rei x Seventeen

This is also set pre-debut, early on in Dino and Rei’s friendship. 

Rei is not a permanent addition so if you have requests let me know…but she’s just an idea I had. She is NOT cannon with the rest of my AUs.

A/N: ALSO CHECK OUT MY PATREON FOR ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND EARLY ACCESS (patreon.com/kllamallama)

Requests are OPEN!!!

Masterlist and other Follow Me links in bio!

“Chan-Oppa?”

“What, Rei?” Chan didn’t look away from the computer screen. They’d gone to a PC room after school, and he’d been hogging the screen for over an hour.

“Can I play too?” She asked hopefully. 

He glanced at her. She wasn’t sure what he saw, but it didn’t seem to incline him to let her play. “It’s a shooting game, Rei. You won’t like it.”

She leaned her head down on the table in front of her, her cheek pressing against the keyboard of the computer that she wasn’t allowed to use. “We could go play Mario on that -”

“Rei, can I please finish my game?”

Rei pouted, crossing her arms. “But I thought we’d play together. Why’d you invite me if you weren’t going to let me play anything?”

“I didn’t invite you, Jeonghan-hyung said that I needed to take you home from school because you kept getting lost on the subway. So don’t be a brat and let me play.”

“Okay.” She was disappoainted. Honestly, she’d been so excited when Chan waited for her after school and told her they were going to a gaming cafe. He never wanted to hang out with her. Except then he’d only bought one pass and had ignored her since they walked in. 

She sighed and unbraided one of her braids, re-doing it and un-doing it over and over again just for something to do.

“Hey, Rei?”

“Yeah?” She looked up, hastily tying her hair.

“You wanna play?”He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

She beamed. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, I really really really want to play!” She leaned towards the computer excitedly.

Chan held up a hand. “You can play if you go buy snacks.”

She blinked. “Buy...oh yeah! I’ll go buy snacks!”

“I want chips, and a coke and if they have french fries get those.”

Rei jumped up and hurried towards the snack counter of the cafe, ordering everything Chan had requested and a strawberry milk for herself. It took most of her lunch allowance for the rest of the week, but it was worth it.

“I brought food!” She carried the tray back.

“Cool.” Chan switched over into the chair she’d been sitting in. “You can play until I’m done eating.”

“Okay.” Rei sat down, putting the tray in front of him and starting a new game. “So I’m just shooting the zombies?”

“Yeah, don’t shoot other people or you’ll-” He winced as she shot another person. “Lose points.”

Rei winced. “I didn’t see him.”

“It helps if you play with your eyes open.”

“I don’t like it when stuff jumps out at me.”

“Well then look for items or something. But don’t waste your time.”

The next day, a bunch of them went to a cafe after their practice. There were arcade games, but the boys just wanted to get some food before they went home.

Rei, however, settled her eyes on a Dance Dance Revolution machine.

She reached over and tugged on Chan’s sleeve. “Want to play with me?”

“Not really I-” Chan paused. “Actually sure. I’ll set it up if you go buy us some smoothies.”

“Okay!” She pulled her wallet out of her backpack and hurried away to the front counter.

“Why is she buying your drink?”

“What?” Chan looked over at Soonyoung. 

“Why is Rei buying your drink?” He repeated.

“Because I’m playing Dance Dance Revolution with her.” Chan answered. “Fair trade.”

“If you say so.” Soonyoung snorted. “Are you going to go easy on her?”

“Probably not.” Chan made his way over to the machine.

“Two mango smoothies, please!” Rei ordered, handing over the last of her money. She took the coins back and shuffled over so Jeonghan could order.

“Rei, do you have a five dollar bill?” Jeonghan asked her, flipping through his own wallet.

“Um, no.” She said.

“Any cash on you? I don’t want to use my card but I’ll pay you back.”

She held out her fistful of change.

Jeonghan looked at it, before turning away without taking it. He tapped his card on the machine and moved over to wait. He took her wallet out of her hands.

“Rei, where did all of your money go?” He asked.

Rei bit her lip. “Um, I spent it?”

“All of it? That was your lunch allowance for the whole week and it’s only Tuesday.” He scolded.

She looked down. “I bought snacks.”

“Rei, you need to save your money for-”

“Two mango smoothies.” The cashier called, placing them on the counter.

“Thank you.” Rei grabbed them and ran away before Jeonghan could ask her any more questions.

“Chan-Oppa! I got the smoothies.” She exclaimed, handing him his.

“That’s great, Rei. Okay, we can play for a bit.”

“Awesome!” She set her smoothie down and got ready to dance.

They danced for about twenty minutes, before Rei announced that she had to go to the bathroom and left. Chan hopped off the machine, still drinking the remnants of his smoothie as he sat down at the table with the others.

“Chan, did Rei go to the gaming cafe with you yesterday?” Seungcheol asked.

“Uh, yeah.” He confirmed.

“Did she play?” 

“No. She....um...bought some snacks though.”

“I knew it.” Jeonghan shook his head, looking at the others. “We seriously need to start watching her money. Apparently she didn’t buy lunch at school today.”

“Why would she buy snacks at the cafe if she wasn’t even playing. Would she-” Soonyoung trailed off, before turning to Chan. 

“What?” Chan demanded, sipping his smoothie.

“Rei bought you that?”

“Yeah, because I said I’d play-”

“Did she also buy you snacks yesterday at the cafe?” Soonyoung asked, his tone slightly accusatory.

The others all turned to look at him.

“She got stuff for both of us.” He insisted.

“What did she get?” Seungcheol asked.

“Ummm....I think she got a strawberry milk.”

“And you?”

He mumbled something, trying to hide behind his smoothie.

“What was that?” Jeonghan demanded.

“Fries, and some chips and-”

“Chan.” Jeonghan scolded. “Why did you.....did you make her buy snacks so that she could play video games with you?”

“She didn’t mind! And besides, she’s the one who was tagging along and being annoying. I figured I earned it.” Chan protested.

Seungcheol sighed. “Was she being annoying, or was she just trying to join in?”

Chan crossed his arms. “I wanted to play my game and she wanted to play Mario.”

“You’re being a bully.” Soonyoung told him. “She just likes to spend time with you and you always make her feel bad about it.”

“If she had a problem with it she could-”

“Rei is not responsible for telling you when you’re being mean.” Jeonghan said. “You’re older, so that’s on you. Come on, give me your wallet.”

“No!”

“Now.” Jeonghan said, his tone final.

Chan grumbled but handed over his wallet. Jeonghan took out a few bills, placing them on the table. He then dug through his own pockets, pulling out a lonely dollar bill.

Seungcheol and Soonyoung both placed a couple of bills in the pile, and the Soonyoung swept the whole thing up and went digging through Rei’s backpack for her wallet.

“That’s not fair.” Chan protested.

“Don’t argue. She needs to be able to buy lunch.” Soonyoung said, tucking the wallet back in her bag.

“Why are you in my backpack?” Rei’s voice cut through as she slid into the seat next to Chan.

“Do you have any chapstick?” Soonyoung lied smoothly. 

“Oh yeah, small pocket.” She reached over and pulled out a chapstick, handing it to him happily. She then leaned closer to Chan, looking up at him hopefully. “Can we have a rematch?”

“No, I-” Chan was cut off by three glares. “Sure. Do you want a cookie or anything? My treat.”

“Really?” She grinned. “Sure!”

He couldn’t help but smile. “One sugar cookie, coming up. You’ll need the energy if you want a chance at beating me.”

“Dream on! I’m the Dance Dance Revolution champion!”

[multifanficss]

Emergency Room (BTS X READER)-19

A/N: Hello everyone!! This chapter will be a short one since I am still recovering, Thank you for all the love and support. As well as for being patient with me and my uploads. Since I am finished with the school semester, I will definitely be uploading more! Anyways here's part 19!!

Y/N's POV:

I woke up and it seemed to be nighttime. Meaning I slept the whole day. I look to the side and see that Jungkook was no longer with me. He probably left to work. I looked around and saw that there was a bag of food on the counter. Then I heard knocking at the door. I look up and see that is Taehyung but he is wearing his normal clothes instead of his hospital attire. "Hey, How are you doing?" he asked. "Feeling a lot better, why aren't you working?" I asked. "Ah, Chief gave me the day off to make sure you are okay. I brought your lunch earlier but you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you," He said. "Well, I am awake now and I am hungry," I said while he chuckled. "We should wait for a doctor to give you a clear that you can eat," he said. Then we heard knocking at the door. "Hey Y/N, how are you feeling?", Yoongi said as he began to take a look at my notes and vitals. "I'm Feeling fine, Thank you for saving my life," I said and he nodded. "It's my job y/n, as for food, you can eat anything just make sure you don't eat too much or you will get a stomach ache. However, I want to keep you here one more day to make sure your vitals stay the same and that you are recovering well." Yoongi said then was interrupted by a page. "Now please excuse me, I have to go but I will be back tomorrow morning to check up on you," he said and left. "Well, now I got cleared, can I eat my food now?" I asked taehyung. "It is probably cold now," he said. "I have an idea why don't we go to the cafeteria and heat the food and eat down there," I said.  He nodded and as I was about to get up he shook his head. "Noooo, you are not going to walk wait," he said as he went to the hallway and got a wheelchair. After he got the wheelchair , he brought to the side of my bed and got the iv bags and placed them on the stand of the wheelchair. Then he helped me get up and sit down. Then, he handed me the bag of food and began to push me to the cafeteria. I smiled and slightly blushed. I hope he didn't notice...

end of y/ns pov

Taehyung's POV:

As I began to walk and push y/n to the cafeteria, I noticed her smiling and she was slightly blushing as well. This made me smile and blush madly. However she couldn't see since she was looking around at her surroundings. Once we reached the cafeteria we went straight to the microwave and she took out the trays and put each of ours in one at a time. After, she took them and I went to table. I fixed the table to the way she wouldn't have to get out of her chair. Then she set the food trays down. "I'll be right back, I'm going to get some drinks, do you want anything else?" I asked. She looked at the food and it was rice,meat and veggies. She seemed to  noticed they had french fries. "Can you get me a order of french fries?" she asked. "Yeah, sure. Anything else?" I asked. "No that’s it," she said and smiled politely. I went to go get our drinks and her french fries. Then paid and sat down in front of her. "Here, I got you a water and juice because I didn't know what you liked. Oh, and here are your french fries." I said as i placed the things in front of her.

I sat down and began to eat. She ate her food calming and looked like she enjoyed it. "Here," she said as she was offering me some french fries on her fork. I opened my mouth slightly and she fed me. I felt butterflies in my stomach. "Thank you.They are good." I said and she smiled. I noticed she began to get tired from moving her arm too much. I quickly finished my food and moved my chair next to her. Then I fed her the rest of her food. She blushed the whole time which was very cute. Then she finished her meal and I through the trash away. Before we went back to the room, I sat there and talked with her about her life and her family. She also asked about me and my family. It was a nice conversation. "Y/n, Can I ask you one more thing?" I said as I felt the heat rush up on my face. "Yeah,?" she said. "Would you like to go on a real date with me? like not as friends, as something more?" I said. "Tae." " I know it is way to soon but.." then she kissed me. I was shocked but then I kissed her as well. We pulled away and she said. "I would love to." she smiled and so did I. She hugged me and thanked me for the food. "Now, lets get you back to bed because it is getting late." I said and she nodded and I began to walk back to the room while she began to sleep. she’s so cute.

end of taehyung's pov

Third-person POV

As Taehyung and Y/n went away, There was someone on the other side of the cafeteria who was hurting. Jungkook. He saw when y/n kissed Taehyung and when she agreed to go on a date with him. Though, he was happy to see y/n smile and well, he was still hurt that he wasn't the one to be able to make her smile. He then got a page from the E.R. and decided to ignore his feelings and got back to work.

[crystalstar8]

Knights of the Night (ch 17)

Chapter 17

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

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139240/chapters/71536491

pairing: Jungkook x oc

genre: vampire au, college au, twilight, romance

word count: 3,171

warnings: blood (obviously), kidnapping, child kidnapping, needles, France, human trafficking

notes: vampires, vampire au, college, college au, so many twilight references, blood, needles, kidnapping, children, homelessness, dance, ballet, flashbacks, romance, slow burn, probably no smut, idk yet tho, France, French things, attempted genocide, inaccurate French history, bisexual main character, @strawberriewithchocolate-blog @mozy-j  @daechwitad-2​ @zobadak​ @fallenstar-7​​​

summary: Catalina starts college in a small town all the way across the country. She doesn’t know anyone and isn’t exactly looking for friends. She just wants to focus on dance. But when she meets fellow dance major, Jimin, and adventurous, fellow freshman, Jungkook, Catalina ends up discovering a whole new side to the small college town; one that is dangerous but oh so enticing…

(I am sorry this is late in the day. Enjoy🙂)

(also, give this a listen: “To my Hope” (Spotify))

The dance studio was empty, as expected this time of day. Hoseok stepped inside and set his boombox down at the back of the room. The cassette tape he pulled out of his coat pocket had a strip of tape on the front, the words “To my Hope” written on it in marker. In his other pocket was a cassette with “To my Sunshine” written on it, which he zipped closed. Hoseok smiled and loaded the tape into the deck, pressing play before standing up. “Friday I’m In Love” by The Cure filled the studio. He warmed up in front of the mirror, stretching his arms over his head and rolling his neck. He quickly stretched his legs and ankles, then started dancing. He let the music move him, popping and gliding across the floor. “P.Y.T.” by Michael Jackson came on next.

               This one was much more suited to Hoseok’s style. He smiled as his freestyle adjusted to the more upbeat funk. She was supposed to get out of class any minute, but there was no harm in warming up before she arrived.

               Hoseok tried to jump into a flip he saw once in a music video, but rolled out of it. He tried again. He knew he could do it. With his next jump, he nailed the flip, landing with a giddy cheer.

               “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe came on next. Hoseok nailed the flip a few more times, letting his experimental dance flow into “Let the Beat Hit ‘Em” by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.

               The studio door opened and Hoseok stopped dancing. With a glance at the door, he let a smile take over his face. She was wearing a short floral dress, a black choker, and his oversized flannel shirt. Her strawberry blonde locks looked windswept and tangled. She smiled back at him when she heard what was playing.

               “You’re late,” said Hoseok.

               “Class let out late,” she said. “I see you found your gift.”

               Hoseok smiled even wider, his cheeks hurting. “Yeah, and what a coincidence, because I just so happen to have something for you too.”

               He pulled the other tape out of his pocket and handed it to her. She bit her lip as she looked down at it.

               “I’m listening to it before I go to bed tonight,” she said.

               “And you’ll call me after?” he asked.

               “No,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Because tomorrow is Friday, and I know you don’t work, and I don’t work, so I was thinking I could just show what I think of it then.”

               Hoseok pulled her close by the waist and said, “I can’t wait.”

               “Well, are we gonna dance or what?” she asked.

               “Doo Wap” by Ms. Lauryn Hill was playing now, so they mostly just jammed to the beat. This was how he met Sunny. They were both regulars in the empty studio, loving the space for freestyle sessions. This thing they had going on only just started over the summer.

               They danced and showed off new moves for another hour until they were sweaty and tired. They laid side by side on the floor, listening to “Waterfalls” by TLC. The song ended with a click, and the studio was only filled with the sound of their heavy breathing.

               “I know a lot of those songs aren’t the best to dance to but-“ Sunny began.

               “No, it’s perfect,” Hoseok said. “I love everything on here.”

               She smiled and stood up. Hoseok took the hand that was offered to him and stood up as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~

               “I heard you made her a mixtape and everything,” Drew said. Hoseok took a seat at their picnic table and opened his notebook. It was still sunny and warm in L.A., despite being well into autumn.

               “Well, she made one for me first,” he said.

               “Dude, she’s totally into you,” Drew said, leaning forward. “When are you gonna ask her be your girlfriend?”

               “I don’t think…I mean,” Hoseok struggled.

               “Oh, come on,” said Drew.

               “I just don’t want to rush things,” said Hoseok.

               “I don’t understand what you- oh hey Sunny!” Drew said, waving to someone behind Hoseok.

               Hoseok turned around to see Sunny approaching, three McDonalds bags in her hands. Hoseok’s stomach growled at the sight. He hadn’t eaten for a day or so and it was really getting to him. She dropped herself into the seat next to Hoseok and set the bags onto the table.

               “I brought sustenance,” she said.

               “Oh! Thank you, Sunny!” Hoseok exclaimed as they all dug in. “You’re the best.”

               “Yes, you’re the best Sunny!” Drew said. “You’re just sooo amazing and so sexy!”

               She kicked him under the table, making him yelp. Hoseok almost fell off the seat laughing.

               “So, I was thinking we could all go out tonight,” Sunny said with a mouthful of fries.

               “Go out as in…” Drew said.

               “There’s a new club downtown,” she said. “What do you say boys?”

               “Yes! I miss going out to dance!” said Hoseok. “I’ve been needing a break.”

               “A club is a break?” Drew asked.

               “Yes, Andrew,” Sunny snarked. “It’s fun to let loose once in a while.”

               “You damn extroverts,” Drew said with a wave of a hand. “But yeah, I’ll go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               The music was so loud that Hoseok could feel the beat in his chest; just how he liked it. Drew had settled at the bar, unmoving. After a few shots, Hoseok followed Sunny to the dance floor, which was packed with the bouncing crowd. They pushed their way into the mix, pressing close and letting the music move them. Sunny was in a short tube top under his flannel, her pants hanging low on her hips. She knew she looked good, she moved like she knew. Hoseok looked good too, he was wearing his leather pants tonight, which he knew Sunny was a fan of. She turned around and pressed her back to him, he put his hands on her hips and swayed with her.

               They danced until they were sweaty, then joined Drew at the bar to drink some more.

               “I wanna go home!” Drew shouted over the music.

               “We just got here!” Hoseok said.

               “Come dance with us!” Sunny said. Drew shook his head and held up his drink with a grin on his face.

               Hoseok felt a hand on his back. He turned around to see a beautiful woman with big hair and dark skin. Her full lips pulled into a smile as she sidled closer.

               “Dance with me?” she asked.

Sunny nudged him and grinned. He let the woman lead him out onto the dance floor. Once they were closer and under the flashing lights of the dance floor, Hoseok noticed that her eyes were red.  “Contacts?” he asked. She nodded. “That’s so cool!”

“Come with me!” she said, pulling on his hand. She led him off the dancefloor and into a backroom through a bead curtain. It was a little lounge, a pink sectional couch around the walls and matching chairs. A man and two women sat on the couch, greeting the pair as they came in.

“Have a seat,” the man said, an easygoing smile on his face. He and the two women sitting with him continued their conversation.

Hoseok sat down and the woman he danced with took a seat beside him. She grabbed his face and planted a deep kiss onto his lips. He made a sound of surprise and pushed her off.

“I’m not…I’m really not looking for anyone tonight,” he said.

“Oooh that cute girl out there?” she asked. “The one you were dancing with before?”

Hoseok’s drunk brain caught up with him and he wondered if she was watching him for a while. He nodded.

“Do you guys come here often?” she asked.

“Isn’t this place new?” he asked.

“New management,” she said. “Same place though. I’d like to see you again.”

“I should probably get back to my friends,” he said.

“Sure. I’ll see you around,” she said, watching him leave the lounge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hoseok walked back to the dorms from work, headphones on, mixtape in his Walkman. “Come on Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners filled his head as he danced across the sidewalk. He actually got tipped today so he stopped by the little bodega just outside campus to pick up a few cups of ramen. By the time he made it back to his dorm, “Loser” by Beck was just finishing its last notes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               On Monday, after classes, Hoseok went to the studio. Summer was already there.

               “Hobi! Check it out,” she said. She turned the music up on the boombox and performed the flip he had taught her last week, perfectly.

               “Whoa!” he exclaimed, giving her an applause. “That was perfect! Were you working on that before I got here?”

               “Yeah, I just got it like, a few minutes before you came in,” she said.

               Hoseok took off his coat and joined her on the dancefloor. He felt exhausted two songs in, which was bad. He knew it was because he wasn’t eating enough.

               He pushed through it anyway until he felt lightheaded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               The club was just as packed as it was last time. Sunny pulled him onto the dancefloor. The crowd pushed them together as they swayed to the beat. Drew wasn’t there with them this time. A few drinks in and they were back on the dance floor. Sunny pulled him down for a kiss and Hoseok’s heart beat louder than the music.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

               “You’re way too skinny,” said Sunny. She was in his dorm, hands up his shirt as he was trying to do his homework.

               “Well, you’re too handsy,” he said. The words on the page he was reading were blurring together. He didn’t feel good today and all of his concentration was being stolen.

               “Oh please,” she said. “You love it.”

               “Well, yes. Usually,” he said. “But I’m trying to do my homework.”

               “What are you working on?” she asked, peeking over his shoulder.

               “English,” he said.

               “Ew,” she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               The lounge at the back of the bar was stifling. Usually, the loud music and dancing was calming, but today, Hoseok felt like he wanted to crawl out of his skin. Everything was too much. The woman from last time, Jamie as he learned, was sitting across from him.

               “So, if what you’re saying is true, why are you here?” she said.

               Hoseok bit back a grimace as he let out a sigh. “I…I don’t know.”

               “I’m sorry that happened,” she said. “That must have been painful.”

               He didn’t say anything. The image wouldn’t stop popping up in his mind. He had never even seen that guy before. How long was Sunny seeing him? Hoseok thought…

               Well, he’s not sure what he thought. He’s not sure if this year with her meant anything. He’s not sure if anything she did with him over this year meant anything. If anything she’s said meant anything. If he meant anything to her.

               What was he doing here? He supposed he wanted to let off some steam but he ended up just spending all his money at the bar. Looks like he won’t be eating until his next paycheck. Again. Pretty soon, he wouldn’t be able to dance like this.

               “Do you want me to buy you a drink?” Jamie asked.

               “You don’t have to,” he said. “I should probably stop drinking anyway.”

               “I’ll get you a water then,” she said.

~~~~~~~~~~

               His head felt like was going to split open and his stomach felt like it was eating itself. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t even open his eyes. The ground was cold and hard, but he couldn’t remember where he was the night before.

               Eventually, he could move his arms, but if he moved them too much, a wave of nausea washed over him. Panic hit him when he opened his eyes. The room was cement. It was dark but Hoseok could hear water dripping somewhere behind him.

               It took him a long time before he was able to move properly and sit up. There was a mat on the floor beside him and a bucket beside that. He lunged for the bucket just in time. Barely anything came out though, he ended up dry heaving for several minutes.

               Hoseok felt weak, his limbs were heavy and shaking, but he forced himself to drag his body to the wall where he sat with the bucket between his legs. There were pipes running along one wall, one of them dripping into a small puddle below. Next to the pipes was a heavy looking metal door. Besides that, the room was bare.

               He tried to control his breathing before he passed out again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               “You need to eat,” the woman said to him. She was pretty, with blonde hair and red lips, but her eyes were red and mean.

               “I can’t,” said Hoseok.

               “You need to,” she said. “We will force feed you if we have to, but I really don’t want to. You don’t want me to either.”

               “I think I’m sick,” he said.

               “Then we’ll get you medicine. You need to eat. You’re too underweight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               “Just hook him up,” the large man said. “We’ll take a little bit at a time for now-“

               “It’ll kill him,” the blonde woman said.

               It’s been days. Hoseok didn’t know what they were talking about, but he was too weak to protest anything.

               “Why isn’t he eating?” the man asked.

               “I think he had a bad reaction to the drugs,” the woman said. The man sighed.

               “Fine, at least get him to eat something for now, we can wait for the drugs to get out of his system,” he said.

               They both left again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               Hoseok supposed he was finally at a healthy weight, since he was now hooked up to the IV a few times a week. Or at least it felt like that. Hoseok wasn’t sure what day it was, or what time it was in any given moment. He did know that every time they took his blood, he felt weaker and it took longer to recover.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               After a while, all thoughts of escape flew out the nonexistent window. He was just too tired. All the time. Some days, he could barely move. Those days became more and more frequent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               Sometimes, people would come in and drink from his blood bags. Sometimes they would discuss prices. Hoseok didn’t like when they talked about prices, but he didn’t have the energy to do anything about it.

               Everyone who came in always had red eyes. He wasn’t sure if that was a figment of his imagination or not, but it was terrifying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               Then one day, he got out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               “Someone fucking catch him already!”

               The screaming outside his door made him open his eyes. There seemed to be a lot going on out there; loud crashes and bangs, lots of screaming. His door flew open and a man with crazed, bright red eyes stumbled in. He scurried over to Hoseok and frantically bit into his neck. Hoseok used what little energy he had to try to push the man off, but it was no use. He couldn’t feel his body anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               “If he finds out about this, he’s going to be pissed.”

               “Well, he won’t find out. We’ll replace them.”

               “Five? We’ll replace five people in two weeks?”

               “We have to. He’ll kill us if we don’t.”

               Hoseok’s body was on fire. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the bed of a moving van, four other bodies laying around him. Some were twitching, some were writhing, one wasn’t moving at all. Hoseok couldn’t move. The pain was too much. It felt like his veins were on fire and his face was being stretched.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               When he woke up again, he was still in pain but no longer in the van. He was in the woods, the four other people from the van lying around him. It took a while, but they all eventually regained their movement around the same time.

               Two of them ran off immediately. The third wandered off in a daze hours later. Hoseok stayed, wondering what the pain was in the back of his throat and in his stomach. He wanted to run and find help, now that he was out, but he didn’t know where he was, how deep in the woods he was. It was cold, colder than it usually got in L.A.. There was even some snow on the ground.

               He was still disoriented. One person was still there with him. She was crying.

               Once the nausea passed and his head stopped spinning, the thirst doubled and his hands started shaking. He was getting frantic, but he didn’t know how to stop it.

               Standing up, he took a look around and picked a direction.

               “Wait, where are you going?” the crying woman asked.

               “I don’t know,” Hoseok said. His voice was rough, foreign to his ears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               He wandered for what felt like forever.

               The little town he ended up in only made things worse. Everyone smelled way too good. It didn’t take long for him to figure out what it was he was craving, and it was getting harder and harder to resist. There were people everywhere, even in the alleys Hoseok mostly clung to.

               He needed to drink soon. He was getting sicker and sicker and it was getting harder and harder to control himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               The first person he drank from, he ended up killing. She was homeless, living in the same alley he stayed in.

               He was sick about it for weeks, but there wasn’t anything to throw up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               When Hoseok found the hospital, he thought himself a genius. That is, until he had to actually sneak in. There were always people walking around. The hospital never slept, but between two to four am, it was as quiet as it could be.

               Sneaking in was difficult, but it wasn’t something he would have been able to do before. He was stronger and faster than he remembered, and more graceful as a result. Some days, when he wasn’t having constant flashbacks of his cement cell, he felt like he was in a spy movie.

               Taking blood from a blood bank was not ideal, but it was saintly compared to hurting people on the street.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

               He missed his mom and sister.

               He missed school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

               A janitor caught him and called the police. He ran away before the police showed up but he was still hungry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               When Taehyung found him behind the hospital in the next town over, Hoseok thought he was an angel. He was so unearthly beautiful, so kind and gentle. His red eyes were startling, but he offered a place to stay, and a reliable food source of food.

               During the car ride to the mansion, Taehyung turned the radio on. “Waterfalls” by TLC was playing.  

.

.

.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3nm0tRz73YzcTPl8plRsbS?si=37672afb915348b8

[the-scooby-gang]

Us... But not quite

Part 2

Summary: After falling through a portal while they were being chased by their most horrifying monster yet, The Scooby Gang finds themselves in a place they have never been before. A place called Crystal Cove.

As Shaggy’s nose predicted, there was a restaurant waiting for them some 2,5 miles north.

What the nose hadn’t predicted was the vampire theming that permeated the whole place. Fred thought that either the restaurant was some passion project of a gothic owner or the town had some vampiric and/or supernatural connection and the restaurant was reflecting that. Shaggy hoped for the first. Their luck said it was probably the latter.

They were by the roadside, a good half a mile away from the vampire-themed place. Tired after an hour of walking, combined with the exhaustion of being chased by Lovecraft’s weirdest wet dream finally setting in, they decide to just lie on some rocks and take a well-deserved nap.

When they woke again, the sun had fully risen. After drinking from a water bottle that Shaggy had stored… somewhere, they started to think about what their next step was going to be.

The restaurant was just outside the town-that-should-not-be, neon lights glowing red against the sunlight, already packed with early costumers sucking the coffee maker dry as if their lives depended on it.

“It must be Monday,” said Velma, standing by Fred’s rock. Removing the binoculars that Shaggy had produced from… somewhere from her eyes, she put herself in tip-toes, aligning them with Fred’s blue gaze “Look on how they slouch. They are clearly forcing themselves aware through coffee and spite.”

Fred took the binoculars from her hand.  Standing up from his place on the rock his other hand made its way across her back and in a swift move, he lifted her off the ground, and together they shared the watch.

“Yeah, normally by Tuesday your body returns to automatic pilot and you look less like a zombie” Daphne shrugged, casting a smile in their direction. She was sitting in the grass over a picnic blanket that Shaggy brought from… somewhere. Her back was against a smaller rock with Scooby by her side, lounging on the morning sun.

“But still moving by spite” Fred completed, remembering the college allnighters he powered through for weeks on end.

Shaggy, who was sited on the rock Daphne was lining on, got to his feet and approached them. Putting his chin on Fred’s unoccupied shoulder, he asked to have a look.  Fred handed the binocular to him.

“Look at them! Like, they look like they are one step away from sucker-punching each other, man.” there was a detached fascination on his voice, but also familiarity “Remember that week before the last year finals? Like, I thought that I was going to be stabbed in the cafeteria when I went to get some coffee.”

“That’s what anxiety and stress do to you” Daphne decided to stand too. She was lining against Shaggy’s arm, her head on his shoulder, his hand on hers. She asked with her remaining hand for the binocular.

She was fascinated with the gothic decor. All the coffin-shaped chairs, tables, and booths bathed in the red ambient light. She thought that it was a delightful macabre aesthetic.

Shaggy thought that it was creepy and unsettling.

“Man, let’s just hope that we didn’t end up in a bizarre vampire dimension of some sort.” Shaggy shivered in discomfort, hugging Fred from behind, snuggling his head further on his boyfriend’s neck. “The last time I thought that I had been bitten by a vampire I had a whole identity crisis over it.”

Putting Velma back on her feet, Fred laid one of his hands over Shaggy’s long fingers while the other ran calmly through the shaggy sandy hair.

“Don’t worry, Shag. We’ll be here for you, vampires or not.” Fred kissed his temple.

“Would you? I would be putting you guys in danger, man” None of them liked how small Shaggy’s voice was becoming “If that happens I should lea…”

The end of the sentences was cut short by Daphne’s well-manicured fingers. She was really close to his face, nose to nose. Which made Shaggy make a double-take since Daphne was, at least, one head shorter than him so how…

That’s when he noticed she had instructed Velma to lift her up. What a way to prevent any future neck pains he thought.

“Ah, ah, ah, we are NOT finishing that thought, mister!” she wiggled her finger on his face, giving him her best impression of a scolding girlfriend. “The day we abandon you for something as minor as vampirism is the day I go right back to that swamp to find the real old fart that must be the vampire king and marry his wrinkly ass!”

“I second that!” came Fred’s voice from his right, giving him an Eskimo kiss “We’ll even donate some blood to you. As a treat.” He gave shaggy one of his goofy smiles that only got bigger when his boyfriend snorted.

“Rod rammed, Rreddie” Scooby pinched the bridge of his nose as shaggy snort dissolved in small giggles. He had got up from his half nap on the sun when his ears picked Shaggy’s sad tones and were now sited by their side. Shaking his head, Scooby now focused on his best friend. “I’m not reaving you for nothing.” He put himself in his hind legs, licking Shaggy’s face of all sadness that he could find. The lanky man was giggling, now with his hair stinking all over the place.

“That’s right, Mister Rogers. You are stuck with us.” Velma with Daphne still on her arms lifted both Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby from the ground like they weighed nothing and twirled around like the most excited ballerina. “FOREVER.”

They laughed without a worry in the world. Carefully, Velma returned everyone to the ground. They remained hugged to each other for a little longer. They haven’t realized how much they needed it.

“Ok, gang. What’s the plan? We can’t just stay here and live among the rocks waiting for a new portal to appear” Velma was looking at them expectantly.

“Velma is right. Our best course of action right now is getting information. Where we are, how we got here, and how we are going to get back.” Fred said, counting on his fingers to each question.

Daphne took hold of his wrist and delicately added another finger to the counting before commenting “Let’s add find a place to stay while we are at it  between steps two and three, shall we?”

A muffled sound interrupted Fred’s response. He, Velma, and Daphne turned towards Shaggy and Scooby when the sound made itself know again.

They knew that sound way to well.

Scooby approached Fred. Taking his hand on his paw he added another finger “Rinding rome rood”

“I second that” chuckled Shaggy.

“Ok then. Gang, it seems we are going down the Bloody Steak for some clues with french fries on the side.”

“Sounds good to me, Freddie” Daphne was already collecting their things and giving them to Shaggy that was putting them away… somewhere.

After years of knowing a person, you stop questioning in which plane of existence the keep their things, you know? You accept it and move on. Daphne was even thinking that maybe they had to add to the to-do list go to the market because clearly whatever pocket dimension Shaggy keep his things was out of supplies if he hadn’t made himself a sandwich in all the time they were sited there on those rocks.

While Daphne discussed this future storage replenishment with Shaggy and Scooby, Velma was quiet, looking uncertain in the restaurant’s direction.

“I don’t know guys… What if it’s dangerous? This could be a completely different place from what we are used to” she hugged herself while her shoulders were rigid and her back was straight as a rod “I just… I just don’t like going in blind in a situation, you know.”

“Oh dear, we know how that is,” said Daphne giving Velma a sideways hug “But if we want to get to the bottom of it we must go there”

Fred and Shaggy walked slowly towards the girls. Scooby flowed them quietly. Each one of them took one of Velmas hands between their own.

“Daphne is right, Velm,” Fred said, a determined look on his eyes. A plan was being made “Come on Little Sun, think about it. We can stay here creeping in the bushes forever trying to solve this puzzle from the distance or we can go inside and get first-hand information! You know better them me how much small-town people love to gossip” he held Velma’s hand more firmly guiving her his best puppy’s eyes.

Daphne quickly caught on what he was doing. She jumped right into it.

“Yeah Honey Bee,” she said “The best way to truly learn about people is by listening to them! And if they prove to be actual bloodsuckers we do as we always do”

“Rick rheir rasses?” questioned Scooby

“That’s right Scoob. We’ll kick their asses!” Daphne patted his head.

“What do you say, Sweet Pie?” said Shaggy, also jumping on the plan “We will just be a group of twenty-somethings tourists and their dog going into the town. And if anything does go to hell in silver platter we just jump into your strong arms to safety”  he finished with a flourish.

Fred and Daphne were smiling while Shaggy had one of his arms around her shoulders, his head now propped over hers. Velma was as red as her skirts. She agreed.

Cheering, the gang made their way towards the restaurant while Velma was whispering under her breath something that sounded like the manipulative use of pet names should be illegal.  Scooby chuckled and softly bumped his head on her, licking her fingers. She patted him, a smile back on her lips.

[purpleyellow]

Strike!

BTS 8th member

Sunny’s masterlist

“Sunny and Sehun go on a bowling date”

a/n: I wrote this the day Suho enlisted so I was on my feelings about it. Your opinion is very important for me, send feedback and requests anytime 💜 Also, don’t be shy and interact a little, ask box is always open

“How did you manage to rent an entire bowling place?” Sunny said stunned as she and Sehun walked towards the middle lane. The place had five of them in total, completely empty but ready to start a new game.

“It’s a weeknight you know” Sehun winked her way while placing his wallet and keys on the small table behind the controlling screen “It wasn’t very hard convincing the owner to close the thing for us. Also, if you want something we better order it soon. The waiter will only be around for thirty minutes” 

Picking up the iPad from the table, Sunny scrolled through the foods available, deciding to order two hamburgers and some french fries before putting on the bowling shoes. Meanwhile Sehun set up the lane with their names and got ready for the game as well.

“Here, let me help you” He kneeled in front of her to tie her shoelaces.

“Thanks, Oppa, but I can do it” Sunny keep doing it herself but Sehun brushed her hands away from the shoes.

“Shut up, I’m trying to be romantic” He smiled as she giggled at him.

Getting up, Sehun pressed play on the game, and Sunny tried picking up a red ball. Keyword tried because it was too heavy for her and her grip slipped, making it drop back on the metal holder. Pretending nothing had happened, she got a blue one, that was considerably lighter, and turned around facing Sehun who had an amused face.

After she threw her two balls. Sehun walked up to the red ball from before and picked it up, turning towards Sunny with a smug smile.

“This was hard for you?” he mocked her while flexing his arms muscles. Sunny rolled her eyes and smiled at him, slightly patting his butt for him to hurry up. To which he did and got a strike as a result. “Let’s make this interesting. Every time someone gets a strike the other has to give them a kiss” Sehun said and tapped his cheek for her to comply. 

“Ok, but it only starts now since I didn’t get a previous warning” Sunny lightly patted here his finger was pointing at and brushed past him to pick up a ball. 

They played about five turns before the waiter came with the food. Leaving the game waiting, they sat down on the couch behind their lane and started eating.

“I know I would beat you, but I thought you would at least build up a fight” Sehun teased his girlfriend after taking a bite from his burger. 

“So you brought me here so you could brag about your bowling skills” Sunny raised an eyebrow at him.

“Pretty much” Sehun nodded and they stared at each other for a while before bursting into laughs. After catching their breaths back, Sehun suddenly spoke “You know Suho is enlisting right?” Sunny frowned at the sudden change of tone and topic and replied with a serious yes. “I’m not very vocal about this stuff, but reality kind of hit me yesterday when I was talking to him and I kind of realized how I’m going to miss him like I miss Kyungsoo and Xiumin”

Placing a hand on the back of his neck, Sunny played with the hairs there and leaned on his shoulder. “It sucks right?”

“It does. But it also makes you appreciate them more” Sehun grabbed her hand from his neck and intertwined their fingers together. “Are you going to miss me when I enlist?”

As he asked that, Sehun fake pouted at Sunny and she kissed him briefly before answering “I’ll cry every day from your absence” Smiling content with her exaggeration, Sehun kissed the top of her head before returning to his burger.

By the time they finished with the food. The owner of the bowling alley arrived and told them to knock on his office door when they were leaving so he can close the door for them. 

Returning to the lane, they finished the game occasionally throwing witty remarks at each other and playfully fighting whenever someone made a strike, but doing the “punishment” anyways. 

“Easy like stealing candy from a child” Sehun bragged when he won but Sunny scoffed at the fifteen point difference. 

“That was only the first lane, Oppa. There’s four more” She smiled brightly and walked to the lane on their right. Following her, Sehun grabbed her arm and turned her towards him.

“Listen to the song” He pointed out an old school ballad playing o the sound system to her. Slightly bowing, Sehun extended his hand for her to take and they started to sway along to the rhythm. 

Sunny had her hands on his neck and Sehun was holding her waist as they started laughing at the spontaneous dance section, but still swaying from one side to the other since there was no one watching their moment.