#green straight up said “let's dunk this loser”

[violetsquare111]

oh my god avenza did AMAZING on the fight music and that's not even TALKING about the (as usual with this team!!!!) infinite layers of cleverness with the animation. what the hell. i loved that so much

[baziutawrites]

Tantalizing

Xavier Thorpe x Female OC

Beginnings part 2

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8]

Other smut fics through my Masterlist.

WARNING! There are smutty parts throughout this piece. Proceed with caution if you are under 18 yrs old.

Was she the one that he dreamt about?

If someone said he was making a fool of himself, they would be completely right.

But now Xavier had a bit more pressing matters at hand, than to worry about not looking like an idiot. Like a growing hard-on that would be very hard to conceal while wearing a pair of swimming trunks. Another one was Val and her hands still against his chest, the touch almost burning his skin. But he kept his arm around her, unable to let go as he stared into her face, completely lost for words.

How could it be? Was it truly her? Why?

She wasn't the only one with grey eyes and those glints of green dancing around her hair. Surely there was an explanation for that. Like, a magnetic field? Or chemical imbalance in the air? Or—

"Like what you see?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him, her own face feeling a little warm from the intensity of his stare. 

"Yes." He blurted out, eyes now darting away from her as his blurry vision from before started invading his mind. "Wait, no! No, I mean, yes. I—"

He let go of her suddenly, as if she burned him, almost making her topple backwards.

"Last one in water is a loser!" Ajax came to his rescue, noticing his best friend's distress. 

Xavier bolted towards the lake, praying she didn't notice his raging boner he now sported. Ajax splashed in right behind him and Xavier could swear he felt the judgement of his friend's stare through his skin.

"What was that?" Gorgon murmured, his dark eyes searching his friend's face with a knowing grin.

"I am stupid." Xavier groaned, dunking his head underwater.

***

Somehow he ended up with Divina's camera in his hands and an idea came to his drunken mind.

"Hey, we should document the meetings. Have a chronicle, snap some pictures. What d'yall think?"

That's how he got tasked with being the cameraman for the night, clicking away, catching some silly moments. But he also did some portraits - the idea pitched to him by Ajax and he gladly followed with it. He did everything in his power not to spend too much time taking pictures of Val separately, so he resorted to having her in the frame almost every time he took a group one. He promised to upload them from his own laptop later on if Divina agreed to lend him the camera for longer.

***

When he got back to the dorm with Rowan, he immediately went to the laptop. Thankfully his roommate went straight to his bathroom, so he could flip through the pictures, stopping at the ones with Val without raising suspicion. He felt the heat spreading through his body again and he had to stop himself from palming his dick through his sweatpants. He felt like a pervert, but couldn't take his eyes off of one particular picture of her that made his dick get harder and harder, his still tipsy mind swimming.

His phone dinged and he saw he'd been added to a group chat.

.

Divvy

Yooo

.

BB

Heeey 🥰

.

Jaxxo 

I'm soo drunk

But the pics @Xav

.

Tana

Where the pics!

Just the good ones tho

.

V

Give us the pics pretty boy!

Xavier gaped at the last message. The heat pooled in his core and he felt his body tingling with excitement. Pretty boy. His hand cupped his erection at once but before he could relieve the tension, the door of Rowan's bathroom clicked and he almost jumped out of his chair at the sound. He quickly clicked away to send the entire folder from the night and locked himself in his own bathroom before Rowan could see him in this state.

His phone trembled in his hand as he fought with himself. This would be wrong, so, so wrong to do.

But maybe… just this one time. Just once. Wouldn't hurt, right?

He stepped into his shower, his hard on heavy in between his legs, feeling ashamed of what he was about to do. But when he sat down on the cold floor, warm water spraying his side and he opened that one particular picture of Val - of his friend - he could not help himself anymore. His eyes roamed over the half naked form of her, as she was just out of the lake in the middle of drying her hair with a towel, making a face at the camera. His palm traveled down his stomach to grip his shaft and he let out a small gasp, his eyes never leaving the picture. It felt so wrong, yet so right. He started to work his fist over his cock and as the jolts of pleasure washed through him, every last piece of self control flew out of the window. 

Just this once. Just once. He would not speak about this to anyone, he would never open this picture again, he told himself as he jerked himself off, imagining his friend to be the one that worked her hands over his dick. This would not become a regular thing, surely not.

***

He lied to himself.

The weeks leading up to the Poe Cup were turning more and more unbearable for him. Not only his dreams seemed to overcompensate with the frequency for the brief time he didn't have them, but just her mere presence started to make him hot and bothered. He started imagining his dream encounters in real time, oftentimes having to excuse himself mid conversation, or even worse, during the Foreign Beings and Legends class they were paired together at. He felt ashamed, while he then fisted his cock in the bathroom stall, the picture of Val he promised himself not to look at again, displayed on his screen, among many other pics he took during the meetings. His eyes fixated on her face as he came over his hands, biting his lips not to let out any sound. And then he had to come back and watch her, pretending he didn't do this filthy things mere minutes before, as his imagination ran wild again when she smiled at him.

It only made it worse, being combined with the conflicting, constant need to be around her. He was desperate to hear her voice, listen to what she had to say, to be the one she talked to, that made his chest warm. Without it, he felt this weird tension in it, almost as if his heart wanted to rip its way out of there.

Yet she still confused him. On one hand, she gave him all those signals - every time she touched his hand it made him feel sparks between them, he noticed how her breath seemed to quicken a little, or how she stood a bit closer than she needed to whenever they spoke, the way she looked at him over her shoulder when they parted their ways with a smile that made the butterflies in his stomach go crazy, he was almost sure she liked him a bit more than a friend. The same way he seemed to like her.

But then she did those little gestures with Kent too. She looked from under her eyelashes at Rowan whenever he talked to her about his Botany homework - a subject she seemed to be very good at although she chose not to show off during classes like Bianca. 

Her confidence intimidated him as much as it seemed to draw more people to her the more she socialized. And she didn't even have any social media presence.

Maybe this meant nothing at all? Maybe she just was this friendly with everyone? But this thought did not help him as his eyes actively sought her out in the corridors.

***

Yoko introduced Val to Enid a few days before the Poe Cup. They needed a fourth person onto their Black Cats' team and Val was their first pick. She was a great swimmer, as the word from her practice spread on. Val agreed - the competition was supposed to be very dangerous and she longed for something exciting, different than the schoolwork. There were supposed to be no rules. However, this also seemed to apply to her new friend. She didn't expect Enid to know almost everything about everyone at Nevermore, despite not knowing everyone in person.

"So, what's with you and Xavier? Cuz I've seen the looks he has been giving you and ohmygod that's sooo exciting like, the way he always stands in a way that he could see you, and he looks, like literally, he like stares so much, like this must mean something, right? I mean…"

It went on for hours while they prepared the boat for the competition near the shore. And it made Val feel a bit fuzzy. Could Xavier really like her this much?

"I feel like he isn't really that interested if at all, Enid." Val mused, trying to tone the girl down a notch. "He has been kinda avoiding me lately. Like, he walks away in the middle of us talking quite often. Doesn't really scream 'interested' to me to be honest."

There was a brief pause in which Enid shook her head and giggled.

"Xavier’s the captain of one of the other teams. You could try flirting with him to see if he 'isn't really that interested', you know? Oh, he's also on the team with Ajax, ohmygod, did I tell you about Ajax? He is so cute!"

Val and Yoko shared a look and smiled at each other, as the other girl blabbered away about her obvious crush. At least it saved them from further interrogation.

Val liked Xavier, that was for sure. But she didn't think of him as a person to be interested in her in any other way than just a friend. He seemed really stiff at times, distant and even avoided her recently. However, Enid was supposed to be the observant one, so testing the theory out wouldn't hurt. It might even be fun.

***

The day of the race came fast and Val couldn't help but feel excited about the oncoming challenge. Underneath the shivers however was a weird, a bit heavy weight in her stomach. What if she makes a fool out of herself? She fixed the leather-like material of her catsuit, checking if everything was tied as it should be, feeling the ears flopping annoyingly in the wind. Enid really had a field day with those costumes.

She saw Xavier's team exit their tents and she snorted at the utmost ridiculous sight that greeted her eyes. The jester costumes were something else.

This caused his eyes to meet hers and she gave him a big smile with a wink, that he reciprocated, although his eyes went down, sheepishly and she could see his neck reddened a little. Okay, this could still mean nothing. She needed more solid evidence. Enid giddily nudged her shoulder and gave her thumbs up before they settled into their boats.

The idea of Xavier slowly grew on her and she had to admit, she couldn't help but admire his hands whenever he showed off his abilities to make his art move or how she tried not to stare at his jawline, whenever he had his hair pulled back into a bun. He certainly was handsome.

She looked to the side only to meet Xavier's eyes immediately and went for a bolder move - she blew him a kiss over her shoulder and to her pleasant surprise, heard the paddle clatter as he most certainly dropped it. This was curious.

She missed the knowing glances Enid and Ajax exchanged between themselves.

***

Xavier couldn't even focus on such a simple task as rowing and he cursed under his breath, as the Black Cats kept getting smaller and smaller ahead of them. The picture of Val's ass in that tight, pleather costume and the kiss she blew him were messing with his head and the competition didn't even start properly.

They were the last out of three boats left to arrive on the island. He and Ajax, being the best runners, set out sprinting into the woods. They had no idea where the flags could be, so they separated in order to cover as much ground as possible. 

And then he saw her in this god forsaken catsuit, holding his flag, hers nowhere to be seen, sporting a sneaky smirk on her face. Something wasn't quite right.

***

She smirked, as she watched Xavier stop dead in his tracks like a deer in the headlights. She straightened, planting her feet firmly on the stone she was standing on and hid the flag unsuccessfully behind her back. The top of it comically towered over her head but the gesture seemed to get the point across, as he slowly started towards her, his eyes narrowed.

"I don't think those are your colours." He pointed at the material flapping in the air over her head when he stopped in front of her. She raised her eyebrow at him, a challenge in her gaze, her eyes on the same level with his.

"Maybe, maybe not. But it's mine now. Finders keepers." 

She turned swiftly, her hand stretched out behind her back as Xavier snatched at her from the other side and she laughed at him huffing in fake annoyance, his full lips fighting a smile. They both knew he could easily overpower her if he wanted to but the fact he didn't made her feel tiny butterflies in her stomach. He was a competitive one and yet, he stood there, playing with her instead of trying to get to the boat in time.

"Nuh-uh." She wiggled her finger at him and he let out a chuckle. "You've gotta earn it."

"Earn it?"

"Yeah. Pay for it, in other words."

"Smartass." He mumbled with a smile and tried snatching at the flag from the other side and he lurched forward, bumping his cheek against her nose. "How do I pay for… for it."

He now seemed to notice the proximity of their faces, his breath fanning her cheek as he turned towards her, slowly.

"I'm sure you can figure it out." She breathed, his smell making her slightly dizzy and her half-lidded eyes darted towards his lips. They were adorned with red paint, plump and parted slightly and she swore they were getting closer. And she panicked.

She kinda got what she wanted. This was quite enough of a confirmation for now, she thought to herself as she felt her heart pounding in her throat. Her own lips contorted into a wide, although very nervous grin.

"Catch me if you can then, smartass."

And with that, she was gone, running deeper into the woods, waving his flag at him. After a few seconds she heard heavy footfalls following her and she laughed at the curses Xavier spewed with his every breath, although fighting the laughter himself. It wasn't long before she felt large palms around her middle and with a squeal, their bodies collided and toppled to the forest floor in a tangle of limbs. The flag flew out of Val's hand towards the shore as she wildly grabbed at the front of the jester costume, pulling Xavier underneath her and onto his back before he noticed what happened, his eyes focused on the flag.

Only when she straddled his hips he let out a gasp and his wide eyes flew back towards her face, gliding along her body. He writhed, trying with all his might to pull her off of him, praying she wouldn't notice the constant erection he had since when she got out of her tent in that fucking tight costume. But he failed, fighting his nervous laughter, trying to grab her hands away from him as her fingers dug into his sides, tickling him without mercy. He noticed her hair was now glittering with green, almost taunting him.

Then it all happened too fast for any of them to process what was going on.

Suddenly, his vision changed just as he felt Val's hips grinding down on his crotch after he bucked them a little too hard, trying to throw her off. And before he knew it, a moan tore from his throat, as he watched Val plung herself down on his cock, her pussy swallowing his length repeatedly for a few seconds before his vision turned back to normal.

Val watched, dumbstruck, as Xavier stiffened underneath her all of a sudden, moaned while looking at her with his brows furrowed, eyes wide and looking at her with such intensity she felt herself go red in the face. His fingers dug into her thighs so hard she wouldn't be surprised she would have bruises later that day. She then realized she was pressing against something hard and when she moved forward slightly, her hips rolling against it, she felt a hot jolt running through her spine when he stifled another moan. The shock and realization dawned on her. He was rock hard and she was shamelessly grinding on his dick just now.

Before she could say anything however, a twig snapped somewhere in front of them and she saw Ajax run out from behind a tree, their flag in hand, looking straight at them incredulously, as they were still sprawled on the ground in a very telling pose. She bolted upright, unable to look Xavier in the face and instantly sprinted back towards the boats, shame creeping up her cheeks.

"See ya, pretty loser boy!"

Ajax stood there, watching his best friend let out a long groan and fling his arms over his face, clearly beetroot red under all the white face paint. His bulge clear as day in his pants.

"Bro. I think we have some shit to talk about tonight."

[mochideleche]

You can’t keep away from fate CH7

Pairing : Percy jackson x demigod!reader

summary : The daughter of destiny- literally, along with inevitability, compulsion and necessity. Being the child of a primordial goddess doesn’t really assure you a quiet calm life but when you return to new york after five years of being shipped off to boarding school, your once mundane life says goodbye.

A/N I would like to start off by thanking everyone who has read this fanfic and thank you all for the notes, reblogs and follows, it really makes my day! please do comment what you think and here is the second half of BOTL. I know i said i would put it in two halves but it got a bit too long so it’s going to have to be 3.  enjoy!

contents page

“You couldn’t perhaps, I don’t know, put some goggles on, open a window or something?” you began, wafting the air in front of you in order to not get a lung full of smoke.

Beckendorf, although you did prefer to call him charles, turned to you and pulled down the bandanna covering his mouth down, “nah, it’s all right Y/N, us children of Hephaestus are born to able to withstand such harsh conditions” and he went back to hammering the almost formed celestial bronze sword in his hand.

You supposed that he was correct, although being very much not a direct child of hephaestus, you didn’t really inherit the immunity to poison by carbon monoxide.

The reason why you were in the forges was because you helping out with the making of new weapons. A war was coming and you needed to be prepared. So you had teamed up with you so called uncles and aunties to do so. When you were on the island of circe you had found you had an extreme hand at magic. Enchantments and charms were your specialty- things like curses, not so much.

You shivered at the thought of all those pirates who had been rotting away with hatred for the goddess, you couldn’t imagine what they had done when percy had freed them. At the time you didn’t know that circe was keeping men visitors as hostage, you just thought they didn’t allow any on the island. If you had knew then, maybe you wouldn’t have stayed for so long, or gone at all.

“Y/N it’s nearly done, you ready?” Beckendorf called over his shoulder and you snapped back to reality, making your way to his side.

You were defiantly not the best at forging ( hey, you can’t have everything) so you were tasked with reinforcing the weapons with magical properties such as, unbreaking, knock back and perhaps a few fire enchantments- which conner and travis were very fond of, you had to put out at least 7 fires that week, conner himself at one point.

Beckendorf, took the sword, a long double-edged blade, with a wide hilt and shaped like a leaf, very greek- you thought, as he dunked it in water to cool it down.

When it came out, steaming, you placed your hands over it’s centre. It had taken you quite a while to get back into the swing of things - having been about 5 years since you had last done the magic trick, but now you did it without problem. You chanted a spell in ancient greek and began to spread your hands over it, taking one towards the hilt and the other to the point. A dim blue light shone over it, encasing the blade almost like a second skin. Out of the corner of your eye you saw the awe in beckondorfs face and it made you smile- to think that such a big buff boy could be amused by a little magic...

You finished your spell and the dim blue light shone intently for a second then disappeared, the sword gleaming as if it had been given a new life.

“What’s this one do then?” beckendorf asked, sounding like a 5 year old who had just been given a new toy.

“Knockback, this ones a bit more powerful, I think” You said, remembering the brightness of the final glow the sword had given.

“You think? how can you tell?”

You shrugged and the opened your arms, “Only one way to find out”

Beckendorf looked at you as if you were mad, “I don’t think that’s a good idea-”

“No, I want to see how powerful these things are” You said, readjusting you stance, “If it’ll make you feel better we can fight before it then you won’t feel like you hit me unguarded”

And you released your right sword and charged.

Beckendorfs eyes widened and he shook his head viciously as you came towards him. But you didn’t stop and neither did beckendorf.

It was almost as if his body went into autopilot because you brought the sword down and he lifted up his hand to block it. He hadn’t even put any effort to push you back but as soon as your sword clashed against his, you were thrown back, your feet lifting off the floor and you soared half way across the forge.

If you hadn’t been expecting this, you would’ve crashed straight into the wall and created a Y/N sized crater. Fortunately you were expecting this and was able to control the air to slow you down and allow you to gracefully skid to a halt, avoiding you crashing into the wall.

“Woah, that was awesome” Beckendorf said as if in a trance, “Whatever gets hit with this is going to wish they never attacked in the first place”

A smile come on your face, “yeah I guess-”

The door to the forges swung open, you thought at first it was a group of campers coming for their ‘making weapons’ workshop but it was too early for that.

“Y/N there’s a group of dracnae near the boarder!” Will said, he was out of breath, he probably had just ran there from the forest.

You spun around and ran towards the door.

To save Will the expense of running again, you grabbed his arm in one hand and with the other you pushed yourself against the air.

And the two of you were carried away with the wind, literally.

You zoomed past the cabins and were into the forest in no time- the whole time will was shouting, from fear or excitement- you couldn't tell, but when you finally landed he stumbled around with a maniac smile on his face, “that was fun”

You left him trying to reorient himself and rushed to the lines of campers who were firing arrows from behind trees and with Lee Fletcher shouting over their heads.

“Don’t let them get past!” For a guy so warm hearted and who you’d often see singing songs at camp fires every night, you were shocked by his fierce shouts.

“Aim, and fire! Again! Don’t fall back! go forward- Y/N!”

You rushed towards them after seeing through a gap between the trees.

There were about two dozen dracnae- half snake women who had the top half of a human and the bottom of a snake. They stood out against the dull brown of the forest, their green thick tails slithering against the ground as they inched closer to where you stood. how they had got near the camp without being detected? you couldn’t tell, but you wanted them away as soon as possible.

Ignoring Lee’s calls, you rushed towards the line of snake women and lifted yourself on the winds, landing a few feet in front of the dracnae ladies.

“What have we got here?” a dracnae who you guessed was leader hissed, “Hmmmm, ssssmellssss like a goddessss”

You scrunched your nose, you preferred it when people said you smelled like magnolias.

You flicked you wrist, revealing your drakon blades and causing the dracnae to hiss in distaste. Then you bounded after them.

Unlike percy, you tended just to get on with it, you felt like taunting was a waste of time and you weren’t much of a talker either. You advanced at the first dracnae, she bared her fangs and raised her long spear ready to attack.

others were ready to pounce on you too, but you took care of them. With a tug of your mind you caused one of the older trees to uproot, and it came falling down, crashing about 7 of the ugly things leaving a fine cloud of yellow dust.

The others came to their senses and instead of targeting the apollo cabin, they attacked you. about 15 to 1, that seemed fair. But at least that had taken their attention off your friends.

“You’ll pay for that!” the centre dracnae hissed and her forked tongue licked her lips restless as if she was excited to have another demigod meal.

You fell into combat with the leader, your swords were shorter which meant you had to come into close contact with her, and the fact she smelt like wet mouldy leather, you didn’t exactly want that.

She was rather good with a spear but she was no match with your two blades. You were able to semi-disarm her, sending her shield flying into a nearby tree and you swung your left sword to slice her torso in half but it never made contact with it.

The ugly dracnae smiled at you

She had moved so fast that she was able to block the attack with the but of her spear, pushing up against your left as she pushed down against you right. She inched loser towards yo, the tip of her spear rather close to cutting into your hand.

You were stuck, but you gave her what she wanted. You retracted you left sword so it wrapped neatly around your wrist as a diamond and pearl encrusted bracelet and the dracnae’s spear smashed into her face, “OW!”

she swiped at you blindly but you sliced off her hand with almost no effort at all. That was far too easy.

She wailed out in pain and she let down her guard to now look at her newly decapitated arm, “AHHHHH”

The sound was horrible, like a thousand metal keys scratching on a chalkboard, you shut her up by driving a sword through her gut.

She exploded in a yellow dust cloud, you blew some wind to prevent it falling into your eyes.

You spun around, facing the other 14. You raised your eyebrow- this will be fun.

They slithered restless, their slimy green tails moving bak and forth against the ground, as if ready to charge at you. But that gave you an idea, and you began to make the ground swallow them up.

“What is this?!” one of the exclaimed, as she uselessly tried to pull her tails from the ground, “What have you done?”

The others began to brandish their spears, holding them out to you, trying to catch you from that length.

“Releasssse ussss thisss inssstant” One from your right hissed, causing you to smile.

It was absolutely ridiculous how monsters thought they could tell you what to do, are they stupid?

“All yours Lee” You said sweetly.

Lee popped out from behind the tree, blush tinting his cheeks and eyes wide, “uhm- me?” he pointed to himself but then he recollected isn stood up straight, “You heard her, aim and fire!”

About a dozen arrows were knocked at once and you barely had time to dodge out of the way as they rained down on the dracnae army, creating a little mushroom cloud of yellow dust.

You gagged, the smell was horrible.

“Y/N are you okay?” Will sprinted towards you, his bow slung over his shoulder.

You nodded your head and he looked surprised, “Wow, not even a scratch” he said almost to himself as the other made their way towards you, congratulating you on your attack.

You always felt bad when this happened. You felt as if you had a rather large advantage to the rest of the campers but you believed that they should have their own chances at winning their own battle and not always have you to save the day. The whole camp knew of your power and thought that they would have the upper hand with you on their side, a daughter of a primordial goddess, but you didn’t want to steal their spotlight. So you did the best you can to make sure they took on the majority of the fight, only helping when you needed to.

You waved them off, “all I did was set a trap, you guys killed them and stopped them from getting to the camp, you should be proud of yourselves” you gave them a sweet smile and a assuring nod, that seemed to do the trick.

“Thanks Y/N” Lee said, patting your shoulder, “Is it alight if I ask you to inform chiron about this? Take will with you, we’ll scout the rest of the perimeter just in case there’s anymore monsters”  

You nodded your head and the rest of the apollo cabin followed Leeand left you and will at the sight of the fight.

“Are we going to do the wind thing again? that was fun” Will jumped up and down beside you and you didn’t realise how tired you were until you saw how full of energy will was. Or maybe that was just his personality, either way half way through talking to Lee you felt like falling just like the tree you uprooted did.

The world began to tilt side ways and you head felt as if it was no longer on your neck.

“Woah” Will exclaimed, catching your arm and holding you up, “ Y/N are you alright?”

You manage to roll your eyes to his face, Concern evident on his face, “ I’m fine thank you for asking, how are you?”

He scrunched his eyebrows, “that fight must have taken a bigger toll than I thought”

You knew that will had seen that you were left unscratched but being the son of apollo, and a talented healer, he could tell your wounds were somewhere deeper.

“Y/N you used your powers a lot today, and you were doing magic at the forges, you need to be careful, using too much of your powers might burn you out, literally”

You brought a hand up to pat will on the arm as he helped you stand up, “As long as the job gets done-”

“Y/N...” Will said warningly and you gave the younger boy a tired smile.

“Will i’ve got it under control, have a little faith in me”

You remember the first time will had brought up your overuse of your powers, you had fainted after going one to 5 with a vicious group of empousa and you were knocked out for about 3 days, will was the one who nursed you back to health.

“Y/N it doesn’t make sense” he said perplexed, staring at you as if you had just returned from the dead, which was rather similar, “Chiron said the powers you used were of an immortal, any power like that would’ve disintegrate any demigod”

Will was right, you should have disintegrated, you knew that but you had to protect the camp. you hadn’t felt tired at all during the fight, only after did the effects hit you.

You shrugged your shoulders, “I haven’t combusted so I guess i’m fine to continue”

“But what if you did?” Will said, “I know your one of our strongest fighters but we can’t have you risking your life every time monsters attack”

“But will,” you smiled softly, “That’s kind of the whole point”

He paused for a second the turned away, “You know what I mean”

You stared at will, you must thought he had healed plenty of campers, there was a heavy weight on his shoulders. Their lives had depended on him to save them.

“Chiron says, it’s-” He stuttered, as if the words were too hard to say, “he says it’s taking a toll on you on the inside, it’s breaking your soul”

The words hit you like a truck you saw from a mile away yet you still stayed perfectly still in the middle of the road, “I know”

He snapped his head towards you, “You know? Then why-”

“Why anyone does anything they do?” You interrupted, your voice tired, “Why do we all train? Why do we all go on dangerous quests? Why do we all fight back against an army of immortal titans?”

That shut him up.

You pursed your lips, “As long as there’s something worth fighting for, then I don’t mind risking my life, and so does everyone else”

"When did you start feeling it?” Will asked, still keeping a hand firm on your arm.

“When talking to Lee, but I didn’t-”

“Want them to see?” Will finished, and he scoffed, “I know”

You let your head hang at the disappointment in his voice but there was something else there too, admiration? concern?

“Y/N please don’t feel you need to seem strong all the time, you’re only just a demigod, nobody expects you to be indestructible”  Will said kindly as the two of you approached the boarders of camp, a few satyrs who were sitting under the shade of the trees saw the two of you and rushed to your aid.

You and Will made your way to the big house, Will still felt the need to keep his hand on your shoulder just in case you decided to faint but you tried to make it seem you were fully capable of walking yourself.

But as soon as you were in the living room you didn't think you could.

There was annabeth, tears running down her face, washing away a track through the grime and soot that caked her whole body. She had a nasty gash running down her arm and her clothes looked as if she had gone for a bath in the hudson river.

“Annabeth! are you alright, where’s percy, grover and tyson...” But as soo as the words left your mouth, you felt the dread fall upon you.

Annabeth continued to sob harder as will left your side to help with the bleeding cut on her arm.

Chiron stood in the centre of the room a grim expression on his face.

“We got separated,” Annabeth started, explaining all that had happened in the maze. You tried to keep your attention on her but the words just flowed through one ear and out the other, leaving nothing but the anxiousness that came with them.

“And Hephaestus showed me what happened to mount saint helens-”

Chiron and you had seen what had happened as you watched an iris message from a satyr near the mountain- The place had erupted, you were scared that typhoon was rising, but you’d rather have that than known percy was in there and he had never came out.

You heart dropped, and so did your knees.

You felt them hitting the floor before you knew you were falling, will rushed to your side, “Y/N?”

Percy... was gone?

He couldn’t be, he can’t be- he has a prophecy to fulfil he surely can’t be-

You didn’t realise you were saying it out loud until the words you didn’t want to utter got stuck in your throat.

You and annabeth made eye contact, both of you with tears streaming down your face. A silent exchange was made, there’s still nico.

You shook your head, that just gave a reason as to why percy could be dead.

“No, we would know right? if he was dead, if he’d been killed, he was definitely the one to cause the eruption right? He surely would have been able to save himself...? Right?!”

You were pleading at this point, you wanted someone to tell you that was exactly what had happened and percy would come back right away.

“I’m afraid, that all we can do now,” Chiron interrupted, his voice tight, a sad gaze directed to you, “is pray that he returns”

Your head snapped towards chiron, you were filled with shock- why wasn’t he jumping straight at the opportunity for a search party? Calling allies if they’ve seen anything? Sending campers out to look for him?

But then it dawned on you, how would you even begin to search for percy?

Looking at chiron made you wonder, how many heroes did he wait on to return but never did?

“What if it was just the mist,” you continued, not wanting to accept what you knew was well likely the truth, “ the mist could’ve been too strong that even we couldn’t see though it-”

“Y/N” will said, placing a hand on your arm.

You turned to him, surprised to see that there were tears brimming his eyes too. He sent you a look, please stop.

You let your sobs release and you flung your face into your hands, not wanting anyone to see. A second later you found yourself in annabeth’s arms and saw how lucky your were that she was still alive, “I’m so glad you’re okay” You muttered into her shoulder, “You’re alive thank the gods”

Chiron had left the room, you didn’t even realise, probably to call a counsellor meeting, if there was one, you didn't want to be there for it.

....

You left the camp the day after, you were upset and didn’t want to see anyone. You just wanted to mope in your sorrow and everyone let you do it -they were far too scared of what you’d do if they didn’t.

The only person who could approach at these times was annabeth but she was smart enough to let you wander on your own- Finding monsters before they found camp and killing them on the spot.

You were never one to be reckless, you were praised on that - able to keep level headed in the face of even the darkest moments. But nothing had ever flamed you like this.

The first day you left camp you couldn’t remember much but you returned, sweaty, covered in blood and monster dust and feeling like you would drop dead with exhaustion. But that still wasn’t enough to cover the pain in your heart.

It ate you up inside, percy couldn’t have- the percy jackson couldn’t-

You remember the first few nights, crying to yourself, head tucked under the sheets in your bed at the big house. Waking up at the crack of dawn and heading off from camp before anyone could see your red eyes and puffy face.

Then as the days went by you found yourself not being able to cry anymore, just lying with emptiness and shock.

The only time you stayed at camp was the day of percy’s shroud burning.

You had all been hoping for a miraculous return, but two weeks seemed long enough. You had prepared yourself for the worst and here you were finally coming to terms with it yet there was no feeling of satisfaction, no feeling of closure. You just wanted percy back.

You didn’t even get to tell him how you felt, how you had a crush on him the first time you laid eyes on him, how you’ve been in love with him ever since you’re first night by the lake.

You sat near the front, next to annabeth as she held percy’s shroud. It was right that she was the one to do it, after all, she was the last person to see him and her and percy had been through so much together.

Even at this time you couldn’t help but feel envious of your best friend. Her and percy had been on countless adventures together, practically grown up together and yet you were only fortunate to come into his life just a year ago. Some times you managed to get yourself upset with the fact that maybe annabeth was more suited for percy- deserved percy more than you.

You shook your thoughts out of your head, how can you be thinking about such selfish things at a time like this?

It didn’t matter now did it, there was no percy to get jealous over.

You sat silently, not watching as annabeth gave her speech. The whole camp seemed dampened by the news. The whole week campers lost their morale, no more laughs or even much chatter during dinner. Percy had been everyone’s favourite, the camp’s hero, their saviour, now-

“And he’s standing right there!”

You thought it was a cruel joke, but annabeth wouldn’t joke like this. Perhaps it was a trick of the mist, or maybe annabeth had lost it.

Never the less, you lifted up your head, not expecting much, just to glare angrily at the disturbance and you heart found it’s way to your throat.

There, standing at the back of the crowd was percy, no it couldn’t be.

he looked- perfectly fine, like he didn’t just die two weeks ago and had been on a short vacation in the bahamas.

His skin was slightly tanned and he was wearing new clothes that didn’t look like they’d been through the labyrinth at all. but you couldn’t believe it, you had to get a closer look, which was difficult because he was soon crowded with campers, hugging him, clapping him on the back, and your legs had stopped working.

It was only when annabeth ran up to hug him and he spun around, facing you, your eyes making contact- were you hit with the realisation that percy wasn’t dead.

The small smile on his lips broke into a wide one as he made his way towards you.

Your heart leaped, then it stopped, then you felt yourself shaking, eyes filling with tears. Percy’s form turning into a blurry blob as he rushed towards you.

You stood up and flung yourself off your seat and wrapped your arms around percy’s torso, your sobs immediately breaking out of your mouth as your chest heaved with the breaths you were holding.

The way you never wanted to let go. You clung onto him as if making up for all the times in the past two weeks you had nearly died just wanting to. You coiled your arms around him so tightly that your hands came back round to brush your elbows. It was like he was a dream and the closer you held him, the more real he would become.

But it really was him, wasn’t it?  

The feeling of his arms engulfing you was the most comforting thing in the world, it felt like only he existed and that was all you needed. They felt like the reassurance you needed to let you know he really was there.

He smelt nice, of freshly washed laundry and salt water, but he always smelt like salt water. The familiar scent just caused your heart to ache more, he really was here.

He brought his hand up to brush your hair, “Hey, it’s alright i’m here now, please don’t cry”

“I thought you were dead!” you choked out, “We all did!”

“I’m sorry princess,” percy whispered so that only you could hear, “i’m sorry if i pushed our reunion back too long”

You pushed yourself back and punched him square in the chest.

“Ow” he said, although a large smile was plastered on his face as he rubbed his chest where you had hit him.

“Why are you joking at a time like this!” you exclaimed, taking both your fists and pounding against his chest, “You-made-us-all-so-worried-”

“Hey hey hey,” Percy said, taking your fists in his hands and bending down to your height to see your face, “I’m sorry”

“You better be,” you bit out and turned away from percy so that he wouldn’t see the blush on your face, or the puffiness of your eyes, but it was rather difficult when he still had your wrists in his grasp.

You heard him let out a small chuckle, “gods i missed you”

You felt yourself heat up at the comment and you shyly turned your head up towards him- now he could really see the blush.

And then you were suddenly snapped back to reality, which was commendable since your crush had just returned form the dead and had immediately started flirting with you. And you were very aware of the whole camp who were now watching the both of you with all their attention.

But the smile of percy’s face washed some of that sudden anxiousness away. It was relaxed and matched the warmness of the look in his eyes, gods you could get lost in those sea green eyes all day.  he didn’t seem to care that the two of you had suddenly become the main stars of attraction in the amphitheatre, but the fact you could see the staring faces of your friends out of the corners of your eyes kept you glued to reality.

“Ahem,” Chiron interrupted, you wanted to snap your head towards him but you didn’t think you could handle the embarrassment, “I think we should all try to give percy some space, all of you back to your normal activities, head counsellors to the big house for a meeting”  

There was an outbreak of discontent murmur, campers wanted to hear percy’s story and were unhappy with the fact they were now expected to resume  normal activities after percy had just returned from the dead.

In the crowd you heard a snicker, “give him space applies to you too Y/N!”

If you weren’t red before, you sure were now.

You made to yank your hands away from percy, but he still held on tightly, “Oh no you don’t” he said under his breath and pulled you closer so that you stood next to his side, “I just got here, you’re not about to leave me just yet”

And with that, he dragged you along with the other head counsellors to the big house as you prayed silently in your head, thanking the gods that percy was alive and safely returned back home.

...

“That’s your plan?” Annabeth exasperated, throwing her hands up in the air, “It’s a stupid plan!”

You looked over to percy and he had a hard look on his face.

Chiron had called a meeting to discuss what to do and to make of annabeth’s and percy’s information about luke’s uprising army who were planning to attack camp.

Percy had explained his disappearance- marooned on an island and Hephaestus had saved him, you knew better.

As soon as he mention ‘island’ your heart dropped.

You suddenly found yourself thinking of calypso, the beautiful goddess who was exiled on ogygia and cursed to fall in love with boys she can never have.

Your heart was torn between feeling angry that she had kept percy away from you all and distraught that your friend had to go through another heartbreak.

Yes, calypso was your friend.

When you still lived with your mother, she had sent you to stay with calypso. She said that calypso was a kind girl and she felt pity towards her, so she often sent you to her for company.

Of course other gods would have argued against the notion but none ever did, they were far too scared of what your mother was capable of.

Whilst at the island you spent the days helping calypso in her beautiful garden, learning different things such as how to plant tubers to how to weave to how to create magic dishes that washed themselves.

And there, your distaste for the gods started.

You had always been on guard with the gods, from the way you saw it your mother was the only unselfish immortal you knew.

They always only seemed to do things that would benefit them in the long run, maybe they had their moments of generosity towards certain mortals but they still wouldn’t hesitate to destroy them the moment they pleased.

Just seeing how calypso was suffering reinforced that idea.

Of course you hadn’t been back since your mother’s disappearance, and so, you had asked Hephaestus, your grandfather,  if he could perhaps let you see her.

You were surprised that he even replied.

You had sent up an offering during dinner the last time you were at camp. You had a bowl of stew which you found taste shockingly like the stew calypso had made you every time you visited.

Your heart longed to see her again and in a desperate try, you called out to hephaestus along with the remains of your dinner.

You didn’t expect much, but the next day you found a note by your bedside table in your room in the big house.

“Dear Y/N, I have heard your request but i am afraid i can not fulfil this for you as there are too many, let’s say- associates i have that would be against the idea. I can however, pass on a message...”

And that night you burnt up a neatly enveloped letter addressed to calypso along with a piece of the cake you had for desert.

You tried to shake the malicious thoughts from your head, but how could percy not fall in love with calypso?

Annabeth caught your eyes and a sudden look of anger washed over her face, she must have seen the sadness in your eyes and you were afraid that just fuelled up her hate towards percy even more, “It’s too ridiculous, you are such are coward!” and she stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

“So much for being the bravest friend she’s ever had” percy muttered and he slumped back in his seat.

He looked over at you but you couldn’t look him in the eyes without thinking about how he had probably looked at calypso with the same love and affection.

“I’ll go check if she’s alright” you announced, standing up and making your way to the door without evening checking if anyone disagreed.

You tried to make it seem like you weren’t glad to leave that room. Under different circumstances , you didn't eat to leave percy, but after the thought of him falling for calypso, it kind of made you want to get as far away from him as possible. To add to that, you had just broke down crying in front of half the camp and the fact that you were still slightly sniffingly in front of the head counsellors made you embarrassed. You hated people seeing you cry, and you had a reputation to uphold- a unbothered, elegant and level headed warrior.

But you pretty much just destroyed that by crying ugly and clinging onto percy like it was the only thing you knew.

You needed time to think, to calm down and was more than happy to go after annabeth.

As you left the room you heard the in-contented sound of objection from percy but you had already closed the door behind you.

You found annabeth pacing in front of the porch, angrily muttering to herself. You decided it was best to let her vent as you sat down on the porch steps and watched her.

She didn't acknowledge your presence but carried on with her one on one debate with herself, “How dare he suggest such an idea! it’s my quest! I should be the one suggesting ideas, and a mortal! how embarrassing...”

You couldn’t help a smile appear on your face, oh how prideful your best friend was but you did think she would never let herself live this one down.

“How does he even know it’ll work!” and she suddenly turned to you, eyes piercing through your body, “He barely knows the girl how does he know she can do it?”

You shrugged, you really had no clue, but it was the best thing you guys got.

Annabeth paused, then she let her shoulders deflate and she rubbed her forehead, “I’m sorry, I’m just angry. All the time people have been referring to me as percy’s ‘sidekick’ then i finally get my own quest and yet i complete have no idea what to do, fail and now i have percy saying he knows how to fix everything?!”

You looked sympathetically at annabeth. She hadn’t exactly explained her feeling like this before but you knew how she felt about being in percy’s shadow. You and grover had talked about it once, you both knew it would only be a little while before annabeth finally broke. And here she was, exploding.

“I know,” you said softly, as you made your way up to hug her, “but you haven’t failed yet, you’ve come this far and i’m not going to let you give up just yet”

You were worried that this did nothing to calm her down, but then you finally felt her hands come up and hug you back tightly, “You’re the best, you know that?”

you laughed, “and you know i’m right don’t you?”  and you stepped back to see the defeated look in annabeths eyes, “Percy’s merely suggesting an idea, it’s still your quest, it’s your decision”

Annabeth’s eyes focused on the horizon, “Yeah, i guess” she said quietly, but you knew it was okay. you saw the determined look in her eyes and was glad that the daughter of athena had got her spirit back.

....

That night you had agreed to sit meet with percy since you spent the majority of the day with annabeth, sitting around in your room and talking more about the labyrinth. Although halfway through you wanted to stir her away form the subject as it seemed to give her horrible flashbacks- you could imagine. 

You would hate to be stuck in the ground, claustrophobic and not seeing the outside world for so long. Not to mention the dangerous monsters and traps that lurked in the tunnels. 

So you brought up the conversation of what annabeth wanted to take when she went to college, that always seemed to get her excited no matter what. 

She had gone off on a tangent on her love for architecture, then somehow the conversation led to the idea of the two of you going on a trip to paris and how you’d show annabeth around all your favourite places and the old school you used to go to when you were younger. 

Then annabeth had fallen asleep on your bed. You decided to let her, it must’ve been a long time since she was able to relax, now knowing percy was alive, you related to the feeling. 

The two of you sat by the deck, your usual place. 

Now it was percy’s turn to talk about the labyrinth, he seemed more relaxed than annabeth though, his arms resting behind him as he leaned back, one situated by the small of your back causing his arm to brush against you if you shifted slightly. 

He stared across the lake a sombre look in his eyes as he recited yet another adventure to you. 

He told you about how he’s fought off the telkhines, it was fascinating how he had saved himself, conjuring water from his own body, you were amazed. But after that he stopped himself from talking anymore. 

Because after that he’d met calypso. 

You were used to sitting in comfortable silence with percy, but this, was not one of them. 

“She’s lovely isn’t she?” you finally spoke up, sick of the tension that was created between you. Screw it, you thought, we both know so why don’t we just make it obvious. 

You stole a glance at percy form the corner of your eyes, he was bushing.

“Chiron told me you’d figured it out” percy said quietly, “i’m sorry”

“What are you sorry for?” you asked confused, but you had a feeling where this was going. 

Percy was silent for a while, his feet were now swinging violently back and forth and you could tell he was trying to calculate his words carefully.

“I- I could’ve gone back earlier, I made you all worry-”

“Percy,” You interrupted, as you turned towards him, tucking a leg underneath you, “It wasn’t your fault you ended up on ogygia, all that matters now is that you’re here and you’re alive” 

You knew what percy had said was true, but you didn’t want him beating himself up over it. 

“Yeah, i-i chose to come back” he said trying to avoid looking at you and staring at the lake, “i couldn’t just- leave you all behind” 

Your heart clenched at his words, he had made his decision and suddenly you felt guilty for even feeling angry towards percy for even laying eyes on calypso. Now you wanted to apologise. 

“Percy, I-”

“Nope, I wasn't finished,” Percy said, holding up a hand and finally facing you, his eyes looked stormy, like he was angry, but from the tone in his voice he wasn’t angry at you, but more like himself.

“ I’m to going to lie, when i was on the island i enjoyed the time i spent there; no responsibilities, no monsters, no nightmares. It was always sunny, i never had to do any chores and well, calypso was nice to me,” his voice quieted towards the end and you had to fight down the urge to feel jealous, “ but i felt guilty for enjoying it, i still do. I didn’t know why but i realised it’s because it made me feel like i was forgetting about everything i cared about back home. The camp, my parents, my friends, you” 

Your heart began to beat erratically and you noticed how percy tensed up and stopped swinging his legs so that they hung still over the deck, “I uh- new york, long island, the pizza they sell at the diner near school...” 

You couldn’t help but smile at his lame attempt to cover up his indirect confession for you, but to save him the embarrassment you decided not to mention it. 

In that moment, you were so full of adrenaline, percy liked you, and you were certain of it. 

Screw it, you thought, and began to speak. how you rashly decided you were going to confess your undying love for percy on a whim was fuelled by the feeling of regret you had about not saying anything when you thought he was dead. It’s now or never, you said to yourself but percy still wasn’t finished.

“But then i realised there were bigger things for me to worry about,” He continued, a hard look appearing on his face, “I still have a prophecy to fulfil, if i wasn’t there to help fight luke- kronos, that would be selfish of me, what would happen to all of you?” 

The hard look on his face began to melt away and he turned his head towards you, eyes creased in a ghost of a smile, “I can’t let that happen, no way am i letting kronos beat the son of freaking poseidon that easily” 

You let a soft laughter out, you could always count on percy’s sarcastic ass to make you smile, “no, you can’t” 

Percy leaned back, looking over the lake again and allowing his legs to swing back and forth. You took this moment to look at him, taking in all the details. From the curve of his lips to the lingering streak of grey hair, you loved all of it. 

And percy was right, he did have greater things to worry about, perhaps burdening him with you love confession wasn’t something to bring up at this given time. 

But for now, you were just content to be in his presence. 

[thoughtfullyyoungduck]

Not complete until there’s three

A/N: for some reason I did something and now I had to re-upload this so yeah 

Summary: Mike’s call brings back some memories for Stan, more specifically memories about Stan and Richie. Stan is in for a rough awakening when he comes back to Derry and finds out Richie and Bill are married. 

The last thing Stanley Uris would ever want to do, is go back to Derry. He doesn’t want to, so he’s not going too. Those are the thoughts that are rumbling through his brain as his forces out a ‘I’ll be there’ to Mike before turning down the phone.

For a second he sits frozen, he’s absolutely terrified and he feels it throughout his entire body, like taking a cold shower. The voice of his wife is what snaps him out of it, a graceful, soft sound that he loved listening to up until 5 seconds ago, but now makes the bile rise up in his throat.

 He drives himself to turn to her with a smile on his face, he’s perfected the art of doing this, pretending that everything’s okay while an internal storm is going on.

 He stand quietly, but not before announcing that he is going to take a bath. He walks past his wife, to reach into the cabinet where they keep the towels, because he knows that’s what his wife expects him to do, and begins walking up the stairs. He’s going to take a bath, only he doesn’t. The only way to get to the bathroom is by going through the light green bedroom, which is always indescribably neat, and stops as his hand is already around the doorknob.

 He turns around and glances over to the closet. The one where he tried to bury a sad and uncomfortable feeling. He backtracks until he is standing in front of it, and He quietly reaches out. He knows exactly how far he’s allowed to pull the closet door, before it makes a creaking sound that is heard all the way down to the living room, which isn’t much, but he doesn’t need to look to find what he’s looking for. When he retreats his hand, he’s a holding a picture, one that he found a couple years ago, only back then the picture made him feel such an intense love and sadness all at once, that he placed it on the bottom of his closet, with his shoes to cover it up.

 He couldn’t remember who was in the picture, he could recognize himself, that much he knows. But there were two other boys with him, one with black unruly hair and glasses so big it was like they were magnitude glasses, and a boy with short brown-reddish hair who was wearing a flannel that seemed to big even for him. The guy with the glasses was spread out across Stan’s leg and the other boy, while Stan had a hand in his hair, and the other boy that was sitting up was looking at him fondly.

Stan had his head on the shoulder of the boy in flannels, who in turn had his arm wrapped around Stan. All 3 of them were shining brightly. Stan knew this picture was taking somewhere around his high school days, knew only because he knows for a fact that he threw away the t-shirt he was wearing, right when he left for college. He didn’t even remember why he threw it away, but it hurt to look so he didn’t keep it. Only now, with Mikes call, does he remember that the shirt was Bill’s and he had given it to Stan someday after lunch because he had a spare in his locker, and Richie had accidentally dunked his entire coke on Stan’s. No, Stanley Uris couldn’t remember for the life of him who these boys were, but right now, he breath hitched and while tracing the boy’s faces he let out their names as a sigh, ‘Bill, Richie’.

 He took a step out on his balcony, which was also connected to their bedroom, and took a few stuttering breaths. He didn’t want to go back to Derry, didn’t want to fight a goddamn child eating clown, but know that he remember his two high school lovers, he couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing them again. He wondered if they felt the same way when Mike had called, and if each of the losers had their own identity crisis at the moment.

Stan knew that he wasn’t straight, he had gone on dates with boys, but nobody even gave him a slightly good impression, so it always stayed with one date. He liked girls too though, and he had met Patty. And Stan was satisfied, had been living a content live with Patty, only know he knows how big his heart had once been filled with love for his boys, he knew he could never be content with Patty again. He couldn’t live his life like that anymore. Maybe that was the reason he decides to skip his bath time, something he hadn’t done in 20 years, packed his suitcase and left for Derry

It seemed that Stan really was the only with an identity crisis after getting called. At least the only one out of the three old lovers. Stan had been late, the last one to arrive from the losers, but coming in his vision latched on to Richie and bill’s hands straight away. They were holding hands. He tried to make it discreet yet he couldn’t help but look at their hands every few seconds, while saying hello to the other losers. He got to Bill and Richie last, and shared an awkward hug and a hello with both of them. He wondered if the remembered their relationship, and if that was the reasons they were standing so closely together, almost like they were one person.

Stan pointedly ignored the slice of jealousy that rips through him, trying to suppress the feeling as fast as he can. He feels embarrassed by it, two days ago he didn’t even remember them, and now all he wants is for to kiss them again, to feel his skin connect with theirs, even though he never had that urge with Patty, and to feel Richie grab his hands again like they always did when they were younger. To have bill kiss him on the cheek and then blush about it while giving Stan a cheeky but bright smile. He focuses back on the losers telling their story and zones back in when Eddie starts talking.

“And what about you guys?” He ask Bill and Richie

“Any special person in your life Richie?” Eddie smirks, the way he always did when he and Richie used to tease each other, the way he knows Eddie is taunting Richie and trying to start a play fight. Instead of this happening, and Richie taking the bait, Richie smiles a little shy.

He smiles in a way Stan has almost never seen Richie do, only when he was alone with Bill and himself, and the moment Richie looks up from the corner of his eyes to Bill, Stan knows what’s coming. The look is barely noticeable for anyone, but Stan has always been observant. He sees Bill give a quick nod of his head, and then turns away himself, he feels his heart break before he even hears the words.

If only he had been observant enough to see Bill and Richie looking over his way, with longing in their eyes.

“Actually”, Richie starts, “me and big Bill have been married for 5 years’.

The way he says it, so casually and full of love, causes Stan to grip his thighs so tightly it hurts, a habit he’s had since he was little. He wants to run out of the room, to cry, to scream or to break something, it doesn’t even matter, he just wants to get away from them. From the feeling of being split apart. Stan hates this, he hates feeling like his not in control of his own emotions. It was one of the many things he has always prided himself in, and the only thing Richie and Bill ever tried to ‘change’ in him. They had said they just wanted him to enjoy every little thing of a moment, without having to worry about how he might look, or which emotion would shine through.

 In a way, he’s happy for them. At least they found each other, where happy with one another, and Stan feels like he should be ecstatic for them, only he isn’t. Not in the way he should be at least. Still though, he focuses all of his attention on keeping his face in a straight line, making sure that none of the tell-tales he displays when he is jealous are showing.

‘We met about 7 years ago, well I guess that isn’t really accurate, we saw each other again 7 years ago, during a comedy evening Richie was in.’ Bill starts his explanation, looking at Richie with adoration in his eyes. Their hands were now linked on the table, and Stan wonders if their hand still feel the same.

‘I saw this awesome stud in the crowed and thought; hey, this guy I want to fuck.’

Bill hits Richie shoulder, without much menace behind it, the embarrassed smile on his face taking away any last doubt that he had meant the hit to be hurtful.

Eddie groans while the rest of the losers laugh, and Stan realizes he should be doing something else that just sitting with a straight face.

He forces an easy smile on his face, as he turns to look at Bill and Richie. Both of them were already looking at him. There’s something in their eyes, an emotion, but Stan doesn’t remember them well enough, hasn’t know them long enough, to decipher it.

He sees Bev look at him though, and the look in her eyes he recognizes, it’s not pity, but it’s something close too. Back when they were still kids, Bev was his go to person for relationship advice. He didn’t like to open up about his feeling to anyone, but Bev always made him feel like everything he felt was valid and she made him feel loved too.

He smiles wider back at her, and this time it’s genuine. He really loved Bev too, just like every other loser here.

“So Stan, how have you been doing?” Bill asks while taking a huge gulp of his beer that’s on the table. His voice has a hard edge, but Stan chooses to ignore it.

He thinks back to him putting his suitcase is his trunk, while Patty ran after him in haste. He thinks of her crying and grabbing his face, trying to get her to kiss him, but him turning his face away. He had wanted to be honest about everything to her, he really did love Patty, just not as much as he has ever loved Richie and Bill, but he was sure she wouldn’t, couldn’t understand him, so he had lied. He told her that he had fallen in love with someone else, that nothing happened, he hadn’t cheated on her, but he couldn’t keep up the facade and the lies anymore either.

She had begged some more, tried telling him that it was just a rough patch they were going through, and that they could get couples counselling, but Stan told her that he loved her too much to do that to her. Then he had start the car and left their life behind.

He had put his wedding ring in his pocket, and had laughed. In 27 years, Stanley Uris had never done anything he hadn’t extensively thought through, but now he just had.  

He thinks back to those moments, and the ring in his pocket that seemed to be dragging him down now, and wonders what his answer should be.

 He makes eye contact with Beverly, and it seems that in the 20 years they forgot about each other, Beverly can still read him like an open book.

She opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, Stan opens his.

‘I’ve been married for 10 years’. He doesn’t know why he said it. Especially since his marriage was over, by his own choice. Maybe he said it because Stan and Bill are still holding each other’s hands. Maybe it’s because he desperately doesn’t want t come across as desperate, how ironic that may sound. He doesn’t want them to think he wants to get in the way of their relationship. Bill and Richie are married now for god sake, and that changes everything. Stan is no longer a part of their relationship, and he want to make it clear to Bill and Richie that he know that.

‘Her names Patty, she’s Jewish as well, and she’s a kindergarten teacher’. Stan continuous. His eyes are drawn by the hand of Bill and Richie tightening together, but he won’t let it deter him.

‘Cool’, Richie says, but his voice sounds strained, like he’s pushing the words out of his throat instead of just talking.

Eddie sees his former best friend struggling and jumps in for him.

‘That’s really nice Stan, I’m glad your happy.’ He gives Stan a small nod, because even with as little as he remembers, he know his best friend, and their leader were head over heals for Stan, and just by seeing the way they’re looking at him, he knows that hasn’t changed.

Stan bitterly takes a bite from his spring roll, he hates how greasy it is, but he doesn’t want to talk anymore. He isn’t happy anymore now that he know of Bill and Richie.

He suddenly feels extremely tired, he want to go home, or his hotel room, at this point he doesn’t even care anymore. His life just turned completely upside down, and he’s just now realizing it. Why did he come here again?

He fork pauses on the way to his mouth, he suddenly remembers the painted lady, closing in on him, eerily getting closer and closing her gaping mount around his face.

‘Stan’, a panicked voice calls out again.

Stan startles into awareness, realizing that everyone was looking at him. His hand is shaking badly. His spring roll already dropped back on the plate. Bill, who sits closest to him reaches out to him, presumably to grab his hand and hold in his, but Stan quickly drops his hand down and Bill’s falters before returning to his side too. He looks sad.

‘Why did you bring us back here Mike’? He asks. Even he hears his voice is monotone, and to people who don’t know him it may sound like he doesn’t care. The reality is that he cares so much, feels so much fear, that he shuts every feeling, and everyone out.

Everyone’s gazes drift over to Mike’s who looks guilty. ‘We didn’t stop it, 27 years ago. The killings are happening again, and we made a vow’. While Mike is talking, a waitress puts fortune cookies on the table waling away with a smile on her face, if only she knew what they ware talking about.

‘Pennywise’, Beverly breaths out, panic lacing in her voice as she frantically looks around her.

Stan sees Eddie reach for his inhaler, trying to breath more easily. Stan idly wonders if he should too, considering it doesn’t feel like he’s getting any air.

Before Bill gets a chance to open his mount, on of the fortune cookies springs alive. A shrieking sound emits from it as it breaks open and a small, dying bird pops out of it. Instantly Stan spring back running toward the back of the room, trying to get as far away from whatever it is.

He sees the others do the same, Bill running in the same direction as Stan did.

‘Hey you guys, this fortune cookie is looking at me’. Richie’s voice sounds as panicked as Stan feels.

Another fortune cookies falls of the platter, and ends up right in front of Stan and Bill. Stan wants to reach for Bill’s hand, he’s so terrified that for a moment it wouldn’t even matter if Richie saw, he just needs Bill or Richie to help him. Before he can though the fortune cookie breaks open, revealing a tooth. Stan knows that sort of tooth. He stared right down at it when She was biting his face off. When he was looking in the deadlights.

He tumbles down to ground gasping. He can’t do this, he should have never come back to this town. He shrieks, just like did all those years ago, and stars to crawl backwards as much as he can no other sane thought in his head but; get away, get away.  

‘Stan, stan look at me’, he hears a shrill voice, laced with overflowing worry and terrifying fear. Hands force his face to make eye contact with someone. It’s bill, and he’s trying to block out Stan sight of the cookie, of everyone losing their minds and mike attacking the table with a chair.

‘Look at me Stan, breath, it’s not real okay, it’s not real’. Bill swipes his thumb over cheekbones, and for a second Stan can pretend that he could reach up and kiss Bill if he wanted to, that he could call out and Richie would come sprinting to see if everything was alright.

The noise dies down and Stan can’t see anything move anymore, so he assumes Pennywise decided to let them suffer for a few more days before killing them.

He faintly hears the waitress and Richie’s warm voice before Richie too is sitting next to Bill, and is grabbing his hand. Bill still hasn’t stopped the soothing movements.

‘You alright there Stan the man, you look kinda pale’. Richie jokingly says, but even Stan can hear the tremble in his voice.

It’s the nickname that makes Stan snap though. He pulls his head away from Bill’s hands and pushes Richie easy from him a little before standing up and brushing of his pants.

He glares, and stumbles for a moment, the anger shooting through his body like it’s unwoven with his blood.

Stan the man was the nickname Richie had always called him, but once Bill, Richie and Stan started dating, Richie, when using the nickname, always said Stan our man. Only now Stan isn’t a part of this relationship anymore.  

He can’t for the life of him figure out why he came back here. Was it so he could hurriedly see Bill and Richie? And then what? Get his heart broken? Maybe it was because he wanted to die? God dammit why couldn’t he just not have remembered. He would have stayed with Patty, and he would’ve been okay with that. Instead he might die here, he’s getting a divorce, and the boys he loved have moved on, together.

 He glanced at Bill and Richie, both of them looking shocked at Stan’s outbursts, as if they were expecting him to stay in his panic much longer.

He looked towards his other friends too. Ben, Eddie, Mike and Bev. He loved them so much too, he wanted to protect them, to make sure they were happy but god dammit he couldn’t do this. He wasn’t strong enough too.

‘Fuck this’, he spewed out before grabbing his coat and walking to the exit.

‘Stan wait, where are you going?’

He could hear the losers following him, trying to figure out his plan, but he didn’t care, it wasn’t too late to live his content live, so that what he was going to do.

‘Stan please, just tell us what you’re gonna do?’, Beverly’s voice cries out.

Stan turned in a flash nearly shouting now, he had never felt such an intense rage before.

‘Home, that’s where, I’m going home. I’ll going to go see my wife, do lay job and I’m going to live, I’m sorry if you want help trying to kill it but Clearly that’s not working out for us now is it.’

‘Stan please, just please we need to defeat IT, think of our promise’. Mike is begging, and Stan thinks he might be minutes away from actually getting down on his knees. Still Stan doesn’t relent.

‘I’m sorry Mike, but I’m not strong like you guys, I have to get out of here’. Stan turn around again to get to his car.

‘Stan’s right, I’m leaving too’. He hears Richie say, but it doesn’t make him turn around.

‘Me too’, Eddie replies.

‘Wait’. Another voice cries out. It’s Bill. Stan feels his hands falter, not looking back at Bill, but also not getting in his car.

‘Can we please just sleep on it for one night? If you guys still want to leave in the morning then we can go. Just we’re all tired and we need to get some rest. Then we can all decide how we’re approaching this.’

Stan wants to leave so bad, but then he mulls Bill’s words over in his head. It’s not even because he’s in love with Bill that makes him want to listen, it’s just that Bill is their leader, and Stan has always looked up to him in that way.

‘Stan’, Bill’s voice sounds soft, asking a question without really asking it. ‘Please’.

Stan sighs, but he still doesn’t turn around.

‘Fine you lead the way to the hotel, I’ll follow one of you’.

First thing in the morning, he’s out of this god forsaken town.

 He leaves in the morning, before any of the others are up yet. He knows he promised Bill that they would talk about this, but there’s nothing that’s keeping him here.

He barely slept, he kept overthinking every little thing that happened. When they got to the hotel he went straight to his room, and locked the door before any of the losers could say something else.

To make things worse, his room was just across Richie and bill’s, to prolong his suffering. He could hear someone stand in front of his door in the middle of the night, but he kept himself as quit as possible, and after about 5 minutes of the person hovering, they left.

When they were kids, whenever one of the them was scared, the losers would all sleep in the same room. They would watch a comedy and eat junk food, and Stan was sure that that’s what they were doing now, but he didn’t have it in himself to go and check.

At around 5:30 Stan walks out of the hotel entrance, with a leather bag in his hands, and heads for his car. He takes a look around the parking lot, because he can still feel the terrifying, numbing fear of seeing pennywise the day before, but he doesn’t see anything. He quickly gets in the car, and drives away before he can change his mind.

This is fine, he thinks too himself as he drives away. It’s fine, He’s going to go home to Patty, fix things, clean his house and keep up his routine. It’s fine because he has done his all throughout his adult life, it’s what’s expected from him. He’s going back to Atlanta, and he’s going to live the rest of his life in peace. It’s fine, but it really isn’t.

He wishes that even when he was a kid, he had never started dating Bill and Richie. If he never dated them, then maybe his feelings for them wouldn’t have burned so bright, every other love he has ever felt seems like coal in comparisons. He’s violently drawn out of his thoughts by an upcoming danger on the road. Before Stan has a chance to see what it is, he’s brain realizes he should swerve, so he does. He forcefully turns his steering wheel, and because of it, his car starts slipping. His foot crashing on the brake pedal, even though Stan logically knows that not what he should do.

His car comes to a stop, but not before flying of the road and into a three on the side, right before the sign that says Welcome to Derry.

Stan’s head hit the control panel harshly, and Stan gives himself two minutes to catch his breath while a small streams of blood drips over his forehead, before realizing he almost hit something, or someone. As soon as the thought formulates he jumps out of the car and runs back to the road, desperate to see if he managed to avoid the person or thing. When he gets to the road he sees a body laying there, and the figure, is not moving.

Stan’s breath hitch and he nearly passes out for a second, but then he sprints forward and drops to his knees. For once, he’s not worried about the dirt on his knees. He reaches out to person, and promptly feels his heart fall to his stomach. It’s Bill.

‘Bill, what wait, Bill what the hell were you doing here’. His voice sounds frantic, and he’s pulling Bill up by his shoulders, placing him in his lap and starts shaking him.

‘Bill please, wake up, come on open your eyes for me. Somebody help me.’ He screams out, but there’s nobody on the road, and the adults in Derry have been known to avoid people when the most need it.

‘Stan.’ A confused voice calls out to him. Stan turns around and meets the eyes of Richie. He looks mostly confused as to why Stan’s screaming, until his sees the body that Stan is now cradling in his arms.

His eyes grow wide, and the next time he speaks, his voice sounds distraught.

‘Bill, oh my god Bill.’ He lunches forward and takes Bill body unto his own arms, roughly pushing Stan away.

‘Bill come on baby don’t leave me. I love you.’ Stan only then realizes that Bill has yet to take any breath, nor does move even the slightest.

‘Richie, I’m…’ Stan’s voice cracks, and he isn’t sure how he’s supposed to continue.

The tears start streaming down his face, and sobs are threatening to escape. He couldn’t have killed Bill, he  loved him, God he LOVED Bill, just like he loved Richie.

Suddenly Richie’s head shoots up, his glare set on Stan.

‘You did this, you killed him.’

Stan doesn’t know how to respond. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t see him coming.’ Stan is trying desperately to explain, but it does little to soften Richie’s glare.

‘Why did you kill me, Stan.’ Startled Stan looks down at Bill, and sees that Bill’s eyes are now opened, and Bill was the one that had spoken.

He feels hysteria building up in his chest. ‘Bill, I, what?”

‘Yeah, Stan why? Was it because we decided to go on without you? Because we realized you were too weak for us?’ Richie spits out. He’s no longer crying or looking distressed, instead he has a mean smirk on his face.

‘you should’ve just killed yourself Stan, like you were planning on doing in the first place’.

Stan jumps back, he had no idea what’s going on, but he knows that neither Bill nor Richie would ever say that to him. Both of them were too kind to do any of that stuff. Which means that this could only mean one thing.

Stan scrambles back up and steps back, continuing to look at fake Bill and Richie. He takes several steps back, but they don’t do anything except for smirking at him.

‘Come on, Stanley’, Pennywise’s contorted voice comes out, the bodies of Richie and Bill forming into one figure. ‘You know it to be true, Bill nor Richie love you anymore, and since you left so soon, why couldn’t you have just killed yourself?’

Stan shakes his head, yet he knows it’s useless, he already thinks to things, otherwise Pennywise wouldn’t have brought them up. In the blink of an eye the clown is suddenly right in front of him, and Stan lets out a yelp before jumping backwards, but pennywise clearly anticipated this, as he just grabs Stan by the neck and lifts him up. IT grins, more terrifying that Stan remembers from his childhood, before opening his mouth, and Stan knows exactly what’s coming. He struggles as hard as he can, but even he knows it’s in vain. In no time, Stan is looking down the throat of Pennywise, staring straight into the deadlights.

A voice in the back of his mind that sounds vaguely like Bill and Richie combined yelling to fight back, to stand up for himself, only Stan is already to tired, so he just let’s himself float. He floats, right back towards the nightmare he just lived through, over and over again.

 ‘Come on, Stanley’, Pennywise’s contorted voice comes out, the bodies of Richie and Bill forming into one figure. ‘You know it to be true, Bill nor Richie love you anymore, and since you left so soon, why couldn’t you have just killed yourself?’

The same goddamn words come out of pennywise mouth again. Stan isn’t sure how much longer he can do this, stuck in this constant loop of terror. He thought that he would finally die from heartbreak at some point, but he didn’t. He always saw the same thing, the only difference was that sometimes he hit Bill, and other times he hit Richie.

He wasn’t sure how long he was stuck in this bizarre place, but he does know that after an immense long time, he’s starting to get feeling back in his legs. It’s weird but the entire time he was on the deadlights, he felt like he was soaked in ice cold water, but now it feels like his legs are submerged in an amazing, hot temperature water. The feeling spreads through his chest, up his neck and ends up warming his face.

‘Stan, Stanley come on. Fight it, Stan. You got to fight him.’ He hears someone call out to him, but he can’t place the voice. He interprets the words though, and even though he is really confused and doesn’t really know what’s happening, he does what the voice tells him.

‘that’s it Stan, you can do this. You’re stronger than you think.’ It’s another voice, one Stan can’t place directly either, but he basks in the warmth of the voice, and the safety he feels that comes with it.

He hears more voices calling out to him, calling out his name. He tries so hard, and he thinks about giving up until he in a split second, it feels like the weight that was pushing him down had been lifted. finally Stan is able to open his eyes, and take in his surroundings.

He is laying with his head on someone’s lap, and when he looks up, he sees Richie’s terrified eyes looking down on him. Instantly, he recalls those eyes staring back with fury, because he killed Bill. Stan jumps up, frantic to get away from those eyes. He crawls back until his back hit’s another person’s body and sags down unto it, once the familiar smell of anti-septic whips hit his nostrils, undeniably save and Eddie. Eddie wraps his arm around Stan, and Stan would bet money on it that Eddie is recalling the first time this happened, back when Stan had been alone too.

‘I’m sorry.’ Stan sobs out. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt Bill I swear. I love him and I love you and I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry’. He’s looking at Richie the entire time, straight in his eyes, and he can see the shift from terrified, to confused, to empathetic.

‘Stan.’ Another person’s voice calls out. Stan nearly causes whiplash because he turns his head so fast. Bill is hovering around him, turning his palms up towards him, in a gesture that says I’m unarmed. ‘Stan it’s a-a-alright. Whatever the clown showed you it wasn’t real.’

Bill says it was so much confidence, and Stan feeds off it. He needs reassurance right now, he needs to believe everything is gonna be alright. Richie had a timid smile on his face, and his eyes, just like Bill’s, scream love for him.

‘It is though.’ Stan replies voice so utterly small and destroyed. Eddie starts to shake his head, Stan can feel it, but Stan rips away from Eddie before he can say anything. He needs to say this to Richie and Bill before he never get’s a chance too.

‘You’re together and that’s great, I’m happy for you. But I can’t breath when I see you, because ever since Mike called all I can think about kissing the both of you, and touching you any ways I can. And I know I can’t have that which is why it breaks my heart every time I see you guys together.’ Stan is sputtering around his words, but he doesn’t stop the take a break, he needs to say this, he needs to get it off his chest.

‘That isn’t fair Stan, you’re married’. Richie responds. He and Bill have gotten closer, while Eddie ran to help their other friends, who had called out for a them a few other times. It seemed like the three of them were in a small bubble, unaware of what was happening outside of it.

Bill opens his mouth to interject, but Stan beats him too it. ‘I left her.’

Bill’s mouth shut with an audible click. Both him and Richie looking bewildered. ‘I remembered you guys as soon as I got Mike’s call, and I couldn’t lie to her about my feelings. Once I remembered you, I knew I could never love a person again as much as I loved you guys. We’re not officially divorced yet, I didn’t have time for that but, I will soon.’

‘Stan’, Bill says hopeful, and it makes Stan look up to him. ‘Me and Rich, we, god we were going to get a divorce too.’ Stan blinks once, twice before looking up at Richie who picks up where Bill left off.

‘We were happy, but it was always like it wasn’t enough you know? Like we couldn’t fill a void that was there no matter how hard we tried. We figured that it was because we didn’t love each other enough. We realized, after Mike called, that it was you that we were missing. That it was because you weren’t there, that we didn’t feel whole either.’

Stan feels something blossom in his chest, a feeling of hope. ‘You guys aren’t just saying this right? Because you need to be honest with me if you guys were fine on your own, so I can.’

Before Stan can say something Bill reaches forward, and kisses Stan on the lips. Stan freezes for a second, before shooting in action and clinging to Bill’s shirt while kissing back feverishly. He wonders again how he could ever have thought he was content with Patty, when he missed this every day. He breaks away with Bill to catch his breath, but then he sees Richie staring at them with a blush on his cheeks, and he can’t help himself. This time it’s him that reaches forward and just like that, he’s kissing Richie too.

It’s been a while so the kiss itself is awkward. Richie’s glasses are digging in his face, and he grabs Richie’s hair a little too tight, but the emotions is still wonderful. Both kisses where full of love.

When they pull away Richie kisses Bill on the lips too, and Stan can’t help but feel his heart overflow with love for both his boys.

‘We wanted to talk to you too, straight away after we remembered. Only, we didn’t think it the right time was in front of the entire group, and then you told us about your wife.’ Richie’s face screwed up as he said the word wife, ‘so we thought you didn’t want to be with us anymore, fuck we’r a bung of idiots right?’

‘Hey, this is nice and all, but can you please come and help us?’ Eddie’s yells breaks down their bubble, and after looking at each other one more time, the three boys stand up and join their friends into defeating this monster that has haunt them for their entire life.

When Stan’s hand reaches out to crush the clowns heart, along side his friends, he knows that he in that moment, he’s just as strong as all of them.

 ‘Richie for god sake, will you stop that please.’ From the corner of his eyes, Stan can see Bill struggling to hold in his laugh. Stan, though he would never admit it, tries his very hardest not to laugh either.

Richie was chasing Eddie holding a cup of water that was supposed to be used to water the plants, but instead is now used as an annoy Eddie device.

‘I’m not giving up Kaspbrak.’ Richie yells while speeding up a notch, while Eddie starts laughing even harder. It wasn’t hard to see why they were so close.

Stan shook his head and joined Bev, Mike and Ben around the table, and he could see Bill moving over as well. In the middle of the table in front of them stood a giant cake. The letters read; congratulation on getting a divorce. It had been Ben’s job to order the cake, and Stan could only imagine the embarrassment he must have felt when asking for it. Stan softly shook his head, he still thought this was an insane idea. Bill and Richie had decided to get a divorce, because this relationship was no longer one of just two people, and three people couldn’t legally get married. Stan hadn’t wanted them to do it, he said he was fine with just not being their husband on paper, it didn’t have to mean anything.

Richie and Bill insisted though, Stan was just as much a part of this relationship as they were. Richie dropped down on the chair next to him, still giggling slightly to himself, and grabbed Stan’s hand. A scowl appeared on his face when Richie did so, because Richie’s palm was wet and it felt absolutely disgusting. Still, when Stan tried to pull his hand away, Richie just held tighter. Bill was smiling at the both of them, so Stan put his hand on Bill’s thigh, watching his cheek darken as he did so. After defeating pennywise just 4 months ago, Bill, Richie and Stan had decided to move in with each other straight away. For obvious spacing reasons, they decided to go live in the house Bill and Richie had already occupied before remembering, but they did change the whole interior and let Stan decide what color everything should be. Neither Bill nor Richie really cared.

As Stan looked around his perfect house, with his perfect boyfriends, and the perfect friends, he could not be more glad that he had returned to Derry.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/cleveland-cavaliers-make-changes-nba-finals-game-2/

Cleveland Cavaliers make some changes for NBA Finals Game 2

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavalier have come from behind before, so it's not the end of the world they lost 113-91 in the Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors. They can easily dig themselves out since all their mistakes are ones they can fix easily. Remember, history shows that losers of the first game have gone on to win four of the past six NBA Finals, including the Cavaliers. They even lost the first two games to the Warriors and still pulled it out. Tyronn Lue has a new No. 1 priority for LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals: Stop the ball. First and foremost, then make sure Golden State's sharpshooters have a hand in their face. Translation: Do anything and everything possible to stop Kevin Durant from driving through the paint and dunking at will with nobody even around him. "Well, I'm pretty sure that won't happen tomorrow," Durant said with a grin Saturday. "They will be way more physical. They're going to be way more aggressive in the pick-and-roll on the offensive end and defensively. They're going to try to get their 3-point shooters going and rebound the ball. They're going to try to get more offensive rebounds. They're just going to muck the game up and be physical." That's the plan for the defending champions Sunday night and will be key if they want to even the best-of-seven series and look respectable after the Warriors whipped them 113-91 Thursday night. Durant scored 38 points and dunked easily, six times in the first half alone and many of which he went untouched to the rim. "We can't let Durant get easy baskets like that," Lue said as his team practiced at Warriors headquarters amid a media frenzy. "With him being probably one of the best scorers in the NBA, you can't give guys like that easy opportunities at the basket." Taking care of the ball will be equally important after that became a major problem in the opener for Cleveland, which committed 20 turnovers in an uncharacteristically sloppy game. The 13-0 Warriors are on a roll and matched a Finals low with only four turnovers, and if Klay Thompson finds his shooting touch at last, it could be another tough day on defense for the Cavs. They want to get physical, contest shots, somehow find a way to get Golden State out of its groove. "Effort, effort, yep," Kyrie Irving said matter-of-factly. "And our ability to make sure that when we're mismatched in transition, that the only thing that matters is stopping the basketball and settling down in the half court, then we match up from there." Durant and Curry combined for 66 points and 18 assists, moving the Warriors three straight wins from becoming the first team to go unbeaten on the way to a title. Not that they're discussing it. While Cleveland searches for the right adjustments, Golden State's roster of perfectionists believes it can play far better still with KD and Steph leading the way, or any of the others who are capable of getting hot in a hurry. "It's going to be a wrestling match down there, and you have to keep it going and make it tough for them and just try to wear them out," said Cavs center Tristan Thompson, held scoreless in the opener. The Warriors are plenty confident even if Cleveland closes out on the perimeter. Both teams were slow getting started offensively after long layoffs: nine days for Golden State, six for the Cavs. Cleveland shot 11 for 31 from long range and the Warriors 12 of 33. But Golden State hit 9 for 20 from deep in the second half on the way to 106 total shots - a jaw-dropping 20 more than the Cavs - while attacking at every chance when Cleveland just couldn't keep up with Steph and KD. Draymond Green loved watching Durant do his thing with ease down the middle in his first Finals game for Golden State. "Going into the game I know what their game plan is, and it's to take the 3 away," Green said. "Now to say that you're going to get that many open lanes, you can't forecast that. You can't go into the game saying, 'Oh, KD is going to have six driving lanes to the rim and where don't get touched and he dunks. You just can't forecast that." James, in his seventh straight Finals, has a remarkable run of having won at least one game on the road in 29 straight postseason series. On Sunday, King James will try to make it 30. "We had a lot of unforced turnovers. Some of them were from aggression," James said. "I had two charges, that's aggression. I can take those. But also had some when I got caught in the air and tried to make some skip passes and they were able to pick them off. Those are like pick sixes. That's like throwing the ball to Deion Sanders. Most of the time it's going to be a touchdown going the other way."

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