#guy who hides in small enclosed spaces when he's upset

[dennisboobs]

squeezy

[shemarmooresfedora]

HI!!

I’m so happy for you to have hit 200 and now 300 followers!! You deserve a gold star ⭐️

I was looking at the prompts I think 4, 6, 12 sound good!! Again, I’m super happy that at your follower count. You’re a great writer and I can’t wait to see wait else you come up with 💕

You Don’t Ever Have to Hide From Me

Summary: You and Spencer are forced to share a hotel room but insecurities get the best of you.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Content/Warnings: internal angst due to body image issues, fluffy ending!

Word Count: 1.2k

A/N: why did i just write and edit this whole thing to avoid editing my other WIP which would have taken me less time. i just have been feeling in a bit of a rut lately so i needed some good old-fashioned spencer reassurance. prompt requests close tomorrow at 5 pm EST

Masterlist

Hotch came back from the receptionist’s desk, “We’re going to have to double up on rooms. They’re a little short.”

JJ and Emily paired off together immediately to no one’s surprise.

“I’m not sleeping with Reid,” Derek shook his head.

“Alright, Morgan, you’re with me,” Hotch stated, handing the last card to Spencer, “Sorry, they only have a king room, not twins.”

You groaned internally, flashing Spencer an awkward grin that he returned with his classic tight-lipped smile.

You had nothing against Reid, in fact, you would go out on a limb to say that you would call him your friend rather than coworker. But, all you wanted was to relax and let sleep take over you and now you would be up all night, afraid of snoring or anything else you could do to possibly embarrass yourself in front of your newly-budding crush.

You and Spencer rode the elevator up to the second floor in complete silence. Spencer slipped the key card into the slot on the door and pushed it open as it blinked green. He gestured for you to enter first because he was always such a gentleman.

“You can take a shower first if you want,” you offered to diffuse some of the awkward tension.

“Okay, thanks,” Spencer collected his change of clothes and headed into the bathroom.

As you gathered your belongings, you fell onto the bed in exasperation when you realized you only packed a cotton bralette and PJ shorts to wear to bed because you hadn’t been expecting to share a room at all let alone with Spencer.

“All yours,” Spencer smiled softly as he exited the bathroom, ruffling a towel through his curly locks to dry them.

“Thanks,” you murmured, reluctantly grabbing the skimpy clothing and heading into the bathroom.

Spencer was reading with only the nightstand lamp on when you finished your shower. You exited the bathroom with your dirty clothes balled up in front of you to hide your bare torso.

You crawled into bed on the opposite side of Spencer, putting as much space between you as possible. You were practically falling off the edge of the bed in an attempt to keep your distance.

You cleared your throat, “I’m putting a pillow between us. Under no circumstances do you cross it, okay?”

You took one of the extra pillows on your side and placed it right in the middle of the bed.

“Understood,” Spencer nodded, clicking off the lamp, “Good night, Y/N.”

“Good night, Spencer.”

-

You awoke to the feeling of arms wrapped around you. You could feel Spencer’s soft, even breaths against your neck. But then you felt his hands touching your exposed stomach. You cringed as the insecurities bubbled up.

You leapt up from the bed which startled Spencer awake. Your arms were crossed tightly around your front to shield Spencer from seeing any more of your body in the morning light.

“I-I told you not to cross the pillow,” you spoke softly.

Spencer noticed he had gravitated to your side of the bed throughout the night.

“Y/N, I am so so sorry. I swear I was asleep, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable at all. I’ll sleep on the floor tomorrow night,” Spencer sputtered.

“Don’t bother, okay? Just forget it. I can take the floor or hopefully a new room will open up by then,” you gave him a small smile to show you weren’t mad and grabbed your bag, heading to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

-

You sighed, looking at yourself in the bathroom mirror the following night. No new rooms opened up and you didn’t ask to switch with anyone because you didn’t want to cause a fuss. You also didn’t want Spencer feeling bad because you knew he hadn’t meant to do it on purpose.

You had practically begged Derek to lend you his biggest sweatshirt for the night. When he asked for a reason, you just shrugged, muttering something about the air conditioning in your room being broken and he gave it to you.

Spencer was reading once again with the lamp on when you exited the bathroom, much more covered this time.

Spencer immediately stood when he heard the door open.

“I already made a bed on the floor for me. I was just using your bed to be close to the lamp while you were in there,” Spencer quickly explained, getting himself situated on the floor.

“Spencer, I really don’t mind taking the floor,” you said.

“I was the one who crossed the boundaries, Y/N. I am taking the floor, I should have taken it the first night too. I’m so sorry I made you uncomfortable,” Spencer stated.

“It’s okay, Spencer. Night,” you yawned.

“Night, Y/N,” he sighed.

Spencer heard your breathing even out but he couldn’t go to sleep.

It all made sense now. You got upset when he cuddled with you last night, rightfully so, but he couldn’t figure out why until now. You and Derek must have a thing. Why else would you be wearing Derek’s sweatshirt? You were trying to send a message to him.

Spencer rolled over and eventually fell into a restless sleep at the thought of his crush liking Derek.

-

“Just so you know, Derek’s a good guy even though he may put on a bit of a ‘player’ act,” Spencer stated to you as you were packing your bags.

The case had wrapped so you were heading home on the jet soon. You could finally have a room to yourself, not that Spencer wasn’t great company but it was just nerve-wracking to be constantly over-analyzing your every move when with your crush.

“Um okay?” you zipped up your suitcase and set it by the door.

“Is it serious or is it more of a casual thing? When did it first start? You guys should probably fill out the HR paperwork to cover the team from any liabilities,” he began to ramble.

“Spencer-”

“Don’t worry. Your secret's safe with me. I don’t really have anyone to tell anyways besides you and Morgan but obviously you two already know-”

“God, can you just listen to me for a second?”

This caused Spencer to close his mouth.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you but I figured I should save you the breath. Morgan and I aren’t dating, seeing each other, or in any sort of romantic relationship,” you stated.

“But you were wearing his sweatshirt last night?” Spencer’s brow furrowed.

You pursed your lips and closed your eyes, “I’m not exactly the most comfortable in my body...especially around people I like.”

“Can I hug you?” Spencer asked softly.

You nodded and you felt yourself being enclosed in his warm embrace.

“You don’t ever have to hide from me, Y/N. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever and will ever lay my eyes on, inside and out,” Spencer whispered in your ear.

“And I like you too,” he added, “Not that you need them but if you’re going to be borrowing anyone’s clothes, they’re going to be mine,” he smiled.

“Good to know because I’ve had my eyes on that purple sweater of yours for a while,” you grinned.

taglist: (just ask to be added or removed!): @samuel-de-champagne-problems @g0lden-cth @spencerreid9 @averyhotchner @coldlilheart @k-k0129 @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange

[lavenderjacobs]

fluff alphabet - Sapnap

➳ wc; 2,1K (she’s a long one lol)  ➳ pronouns; gender neutral<3 ➳ song reccomendation; heart eyes - coin

A=Attractive (What do they find most attractive in a partner?)

nick’s an ass guy and you can’t convince me otherwise. he’s also just loves your thighs and your stomach. he loves how soft your skin is, and how good you smell. whenever he’s sad he just rests his head on your stomach while you tangle you fingers in his hair. 

B=Best memory (Their favourite memory of you)

he cherishes your first kiss so much. he just has such a soft spot for that memory. the moment he finally found out you felt the same about him, the moment he finally found out what your lips against his felt like. it’s just something he had looked forward to for forever, and to him, it was perfect. 

C=Cuddles  (What type of cuddles do they like?)

sapnap is a WHORE for cuddles. if it where up to him, you two would just lay in bed all day, tangled in each other’s arms. after a long day, he just wants to hold his favourite person and fall asleep with them, so he just wraps his arms around your waist while he uses your chest as a pillow. but if he’s in a chatty mood, he’ll just talk your ears off, ranting about something he finds interesting, while you’re all snuggled up in the crook between his neck and shoulder. 

D=Dirty mind (Do they have a dirty mind?)

I mean, come on. it’s sapnap. we all know he does. he gets *excited* very easily, which can sometimes get in the way when you two are just trying to cuddle. he just has such a soft spot for your body and has to have his way with you once certain ideas have entered his mind. 

E=Effort (How much effort do they put in the relationship?)

nick would definitely try his best. honestly you don't care if his plans actually turn out the way he intented them to, it's the thought that counts. and nick knows that. but theres just something about you that makes him want to spoil you and treat you like a princess. so prepare yourself for fancy dates, him making you your favorite food, all that type of stuff.

F=First date (What was your first date together)

arcade date arcade date arcade date. sap is super competitive and I feel like he would thrive in an arcade. he would play it off like he was just trying to proof how good he was at the arcade games. but he'd just love to see how hard you would be trying to beat him. obviously he'd let you win a lot, and when he collected enough tickets, he would get you the biggest prize he could find.

G=Gentle (How gentle are they with you?)

it....depends???? lmao. nick CAN be super gentle with you, he’s pretty protective of you and would never want you to get hurt, so he’s definitely very careful not to do anything to hurt you. but sometimes his instinct just kinda takes over and well, he can get pretty rough. 

H=Hands (Do they have nice hands?)

hmmm nick has like,,very manly hands,, if you know what i mean. i dont know, they're just so rough but yet so pretty??? and they're like really big compared to yours so when he holds ur hand, yours looks so tiny in his. and omg he won't shut up about it. "LOOK AT YOUR HANDS THEY'RE SO SMALL🥺"

I=Impression (What was their first impression?)

he just thought you were so ~cool~. like he immediately knew he wanted to be your friend. he was just so in awe of how funny, chill and charismatic you were. and it literally took two days for him to develop a crush on you. his friends would notice this right away and tease him about it so much omg.

J=Jealousy (Do they get jealous often? If so what do they do?)

YUP. nick gets jealous so easy yup yup yup. jealousy, protectiveness, possessiveness, you name it. you two would often get in fights about this, but most of the time you would just think it’s cute how riled up he gets. he doesn’t get mad at you (because you’re his precious little baby and can do no wrong in his eyes :D) but god help the souls of whoever tries to flirt with you, because they’ve got a hell of a storm coming.

K=Kisses (What type of kisses do they like/give?)

god nick’s such a passionate kisser. or at least he can be lol. he loves the way your face fits into his hands, and how soft your lips are. so he definitely is a fan of just some wholesome passionate kisses. but damn this man gets sloppy when he wants to. his lips constantly trails off to your jaw, neck and collar bones.

L=Love  (Do they show their love?)

i feel like his love language would be like a mix between words of affection and physical touch??? he’s definitely very verbal with his love for you. he doesn’t shy away from saying i love you or letting you know how much he appreciates you in any other way.

M=Memory: (Their favourite memory in general?)

there are certain moments where nick just sits back, watches, and realizes how amazing his life is. and how grateful he is to have you. for example, you were playing minecraft on his pc, and your house kept getting blown up by creepers, he found it adorable how mad you got every time. he just watched you play, while sitting on his bed. after a while, you looked over at him, and caught him staring. “what?” you asked after letting out a soft chuckle. he felt like he was gonna explode from how much he loved you. 

N=Nickname  (What nicknames do they call you?)  

i’m getting very strong “baby” and “doll” vibes from nick. he loves baby-ing you and smothering you with other loving nicknames. just any petnames that show how much he loves you he’s all for. he would also love calling you “pretty” or “beautiful” for obvious reasons. 

O=Over  (What happened the one time you ‘broke up’?)

nick HATES fighting with you, but once you two get into an argument he can get pretty carried away. he’s definitely the type to let his emotions get the upper hand on him. raising his voice a lot, stuff like that. but the second you leave to get some space he just breaks down. sliding down the wall and resting his face in his hands, just letting all the emotions out. he never meant to hurt you. when you came back to him, ready to be enclosed in his arms again, he had a hard time letting you back in. he just felt like he didn’t deserve you after he treated you like this. it took some convincing, but once you broke down his walls again, it was like he gave you all the love in his body. just smothering you with “i’m sorry”s and kisses. 

P=Parents (What would they be like as a parent?)

dilfnap dilfnap dilfnap  omg he’d be such a good dad. like just very caring and loving, but also strict and stern when he needs to be. he’d constantly be telling stories to the kids about the absurd adventures him and his friends would get into, and omg the dad jokes he’d make. idk maybe it’s my daddy issues but dad sapnap lives in my mind rent free. 

Q=Quirk (Something special about them)

he loves holding your hand. especially in public. if you’re in a crowded space, he just holds onto you very tightly as not to lose you. or if you two are just going on a walk together, his hands would just feel so warm and soft around yours. and omg he loves it when his hands are in his pockets, and you put your hands in there with him, and intertwine your fingers with his. hmmm he gets so soft when you do that.

R=Romantic (How romantic are they?)

i- uh- I MEAN HE WOULD TRY he really would, and again, that’s all that matters. I feel like he would be the type to try to prepare a whole surprise dinner, he would cook all the food himself, he would set the table all cute, with candles and shit, but just completely ruin the surprise by accidentally giving it all away by saying something or just behaving very obviously suspicious. 

S=Sad (What are they like when they’re sad?)

he just gets really quiet. he would never want to bother you or be a pain in the ass by complaining to you. but obviously you notice when something is wrong with ur bby boy. a sentence like “are you okay?” or “what’s wrong?” would immediately send him over the edge, burying his face in your chest, trying his best to supress his sobs. but he eventually calms down, and once he does, he’s able to just rant to you about whatever is bothering him.

T=Together (What are they like when you’re together?)

i feel like it would really depend on his mood, like he could be either SUPER chill, just wanting to savour the time you two had together. or he could be really hyper, constantly talking, wanting to do all kinds of activities with you. he’d be the literal definition of :D

U=Understanding (How understanding and empathetic are they?)

very. i just get such empathetic vibes from him. he’s such a good listener and he’ll just listen to you talk whenever you have something to be upset about. he never invalidates your feelings and omg he’d give the best advice. 

V=Value (What do they value most about the relationship?)

he loves that he can 100% be his self around you. there’s no part of his personality that he feels like he has to hide, or tone down, whenever he’s with you. you also aspire him to be his best self, he just wants to be the best boyfriend in the world. all his friends have noticed this too, you bring out the best in him.

W=Wedding (Would they want marriage? If so what would they like?)

eh. if you’re a person who really values marriage, he’d 100% do it for you. but it’s not like he HAS to. he gets a bit scared by the idea of this whole big event, where everything is about you two, he would way rather celebrate the love you two have in the comfort of your own home, just the two of you. the one thing he would love about a wedding, would be seeing you all dolled up, walking down the aisle, omg he’d be the proudest man ever to be able to call you his.

X=X-Ray (How well can they read you?)

the SECOND you start to feel sad or depressed in any way, nick notices immediately. he knows you better than anybody else, and he knows exactly what to do to cheer you up. it’s like his superpower. if you’re feeling anxious he’ll just wrap his arms around you really tightly, holding on to you until you calm down. and when you’re sad, and in need for something to cheer you up, he’ll take you outside for a walk in the park, or he’ll just sit in bed with you, watching your favourite show. 

Y=Yuck (What they would never want in a partner)

he hates when you flirt with his friend, even when you’re very obviously joking. his jealous ass can’t deal with that lmao. he also gets super pissed when his friends make flirtatious jokes towards you, they know how much it gets on his nerves and that’s really the only reason they do it. but omg he gets so pissed when it happens. 

Zzz (How do they sleep around you?)

nick would be the cutest sleeper ever omg. he doesn’t like to admit it, but he loves being little spoon. he loves resting his head on your chest, while you play with his hair, patiently waiting for him to fall asleep. 

[itsclydebitches]

I’ve been seeing an uptick in “anti-RWDE” posts lately  — which is a phenomenon I’d like to comment on at a later date  — but for now one of them (quite unintentionally) made me realize something about the finale that I haven’t seen others discuss yet. 

So RWBYJNOR saves everyone, right? Let’s just put aside the animation for a moment  — which didn’t show any army members making it out  — as well as the forgotten side characters  — Maria, Pietro, Qrow’s group isn’t forgotten, but still left behind  — and take things on good faith here. We’ll read the finale through the thematic intention: RWBYJNOR saved “everyone” in the Kingdom of Atlas in Volume 8, deliberately contrasting them with Ironwood who was willing to sacrifice a chunk of the Kingdom in Volume 7. Forget all the messiness and just accept that regardless of the consequences  — like a destroyed Kingdom and a “dead” team  — the heroes are heroic because they didn’t give into a “lesser evil” thinking and managed to save everyone. 

Now, how was that possible? 

Let’s go back to the beginning of the seventh episode of Volume 8, “War.” Salem’s grimm have just burrowed through Atlas’ defenses and taken them out. The shields are gone. She flies Monstra into the fields and releases an army of darkness that immediately heads for the city. What’s the very first thing Ironwood does? 

Soldier: Yes, sir?

Ironwood: I am evacuating all citizens to the subway. Prepare Manta Squad Omega, and dispatch to every part of Atlas.

Soldier: But sir-

Ironwood: Now!

He evacuates the people, with “the people” meaning all the Atlesians and however many Mantle folk got to the city prior to Salem’s arrival. When this episode aired I mentioned being confused as to why the soldier was so hesitant. Why wouldn’t you want the people to get to safety when a grimm army is heading their way? Fans against Ironwood took the soldier’s side, claiming that Mountain Glenn proved that any underground evacuation is a death sentence and thus he obviously doesn’t really care about the peoples’ safety. Fans in support of/neutral towards Ironwood pointed out that this is a pretty big leap, no one is coming up with a better idea for what he should do instead, and that within these circumstances it reads like the soldiers is illogically against this idea simply because everyone is against Ironwood now. The show wants characters criticizing his decisions and making him out to look like a crazed dictator... even during moments when it doesn’t make any sense to be upset with him. Shooting the councilman yes, trying to keep the people safe no. Basically, this small exchange was a mess, but the rest of the volume proved that this was a sound call. The subway never collapsed and no grimm ever made it to that enclosed space to pick the civilians off like fish in an underground barrel. 

So, why didn’t that happen? Well, one answer is because Oscar and Ozpin destroyed the whale. But how did they have time to do that? Without the people dying while they were being tortured, talking to Hazel, escaping with Emerald, fighting Salem, etc.? A lot happened between Salem starting her attack and Oscar ending it, so why wasn’t 2/3rds of the Kingdom’s population decimated during that time? 

Because Ironwood sent his army out to keep the grimm occupied. 

Outside of Ironwood’s cartoon villain actions  — random murders and bomb threats  — which get the most attention due to how deliberately, over-the-top horrific they are, these are the two actions that get the most negative attention from both the story and the fanbase. The soldier seems horrified by the order to evacuate. Marrow is devastated that young adults are fighting in this battle. The fandom is disgusted by both aspects of Ironwood’s character: giving orders that, as general, he expects to be obeyed and having an army that follows those orders. Putting side that cartoon villainy, this is what supposedly makes Ironwood the antagonist here. These are the qualities that have existed since Volume 2, resulting in a “he was always a bad guy” interpretation. These are the qualities that have resulted in anyone who likes his character being labeled as a “bootlicker.” We know these qualities make the fandom hate him because otherwise, more people would be confused as to why a presumably heroic character randomly shot Oscar. Orders, armies, and general military associations are at the heart of Ironwood’s presumed villainy. 

So let’s remove them. 

Ironwood has no evil army. Ironwood gives no evil orders. Power and control lies solely in the hands of our non-military heroes. Everything is better! 

...well, no. Because we saw in Volume 8 precisely the choices our heroes made when the attack started: half of them focused on saving a single individual (Oscar) and the other half kept to the sidelines. At no point did our RWB group act after sending the message and prior to securing the Staff. AKA, during the attack of Salem’s army. We got a very explicit moment in which Ruby looked out the window at the battle going on and turned away from it, continuing to discuss ethics instead of joining the fight. The people of Atlas (which, again, includes many Mantle citizens) had no one but Ironwood and his army because a third of the group was trying to rescue Oscar (they never even had a plan to blow up Monstra — that was also Ironwood), a third of the group was up in Amity, and a third was sitting in the mansion. They did nothing to help the people of Atlas being attacked by grimm. 

Thus, if you remove Ironwood’s actions, everything goes to hell. There is no longer an order to evacuate to the subway. Maybe some people go there anyway. Most probably don’t. They run in a panic wherever they can. Hide wherever they can. Go back home for some semblance of safety. 

There’s no longer an army. Either it doesn’t exist because we’ve determined it’s simplistically bad despite RWBY’s grimm-specific context, or Ironwood likewise never gives the order to protect Atlas’ border. Salem’s army moves unimpeded through the city, killing countless people as it goes. How do we know? Because they’re civilians who can’t defend themselves and there’s literally no one else to help. Remember: Ironwood is not giving orders, there is no army, RWB is in the mansion, YJOR is in the whale, Penny is out of commission, the Happy Huntresses are in Mantle. Those in Atlas are entirely alone. In time, Oscar destroys the whale, but by then it’s too late. There’s no concrete way to theorize how many have died, but it’s inevitably a lot. Everyone else is scatted across the city, trying to survive. 

So this scene 

no longer exists. 

When the group gets the Staff and creates portals for “everyone” to escape through, Mantle is ready to go. They’ve gotten everyone into the crater and can funnel them straight to Vacuo. Atlas, however, is in chaos. When Jaune enters the subway there’s only a few people there, many of which may be wounded or dying. He’s right back where he started, in Mantle at the beginning of Volume 8: needing to go door-to-door to find where people have hidden themselves, trying to convince them all to follow him (remember Oscar commenting to Ozpin about how difficult that was?). Except now, he and Nora are the only ones trying to get people to safey, the city is filled with far more grimm, a significant amount of time has passed for people to be killed or injured (making evacuating them even harder, both due to injuries and an unwillingness to leave hurt/dead/missing loved ones behind), he’s trying to convince these panicking people to go through magic portals, not just walk to a crater, and he’s aware that there’s a very short time limit for this task. 

Jaune returns in a panic of his own, explaining how difficult it will be to get that 2/3rds of the Kingdom to Vacuo. How many are already dead. Barricaded. Missing. Closeup on Ruby looking horrified, but then she rallies. They can do it. Atlas is falling, but residual dust gives them just enough time to find, calm, and evacuate those people. They’re heroes after all. Beating the odds is what they do. 

Then Cinder attacks. 

Suddenly, the group can’t evacuate people because they’re trying to keep themselves safe from her. Maybe Cinder gets the powers because Jaune was off looking for civilians, leaving Penny without a mercy kill. Maybe Nora dies because she’s still trying to help people on the city that plows into the one below. Regardless of how details might change, they’re not getting a spread out, decimated population through those portals before Cinder changes the wish and makes them disappear.  

In this version, the story starts with Ironwood wanting to sacrifice 1/3rd of the population to save 2/3rds and the future of the war. It ends with 2/3rds of the population dying instead. 

This is what I mean when I say the majority of the fandom wants to view a very complex situation through a ridiculously simple lens. The fandom wants to denounce every bit of RWBY’s fictionalized military, the context issues of that aside. The story wants to paint RWBYJNOR as the only heroes, in part because they succeeded in saving everyone (“everyone”) in the Kingdom when Ironwood gave up. 

But they only managed to save everyone because of Ironwood. Because he kept fighting for his people to the bitter end. This is why, though his horrific actions obviously exist in the story, they make no sense (he’ll threaten to kill his people so he can... save his people?) and mess up what little is working in the finale. The story wants us to celebrate the group for evacuating Mantle and Atlas, but the Atlas evacuation would not have happened if not for Ironwood’s actions  — the actions that are ignored in favor of having Winter blame him for everything and then killing him off. The rescue of “everyone” was very much a joint effort. RWBYJNOR’s win is not actually a contrast to Ironwood’s intended sacrifice, for the simple reason that their win depended entirely on Ironwood’s actions. 

If we’re going to celebrate the group getting everyone to safety, we should probably also celebrate the guy who got them all to an easy evacuation point and ensured they weren’t eaten before then. Does that mean Ironwood never did anything wrong? Of course not. As established, the story went out of its way to make him into a villain. Rather, it means that other parts of the story failed to maintain that black and white view, complicating the heroism of RWBYJNOR in the process. If we want Ironwood to be incapable of heroic action, always the bad guy, nothing good to say about him whatsoever... then we likewise need to accept that the group is rather unheroic in many regards too. That, on their own, they would have failed to save everyone, just as Ironwood’s plan failed to save everyone at the end of Volume 7. Because they chose their friend over a kingdom. Because they sat around in a mansion. Because by the time they took action again and tried to escape, without Ironwood’s help they would have lost a larger majority than they originally insisted be saved. 

[callieshipman]

Virals Valentines

Written for the Virals Valentines Exchange using the stuck in an elevator prompt! This one is for our benevolent organiser herself, @themorrisislandpack! I hope you enjoy it <3

“Okay,” Tory says, after pressing every button on the elevator multiple times. “So. This is bad.”

Ben looks over at her, says nothing. His hands fly over the keyboard of his phone, probably texting Hi and Shelton begging for rescue from an awkward situation.

“You have service?” Tory asks, in lieu of anything better to say because they’ve been silent around each other the last few days.

“Mm.” Ben, chatty as ever.

Tory slides down the wall and sits on the floor opposite him, legs crossed. She can see her own reflection in the mirror, a shock of red hair and sharp, pale limbs. His is visible too, just the curve of his jaw and nose, slightly distorted by the glass.

The next few moments are painfully silent without the hum of the elevator in the background. Tory thinks she shouldn’t even be surprised that they’re stuck in an elevator on Valentine’s Day two days after an explosive fight. They have wolf DNA, this should be a walk in the park. Go figure.

“Just so you know,” she says dryly. “If you keep up the silent treatment, you’re actually second to last on the list of people I would want to share an elevator with.”

“Last is Chance?” Ben asks without looking up.

“Whitney,” she answers. Then, after a moment of thought, “Actually, you’re right. Fuck Chance.”

Ben cracks a smile for the first time in a few days, then snorts and ducks his head in the way she’s always thought is unfairly adorable. It makes her insides melt. Gross.

She can’t help but laugh too despite everything. Ben Blue is a massive dork, even when they’re fighting.

There’s another long pause, but it’s warmer than before. She can feel him enjoying her company. 

“No reply from Hi and Shelton?”

“Nope.” Ben taps a few buttons. “God knows where they’ve run off to. For all we know, this is a scheme.”

Tory’s heart sinks, because oh no, they absolutely would do this. Sometimes being friends with Hi and Shelton is like being parents to unnaturally intelligent toddlers who are upset that mommy and daddy are fighting, and okay it’s time to steer away from that thought experiment, because it’s getting a little scary.

Ben, luckily, has not read her thoughts this time. It’s recently established Virals Policy that they all keep out of each other’s brains without express permission (or in an emergency, she has added, fully prepared to distort the definition of an emergency beyond recognition) before they completely ruin their relationships.

She thinks she and Ben might be on their way to that anyway. They’ve been avoiding each other for days over something stupid as all hell, and she’s not sure how much longer she can grit her teeth through it.

But he still laughs at her jokes, and that has to count for something.

“They’re probably sending someone to rescue us now,” she says. Then, after thinking it through for approximately three seconds, “You’re still my best friend.”

Ben’s head flies up to look at her, and his expression softens into the one she likes best. He looks so fond again, and just a little bit amused, like he’s been waiting for her to cave. Maybe he has. She knows she’s stubborn as a mule when she wants to be, and they can read each other like a book even without the added bonus of literal mind reading.

“You’re mine too,” he says eventually. “And Hi and Shelton.”

Tory knows he’s only saying that to blunt the edges of the emotion, but he means it, and her heart melts.

“I don’t want to lose you,” she admits. “I really, really don’t.”

“Did you think we were going to break up?” Ben’s brow furrows. “Tory, I didn’t mean for it to turn into a thing.”

“No, you just mooned around sadly for three days until Shelton had to call me and ask what was up your ass!”

“That’s true,” Ben concedes, only sulking a little. “Poor Shelton. Hi just thought it was funny.”

“It was a little bit funny.”

“A little bit.” Ben is trying to hide a smile now, but she can feel it in her own head, a burst of warmth that spreads through her like a hot bath. “Okay, looking at if from your perspective-”

“I was totally right and you were being a clown?” 

She’s just teasing him now, and he knows that. It’s part of the unspoken game they play with each other every time they fight and make up, poking fun at old wounds until they warm up to each other again and everything is just like it was before. It’s a ritual Tory sincerely enjoys once they’re done with the stupid fighting part.

“Alright, alright.” Ben rolls his eyes and stretches his legs out so that the tips of his scuffed shoes touch hers. “If we’re done with the fighting like petty teenagers, I hate to be the one to point it out, but we are still stuck in an elevator.”

Tory kicks the wall, and Ben laughs at her as it clangs and she swears. 

“This is exactly like when we got stuck in those caves,” she says, fake morosely. “Enclosed space, no one around, smells bad.”

“At least there’s no rising water?”

“We’ll always have that,” she says dryly. “You know I love you, right?”

“I know,” Ben says gently. “I love you too. Stop talking like we’re going to die in a mall elevator though. Please.”

Tory doesn’t even have to consider this plea before the lights in the elevator suddenly flick back on, and then they’re moving downwards with a groaning sound that’s only marginally alarming after everything they’ve been through.

“Hey, look at that,” she says, turning to grin at him. “We live to see another day.”

Ben says nothing, but gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. Just so they know where they stand.

When the doors creak open, they’re greeted by a small crowd of maintenance guys looking mildly bored, and Hi and Shelton looking like they’ve just won the lottery.

“Heyyyyy guys!” Hi drawls as soon as the doors have fully opened. Then, to the maintenance men: “Thank you guys so much. They owe you their lives.”

“Shut it, dumbass,” Ben tells him, and he darts behind Shelton, still grinning.

After they’ve thanked the crew themselves, not at all trusting whatever Hi and Shelton have said to them, they converge on them, both grinning.

“You look cheery,” Shelton says. “When you went in there, we thought you might kill each other and the doors would just open on your bodies.”

“Imagine our concern when they didn’t open at all!” Hi takes a very loud sip through the straw of his smoothie cup. “I said we should call in Ella’s FBI contacts.”

“When did you get a smoothie?” Ben frowns. “Did you not get all my texts asking for help?”

“Of course we did,” Shelton says smoothly. “Actually, Hi can tell the next part, I don’t want to be the messenger for that.”

“Throw me under the bus like that.” Hi shakes his head. “Together five years and he throws it all away. Check this guy out.”

“I’m fine with being a widower,” Shelton says.

“You’re the worst. Ben and Tory, Bory if you will-”

“I will not,” Ben says.

“Whatever, I like it. We may have given it a few minutes before going to find help. We kind of, sort of, maybe thought if you were left in there a little longer you would stop fighting and killing our vibe?”

“Hiram.” Tory folds her arms.

“Goodbye, Shelton,” Hi says. “Don’t inform my mother of this until they’ve left the country.”

“It worked,” she admits, and then punches him in the arm for good measure.

“Thank god,” Shelton says, looking openly thrilled with himself. “That was excruciating. And on Valentine’s Day of all days!”

“We hate Valentine’s Day,” she says, at the same time as Ben rolls his eyes. “Couldn’t care less.”

“Don’t care, you fixed it, we can talk about something else whilst we’re watching Friends now.”

Ben lunges after Hi, who ducks away, shrieking about security cameras, and behind both of their backs, Tory mouths a thank you to Shelton.

[heyhihellowhatsup0]

The Elevator Game [Part One]

Parings: Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: Your day goes from bad, to worse when you get stuck in an elevator with a handsome guy. 

Warnings: None, but smut in future part(s)

A/N: So this is sort of a build-up to the next part. But I hope you like this one! Also I don’t know if you guys would like to be tagged for when I release part two? So if you do, just reply to the post or DM me! Thanks guys! Xx N

You ran through the hallway, your bag unzipped and papers flying everywhere as you checked your phone once again. You were running late, as always; and only had about ten minutes to catch your train before you were late for your dinner reservation.

Today was not your day, you thought to yourself as you shuffled out of the office. First, you woke up late this morning; which pretty much set the entire theme of your day. You were then late for everything because of this. Missing your doctor’s appointment in the morning, to then getting a late lunch and not having enough time to stop at your favorite cafe but instead, settling for some black coffee and a bag of chips.

Your co-workers cancelled their meeting with you last minute because you were off looking for lunch, which then lead to right now; about to miss your train home so you can treat your friend to dinner for her birthday. Which you were hoping she wouldn’t be upset if you missed it. But you wouldn’t blame her if she was.

Running over towards the elevator, you saw it beginning to close as you picked up speed. No way in hell were you going to wait for the elevator again. You were on the thirty-third floor of the building and it was rush hour. The next time the elevator stopped on your floor, you’d probably have grey hairs growing.

“Hold the door!” You shouted out to the person in the elevator, running towards the closing doors. 

Shoving your foot in between the cracks, you managed to save yourself in just the nick of time. You let out a sigh of relief as the door re-opened, allowing you to take a step inside as the guy in the elevator made some room for you.

Pressing the lobby floor, you looked over at him shyly, “Thanks,” you told him with a small smile. 

He was so ridiculously good looking, you thought to yourself as the doors closed in front of the two of you. Curly brown hair and matching eyes with broad shoulders and thick arms. You’d be lying if you said he wasn’t one of the best looking guys you’d ever came across. Even if in an elevator for a few brief moments.

The elevator started moving down each and every floor, passing them all by as you watched the numbers go down. You took a deep breath, checking your phone to see the time. You were beginning to feel confident now that you could make that dinner.

The lights flickered on and off in the elevator, which startled you for a second. You’ve been working in this building for such a long time, and that has never happened before. You began to feel yourself getting nervous, seeing you were heading towards the twelfth floor. Just a few more, you thought.

There was a jolt, making you stumble and bump into the guy as you lost your balance. You steadied yourself before you felt the elevator come to a complete stop at the eleventh floor. The guy picked his head up to make sure you were on both of your feet as he looked at the numbered floor.

But you didn’t move. The numbers didn’t go down, the elevator door never opened. You watched as he pushed the open button, but nothing happened. The lights flickered once more, making you look at him, trying to hide the panic in both of your eyes.

“Shit,” you mutter under your breath as you pushed another floor. Any floor. You were just hoping that the damn thing would start moving, but every button you pushed just continued to make the lights flicker again, “C’mon!” you banged on the door nervously.

The guy coughed to get your attention, covering a laugh with his hand, “I, uh..don’t think that’s going to help us here, love,” he told you with his crisp English accent trying to politely, yet sarcastically, tell you to knock it off.

He looked you up and down as his eyes peeked through from underneath his baseball cap, flashing you a smile that made your stomach twist into a knot.

You could feel his eyes on you, and it felt pretty good. But you had a much bigger problem right now, and this guy staring at you was going to have to wait.

Pressing the emergency button, you saw the light go on, but nothing else was happening. Maybe it took some time, you figured.

Well, guess you weren’t going to make that dinner…

Huffing under your breath, you begin to text your friend your apology. Of course this would be how you were ending your day. Stuck in a freezing cold elevator with a handsome stranger, missing your best friend’s birthday.

He must have noticed how stressed you looked as he turned to you, giving you a small tap against your shoulder which made you jump.

“Sorry!” He apologized quickly for scaring you, “I, um..you okay?” He stammered.

You were surprised how quickly his cocky little grin wiped away to show his concern for you. Maybe he wasn’t as confident or self absorbed as you had initially thought. 

“Just great,” you sighed as you sent the text to your friend. You had a pretty good feeling she was going to be pissed off at you now, and being stuck in an elevator with a stranger was the worst possible alternative, despite the fact that he was cute.

The man pressed his lips together, trying to decide on what to say to you. He adjusted his hat, giving you a small, yet flirty nod with that smirk coming back to his lips, “What’s your name, love?” He asked you.

“Y/N,” you answered him, leaning your head back against the wall. You weren’t really in the mood for small talk, and the possibility of being stuck in this enclosed space for a long period of time was beginning to freak you out a bit.

“Y/N, I’m Tom,” He said to you with a smile. On any other occasion, a smile like that would make your heart melt. But right now you were too on edge to even be concerned about that, “Come here often?” He asked.

You glared at him as Tom started chuckling, clearly the idea of being trapped inside of an elevator was charming for him. At least one of you thought so.

Tom saw your reaction and swallowed his laugh, “Uh, right okay. How do we get out of here?” He tried again, staring at the buttons.

“We wait,” you answered him nervously, pressing the fire rescue button again repeatedly. 

You couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. This day went from bad to worse in a matter of seconds. You were never really a big fan of small spaces, and now you were beginning to remind yourself of why that was. You were lucky you weren’t alone in this ordeal; but at the same time, maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing considering you were pressing this button as if your life depended on it. 

“Um,”  Tom called out to you with a panicked look. He was pretty sure pressing that button was only going to make matters worse instead of better. 

Tom could tell you were on edge, even though he knew nothing about you. There was so many things about you that he found attractive, but he was too afraid to bother you with it knowing you were stressed out.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t help in some sort of way. After all, you both were stuck here until god knew when. And he had nowhere to be. Why would Tom mind at all about being stuck in a secluded room with a pretty girl he had never met before him? It was actually kinda nice for him, and a change of pace.

Gently grabbing your hand, Tom pulled your fingers away from the button you were manicaly pressing, “Let’s not do that,” he suggested with a small laugh.

You let out a sigh of frustration as you let go. This was your worst nightmare. It felt like everything was going wrong today, and there was no escaping it. Right now, all you wanted to do was go home, but you were stuck here.

“You’re really beautiful, you know,” Tom flirted, his eyes looking right into your soul and his smile from ear to ear.

You rolled your eyes as you tried making a phone call, but there wasn’t enough service to send it out, “Are you really trying to hit on me right now?” you asked Tom seriously. Just because he was cute, didn’t mean he wasn’t going to annoy the hell out of you, you thought.

“That depends,” Tom shrugged, taking his hat off as he plopped himself down onto the elevator floor without taking his eyes off of you once.

Raising your eyebrow at him, you muttered some choice words underneath your breath, “Depends on…?” you asked him, waiting for him to stop being so damn smug.

“Is it working?” Tom smiled up at you through his eyes.

You thought about it for a moment, but shook your head in denial, “Absolutely not,” you told him back. Trying not to glance over at him, and instead focus on your phone. 

“I feel like I don’t believe you,” Tom challenged.

“Shut up,” you retorted.

Your nerves were all bundled up right now. Neither one of you had any clue how long you would be stuck in here, and it was feeling crowded already between the two of you.

Snapping at Tom wasn’t going to help you though, and you felt a little bad for telling this stranger who was being nice enough to distract you, to shut up. You took a deep breath, pushing your hair out of your face to find a spot next to him on the floor.

“I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, I’m sorry,” you apologized with an exhale. 

Tom shrugged it off, “I get it. You’re stuck here. With me,” he added with a nod as a smile started pulling at his lips again, “The most handsome guy you’ve seen in an elevator,” he tried again as he nudged your shoulder in an attempt to make you laugh, “Who’s trying so hard to keep us stuck in here so he can get your number,” he admitted.

You felt your cheeks heating up as you let out a tiny laugh. This guy was such a little shit, you thought to yourself. His words were sweet and endearing, but his timing was just so very bad. You knew he was trying to keep you distracted, but you couldn’t help but laugh off his attempts.

The lights flickered rapidly before shutting off all together. Your heart started racing rapidly as your hand flew to Tom’s arm, gripping onto him tightly. You were overcome with panic, you didn’t even realize you were holding onto his hand.

But Tom understood and remained calm, his free hand pulling you into his arms to try and get you to breathe slowly and calmly. Stroking you arm gently, he could hear your breathing in the darkness slow down a bit as he held onto your hand.

“Tom,” you breathed you, swallowing some of your panic as your head rested against his shoulder, “Can you distract me, please?” you finally asked him, hoping you didn’t come off as some needy damsel in distress.

“Distractions, okay,” Tom pressed his lips together as he tried to think quickly, “How about a game?” He asked you.

“S-sure,” you stammered out, clenching your eyes shut as you tried to concentrate on Tom’s distractions rather than the fear of being stuck in here all night.

“I’m going to ask you a bunch of questions really fast, and you have to answer them really fast,” Tom said as he adjusted his hat to look down at you resting on his shoulder in the darkness, “That sounds fun, right?” He tried.

You groaned at his comment, “I’m not two, Tom,” you answered back.

“Right, okay. Yeah,” Tom stifled a laugh, actually thankful you couldn’t see the look on his face from your sassiness, “So, what’s your favorite color?” He asked you.

You rolled your eyes and let out a sigh as you agreed to play this game, “Purple,” you told him simply.

“Got a favorite food?” He asked another question right after she answered.

“Sushi,” The first thing that popped into your head just came out.

“Batman or Spider-Man?” Tom asked with a proud grin.

“Batman,” you answered quickly.

Damn, okay, Tom thought to himself as he laughed to himself silently. He had to admit, you not knowing much of anything about him made you even more attractive. It was something he got to see on very rare occasion, especially when it came to women; so this for him was a very pleasant surprise.

“Where were you off to after you left here?” Tom asked, picking up on you having plans from earlier.

“A friend’s birthday dinner,” you answered, pinching the bridge of your nose. You were still stressing over that, but at least this was a decent distraction.

“Favorite Disney prince?” Tom asked randomly.

“Aladdin,” you answered just as quick.

“Favorite band?”

“Foo Fighters.”

“Best looking superhero?”

“Thor.”

It was worth another shot, Tom thought to himself with another chuckle.

Tom scratched his chin, smiling to himself as he felt your body became a little less tense. Maybe this really was working, he thought, “Um..any pets?” he asked, trying to get back on track.

“Nope.”

“Got a boyfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Married?”

“Nope.”

“Would you fuck me?” 

You didn’t answer right away, but you knew your answer. Not wanting to blurt it out, you made Tom wait for moment. Keeping him on the edge of his toes before taking an exhale.

“Yes,” you finally answered.

[yrpspiritsintheshadows]

Old Wounds

Old Wounds

Dear Mr. Miyamoto,

It is with great fear I am reaching out to you. I don't know what to do. You're my last hope here with this. My name is Charlotte and I'm 18 years old, but I still live at home. I go to Geistville Community College.

I have this doll, it was given to me by a relative, whom I am not close with. I've enclosed a picture of the doll at the bottom. Ever since getting her, weird things have been happening. My name's been called when I'm the only one home, I've had nightmares where I can't breath and woke up with these weird bruises around my neck.

I brushed it off at first because my family thought I was nuts. It wasn't until the doll started moving off of its stand at night that I realized I'm NOT crazy and this is in fact happening.

First, it'd be on the floor. No big deal, I have a cat, Pearl, she knocks things off my shelves sometimes but this is a porcelain doll and Pearl sleeps in the living room in her cat cave. If Pearl knocked it over, it should've broken. Nope. Still intact.

Then, I swear I saw its eyes follow me when I was getting ready for school.

Last night, I had the nightmare about not being able to breathe and when I woke up, the doll was on top of me.

Please… Please help me. I'm scared it's going to kill me…

Eiji sighed heavily, reading over the letter for what felt like the hundredth time. It had been concerning when he received it initially.

Now, reading it over again, there was dread building up. He pulled up the photograph included.

The doll, to anyone else, looked normal. Snow white porcelain, dark, almost black brown eyes, she had a purple chiffon dress on, covered in ruffles and frills, her pale blonde hair in ringlets around her head.

If the doll wasn't involved in a haunting and didn't look so… otherworldly, Eiji would've called it "cute" and moved on.

He had to take it with a grain of salt, however… and he wasn't sure if this was something his team should handle.

The last time I dealt with a haunted doll case…

He looked at the picture he kept by the computer of when Ken was a newborn, the day they finally got to bring him home from the hospital.

I made one of the worst mistakes of my life.

Goddess, why did I bring that thing into the house?

Old guilt bubbled in his chest as he bit the nail of his index finger. Normally, he never hesitated… but this had an old wound attached.

"Eiji, I don't want that thing in my house."

"I know, I promise I'm burning it in the morning. It'll be destroyed and not be able to bug anyone again. I got the key. Just focus on resting. Don't want you or the baby getting stressed."

I'm gonna need to talk it over with Carmen. One thing is for sure, I am NEVER bringing that thing into the house.

Not where it could terrorize Ken or Hideki or Hikaru. Not…

He growled.

Not where it can touch Carmen.

Never again.

His heart went out to the girl. He knew what it was like to be terrorized by something you thought was innocent.

Something, that you thought would never get a chance to harm you.

Just hope her house doesn't have stairs.

I need to talk to Carmen… and maybe call Naomi. Because I don't know if I can take this case. I'd have to sell her on it and even then.

He gripped the arm of his chair tighter, eyes trailing from the doll's face to the photograph. Carmen, in the picture, looked exhausted but relieved, holding the tiny bundle that was their son. Safe and sound, home at last.

What am I gonna do? Eiji sighed heavily, getting up. He had to get out of the room for a bit.

He didn't want to have this conversation.

Deep down though, he knew in truth he wanted to help this girl. Free her of whatever was inside the doll.

I'm just scared that it'll bite me again. I usually forward this crap to Naomi.

He headed upstairs, going to Carmen's office. The pool room was nearby, the door was open a crack so she could listen if any of their kids were in the pool.

As it stood, no one was. The boys were in the family room, watching a movie of some sort. It was just them.

He peered inside, Carmen was sketching on her screen tablet, her eyes narrowed in focus.

Eiji swallowed hard, knocking on the doorway. Her eyes never left the tablet but her hand did pause in its movements.

"If this is a bad time, I can come back in an hour." He offered when she did look up.

Carmen narrowed her eyes, looking her husband over… In particular his eyes. He was nervous, shifting in place, hands tucked into his jean pockets.

"What's on your mind, Mi Amor?"

Eiji bit his lip. He really didn't want to have this discussion.

I could just make something up and run upstairs.

But that's lying.

I could say I turned it down and go upstairs and call Naomi.

But that's half lying.

I could…

Augh, I'm gonna have to do this, aren't I?

Eiji let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping. Normally, they could talk about everything and anything.

Just. Say it.

"Carmen, I got a letter today from a client about a new case." He frowned, unease blooming within. "I… This is something I really need to talk to you about."

"What's going on?" She frowned, concern washing over her. "Is it involving something like what happened to Hideki and Hikaru?"

"No, no! We're not taking in more kids." He held up his hands. "It's not like that… but it does involve something that we both hate. See, she has this doll and-" Eiji cut himself off, at the stricken look Carmen had. "C-Carmen?"

Carmen narrowed her eyes, shaking her head.

"No. You know the rule." She got up, grabbing a water bottle out of the small fridge she kept in her office. "I don't want any creepy haunted objects in my house!"

"I wasn't going to bring it home." He explained, a pleading look coming to his eyes. "I swear, what happened back then won't happen EVER again."

Carmen stared at him, frustration coming to her eyes.

"I don't… Eiji, if something attaches itself to anything and comes after the kids or me, you'll never forgive yourself. You're STILL upset about what happened." She went up to him, cupping his cheek. He pressed it into her hand, closing his eyes. His shoulders were shaking a little.

"It was my fault." He murmured, his voice cracking a little. "Carmen, I thought…. I thought…"

"Shh… I know." She stroked his arm. "Mi Corazon, I think I know better than anyone… I was scared too."

"He was so tiny… and you were in so much pain… Carmen, I… I'm torn." He ran a hand through his hair, a haunted look in his eyes. "I want to help. I want to help this girl really badly but I don't want to risk you guys either… Especially you." He frowned, bringing his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. "Please…"

Carmen brought her arms around him, stroking his back. She didn't want to say anything, except dig her heels in and say no. In a perfect world, if she said "no" once, he would've never spoken of it again… But the idea of her Eiji even doing that unsettled her.

It still hurt.

While Ken, it seemed had no health issues after his rather unceremonious arrival, they had been terrified.

C-section, having a hard time getting out of bed to go to the NICU, Eiji being there every single moment, trying his best.

We went through heck back then because of a stupid doll…

And now there's another stupid doll out there.

She tightened her arms around him, burrowing her face into his chest.

"I love you." She leaned up, giving him a serious look. "I'm not gonna lie, I don't want you to do this. Not even in the slightest. I want you to give it up."

Eiji nodded, lowering his head a little.

"But… I'm not going to ask you to do that because I don't want someone else getting pushed down the stairs or killed because of some stupid little doll." Carmen tilted his chin up. "But I don't want it in my house. Not even for a night. Okay?"

"It won't go anywhere but a fire pit in some campground off the highway. I promise." Eiji vowed. "I'll cleanse myself before coming in the house too."

Carmen played with his necklace, kissing his chin. He kissed her, holding it for a moment.

She pulled back after a moment, touching her forehead to his.

"I love you." He breathed, relief washing over him like a wave. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." She nuzzled him. "You big darn, hero."

"Just an investigator."

"Yeah, who if he brings that doll home, can kiss back rubs goodbye for six years."

"Sounds fair. More than fair." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

"Welcome." She wagged her finger at him. "Remember, I better not see it in my house."

"You won't." He grinned.

"Good."

oooooo

He didn't need to hold an entire meeting about this one. Just one message:

"It's a doll. After the investigation, we're burning it. No chance of it going after anyone. Got it?"

They all knew. They had investigated the first doll case and had been part of deflecting others until now.

"Eiji, are you sure about this?" Chase asked as he helped pack up the van, hefting another duffle bag into it. He also packed a gas can full of fuel for a fire. "We can reschedule."

"No."

"Eiji-"

"Chase. I promise, I'm gonna be fine." Eiji smiled a little, trying to hide the dread he was feeling. "I'm scared but I'm fine."

"You could stay home. We could drive down to Monstruo and grab Naomi-"

"Nope. She has kids too." Eiji walked past him. "Gonna go say goodnight to the kids."

Soon as he was gone, the team huddled together.

"Alright, we know this is gonna mess with him." Skyler spoke up, crossing her arms. "So, we have to put as much space between the doll and Eiji as possible."

"I'll be bait." Chase held up a hand.

"Of course you're bait." Lucian smirked, before it faded. "Eiji needs to handle nerve center. He'll be on monitor duty all night. No investigations outside of it."

"He's not gonna be okay with that."

"He will. Something tells me he will and if not." Lucian smirked. "That's what texting Carmen will do."

"... Lucian, you seriously scare me sometimes."

He shrugged.

"Either way. Eiji is not getting set off tonight. We're not letting him get near the darn thing unless it's attaching cameras to it."

"We got all of the spell tags in a box too. We'll stick 'em all around the nerve center."

The team nodded to one another.

No mistakes tonight.

Let's do this for our little ghost family.

oooooo

Charlotte's home was a modest three bedroom house. With white paint and a grey roof, it looked like your typical house.

"My parents are out of the house for the weekend and if I have to leave for the night I will too."

Eiji knocked on the door, leaning a bit to the side.

It wasn't long before a young woman opened it. She was pale, her blond hair hanging in ringlets around her face, the rest pulled into a short ponytail at the back of her head. She wore a bright red scarf around her neck as well.

"Hey there. Charlotte Monroe?"

"Y-Yes? And you're Eiji?"

He smiled reassuringly, offering her a hand as she shook it.

"I promise we're gonna get to the bottom of what's happening to you."

Charlotte relaxed a little, ushering them inside.

"I had my parents take the cat with them. Pearl won't be interfering with anything."

"That's good to know-" Eiji's words died on his lips as he saw what was sitting on the coffee table.

Unease washed over him like a tidal wave as his eyes met its soulless glass orbs.

"I… see we're getting right into it then? This is the doll?"

"Y-Yes." Charlotte shuddered. "I didn't want her in my room tonight. I'm sorry. Will that be a problem?"

"No, not at all."

Chase whistled as he looked it over.

"So, does her hair grow too or-"

"Chase!" Eiji hissed.

Charlotte blinked, confusion in her eyes.

"Hair growing? I… I don't think so. Is that a sign?"

"No, no." Eiji reassured, waving it off. "Just an old legend about another supposedly haunted doll." He gave Chase an annoyed look.

"Oh. Okay. Can I get you guys anything? Tea, soda, coffee?"

"Nah. We're fine, honestly. Shall we?"

She nodded, leading them to the dining room of the home.

"Sorry, I just… feel really uncomfortable talking in front of her."

Eiji gave her a reassuring look, taking out his notepad.

"No worries. Let's hear it."

Charlotte nodded, fumbling with her fingers.

"Okay, for one… I don't have a name for her. I just call her "that thing" since I've honestly always hated dolls. My favorite toys were stuffed animals. I hated it whenever anyone gave me a doll but for some reason I can't seem to get rid of it."

Eiji narrowed his eyes.

"How so?"

Charlotte closed her eyes tightly, exhaling sharply.

"I tried throwing it away when I messaged you. It came back."

"And you're parents wouldn't have brought it back in?"

"Never."

She glared down into the garbage can. She looked at the doll in her other hand, giving it a sneer.

"Meet your new resting place." She chucked it in hard enough that she heard a crack, the doll's neck broken in an awkward angle. She smiled, putting the lid on and heading back inside.

"Alright, time for some Leonideas-" She stopped short as she entered her room.

The doll was lying on her bed, perfectly repaired.

"I was out of the house for less than two minutes." She shivered.

Eiji finished jotting the information down. Internally, he was horrified at what he was hearing, but he was giving an outward appearance of calm. Just trying to do his best to be reassuring.

"I see… and do you still have bruises?" Eiji gave her a gentle look. "My colleague here, he's also a paramedic. It just helps to see for documentation."

Charlotte fidgeted before nodding, undoing the scarf.

As it fell away, the team gasped.

Her neck was covered in bruises, almost all in the same pattern, traveling entirely up her neck. Two on each side.

"Good gracious…" Lucian walked over to her. "Is it alright if I…?"

"You can." She murmured.

Lucian was gentle, tilting her head to the side as he examined the bruises. There was a distinct pattern. One he unfortunately was very familiar with.

"Yeah, these are finger prints." He concluded, stepping back. "They're miniature but these are distinctly human finger prints."

Charlotte replaced her scarf around her neck.

"So… she was choking me for sure?"

"It's possible. Which is why I think it would be in your best interest if you didn't stay the night while we're here." Eiji gave her a gentle look. "Is it possible for you to join your parents? We'll be gone by day break."

"I can go to my boyfriend's house. He lives down the street." She smiled a little. "Bill wouldn't let anyone hurt me."

"Then give him a call and pack up. We'll make sure the doll doesn't bug ya."

"Thank you."

It wasn't long before Charlotte left the house, hurrying down the street on her bike. Eiji closed the door behind her, sighing heavily.

"Alright, since the most activity happens when the doll is in her room, I'll go move it there and get the ghost box setup-"

"Nope." Lucian clamped a hand on his shoulder. "I'm doing that."

"Eh?" Eiji furrowed his brow. "Luce, I can handle this."

Lucian smiled, shoving him along.

"I know. But you've been active in our last two investigations while I had to babysit the cameras. You take a darn turn."

"Wait." Eiji turned around, giving him a suspicious look. "You're… volunteering. As ghost bait. You're actually volunteering!?"

"Yes. Problem?"

Eiji sighed heavily, a bit guilty for being relieved he didn't have to spend too much time in the same room as the doll.

"No."

Lucian grinned wickedly.

"Good. Now, get in the freakin nerve center."

Alright…

Let the night begin.

[ashtons-eyeliner]

Safe With Me

Ashton Irwin x Reader

Content warning: symptoms related to sexual assault (flashbacks, graphic intrusive thoughts, fear of physical intimacy, body memories)

A/N: So this was kind of like a cathartic thing for me to write. It contains some of my personal experiences, so it can be intense. Take care of yourselves, y'all.

---

You didn't like big parties. Too many people in an enclosed space. Too many hands to be aware of.

But when Ashton asked if you were able to help him host a dinner party with his friends, you didn't refuse. You knew that Ashton was eager to introduce you to his friends. After dating for a little over a month and a half, you knew it was a step you needed to take in order for your relationship with him to progress, and you were ready to take that step.

But as the party date got closer and closer, and the conversations about it became more frequent, your anxiety began to creep back in. Not because of the party, though. It was for a different reason.

You weren't deaf to the stories of sexual harassment from people in and around the entertainment industry. You had been with Ashton long enough to trust that he would never be the focus of such a story-- he was disgusted with the person every time a story of what they did was brought to light. But it was beginning to feel like it was only a matter of time before a story came out about someone Ashton knew.

Although you tried your best to ignore these intrusive thoughts during the days leading up to the date of the dinner party, it reached a boiling point on the morning of, when you woke up in a pool of sweat for the seventh night in a row. You were too emotionally overwhelmed to block out the anxious thoughts that ran through your mind.

Thoughts of Ashton's friends making comments on your body and appearance that made you feel uncomfortable.

Or a group of his friends having too much to drink and thinking it would be funny to grab you in places even Ashton hadn't touched yet.

Or someone bending you over the bathroom sink as you stared blankly at the smudged handprint he left on the mirror, the smell of alcohol heavy in his panting breaths. Finishing where He left off.

Most of all, you were terrified of That Thing happening to you, again. You were angry that they still held this power over you, years after the fact. You were angry that, even now, a little part of you blamed yourself for what they did.

You didn't even know how to approach the subject with Ashton. He was so understanding when you felt your make out sessions were getting too heated for you. He probably thought that you were just a shy virgin or something. How were you to begin telling him the truth?

You left your apartment and drove to Ashton's penthouse as fast as you could, your mind still racing with possible scenarios. When you got to the house, you parked and called his number.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answered on the other end. You felt a twinge of guilt for waking him up. You hadn't checked the time, but the darkened sky told you it was early.

"Ash, are you home?" You asked, your other hand fiddling with the hem of your night shirt.

"Yeah, why? Is everything alright, Y/N?" Ashton's voice held a hint of concern.

"Can you come down and let me in at the fence?"

"I'll be down there in a few. Can you tell me what's going on in the meantime?" You could hear the rustling of sheets on his end as he got up.

"I...I'm not sure yet." Your voice was so small, you were surprised he even heard you.

"Okay. I want you to take a deep breath with me. Nice and slow, okay?" You followed along with his instructions. "That was good. I'm almost there. Can we do a couple more deep breaths?"

"Okay."

A few moments later, a very tired drummer stood in front of you with his phone to his ear. His hazel eyes widened as he gave you a brief once-over, extending his arms out for you. "Oh my God, Y/N. Come here, you must be freezing. How are you wearing that out here?"

You looked down at yourself. Other than what was clothed by your night shirt, every inch of your body was covered with goosebumps. "Frick."

"Come on, let's get you inside." The truth was that you were so disconnected from your body you hadn't even noticed that you were shivering. You welcomed what little warmth Ashton offered as the two of you made your way into the house.

The drummer sat you down on the couch before placing a blanket over you. He left for a moment, only to return with two mugs of tea. He gave you one before joining you under the blanket.

There was a brief period where nothing was said between the two of you.

"You seemed pretty upset on the phone." Ashton mentioned gently. "Is it about tonight?"

You nodded. "The dinner party has me really freaked out."

"Babe, I know they're gonna love you."

You hesitated, taking a sip from your mug. How much of it were you capable of telling him? "I'm afraid that they might say something that makes me uncomfortable."

"Say something to you or about you?"

"A little bit of both."

"Babe, my friends are pretty respectful..." Ashton paused for a moment, mulling over his thoughts. "If they say something uncomfortable when I'm around, I'm going to put them in their place right away. If I'm not around and they say something, I want you to tell me so I can put them in their place. They should know better than to mess with you like that. Especially in my house. That goes for touching, too." He gently lifted your chin for you to look at him. "Does that sound like a plan?"

You nodded. You put your empty cup on the coffee table, leaned in and cuddled up against his chest. Ashton pressed a kiss into the top of your head, wrapping an arm around you. "I'm sorry for waking you up so early."

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Ashton placed his cup beside yours before encircling his arms around you and drawing you closer. "Besides, we have lots of time to catch up on sleep." His fingers lightly traced circles on your shoulder.

"Yeah, but I know you had a long day, yesterday."

"You know," He began. You looked up at him, "I've got this really cute girl-- and I'm talking smoking hot-- on my couch right now, so it's worth it." He gave you a smirk before giggling.

"Oh, shut up." You tried to hide the smile that spread across your lips. A comforting silence fell upon the two of you. Before you drifted to sleep, you mumbled into his chest, "I love you, Ash."

Ashton grinned before answering back, "I love you, too Y/N."

As you drove home to get ready later that day, you felt calmer. You were still a little apprehensive about meeting his friends, but you felt safer knowing that there was a plan in place in case anything happened.

When you drove back to Ashton's house, three other cars were parked on the street. You assumed they were the boys' cars, since Ashton had mentioned that his band mates would be helping out a little with the set up.

Calum was the most excited to meet you. Luke was more quiet, but his eagerness to meet you was on par with the others. Michael even brought Crystal, who gave you a hug as soon as she saw you. You were relieved to see her because you didn't want to be the only female with a group of guys.

As time went on, you grew to be somewhat comfortable with the boys. You could see that Ashton and the boys were having a good time, laughing and telling stories from when they were on past tours as they did various tasks. Luke brought dinnerware down from the cupboards, making sure to take out 25 of each piece. Calum took out bottles to set up an alcohol station on a portion of the counter, cracking jokes with Ashton. Michael and Crystal set the dining area, and you and Ash started to prepare the food.

Light bumps in the kitchen caused you to have a moment of panic, but they subsided as quickly as they came. You tried to hide it, but once in awhile, you caught Ashton's concerned glances.

"Hey, can you tell me how this tastes?" Ashton asked. You put a dish in the oven and looked his way. Ashton was walking towards you with a spoon in his hand and held a cupped hand underneath it.

"I can do it." Luke piped up as he set down wineglasses on the counter.

"Luke, you fucking microwave your eggs. No one trusts your palette." Calum commented. He leaned into Ash. "I'll test it, babe." Ashton played along and fed the spoonful to Cal. "It needs a little bit of pepper, but other than that, it's great, boo."

Luke feigned a hurt expression and put a hand over his heart while the rest of you laughed.

“Hey, have these been washed?" You inquired as you picked up a glass from the counter. You had noticed some white residue on the wineglasses that Luke removed from the cupboard.

Ash looked over. "Yeah, the dishwasher just does that."

"It looks like it might be because your dishwasher is using hard water." You grabbed three glasses in each hand and went to the kitchen sink. "I'll wash the residue off for now. Luke, can you help me bring these over?"

Luke gathered up multiple glasses in each hand and brought them to you while you turned on the tap.

"You don't have to worry about that. I'm sure people won't notice." Ash spoke.

"If I noticed, they'll notice. Thank you, Luke." You went back for another set of wineglasses.

"Aw. You've only known her for a month and she's already making you look good in front of your friends." Michael grinned. His arms were wrapped around Crystal's waist and his chin rested on her shoulder while she sat at the counter.

"She's pretty amazing." Ashton agreed with an affectionate gleam in his eyes. Even though you two hadn't known each other for long, he knew that this was the beginning of something special.

Cal was helping you dry off the glasses you had washed and putting them in the dining area, and Crystal and Michael helped Ash with food prep while Luke sat at the counter to talk to you. With everyone being in a smaller space, you began to get a little more jumpy, especially with noises behind you.

You started to feel like you were losing touch with your body again, causing you to feel more on edge.

That was when you felt a shoulder push your body over the sink. After, a hand found itself on your lower back. The voice behind you said, "Oh! Sorry, darling."

Your body went rigid. You didn't register the voice as Ashton's. All you could feel was His breath on your neck, His hands on your body, and the cool marble that was pressed against your chest and cheek. You dropped the glass in your hand and pushed His hand off your back.

But when you turned around, He wasn't there.

It was Ashton, confused and hurt by the way you pushed him away. "Babe, what's the matter?"

Everyone fell silent after they heard the glass shatter in the sink. They all had concerned looks on their faces, too. Except for Crys, her eyes pitied you.

"I'm sorry." Tears began to slide down your face. You couldn't take it. You walked out of the room and into the other living area as fast as you could.

You needed to get away from their eyes.

You curled up on one of the couches, trying to push the memories down. But when you thought you blocked it out, a different incident had you crying again.

"Just take deep breaths for me, okay?" Ashton soothed. You looked up and saw Ash, sitting on the floor in front of you. He made no attempt to touch you, fearing he would make the situation worse. "Nice and slow."

You did as he instructed. Once your breathing finally calmed down and your tears dried up, you climbed down and sat in his lap. The sound of his heartbeat helped slow things down. "Thank you for sitting with me."

"Of course." He hesitated for a moment. "Although, I'm not entirely sure what I did that brought this on. Could you please tell me so I can avoid it in the future?"

You let out a wry laugh. "Avoiding it is going to be a little difficult."

Ash's brows knit together. "How come?"

You knew you had to tell him. You drew in a deep breath. "I was sexually assaulted."

The words felt good to say to someone other than a police officer.

"Oh my God, is that why you came over this morning? Because someone attacked you? Do we need to go to the police?"

"No, it wasn't last night. It was a few years ago, actually. And I already filed a police report. You wouldn't know them." You said. "One of them is a Marine, now."

"God, 'them'? As in multiple people?" He asked. You slowly nodded. "Holy shit. I thought you were just inexperienced... I am so sorry."

"I wasn't, like... raped or anything." You assured him. You heard the tone in his voice when he apologized to you. "I got pretty damn close, though."

You recounted the experiences to him. How the now-Marine groped you and dragged you into a back room in high school. How two of his friends pushed you over the couch and grinded on you. How you stared up at the ceiling tiles once you realized they weren't going to listen to your pleas to stop. How the now-Marine almost finished the job at one of your older brother's parties. How he followed you into the bathroom, twisted your arm, and bent you over the bathroom sink. How the only reason you were still a virgin was because he was too drunk to get it up and he couldn't get your underwear off.

Ash ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. "I am so fucking sorry. Is it okay if I held you?" You nodded. Ash's arms encircled you. "I want you to know that you can always tell me when things are too much and I will stop, okay? You are always safe with me." Tears welled up in your eyes. "Oh, I didn't mean to make you cry. Please don't cry, babe."

This time, your thoughts focused on how lucky you got with Ashton. You smiled and kissed him sweetly.

"They're happy tears, babe." You murmured, cupping his face. "I love you, Ash."

Ash smiled, giving you a peck on the nose. "I love you, too."

[nekoabi]

On the Verge of a Heartbreak - Chapter 30

Now I’m really not sorry.

AU: School, Human Pairings: Moxiety, OC/OC Words: 3231 Warnings: Swearing, shouting. Anything else, please let me know!

Summary: The group is told about Virgil’s situation and agree to the couple’s plan. They put in the extra effort to make it memorable. Well, it will certainly be a day they’ll never forget...

Patton knew that Virgil had a free period before lunch the next day and so made an effort to be the first out of his class in order to meet up with his boyfriend. He almost ran through the halls in order to grab his stuff before heading to their little hiding spot for lunch. When he rounded the corner, Patton immediately sat down in order to catch his breath. He went to smile at his boyfriend and catch his eyes but found that he was met with the side of Virgil’s face as he was curled up into himself.

With a soft smile, Patton lightly wrapped his arms around Virgil, causing the other boy to lean into his body, “It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. I promise.” Patton whispered soothingly, rocking back and forth gently in order to comfort his anxious boyfriend.

Their friends slowly piled into the small space as the lunch period really began. They all did their best not to ask about what the couple wanted to talk with them about until all of them were gathered. All bets were off when Thomas finally appeared and took his seat.

“So, what the hell do you guys want? I was having a heart attack last night, worried fucking sick about you guys!” Ana said dramatically, throwing their hands all over the place.

Em grabbed their hands and held them in her lap, trying to stop her partner from causing any damage to anyone, “They really were. I don’t think we’ve fallen asleep while being on the phone since we first started dating until last night, we just wanted to make sure you two were okay. The message sounded really urgent…”

Patton could feel Virgil tensing in his arms. This was possibly his worst nightmare, knowing he influenced and panicked his close friends so much that they did something that was out of the ordinary. Before Patton could even attempt to say anything, Em started giggling and leaned against Ana.

“It was really nice though, so I think we should thank you guys.”

Virgil immediately flicked his head up to look between Em and Ana and Patton, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. Patton smiled wide and pressed a kiss to Virgil’s forehead when he next looked to him, causing the emo to blush and duck his head.

Patton asked them all to wait just a couple minutes longer because he didn’t want to have to talk about it twice with people. Just as everyone was begrudgingly agreeing, his phone began buzzing away in his pocket. He managed to wriggle it out and picked up the call as soon as he could.

“HI!” came Abigal’s loud voice ringing through the small speaker. Patton and Virgil both flinched as they were the ones closest to the sound, their ears beginning to ring a little. “Oh, oops, sorry…” The laughter of the other two that were present on the other end told Patton that everyone was finally able to hear him and so he launched into the explanation.

He talked about what Virgil’s parents had said about Logan and Roman’s university experiences, how that was negatively affecting everyone, how Virgil’s parents had decided the best thing was for them to move. Patton found that he had to pause his rambles as everyone had extreme reactions and opinions to the news, all of them clearly being upset that one of their friends was going to be taken far away from them.

With a little help from Em who was sat across from them and Asher on the other end of the phone, Patton was able to calm everyone down enough that he could begin to explain the idea that he and Virgil had brainstormed the night before. He told them the date that Virgil was leaving and that they wanted this to involve as many of them as possible.

On the other end of the phone, Asher mentioned how they would be back in town next week, while Abigal and Reggie realised they were only coming back a couple of days before Virgil was leaving. That narrowed down the timeframe they had significantly. Thankfully, everyone else was available the day before Virgil’s move, which was also perfect as it could be their send off at the same time.

“So, we’re going to be having it happen in this little park near our houses. It’s really nice and it’s away from everyone else, it’s almost always empty.” Patton mentioned.

There was a soft squeal from the phone in his hand, “Oh my gosh! This sounds like a cute little promise wedding! We should totally make it like a wedding ceremony!” Abigal gushed.

Everyone, especially Sophia and Em, were on board with this idea. They all began to throw out their ideas for how they could make it extra special and wedding-like. As they spoke, Virgil hid his face further and further into his boyfriend’s side, almost looking like he was trying to coax Patton’s body into absorbing him, so he could get out of there. Patton giggled and squeezed him tight for a second, causing Virgil to look up at him.

“It’ll be okay. It’s just us. The most important thing is that we’re doing this for us.” Patton reached down and slipped his fingers between Virgil’s in order to hold his hand comfortingly.

Virgil smiled softly, “I hate that you’re right with your sappy crap.”

“I didn’t hear that!” Patton threw his head to the side and comically pretended to not hear anything that Virgil said for the few seconds that followed, when the emo tried and failed to get Patton’s gaze to fall back onto himself. It only ended when Virgil moved out of Patton’s hold, grabbed his boyfriend’s face between his hands and turned it physically back to him.

“So rude.” Virgil said with a grin, his gaze exceedingly fond as he looked directly into Patton’s. The two shared a brief kiss that only broke because they suddenly heard a soft squeaky squeal.

All their friends were absolutely silent, each dealing with the incredibly adorable scene in their own ways. On the other end of the phone, however, none of their older friends were able to see what was going on and so Abigal felt she had every right to interrupt and ask what the heck was happening. It was explained to them all and she responded with a puking sound that was quietened almost immediately by Reggie’s comment of him ‘never having heard any complaints before’.

The rest of lunch continued with their friends on the phone and it was so wonderful for Patton. He felt like he could almost ignore the fact that he was going to lose his proximity to his boyfriend at home and could instead focus on how lucky he was to have had this wonderful experience with his close friends.

For two weeks in between that planning phase and the actual date of their ceremony, all of their group tried to hang out as much as humanly possible. Exams and last-minute revision got in the way for the first week, but eventually all the testing was over, and they had all the free time in the world to hang out. Each day, they crowded in someone’s home or nearby and just hung out, enjoying not only their last days together before Virgil moved away but also their last time of freedom as college and real adult life was creeping up on them fairly fast.

It only really became real on the day of their ceremony. They split into their initial friend groups and spent the whole day ‘getting them ready’. Abigal and Sophia were playing at being fully trainer hairdressers and makeup artists as they pretended to do Patton up for the ceremony, while Asher and Daniel were sat with Thomas, who’d been appointed to lead the whole thing. They were helping him memorise the script that a couple of the others had written for him to follow.

Across the street, Em was the one sorting Virgil’s make up while Reggie messed with his hair. Ana and Ayana were more than happy to just sit on his bed in the almost empty room, watching all of it happen from a distance.

“So, where’s this park you guys were talking about?” Ana asked, clearly bored.

“It’s at the end of the street. You probably passed it on your way here. It’s mostly covered by trees, so you wouldn’t know it’s there unless you’ve been there before.” Virgil explained. His nerves were rising as the afternoon rolled on. They were going to meet around 3pm at the park and he’d been specifically told to be there just before 3.

“It’ll be fine, Virgil. Just relax.” Em tried to sooth the anxious boy, checking his face one last time before putting away his makeup, “This is all for you and Patton. Just enjoy it.” There were noises of agreement from the rest of his attending friends. Virgil was going to try his best to not be nervous about it.

As they packed up and headed out of the house, Virgil told his friends to wait outside for him as he had to just let his parents know where he was going. He wandered through the empty home and into the kitchen, where his immediate family was still packing.

“Um, so… I’m going outside with some friends, I’ll be back soon. Is that okay?” Virgil shuffled, feeling a little bad at leaving his family right now.

His mom looked at him with a sad smile, “Of course, honey. Just be back before it gets too late.”

“Thanks, I will. We’re just going down to the park, so not too far.” Virgil said as he turned and headed to the front door. He was trying to remind himself to breathe slowly as they approached the end of the road and Virgil led the way into the small, enclosed park space. He stopped dead as soon as he got one foot past the iron gates.

Standing off to the side next to the trees was an archway that he’d never seen before. It was clearly made in a hurry as some of the original wood was showing through the white paint, but it still gave off the wedding vibe. The flower chains that were weaving through it and into the branches of the nearby trees only added to the aesthetic. Virgil almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He wanted to know who had done this but, before he could open his mouth to ask the question, he got his answer.

“Well, I guess she found the flowers then.” Reggie chuckled from his side. Reggie looked sideways at Virgil, directly addressing him, “Abigal wanted to make this special and ‘look good for the pictures’ so she and Ana made this last night. She lost the flowers this morning, but clearly, she found them.” Ana clicked their tongue and finger gunned when Virgil turned to look at them.

The stunned emo was almost dragged over to the arch and placed just in front of it, almost as if he was the groom at a wedding who was waiting for his partner to arrive. It was then that everything really clicked, and Virgil’s face turned bright red. He hadn’t expected them to go this hard.

Ayana stood at the end with a small basket in her hand and Virgil couldn’t help but notice her nervous energy. She was looking towards the gate as if she was looking for some kind of signal, but Virgil was still trying to let his brain catch up with him and so couldn’t quite think of what she might be trying to look for. Sure, they were waiting on Patton and the other half of their group, but that shouldn’t be something Ayana was specifically searching for. He found out her reasoning once the rest of their friends stepped into the park.

The youngest of them all walked over to the oncoming group of people and seemed to ask them something before she was put into the lead position. Despite the reservation and nerves that were showing clearly on her face, she began to sprinkle the ground with flower petals. This was yet another part of this that was clearly inspired by a wedding and Virgil was mortified, his face somehow turning an even brighter shade of red. He turned his gaze away, preferring to watch the branches of the trees sway in the breeze than what was clearly meant to be a wedding procession. It was only when his view was blocked by Thomas’ body walking past him and then Patton standing opposite that he finally stopped watching the surround nature.

Thomas perfectly fell into the role of minister, presiding over the ceremony as if he’d been doing these all of his life. He addressed everyone and followed the script perfectly.

Patton was clearly enjoying himself, if the wide, toothy grin he was constantly wearing was any indication. Virgil, meanwhile, was still trying to get over the embarrassment he felt over this whole thing being treated as a full-on wedding ceremony.

It got to the part where Virgil and Patton were to swap their promise gifts. They’d thought about it for a while and they decided to make bracelets for each other. Earlier in the week, they’d gone to a nearby craft store and picked out bead colours they wanted. Virgil went for his usual black and two shades of purple, while Patton naturally gravitated to the pastel blue, pink and yellow.

“Wait!” Patton had stopped Virgil as they were leaving the shop. He dragged the emo over to a nearby bench and dug around in his bag, opening the packets of beads. After a couple minutes of rummaging and more than a few beads running away from him, Patton held out one of each of the colours that Virgil had picked out, “We should swap some! So the bracelets have some of all the beads, a forever reminder in a forever promise!”

Virgil hadn’t admitted it out loud then, but it was a positively adorable idea and he just loved it. The idea that he and Patton would always hold something that was representative of their respective partner filled him with warmth and made him feel so utterly loved. He took the beads from Patton’s hand and then went about getting one of each of the colours he had in his own bag. Patton was cutely swinging his legs back and forth as he waited, the adorable action distracting Virgil just a little. Eventually, he held his three out for Patton to take.

In their hands at the ceremony were the finished bracelets. Patton was to go first. He grabbed a hold of Virgil’s left hand and started to slide the bracelet around his wrist, when a voice called out.

“Virgil? Are you still here?”

The boy in question sighed, the soft moment between them broken as Logan rounded the corner and entered the park. He caught sight of what was going on and seemed to have a moment of disbelief as he paused suddenly. After taking a second to catch himself, Logan headed over to them.

“What is going on here?” The firstborn Mortenson son was taking in everything he could see.

“It’s a Promise Ceremony!” Sophia responded, her hands on her hips as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole world.

Logan looked down at her with a slightly alarmed expression, “A what?” He shook his head before he got an answer, “Doesn’t matter. Virgil, mom and dad need you back at the house as soon as possible. It looks like it’s going to rain. Finish up as soon as you can.” All of them turned their attention to the sky and could see the dark clouds rolling in fast above them. Patton pouted and was clearly a little upset at the change in weather. Logan then turned to head off back home but was stopped by Virgil calling his name.

“Logan, why don’t you stay here? It won’t be much longer…” Virgil asked. He wasn’t sure why he asked for his brother to stay. Normally, he’d love to have the space, but something was telling him to keep his brother close by.

Logan glanced around at all of his brother’s friends, slowly being persuaded by their hopeful faces. He sighed and went to stand next to Ayana at the end, “Fine.”

The ceremony continued. Virgil pulled the bracelet he made for Patton out and grabbed a hold of his hand, staring into his boyfriend’s eyes. He slid the beads over Patton’s wrist and squeezed the hand tight before letting them both fall between them, their fingers still gently interlaced and the beads around their wrists touching.

Thomas finished up the last of the script he’d been given before looking between the clearly love-struck couple in front of him. A spark of inspiration must have come to him as, out of the corner of Virgil’s eye, he perked up and addressed them both, “Now, you may kiss!”

Virgil’s head almost cracked as he turned his head sharply to look at Thomas with a concerned and embarrassed glare. He went to ask what the fuck Thomas thought he was doing but Patton’s gentle giggles and soft hands turning his head stopped him. It was only a brief moment that Virgil had to see Patton’s loving gaze and smile before his lips were pressed so lightly against his own. He practically melted against the other boy, kissing back as the world around him drained away, leaving them alone.

Off to the side, Abigal was watching the boys have their utterly precious moment. She had her arms wrapped around her own boyfriend’s, her fingers locked between his, which meant she was able to feel when he tensed up and hear when Reggie muttered something along the lines of “Oh shit…” in a tone that was really unfitting for the situation.

“Hey, what was that for!?” Abigal looked up, ready to berate him, but she stopped when she saw the fear in his eyes. “Babe, what’s wro…” She trailed off as she followed his gaze. Her heart stopped when she locked eyes with the ones across the small park, her panic rising to levels she hadn’t felt in years. Immediately, she darted forwards to try and warn the others, but a loud metallic crash had everyone’s attention before Abigal even had a chance.

Everyone’s eyes turned to see what had caused the sound, a shout also coming from the same place. “What the FUCK is THIS?!”

Ayana immediately ducked behind Em, who wrapped the young girl in her arms. Daniel looked about ready to bolt in the opposite direction, while Sophia and Ana both seemed to ready themselves for a fight. Asher straightened his back and grabbed a hold of Abigal’s free hand, providing her comfort while she shook. Reggie was a complete statue, unmoving as Logan walked past him to stand fully between the group and the oncoming figure. Virgil and Patton both stood frozen, their hands now tightly clasped. Patton was shaking, tears were rolling down his cheeks as he stared at the approaching face of his older brother that was contorted into an expression of pure rage.

Last Chapter —– Next Chapter

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