#frightening levels of genius tonight

[vitamind-deficiency]

I wasn’t gonna post this wip but then it looked rlly funny cuz like. guess who the favorite is.

(I wasn’t gonna post because of design changes)(and also it was supposed to be a 5 min sketch)(it wasn’t)

[burnwme]

Summoning

One-off of Mika summoning Sam to save her- Possible TW

As I exited the café, I heard the jingling of the bells located above my head. At that moment I turned back to glance at the glass panes on the eatery’s door.  As I did, I gave a small wave goodbye to Suzu. After my small farewell, I turned my gaze back towards the road, awaiting my Uber. I felt bad for leaving our outing early, but I wanted to see Sam. But I mean could you blame me? He’s been extremely busy with work lately.  Constantly working late into the night, most of the time in which I’m already asleep. We’ve barely seen each other. And today was like any other: him leaving for work bright and early. That meant that I was alone for the day. I figured tonight would be like any other work night for him recently. So instead of staying by myself all day, I made plans with Suzu. It had been a while since we had hung out anyways. 

Suzu and I met promptly at The Pink Lady Café at 7:00pm. We had been chatting, joking, laughing and basically having an all around good time until about 7:45. When suddenly something in my back pocket buzzed. I immediately recognized what the buzzing was coming from, and swiftly grabbed my phone from my back pocket. I unlocked it to a message from Sam “ Hey, doofus. I’ll be home early today. Hopefully…at about 7. Have you eaten? “ I slightly smiled not only because he always made sure my needs were met before his but also just from seeing his name pop up in my notifications. My mind began to trail off... “It’s crazy how much I love him. Come on, who am I kidding? I love him so much it almost hurts.” I thought. I continued to let my thoughts linger for just a moment longer before I quickly opened my messages and replied “ Sorry! I have… but feel free to get whatever, I'll try to be home soon. Love you <3” 

And that’s how the story of a very frightening night began: Me wanting to go home to my loving incubus, while waiting for my ride home during a typical chilly night. As I stood under the streetlights outside the Pink Lady Cafe my phone buzzed. I looked down to see a notification “Your uber has arrived.” I began to look around for a grey prius. I quickly spotted it, and made my way closer to the edge of the sidewalk in anticipation to get home. It speedingly pulled up to me and I watched as the passenger window rolled down it’s window. As I peered in the car, I saw a man in his late 30’s , unshaven, and looked to be an all around slob. But before I could consciously think about his disheveled appearance, a skeptical voice spoke up “ Are you Mika?” I nodded and he motioned towards the backseats in his car, silently instructing me to go in the back seat. I obviously obliged. I pulled on the car door and quickly sat down and buckled up. 

During the ride, I kept noticing how he would glance at something in the rear view mirror. I just told myself he was looking at what was on the road behind us. But I quickly began to realize he wasn’t looking at the road, he was looking at me. Once I noticed this, I told myself that it's a little out of place but not something to be frightened about. Yet I remained cautious. I averted my eyes from the window to the driver's seat. As I did I really began to take in his looks. My gut began screaming that something was wrong. Yet, I tried to remain calm, I just kept telling myself I was overreacting. When my thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the lack of movement, the car had stopped. My eyes began to dart around my surroundings to figure out why. They immediately checked the traffic, no red lights, no stop signs, no pedestrians, there was no reason for us to be stopped. That’s when it went from just my gut screaming at me but also the alarms in my head. Then I heard a voice, and my eyes darted towards it. In less than a second I pinpointed where the voice was coming from. The driver's seat. I looked at the man sitting in the seat as he spoke “We’re out of gas... “ followed by a seemingly forced sigh. My foreboding feeling throughout my body was growing more intense by the second. Almost unbearable. I decided to get out of the car, if something were to happen I didn’t want to be stuck in such a small space with little room to defend myself. 

The driver followed suit, and leaned against his car about 8 inches away from me. I tried to brush it off as him just getting out to see what he could do. Though I did instinctively take a couple steps further away from him. He was leaning on the back seat’s window while I stood in front of the passenger window. I took a quick glance at him then took out my phone to text Sam. “Hey, it may take a bit longer. The uber ran out of gas. I should be home soon, hopefully.” While I was busy looking down at my phone, I failed to notice the driver sidle up beside me. As I looked up I flinched, clearly shocked to see him so close. But before I could shift my legs to move further down the car away from him: He gripped onto my raven hair and in just mere second covered my mouth. Preventing me from both getting away and screaming for help. He began to drag me forward towards an alleyway, I squirmed desperately trying to get away. I kicked and hit, which was returned by my hair being pulled harder towards the alley-way. I could feel the hot fearful tears run down my face. Everything was happening so fast I couldn’t even think. 

As we entered the alley-way he roughly pushed me onto the ground. Now towering over me. I looked up at him to see a wicked smile. A smile you’d see in a horror movie. He slowly began to walk towards me as I began to desperately crab crawl away. But was abruptly stopped by my back crashing into a big metal trash can. He was getting closer, my mind still racing with fear and panic. I couldn’t think straight. Instinctively my arms began to rummage around for things to defend myself. I didn’t find anything! I began to look harder for anything: metal, glass.. ANYTHING. It didn’t help that it was almost impossible to see through my blurred eyes and hard to feel with my trembling hands. As I was looking around frantically Sam popped into my mind. As he did sensible thoughts began to fester. Within seconds I heard myself call out “Aomaris!” 

Within a mere seconds the frantic air had changed into a serene state shortly followed by a bright light. I quickly covered my eyes with my shoulder, waiting for the light to disperse. As the light died, I looked up from my arms to see Sam and his shocked expression. I watched as his eyes darted around looking for me, and when he found me his eyes went gold for a mere second before turning back to their original emerald green hue. HIs gaze had only lasted a second before being interrupted by a scarily familiar voice “What the HELL?”

Sam immediately tracked down the voice to the man, now shaken to his core. But before Sam could let his rage take over the man had run. Sam stood in place for several seconds, internally fighting all of his instincts to go after the guy. Once he had made up his mind on what he should do, he had appeared in front of me within a millisecond. He immediately wrapped me in his arms, petting my hair in an effort to calm me. I laid my head on his chest tightly gripping the green shirt under his vest. I tried not to cry, but I couldn’t help it. He must have known because I heard him mumble in my ear “Shh...it’s okay. Let it out..” 

And I did, I broke down. I sobbed so hard my voice became hoarse and quivered so much you’d think that there was an earthquake. But Sam didn’t let up, just pulled me closer to his chest. My sounds were swallowed by his green t-shirt. I could feel his warmth despite the cold metal of his dog tag pressed against my cheek. I still don’t know how long we sat in that alley way. I do know that overtime my weeping had slowled, and he used that as an opportunity to get us home. Sam made the executive decision to go through a pentagram. I felt him take a smidget of energy from me. I didn’t fight it, why would I? I could feel myself slowly falling through the ground. I knew what he was doing, he didn’t have to say it. Within a second I felt myself now sitting on the stone steps located in front of my home. 

He slowly let go of his grip around me and gently took my hand in his before standing both of us. He had a grip on my waist making sure to keep me steady, since he was still unaware if I was injured. Though when he was sure I was secure on the ground he slowly let go. I watched as he felt around his pockets until he found his keys. I watched as he took them from the inside of his vest and used them to unlock our front door. As the door swung open he again gently gripped onto my hand, guiding me inside. 

As I passed through the door letting it swing shut naturally, I took in the familiar smell of my air refresher still plugged into the wall. Sam looked back at me, I could tell he was concerned, but he wasn’t going to show it. I looked up at him beginning to wonder what was going through his mind. Sam’s complicated to say the least. It’s hard for him to express himself, so usually I speak up first. And I did.  “Are you okay?” Sam looked deeper into my eyes, probably wondering if I was seriously asking him if HE was okay... I was correct. He quickly conveyed his feelings to me on the situation “ You’re asking me if I’m okay?” he responded sarcastically. I stood still waiting for him to continue on. “Seriously?” He scoffed. I stood there taken back by his tone. “He could have hurt you! Why’d you wait that long to summon me!? “ 

His voice was now significantly raised and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. I mean was he practically screaming it. He was mad, not at me but at himself. I knew that he  probably didn’t even notice his temper. “Sam..” I mumbled. Even in his self-loathing state he was still able to give me his undivided attention. He aimed his stare towards me. I used this as an opportunity to make him aware of the level of his voice. “Sam…” I began, while fidgeting with my hands. He still stared, waiting for me to finish. “Sam.. you’re kinda-sorta yelling…”

He looked down and pressed his two fingers against the bridge of his nose while simultaneously letting out a heavy sigh. I looked down to my fingers still fidgeting with them. But my gaze was soon steadily placed on him by the sound of his voice. “I...I d-didn’t mean to yell at you like that.. It’s just who knows what that DICK…” he took a moment to calm himself before continuing.  “ bag would’ve done to you.” He looked up at me then breathed heavily out his nose, as if he was letting off steam. I slowly made my way towards him and gingerly wrapped my arms around his neck while gently pecking him on his lips in an effort to calm him down. 

He let out a content sigh and wrapped his arms around my waist. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he didn’t know how to say it. I lifted my head to look up to his emerald green irises. He returned the gesture and proceeded to look deeply in my eyes, as if they would help formulate the words he had trapped inside his head. 

He took a breath in signalling to me that he was going to speak.  His eyes lingered a bit longer before looking down to the floor as if in shame. Then he spoke... “ I’m sorry for yelling at you, I-I didn’t mean to… I just… “ He nuzzled his head on my shoulder shortly followed by a muffled voice. “ I just want to protect you..” I removed my arms from around his broad shoulders, and instead wrapped them around his form and placed my head on the crook of his neck. His arms wrapped around me tighter and I happily returned the gesture.

“Sam… you do protect me.” He lifted his head to look at me. “Do I?” I simply just stared back at him thinking out my words carefully before speaking “Sam, of course you protect me. Tonight could have been so much worse if it wasn’t for you. Mmm-kay, you hear me? You DO protect me, I have no doubt in that.” He sighed and removed his hands from my waist and instead took one of my hands. Which confused me. 

“Hm?” I shot him a curious look. “Come doofus it’s getting late, let’s get you to bed.” I glanced at the clock on the wall and then cocked my head at my incubus. “What? “ He said amused. I responded teasingly “Since when do you go to bed at 8:30?” He shrugged “Maybe I’m just tired.” I looked at him closer, trying to see if he was joking or if he was actually tired. As I inspected him I came to realize he probably was tired, and I suddenly felt bad for him having to use his energy to save me. But I quickly shut those thoughts out. 

“Long day? “ I replied empathetically. He simply nodded tiredly. I sighed contently then said “ Then let’s go to sleep, dork.” He dramatically rolled his eyes before chucking.  Still hand in hand he began to walk and I happily  complied to follow behind. As we reached my bedroom we both silently agreed to change before heading to bed. We both began to strip from our day clothes back to each other. I turned my head slightly to look over my shoulder.

As I did I found myself admiring a very muscley back. And at that moment I thought “damn he’s ripped” . And I mean ripped. At that moment he finished changing and turned back to look at me, and as he did I immediately turned my head away from him, I could feel the way my face had heated up from being caught. I hurried up and tried to get dressed to prevent myself from becoming a blushing mess. As I slipped my shirt on, I heard a snicker behind me- along with a familiar sound of ruffling sheets. As I was done getting dressed by then I turned around to further inspect the noise. 

I turned around to see Sam in bed, comfortable under the covers. He flashed me a goofy grin and motioned for me to join him. I quickly accepted his invitation. As I laid down next to him he put his arm and me. I eagerly laid my head on his chest, resting my hand in the same place. Soon enough his breathing slowed, signaling to me he had fallen asleep, and before I knew it I followed after.

[lazymilkshakecolor]

Uncharted

Disclaimer: these characters don’t belong to me, they belong to the Naruto series created by Masashi Kishimoto.

(I’m baaacckkkk)

Summary: At 20 years old, Sarada had done everything she ever dreamed of, conquered all her demons, went to hell and back, but there is one more territory that she left uncharted...till now. (Borusara, Sasusaku)

Sarada had fought aliens, she had protected the village singlehandedly from it’s biggest threat yet, she created a jutsu even her dad’s genius have deemed impossible to achieve, she even managed to see what was under Kakashi’s mask, a feat she is proud of but refuses to admit to anyone what was the price. 

Kakashi had already promised to take that secret to his grave, not that she’d ever admit that she was a fan of the Icha Icha series, and possessed a first edition copy of the book that kicked off the series, which she spent three S ranked missions worth of ryo on, only to be traded a few months later with Kakashi.

Totally worth it. Sarada thought

But something as silly as-

Sarada felt her cheeks burn up, not able to even think of what happened without turning completely red.

And now here she is, standing outside her mother’s office for what seemed like hours, attempting to knock for the hundredth time but stopping at the final moment cause she had no idea what to tell her mom.

Sakura had always been Sarada’s best friend, well adult best friend, she always listened to her, giving advice when she asked. To a younger Sarada her mother appeared the wisest, having an answer to everything. Now a 20 year old, Sarada knows that is far from the truth, and that there are many subjects her mother still falters in, nonetheless, she is still a third of the strongest shinobi team ever.

Come on, just do it already, shanaro!

So Sarada took a deep breath and raised her fist to knock, this time determined to do it, until the door flew open in front of her, revealing her mother, with a questioning look on her face.

‘’You’ve been standing outside my door for more than five minutes Sarada.’’ Sakura said, looking at her daughter up and down, accessing for damages, but she couldn’t find anything unusual, other than her reddening face.

‘’I-well I wanted t-to Talk.’’ Sarada stuttered out, mentally berating herself for stuttering like that.

Why do I feel like I've been caught with my hand in a cookie jar?

Confusion was apparent on Sakura’s face as she stepped aside, making way for her red in the neck daughter to pass through before closing the door behind her.

‘’Last time I saw you in this state you asked me if i was pregnant.’’ Sakura said in an attempt to help her daughter relax.

It was 8 years ago when Sarada confronted her parents with the deduction that her mother was pregnant, after noticing that she came home from the hospital early most days, even earlier than the time she arrived home from her daily missions or training sessions and her usually energetic mother was always a bit tired at those times too, her dad changing Boruto’s training schedule to be home at that time didn’t help her assumptions either, thinking he needed that time to take care of her and be by her mother’s side.

Of course Sarada got the fright of her life when Sakura thought that she was saying she gained weight before she explained her reasons for thinking she was pregnant, in which an amused Sasuke intervened that they just decided to dedicate some time to be spent alone. It wasn’t till a couple years later that Sarada caught on to what they meant.

Sarada shuddered at the thought.

‘’Hey I had sufficient reasons to believe so!’’ Sarada blurted out.

‘’Just like you had sufficient reasons to believe I wasn’t your mother.’’ Sakura responded.

She loved her daughter to bits, but detective work was not her forte.

Sarada had the decency to not respond to that, changing the subject instead.

‘’So...something happened…’’ she started, trailing off.

‘’Hm?’’ Sakura leaned forward in her chair, leaning her head on her hands as she gave a small smile to Sarada, a silent way to remind her that she can tell her anything.

‘’Between Boruto and I…’’ Sarada finally continued, fidgeting her hands and gazing at the floor, but she still took glances at her mom, enough to see her look of confusion turn into one of understanding, and maybe even a bit of smugness.

You sure you and Boruto are just friends…? Sarada could almost hear her mother utter that question again, she used to ask her that as far back as the academy days and Sarada of course vehemently denied.

‘’I see…,’’ Sakura said, raising up from her seat behind the desk to sit in front of Sarada on the guest chairs, ‘’Want to tell me what happened?’’ 

Sarada shook her head, to which Sakura sighed but couldn’t help the small smile that made its way to her lips.

Sometimes she’s just like Sasuke…

‘’Okay then, how do you feel about whatever it is that happened?’’ 

‘’Confused.’’ Sarada answered immediately. Her eyes were not daring to lift from the floor.

‘’Other than that?’’ Sakura prodded, reaching for her daughter's damaged hand before continuing, ‘’happy? Sad? Mad?’’

Sarada took a moment before answering, “ Happy,...and kinda scared and maybe relieved too…”, her gaze lifting only slightly to meet her mom’s comforting green eyes, then moved to their intertwined hands, getting a flashback to a time a month back. She could still feel the burning pain on her arm, Shizune-san was trying her best to heal it, damage it has suffered being extensive, so extensive an ugly burn scar was still apparent across her arm, while Sakura was holding her hand tightly, kinda like she is now.

‘’Yes?’’

‘’I was relieved cause I thought that he feels the same way.’’ Sarada admitted, knowing fully well the weight of what she just admitted for the first time.

Sakura smiled at her daughter’s words, opening her mouth to say something before someone interrupted.

‘’Sakura- Sama!” Sakura’s assistant barged into the office.

‘’How many times to I have to tell you to fucking knock you dumbass!” Sakura yelled, standing up and glaring at him.

Immediately, he took a couple of steps back, sweat trickling down his face as Sakura continued to glare at him.

Sarada almost pitied the poor man, her mother had a glare that would make her dad cower, other than the fact that that same man was subject to her father’s glare the many times he interrupted their time at home for hospital emergencies.

‘’I’m sorry Sakura sama! But the Suna delegate is here to check up on your joint medic training program, he said he came early because it’s predicted a sand storm will come in the coming hours..’’ He said, taking more steps backwards.

Sakura took a deep breath before she shot Sarada an apologetic look.

‘’I’m sorry Sarada, we’ll continue this talk tonight okay?’’ Sakura said, leaning down to plant a kiss on her daughter’s forehead and poking it as she leant away, but not before whispering something in her ear.

Sarada watched as her mother left the office, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

What the hell does follow your heart supposed to mean?! Mom’s as cryptic as always, shanaro!

.

.

.

Sarada got out of her mother’s office then straight to her favorite sweets shop, planning on  mulling over what her mother told her while sipping through a cup of tea along with her fav dango.

But nothing is that easy in Sarada’s life, cause as soon as she stepped into the sweets shop she found her father at the counter.

Great, this is a new level of bad luck, what are the odds that I’d encounter Sasuke fucking Uchiha in a sweets shop.

But nonetheless, Sarada found herself smiling as she walked towards him, feeling the same joy she always felt when she saw him for the first time after a mission.

Of course his missions are a lot shorter, even so he still makes an effort to keep in contact, even using the cellphone Sakura got him all those years ago when he couldn’t send a hawk.

‘’Welcome home Papa.’’ Sarada said, beaming upwards at Sasuke, who offered a faint smile that wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone but her in this shop.

‘’Sarada.’’ He acknowledged, before turning to the lady at the counter and telling her to double his order and add two cups of tea to go, which they took for free.

‘’Anything for our hero.’’ The shop lady said, looking at Sarada fondly, who thanked her awkwardly, it’s been a month and she still hasn’t gotten used to this treatment from the village people.

A month since she felt truly alone on the battlefield, a month since she had felt like she was the only hope for hundreds of people, people which she swore she will protect and love since she was eleven, a month since she almost lost her arm, and a month since she saw the reason for her recent confusion.

As usual, her father doesn’t like to sit in public very much when has an option of going to a quiet place, which is where they were heading after his order was done and passing by an onigiri shop.

When they arrived at their usual destination, the forest in the Uchiha compound where Sasuke had taught Sarada the chidori and many other things, Sarada sat down on the ground and Sasuke followed after taking off his cloak.

This place used to frighten her, as a kid and as a teen, she knew no one will ever dare come here, this place somehow maintained its frightening aura even after being destroyed in pain’s attack, she knew that she shouldn’t be frightened of this place, because if circumstances were different, she would have lived here.

But she learned to feel at ease here, after her father took her to dock where his father taught him fire jutsu, where he taught her it too, then he showed her his childhood home, which somehow remained intact then finally took her to this forest, where he told her all kinds of stories about her uncle.

It wasn’t until she was 16 did she learn the whole truth, no thanks to her parents of course, she couldn’t blame them though, they are her parents, it’s their job to protect her, and the anguish she felt then rivals only the anguish of losing a loved one.

‘’I would have guessed that Boruto would have found you.’’ Sasuke said suddenly, in his usual monotone.

 Sarada’s head snapped up, dango stick she was intently enjoying almost fell from her hand.

‘’Wha-why why would he find me?’’

Sasuke only looked at her with a look bordering on confusion.

‘’Isn’t that what he always does when he gets home from a mission?’’ Sasuke replied, gaze examining his daughter.

Sarada took a moment before she managed to muster a reply.

‘’Oh.’’

She could feel her cheeks turning red.

‘’Do you have a fever?’’He asked, which decreased Sarada’s mortification a bit cause at least her father is too clueless to notice this.

‘’Boruto might be under the weather too, his face was the same color as yours when we arrived home.’’

‘’What!? Really!?’’ Sarada exclaimed, her dango stick layed forgotten on the ground.

‘’I met up with him about a day away from Konoha,said he was on his way home from an important mission.’’ Sasuke said, a smirk still apparent on his face.

‘’Ohh,’’ Again that was all Sarada managed to say before continuing moments later,’’ He had to go on a mission a couple of days after that creep attacked Konoha.’’

Sasuke’s smirk again, this time out of pride rather than amusement, his daughter, the future of the Uchiha clan, stood up to an alien who wanted to destroy Konoha in vengeance of he and Naruto’s previous actions, both of them weren’t there, Sarada being the only thing that stood against them as Boruto went to free them from Kawaki’s seal.

‘’I know, though that doesn’t explain why his face turned to the same shade as yours right now when your name got brought up.’’ Sasuke said in a matter of fact way, almost sounding genuine.

But Sarada knew her father, knew that amused glint in his eyes, the way he smirks when he knows he’s on to something. She used to enjoy it when he was like that with her mother back when she was still getting used to him, but soon after he started teasing her too, even uniting with her mother against her, which often left Sarada a mumbling mess.

Sarada sighed, resigned to the fact that her father knew something was going on, focussing instead on the extent of his knowledge.

‘’Not funny papa.’’Sarada said, in the straightest tone she could manage.

‘’Hm.’’ Sasuke looked at Sarada’s half hearted glare, lips shaped into a pout and arms crossed, and suddenly all he could see was a younger version of Sakura.

She’s just like Sakura. He thought.

‘’You’ve been upset since I saw you.’’ Sasuke remarked, getting straight to the point.

At that Sarada’s shoulder slackened and her gaze went downwards for a few moments, but Sasuke didn’t pressure her, knowing that just like him, she needs time before talking.

A minute later she started to talk.

‘’Before Boruto went after Kawaki and I went to confront that creepy god like thing, we were together, and…,’’ Sarada took a breath before she continued her phrase, ‘’...We had a moment.’’ She admitted.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow slightly in an expression Sarada knows is curiosity, but as usual, he waited for her to continue instead of asking.

Other than the difficulty she faced when talking about this subject, she now has another difficulty in which she doesn’t know how her father would react to this particular thing.

Atleast with Mama I could predict her reaction…

Sasuke cleared his throat to get attention, taking the final bite from his onigiri pack.

Sarada seemed to get a bit of courage and looked at him, her mouth opening to say something but a moment later she reverted to her previous state, which is a blushing mess.

Sasuke sighed.

Definitely takes after her mother…

‘’Do you mean an intimate moment?’’ Sasuke asked, to which Sarada’s eyes widened, but she nodded.

‘’How intimate?’’

‘’Emmm…’’

‘’Sarada.’’ 

‘’He kissed me, and I kissed him back and before he left I poked his forehead like you do to Mama!’’

Sarada finally admitted for the first time since that day.

She could still feel it, still feel  his lips on hers, still feel his skin’s warmth on her fingers, the feeling of pure passion and fire she felt when he looked at her, when he made her promise that she’ll be okay.

That was the last time she saw him, she knew from her mother that he stayed by her bedside the two first days of her unconsciousness, but he had to leave for an important mission, though he wouldn’t leave without making Sakura promise to write him a letter informing him of Sarada’s state.

Sarada woke up a week after he left, two days later, her father went on his mission.

‘’And why are you upset?’’ Her father’s voice took her out of her stupor.

‘’Cause this feels weird, I always knew I loved him, but I don’t know when it progressed to being in love with him, I expected love to be a strong feeling, but not like this, not this scary...not …’’ Sarada struggled for a moment as tears fell from her eyes, ‘’...intense and deep and passionate and-and...I’m scared cause this is the first time I feel like this, I’m scared cause this might ruin us, scared of feeling something so strong but....’’

Sasuke only stared at her, almost knowing what she would say next.

‘’I love him Papa.’’ 

Sasuke’s gaze softened, as he stood up from his seat and went towards his sniffling daughter.

‘’You should go find him.’’ Sasuke said, wiping the tears off of Sarada’s face, he waited till she nodded before he poked her forehead and smiled at her, he then leaned down to pick the dango box.

Sarada knew where to find him, it was nearing evening, and he knew where she would be normally at this time, and he would be waiting for her there, like he always did.

‘’Thank you Papa,’’ Sarada said, before straightening up and taking a step away from her father towards her destination, but she suddenly stopped and looked at Sasuke again, ‘’ Tell Mama I’m sorry, I know she likes her dango warm.’’

Sasuke grunted, clear annoyance at being caught red handed, but he smiled again looking at the Uchiha symbol of his daughter’s back, sheer pride taking over him at what his daughter has become.

.

.

.

As she expected he was there, standing on the hokage mountain, on the empty space near lord seventh, where she would normally spend her evenings.

He sensed her coming, but didn’t turn around till she was about next to him.

‘’Hello hero.’’

‘’Hey Bo.’’

They stood in silence, each sneaking glances at the other before their eyes finally met, they both blushed a deep shade of red and looked onwards again.

Sarada didn’t know what to do, what to say, so she decided to just act like she would normally.

‘’You stink.’’ She remarked.

Boruto almost fell off the edge, he expected anything, anything but this.

‘’Excuse me! I just got back from a month long mission, dattebaseh!’’

‘’Well you could have stopped by your house and took a shower shanaro!.’’ she responded, turning her body so her eyes could meet his.

‘’I’m sorry! I was left  hanging last time I was in the village so kinda wanted to see what was up with that!’’

‘’I would have waited till the end of time, a shower is nothing!.’’ Sarada didn’t realise what she said until she saw Boruto’s expression turn from annoyance to confusion to shyness.

And then he was staring at her again, giving her the same look he gave that day a month ago, and then she felt it again, that intensity, passion, like a fire was burning inside her heart.

From the way he was looking at her, she knew he felt it too.

He took her hand in his, fingers reaching up to trace the scar on her arm, eyes never leaving hers as his other hand caressed her cheek.

‘’I’m sorry I had to go.’’ he muttered finally, in that soft tone he always used with her, just with her and no one else.

‘’It’s okay, you have your hero duties too.’’ she replied, a pure deep sense of satisfaction travelled through her body when his fingers descended from her arm to her hand, extending it, accessing the damage there.

That’s right, it was in bandages last time he saw me…

Sarada suddenly pushed her hand forward and put it over his heart, feeling an immediate sense of comfort at the thumping sensation she felt, his hand was still over hers,  pure blue eyes she loves so much looking deep into her soul, making her feel like they were the only two people in the world, just them, in this frozen moment in time.

In a sudden bout of courage, she circled her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her height, as one of his hands travelled towards her waist, the other still on her cheek, eyes never breaking apart except when their faces were inches apart, and then it happened, their lips met for the second time, time froze for the second time, they were connected for the second time.

A few seconds later they pulled apart, Sarada immediately buried her head in his chest, hiding her blush as he leaned his head on her shoulder.

The wind picked up, small pecks of water descended on them, but they both refused to pull apart, having waited too long for this.

Though a few minutes later they were drenched from head to toe and they had to pull apart.

Stupid rain! Sarada thought.

‘’You kept nagging about me taking a shower and look what happened.’’ Boruto teased, still close to Sarada, closer than he used to stand, his grasping Sarada’s, tangling their fingers together.

‘’Way to ruin the moment baka.’’ Sarada said, tossing him a glare, to which he laughed before looking into her eyes.

‘’I love you Sarada Uchiha.’’ he said, feeling like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders as he has been trying to say these five words since forever.

She looked at him, deep into his eyes, and she couldn’t help keep her sharingan at bay as it appeared out of instinct, upon feeling a strong emotion.

‘’I love you Boruto Uzumaki.’’

.

.

.

Sarada leaned her back against the door of her family home, a smile spreading across her face at what just happened, hands still in the pockets of the jacket he gave her, fingers still tingling from his touch, lips still warm from his, the soft thumps of his heart still in her ears.

It wasn’t until a couple of minutes of sitting there did she realise that the lights of the living room were on, which was weird since it was the middle of night, both her parents would be asleep by now, her mother for her morning shift and her father for his early morning report.

She walked quietly towards the lit room, afraid to wake her parents in case they were asleep on the couch again, which till this day she can’t comprehend how two full grown adults fit on their tiny couch.

To her surprise they were both awake and sitting on the couch, tea cups in hand and looking expectantly at her, both sprouting devious grins, Sasuke to a lesser extent of course.

‘’What!?’’ Sarada asked, looking between the two.

‘’Nice jacket.’’ Sakura remarked, grin turning into a full smile.

Sarada blushed and looked at the floor.

‘’Yeah yeah...’’ Sarada said, cheeks turning red fir what must have been the millionth time today before turning her body towards the stairs, but before she was out of sight she said something.

‘’Thank you.’’

[skywardsoul]

Dianakko Week 2019

It’s time for @dianakko-week day 4! Sorry about posting this one so late! I still had to finish it up, and I had a bit of a busy day! 

After a long day at work, Akko is looking forward to a rare dinner spent with her girlfriend. Things don't exactly turn out the way she was expecting.

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20391742/chapters/48476456

Read on FF.Net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13372417/4/Dianakko-Week-2019

Akko let out a tired sigh as she made her way up to the door of her home. She felt herself fight back a yawn as she fumbled with her keys. If there was one thing she wished she could go back in time and tell tiny Akko, it was that there was a lot of boring, tiring work that went into being a stage performer. It’s not like she didn’t love her job. There wasn’t anything in the world Akko would trade for her career as Shining Star. It was just that no matter how exciting the fans, the cheers and the bright lights were, meeting clients with her agent, discussing financing with her team, and long nights on the road were exhausting. Akko saw it nothing short of a miracle that she actually got out of tonight's meeting before 7:00. Not to mention, today was Diana’s day off. She wouldn’t be stuffed in her office at the hospital. She would be home, and waiting for her.

Akko couldn’t help but smile at that fact. It meant that for the first time in over a week, her and Diana would be able to eat dinner together. Like, really eat together. No hastily ordered take out because Akko didn’t have time to cook. No leaving food to be reheated because Diana wouldn’t be home till late. No sir, tonight, they were going to have a proper dinner, together, homecooked, and on time! Akko smiled, her earlier fatigue forgotten. She couldn’t afford to be tired anymore! Her girlfriend awaited her arrival, and would almost certainly be hungry. 

Diana was far from a lazy person and almost certainly would have already had dinner waiting for her...if she had any idea how to cook. It seemed that, by Diana’s own admission, living in a high class home left her rather lacking in her culinary skills. Growing up, Diana had insisted that she help with most of her chores, not wanting to be a burden. One thing that she was fine leaving up to the staff however, was cooking. Diana had told her that fire scared her as a kid, so she was never too keen on being near a stove, or anywhere in the kitchen for that matter. By the time she had outgrown the fear, she had gotten so used to having people prepare her food it had just become second nature.

Akko could tell not being able to cook bothered Diana, so she had tried teaching her...it simply ended in utter disaster. Akko tried to start simple, teaching  Diana how to make miso soup using an old recipe her grandfather had given her. It didn’t take a lot of steps, used relatively few ingredients, and Akko knew it like the back of her hand. What could go wrong? A lot. A lot could. For someone so knowledgeable about the intricacies of magic and spell casting, it was surprising how easily Diana overlooked details when following a recipe. Akko didn’t remember exactly what happened, but she did remember Diana’s panicked expression as she frantically reached for her wand extinguishing the flames that had engulfed her pot. If Akko had to hazard a guess, Diana’s struggles in the kitchen were still being impacted by her fear. Sure Diana wasn’t afraid of the fire anymore, but Akko had a sneaking suspicion that the very act of being in the kitchen and working with a stove frighten her girlfriend, at least on some level. She hadn’t really brought this possibility with Diana yet, but it was low priority. Diana was a busy woman and had plenty of other things to worry about other than her inability to cook. 

Having finally found her key to the door, Akko opened it, and entered her home.

“Tadaima!” Akko called as she stepped past the threshold and hung her coat up on the wall.

Despite having had a rather large budget when house hunting, Diana had insisted that the home be modest. Akko had thought that growing up in a mansion would mean Diana was used to a lot of space, but that couldn’t be anything less than true. Hell, when Diana had first asked her to move in with her, Akko had thought she meant into Cavendish manor. Diana simply made a face when Akko had told her.

“We’ll visit the manor often. After all it was my mother’s home,” Diana had said. “But at most it will be a… ‘vacation home,’ of sorts,” she added curtly.

So their house ended up on the smaller end. Well, small compared to a mansion. It still had two floors, a guest room, 3 bathrooms, a fairly spacious living room, and a full sized kitchen. It was certainly bigger than the house Akko grew up in. It wasn’t decorated to fancily or anything either. They owned the occasional nice thing, like the vase that sat on their mantle, or the couch by the fireplace, but for the most part the house was covered in more home decor. Pictures of family and friends sat wherever there was space and Akko would be damned if any house of hers didn’t have Shiny Chariot memorabilia at least somewhere. Yes, it really was a great house...well when it wasn’t full of smoke at least.

Akko had even noticed the smoke at first until an all too familiar smell hit her nose. Something was burning, or at the very least had been burning. Akko would be the first to admit she wasn’t the brightest when it comes to common sense, but it didn’t take a genius to put this puzzle together. She had a girlfriend who was horribly inept at cooking, a rare time in which said girlfriend was home and Akko wasn’t, and large amounts of smoke billowing out their kitchen.

“Aww geez Diana…” Akko said, a bit of her fatigue from earlier returning.

“Akko!? Is that you!?” Came Diana’s voice from the kitchen. 

There were several loud bangs and a curse word or two before Diana appeared in the kitchen doorway. Her hair was disheveled, bangs covering parts of her face in that way they do when Diana was stressed. She was also quite sweaty and obviously nervous as she wrung her hands in front of her and tried to avoid looking back over her shoulder.

“H-hello Akko,” Diana said with a waver in her voice. “I didn’t hear you come in. Okaeri.”

“Yeah, I’d be surprised if you could hear anything,” Akko said eyeing her girlfriend with concern. “You, uh, want to tell me what happened in there?” Akko pointed over Diana’s shoulder and into the kitchen.

Akko watched as the weird, forced smile that Diana had been wearing dropped off her girlfriend’s face. She put her head in her hands.

“Oh Akko, it was nothing short of a disaster!” Diana said as she started to cry. “I, I thought since you’re always the one preparing such lovely meals, and that we’d be home together for dinner tonight, I’d try and...” Diana trailed off as Akko moved to wrap her in a hug.

“Shhhh,” Akko whispered as she softly ran her hand through her girlfriend’s hair. “It’s okay Diana.”

“No it is not. I Hate feeling like the pampered rich girl that can’t cook her own food! I wanted to prove that it’s not what I am, that I could make us dinner if I really tried,” Diana said, burying her face against Akko’s shoulder. “All I did was make a fool of myself. I feel like a bloody idiot.”

Akko frowned. Now that she wasn’t going to stand for. She could handle a ruined dinner and a (most likely) destroyed kitchen, but she wasn’t about to stand here and let her girlfriend bad mouth herself.

“Don’t be like that Diana! What you were trying to do was really sweet!” Akko said encouragingly, tilting up Diana’s face by her chin. “Even though you know you, uh, ‘struggle,’ in the kitchen you still tried to make something, just so I didn’t have to. That’s like a one hundred percent classic awesome girlfriend move.”

“Do awesome girlfriends typically screw it all up?” Diana asked bitterly.

“No, but even awesomer one’s don’t let it get them down when the do,” Akko countered.

She paused to wipe a tear from Diana’s face before continuing.

“Diana, do you know how many times I used to blow myself up practicing magic? How many times I set things on fire? How many stitches I had to get in our first year at Luna Nova alone?”

Diana giggled, moving to rest her forehead against Akko’s.

“More than I can count,” she replied.

“Exactly! And I kept trying anyway! So if you really feel like you want to try and learn to cook, you could ruin a thousand dinners and destroy a million kitchens and I wouldn’t care! And neither should you!

For a moment, Diana was silent. Then, with the trademark Cavendish sarcasm that Akko knew and loved, she responded,

“Really? A million?”

“Yes, a million,” Akko responded confidently. “Just try don’t try and make that a goal,” she added.

The two women took a much needed moment to laugh and for Diana to regain her composure. Once their laughter died down, Akko decided that her girlfriend could really use a kiss, and considering how long it lasted, Diana agreed.

When they broke apart, Akko couldn’t help herself from asking. “So what did you try and make anyway?” she asked.

Diana visibly cringed a bit. “Well, I thought I would try and prepare us some stir fry rice and beef. As you already know, the online internet video I found was not as helpful as I would have hoped.”

Akko laughed a bit internally at Diana’s use of “online internet video.” Technology was Diana’s other major Achilles heel, but one to tackle for another day.

“Thankfully I was able to catch the fire rather quickly,” Diana continued. “We, may need new smoke alarms however...I may have blasted them in my panic. I didn’t know how to shut them off.”

Yup, for another day. Suddenly Akko realized something.

“Hey wait a minute. If you were making stir fry does that mean you-”

“Used the wok your mother sent you from home? Yes...I did.”

Akko realized she must have looked as terrified as she felt because Diana quickly added

“But, I used a spell to repair the fire damage!”

Akko breathed a sigh of relief. 

“All there is left to do now is clean up and repair the rest of the kitchen,” Diana said.

Just then, Akko’s stomach growled. Man was she hungrier than she realized.

“Sounds like a plan, but can we do it after we eat something?”

“Well I doubt you’ll be able to make anything in that mess.

Akko turned to her girlfriend with a smile. “Pizza then?”

“Pizza sounds lovely,” Diana said, leaning over to give Akko another kiss.

[lilacmoon83]

Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 204: Change in the Tides

By the time they got back to the office, their top analyst had pulled everything that his David's boss had asked for and they gathered in the conference room with him. The guy, Trevor, was your typical analyst, David supposed. Introverted, yet quirky and sporting a look that might be described as a nerdy hipster hybrid. He was a nice kid, but he always looked at him weird, like he was trying to figure him out. And finally, after two years, David decided to say something while his boss was on the phone.

"You know...if you want to ask me something, you should just do it, because the staring is getting creepy," David said, without looking up from the report he was reading. The young man fidgeted and looked embarrassed.

"I'm...I'm sorry, you just look really familiar. Have you ever been to Seattle?" Trevor asked.

"Like on a case?" David asked.

"Uh...no, like have you lived there?" Trevor replied. David shook his head.

"Can't say that I have," David said.

"You sure?" he asked. The blonde sighed.

"Do you really think I wouldn't remember living somewhere?" he asked. The analyst shrugged.

"Maybe...weird stuff happens," he said and watched David, almost like he was trying to gauge his reaction.

"I think you're spending a little too much time on the dark web," he quipped, as Pat hung up her phone.

"Okay...what do you have?" she asked.

"A really long list," Trevor replied, as an endless list of names filled the large television sized screen.

"Good God…" Pat lamented.

"Do you think we can rule out a female perp?" David asked. She tilted her head in consideration.

"Normally I don't like to assume when it comes to serial killers, especially since I think this is less about killing and more about experimentation...but the violence in the death would suggest a male perpetrator," she replied.

"Though a woman definitely would naturally be easier for our victims to trust and be comforted by," David pointed out. She sighed.

"Okay...let's not rule out females yet. But I think we can rule out educators without any doctorates. The level of sophistication in this drug likely means that we're dealing with someone highly intelligent," Pat said, as Trevor put in those specifications and unfortunately, the list didn't get much shorter. She sighed.

"Highly intelligent...like a genius," David muttered, as something pricked the back of his mind at that.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"Well...it's pretty well known that sometimes there can be a fine line between genius and insanity," David replied, as he looked back at the screen.

"Just give us the people with three or more doctorates," he said. Trevor did as he asked and the list got significantly shorter, though still a good sized list.

"That's still a lot of over-achievers," Pat commented.

"But manageable. Seventy-three names between the five universities," he said, with a sigh.

"Okay...the rest of the team is on another case, so it's the three of us. Trevor, print out all these profiles. I'll order us lunch and good coffee, not that sludge out in the squad room," she said.

"I'm going to call Margaret and check in with her," David said, as he took his phone out and stepped out of the room.

Meanwhile, Trevor hit print on the very large file and then pulled up a website he had been looking at earlier. The date was from about seven years ago and was an article about the strange weather event that had occurred in Seattle that day. At least, a weather event was what the government tried to explain it away as. Many bought the official story, but there were a lot of people that didn't. Conspiracy theorists were still going strong on the web with speculative explanations for that day and he had always been fascinated by so-called fringe topics.

So Trevor had been extremely surprised when he ran across an article about a Detective David Nolan and his wife Margaret. He had read the entire sordid story about them and was enthralled by the whole thing, especially when many conspiracy theorists claimed that this David and Margaret Nolan weren't who or what they appeared to be.

After disappearing all those years ago, the rumors of where these strange people went were as wild and outlandish as they could possibly get. And then like they had never left, they had seemed to surface again, right here in Boston this time. And so far, he seemed to be the only one that noticed. For now...at least until he could be sure it was them. If it was, something strange was going on, because he didn't think David was lying about never living in Seattle, for he genuinely seemed to not remember. It was very curious and he decided to do more digging when he had a chance.

~*~

"Hey you…" Margaret answered, as he dialed her.

"Hey beautiful…" he said, feeling solace just at the sound of her voice.

"I take it you're still at the office?" she asked.

"I am...but I wanted to call you. I just...need to hear your voice," he replied.

"Is it a bad case?" she asked.

"Yeah...it's bad. I guess they're always bad. Hopefully, we'll make some progress though," he replied.

"I know you will...you're the best at what you do," she said.

"Only because I have you. I love you so much," he said.

"I love you too, please be safe…" she pleaded.

"I will...I'll see you tonight," he promised, as he hung up the phone and went back into the conference room, as Trevor put the stacks of paper on the desk.

"Okay...let's eliminate some names and find some possible suspects," Pat said, as they went back to work.

~*~

Fandral and Charming dueled furiously that afternoon and the latter found himself on his back, not for the first time that day. Charming growled and got to his feet again.

"I know I'm stronger, but I never beat you this easily...there's something eating at you," Fandral said, as he knocked him down again.

"It's nothing…" Charming snapped, as they went back to dueling, only for him to end up shadow boxing with the Asgardian.

"You are never this sloppy," Fandral chided, as he won the duel and Charming stalked off to the side to grab a towel.

"It's Mephisto...he is getting more and more suspicious. I fear what he may do," Charming said.

"If he figures out what we're doing...the consequences will be catastrophic. But if Jekyll has found his way to Snow...you know it won't be long until the curse unravels," Fandral reasoned.

"If our ruse is discovered too early...it won't matter, you know he will go after the ones we love first," he reminded him. Fandral sighed.

"I hate to...but perhaps it's time Rose and I seek help from Sif and Thor," the Asgardian said.

"But I thought Hermes said she was unable to access the All World River with the curse in tact?" he asked.

"She is...but that restriction wouldn't apply to the bi-frost. If I can...somehow get a message to Thor some way, getting his assistance may be possible. I have no idea how we're going to do that, but Rose may be able to find something in her books," he replied.

"It's a long shot, but the back up would be welcomed. Until then...we just have to hope my other half wakes the hell up soon," he growled.

"You know when it comes to protecting Snow that he will come through. The moment he senses something is off with that deranged doctor, it will accelerate his awakening," Fandral reasoned.

"Let's hope so...keeping up this charade is getting harder by the day and Mephisto needs to be dealt with...once and for all," Charming stated.

"I'll return to Rose and we'll work on getting a message through to Sif," he said, as he left through a portal back to Andresia. Charming sighed deeply and had it not been for the love of his sweet, beautiful Winter, he knew the burden he was carrying upon his shoulders would have crushed him long ago.

With that, he disappeared through a portal back to their palace and sought her out. But what he found in his own Throne room chilled him to the bone…

~*~

Winter gently kissed her baby granddaughter and lay her in the crib in the nursery they kept in their palace for her. She was happily watching her for Emma this afternoon; something she did often and did with great joy.

"Sleep well my little one," she whispered, as she quietly exited the nursery and went down the winding staircase. She wore a beautiful, shimmering silver and black dress, truly looking the part of the Queen she was. But she gasped suddenly when Mephisto appeared before her suddenly and grabbed her arm. She cried out, as he yanked her down the stairs and tossed her to the ground at his feet.

"Where is your idiot husband, wench?!" he growled. She glowered at him and managed to get to her feet.

"My husband is none of your business and I don't think I have to tell you what he will do to you when he finds out you dared to even touch me," Winter retorted. The demon surprised her again though back angrily backhanding her and sending her crashing to the floor again.

"Answer the question, you little bitch!" he growled.

"He constantly disappears and I know he's up to no good. Tell me where he is now!" he roared. Winter got to her feet and glared at him.

"If you must know, my Charming is on a training retreat with some of his men," she lied.

"I don't believe you...all your soldiers are accounted for. I checked," he snapped.

"The retreat is in Andresia. He is overseeing a training exercise with Fandral," she said without missing a beat.

"Such was not mandated by our Lord," Mephisto replied.

"Charming oversees all the armies, you know that. He has full approval to make sure everything is in order in each Kingdom," she refuted. Mephisto was silent at that, for it was true. She whimpered though when the frightening demon King grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

"You will tell me the truth now...or bad things are going to happen to you and the brat upstairs," he warned and her breath hitched, as his hand slithered to her cheek.

But he was suddenly and thankfully ripped away from her and her husband began to pummel the demon angrily with his fists.

"How dare you even think of touching her?!" he growled, as he kicked him away. He was about to charge him again when Seth appeared.

"My Lord...he just attacked me!" Mephisto claimed.

"My Lord...I found him threatening to harm my Queen and he dared to put his hands on her!" Charming growled, as Winter sided up to him and he pulled her into his arms.

"Then he was sufficiently punished. You will do no more," Seth decreed.

"My Lord...he struck her. He must pay for it with his life," Charming insisted. But Seth raised his hand.

"You will not kill him today," he ordered and Charming reluctantly obeyed. Mephisto smirked, as he stood up.

"I will not intervene next time, Mephisto. Please keep your hands off the lovely Queen Snow or I'll allow him to dispatch you accordingly," Seth warned. Mephisto bowed deeply.

"I understand, my Lord," he said.

"Come...both of you," he called to the Charmings.

"I wish to make an impromptu visit to Camelot," he said.

"Of course, my Lord," Charming replied, as he offered his arm to his wife. They quickly called Eva, who arrived promptly to watch Hope, and they were off to Camelot with Seth. Mephisto seethed, as they left. He was more determined than ever to expose their treachery and he was about to do take the first step into doing just that.

Mephisto entered Nephilim and observed his new charges, training with their new powers. The entire training room was lit ablaze in their practice, evidence of their rage.

"Well? Did you find anything that might expose him?" Arthur questioned.

"No...but I knew I wouldn't. You could torture that little wench and she'd never loosen her tongue when it comes to her beloved," Mephisto replied.

"Then what was the point?" Gawain questioned.

"To set Charming on edge. Nothing gets under his skin faster than harming his lovely Winter," Mephisto answered.

"But if he is on edge, he may be even more dangerous. He knows you're going to try something," Arthur stated.

"He knows I am...but he won't be expecting the two of you. It's time to make a visit to Camelot," Mephisto responded.

~*~

Margaret checked her list and checked off one more thing, as she looked in the boxes. The science fair was tomorrow already, but fortunately, she was just about ready. Some of her students had helped her set up the heavy tables in the gym and all the supplies were waiting in tubs.

"My, my...it seems you have nearly everything under complete control," Dr. Jenkins said, as he entered with a box full of beakers and test tubes.

"I think we should be ready for tomorrow," Margaret replied, as she looked around.

"I could have never been ready for this without your help, Margaret," he said with admiration.

"It's no trouble...I love organizing events. My husband likes to joke that I should have been an event planner," she said.

"Well, I think you'd be good at anything, though I think you're a bit too brilliant to be something like an event planner. I have viewed your work, after all. I am a bit surprised that you never went for your doctorate," he mentioned. She shrugged.

"I never really thought much about it actually. David is always so supportive, but I just didn't have any desire to spend my evenings in night classes instead of with my babies," she said, making him frown.

"I love teaching...but I love being a mother the most. And a wife," she said fondly, as she thought about her family.

"Perhaps now that your children are older...you might think of it? The only reason I ask is that I teach some night courses at Boston University. You would be a wonderful addition," he mentioned.

"Oh...that's kind of you to say, doctor. But to be honest, I'm really happy with things the way they are. I can barely stand to be away from David during the day so I can't imagine doing so in the evening," she replied. He frowned again and was about to say more when her son's team trudged in from practice.

"Hey honey...you're a mess," she said. He grinned.

"It was fun though," he joked and she laughed.

"Go shower and we'll head home," she said, as he headed off to the locker room.

"I do hope you'll consider classes in the future. You could have quite a career in the sciences," Dr. Jenkins mentioned.

"Oh...I don't know," she said. He was about to press her further, but heard her gasp. He looked to the doorway and saw the rest of her family there.

"I thought you were working late?" she asked in excitement, as David closed the distance between them.

"We still have a lot of names to go through, but we need a break. So I picked up peanut and we ordered takeout," he said, as he pecked her on the lips.

"That's perfect, because Bobby should be out in a few," she said, as she cuddled against him.

"Daddy let me drive the truck too, because he's tired," Summer added.

"You always liked field work better than office work," Margaret said fondly.

"I do, but I wasn't too tired to grab these on my way," he said, as he pulled a bouquet of snow drops out from behind his back. She gasped and brought the flowers to her nose.

"You spoil me," she gushed, as she kissed him.

"It is what I live for," he replied, as he kissed her again, just as Bobby hurried out.

"I'm starved," he mentioned.

"Don't worry...I ordered enough take out to fill even your stomach," David said, as they prepared to leave.

"Oh, I'll see you tomorrow, doctor. I think everything is about done," Margaret said. Jenkins forced a tight smile.

"Of course...have a good evening, Margaret," he said, trying to quell the anger inside him. But such was useless and he stormed back to his lab with fury.

~*~

Lancelot and Guinevere bowed deeply to Seth, as he arrived in their Kingdom.

"Welcome to Camelot, my Lord. This is an unexpected, yet wonderful surprise. Our palace staff is at your command," Guinevere said.

"Very good...I do hope they can prepare some delicacies while I am here. I do enjoy gourmet goods," he mentioned.

"Of course...they will prepare you an array of delicacies right away," she confirmed.

"Excellent...until then, I would like to see that your Kingdom's state of affairs is up to par," he requested.

"Of course...we can begin with the round table and by then, we will have a grand feast and celebration ready for you," Lancelot said, as he met Charming's gaze and then led them to the double doors that attached to the Throne room. They swung open and the current Knights of the round table stood still at attention, after each bowing deeply to the God.

"Ah yes...the illustrious Knights of the Round Table," Seth said, as he observed the empty seat.

"And why does this seat remain empty?" he questioned.

"It actually last belonged to your right hand, my Lord. Technically, it still belongs to King Charming. Only the most powerful and honorable Knights have ever sat in the Siege Perilous," Lancelot informed him.

"Yes...you once sat there as well, did you not?" Seth questioned.

"Yes my Lord," Lancelot answered.

"Until you disgraced yourself by stealing your King's Queen," Seth goaded. Lancelot knew he was trying to egg him on into some kind of reaction. Well placed insults to the royals was common with him. His own son and Elsa had been insulted thoroughly on their most recent visit to Arendelle. Fortunately, his son had kept his temper in check and though it burned Charming and Winter, they always let the insults roll off.

Midas had never been able to do this and it was why he was eventually unseated. If not for Charming's ruse, Seth would have allowed Mephisto to actually kill him. Charming could have actually used someone like Lancelot in the resistance, but he hoped that the other Knight held his tongue.

"I have made mistakes in my past, my Lord, but I truly believe that Guinevere and I belong together," he responded in an even tone. Seth smirked.

"Yes...I suppose if it's true love, that makes infidelity okay," the God jabbed and Charming clamped down on his emotions. It would not have been the first time that Seth had tried to tear down true love.

"Perhaps you fancy an exhibition duel, my Lord? My Knights can put on quite a show," Lancelot offered instead of taking the bait. Seth smirked and he took a seat in the Siege Perilous.

"I do love to be entertained…" he agreed. Lancelot motioned to two of his Knights, who took their places in the center of the room. But suddenly, a stream of fire swept into the room and in the blink of an eye, the Knights were slain, both killed gruesomely by the deep burn slashes on their chests and necks.

Winter gasped and put a hand to her mouth, as she watched her husband unsheathe his blade and his eyes dart around the room. The chalice sword lit with pure power, just as two more Knights were slain like nothing.

Charming jumped into the fray and his blade effectively blocked the flaming weapons wielded by the assailants. When the smoke and flames cleared, Charming glared at the wielders.

"What the hell are you two doing out of prison?!" he growled, as his gaze flicked to Mephisto.

"As if I didn't know," he hissed.

"What's the matter, Charming? Afraid of a challenge?" Mephisto goaded.

"These two are hardly a challenge," Charming snapped in return, as he dueled them both. Winter watched with bated breath and inched forward. But Seth put his hand up.

"You will not interfere, my dear Queen Winter," he forbade. She swallowed thickly and clutched her pendant to cover it, hiding the glow, as she willed her power to her husband.

"I hope you are enjoying your brief respite from prison, because you are going back there very soon," Charming threatened.

"I don't think so. We made a new deal," Gawain said smugly.

"I see we're not the only ones that have undergone some changes since our last meeting," Arthur observed.

"So you made a deal with the devil? You really think that's going to work out well for you?" Charming questioned.

"Oh...it's working out quite well for us, but you...not so much…" Gawain said, as his eyes briefly flicked to his wife.

"I see she's still the fairest of them all. I'm glad she's here to witness what we're about to do to you," he goaded, as they flailed their fiery chains around and the former prince parried each of their attacks in rapid succession. But he knew he wouldn't be able to maintain that pace long, even with the chalice sword. He felt her willing her power to him and it was very risky. Seth was thankfully occupied with the display of their duel, but he would not take any chances in him realizing that she was disobeying him and employed the full might of their power in the flashiest way possible. The two demons were paralyzed by the power of his sword with two expert swipes and Charming brought his blade to Arthur's throat.

"My Lord...it would seem that Mephisto has betrayed you by releasing these two from prison," Charming stated.

"Their desperate souls called to me, my Lord. They were severally wronged by King Charming and his fair Queen," Mephisto explained.

"Camelot is my birthright!" Arthur shouted.

"And they held the sword that was mine, while ousting me from my Throne!" Arthur claimed angrily.

"And then King Charming and the fair Queen Snow placed the man that betrayed me on the Throne next to my Queen!" he continued.

"You know I do not like when you do not consult me about acquiring souls," Seth chided to the demon King. Charming smirked smugly, but it fell away at Seth's next utterance.

"But Arthur should reclaim his Throne. He has obviously proved that he will be a stronger King that will force Camelot to serve me to its fullest extent," Seth announced.

"My Lord…" Charming started to protest, but he felt himself be forcibly silenced when the God raised his hand.

"I have made my decision. Arthur...as new King of Camelot, you will serve me. Do not make me regret this appointment," Seth stated. Arthur smirked.

"I shall not, my Lord," he said, as he bowed and cast a smug glance up at Charming.

"And what of these two? Perhaps two souls for my realm?" Mephisto asked.

"I'd rather them be alive, if you permit it so, my Lord," Arthur requested.

"They left me to rot in prison...and I wish to inflict the same upon them. Death is much too quick in this instance," he added.

"Very well...please escort them to the prison, my right hand. Then you and your Queen can take your leave," Seth ordered. Charming bowed deeply and sheathed his sword. He cuffed Lancelot and Guinevere without a word, as Winter hurried to his side. They marched the prisoners forth and once they left the palace, she hooked her hand on his elbow, hoping that her touch could quell some of the rage in her husband.

This had been a clear shift in power tonight and they both knew it would not bode well at all for their future. Mephisto had undermined them in a very big way, which meant that it was only a matter of time before their entire facade collapsed. Their light halves needed to wake up and they needed to do it soon…

~*~

Margaret giggled, as they sat on their couch at home, cuddled close and she met his gaze, as he fed her another bite with the chopsticks. Her legs were draped over his lap and she was content to be cuddled against him.

"Mmm...that's so good…" she said, as she picked up her chopsticks and repaid the favor by feeding him a bite too.

"Best Chinese in Boston," he agreed, as she sighed and rested her head against his chest.

"Is the case bad?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah...I'm afraid so. We thought it was serial...but now we think it's someone experimenting," he told her. Generally, he wasn't supposed to talk too much about cases and would rather protect her from the ugliness in his job. But he knew he could tell his beloved anything and she'd never breathe a word to anyone. She was his full confidante and source of strength. He dealt with that ugliness in his job far better than many might, for her love gave him light, no matter how many dark places his work took him to. And as far as protecting her, she insisted that she was strong enough for anything and wanted to know everything he was going through. They faced absolutely everything together and neither of them would have it any other way.

"Experimenting?" she asked. He nodded.

"We've never seen a drug like this before. We don't have any live victims to know what kind of brain activity is going on when they ingest the drug...but the reports we do have say they just...lose their minds in an instant," he explained.

"The one student I did see before he died kept saying that he didn't want to be bad, like something was telling him to do bad things," he said shaking his head.

"A complete personality change," he added. She sighed.

"Those poor people. I can't imagine going through something like that...those parents. Oh David...if something like that happened to one of our babies...I don't know what I'd do," she fretted.

"I know, my darling...but I promise you that I'll never let anyone hurt you or one of our babies," he promised, as he pressed a kiss to her hair.

"I think that's part of the reason our experimenter has changed his victim pool. Students are risky, even though they all had drug abuse history. He's now picking homeless people that he or she thinks won't be missed," he said.

"That's horrible...who would do something like this, let alone create a drug like this?" she wondered.

"I don't know...but if I profile it, then it's someone that's very sick and seems to be trying to find a way to get rid of that sickness," he said.

"Sounds like a Jekyll and Hyde situation," she commented offhandedly and he looked at her with scrutiny.

"What do you mean?" he asked. She shrugged.

"That's kind of what Dr. Jekyll was trying to do in the story. He was using a drug to keep his dark side at bay. Didn't really work though," she replied. He looked at her in surprise.

"I...I hadn't even considered that, but it's exactly what this is like. The student that killed himself...he kept saying he didn't want to do bad things," he said, as he surprised her by kissing her soundly.

"God...you're brilliant," he praised. She looked at him shyly.

"I just read a lot," she replied.

"Still going to go with brilliant...I'm going to add that to our profile. It might help narrow down our suspect pool even more," he said. He wasn't sure how yet or if it was even relevant, but if their suspect had some serious mental illness, there could be undertones or clues in their file.

"So...you think I'm brilliant?" she teased. He smirked and kissed her cheek, before trailing his kisses down to her neck.

"Most definitely...my beautiful, brilliant wife. I am certainly the luckiest man in this or any world," he replied, as she closed her eyes, enjoying all the things her husband's lips were making her feel.

"Mmm...I think I'm the lucky one," she said fondly, as she caressed his handsome face.

"We have such a wonderful life and somehow, I know our love is special," she said. He smiled and kissed her tenderly again. Their eyes met and not for the first time, they felt that mystical connection between them. They had never quite been able to explain it, but it had seemed to always be there since the day they met. If they didn't know any better, it was almost like their hearts were beating in sync. It sounded crazy, but somehow they knew it was exactly what was happening. Their hearts thrummed together and they could nearly read each other's thoughts with just a look between them.

"We're soul mates for sure," he agreed.

"Then you don't think I'm silly for believing in true love...that we have true love?" she teased, as he squeezed her hip.

"How could I when I'm part of this love? There's no other explanation for the depths of my love for you," he replied, as his gaze on her made her tingle all over.

"Maybe we should go to bed," he suggested. She kissed him tenderly.

"Mmm...I like that idea," she said, as she sat up and grabbed the fortune cookies from the coffee table.

"But first we need to read our fortunes," she said playfully. He chuckled at her.

"You don't even like the cookies," he teased.

"True, they taste like stale plastic, but you know me. I love reading the silly fortunes," she teased back, as he smiled fondly at her. He could spend eternity with her and he knew he'd never get enough of her. He shook his head in amusement, as he watched her unwrap the cookie and break it apart. She discarded the cookie and sought the slip of paper inside.

"What does it say?" he asked, as he ate a piece of the cookie.

"Oooh...let's see. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart," she read.

"Very true," he agreed.

"Really?" she asked playfully.

"Of course...look at all we've been through. Your father and my step-father did their damnedest to keep us apart, but they couldn't do it, because in our hearts, we knew we were meant to be together and nothing stopped us," he reminded. She tilted her head to the side fondly.

"You always know how to put things in perspective," she praised, as she kissed him and then broke open his cookie.

"Hmm...the best way to get rid of an enemy is to make a friend," she read. He snorted.

"Not in my line of work," he joked and she playfully smacked his arm.

"Maybe not, but remember that girl we went to school with and she hated me, especially when her mother, the social climber, was dating my father," she reminded him.

"Sort of...what was her name?" he asked.

"Roni," she replied. He chuckled.

"Yeah...she hated you," he recalled and she smacked him playfully again.

"Hey, she hated me too just because I loved you," he reminded her.

"Mmhmm...but then we became friends after I kept trying to be her friend and wore her down," she said. He pecked her on the lips.

"That's because you're you...I can't believe anyone could hate you," he said fondly.

"She managed...for a while," she said.

"But you won her over," he replied, as he stood up and pulled her up with him.

"Let's go to bed," she suggested, as she looked at him slyly and he put his arm around her waist and they headed for their bedroom.

~*~

Winter and Charming appeared through a portal in their palace Throne room and she watched helplessly, as her husband's temper got the best of him and he slammed his fists against a wall. He then deflated and turned to her, his handsome face marred with shame.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry…" he apologized. He never liked losing his temper in front of her. She put her hands on his shoulders and then folded him into her embrace. She brushed a soothing hand along the back of his neck and his anger started to ebb away slowly in her presence.

"It's all right, my love...that was not a win for us," she mentioned.

"Mephisto suspects something...I'm certain of it now," he said.

"Do you think he knows?" she asked.

"No...not about the resistance, but he knows we're not on the level. He is trying to undermine our favor with Seth and now that Arthur has gained that favor, it will only be a matter of time before my influence upon him is no more," he said.

"Then we need to step up the plan...I just don't know how," she fretted.

"You are not wrong," a new voice said, as Rumplestiltskin and Belle appeared through a portal.

"The shop was ransacked tonight and then burned to the ground. Fortunately, anything of true value or important magical artifacts are hidden in my vault inside Bald Mountain," Rumple said.

"Arthur and Gawain...Mephisto's new charges," Charming confirmed.

"Then we were right...they're looking for it. The dagger," Belle realized.

"But why? Emma reforged Excalibur and it still remains in the stone in the mines. He shouldn't need the dagger," Winter said.

"No...but he is no longer worthy of Excalibur. He cannot pull it from the stone again. The dagger is the next best source of the dark power that Arthur craves," Rumple replied.

"And he knows you two could still probably pull Excalibur from the stone...or one of your children could," Belle reminded them.

"We know Snow and David could...there's no telling if that's true about us and we're not willing to risk it for that sword. And the kids...don't have their memories," David refuted.

"Then it is time to bump up our plan, because I do not think it will be long until our ruse is revealed to Seth," Rumple replied.

"How? If Jekyll isn't even awake yet...then it could be months before they are triggered into awakening," David said.

"We know, that's why we think it's time to send someone to help them along," he said, as he revealed two pink potions in his hand.

"Did you make these from the poppies?" Winter asked and he nodded curtly.

"But Seth burned them all and cast a spell to keep them from growing in his presence once he figured out what they do," Charming interjected.

"And these are the very last of them. I managed to salvage just enough poppy pollen from the scorched earth where he destroyed them. This is it, with the exception of your chalice sword trick, but we know that requires them and everyone else thinking you have killed them and I think we know that Seth would never buy it if you do so to one of your immediate family members," Rumple explained. He was right. Seth would immediately know something was up if he didn't already.

"Then you want to wake two of our children," Winter deduced, as a mirror appeared before them and then a newspaper.

"As you can see, Dr. Jenkins isn't awake yet, but he is back to experimenting and using live victims to test on," Rumple explained, as they saw the doctor mulling around his lab. The sight of him made Charming's blood boil in rage and he clenched his fist. He had never wanted to see anyone bleed the way he wanted to see it from this man. He wanted him to die, slowly and in some excruciating way. He wanted to see the life leave his eyes and know that he would never again come near his beloved Winter of her other half. He wanted him to suffer and he wanted to inflict that pain.

Winter took the newspaper from him and read the headline.

"As you can see, Dr. Jenkins has created a new drug. He is seeking to silence the darkness in his head with a serum again, not yet aware of his past or that he succeeded all those years ago in perfecting that serum with my help," Rumple stated.

"The deaths have caught the eye of the press already...which means David will be in the spotlight soon in the middle of the investigation," Winter realized.

"Will people start recognizing him from Seattle?" Charming questioned.

"Perhaps...people in the Land Without Magic have a short attention span, but the dark web is still rampant with theories and truth seekers investigating that day...and the people involved," Rumple said.

"We think that's why we need to send someone that can run interference and look out for them, but who can also help wake them up in case the doctor's madness doesn't do it fast enough," Belle added. Charming sighed deeply, knowing who they wanted to send.

"As you can see...the doctor already is quite entranced by Margaret Nolan and his deep seated hatred of her husband has been reignited," Rumple said, as he showed them an earlier encounter. The bliss their other halves were living in was evident, but so was the doctor's clear displeasure at being constantly rebuked by the happily married Margaret Nolan. Winter put her hand to the mirror when the image focused on Summer and Bobby. He heard her choke back a sob and a few tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Bobby...he's grown so much," she murmured and he slipped his arms around her, comforting her the best he could.

"They'll be home soon, my love," he promised, as he looked at the Dark One and his wife.

"You want us to wake Emma, don't you?" he asked. He nodded curtly.

"We know she is the best one for this. She'll jog their memories, be able to interject herself into the investigation, watch David's back and protect Margaret from that psychopath if needed," Rumple explained.

"And the other potion?" Winter asked.

"We think Killian would be best as well. He'll be able to get them to Boston upon the Jolly Roger and bring them back quickly. Plus, we all know he'll support Emma in whatever she needs to do," Belle answered. Charming sighed again and Winter put her hands on his shoulders.

"I know how much you wanted to protect Emma from this...but you know she will want to do anything in her power to stop Seth and reunite this family," she reasoned. He nodded in acceptance.

"I know…" he agreed, as Winter took the potions.

"I'll call Emma and have them come. Escaping during the night is their best bet," she suggested. Rumple nodded.

"I'll cast a heavy fog spell over the harbor. Hopefully your son-in-law is as good a navigator as he boasts. He'll need to be to get through it and through the barrier with a bean," the Dark One said, as he and Belle used a bean and stepped through another portal. Winter returned from making her call and Charming took her in his arms.

"Everything is going to be okay, my darling…" he promised.

"My fear is for you, my love. If they find out what we've done too soon and Seth turns on you...I cannot bare to think about what he will do to you," she said, as tears filled her eyes. He cupped her face gently in his hands and kissed her passionately.

"There is nothing I will not endure for you and our family. Our love can never be torn asunder and even if the worst happens, I know that you will save me," he said.

"He will torture you…" she feared, almost hyperventilating at that thought. She remembered the times when Clayton had done the same to him for stepping out of line when they were in Atlantis and knew Seth would do a hundred times worse to him.

"Shh...my love, I will do everything possible to make sure that doesn't happen," he assured, as he held her tightly against his chest. She sniffed and kissed him tenderly again, before going to prepare four glasses of wine. He watched her add the potions to the two of the glasses, just as Emma and Killian arrived with the baby.

"Hey...you said it was urgent. Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Unfortunately yes...but in order to explain everything, we ask that you trust us and drink this wine first," Charming said. Emma looked at them both strangely and took her glass.

"You guys are scaring me…" she said.

"We know honey and we don't mean to...but we promise you will understand everything if you drink this," Winter replied. Emma shrugged and took a drink, knowing that her parents would never hurt her. They watched the pink magic swirl around her and lift the curse. Her eyes widened in realization and she dropped the wine glass, shattering it.

"Mom...Dad…" she cried, as she went to them and they hugged her between them. Her eyes widened. Killian watched her, looking lost, so he took a drink of his wine.

"No one is dead. Everyone I've executed with the chalice sword is somewhere safe and building a resistance," Charming told her.

"But Mephisto is suspicious and we don't know how long until Seth discovers what we've done. He has released Arthur and Gawain, making them his demonic charges," Winter added.

"Jekyll has devolved into a threat, but we fear he won't wake our light halves soon enough," Charming added.

"So...you're sending us," Killian said knowingly. They nodded.

"Don't worry...I'll wake them up and bring them home. I...just make sure you guys stay safe while I'm gone, yeah?" she asked. They smiled and hugged her again.

"We will do our best," Charming agreed. Winter sniffed.

"You have to go. Rumple managed a fog spell in the Harbor to cloak your escape aboard the Jolly Roger. But you must go now," they prodded, as they took them to their mirror portal to conceal their escape. Emma and Killian kissed Hope, as Winter took her and they joined hands, before stepping through the portal. Charming took her in his arms and kissed her hair and then the baby's head.

"This will work, my love...it has to," he said. She nodded. Once again...everything rested on hope and true love...

[aurora-the-kunoichi]

Comfort One shot with Donnie.

Donnie and Noemi

Noemi had spent several hours in her therapists chair talking about her past trying to remember things she had been repressing since she was a little girl. Each time she uncovered more and more small lost bits and pieces from the tragic events that plagued her psyche. With each session she would gain more insight and coping mechanisms to help her move on, to be happy. Most of them would be non-detrimental experiences that were easily dealt with, but this session was different, oh so much more then she was used too. She had agreed to hypnosis reluctantly and had lain back watching the long necklace swing back and forth focusing in on her therapist’s voice.

Flashes of being dressed up to impress strange men for loud and confusing parties made Noemi suddenly nauseous. There were so many strangers there and she could remember being terrified and being a young child only heightened her frightened state. The only other things she could remember was being hungry, starving even. Why didn’t anyone give her food, she was just a child then? These two things were the most she could remember but they were enough, enough to bring the hot unshed tears she had so bravely held within brimming to her eyes.

“Noemi?” the concerned voice of her therapist came through the heavy dark clouds of her subconscious.

Taking several deep breaths, Noemi acknowledged that she was not lucid with a quick nod, Successfully brought back to reality she adjusted herself slightly in her new spot on the dark red fainting couch. The hot tears now rolled down her flushed cheeks in a constant stream. These were the hardest memories she had to remember to date, but she knew they needed to surface, needed to be dealt with if she wanted to move on with her life.

“Noemi, I think today’s session was a major breakthrough in your road to recovery my dear.  Once we find out all the details of your past abuse you’ll finally be able to deal with this pain and conquer it.” Her voice was calm and encouraging, she liked this new one, she was nice. She seemed to understand her desire to move slowly through these sessions, to help her deal with one issue at a time. “I think that’s enough for the day. I want you to go home and relax. Maybe take a hot bath with some soothing music.”

Noemi had told her therapist she was going home, going home to take a hot bath but her current path would say otherwise. After today there was only one place she wanted to be right now. Settling the heavy disk of the manhole cover back in its round home she headed towards her destination. Noemi wanted, no needed to be in the warm comforting arms of a certain purple terrapin genius.

Passing through the turnstiles of the lair Noemi moved around the back of the couch were Leo and Raph were watching a horror movie on the communal TV. Unable to pass by without giving the two alphas some attention Noemi moved up behind them. Leaning down she rested both her palms on the top of each of their green bald crowns pressing a single kiss to each.

“Good evening beautiful.” Raph smiled up at her brushing a thumb over her cheek.  

Leo’s blue eyes flashed with mischief as he gave her a brilliant smile taking a few locks of Noemi’s hair in his hand pulling gently to bring her cheek to his level giving it a quick peck before releasing her. “I hope your session went well today.”

Afraid she would breakdown right there she offered no words but gave the two turtles a friendly pat on the shoulders. Noemi turned from the couch and the zombie’s that were currently running amuck over the large screen and took the few steps up into the kitchen. With a quick detour she wrapped her arms around Mikey who was currently distracted with cake batter he was trying to bake.

Flour covering his green face Mikey looked down at the small human wrapped around him peering up into his blue eyes. “Hey there sweetcakes.” He mused turning slightly away from the counter to return the embrace, pressing his warm lips to her forehead. With a deep rumble within the chest plates of his plastron the soothing vibration resonated into her body calming Noemi further. Just being in the comfort of the lair brought her anxiety down a few levels and a warm kiss from Mikey sent her frayed nerves almost back within breakdown levels. Letting the youngest return to his task Noemi continued to the back of the lair where Donnie’s lab was located.

Approaching the large metal door, she could see by a small sliver of light it was a jar and drifting out from behind it was a light humming. It was no doubt Donatello lost in thought on his current project. Very carefully Noemi slide the heavy door open just enough to slip inside. The tall mutant turtle was hunched over his work station with the remnants of what used to be a computer tower.

“What brings you to my lab little one?” Donnie asked sweetly keeping his attention on the hard drive he was prying apart in his green three fingered hands.

Noemi picked at the skin of her fingernails nervously closing the distance between her and the genius.  She didn’t want to disturb him if he was in the idle of something. Her fingers slide over the smooth metal table stretching her fingers out over the cold surface. “If you’re busy Donnie, I can come back.”

Donnie stopped his tinkering hearing the strain in her voice, something was wrong. Setting the pieces he had just been examining down he turned his lean body towards her looking down at the sweet human he had grown to love. His thick finger reached out pressing up into the hollow of her chin lifting her uneasy gaze to his chocolate irises.

“Noemi, I will always have time for you my little firecracker. I can tell something is bothering you, what’s going on?”

Donnie’s warm gaze melted the last of her resolve and she felt herself break into a million. The flood gates open, the days pent up emotions poured from her along with soft breathless gasps that snapped between her sobs. Almost instantaneously the warmth of Donnie surrounded her pulled her into his protective embrace. One of his large hands moved to her lower back holding her firmly to his plastron and the other moved to the back of her head his fingers intertwining in her long hair. No words spoken between them, Donnie just let her cry. Resting his cheek on the top of her head he listened to Noemi’s muffled cries against his plastron, wishing he could absorb her turmoil into him taking it from her.

If she wanted to talk about it she would but for now he was there for comfort and that was what she had come specifically here for, from him. And there was nothing more he wanted to do then give her what she needed. He was always there for her no matter what.

After a little bit Donatello could feel her trembling form start to waver, reaching down he scooped her into his arms bridal style before she could collapse.  With a few strides of his long well defined legs they were at the side of his bed and he kneed on the mattress careful not to jostle his precious cargo too much. Gently he lay back in his bed keeping Noemi on his chest giving her as much of his body heat as possible.

By now her sobs had calmed down and the tears she shed had slowed but still saturated the front of his chest. He felt her body shift, so her stomach was lying against his, and her hips aligned with his. Noemi’s palms pressed into the soft scaled skin just above his plastron and below his shoulders, enjoying the texture. Her breathing was beginning to even out and Donnie decided it was time to ask if she was ok.

“Do you want to tell me what happened at your appointment today? It’s ok if you don’t want too.” His large hand rolled over the back of her head combing through the trestles of her hair.

After a deep shaky sigh Noemi wiped away the tears still staining her cheeks and began to tell him what had happened and the memories that had surfaced. He held her tightly against him as she recounted the horrible flashes bringing more tears to the surface. Noemi finished and let out a shaky breath lifting her head up to look at the purple terrapin. His big brown eyes sparkled with unshed tears for her, but thankfully kept them in check. She wasn’t looking for sympathy right now, just someone to listen.

They spend the next few hours talking and just lying in each other’s arms. His arms were propped up behind his head and her arms under her chin to she could look at him, still perched on his plastron. After a while her eyes started to droop, feeling the familiar pull of sleep.  She didn’t want to fall asleep on him he had things he needed to do.

“Go ahead, close your eyes. I will watch over you tonight.” He said softly almost as if he read her mind.

“Are you sure? I can go home.”

“Without a doubt, you’re not going anywhere.” He cooed wrapping his arms around Noemi pulling her a little closer to his face. “Besides I like watching you sleep.” Tilting her head up he stole a kiss and laid back down pulling the covers over both of them.

“Thanks Donnie.”

“Anytime my love.”

[cannibalisticshadows]

Nightcall (1/2)

Inspired and named after the song “Nightcall” by Kavinsky 

Rating: T

Pairing: Megamind/Roxanne

Tags: Angst with a happy ending. 

Summary: Megamind can’t take it anymore. He has to tell her.

(ao3 link) | (part 2)

He’s sick.

It’s shameful how badly the words sit on his tongue, begging as if it’s life or death to be said. And it’s sick. So, so sick. Evil gods above, common sense screamed that everything about this was wrong on a million levels. Though “common sense” never applied to him much, this was a boundary even he was unwilling to cross. Their relationship was professional!

But how can he help it when he sees her walk away, hips swaying side to side like a metronome that seems to beat to his heart. He wants to cry out from the tugging at his soul the farther she is from him.

So, he supposes that’s why he’s always taking her. Mr. Tighty-Whities goes out and entertains hundreds of woman, but there’s only one woman that’s worth the effort.

These day’s he’s taking her more frequently. Half-assed schemes be damned, all he cares now is seeing her face again, right in front of him and not on television. To hear her voice being spoken just for him, tones low and seductive and just for him.

Temptress...

He can’t even...

He digs his fingernails into his palms so hard that even through the kid leather it hurts. He can feel it behind his gums, unsoothable even with his own tongue, which drools with the mere thought of being allowed to touch her in the most chase of ways.

The need to have her to himself has become overpowering. He writes out absurdly poor or well-thought-out plans just for the sake of telling Minion to fetch Ms. Ritchi. Once every-other week has become weekly.

Weekly incidents have become twice, or even thrice, a week.

“Are you okay?” She asks suddenly, tied to her chair and being quieter than usual. No. No that’s not right. She’s supposed to be talking about the plan. Taunting him. Bantering with him. Why isn’t she!? "You kinda seem... tired."

He nervously runs his hands down the crappy built control system of today’s Evil Scheme. It’s cold here, biting at his exposed skin, but the heat of his desperate, sick want keeps him heated. Bitting into his lower lip, he hunches over the buttons and knobs with his back turned to her. But he watches her from the little mirror he put beside him.

“I am ecstatic,” he says with false, half-mad cheer. “Today is the day Metro Man will die.”

“Wow,” she says mildly. She pauses. “Never hear a death threat before.” Despite her tone they both know it’s true. He usually says defeat. Is she frightened for once? Nowadays he’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. He bites harder, this time on the tip of his tongue.

He tastes metallic, and it burns his throat.

“Just shut up and be a damsel for once?” He sneers, baring his teeth and turning around to show her. He’s angry at himself, not her.

But it makes Roxanne jolt in her seat, comically surprised. Then she goes still, eyes wide with... Something. He can't read her. Always guessing, with her. She doesn’t respond, but shrinks a bit in her chair, glowering at him with suspicion.

It’s a weird feeling to drawl out this reaction from her.

~.~.~

He’s becoming more desperate to help his vice. Withdrawal starts the second Wayne throws him into prison, keeping him quiet and brewing over the duration of his stay. The guards notice; they steer clear of him.

No one is surprised when he breaks out not twenty-four hours later, snarling at the one puny guard who dares to raise a gun at him when he comes charging out.

Minion, barely given the warning he’s breaking out on his own, manages to catch him a few miles away from the prison he’s running from.

He’s sick. Still sick. Still wants to barrel himself through this confusing life with the little bits of the drug that’s pretty much the only thing keeping him afloat. An unquenchable hunger that has nothing to do with food, and it gnaws at him like a flesh-eating parasite. And it’s so, so wrong. He shouldn’t be feeling like this. Shouldn’t be physically shaking everything she moans his name in tiredness at yet another kidnapping. Shouldn’t be crying into his pillow at night because he wants to hear her voice outside of the television.

Kidnappings are more frequent. At the third kidnapping this week, Roxanne is barely awake which slightly pisses him off. This is a two-person job. He can’t just broadcast their trysts with her snoozing!!! He wants to grab this little woman by the shoulders and shake her—gently—because he just wants to talk to her.

Curse his alien psychology. Because he damn well knows what is happening to him. He knows why he’s resorted to spending more time in his room, biting at his own flesh because he can’t have what he wants. No. What he needs. Minion is starting to catch on, a bit, and Megamind cannot let that happen. No. No he doesn’t feel anything more than an annoyance for Ms. Ritchi, Minion! I am not falling into the same cycle my ancestors did!

He has to convince himself that his tone is somewhat convincing. Because it isn’t.

Tonight he’s determined to do it better. Today’s kidnapping ended before it even began, thanks to a sloppily build machine. It ended with a bitter, nasty remark at her choice in dress. He feels like a boy on schoolgrounds, tugging at the cute girl’s hair to get her attention.

But anyway. He fixed the machine and he demands a do-over. Tonight. At this very moment.

She’s at home, according to one of his spy-bots. not gonna admit that he’s so wretched over his own alien heart he’s started to spy on her in an indirect way.

He’s already on his hoverbike, because Minion, bless him, finally passed out from being worked too hard. He’s getting really close to Roxanne’s place when—

“Oh, no you don’t,” says a disapproving, gruff voice.

Snatched out of the air, his bike’s handles caught in the same beefy hands used to grab his collar, Megamind finds himself dangling and flailing his limbs.

Fucking Wayne. Fucking fucking fucking Wayne. What does he have to do at this time of night around Roxanne’s place, the bloody creep.

Oh. No. Megamind’s the creep, he viciously realizes, eyes ablaze with fury. Wayne’s the perfect boyfriend. Fuck him, Megamind weeps internally.

“Listen, little buddy,” the meat-head starts, pissing off the other alien even more. “You’ve kidnapped Roxie four times this week. What’s your problem?”

“You are my problem,” he hisses vehemently. “Let go!”

“No,” Wayne sighed, flying off closer to her apartment. Still spitting curses, but also rather confused, because why bring him to his destination when he was usually dropped off at the prison when caught? “You need to see this.”

Wayne drops him on the balcony without delicacy, making Megamind hand on his side with the air sucked out of him. Huffing, he stands and wipes dust off him. He breathes in, catching the faint vegetation scent of her potted plants.

His long-time enemy lands beside him on his white-clad toes, staring inside of the glass doors. Peeved, he meets where his gaze lands.

It’s Roxanne. Yes, she is home, and not at all conscious.

She’s still dressed in the same outfit from earlier; a sleeveless, deep wine-red—almost black—dress that flared at the knees, hugging her hips and derrière like a godforsaken glove. She looked good enough to drink. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, earlier,

That could have been a terrible, terrible tease if she hadn’t spent the duration of their short encounter today falling asleep. Why was she so tired lately?

She’s conked out on her red couch, one leg hiked up over the back of the couch, the other hanging off with her heal barely hanging onto her big toe. Her hair is completely disheveled, her mouth parted open as she drools slightly onto the couch’s fabric. One of her arms is curled up behind her hair, with the other hanging off the side of the couch.

And with that hand she’s gripping onto a bottle of wine. Her mascara has smeared down her face like black veins.

“You need to back off a bit,” Wayne said, his heroism voice gone and replaced with something that actually sounded human. It made things a hundred times worse because Megamind knew what his problem was.

He stood and stared at his poor Roxanne. Why. What the fuck is wrong with him!?

Wayne grabbed him by the collar before he could linger another moment, and he’s being thrown back into prison, to the bewilderment of the Warden. Can’t blame the old man; everyone could see Megamind was finally losing his marbles. He could see the thoughts in their eyes.

But as he sat in his cell, the tv on but muted, familiar orange jumpsuit scratchy against his sensitive blue skin, he thought over this hell of a month. He was sick of this. Sick of his wretched alien secret of this… need.

It should be below him. It should be abolished from his DNA; a trait his pre-evolved ancestors needed for… things. He was a scientist; an evil genius; a lone wolf. He shouldn’t be made weak by the simple, kind smile of a blue-eyed reporter.

Yet he was.

And he knew what he had to do.

Before it destroyed him.

[hailqiqi]

Smack, Kiss, Fall in Love - Part Twelve

@sp4c3-0ddity finally!  I wanna say ‘real life commitments’ but let’s be real, I mostly write during working hours. I just had a long weekend for family stuff. Sorry guys.

This part is very short and moody, because what’s a soulmate au without some brooding?  And apologies if there’s any weirdness, it’s like 3am and the words are swimming on the page.

---

560 words

Previous Parts:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

---

Maybe he was exhausted or maybe it was too dark, but he just couldn’t tell.

Normally, Lance would have gotten up and turned on the light or used one of the flashlights on either his phone or the keys in the draw in the wall (a bedside cupboard?), but he couldn’t do that tonight. Not when Pidge was curled up beside him, the safety net of separate bedding abandoned for his body heat, her pillow swapped for his bicep.

She’d probably freak out about it in the morning. The best-case scenario was her rolling back away from him in her sleep, but Lance didn’t actually want that to happen. Okay, so he might have lost the feeling in his left arm over half an hour ago, there might have been drool on his chest and sweat soaking through his sleeve…

Ugh. He was pathetic.

She might have been his soulmate, but still — Pidge was just a girl. And, even though Lance thought she was pretty as all quiznak, he knew she was nowhere near supermodel level. Definitely not the type of girl he should be throwing his dignity away for, at any rate — especially when a freaking princess had literally fallen into his arms. That’s some fairytale nonsense right there, right? The cool dashing hero travels across time and space to awaken a beautiful princess, and when he holds her in his arms she falls instantly in love and they live happily ever after?

The prince doesn’t ignore the princess for the nerdy sidekick. Even if that sidekick was a badass fighter who’d saved his life countless times. Or a genius who constantly left his head spinning. Or totally into the same video games that defined Lance’s childhood, and the owner of a smile so blinding it made the stars look dim.

Yet here he was, watching in his mind as every fantasy of the princess turned into the sidekick instead.

Marco would never let him live it down.

Pidge shifted beside him, her hair tickling his chin, and Lance gently tucked the stray strands behind her ear with his right hand. He’d honestly been surprised when she’d turned up at his door — they hadn’t shared a bed since he’d fled from her like a frightened schoolboy, and he still wasn’t sure if he was grateful for the breathing room or not. Now that he’d started paying attention, having her next to him tonight was more of a distraction than anything else. His fingers twitched with a need to card through her hair, his lips tingled with a need to taste her — even if only briefly — and his whole body throbbed with a need to be closer.

There was no way he was going to get any sleep tonight. Which was way he was laying on his bad, half his body numb and overheating, examining his soulmark in the dim light and trying to figure out if it had started to fade.

A small sigh alerted him to Pidge stirring again, but all she did was push away and roll over. Lance gazed at her back, resisting the urge to run his hand down her spine and across the smooth skin exposed where her t-shirt rode up, and went back to looking at his hand.

Was it…?

It was too dark to tell.

---

Read Part Thirteen here!

[dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition]

ok a campaign im in ended tonight so i've been busy crying but now i explain this build. it was genuinely originallt made w/o any attempt to optimize, just me going off character background.

their previous build, when i first played them, was just a redemption paladin. which is fun--i dig a paladin more focused on support and diplomacy! but that build didn't really feel like it suited the character as i enjoyed playing them. i found myself really liking the fact that they played the sort of slacker role to the point of obfuscating stupidity, and i liked that they had a complicated relationship w/ their aasimar roots. so in remaking them, i decided to lean into both of those things by putting more conflict into them automatically: a subclass that, while reliant on int, is also reliant on altering one's mind and body with substances and a subclass that is explicitly centered on divinity being a Part Of You.

this is to say: a motm aasimar (necrotic shroud) alchemist artificer (5) and divine soul sorcerer (3) for a campaign starting at level 8. they have the sailor background. their stats are a pretty predictable layout for me (read; prioritizing main casting stat along with dex)--10 STR, 18 DEX, 14 CON, 20 INT, 6 WIS, 16 CHA (rolled stats, i was very very lucky for a 16, 17, and 18 lol), distant and quickened spell are the obvious metamagic grabs, and then pop on the skilled feat at lvl 4 for some characterization, aaand bam, we've got a guy.

also important to the build is their gimmick--using artificer infusions to create spellwrought tattoos to get bonus spells each day. at current level, this means i get an additional cantrip and a first level spell of my choice each day. it's fun it's flavorful and it means i get to have more fun with dumb spell combos, along with having as-needed access to shit like find familiar and mage armor.

anyway. after that ramble. let's get into the actual details. aasimar grants us a few things off the bat--two resistances to two very common damage types is and always has been batshit insane. along with that, monsters of the multiverse made some interesting alterations to aasimar--namely, activating your big angelic feature is a bonus action now, which is sick. so, no matter what, we can try to frighten a few enemies, and we can get some extra necrotic damage whenever we make an attack.

sorcerer is honestly mostly here because metamagic is gamechanging. quickened spells make action economy slightly more bearable as a mage, and distant cure wounds gives the spell some combat utility that it otherwise lacks. it also gives us the cleric spell list and the chance to add 2d4 to a bad roll--something that will stack well with flash of genius in a few levels.

but the real star here is an ability alchemists get at level five, which is one of my favorite abilities in the game--that additional +INT to healing spells, and that same bonus to damage from spells that's fire, necrotic, poison, or acid--and with the spell access we have, that's a lot of extra healing and damage to be done. a first level heal is giving, bare minimum, eleven hit points. greenflame blade is similarly dealing at least eleven points of damage to an opponent we didn't even attack in the first place. (i'm playing a bit fast and loose with arcane focus rules here, but also, c'mon, it's fun.)

it's not fully cohesive and it's not necessarily RAW, but it sure is fun and it sure is exploiting the best part of the (often overshadowed) alchemist subclass. so. yeah

i will probably infodump about my artificer/sorc build later tonight. what is tumblr dot com for if not sharing your accidentally good builds unprompted

[acapelladitty]

Fic - Trick or Treat? Pairing - Scriddler (Edward Nygma & Jonathan Crane) AO3 Link - http://archiveofourown.org/works/12130047 Summary: A surprise knock on the door forces Jonathan to confront something truly terrifying: trick or treating children!

Dropping another tissue onto the nearby coffee table, the irritation of Jonathans' nose was showing no signs of giving him a moments respite and he continued to rub at the end of it with the back of his hand.

“You're only making it worse by touching it.” Edwards' unwanted opinion wafted over to him from the opened door of the kitchen. “I have been telling you to leave it alone.”

Ignoring him, Jonathan settled back into the inviting comfort of the couch as he willed his mild cold away through sheer force of his mental prowess. However, his head had barely came into contact with the pillows when a soft knock alerted both occupants of the apartment to a presence at the door.

He glanced at Edward expectantly and received a shake of the head in response.

“Do not look at me. If I take my eyes off this soup for a moment it will boil over and destroy my stove top.” Edward argued. “It is most likely a delivery for yourself anyway.”

Releasing a growl of annoyance, Jonathan pushed himself up from the couch and approached the door. They were not expecting company tonight and he subtly palmed the metal bar which acted as their preferred deterrence for unwanted visitors with one hand as he allowed the other to click the handle down and swing the door open with a little force.

No soon had the door opened more than a few inches when an unexpected musical chorus met him.

“TRICK OR TREAT!”

What?

His stony glance lowered slowly until it settled on a trio of children, around five or six by his estimations, who were standing before him with face-splitting grins. Their small hands were wrapped around plastic bags, their contents already beginning to bulge with various candies and other gifts already received, with an almost vice-like grip.

Unable to believe what was standing before him, Jonathan could only blink as he towered over them.

“Excuse me?”

“TRICK OR TREAT!”

The phrase was repeated with an equal volume of enthusiasm but now with the added enthusiasm of the shaking of the candy bags, a hint as to his what his next move should be.

“Excus-”

“Well what do we have here!?”

Edwards' showman tones resonated over Jonathans' shoulder and his head shot to the side as he registered the sudden appearance of his partner.

So much for the soup.

Within Edwards' grasp was a large hollow plastic pumpkin filled to the brim with large bags of mixed candies and sweets which any child would practically salivate over given half a chance.

Apparently Edward had known that today was Halloween.

That made one of them.

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Jonathan stared at the hollow pumpkin.

“Where did that even come from?”

“I always hand out candy on Halloween.” Keeping a huge smile on his face to ensure the attention of the children, Edward spoke from the corners of his mouth. “I am not a miser and you have always worked Halloween in the past and I suspected that your previous conceding of this years 'celebration' to Julian Day would mean that you would forget about the day itself.”

Well, he was not wrong.

His recent illness and lack of holiday themed plans had resulted in his complete ignorance of the holiday itself and as Edward swung the door open, Jonathan found that both himself and Edward were left standing openly in the doorway before the three children.

“So, do you have a song or a dance for us?” Edward shook the pumpkin invitingly. “You all understand that you must perform in exchange for a bag. You have to earn your treat.”

Stepping forward, the only boy of the group took position in front of the girls.

“I'm Aiden and i'm a mummy!” He squeaked out and he held his toilet paper wrapped arms out in mock-mummy fashion as he walked forward a few steps. “The girls said I was scary. Do I look scary?”

Rolling his eyes, Jonathan was just about to turn back into the apartment and leave Edward to deal with this himself when he felt Edwards' fingers jamming themselves between his thin ribs and he jumped in both pain and surprise.

“Look!” Edward exclaimed as he switched his grip and Jonathan could feel that he was being held gently in place. “You made Jonathan here jump! You must be extremely frightening!”

Glaring at Edward with open irritation, Jonathan fought against his desire to immaturely ram his hand against Edwards' sides in revenge and instead chose to fold his arms across his chest as he held his position.

“Do you have a song?” He bit out between clenched teeth since clearly his presence here was necessary.

At his question, the boy burst out into a very loud and disturbingly off-key version of some childish rhyme involving frogs and logs which was interspersed with both physical dancing and mediocre frog impressions.

Forcing a smile onto his face, Jonathan drummed his fingers against his arms in faux-applause as Edward provided an actual small applause before removing a bag from the pumpkin and dropping it in the boys' bag.

Pleased with his winnings, the boy bounded away back down the corridor.

The first of the two girls quickly stepped forward, taking her friends place, and her dark skin was mostly covered by a black cat mask which possessed both ears and whiskers.

“And you're a cat.” Jonathan stated.

“Nope,” the girl threw her hands onto his hips with some force as she shook her head, “i'm Catwoman! I'm going to get the most candy tonight and then i'm going to go steal all the money in all the banks in Gotham!”

For the first time since this encounter began, a genuine smirk tugged at Jonathans' lips. This one was a lively little thing and he was sorely tempted to give her vague directions to send her past Selinas' safehouse.

It would be worth it for the reaction from the feline thief herself.

“My momma says she's a good role model.” The girl continued.

“That she is,” Edward nodded his agreement, “so do you have a song for us?”

“I've got a riddle.”

“Really?!” Edwards' grin lit up again as he placed the pumpkin on the floor and dropped to one knee to give this girl his full attention. “And what is it?”

Shifting her eyes for a moment as she struggled to remember, eventually the girl crossed her arms in a fashion similar to Jonathans' own.

“What gets wetter as it dries?”

Seeing Edward open his mouth to answer, unable to stop himself, Jonathan shot his hand out and squeezed on his shoulder hard enough to stop his words in his tracks as a small hiss of pain instead escaped the kneeling genius.

A small act of revenge.

“Sorry child,” he tilted his head sweetly at the expectant girl, “my friend here is not smart enough to understand the answer to your riddle. Tell him the answer?”

“A towel!” She exclaimed with pride, her smile at Edward laced with sympathy, and then held her bag out for her reward.

“You heard the child, Edward,” Jonathan prompted, voice gentle as though explaining something simple, “it was 'a towel'. Now give the cat her prize.”

As Edward handed the girl her bag, Jonathan momentarily ducked back into the apartment to grab another tissue. One quick blown nose later and he was back to see what the final child had left to offer.

The experience so far had not been as dreadful as he had initially anticipated. Children these days were more humorous than he recalled from his own youth. They were still unsanitary and far too meddlesome for their own good but at least they could apparently amuse him for a moment.

As he focused his attention on the last child, he noted that she was dressed as some form of undead creature, a zombie most likely, and her made-up pale skin and dark eyes with faux-blood made him wonder at exactly what point adults had an input into their childs' designs.

“I have a joke!” She announced, forgoing any other attempt at small talk with the two adults.

“Then I would love to hear it.”

As Edward stood again, Jonathan felt a surge of mild fondness at the level of enthusiasm which Edward was injecting into this absolutely pointless activity. He made a mental note to ask Edward about his own experiences with Halloween since there was obviously some emotionally fertile land there to till. Edwards' happy memories were few and far between so it would be interesting to discover another layer of the genius in relation to the current holidays.

Clearing her throat dramatically, the girl set up her punchline.

“Why did the scarecrow get an award?”

Unable to withhold their joint smirks at the mention of Jonathans' alter-ego, Jonathan felt Edward twist his body to face his.

“I have no clue, why did the scarecrow get an award?” Edwards' eyes sparkled with his mirth. “Do you know the answer?”

“They do not allow me to receive awards anymore,” Jonathan muttered from the corner of his mouth in response, “apparently my frequent residencies in Arkham make me ineligible.”

Not privy to their conversation, the child continued.

“Because he was the best in his field!”

Even as a smile again tugged at his own lips, Jonathan could hear a small appreciative chuckle emitting from Edward as he humoured the girl.

“Very funny! You are quite the joker, little lady.”

“My mom and dad say we don't like the Joker,” the girl offered in a loud hushed tone, a childs' idea of confidential speech, “she says he is a horrible man!”

“Your parents are not wrong.”

Jonathan agreed politely and, feeling charitable, handed the girl two bags of candy which she thanked him for before greedily stuffing them into her bag.

“Now run off to your friends and be sure to shut the main door behind you,” he instructed her before lowering his tone significantly until only Edward would be able to hear him, “lest any other children find their way in here.”

Grinning, the girl let loose a childish wave before sprinting away down the corridor. However, before she had gotten more than a few meters away she paused and turned back the duo watching her depart.

“Hey mister!” She called out, high voice echoing through the empty hallway.

“Yes?” Jonathan answered.

“I really, really, really like your skeleton costume! It's so creepy!”

Having given her opinion, the girl disappeared around the corner of the hall as the patter of her small feet and youthful giggles slowly faded away.

Looking down as his outfit, Jonathan was confronted by the simple white vest and grey slacks which he had thrown on to ensure comfort as he recovered from his cold and a furrow of confusion made its way onto his face as he glanced at Edward.

“What costume?”

Not even trying to hold it in, Edwards' laughter was like a thunderclap in the hallway as he registered the offence which the girl had inadvertently created in his unwell partner.

[thethottest]

Chapter 1: Dangerously Adolescent

These are very long chapters lol, there’s only 9 but I might add more who knows.

1: Dangerously Adolescent

November

People like to judge, it’s natural.

When they see me they think: Oh look at the mixed kid with the shaved head and grey eyes. Oh what is he like five foot ten? Oh, I almost didn’t see those biceps under that twelve hundred dollar cardigan. Oh and look at that, the walk. He’s definitely a douchebag.

I know this because that’s what my closest friend Avery said when she was drunk and we were playing truth or dare. She said this with great confidence, and without a gun to her head, she kissed me on the cheek. Her black lipstick left behind a faint mark on my cheek for the next three hours as we lay on the floor a week before the ostentatious homecoming game that we would attend this Saturday like a religious holiday. We always held our homecoming late because some students lived overseas, like some of the princes and the princesses. There were five people in this circle, and I knew them all at the deepest levels of consciousness.

Avery was a genius, she was the only sophomore we knew that was taking Advanced Calculus and Physics C. She had long black hair, and a tribal tattoo on her alabaster skin, and she liked dark colors. She had plump lips, and a sharp jawline, and delicate cheekbones. Very big brown eyes. Avery had two sides, one she showed to us and one she showed to her parents. Avery drank only because she liked the taste, not because of how it made her feel. She also made sure that she washed down her scent with peppermint before going home to her parents california mansion in a zip code I hadn’t heard of. She was clearly bright but had problems of her own.

Ross Vanguard lit a cigarette and passed it around to Lenor, his sister. Ross and Lenor were the twin brother and sister duo of Beverly Hills’ finest surgeon Louis Vanguard. They weren’t as rich as me, or as smart as Avery, but they were street smart, and they had matching pearl blue eyes, and brown hair. They modeled for commercials, and drove around in matching red Ferrari’s because they forgot which one was the other’s. Ross was a straight boy, but Lenor had a girlfriend named Dani, who I occasionally bought pills from. Dani was a senior on honor roll and she was planning to become a pharmacist (which I supported full-heartedly).

At the time I had a girlfriend, her name was Sparrow James, and she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She was Half-Asian, and half white, oh and she was hilarious. Sparrow was an amazing kisser and she could pull off going to school in pajamas if she wanted too. She didn’t wear makeup because her skin was so clear she didn’t need any. Though many people thought that Sparrow James couldn't possibly have nude skin because who's eyelashes are that long? Sparrow James was like me, a rich kid with a claim to fame. Her claim to fame was a bit different though, turns out Sparrow James was the president’s daughter.

Yes, the president’s daughter was sipping on a bloody mary at my best friend's house.

Kameron was an emancipated minor. He grew up in an average town with an average family. Until he was scouted and became an international supermodel. The only teenage supermodel to pull that off at the time. Kameron Kastle was a millionaire boy with a beachfront house all by himself and attended the same school as us. Secretly Kam was a basket case. He was extremely emotional and an insomniac. Kameron was the only person in the entire world that knew that I was bisexual at the time. He knew everything about me.

We all attended Renaldo's Academy. A private school that’s so private you have to pay to be on the waiting list. After passing a full background check,  you then have to pass an interview where one of the question is, “How much does a Valentino handle bag cost if it’s last season?”

Anyway, it was the last weekend before finals and we were all taking turns with truth or dare. Sparrow James was the next person in line and she really wanted to go for some reason.

“Dare!” She squealed.

“I dare you to prank call your dad.” Avery said.

Sparrow James rolled her eyes, “He’s probably sleeping it’s midnight in D.C.”

Avery shook her head, “Do it.”

Sparrow James smiled and took out her phone. Putting it on speaker, she dialed the President of the United States. The phone rang for five minutes before he answered.

“Hello, Sparrow James?” His deep voice sighed .

“Hi Dad, I just ask you if your refrigerator is running?”

“I don’t know Sparrow James I don’t cook but if you want to know I can pick you up for Thanksgiving in a few months and you can eat dinner here instead of with your classy little boyfriend- what’s his name again- Ryker? Yeah bring him down here so that I can tell him that you asked me if my refrigerator is running, so that he’ll get running when he realizes how bad your prank calls are. You really got that from your mother because I didn’t raise you like this. I raised you to be funny and you have really disappointed me Sparrow James. Your Yéyé has been asking why you haven’t called him in a while how about you prank call him instead of me because I’m running a country and your Yéyé might actually appreciate a joke from you right now since he thinks I’m one.” He said.

The President hung up.

Sparrow James gave a fake smile and shook her head.

“Your father just dragged you so damn hard.” Ross whispered.

Everyone laughed including Sparrow James.

She took a sip of her Bloody Mary. “I really do need to call my grandpa, though.”

Sparrow James pointed to me. “Truth or dare, babe?”

“Truth.” I answered.

“What’s your biggest insecurity?” She asked.

I blew raspberries, got up, and poured myself a glass (not a shot) of vodka. I was extremely resistant to intoxication.

“Jesus, Sparrow.”

Everyone chuckled.

I sat back down and thought about it for a while.

It was silent for a while as everyone waited.

“I have pretty big nipples.” I answered.

Everyone laughed in an uproar and then Kameron with his extremely nosey self lifted up my shirt and showed the entire squad my left nipple. Which at the time was not hard.

“Oh come on! No one really cares about nipples anyways you’re fine.” Kameron said.

“But that six pack though! Jesus, Ryker, have you been working out because I could break glass on them rocks.” Lenor joked.

“Well remember, freshman year I was the marshmallow of the group.”

“Oh yeah, but you were so cute!” Avery chuckled.

“Anyway, I’ve been working out ever since summer break, and I plan to have the body of an olympic gymnast before my seventeenth birthday.” I continued.

“Well, your bodies fine Ryker.” Sparrow James said.

I kissed her on the cheek and hugged her tight. Every minute with her was a minute well spent.

I looked at my phone and realized that it was two hours until midnight and I lived around thirty minutes away from Kam’s house.

“I’m singing the Star Spangle Banner at the game tonight, I have to go to sleep. I have so much shit to do.” I sighed.

I drank the rest of the vodka and then stood up.

Sparrow James got up and grabbed her coat off the rack. “I’ll be right back guys, gotta make sure this jerk gets home in one piece.”

Although I was clearly not drunk, Sparrow James’ car was at my house and she decided that she would drive back.

“It’s okay I’ll drive.”

The voice came from the corridor to the kitchen. It was the other best friend of Kameron’s.

“Jason Harvey.” I mumbled.

Jason at the time was the purest thing to hit this side of southern California. He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he had a vegan diet and even did the occasional fast. My parents loved Jason, we weren’t even friends but we attended the same church and went to the same school. Jason was something starkly different than I.

He had that frightening glow to him. He was much too perfect for anyone or anything. Jason was Kameron’s “other” best friend. Whenever Kam would hang out with Jason I would deliberately make up an excuse to not go with them. After about eight years of making up excuses and accidentally building up a paparazzi following, I could no longer do that. So instead I would just flat out ignore him. He was to nice, too kind, and much too honest. I never liked to trust people like that, because I was like that. Knowing someone can be that nice on the outside makes you think about just how cold and scary they must be on the inside.

“I’ll make sure he gets home safe, Sparrow James. You’re the only sober one here and I wanna make sure they don’t go swimming in the ocean drunk or some dumb crap. I’ll bring your car back.” He explained.

I smirked, unimpressed by his kindness.

Sparrow James grinned and tossed my keys to Jason. “Thank you, Jason. Such an angel.”

He smiled and winked. I was suspicious but like every good actor I did not for a second reveal that suspicion. He looked down at the keys and his eyes widened.

“You drive a damn Lamborghini!” Jason exclaimed.

“Well, yeah, I just never take it to school because my dad thinks it’s flashy.” I confirmed.

Sparrow James dug through her purse and threw Jason another pair of keys. Jason took a look at those and he looked like he was about to vomit.

“Your father bought you an Aston Martin?” He whispered.

She flipped her hair, “Actually, Ryker did.”

Jason raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Damn.”

I grabbed my jacket and kissed Sparrow James goodbye. Jason quickly grabbed his glasses off the counter, actual glasses (like for seeing) which I didn’t realize he needed. Jason Harvey never in my presence wore glasses before, in fact, this was the first time I had seen him in a regular t-shirt and blue jeans. He was famous for his nice fashion sense.

We made it out the door alive and Jason sat down in the driver's seat. I was putting on my seatbelt, waiting for the car to start, I looked over to see Jason blank faced staring at the dashboard.

I snickered. “I paid an extra two hundred thousand dollars to get actual diamonds bezel into the stitching of the wheel.”

He guffawed. “This is awesome, dude.”

I sighed, “Thanks. Now put the key in the ignition and let’s get out of here before something bad happens.”

He turned the key and a roar hummed into the cabin.

We were cruising down the highway listening to pop music when Jason decided to strike up a conversation.

“What’s it like dating the President’s daughter?” He asked.

“Well for one thing, privacy, doesn’t exist. Dating Sparrow James is like dating a red diamond, you have to be extremely careful and there aren’t many quite like them.” I said.

“What you guys don’t have any fun?” He asked.

“Well yeah of course we have fun, it’s just it’s hard. Sparrow James is hot as hell, it’s just I don’t want to end up getting on the bad side of the most powerful man in the world.” I answered.

“Yeah, I understand.” He said.

“So are you dating anyone, Mr. Homecoming King?” I asked.

He smirked and shook his head. “No, I’m just not interested in anyone right now.”

“Really? Rain’s cute, and she’s definitely crushing on you. Or Beth, all those squats are definitely paying off. Fawn? She’s drop dead gorgeous and she publicly said that she would do a whole lot of things to you on Publix.”

“No, no, and no. Besides, Publix is full of conniving little traitors, you can’t trust any of those people on that app.” He answers.

I was baffled. The Jason I heard about was seriously the most liked person on campus. I had never actually seen him so honest and sincere. Was he an actor too? Posing for the people to see him in a different light than what he actually felt was right.

“Who is this, Jason? Jason Harvey, the star quarterback, honor roll student, homecoming royalty two times in a row? Who dis be?” I asked, I was starting to feel that vodka.

He, again, smiles so politely. In the glow of the street lights, I can see those famous dimples of his. Jesus he was better in person.

“Don’t believe everything you hear, Ryker Jackson. I mean, obviously you’re not so average yourself. Self made millionaire with a billionaire dad and multi-millionaire mother. I heard you’ve got a huge trust fund, and that’s just in case you don’t want to work anymore. Everything designer, don’t you say that? I mean come on, this can’t be your only supercar. You obviously have like a Bentley and a McLaren stored up in one of your famous garages. Don’t you have a sister too? You never talk about her, London born Lily Jackson. Isn’t she some huge editor or something. Why don’t we talk about that?” He stated.

I raised my eyebrows. “You sure know a lot about me, don’t you?”

He shrugged, “I do my research.”

“Me too, Jason.” I said.

We pulled up to the gate. Where an armed guard looked sternly through the window directly at him. I waved at him, and he automatically nodded his head and let us through.

You could call my house a mansion or you could call it a complex. It was gigantic, fit for giants. There were sixteen bedrooms on each wing, two living rooms, an actual home theatre, a greek pool, and an indoor sauna. Also there was a golf course and we had a lake outback. We had five maids, and two chefs one for each side of the house.

I guided Jason around the large fountain and into the underground garage. Inside we had twenty cars, and about five of them I purchased myself. The rest were my mother’s collection, she was a car enthusiast. She left most of them in America when she moved.

“That’s Sparrow’s car over there. In guest parking.” I pointed out.

“Ryker this isn’t a garage this is a parking lot.” He corrected.

I laughed, “Get out let me park.”

Jason quickly got out of the car and stood watching as I skillfully parked my cherry red lamborghini on it’s pedestal. I got out and burped a gas like fume into the air and stumbled down the ramp.

“You just reverse parked a car on a pedestal while you were drunk.” Jason said.

I rolled my eyes, “I can do a lot of things trust me this isn’t my first time. I once made a speech high as a kite on migraine medication.”

I smiled. “Thanks for driving me home, Jason.”

He nodded. “Thank you for letting me drive such a beautiful car.”

I smiled and walked towards the door which was very far away. “Don’t crash my girlfriend’s car please.”

“I’ll try not to.”

~~~

The next morning I was a complete mess but I had an appointment.

I woke up at my usual time which was around five in the morning. I did everything I usually did, moisturized, took a shower, stretched, drank a healthy shake that tastes like Satan’s breastmilk, and then I went for my morning jog. I did all this while dealing with a throbbing headache. Then I got into my car, and went to my doctor’s appointment.

After sitting in the office for around twenty damn minutes the doctor came in with my results.

“Well you’re stomach lining is healing quite well. How have you been eating?” He asked.

“Well I’ve been working out.” I said.

“Ryker, you may be fit but that doesn’t mean you’re healthy. Have you been eating?” He asked once again.

“Dr. Moroson, does it really matter. It’s not like I’m not feeding myself I just sometimes skip meals.” I answer.

Dr. Moroson was a man in his thirties. He looked a lot like me, except he was white and had brown eyes instead of grey. He was also a bit shorter than me but I was only five foot ten so it wasn’t really a big deal.

“Do you want me to tell your father about this? There’s alcohol in your blood. Drugs I haven’t even seen in you before. I could put you in rehab.”

Dr. Moroson was also my uncle.

“It’s not like he’s gonna care. He’s out with god knows who doing god knows what. Banging god knows who. I don’t care what he thinks or knows.” I said.

He gave me a half smile and looked down at his papers. “What’s going on, Ryker?”

“Nothing!” I growled.

He shook his head. “No, there’s something going on that you’re not talking to me about and I need to know what’s going on right now before I have to hear about my nephew overdosing on the news or see you on insulin because you’re blood sugar is so damn low. I’m not gonna have that, I love you too much for that.”

I breathed in and out. “You remember last year.”

“What about it?”

“I was so … lost. I wasn’t happy with myself and I was so angry, with everyone.”

“Mhm.”

“I wasn’t much of an eater anyways and I just wanted to look like all of my friends. Skinny, six pack, gorgeous. So I changed everything about myself. Fixed my teeth, stopped eating so much, exercised like an olympian. I’m just … still empty.”

“And you think that drugs and alcohol are gonna fill that void in you?” He remarked.

“What else? I can’t talk to my parents. My entire persona is a big lie. I created Ryker Jackson. I was forced to design something that I wasn’t. Because if I actually wanted to be myself, to actually be comfortable, I would have to sacrifice everything.” I explained.

He nodded. “What exactly are you hiding from your parents? Besides the drugs and alcohol.”

I moved, I was so not ready. But if there were anyone I could talk to, it was the person who spent the most time with me. My uncle was probably my only role model, and he knew that too. Baseball games, recitals, press conferences, he was right there. Standing right behind me making sure I didn’t pass out.

“This is doctor confidentiality.” I warned.

He nodded in agreement. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“I’m bisexual.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I swear I thought you were like a demon or something and you finally were going to come out of your corpse today.”

“Maybe next time.” I smiled.

He smiled at me. “Oh, Ryker.”

I was tearing up now, sniffling and everything. The whole nine yards.

“It’s just. I was raised to believe that if I wasn’t manly enough, or pure enough, that I was wrong. That people like me have a disease, like really. That someone created me, but I was an abomination. How does that even make sense? How can a God so loving and benevolent put something so evil in someone.”

“You think you’re evil?”

“No, I think they’re evil.” I corrected.

He nodded. “We keep things to ourselves because there aren’t a lot of people who will understand.”

I wiped my tears. “Yeah but if I do anything stupid I’m gonna get kicked out of the damn house.”

He stood up, and hugged me for a moment. I wasn’t crying anymore but I needed that hug.

“You need to start eating, Ryker.” He whispered.

“Yeah, I know.”

After my appointment I headed over to the school for practice because the game was coming up pretty fast. For the national anthem, I had put together a choir to sing background extremely strong tenor. The auditorium was very cold in the winter but I had done hot yoga during warmups and I had my sweater tied around my waist since i had a black tank top under it.

We were just finishing up rehearsals when Kameron and Jason walked through the doors. I knew this because even though I was belting out the ending notes to my solo, the choir was packing up and the girls all started going crazy when they realized that Jason Harvey had entered the very same room in which they had existed.

I turned around and sighed in sudden disappointment.

“Do you dare come into my sanctuary?” I hissed playfully.

“My apologize, oh great one.” Kam remarked, bowing and then climbing up the stairs alongside Jason.”

The fangirls were in a trance, staring at Jason as if they were imagining that he would go right up to one of them and kiss them and make all of their dreams come true.

I snapped my fingers and shooed them out the backstage exit.

When were finally alone I turned back around and put my hand on my hips in question.

“Jason don’t you have practice or something?”  I asked.

He shrugged, “It’s optional on game day.”

I giggled, “Why the hell is it optional?”

“I’m not the coach, don’t ask me the questions.” He answered.

Kameron picked up the sheet music I left on the piano. “Why do you have a russian translation?”

“I’m planning on going to Moscow soon. To see the ballerinas.” I said.

“My father is Russian.” Jason commented.

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“Well, it’s the only reason I can attend this damn school. My dad’s the Ambassador to Russia.”

My face brightened in delight. “That’s actually pretty cool. I just thought you got here on good looks alone.”

Kameron started playing the chords on the piano. I walked over and sat on it, while singing loudly and on key with great precision.

I pretended not to look at Jason while he ran his finger through his thick blonde hair and stared at me with the eyes of God.

At the end I finished off with an eight count hold. Then I high fived Kameron for his beautiful mastery of the national anthem at the ripe age of sixteen.

“That was pretty good.” Jason said.

“I know.” I grabbed my sheet music and put it into it’s respective folder. Then I untied my sweater and put it on.

Kameron clears his throat. “Did you eat today?”

Kameron was ballsy, he didn’t mind saying things in front of people. I used to think that Kameron was just a little rude, but now I’ve realized that really he’s just a bit of a buttcrack and at the same time he’s smart enough to realize that there were only three people in the room including him.

“Well I had a protein shake and like a soda. That counts for something right?” I answered.

Kam shook his head and sighed. “This boy.”

Jason tilted his head. “Do you usually not eat or something.”

“Well, I mean I eat. I just don’t have time usually. Between being so damn gorgeous and running a company while attending high school I really don’t have the necessary time to consume solid foods.” I said.

“That’s really unhealthy.” Jason warned.

“And you’re really blonde. Since you like to state the obvious so much. Yes I have a damn eating disorder and if you tell anyone, I’ll ruin you.” I hissed.

“Is he alway like this?”

Jason had directed that comment to Kameron who was playing a word puzzle game on his phone at the time.

Kameron looked up and smirked. “He’s Ryker Jackson.”

That was always the answer. No matter how rude, annoying, angry, sad, loud, or crazy I tended to become, it was always directed back to one thing.

I was Ryker Phillip Jackson.

For some reason it was always fine that that was the answer because it made sense. But for Jason Harvey, it didn’t. Maybe he was different, maybe he was clever or more developed than his fellow peers. Harvey knew, without a doubt, that there was more to being Ryker Jackson, than met the eye.

You could tell that by looking into his crystal blue eyes.

“I heard it’s Shake N’ Steak night at the Charleston. We could head over after the game?” Jason suggested.

“I hate steak.” I said as I applied vaseline to my lips.

Kameron rolled his eyes. “Yeah sure that sounds like fun.”

“I’m not going, I have church tomorrow.” I dodged.

“Oh come on, Ryker! That megachurch has three different services. You can make the afternoon one.” Kameron countered.

“Please?” Jason asked.

That boy was something like sweet fire and I hated it.

“No, I’m not going I have shows to catch up on.” I declared.

“How about we bet?” Jason offered.

Now I was listening. “What did you have in mind?”

“If our football team wins the homecoming game tonight, we go to the Charleston. If we lose, you can do whatever you want. Deal?” Jason explained.

For a second I was lost in his features. When you first look at someone like Jason Harvey, you get the general jist. A handsome teenager, whose very tall and very muscular. Jason started to take on different features as he kept talking. The first thing I noticed was that he had a beauty mark on his left eye. He also had a residing scar right under his extremely chiseled jaw. This boy looked like art. But that’s not the point. He made a bet, I wanted to keep the bet.

“Alright Jason Harvey. You have yourself a deal.” I agreed.

Kameron clapped his hands. “Now let’s get out of here before the dance team gets in here.”

~~~

A few hours later I was standing on the open field as the day ran into the night. All of the rich kids were taking their seats on the home bleachers, while the prep kids were taking their seats at the visitors bleachers.

We were going up against Rosa’s Institute for Advanced Minds. Their mascot was a cheetah who had no name, but they actually brought out a cheetah on the field, and I was not up for getting close to it but since I was announcing the teams I would have to mention the Rosa students.

Anyway, the band had started their drumroll ,and smoke machines were working overtime when the cheerleaders began to do they’re kicks and flips. I make sure I’m hitting my marks by yelling things really loud like a sports newscaster.

“Helloooooo Ronaldo!” I shouted into the microphone.

The students at our school went wild. The cheerleaders took their confetti guns and shot burst into our booths, as our pep team ran through the by the rails and through multi colored powder at our kids. The other school wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen to them. (The visiting team never was).

“Oh … and good evening to the Cheetahs.” I spoke softly.

The cheerleaders from across the field backflipped all the way to the other bleachers. Where I came up from behind them and started to sing “It’s Going Down” until I heard the traditionally pep rally yell from our side of the bleachers.

I pretended to look pleasantly surprised. Then I cuffed my ear towards the tunnel of which was beginning to rumble. A hush fell over the crowd like so many times before. Soon the rumbling became extremely loud and out came the Ronaldo football team. Everyone went wild, even the visiting team was tempted to go crazy.

I ran back to my spot on the middle of the field at the fifty yard line as the choir made a semi circle behind me and the band positioned themselves properly.

“Please stand for the National Anthem.”

The band began to take off with the heavy overture that I had composed myself. Then the choir began to start humming behind me the tune of America the Beautiful which I had matched specifically to go with my tenor voice.

Then I began to sing the National Anthem.

For some reason I was always looking to my right. Where Jason stood, with his right hand on his heart, and he was staring directly at me too. He was smiling, like I had done something right. I made sure to remember my lines but for some reason he began to make me lose track.

But only for a split second.

I ended the song with a eighth note hold and the crowd went crazy. I humbly bowed and then ran through the tunnel, taking one more peek at the amazing Jason Harvey. What I saw that moment was locked in my heart to this very day.

He winked at me.

With those violent blue eyes, he winked at me as if he had seen his mark and he was ready to go heavy. My heart stopped, and I could feel my chest close. I hadn’t eaten that day so I was probably just starving, but Jason through me so far left I couldn’t tell right from wrong.

I still can’t.

I went back into that tunnel with one thing on my mind.

Figuring out what the hell was going on with the Rothschild of Ronaldo Academy.

~~~~

I took my seat beside the squad which included Avery, the Vanguard Twins, and Kameron. They were all dressed up in our school colors, red, gold, and white. Screaming at the top of their lungs, they forgot I was even there until Kameron pointed out that Jason had already scored a touchdown within the first five minutes of the game.

The Ronaldo’s were violently competitive. The entire team had to pick one other physically intensive hobby to get into before they could join the team. Not only that but they had to have 20/20 vision, and if they didn’t they had to pass a blindfolded maze in which they were repeatedly subjected to things such as medicine balls and glass. The linebacker was a dancer, not only that but ballet. Where he performed several times in a traveling company. The kicker was ufc fighter, with a knockout ratio that was almost monumental. The runningbacks were all crossfit buddies, the receivers were marksmen junior champions, and the linemen was a stunt double for the Hulk.

The cheerleaders were all gymnastic champions, their coach had to be a professional cheerleader before they could coach. They were all paid, the cheerleaders were making enough to support small villages, and the coach had a west villa in Palm Springs and three ferraris that she named after greek gods.

Jason was a runner. He loved marathons, and he would train for hours, putting in extra time at the gym, just to make sure he looked good while running them. His hair products were imported from Spain, on his fan page, there’s an entire article about how he incorporated his love for rhythm into his footwork.

Yes, I stalked Jason on social media, it’s the modern world I can do whatever I want.

While I was thinking about all these things Jason and his team of world class super athletes scored touchdown after touchdown. So badly that the Cheetahs actually stopped cheering.

“I’m going to go get some nachos.” I said as I excused myself from the cold metal benches.

“I’ll come with.” Kameron said.

When we were in line at the food vendor Kameron continued to stare at me. He had this ogling look and I couldn’t figure out why. I shoved him weakly.

“What’s wrong with you?” I hissed.

He smiled and rolled his eyes at me. “I’m just trying to figure out what Jason sees in you.”

I looked around nervously. The people behind us were talking amongst themselves and the people in front of us were on their phones.

“Can you keep your voice down?” I whispered angrily.

“Are you okay, though?” He asked.

“No, Sparrow James isn’t picking up her phone and I haven’t talked to her since last night.” I answered.

“Well she has the Secret Service. You knew when you first started dating her two years ago thaat she was going to be like this so calm down.” Kam added.

I nodded. We were finally up to order.

To my surprise, the cashier was Sparrow James, wearing a Ranaldo crop top, and her curly hair was braided thick down her shoulder.

She smiled. “Oh hey babe!”

“Sparrow? What the hell are you doing working at the vendors?”

“Well, the school needed some more help and they asked student council to help out.” She answered.

“Oh, well in that case. Can I have two salted pretzels and some nachos please?” I asked.

She nodded and typed it into the register. “Can I see your student I.D?”

I smirked. “Why? You know me.”

She shook her head. “I need the I.D so I can give you the discount. What’s the number.”

“Two, four, six, zero, one.” I said.

She handed me my junk food and then winked at me. “Enjoy the game, Jean Valjean.”

Kameron laughed along with her while I sighed heavily. They had been playing that trick on me for years. This was the first time they didn’t burst into song though.

We went back to our seats and I passed the nachos around to all the good people I called my friends.

“What’s the score?” I asked Avery.

She was so vested in it, it took her a moment to realize I said something. “Forty to zero.”

I almost choked on my pretzel.

I looked down at the field and Jason, whose number was forty five, was on his left leg during the second quarter. No matter how hard the defense and offensive when at him, he always made it through far enough that it would only take him seconds to cross into the touchdown. They eventually took him out of the game because they wanted to put second string in for some game time.

Second string was as good as first string because there were no bad players on our football team.

As the clock on the third quarter drained I began to sweat like a sinner in church. I pulled Kam to the side to ask him a few questions.

“What’s Jason’s deal?” I asked.

Kam grinned, “I’m not telling you.”

Kameron was the bastion of secret holding. I once told him I stole two video games from the store. Kameron was arrested at eleven years of age, brought in for petty theft (my petty theft) and didn’t say a word. They let him off for lack of evidence, and my Dad made sure his record was clean. Kameron could keep a secret to the point of his own pain. He was so protective of his friends that if one of them were to get hurt, or were harassed by someone, he would take those two God-given hands of his and mess up the face of the inflicter.

Kameron was the designer version of a best friend.

“Why, why aren’t you telling me Kameron?” I growled.

He shook his head. Making sure he got in a few good tisk-tisks before walking back to his seat.

I had nothing on him to make me get what I wanted so I was in the hole until further notice.

The game ended and the Ronaldos won and I was a victim to the gambling system. The stadium went crazy and the cannons went off and the victory music started playing. It seemed as if everyone was intoxicated by the crazy victory that was witnessed tonight. I clapped and smiled, because I didn’t want to come off as stingy or petty.

But I was both of those things.

~~~

I pulled up to the Charleston with a newfound anger. I sat there, thinking about how I could just backup and leave. But I wasn’t that kind of person. I was the kind that followed through and didn’t let people down.

So I opened my butterfly doors, and walked out. Dressed in a two thousand dollar armani outfit. I walked through the doors to the most beautiful restaurant on this part of Beverly Hills. It had a huge twenties vibe, and it had an indoor balcony where people could sit and watch some of the best bands play on the floor below. Today lots of people from school were there. Cheerleaders, football players, rich kids with no sense of direction, celebrities that knew they didn’t have as much money as us. Music was playing from the speakers because they were changing sets.

Jason sat in a booth on the left side of the huge restaurant by the stage. Looking like a billion dollars, he noticed me almost as soon as I walked through the door. He sat with my squad, who had came earlier than me because I needed to change. They seemed to be having a good time even before I made my appearance. But Jason’s face lit up like fireworks when he saw me, I was still off put by this boy.

“Ryker!” He squealed. He had changed too, into a white beater and ripped black skinny jeans. He was truly an anomaly.

I put on a grand smile. “Congratulations on winning the game, Jase!”

“Well, I only bet on stuff if I know I’m gonna win.” He said.

I nodded. “Cool.”

I sat down next to Avery, who continued to nudge me in my rib until I threw her a sideways glance.

Kameron put his chin on his hands and gave me a goofy smile. “Glad you could make it Rykes.”

“Well yeah I’m a man of my word.” I said.

I looked around to see the chaos that was this place. It was filled to the brim with students. Some of which were taking pics by Jason’s seat so that they could tag him on their various social media pages. Jason was a local celebrity at this point.

“Did you guys order?” I asked.

Ross nodded from the other side of the table. “Yeah I ordered your favorite.”

“What’s his favorite?” Jason asked.

Why do you need to know? I thought.

“A virgin pina colada with fries and a medium rare double cheeseburger, lacking pickles.” Kameron chimed in. He was sitting next to Jason, who he occasionally whispered too.

I looked around. “Where the hell is Sparrow James?”

“She said she had some homework to make up.” Avery answered.

“What homework?” I asked.

Everyone shrugged and drank their drinks.

I rolled my eyes and brought out my phone, texting her:

Hey are you alright. Txt me?

The waiter came by and brought everyone’s food. I was hungry but I wasn’t expecting this big of a plate. Usually I would have thing bring me a sampler. If I was any less smart I would think that this was just my friends being generous but I knew the deal.

“Jason did you order this?” I said bravely.

He looked up in surprise, and everyone stopped what they were doing. This was the first time I had directly talked to Jason without any coxing. I was pretty sure Avery thought the world was coming to an end and Kameron was about to call my therapist.

“Um-”

“Because if you did you didn’t have too. I’m pretty sure I can order my own food.” I said.

I don’t know why but I was angry. Who did he think he was to order me food. Did he think I was incapable of ordering my own food. Did he think I wasn’t going to eat anything at all. He probably thought I was going to believe that Ross Vanguard ordered the meal in advance. But Ross knew that I hated people ordering for me, so it wasn’t him. It wasn’t Kameron because he gave up trying to make me eat. Avery doesn’t know about my eating problem. Lenor wasn’t even there, she was probably with her girlfriend. So the only person who could’ve ordered this was the new one.

“I told him it was a bad idea.” Ross rats.

His cheeks flush. “I just thought you might want something extra. I know you have a problem- wait I’m sorry I didn’t mean it that way!”

Immediately I was finished with everything.

I quietly picked up my wallet, phone and keys and walked towards the door. My heart was pumping and I felt as if I could strangle someone. But, Jason was persistent. Once I was outside, he ran out.

“Ryker I’m sorry.”

“Did you think, that since Kameron and I are friends, that that automatically gives you the privilege to tell my buisness!”

“Ryker-”

“Answer my fucking question!” I yelled.

He honestly looked very ashamed. “No.”

“Then why the hell do you think you could say that! You don’t know my life, you don’t me at all! Just because you read something on a tabloid or a website about me doesn’t me I’m not a fucking person. I can’t believe I even thought for a second that you were cool.”

I opened my door and got in. Jason looked really bad, like he was about to cry or something. But before I could tell a groupie came up to him and surrounded him. I then backed up out of there and left.

Before I knew it I was in tears, speeding down the street in a four hundred thousand dollar car.

When I arrived at my home in West Hollywood, I would again be met with disappointment. Now something one should know beforehand is that my father and mother were very busy people. My mom lived in Nice, France where she owned a mansion and ran a fashion empire. Her brand being Anna Mari, named after herself. My father of course was the owner of the largest tech giant in North America, Jackson Technologies Incorporated. He started the business when he was the same age as I.

Now, it might sound like being the son with a trust fund of four billion dollars seems exciting and fun. But it’s not, most of the time my dad isn’t there, I pay the bills, pay the employees, make sure there’s food in the fridge. I’m even in charge of the wine cellar. My mother can go weeks without talking to me. When she does call it’s to say that she can’t wait for me to visit and how my cousins want to see me. That’s code for I should be living in France with her. The funny thing is, she doesn’t even talk to me in English anymore, as if she’s separated her entire life away from the fact that she married an American boy.

The lights were all on when I came home. Which was odd because the maids check out at ten and it was much past three in the morning. My father was supposed to be away on a business trip to Tokyo for his unveiling event.

When I came inside I could hear the piano playing. With suspicion I tip toed down the hallway to where the source was coming from. Then all of a sudden I heard loud noises, and the slow rhythmic squeaking of our twelve hundred thousand dollar Italian leather sofa. Which I had payed for.

When I saw what I saw I very much wanted to unsee it.

My father had his head buried in the chest of some really blonde girl that looked half his age.

“Are you fucking kidding me dad!” I yelled.

Like a meerkat his head sprang up. I shielded my eyes because I had seen enough.

I walked up the stairs to my room. I was not spending another day in this plush hellhole. I opened my closet door and quickly began filling a duffel bag with clothes. I was so infuriated I hadn’t realized that my father was standing at the doorway, blocking my way out.

“I thought you were staying at the Vanguard’s house?” He said, so calmly, as if I hadn’t seen him having foreignication on living room set.

“Move.” I huffed.

He squinted his eyes at me. My dad was buff, a bit bigger than Jason. He was also pretty tall, and he had unchecked stubble and a sweaty forehead. I wanted to vomit, my stomach was doing flips and I couldn’t handle yelling at my dad right now if I wanted to keep the bile from spewing up like a geyser.

“What did you just say to me, Ryker?”

“I said get the hell out of my way!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. My throat feeling like sandpaper.

I could barely see him through my watered eyes. But he did move back so I could get through.

“Hey.” He grabbed my shoulder.

I whirled around and shoved him. “Don’t touch me.”

He advanced toward me in a fit of rage. Raising his fist up, but I didn’t flinch. It was like he was frozen, rage on his face but he was frozen.

“Go ahead.” I taunted. “My nose is insured for half a million dollars, these damn lips cost more than the down payment to your summer cottage. Oh, wouldn’t that be weird. Does Mom know about her. If I fly home right now, and Mom sees this, you’re not getting a damn penny in the divorce. Not a cent! So if you wanna lay hands on me, do it now! So I can pay tuition myself.”

My hands were shaking, my throat was numb. I could feel the blood in my ears, the heavy breaths of both of us as we stood there. I looked stable, but I was seconds away from blacking out.

He pointed to the door. “Get the hell out of my house.”

I spit on his shoes.

Then left with my last piece of dignity.

I took my Lamborghini and drove it fast. Speeding through stop signs, breaking traffic laws, running red lights. I had no fear whatsoever. Then I pulled over.

It had come to my realization that I was a mess.

I had nothing to hold onto anymore. A few memories, a faint smell. The sounds of laughter and the fading touch of yesterday. It was dark out, and I was looking at the ocean in silence. I layed my head back, and breathed deep breaths. Waiting for something to happen, good or bad. I opened my glove box and got out some pills. I took them dry. Usually I would have water but I think my tears are enough. I sat there and I waited for them to kick in.

That ugly beauty. That chaotic neutral toxin, that was a narcotic. I felt numb enough, calm enough, awake enough. To think, that’s what happened when I took drugs, I could think. They had that odd effect on me. I didn’t see the Devil or feel my skin melting off. I could think clearly when I was high. Whether it was from pills, or drugs, or the occasional chainsmoke.

I took a few more minutes to stare at the moon resting on the hip of the ocean. I felt like it was staring at me, with a white pearly glow. The waters a deep crystal blue, rippling towards me. The cars, rumbling past me. I felt in motion and at rest at the exact same time.

I turned the car back on and headed to Kameron Kastle’s residence. He lived alone, so he wouldn’t mind me staying the night. He had a guest room, and although it was a pretty small house for a price tag set in the seven digits, it had a gorgeous view of the Santa Monica shore.

I loved it.

~~~

When I got there I soon realized that Satan wasn’t done with me yet.

In his driveway sat a 1998 Ford Mustang, refurbished. It looked brand new, royal blue with white racing stripes. New shiny tires, replace roof with a tiger on top. Rims sparkling. I looked into the window, and the seats were brand new leather. The dashboard was taken out and replaced with mahogany wood and leather stitching. A pair of blue dice on the rear view. The interior looked nothing like the originally, the stereo was brand new. Everything but the car itself had been replaced.

No doubt in my mind, it belonged to Jason Harvey, the quarterback. Also the other best friend of my best friend. The demon who spew all my secrets out like lukewarm water. He sat his pitch fork in the God fearing home of my beloved Kameron.

I had a key so I opened up the door myself. There was an almost immediate right turn into the living room. The lights were off but the T.V was still on and the surround sound was working overtime. I could see Jason’s blonde locks sitting on the couch spread eagle. Kameron sat on the other couch, a bowl of Munchies on his lap. They were watching some kind of horror film.

Kameron saw me first, his eyes flashed with surprise. He put down his bowl and smiled.

“Ryker, what brings you here at two in the morning.”

Jason shot up, dusting off his white beater which had cheesepuff dust on it. He had the audacity to smile at me. Like literally grin ear to ear.

I shook my head at Kam, we had established this a long time ago that if one of us shook our head it was because we didn’t want to talk about it. I sat down on the other side of the room, kind of dazed. I could see from the corner of my eye that Jason was just staring at me. I allowed him to do this for two more minutes before I turned to him and frowned.

He looked away without another word.

I sat and watched the movie, not really paying attention to it. I wasn’t gonna fall asleep because the drugs were still working and I was excessively hungry.

“Hey, Rykes, can you get the jumbo marshmallows out of the refrigerator please?” Kameron asked. He basically read my mind.

I nodded. “Sure.”

While I was in the kitchen, digging through everything there was. Jason came in. I had my head buried in the refrigerator looking for drunk food when I finally found what I was looking for. Hazelnut spread, bananas, and whipped cream.

I didn’t want to turn around and look at Jason so I just assembled my sugar-coma-sandwich on the counter.

“Hey, Ryker.” His voice low and raspy.

I didn’t answer.

“Look, I’m really sorry for spilling your business like that at the Charleston. Can you forgive me?” He continued.

I got a kick out of that one so I laughed.

“I’m serious, I had no business telling people-”

“I’ve had a really bad day. Extremely bad like oh-my-god-you-survived-that-shit bad. So please can you just … leave me alone for the next six to eight years? Thank you.”

I then walked straight past him into the living room with both the junk food and my sanity still intact.

Kameron and Jason didn’t say a word to me throughout the rest of the movies marathon. It was around four when Kam and Jason decided to call it quits and head to bed. I figured that Jason was just going to take the guest room and I was going to have to sleep on the couch. Which smelled like cologne and baby oil.

Kameron had said goodnight while Jason was still in the living room with me. I was putting the pillows on the couch and laying the sheets to rest on when Jason cleared his throat. I looked at him, still angry, bitter, and uncomfortable as I was hours before.

“Hey, um. You could sleep in the guest room if you’d like?” He said softly.

I shook my head. “It’s fine. You were here first.” I mumbled.

“Look, I’ve been an asshole. So could you just please accept this one thing and take the guest room?” He urged.

I sighed, looking deep into the ocean blue eyes. This boy was an anomaly. Even when he was tired and in pajama pants, he still looked like he was a prince.

“Fine.” I agreed.

He smiled, and we walked past each other without another word. I walked into the guest room, getting under the covers. I rolled over to see the calm ocean, beating across the shore. The moon still in it’s place, the sky as smooth as silk.

I attempted going to sleep, but I continued to toss and turn for the next hour or so. Then I decided to get up and get some tea. When I came over, Kameron always had tons of tea stashed in his cupboard just for me. Chi Tea was my favorite, my grandpa on my dad’s side was from East Africa. When he came over he would always make tea. He stopped talking to my dad around last December, when he found out my father was a huge jerk to me.

I walked through the hallway, to get to the kitchen I had to go directly through the living room. Jason was sleeping on the couch.

His blonde hair that was always so kept together was a tumble mess. He was shirtless, and he had such a chiseled physique even I was envious. His breaths were quiet but you could see the steady rise and fall of his chest. He had this really cute twitch to his nose every once and awhile. He didn’t drule either, even though his mouth was half open. He had nice long eyelashes, and a button up nose.

Anyway, I was suppose to get some tea. I didn’t want to wake up Lucifer so I quietly tip toed passed the couch (let me remind you I was still a bit high). I ended up coughing and before he could realize it was me I ran through the arch and straight into the kitchen. I turned on the stove top light, and grabbed a pot from under the sink. Then I grabbed twelve bags of tea, and set them in the boiling water. I then proceeded to add cinnamon, sugar, honey, and mint into the pot.

I stirred slowly, until I heard the interruption of someone yawning. I turned around. Low and behold, it was Jason Harvey. A sleepy one with messy hair and a six pack.

“What are you making?” He said.

“Drunk tea.” I answered.

“Nice can I have some?” He asked.

I was not in the mood. But I just couldn’t say no to him. I pointed to the table.

“It’ll be ready in about twelve minutes.”

Jason waddled to the chair and sat down. I returned to the pot to stir it.

“So what happened today? Were you mad because of me?” Jason asked.

I sighed. “No.”

“Were you mad because of Kameron?”

“No.”

“Then why were you mad?”

I began to drain the tea, and filter out the leaves. “I have issues.”

“Don’t we all?” Jason added.

“Sure, but not all issues are created equal.” I said.

I took the two cups and gave one to him. Then I sat down and ran my fingers through my hair. I had never been this close to him before. He looked even better up close, which was a bit astronomical. How does someone get more attractive the closer you get to them? Well in Jason Harvey’s case, he just was.

“Jason, why are you so interested in me?” I asked. I was coming down on the drugs and this was the part where I had no filter.

Jason looked nervous, probably because it was five in the morning and it was just him and I.

“I don’t know. I mean, I’ve been friends with Kameron for a hella long time and I’ve barely seen you around. It’s like the first time I’ve actually talked to you. Freshman year you didn’t seem to want to really talk to me. You looked so busy, and you had all those friends. I mean I attempted to talk to you several times but I was always curved. Then I started talking to Avery, thinking that I would be able to talk to you, but that didn’t work. Avery and the Vanguard twins always had their eyes on you. I mean, everytime I talk to them they're always talking about you. How funny you are, how talented you are, how hardworking and handsome and amazing of a person you are. So I was like, ‘I could finally talk to Ryker Jackson’. People always spoke so highly of you behind your back, I just had to know.” He answered.

I was so astonished. Jason Harvey just inadvertently called me handsome.

“Si, so you wanted to be friends with me?” I said.

He shook his head. “Well, yeah. I guess I just got off on the wrong foot. I don’t know why but you make me kind of nervous. Like when I’m around you my brain just turns into soup. My heart starts beating really hard. I f. eel like I’m about to faint. The air turns to shards of glass. My tongue feels weird.”

“That’s weird.” I said.

I took a sip of my tea, as I watched Jason stare the flower vase. He was in thought, I could tell. Thinking about something that I had not the slightest idea of.

“So what’s your problem?” He said.

I was caught off guard. The way he said it wasn’t nice at all. Kind of rude. Like he was upset and angry. I felt as if I was looking myself in the mirror. In the brief time that I had known Jason, he had never ever been angry but he looked very angry now.

“Well my Dad is cheating on my mom. I have an eating disorder. I still don’t know why my girlfriend hasn’t called me in days. I’m a mess and I’m sorry.”

Before I knew what was happening. I felt the warmth of large, plump lips pressed against mine. Tasting like cinnamon, mint, and honey. Every doubt, worry, and fear, left me in that fleeting moment. The world didn’t seem so bad, the sky seemed more blue. I could feel his hands slowly making their way up my arms, turning them to noodles. He weakened me with just his lips.

I didn’t want that kind of power over me.

I pushed him away after a few seconds.

“You can’t do that.” I stated.

He raised his eyebrows. “Why?”

“You can’t just walk into my life and ruin things for me. You just can’t. So go find someone else.”

I took my tea and left the room.

Knowing his lips were the only thing I could feel or taste.

~~~

When the sun finally came up I decided to skip everything that I usually did and opted for food again instead. I put on some clothes and hurried to the kitchen so I could make myself a breakfast burrito before I went to the park and ran my five miles.

But of course God wasn’t letting me off that easy.

Kameron, in his emoji pajamas and bright red t-shirt, was pouring oatmeal into the same pot that began my adultery. Jason, was sitting at that light oak wood table that began my obsession. His lips sipping from the same blue cup I had drank out of only a few hours ago. His lips in a romance over the cold tea he drank from.

“I really didn’t think you guys would be up at seven o’clock.” I said.

Kameron laughed, “Well I have a photoshoot to go to, and I don’t wanna go on an empty stomach.”

Jason and I made eye contact for exactly seven seconds between me walking to the refrigerator.

“How did you sleep?” Kam said.

“Very little.” I answered.

“How about you, Jason?” Kam asked again.

“Same here didn’t get much sleep.” Jason said.

I block Kameron’s view of me with the refrigerator door and glared at Jason, who raised his perfectly shaped eyebrows at me. It was like he had no shame. He even smiled, his jowls at work making me feel even a bit more awful than usual.

“Well, I slept like a sloth. Dreamed about Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Hudson dancing, with me in between like an icecream sandwhich. It was God-like in nature, but then I realized that I’m single and have a trip to Milan in a few weeks. So I was even happier!” Kam gloated.

I nodded. “Sounds exciting.”

I zipped up my track jacket and slipped on my running shoes. I took a few good sips of orange juice.

“I’ll probably be back when you leave so don’t set the alarm.” I warned.

Kam nodded, “Alright.”

I then took out the front door up a trail that I had grown accustomed to. Believe it or not, last night wasn’t the first time that I had stormed out of the house in a fit of rage. This had happened multiple times beforehand. My father was a very busy man, so he was barely ever home. He would leave for months, and I was so responsible that he really didn’t care to leave me without an au pair or a babysitter of any sort. When he did come home, it was like living with a complete stranger. He was extremely distant, we didn’t have that much in common besides me looking a bit more like him than my mother, and he treated me more like a chore than an actual son.

Don’t get me wrong. My father cared for me, he wanted to make sure that I was as best off as possible. He would attend my recitals, and my speeches. He was there when I unveiled my first clothing line in Paris. He even sat next to my mother, who was also in the fashion show. He told me he loved me, and he would take me to the movies. My father would jog with me in the winter and I talk about important things with him like about politics and how he felt about certain things.

But for some reason, I just didn’t feel honest around him. I was always trying to hold myself up to a higher importance and a better standard that I thought would be necessary to live up to his expectations. So I would end up taking all the stress, anger, discomfort, and lies, and just bury them way down deep inside of me.

So when we did end up getting into an argument, it borderlined on violent. Waves of repeated anger would just spill out of me and everything that I so desperately tried to contain would just expel out of my system. Then I would leave.

Usually, I would call my mom and get on a jet to Nice, France. Where my mom lived. Before I a few weeks ago, I used to believe that the only reason my mom was staying in France was because she wanted to be closer to my half-brothers, and also so that she could manage her fashion empire. Now I know that my parents aren’t exactly even on speaking terms anymore.

I would spend weeks in France, with my mom. She was nice, but she never listened to me. I would have things, she would take me places with my brothers, who were both nineteen. Sometimes we would look at designs together, and complain about international shipping. My mom never spoke English around me though, only French. She didn’t like to talk about my father, and she didn’t like to talk about my problems. When I did talk to her about my problems, she would just nod and then immediately talk about somethings else.

Then, I would fly back to L.A. make up all of my missed homework and tip off the paparazzi, then I would most likely buy oxi from Dani and get on with my plastic life.

But this time was different.

I knew this was going to happen again because believe it or not I learn quick. I had been looking at places to rent at and I had finally found one, so after my morning jog I was going to go get some stuff from my father’s house to ship it to my new apartment.

I had been lost in thought for so long that I didn’t notice the steady beat of footsteps running behind me. I turned to see Jason, jogging right next to me. I rolled my eyes.

“I literally can’t get more than five minutes away from you.” I said.

“Well we need to talk.” Jason asked. He looked serious for once, he wasn’t really smiling.

I tried to run faster than him, but he was pretty good at getting up to pace with me.

“Run with me.” I said.

He grinned.

I took off full speed, I had been running for around two years and my thighs were looking mighty fine. Jason was also a runner, so both of us were evenly matched. With every step and every breath in and out I felt alive again.

I ran faster and faster and faster.

Soon I wasn’t even thinking, everything opened up for me. I felt everything inside of me working like a V12 engine. I felt like I was walking on air, the wind rushing off my skin, the breaths in and out feeling like thunder, the smell of lilac and gunsmoke in the air. Everything felt alive.

When I finally stopped, I turned around to see where Jason was.

He was still trying to catch up. When he finally caught up to me he was panting like a newbie.

“Oh come on, track star. That was like a mile run.” I mocked.

He was still panting. “We … ran … six … miles.”

I was surprisingly confused. “We did not run six miles, Jason. Come on.”

He finally caught his breath and stood up. “We’ve been running for thirty minutes.”

I was ignorant to the fact that I was running so long and so fast because I had always ran that fast and that long. It had just become longer and faster. My uncle described it as my “rage run”. When I was younger I ran with my uncle when my father wasn’t around. Every time I did so I would go on a huge rant and fit and he would just allow it to happen. Every time it happened I would completely blank and just run as fast as I could. Soon enough, I wasn’t even yelling … I was just running. I lost a lot of weight and got a lot of numbers.

“Sorry I guess I was rage running?” I apologized.

“What’s rage running?” Jason wheeze.

“Running when you’re very emotional.” I answered.

He walk-limped over to me. His hands on his hips and his chest sucking in air like a train.

“So we need to talk.” He continued.

“About what?” I said.

“About last night?” He huffed.

I shook my head. “There’s really nothing to talk about.”

“Yes there is.” He insisted.

“Fine.” I waved my hand. “Talk about it, if that’s what helps you.”

“That kiss … it meant everything to me. Maybe it didn’t mean much to you, but to me it meant a lot. I have gone through so much shit lately, and last night I was reminded that I wasn’t the only person struggling.”

“That ‘kiss’ didn’t mean anything, Jason. I have a girlfriend, remember?” I dodged.

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “You don’t even know where she is.”

I shot him an aggravated glance. “I don’t have to keep track of her all the time.”

“Really?” Jason took his opening. “Homework? None of our teachers give out homework on Homecoming Week, it’s a tradition. You really think that she’s doing homework … or maybe she doing something or someone else. Huh?”

“Damn you, Jason Harvey.” I cursed.

He took it jokingly and smiled handsomely. “You don’t know what I know, Ryker Jackson.”

He then took his water bottle and walked back of towards Kameron’s house and started jogging.

I had lied again, that kiss was something but I couldn’t possibly tell him that, it would ruin my reputation.

I sighed heavily and started to jog back with him. If I was going to get to the bottom of this I had to go to Sparrow James’ house.

The worst decision I ever made.

[salmenzo]

Weekly Update - Monday, March 1, 2021

Commitment - Conviction - Consideration

“Genius is eternal patience.”

Michelangelo

Good Morning,

I hope that everyone enjoyed the rainy weekend. I am hopeful that the snow is behind us and that warmer weather will soon be the norm. We had a taste of it this past week. I was unable to get outside, but I heard it was beginning to feel like spring. 

I do want to remind everyone that we need to continue to wear masks at all times. We know mask fatigue has set in, but we cannot let our guards down now. Please wear them in our schools and in your lives outside of school. Even though more people have been vaccinated in our state, it does not mean that there is less of a presence of the virus in our communities. Please remain vigilant for your sake and that of those in your families and our school communities. 

Vaccination Update

I imagine many of you got up very early this morning to try to schedule a vaccine appointment. Please let us know if you were able to do so. We will remove you from our list as we continue to work to accommodate the requests of all staff. As I shared in the email yesterday, we will be vaccinating 200 people this week. Those individuals will be contacted tomorrow morning with their time slot. They will have until Wednesday at 10 am to accept their appointment. If they do not, we will move on to another name of the list. 

We know that everyone wants to be vaccinated as soon as possible. We are working to try to find other resources to expedite the process. As I shared yesterday, it was very disappointing to not receive any additional allocation specifically for educators this week. This confused me since the Governor made such a bold adjustment to his initial vaccination plan to move educators up on the list. One would have assumed that would mean requests for additional vaccine would have been accommodated on some level without having to take doses away from the general public. But this obviously was not the case. 

Again, I know you will hear of towns that are planning to vaccinate their entire staff in a matter of a week's time. I cannot speak to how that is being achieved. I can, however, assure you that the Wallingford Health Department has done and is doing everything they can to accommodate our needs as quickly as possible. I will keep you updated on any new developments moving forward. Like other districts, we were prepared to announce full distance learning days to facilitate the vaccination of our entire or a significant portion of the staff at once. Unfortunately, at this time, that is on hold while we await the necessary quantity to do so. 

With all this stated, that is why we approached this process the way we did. You have all options open to you. You can go to the open market or wait for our clinics. As I shared before, we wanted to approach it in this manner to provide you with the greatest alternatives. 

We will get through this.  The Governor has committed to providing the first dose to all educators by March 31. Today is only day one. I am hopeful this timeline will be met for all of us in an equitable manner.

Instructional Committee Meeting 

Tonight, there is an Instructional Committee meeting at 6:30 pm. Here is the link to the agenda and the YouTube information. A variety of policies will be discussed. The Board also plans to reopen its conversation regarding the facility study. 

Electric Buses 

You may have read that the district is working with Durham School Services to write a grant to fund electric school buses. The key to this becoming a reality for the district is that we cannot take on any of the expense for these buses. Durham is aware of this and is working to make this a reality for our community. I will keep everyone posted as we learn more. 

Center for Innovation and Design

Work continues on the Center for Innovation and Design at Mary G. Fritz Elementary School. We have received several new donations and a grant to help complete the next phase of work. We would like to thank the PTOs from Mary G. Fritz, Highland, Parker Farms, and Cook Hill for their donations. Also, our new corporate sponsor, allnex, and a second donation from the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce. We cannot wait to have students return to the center. It is an amazing resource for the entire community. 

Commitment - Conviction - Consideration

Here are this week’s shout outs. Thanks again for your continued hard work during these challenging times. Normalcy is approaching. We all need to hang in and stay the course. 

I wanted to take a moment to highlight Stephanie Niezgorski during this difficult time. She is an educator that goes above and beyond to meet the needs of her students both "in person" and "virtually." She invests so much time in planning for targeted explicit instruction and has moved a second grade student forward in his reading  from a 1G to 2B in IRLA! This growth has also been seen through results of PAST, CORE Phonics, STAR Early LIteracy, and STAR Reading. He is moving from a tier 3 back to tier 2 and is feeling very confident and successful! Awesome success!

I also wanted to highlight another instance where her intuition and empathy for the wellbeing of our students and families is amazing. Stephanie was working in a virtual lesson and was able to see that something was very wrong in the environment and asked the child and parent if they were OK. This opened the door and a parent disclosed a crisis whereas basic needs, safety, and  security were not being met. The parent was amazed that the reading interventionist noticed this in her child's face and is so grateful that she went above and beyond. We have been able to connect the family to community resources and hopefully they are on the road to a better place. We are so lucky to have her in Wallingford Public Schools... a true professional!

I want to take this opportunity to highlight one of our amazing teachers this year.  Miss Wolfrum has been an inspirational and motivating teacher for our son.  She exudes a passion and love of learning that is evident to all her students and often teaches without students knowing she is developing their skills or pushing them to reach farther. However, the most amazing thing for us as parents is to watch her embrace our son's accommodations allowing him to access the curriculum.  When the assistive technology team reviewed accommodations, she not only understood how important it was for our son to receive them but saw value in implementing one accommodation as a best practice for her entire class. Her approach to teaching each student and using best practices in the classroom for all students has made our son feel like he's learning like every other student.  That's true inclusion and we are very grateful for her efforts. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our experience.

Mrs. Spagnola,

I saw how patient you were with all of your students on the snow days. You are a saint and please know we appreciate everything you do for our son. He is so much more confident in everything he does including reading! He is so proud to share his schoolwork and what he learns each day. I always told my husband it only takes 1 exceptional teacher to change how a child feels about school and now he gets it. Thank you for being that teacher for our wonderful (sometimes difficult ) boy.

Since my district decided on traditional snow days this year, I was home doing chores yesterday while Stephen did his virtual school snow day. I overheard some of his English class with Ms. Sagnella. I was impressed by her efforts to keep students engaged with the double challenge of a virtual format and their association of snow with getting a day off. In this 8:30am class, she engaged her students through her caring demeanor, with a gentleness in her voice that helped welcome them to the day. She also drew them in to her lesson on rhetoric by having them read President George W. Bush's speech on 9/11 to address a frightened and confused nation. Though, as she acknowledged, these students weren't even born yet (!! making me feel old right now), they all knew and understood how powerful this moment was in the lives of their parents and their country. From what I could hear as I was working in the other room, the students were extremely involved in the discussion. Ms. Sagnella took a challenging situation and turned it into a warm, caring discussion that involved all the students and created a sense of community despite the physical distance. 

I have been especially impressed with Ms. Sagnella this year because I know that she was not originally planning to be a classroom teacher this year, but instead if I remember correctly, a library media specialist at Lyman? Due to Covid, she switched schools and roles. She rose to the challenge, dusted off her metaphorical binder of teaching strategies from past years, and made the best of this situation. She really shows that she cares about her students, which is especially important this year. I am very thankful that Stephen has had her as a teacher this year.

I wanted to take a moment to send a quick note. I can’t thank Mrs. Harris enough last year or Mrs. Ricci and Ms. Kelley enough this year for the AMAZING job they are doing with our son. Last year when my husband and I made the then difficult decision to keep him back in first grade I wasn’t sure how this year would go but he has come so far and I know WE wouldn’t have been able to succeed without their love, support and dedication. I’m sure you know what wonderful teachers they are (well in Ms. Kelley’s case will be soon) and they are an essential part of why people love MYB so much. I’m sure they’ve been recognized in the past but in a world where so much negative is always brought to attention I want to make sure that the positivity out shines it. Thank you for having staff that gives their all and more to kids.

Make it a great week!

Sal

Dr. Salvatore F. Menzo

Superintendent

Email - smenzo@wallingfordschools.org

Twitter - @SalMenzo

Wallingford Public School District

 Wallingford Public School System Mission

To inspire through innovative and engaging experiences that lead all learners to pursue and discover their personal best.

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[jackblankhsh]

A Blood Red Reindeer Knows part 9:  The City Sleeps Below

At the heart of the North Pole there's a skyscraper.  City ordinance makes it illegal to build anything higher, so it towers over the metropolis.  That's why the North Pole is such a sprawl.  The city can only grow out not up.  

 I remember being a kid, looking up at that mile high spire thinking, "Someday I'll fly off that roof.  Then they'll respect me."

 When that dream died it went hard, and took the kid inside with it.  Yet even now lights at the top are blinking red and green, promising anyone looking up he's in there.  A part of me wishes to be that kid again, though I know it's better not to be.  What's coming isn't for children.  

 The pieces are falling into place.  I don't like the picture, but that doesn't change the view.  In a way, I almost knew from the start.  Still, I keep hoping I'm not smart enough to see what's really happening.  I want to be wrong.

 Speeding through streets on my bike the snow whips my face.  I take a route through the industrial part of town.  There's less chance of being seen.  However, I forgot the time of year.

 The factories are in full swing.  Black smoke chugs into the sky hiding the moon.  Low level elves loiter by doors.  Chugging on cinnamon sticks they hope to burn out the part of their brain that knows the future is a dead end.  

 Down an alley snowmen chase a group of frightened toys.  Looks like panicked deliveries that've probably heard not everyone gets into the arms of children.  Busted out of their packaging, they're making a run for it, though they've yet to realize there's nowhere to go.  

 I catch a few glances. However, no one's concern is me. Making holiday quotas is the real focus here.  Those who don't disappear.  

 It isn't long before I'm on the main stretch cruising my way into Claus Concourse.  The front of the building is lined by Tin Soldiers, and there's a hundred more inside.  Granted, there's no one stupid enough to go after Big Red, but there's plenty crazy enough to try.  

 One of the first things we're taught as kids is Santa can't ever die.  If he does, everything his magic created goes with him; the North Pole dies.  Some folks think it's just propaganda to prevent an assassination attempt, though it's only the crazies who're willing to risk finding out.  Me, I've got a sick suspicion it's true.  One more way for Big Red to lord it over us -- we owe him our very existence.

 I stop a good distance from the entrance.  Tin Soldiers are already taking aim.  I get off the bike.  Hands in the air I approach slowly.  The Tins radio in, reporting my arrival.  

 Soon enough a Tin Captain comes marching out of the building.  Decked out in dark red and green, the uniform marks her as Big Red's private guard.  A simple gesture, and the other Tins surround me.

 "We're going to frisk you," she says.  

 I shrug, "Figured as much."

 Another gesture. Two Tins approach me.  One points a rifle, the other goes to work patting me down.  I make no moves, sarcastic or otherwise.  There's a good chance these Tins are just looking for an excuse to fire.  

 When it's announced I'm clean she says, "I'm Captain Andersen."  

 "Got a feeling you already know me."

 She says, "We've actually been expecting you."

 Her hand signals get me cuffed, and hustled inside.  We board an elevator, jammed in shoulder to shoulder.  Captain Andersen uses a key, and the elevator starts heading to the top.

 She glances over her shoulder, "I don't normally doubt him, but when he said you were coming here..."

 I chuckle, "Ya know there is a limit to that trick."

 "How's that?" she asks.

 "He knows what we're doing, but never what we're thinking."

 She replies, "Whatever you're thinking keep this in mind."  She turns, "You do anything I don't like, I will kill you."

 I smile, "Fair enough."

 Driving here I figured on one of two outcomes.  Since the Tins didn't shoot me on sight that leaves the second of my guesses still in play. Call it a reckless gamble, but when the only cards in hand are good for a bluff, everything is a risk.  If I ever want some semblance of peace with Cari Bou in the Outskirts I have to go all in.  

 The elevator pings. The Tins march off, and I go as they prod, no resistance.  A black marble hallway stretches on towards towering art deco doors.  Few ever get to see this place.  So few in fact, that as the doors part the bulk of the Tins stay behind.  Only the four in colors matching Captain Andersen may enter.

 Captain Andersen pulls out a pistol.  Keeping a smart distance -- close enough to eye any subtle movements, but not close enough for me to grab her gun -- she gestures for me to go in.  I take a step.

 She says, "Remember what I said."

 "I already feel the bullet."

 Darkness fills the grand office.  Along one wall is a fireplace large enough to throw a full grown body.  On the mantle above it is the horned skull of a giant goat. Enormous leather chairs stand in front of the fire, their backs to the room.  Bookshelves ring most of the interior from floor to ceiling.  The secrets in those books are priceless.  A glass trophy case fills one corner.  Its contents seem to dance in the fire light: the relics of past victories; pieces of defeated foes; mystical awards from other legends.  One wall, though, is just a great glass doorway leading out onto a snow covered balcony.  

 In front of it is a mammoth desk.  A lamp casts a low light across papers of all sorts.  There are modern pages scattered among ancient scrolls.  In a crystal ashtray overflowing with cigar butts smolders another coal.  It rises, floating in the dark, and as my eyes adjust I see him sitting behind the desk.  Puffing fires that burning cherry, briefly illuminating Big Red's face.  Smoke and his beard mingle, ringing his head in a white wreath.  

 He speaks softly, yet his voice carries across the room, "How're you doing Rudy?  It's been a long time."

 "Not long enough."

 Big Red chews the cigar, a strange sort of grin on his face.  

 Getting up he comes around the desk saying, "You always were a smart ass.  I kind of liked that about you."

 "Glad to know someone appreciated it," I say.  

 There's a scent in the air.  I can't quite place it, the aroma of Big Red's cigar is masking it.

 Chugging away he saunters towards the fireplace.  I see the familiar crimson suit, shiny boots, and fur trimming.  

 Staring into the fire he says, "I'm curious what brings you here."

 The whole ride over I wondered the same thing.  Figuring out the code words, King Crimson, made things a little too certain.  A part of me tried to ignore how some of the pieces fit.  Hell, it's possible I could've spared myself a lot of trouble if I listened to my gut, but some facts a fellow doesn't want to see.  Knowing I don't have all the time in the world, I decide to lay it out plain and simple.

 I say, "Look, here's the deal.  Someone is planning to make a move on you, and they're going to hit soon.  I don't know who all's involved, but it's some heavy hitters.  They're using the Krampus name to get people onboard."

 Big Red looks up at the goat skull.  For the first time I notice a bullet hole in it.  

 Pointing at the skull Big Red says, "He would be happy to know, all these years later, people still fear him."

 Hints of perfume, baked apple and cinnamon -- I take a step forward.  The click of a hammer tells me to stop.  I freeze.

 Big Red says, "You haven't told me anything I don't already know."

 Snorting I say, "Because you always know everything."

 "Almost." He winks at me.  

 Then he glances at one of the leather chairs.  A figure rises, wrapped in a red dress.  For a moment I don't recognize the face, then I realize it's Vixen.

 She says, "Hello Rudy."

 Big Red chuckles, his belly jiggling.  He says, "Don't look so surprised Rudy.  What'd you think was going on?"

 I'm still thinking it, though I'm glad to have my doubts.  

 I say, "Vixen, what the fuck is going on?"

 She says, "I'm sorry.  I couldn't tell you everything.  Santa thought it was better that way."

 That doesn't sound like Vixen, but I keep listening.  She tells me she found out about the Krampus cult, and told Big Red.  The two hatched a plot for her to join the group.

 I cut in, "So he risks your ass to find out who's against him."

 "And you wonder why you were never a flier?" Big Red says.

 I reply, "No one should die for you."

 Vixen comes near me. She puts a hand on my arm. Knowing she's fine calms me down, however, there's a look in her eye I can't decipher.  The closer she gets to me the more I notice a figure lurking in the shadows.  It doesn't take a genius to guess it's her bodyguard, Roy Glitterspark.  He's inching closer in case I do something he doesn't like.    

 Vixen says, "It was my choice.  They wanted to kill him because of the Shortage.  There's a lot of people who think it could've been avoided."

 I ask sarcastically, "How does a place made of magic run out of food?"

 Big Red glares at me. Flicking ash in the fire he thumps back to his desk.  No response is response enough.  

 Vixen goes on, "I joined the Krampus cause, but they never really trusted me.  That's why I sent you my letter."

 "Against my instructions," Big Red says.

 Vixen grabs my hands. There's something weird about the way she fondles my wrists.  My cuffs feel loose.

 She says, "But you're here now Rudy.  That's all that matters."

 She smiles, and I smile back.  

 "Lot of good sending for you did," Big Red says.  

 Vixen steps away from me, heading over to Big Red's desk.  

 Getting a cigarette from an ivory case she remarks, "The snow looks so beautiful tonight."

 I glance out the window. She's not lying.  Even knowing what the city is like, from up here it looks beautiful.  I turn to get a better look, and my cuffs fall away.

 Glitterspark shouts, "He's loose!"

 A soft thwip sounds followed by the thunk of tin getting struck.  The sound repeats.  Half recognizing it -- a silenced pistol -- I get low.  Sure enough, I barely duck a bullet from Captain Andersen.  Next thing I know shots are going off all around the room. Tins are dropping, and out the corner of my eye I see Glitterspark firing at them.  

 My immediate instinct is to run to Vixen.  Hurrying toward her I see Vixen reach up her dress.  She pulls a small caliber automatic out of a holster strapped to her thigh.  She shoots Big Red in the knee then the belly.  He collapses in a quivering pile, blood spurting out his stomach.  Then Vixen starts firing on the Tins.  They're mostly focused on Glitterspark, who's already taken out the majority with those first surprise head shots.  It doesn't take long for the rest to fall.  

 "The door!" Vixen calls out, but Glitterspark is already on the move.  He drops the empty pistol.  From under his trench coat he produces a submachine gun.  The door opens letting in a stream of Tins coming to check on the noise.  Without mercy the nutcracker mows them down.  

 My brain is spinning, trying to get away from the facts, but they're a black hole sucking me in. Knowing what probably comes next, I spin around.  Charging at Glitterspark I scoop up a dead Tin's rifle on the run.  My eyes still aren't top notch after Kung Fu Karl's beating, so instead of aiming I spray and pray at Glitterspark.  I can't tell if I hit him, but it doesn't stop me from charging forward.

 The rifle clicks -- empty.  Glitterspark turns, raising his machine gun.  I knock it out of his hands using the empty rifle as a club.  In one smooth move Glitterspark disarms me, almost snapping wrist in the process.  

 Next thing I know he's battering me with precise blows.  Each strike is a surgical sledge tearing me down.  I've been in a few one sided fights over the years.  I get some solid punches in, but it's painfully obvious I'm on the losing end side.  Even if I were a hundred percent, whatever I've got going for me as a brawler is no match for Glitterspark.  He's a trained killer, blood drunk and thirsty for more.  

 Then luck shines on me. I notice him favoring one side. Whether me, or a Tin, someone managed to plug a bullet in Glitterspark's flank.  Fainting a series of jabs I get him to expose the wound, and deliver a set of vicious hooks to the body.  

 The fight took us all over Big Red's office, and where we're at gives me a chance.  With Glitterspark off balance, clutching at his wound, I grab him by the shoulders.  We spin, and it dawns on him too late what I'm planning.  Stopping short I plant a foot, tripping the nutcracker as we twirl, and he tumbles into the roaring fireplace.  

 He rolls out in flames. He looks like a Yule log scrambling to escape the fireplace -- screaming.  Then Vixen floats by me.  She points her gun, and puts one right in Glitterspark's head.  Seeing her there, standing in the firelight, I don't recognize her.

 She sighs, "I assume you have questions."

 Panting I reply, "Sadly, I don't."

 She smirks, "You were always smarter than people gave you credit."

 Big Red moans. Vixen struts back to him.  She glares down at the fat bastard.  Coughing up blood, Big Red grits his teeth.  He starts chuckling, though it clearly hurts. She puts her cigarette out on his desk.

 Clenching his jaw Big Red says, "You stupid bitch.  You can't do anything to me."

 Vixen nods, "You keep thinking you know what's going on."

 She fires another round into his belly.

 She says, "Don't worry.  Remember that practice run, when you fell out of the sleigh drunk."  Shaking her head she says to me, "He lands on concrete two hundred feet below, and was fine in twenty minutes."

 My head is swimming. Glitterspark tore me apart, refreshed all the wreckage from earlier.  I'm bleeding from old wounds and new.  However, what's got me spinning is the truth.  

 I need some air. What's coming -- what I think is coming -- I head out onto the balcony.  Everything is happening so fast I can feel it slipping out of hand.    

 Outside, the city sleeps below.  Yet, there are flashing sirens filling the streets.  The glittering gumballs atop squad cars pulse as they hurry towards Big Red's tower.  Snow is falling, but it won't be enough to cover what's going on here.  

 The pieces started falling into place almost from the get-go.  The odds of someone assaulting Vixen made little sense.  Besides her bodyguard, the seemingly unstoppable Glitterspark, the whole scene at her place felt off.  Those posters backing Papa Nash for re-election stuck out sorely.  

 Then that whole Krampus cult raised more red flags.  Big Red can keep an eye on anyone in the city, hell, the world.  He just needs to think about them.  However, he didn't seem to have any idea who ran the cult. Besides Black Jack, only fliers are blessed with Big Red's blindness.  It's one of the perks; they're among the privileged few with privacy.

 A lot of other bits kept hinting in ways I just didn't want to notice.  Seeing Vixen in Big Red's office, I hoped... that's the mistake I made.  Detective Elfberg said a lot of things changed because of the Shortage, that a lot of people changed as well.  It sounds like a warning now.  Hope died during the Shortage, and that left people desperate enough to do anything.  So now I can't help feeling like I've been a pawn, not making my own choices.    

 The soft crunch of snow under dainty hooves.

 I sigh.

 Vixen says, "I'm not going to kill him."

 "Not because you don't want to."

 "You know what happens if he dies.  Everything he creates disappears.  The toys stop being alive, the city vanishes..."

 "We turn into ordinary reindeer."

 I turn.  She nods.  

 Vixen says, "But I can keep him in a coma, pumped full of drugs.  He'll be alive, and we'll be able to live without being under his thumb."

 Her dress billows a bit in the wind.  It wraps around her like a river of red paint.  She looks amazing, beautiful beyond compare, but I don't recognize her.

 Our eyes meet.

 She turns away saying, "He did it on purpose, the Shortage.  He said it was population control, but it was more than that." She shakes her head, "We're his playthings.  I mean, he's got all the power, but not anymore.  Things are about to change for the better."

 I don't who she's trying to convince.  The truth is I think she's right for the most part.  Things in this city definitely need to change.  How that's happening is what's got me worried.  

 I say, "I've been thinking Big Red tipped off the cops to me being in town, but lately, I've been thinking it was you."

 A tear in her eye Vixen says, "It was."

 "Part of the plan?" I ask, though I think I know.

 She wipes the tear away. I notice the gun is still in her hand.

 She says, "It depends what you think the plan is."

 "I think someone's got to go down for all this.  You can't take credit for axing Big Red.  Some folks, call 'em foolish, they won't appreciate it.  But me."  I start toward her, "Or that Krampus cult, that takes the eyes off you."

 She backs away. Raising the gun her hand shakes. I keep walking toward her.  

 "Don't worry," I say, "I know ol' Roy was supposed to do me in."

 I don't hear the gunshot. I just feel the hot punch in my gut. Staggering backwards, I lock eyes with a stranger, but I can't look at her for long.  

 Blue and red police lights ring the building below.  Even if I walk out there's no getting away.  This ends badly for me.  That's for sure.  Though if I've got to be the fall guy I'm going out on my terms.  

 Turning I stumble towards the end of the balcony.  No railing at all, it tappers out to a narrow point.  

 I say, "I came back to help because I love you, and you used that love to do something twisted. Someone like that... how're you gonna make this a better place?"

 At the edge of the balcony I look back.  

 Vixen says, "Don't..." -- but I'm already falling backwards.  

 When the only cards in a hand are terrible it takes a serious bluff to win.  About half way down the spire I start thinking she called mine.  Then I see a flowing stream of red sail off the balcony.  It hovers in the air a moment before plunging towards me.  Her hooves glow gold, a shower of sparks spitting out her hands.  

 She slams into me. It's like getting hit by a baseball bat. It's certainly better than hitting pavement.  

 We twist up through the air, rocketing across the city.  I don't know what's going to happen when we land, but I'm hoping for something good.  Right now, I just want to enjoy flying.

[tattoosandporcelain-blog]

Coree Marx‎ to Christopher St. Clair It had been too long since the last time Coree and Christopher had spoken. He'd been the first person to seek the girl out when she was only seventeen years old after her first song had been written, sold, and hit number one on the charts. She would never forget what it felt like to hear his voice on her voicemail asking her to call him back, that he'd like to talk about an arrangement with her. She had been so nervous to write with the man and yet they would do it many times over since that time, ultimately developing what was an easy friendship between the two. When she was finally ready to take herself to that next level, to attempt performing her own songs, it had been Christopher that had encouraged her to speak with the executives at the label he was on and everything kind of snow balled from there. Although she was struggling her way through, finding performances to be far more difficult than she'd ever imagined, freezing every time her feet touched a stage, she hadn't yet lost her faith. Life was changing quickly for the young woman, but she'd never lose touch with the person she was, even in the midst of things coming together.

Just after six in the morning, she was awake before the sun as usual. Her long time boyfriend, Barron Presley, didn't have to be up as early as she did and for once, she wouldn't bother the man. Instead, it was a walk with the new boxer puppy, Gremlin, a quick shower, and a cup of coffee by the floor to ceiling windows that lined the living space of the new apartment. Everything felt new and although sometimes she didn't feel like it was real, she knew that she was right where she belonged. Glancing into the bedroom, she'd assure that Barron was still sleeping before she'd close the door gently as to not wake him. A quick text was sent to Christopher. -If you're up, give me a call.- Sitting down in a chair by the window, she looked out into the darkness, not at all able to shake the energy she'd experienced the night before, an energy that she wanted nothing more than to bottle and keep forever, an energy that she wanted to share with one of the few people that knew how deeply the woman had struggled for the last year, an energy that might just change the platform for the young artist entirely.

Christopher St. Clair The transplanted Brit was only too familiar with the struggles and perils of a sudden sky-rocketing career. There was a misconception the general public had about fledgling celebrities and thier seemingly ill-gotten gains -- the recognition that propelled his career (he’d often been confided in by random passerby) wasn’t a feat of fate but rather misinformation, slyly given. That people saw him as this slick operator with an agenda was greatly amusing to Christopher. In fact, there had been nothing ill-gotten about his modest beginnings. Given his rough start into the career that had been his saving grace both, both literally and metaphorically, he felt it his joyous task to provide for someone else as someone had been kind enough to provide for him. In the living room of his agent who had been gracious enough to put him up, he had donned headphones and sat on the couch, eyelids shut fast as his iPod shuffled through songs of faceless and altogether nameless aspirators. True inspiration and talent is hard to fake and in these zen-like hours that were the way he spent his evenings, Christopher had heard enough songs from wannabes that he wanted to shove superglue in his ears so that he would never have to hear such fakery ever again when sincerity shone through. Her song was honest, revealing in a way that no one could ever doubt. The bones of her song -- the lyrics, the haunting melody -- she was an oasis in a desert of posers.

Five o’clock in the morning and it wasn’t at all uncommon that he was up, fucking around on the guitar that had been his constant and unyielding companion since he was fourteen years old. Making music was easier when it was purely for the fun of it, not determined by a deadline. Given that he was still residing in his agent’s abode (on a couch he was sure had born witness to the Sixties) the whip of the ruler was always being slapped. Mechanically strumming chords, his mind had long sense gone off into its own world: fretting over minor details of his upcoming tour, how his dad’s birthday had come and gone last week and he hadn’t given any acknowledgement to it, how the springs in the couch had successfully broken through the material that separated his body from the metal coil and as such, had left a scar on his cheek because he was too knackered to wake up to deal with the residual sting. Mulling through his thoughts, he’d almost missed the text alert if his phone hadn’t been resting on the table, the prompt causing it to vibrate and make a particular annoying sound that he could’ve sworn would have woken his nana from her grave all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Instant regret settled in as his eyes blurred over the contents of the message and focused on the name. Coree. There was no reason, that he could think of, that would’ve justified his reasoning for haven’t calling her in the past or even taking the small two hours and thirteen minute drive from his place to hers for a luncheon. In fact, he’d been in Nashville only yesterday to work on his record, but had negated to offer up an olive branch to her. Tapping on the phone icon by her name, he sat the phone on top of his guitar, pressed the speaker button and strummed on the instrument some more - the sound of a ringing phone had annoyed him for as long as he could remember - until he heard her voice on the other end. “Coree. Yeah, hi, it’s Topher. What are you doing awake at his god awful hour?”

Coree Marx The sound that came from the other end of the phone told her everything she needed to know.  He was awake and she hadn’t woken him up in the slightest.  She’d laugh instantly as her phone rang, bringing a brilliant smile to the blonde’s features at the name on the caller I.d.  Not a stranger to the early mornings, Coree had been an early riser ever since she could remember and didn’t know any other way.  Being involved with a man who loved his sleep hadn’t changed things for her, often giving her those first few hours of the morning to wake up slowly, walk the new puppy, Gremlin, and even delve into some writing of her own, she was normally careful not to bother anyone else at this hour, but she’d awoken just as excited as she’d gone to sleep and it would be evident from the first one to pass her lips.  “Topher!” she immediately exclaimed, entirely too awake for that hour for most human beings, yet it was par for the course with the woman.  “I always get up around now,” she confessed a moment later, reeling her voice back into something more manageable and less frightening.  “Barron says it’s a curse. I say it’s a blessing,” she confessed as she valued those hours at the beginning of the day.  She’d stay up late with him and get up early, never requiring much sleep at all, which he couldn’t seem to understand, and yet somehow she knew Topher would.

“I’d ask you if you’re busy, but by the sounds of it, you are,” she teased, hearing the strumming of his guitar there in the background as she’d quiet for a moment to just let herself listen.  The man was a musical genius as far as she was concerned and nothing could change her mind on it.  From the first time she’d had the pleasure of writing with him years before until now, the woman was just as mesmerized by him then as she was now.  Humming softly to the tune he played, she let her eyes fall closed and the music play through the phone as she swayed softly to the music.  “God I’ve missed you,” she confessed all too easily in a hushed whisper as she knew his fingers on those strings could simply do no wrong.  After a short time, she was back to reality, sitting in her New York City apartment, her coffee suddenly calling for a refill as she made her way back to the kitchen with the phone in one hand and a boxer puppy at her heels.  Recalling what it was she’d reached out to him for as his musical display there had caused quite the distraction in the woman, she’d clear her throat.  “So I had to tell you… I’ve got a show tonight playing with…” she paused, knowing the name would come across as someone entirely too well known for her to be playing with, aside from the fact that the man had been retired and no longer did shows at all, only running a record label and being spotted here and there.  “Trevor Masters,” she’d offer, giving another moment of pause for effect. (Jon Bellion is the musical inspiration)  “But that’s not even what I called to tell you really.  I called to tell you that last night… well, first, you know how the stage and I are in a love hate relationship, mostly on the freezing and not saying a word hate level?  Well.  We did rehearsal because Trevor’s got this idea that pushing me into bigger crowds is the only way to combat this stage freight thing… so we do rehearsal and then we go to dinner.  At dinner, the man literally hijacked the grand piano in the restaurant, started playing, and had me sing for the entire place, and I think we might’ve found my problems.  It’s not that I can’t sing or even perform to a crowd like I’ve been telling you for how long now?  No. I can’t perform /my/ stuff.  Give me anything else and I’m good to go.”  Whereas many artists would not be excited to find this out about themselves, it was a great relief to Coree, as was well marked by her quickly spoken, rambling words.  “So, as it turns out, I’m not a fucking loss!”

-March 25, 2017

[aeristhefallen]

Chapter 3

I am so sorry that this update has taken so long. So much has been going on that I simply don't have enough time in the day. However I hope to get not only this one but the rest of my stories update. So enjoy! Chapter 3

Mid October was wonderfully mild in peach creek. This led Edd, and Mona to have most of their sessions on the hill overlooking the cul-de-sac, since it became quickly apparent that Mona had trouble concentrating in doors. "Dee you need to relax, we have all year." Mona mumbled absently as she focused on the list of ideas she was currently compiling for their art project. Edd slid a mildly annoyed look at the girl who had decided to use him as a back rest while he laid in the grass on his stomach. Over the last month and a half, the genius had grown used to the girl's habit of intiating physical contact and had even grown to enjoy it. What he had not grown accustomed too was not having an assignment completed within a week of it being assigned. " I understand that Mona but I can't help the persistant feeling of not having any and all assignments completed as soon as possible. I think our art teacher hates me." The girl chuckled as he sighed and tapped his ear with her pencil. "Your just irritated because she decided that we all had to have assigned themes and certain guide line for our projects." Edd released a snort. Two weeks into school Ms, Ramirez had informed the class in her grateingly cheerful voice that they all not only had to pull a random theme, but they had to feature multiple characters and had to have a minimum of four pieces. "While I am still perturbed with Ms, Ramirez just springing that on her unsuspecting students and I find her overly enthusiastic attitude grating to the nerves, I am not comfortable being completely out of my element. Not only do I lack artistic ability, I am not overly thrilled with our theme." Mona grinned as she continued writing. "What? Is 'Intense romantic passion' not something you would enjoy portraying?" Edd turned red and buried his face in the grass causing the girl to strain to hear his mumbling. "I have no experience with anything resembling that level of emotional attachment." A soft laughter caused the Raven haired male to role over and sit up so he could glare at his companion. At his look the girl quieted but continued to smile. "I don't mean to laugh but it's kind of adorable how you appoach things so analytically and things like emotions confuse you." Edd tried to ignore his blush at her comment and grumbled. Mona checked the time on her phone and began to put her stuff away. "Do you have plans tonight?" The boy shrugged. "Eddy expects me at the holloween dance but I don't really wanna go." "Then don't, did you say you would go?" Edd shook his head. " Well no, but Eddy fully expects me to be there." Mona stood up and grabbed her bag. "That's on him, if you want you can come to the ink party Kevin and I are throwing in his garage. Nothing big just a few of us from the Cul-da-sac." Edd felt a strange pulling in his gut at the thought of how much time Mona and kevin had been spending together but he couldn't decide if it was positive or negative, so naturally he ignored in favor of his curiosity. "What pray tell, is an ink party?" Mona grabbed her bag and through the boy a wink. " Come by at 7 and find out." _______________________________________________________________ The clock struck seven as Edd continued to pace back and forth, battling with indecision. He wanted to go see Mona, and though he would never admit it, he wanted to go see kevin. but despite his curiosity he was mildly frightened of what an ink party could be. He knew Mona was into the more intense and less socially approved side of life and he had found that he had tried many new things since spending time with the wild child. At 7:15 curiosity won and with shaking knees Edd headed across the street to kevins. There was a soft glow and a strange buzzing sound coming from behind the garage door signaling that the party was already underway. The genius swallowed and knocked on the side door, still arguing with himself. Rolf answered the door and with a loud laugh dragged the other boy inside. "It is good to see you to-smart-for-his-own-good Edboy!" Edd smiled and opened his mouth to reply when he spotted the cause of the strange buzzing. Needless to say he was surprise. "Nicola Tesla be with me! IS THAT A TATTOO GUN!?!?!" Mona glanced up from Kevin's shoulder and grinned "Dee! you made it! and yes it is, excellent observation." Edd rolled her eyes at her sarcasm and sat on one of the several lawn chairs set up in the room. "You do know underage tattooing is illegal yes?" Kevin snorted. "Relax dude, she only inks people in the Cul-Da-Sac and anyone who squeals knows that payback Will be swift." Edd quirked an eyebrow at the fierceness of Kevin's tone. He would almost be convinced that it was because Kevin didn't want to get in trouble, however the light pink that blossomed in Mona's cheeks and the soft smile she had as she ducked her head closer to her work signaled that something else was at play. The feeling was back again as he observed them, both as individuals and as a pair. Still he could not place what it was, so instead he turned and intiated a conversation with Rolf on pleasures of farm life. Two hours later Mona leaned back and shut off the machine. After cleaning up the excess ink, she handed Kevin a Mirror and leaned against his bare back. "How does it look good sir?" The red head nodded in approval before walking Rolf out and Edd couldn't help but agree. two classically colored koi seemed to dance together down Kevin's upper right arm as ocean blue roses entangled the two. "Wow Mona, I am extremely impressed." Edd stated as he got up to get a closer look. Mona smiled and quirked a brow. " Would you like one? I promise I am very clean." Edd choked on the soda he was drinking from and gave the girl a slightly panicked look. Mother and Father would be furious! I couldn't possibly." Mona continued to smile as she continued to perch on her stool, her tools lined up neatly on the table beside her. "Is that your only reason? If so I can put it where they won't ever see it. hell as covere as you keep yourself I could tat your entire back and no one but me would know." "And me." Kevin stated as he re-entered the room and leaned sprawled out on the couch. "Sweet! Is Dee getting some ink too?" Mona looked at Edd expectantly, waiting for him to answer. Edd began mumbling to himself as he calculated the gains versus the risks. " W, well. I have always been interested in the ancient art of tattooing, Ah, and I would love the experience....But what if someone were to see? We could get in a lot of trouble!" Mona laughed and stood from her perch. "They won't trust me." Edd squeaked in panc as the girl began removing her clothing. "Mona! What in heaven's name are you doing?" "Making a point." Edd looked at kevin for help but the red head only winked and through the genus a thumbs up causing him to blush further. Edd turned back to face Mona but lost his words of discouragment as he stared at the now revealed flesh. "Oh...My" A branch of cherry blossoms crept its way up Mona's side while a butterfly with the word 'Hope' and a tribal design resided on her left arm. A sickle moon and black star was inked into her right forearm and a winged heart was nestled on her upper left thigh. "They are beautiful, but I fail to see the point." Kevin snickered as Mona redressed and sat back on her stool. "They point is Dee, you only know about her ink because she wanted to show you. Hiding tats ain't that hard." The genius pondering the other boy's words before stealing his nerves. "Why not, lets go for it." Mona grinned. "Sweet, what and where Love?" Edd shrugged. " Why not really go for it? Do a back piece." Kevin looked at the brunette in surprise. " Are you sure? Thats a big commitment." Edd thought to himself for a bit more before nodding firmly, a look of determination flooding his face. "I'm sure, if I'm gonna put myself through this experience than I should do so with gusto. Mona clapped her hands with glee and began cleaning her gun and replacing needles. " Excellent, do you know what you want or is it dealers choice?" Edd paused then shrugged. " I'll allow you to mke the decision, I am confidant enough in your knowledge of me not to choose some obscene." The girl grinned and patted the seat in front of her.  " Awesome, take off your shirt and pop a squat." THe genius blanched. "What?" Kevin sighed "Dude, you gotta take off your shirt so she can reach your back. We ain't gonna molest ya." Edd rose a brow at the red head's choice of words then shrugged it off as a slip. Mona gave a sound of a appreciation as he removed his upper clothes and sat down. " Dude how come you hide the fact you work out?" Edd tensed. "How do you know that?" Mona shrugged as she began free hand sketching her design. "I'm a tattoo artist, understanding the curves in the human form is what I do. You might not be bulky but underneath you have ample amount of muscle."  Edd blushed not only at her words but at her probing touch. "We, well. I was tired of having to have Ed or eddy defend me all the time but anytime I tried to get in shape and people knew they would make fun of me. So I do light weight training at night in my room and I swim in the lake three times a week." The brunette looked up and locked eyes with kevin. The red head had a look of intensity as he stared at the other male. Edd couldn't decipher what such a look would mean, only that it filled him with sensations that were not unpleasant. The low purr of the gun caught Edd's attention and his nerves tingled in anticipation. "I have to warn you Edd..." Mona muttered as she leaned over his back. " After this you might be addicted." And then she began.