#guys I think he can do some cool tricks with that wheelchair

[bidisastersanji]

Circus One Piece AU with sword swallower/knife thrower Zoro and tightrope walker/aerial act Sanji please and thank you

They (and the rest of the crew) grew up in the « Thousand Sunny » circus together:

Sanji’s adoptive dad, Zeff, is the circus cook who always tells a different, wild story about how he lost his leg (it often involves a lion, even though the circus doesn’t use animals in its show, despite its lion logo)

Zoro’s parents both died in an accident when he was young and his relatives (Shimotsuki) took him in. His childhood friend Kuina had an accident and is now a wheelchair user- she handles the circus social media and marketing with Nami

They both have had crushes on each other for years but don’t dare to fo anything because not only what if the other feels the same but what if it doesn’t work out and they have to leave their circus family- so instead they keep bickering and pigtail pulling

I think it’s common for circus performers to have many abilities but specializing in certain things so let’s just assume most of them are good at basic acrobatic/circus things

Sanji is an aerial artist (aerial silks, hoops etc) and tightrope walker and Zoro is good at sword swallowing, stage combat and knife throwing

A lot of the crew are orphans who were adopted into the circus family from many countries the circus has passed through, so they have little accents and have the best time celebrating everyone’s different traditions and holidays

Usopp is a magician, Vivi does diabolo, Franky a strongman, Robin does Trapeze, Luffy is known for his contortionist act but also does some clowning, Ace and Sabo do fire performances, Brook is their communal grandpa in charge of music, Jinbei is the cool dependable uncle in charge of setting everything up to regulation and navigating their caravan where Nami tells them to go

Although she does Chinese pole, Nami is growing up to be the person who’ll take over the circus management/strategy- she wants them to make bank and strategizes on what acts they do, innovative acts and staging they can do etc

Luffy’s dream is for their circus to be the best in the world - they’re already going around different countries but he wants a full international tour, eager to take over after his grandpa (ringmaster) passes it on to him

Chopper is the adoptive son of the troupe doctor (Kureha) who does some equestrian tricks (voltige) but mostly studies hard to be a doctor too. He’s still a kid but everyone is else is an adult

Sanji often gets really distracted by Zoro during practice times- their outfits are revealing and he’s so buff and like what else can he do with his mouth goddamn

He only once called Zoro a « sword swallower » when he was a (still closeted) teen to try and bully his friend/rival but Zoro just grinned at him and said « proudly » and Sanji almost died from that mental image and never used that insult again (he might have gotten a nosebleed)

Naturally Zoro is also dumbstruck by Sanji’s beauty and grace on the regular- and he often gets in trouble for watching Sanji’s act and almost missing cues

The gang always gets into so many shenanigans in every new city they travel to and they love each other so dearly

One day a video of Zoro practicing goes viral (because he’s hot and talented) and Sanji is definitely not responsible for a few dozen views on that video

Zoro always gets a little jealous and annoyed when he finds Sanji flirting with local girls

And that’s all the ideas I have for now! Please feel free to add to this!! I’d love to see what you guys would be fun to have in the circus AU

[fictional-orphan-smackdown]

ROBIN VS. ROBIN, GO!

All propaganda and what each competitor is from under the cut

Dick Grayson (DC Comincs)

So a bunch of Robins are orphans or orphan adjacent but Dick has the strongest case in his birth parents, whom he was raised by, being very very dead. The kind of orphanhood that sticks in the characterization marrow. Plus in some versions he was carted off to the orphanage and everything, starting his "what if I fist-fought my parents' killer myself" arc early until Bruce ultimately decided to pluck him off his warpath and adopt him.

Dick Grayson is truly the orphan of all time not only is he the ward of another famous orphan (batman) but he really was able to surpass his mentor after being orphaned and used that anger towards his parents death to immediately start fighting crime under the Robin Moniker. The other orphans in dc wish they could do it like him. Plus his name is Dick which is objectively funny.

Dressing like a stoplight and kicking people in the face under a bat furry's direction was the MORE reasonable coping strategy than his original plan. Of singlehandedly taking down the entire mafia even though he was a baby.

Think Batman had issues? Well, consider what happens is he raises his mini-me. This guy is waaaayy too tactically driven and ambitious for a thirteen-year-old. And awesome. And the adult version is —- somebody append a photo.

Okay I submitted Bruce Wayne but like I can’t not submit my beloved boy as well! Anyway his parents have the nebulous honor of being so fucking dead, like literally never coming back to life ever. They died in that circus and the only time I can possibly think of them as ‘coming back’ in any way is in Darkest Night, where there were zombies everywhere. So even when they return to the story they’re still fucking dead! Anyway Dick is like super orphaned, I love him but you look at him and you know his parents are dead.

Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please

Trust me bro

Tim Drake (DC Comics)

An early reader-insert character, Tim had all the traits the average comics fan at the time wanted: money, martial arts skills, cool skateboard tricks, lots of girlfriends, secret knowledge about Batman and Robin. He volunteered to be Robin, because what comics fan wouldn't in his place? Continuing to be relatable, he's now bisexual, depressed, and living in a crappy apartment. Which is also a boat, because comics readers think it would be cool to live in a houseboat.

His biological mother, Janet Drake, was murdered in the carribean. In the same attack his biological father was hospitalized for injuries and in a coma. Janey Drake was buried on Christmas Eve. During the period that Jack Drake (his biological father) was in a coma he was temporarily under the care of Bruce Wayne. When Jack got out of the coma he was confined to a wheelchair while he went through physical therapy. He would meet his future second wife, Dana Winters through the physical therapy. The two would get married later, Tim having a good relationship with Dana. Her mediating between the father and son during some of the misunderstandings. Jack would find out that Tim was Robin, then realize Bruce Wayne was Batman, threaten Bruce with a gun, and order Tim to quit being Robin. Though later, Tim would get approval from his father to be Robin again and the two would start improving their father son relationship. During the event of identity crisis Tim's indenture would be at stake and Captian Boomerrang would break into the Drake's house and murder Jack just as Tim arrived. Tim having heard his last words over Comms. His stepmother Dana Winters would be hospitalized in Bludhaven for the mental trauma this inflicted on her, and would soon find herself a victim when Bludhaven was bombed/nuked. Tim would then be adopted by Bruce. Though in 2008 Bruce would be supposedly killed by an Omega Beam, leaving 17 year old Tim as a three times over orphan. Though Tim didn't believe Bruce to actually be dead, but lost in the timestream and would go on a Brucequest to get him back. On this trip he would lose his spleen, and nearly die multiple times.

Doomed by the narrative to become an orphan. Tim had a good thing going for a while, but after he started getting involved with the Bats, his life went downhill from there. He became Robin on the day of his mother's funeral. (I should note that the racism I mentioned in her cause of death is that the person who kills her is an awful racist caricature, NOT that she's canonically a POC.) From there, he spent a while balancing Batman (mentor) and his biological father (who was rendered comatose in the incident that killed his mother, but woke up not long after). Both the Robins that came before him were orphaned. As one Tumblr user put it: while Tim Drake managed to beat the odds and remain not an orphan, eventually, the writers succumbed to the calls of orphanhood. His father dies after he finds out Tim's identity, and it is because he knows the secret that he is ultimately targeted and dies. In the aftermath, Tim attempts to get revenge by assassinating the culprit, but ultimately is unable to betray his personal values and go through with it. He has one of the more realistic parent-child relationships among the Bats because it is down to earth in spite of the eventual doom. Really, it comes down to this: Robin isn't just Batman's sidekick, he's Batman's child. And that meant it was only a matter of. time before Tim Drake was orphaned

[fishfingersalad]

Rvb skating hcs, bc I miss skating but I can’t figure out how to put the brake back on my blades, and where I live is rlly hilly so I need it or else I'm trapped in the cul-de-sac.

Putting a break cause its a real long list lol

Skateboards:

Alpha Church (Can’t actually skateboard, swears he can but he's sooo wobbly) Tex (Can actually skateboard, makes fun of church) Tucker (Between Church and Tex’s levels, hes decent at it) Wash (Don’t think I need to explain this one) Niner (I’ve seen a lot of wheelchair niner hcs, shed totally do wheelchair skateboarding) Palomo (Falls over a lot, but hey he just keeps on going.) Bitters (Absolutely holds it over Palomos head that he’s better at skateboarding) Theta (canon)

Rollerskates:

Kai (Dunno if this one needs an explanation, she might like derby ngl) Donut (He seems like he’d use them as transportation, just skatin around) South (She’d do roller derby and get so competitive about it) CT (Seen some videos of people doing sweet flips and tricks w skates) Ohio (She gives me the vibe of someone who’s got cool iridescent pink roller skates) Andersmith (Picked up skating cause the younger lieutenants were into it) Matthews (He’s a bit unbalanced, but he’s determined)

Rollerblades:

Carolina (Speed, blades are faster than skates) Simmons (He is shaky as hell, but he is trying. Won’t skate anywhere that’s not flat.) Kimball (Lina taught her, they race) Dr Grey (Dunno, just vibes) Jensen (Much like Simmons but with more uneven terrain) Epsilon Church (Picked blades so he could skate w Lina, and to be different from Wash n Alpha) Omega/O’malley (I'm just picturing him chasing people around at high speeds, cackling) Eta (Wanted to try something new, and to spend time w Theta)

Iceskates:

Florida (Specifically figure skating) Felix (Honestly idk, he’s cold and sharp like an ice skate) Delta (He’d ramble about why it’s an intellectual sport, but actually just thinks its fun) Sigma (He’d be rlly pretentious about it)

Scooter:

York (Guy has no balance but still wants to be included) Iota (Cheers on Eta and Theta, does sick scooter tricks)

Other:

Grif (I think he’d have a longboard that he rides around) Sarge (Quad bike) Doc (Also a longboarder) Idaho (I think he’d prefer dirt bike racing) Iowa (Quad bike, it’s like a mongoose) Caboose (Mountain bike, no real explanation, just vibes)

Doesn’t skate (or bike or anything):

Lopez (He prefers cars, might've made an electric skateboard at some point but doesn't rlly use it) Wyoming (Can’t see him skating at all ngl) North (Cheers everyone else on and records videos) Maine (First aid) Locus (Tried to skate once and fell over. Now he just broods from the benches.) Doyle (Too nervous, prefers to just watch) Gamma (I don’t think he’d go outside much ngl)

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Wait, I thought of more (less dark) Morph headcanons to subject you all to.

At the end of Season 2, after Morph turns on Sinister and helps blow him up (it’s great that Morph and Cyclops can bond over blasting Sinister back to hell, very wholesome), they collapse and fall unconscious, despite not appearing to be physically injured.  In fact, the next time we see Morph they are getting loaded up on the Blackbird in a stretcher.  And there’s a Morph cameo much later in a Season 4 episode where Wolverine and Cyclops are leaving Muir Island, and you see what appears to be Moira and Morph in a wheelchair waving goodbye.  So what’s up with that? 

Really, Morph conveniently passing out at the end of Season 2 is just the writers pushing them back out of the story without dealing with any of the messy stuff that happened.  (And we arguably never get closure for all that.  Morph’s return in Courage was all about whether they are ready to be an X-Man again.  The closest we get is Morph approaching Cyclops and saying, “Scott, been a long time...” which I think was Morph’s way of saying, “We’re cool now, bro, I promise I won’t try to kill you.”)  And Morph having cameos on Muir Island was just a convenient little way to remind viewers, yeah, they’re there, they’re hurt but healing.

My headcanon - Sinister implanted Morph with some kind of mind-control device, which he mostly used to cause Morph severe pain whenever they tried to push back against Sinister’s control.  At the end of Season 2, Sinister activates the device again, and it keeps brain-zapping Morph for quite awhile.  I’m guessing that the device gave Morph actual, physical brain damage that they needed time to recover from.  Maybe they even spent some time in a coma after being rescued, and had to go through the “learning how to walk again” process.  Morph was also probably not in the best physical health - I can imagine them being run ragged, and not really eating or sleeping much while they were either under Sinister’s control, or trying to escape from it.

I have one really dark idea that maybe the implanted device actually had some kind of kill switch in it, to be activated if something happened to Sinister, and Xavier had to remove it quickly and do some psychic surgery to keep Morph’s body from shutting down. 

Or maybe Morph was in a wheelchair in that one episode because they were recovered enough to start practicing with their powers again and they managed to hurt themselves trying out a really, really dumb shapeshifting trick.  The possibilities are endless!

I think Morph spent enough time on Muir Island to really bond with Moira.  After a certain point in their recovery, before they were ready to rejoin the team, I think Morph spent some time acting as Moira’s research assistant and watching British TV with her, just to have something to do.  Exiles Morph has a Masters in Computer Engineering, so I’m imagining TAS Morph was a Comp Sci major.  Maybe they wrote some programs for Moira while hanging around trying to recover. 

Every now and then, when Moira calls the mansion with news, she’ll get sidetracked with, “Morph, didja see the latest Doctor Who?!” or whatever shows they watched together.

Morph was the IT guy for a company prior to joining the X-Men (and I have a whole headcanon about how that happened), and it caused them more hatred for humanity than being a mutant ever did.  “God DAMN it, Ted, stop downloading viruses, I will find you a safe website to look at porn, just please stop clicking every link that says “Sexy milfs in your area.”   

[sleepy-achilles]

I think a part 4 to Leon’s Nightmare would be awesome, this series is so cool to read!!!!

Sorry this took so long.

Leon's Nightmare- Part 4

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

--Fast forwarded to Wrestlemania 39--

Leon frowns as he leans back. "Gutted about our match man" Damien sighs. "Dont be, I talked them into giving you a match still" Leon admits. "Yeah? Against who?" Damien asks. "Solo. Only bloodline member without a match. I was supposed fight him tomorrow." Leon shrugs. "Oh yeah that'll be fun" Damien smirks watching as the other man leans further back. "Gotten good at that then?" He asks. "Hmm? Oh yeah, have to make the best of it or I'll go insane" Leon huffs, mid wheelie in a wheel chair. "What even happened? Hunter just said you were in a accident." Damien asks. "It was. I was riding my bike and a car just came out of nowhere and hit me. Now I'm given this bad boy" Leon smiles.

"Yeah but can't you like heal yourself unless it's like hex stuff?" Damien asks. Leon frowns. "Yeah my..situation is a bit all over the place at the moment." Leon mutters. "Well I'm glad your back man. I'll catch you later" Damien smiles. Leon just nods as the man walks off. "Why won't you challenge roman?" "I was waiting for it. Because I'm in a wheelchair?" Leon huffs looking at his father, watching him stalk over. "Why are you taking so long to heal?" Taker asks. "Because dad I was possessed until a few months ago. You should understand, he possessed you and then turned you fully human for a few years." Leon points out.

Taker sighs. "And you were never fully human to begin with so he can't do that to you." Taker mutters. "Exactly. So I get to be stuck in this stupid thing. Only plus is I've learned some cool tricks" Leon shrugs. "That still doesn't answer why you refuse to challenge roman." Taker brings up again. Leon sinks into the chair. "I don't need the stupid belts. You know how I feel about them." Leon mutters. Taker examines him. "You don't know how long you'll be back for." Taker mutters. Leon looks at him and smiles slightly. "Correct." He whispers. "Whats been going on? You seemed to be doing well" Taker asks.

Leon just takes a deep breathe.

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

Leon smiles fondly as drew and sheamus mess around. "You two are gonna get hurt then you can kiss goodbye to that wrestlemania match" Leon calls. "Lets talk about wrestlemania! You turned down a match with cody and roman to fight solo! What's up with that?" Sheamus asks pulling Leon into a side hug. "I don't need his stupid belts, that's why" Leon huffs pushing him away. "Always so confident" sheamus smirks. "Cmon, we all know Leon would win that fight." Drew huffs sitting up on the matt. "Hes gone power hungry man. Didn't you grow up with him?" Sheamus asks.

"You did. He always had the upper hand on you then" a voice whispers in his ear. Leon's eyes widen slightly as he turns around. "What?" He whispers. Drew watches Leon confused. "Lee?" Drew asks. "Sorry...thought I heard something.." Leon mutters turning back.

He jerks back as sheamus and drew stare at him with all black eyes, black thick tears rolling down their grey skin. Their necks clearly snapped. "Leon?" Drew asks in a hoarse creepy voice.

Leon catches the side of his head, closing his eyes. When he opens them again the pair are normal and staring at him in concern. "Leon? Are you alright?" Drew asks. "Yeah..yeah I'm just gonna go for a ride, you guys want McDonald's?" Leon asks grabbing his helmet. "Sure, I'll text you the order" sheamus nods. "Ride safe okay?" Drew murmurs, standing and moving to Leon. "I always do" Leon smiles giving drew a quick kiss before leaving. "You reckon he still needs time?" Sheamus asks. "Yeah. I do." Drew mutters.

---

Leon shouldn't be riding. He knows that. His heart races as the world starts to disort and glitch as he drives past. "You did this. You did this to everyone you touch" the voice continues. Leon's not focusing. He's not paying attention. He doesn't see the car pulling out. He doesn't hear the horns. All he knows is one minute he's speeding down the road and the next his bike is wrapped around a tree and his body is going crashing into on coming traffic.

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

Leon's hospital stay is a fuzzy, distorted mess. A voice in his ear the entire time bullying and taunting him as he has to stare at his loved ones worried faces.

Worse of all. He was out of commission. And yeah that meant he couldn't wrestle but it also meant he couldn't fight ministry. He was screwed.

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

Leon can't help but bite his lower lip as he watches drews match. He can't leave him again, leaving him the first time didn't seem to work anyways. He always seems to come back. Every damn time.

"Whats troubling ya?" Shawn asks. "Everything." Leon whispers. "In pain?" He questions. Leon shakes his head. "I just don't know what to do" Leon whispers. Shawn frowns and massages Leon's shoulders. Leon sighs and leans into the touch. "About what? Roman?" Shawn asks. "No..I don't care for roman." "Ministry than. He's still haunting you?" Shawn questions. Leon tenses and slowly looks back at shawn. Shawn just smiles.

"You aren't his first victim, Leon."

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

NOTES

Sorry this took so long.

I also wanted to give Damien his wrestlemania match but also explain why Leon's not having one.

Also screw Leon. Me and my homies hate Leon.

[soullessmocha]

men after midnight || part two

{ poly!the lost boys x fem!reader }

|| part one || part three ||

rating: explicit

word count:  4814

chapter summary: the lost boys have caught their fun for the night. they take the reader back to the cave to continue their endeavors for the night.

warning: smut, 18+ reader only please, lewd language, fem!reader, mentioning of female genitalia, foursome, voyeurism, cunnilingus, female body parts, use of tobacco, use of liquor, use of marijuana, hints of blood, bodily liquids, blood kink, vampires fucking a human, this has not been proof read, first time really writing a smut chapter, and dirty talk.

a/n: i have been so hesitant on releasing this chapter. this is my first time writing something explicit for a long chapter. please do not read if you are not comfortable with female body parts and bodily functions. other than that ENJOY!

“Are you sure you don’t need me for the rest of the night?” You ask the bride concerning, you were the maid of honor after all you felt like shit for just leaving like this. Yet she seemed more than happy to let you leave with the band of misfits that stood waiting for you by the stairs of the boardwalk. Jennifer could only shine you a grin. “Come on, I mean when are you ever going to be invited by a group like that. Plus it’s finally time someone gets in your pants and lets you have some fun! You have been just as stressed about this wedding and it’s not even yours. Go on, get some!” Jennifer teased tugging on your belt loop of your jean shorts. You could only roll your eyes at her statement. However, you bit your lip to hide your excited smile. As you turned over your shoulder Jennifer landed a righteous smack on your bottom, which caused you to jump and hurry further away from her. 

Once you approached the guys you could feel your cheeks starting to redden once again. God what were you doing? You aren’t in high school anymore! What if they kill you? You have a wedding to run! The snaking of an arm around your waist distracts you from your further endeavors of freaking out mentally. “So babe, which one are you riding with tonight?” Paul asks slyly as he pulls you closer to his side, you could feel his jacket ornaments pressing into your bare skin. You couldn’t help but clear your throat, “I think I am going to tag along with Dwayne, no offense, but you two seem a bit wild.” You start as you pull away from the wild blonde to the brunette who was smirking down at you in a silent victory. There was a gaggle of chuckles coming from the boys. “Oh you have no idea,” Paul snickers walking up the steps leading the boys to their bikes. You swallow as you watch them the sudden frigid of anxiety causing your body to stiffen at just the sight of the motorbikes. Yet once again to coax you with a chilled hand on your back, “It’s okay, I promise I will be careful.” Dwayne whispers in your ear before shuffling to his back which he so effortlessly gets on. He hikes his tight jeans up to get more comfortable. The small action caused you to swallow. “O-okay.” You whisper as you mount his bike. Carefully you wrapped your arms around his waist. A chuckle erupted from his chest as he pulled you closer and wrapped your arms tighter, “You’re gonna want to hold on tighter, I said I would be careful, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t be going fast.” He claimed, smirking at your over his shoulder, “Hold on tight,” he kicked his bike to life and revved the engine. You could feel your body vibrating from the machine below you. It almost made your teeth chatter from the amount of power it had. After that line of reeves you heard hoops and hollers from the other men who zoomed off. The two of you were last to follow them soon a squeal leaving your lips as the bike was jolted forward.

You look around in the cave the men have lowered you into. The cave seemed like the breathed life itself, yet you didn’t question them on how they lived. It was interesting to hear the backstory of the place and how it once used to be a resort. It seemed like it would’ve been beautiful. Yet once again you were lost in your thoughts when Paul kneeled in front of your tense form. His hands splaying across your exposed thighs, it took you a moment to realize what was happening. You snapped to your senses. The sudden smell of a familiar skunk like smell that was accompanied with a melody of soft rock in the background. Each boy was doing their own thing around the cave, talking amongst themselves or picking out music. “Did you want a hit?” Paul asks, holding a burning joint between his fingers. Jeez when was the last time you took a hit off of one of these? “Why the hell not,” you mumbled attempting to take the joint from the blonde but he only pulled it away. Tsks left his lips and he shook his head, “No, part those pretty lips,” he directs you, squeezing your thigh lightly. You swallowed at the direction before parting your lips. Paul smirked up at you placing the end of the blunt between your lips. Once you inhale taking a short puff he trails his hands to the end of your shorts giving a light tug, “Good girl.” He praises which causes you to choke on the smoke. 

“Damn, Paul, we don’t want her to die on us.” Marko chimes from behind you moving your hair from your neck to help you cool down. Yet his hands sweep your hair to the side and his fingertips trail over the curve of your neck. “Plus, we don’t want her to be only choking on some smoke tonight,” Marko adds to the teasing which causes your face to turn red. Holy shit. What is happening?! “Knock it off,” David chimes from his wheelchair, his leg hiked up as he chain-smoked from his cigarette. The giggling boys backed off but of course not without Paul giving you a wink. You give a grateful nod to David as you lean back on the couch trying to calm your racing heart that wanted to escape your chest. You notice David only gave a smirk at your startled state in response. Yet Paul sat next to you sharing his joint with you. You never realized how fun these guys actually were. They were so relaxing to be around. Or was that the joint finally hitting you?

“What rude hosts of us!” Marko piped from the other side of the cave, “We haven’t offered Y/N a drink yet.” A devious smirk grew on his lips and you could only perk up trying to figure out what he was planning. Your legs slightly moved off of Paul’s lap as you tried to see what Dwayne was off to get. Paul pulled your legs back onto his lap and traced endless lines and shapes into your soft skin. You could only giggle mindlessly at the ministrations that caused goosebumps to raise on your skin. Your once tense nature was long gone by now. The mind high had taken over, investing your head with calm behavior. As you started to have a giggle attack come on you felt a chilled hand wrap around your throat from behind you. The hand tilted your head back effortlessly. You look up to see Dwayne and a bottle of liquor, you furrow your brows confused at his stance and his intentions. “Open up, sweetheart,” Marko chimed as he sat next to Paul. Your eyes flicker between Dwayne’s strong, dark eyes, searching for what was happening. However, you comply, you open your mouth slightly but Dwayne’s thumbs tilts your chin down to open your parted lips more. He leans down and parts his lips as well, the amber liquid falls into your mouth from his. Holy shit. Was the only thought that ran through your mind as he did this. You swallowed the alcohol and a drop cascaded down the corner of your lips threatening to fall off your chin. Dwayne dipped in time and latched his lips to yours, sweeping his tongue to steal the drop. You gasp into the action but relax once his lips mold to yours into a tender heated kiss. The kiss tasted of the liquor and of him. Nothing but him filled your senses, you didn’t even notice Paul’s hands massaging your thighs to trick your legs apart. 

Dwayne inhales sharply from the kiss and pulls his hand from your throat and down your chest where he teases the hem of the cropped shirt. He tugged on it before pulling away and pushing you up to face Paul who practically pulled your into his lap. The sudden move made you dizzy but the alcohol made you feel warm the second it hit your system. You pant against Paul’s features, your eyelids heavy with lust and desire. You feel your hands crawl up his neck to his jaw where you pull him into a fiery kiss. This kiss ignited another level of desire. You were buzzing with want. You wanted more, you wanted everything, you wanted them. Chuckles echoed off of the cave walls as you made out with Paul, they continued as your hips instinctively rolled against Paul’s instantly causing him to pull away with a groan. “So eager.” He whispers against your lips with a grin. “I wouldn’t be if you wouldn’t stop teasing me.” You reply breathlessly connecting your forehead to his.

“Teasing?” Paul questions loudly, which causes Marko to giggle behind his fingerless gloves. “Marko! Is that what we’re doing?”

“I don’t know Paul, why who thinks that?”

“Y/N thinks we are teasing her.” Paul smirks and faces you to Marko who leans closer to you with his arm behind Paul.

“Is that what she thinks? She hasn’t even scratched the surface.” Marko whispers ghosting his lips over yours, coaxing you to lean closer to him. As if you were in a trance you crawl off of Paul’s lap towards Marko. Your hands press into the velvet of the vintage couch to balance yourself. “Then show me.” You commanded which caused the curly haired man to present his signature Cheshire grin. 

“You think she can handle it?” Marko asks the Lost Boys, his head tilted as he leans back as your body starts to lean over his. You trap him between your arms with you leg between his. 

“She can handle it. Why don’t we give her what she wants,” David starts from afar, no longer visible from the spotlight of the moon on his chair. The only thing visible was his turquoise eyes from afar. “Give the lady what she craves the most. Fill her every need.” David orders. With your eyes glued on him in shock at him accepting the situation. Yet that was all it took for the three men to start their endeavors. Marko’s lips instantly attacked your neck, causing you to gasp and grasp onto the back of his head as he pushed you up to kneeling on the couch. Before your eyes could flutter close you could see David flicker his lighter to the dead end of his cigarette, his bright eyes practically glowing in the dark. In the second you closed your eyes you could swear you saw the orbs turn a tinge of yellow. That didn’t matter.

So many hands were splaying across your body, feeling you up and down, over your clothes some dipping below the frail pieces of fabric. Your fingers get lost in Marko’s curls as he finds the secret spot on your neck that causes you to elicit a delicate moan from your parted lips. A single hand dipped into the back of your shorts in an attempt to pull them down as lips delicately kissed your exposed back from the crop top that was already halfway up your torso over your breasts. With your eyes screwed shut you could feel delicate fingers unclasp your bra from behind. The freedom caused your ears to burn and tension making your spine go frigid. 

“Don’t be like that, relax, let us take care of you.” Marko whispered against your neck before pulling away and swiping your shirt off of you, tossing it aimlessly through the air. You blink at him as he admires you as if you were the most captivating thing he has ever laid eyes on. The expression caused your neck to grow red and a ball to tighten deep in your stomach. His head tilts up to kiss your sternum, slowly making his way down the line of bone to the crevice between your breast. There he nipped with a smirk as he mused at your gasp. He didn’t hesitate to take a breast into his mouth. The pressure of his mouth on our nipple caused your moan and threw your head back into a hand which grasps your hair. Your eyes widen slightly at the sudden tug on your roots but relax against the stubble and smooth lips of Dwayne. The teasing was already causing a heat and a tight ball to coil deep in your core. You could feel yourself already soaking through the thin garment of your underwear. The sudden pinch of Marko’s fingers and the sliding of Paul’s fingers over your clothes slit caused you to moan into Dwayne’s kiss. He only swallowed the moan and pressed deeper into the kiss, his long brunette hair tickling your features as he leaned over the couch.

Paul manages to unzip your shorts with the help of Marko’s action of unbuttoning your shorts. Dwayne ended the kiss with dragging your lower lip between his teeth. You whip your head as Marko switched to the lonely breast and licked his way around the areola before sucking on the perked nipple. The sight caused you to whimper and tug on his curls. Marko growled in response and pushed down your shorts and panties without hesitation. “Stand up,” Dwayne commands from the shadows behind the couch. You comply and stand with the help of Paul lifting you so Marko could tear the useless clothing off your body and throw them somewhere in the cave. Paul swiftly takes you in his arms, wrapping your legs around his waist and starts to walk towards an end of the cave into one of the few tunnels. Not caring you push his hair to the side and start to ghost your lips against where his pulse point would be. Before you could actually kiss your neck he lets you down on a mattress where you fall on a mountain of blankets and pillows. It was a nest. It was so soft under your exposed skin, just the sensation of the fabric enough was to stimulate your senses.

The room was dark, only lit by a few white scentless candles and nothing else. Four dark figures circle around you on the bed. All looking down at you with hunger and lust in their eyes. In a split moment you felt like it was too many eyes on you. You go to cover your chest with your arms as you sit on your heels turning to see who was at what side of the mattress. Paul in front of you, Dwayne behind you, Marko to your left and David to your right. Your pulse was skyrocketing as you covered your chest uncomfortable with the silence. However, hands wrapped around your wrists from behind you, “Don’t be afraid. We won’t hurt you, we only want to pleasure you,” Dwayne whispers from behind pinning your hands to your sides. His hand pinches your chin between his fingers to tilt your head to look towards him. He nuzzled his nose against yours before dipping in for a kiss, the kiss was reassuring and comforting, yet his opposite hand trailed down your abdomen landing just above your core. You moan into the kiss and Dwayne pulls away and makes you face Dwayne as he trails his hands down your neck and your back as he watches you crawl to Paul. Your fingertips pull Paul towards by the belt hanging off of his hips on his white pants. Your fingers work at the belt in a hurry, fumbling with the complicated belt. As you did you felt Dwayne’s fingers graze your ass dipping to the back of your thighs. You slip down Paul’s white pants surprised there was no zipper or anything and swallowed that he wasn’t wearing any underwear and that his free member sprung free with anticipation. Your big eyes looked up at Paul and smirked at you and gently caressed your cheek in encouragement, “Don’t be so shy babe, show us what you can do.”

With that encouragement you grasped his shaft gently before pressing your lips to the side of it. You teased around with your tongue, spit, and your lips. Paul hissed and grasped your hair tightly with a groan, “Damn, don’t be teasing me now.” Paul grumbles with one eye closed in pain as you continue your teasing. Yet his reaction was enough for you to take the tip into your mouth. You slid your tongue around and on the slit of the head that was swollen with arousal. Paul stripped off his jacket and shirt and kicked off his pants as he held your head steady as he carefully thrusted into your mouth. “Fuck yes, good girl. Yeah, take all of me in your dirty mouth,” Paul moans tugging on your roots. With hollowed cheeks you moaned as Dwayne’s finger grazed your slit, taking in your wetness on his two fingers, amused by how wet you were. His lips started at the low of your back, teasing you as he continued lower and lower, your moan was muffled by Paul pushing his cock deeper into your throat. You inhaled sharply through your nose as his cockhead touched the back of your throat slowly causing you to gag and your eyes to prickle with tears. Paul was quick to pull out and Dwayne was quick to dip into your heat. Strings of saliva fell from your mouth as you gasped for air. Yet the gasps were inward moans as you felt Dwayne suck on your needy clit. Paul grasps your chin before you can look down and places a few chaste kisses on your lips and pushes the hair out of your face. You moaned into the kisses as Dwayne swirled his tongue around the sensitive bud soon dipping towards your entrance. Paul soon stands and presses the head of his cock against your lips asking for entrance once again. You agree and take him once again into your mouth sucking and massaging the rest of his shaft that you couldn’t fit into your mouth. You try your best to focus and breathe through your nose but you yelp around the flesh in your mouth as Dwayne slips a finger in your entrance pumping a steady rhythm.

The sound of a chair shuffling in the room causes your eyes to shift to your peripheral where you see David take a seat gracefully and keep a sharp eye on your sinful actions. Paul snickers at this and thrusts into your mouth, “You like it when other people watch? Such a dirty girl. Isn’t she?” Paul asks and tilts his head back moaning as you moan around his cock. “She is, such a slut to be fucking three guys at once. She likes it when other people watch too. Look at her blushing. It’s so cute.” Marko joins and shifts himself on the bed. Just then Dwayne adds another finger causing you to moan as he stretches you out with his fingers. Scissoring his fingers to massage your cunt and stretch you out for any of them. After a moment he hits a spot in your heat that causes your body to surge and for you to pull away from Paul’s shaft with a gasp. You heave for fresh air as Dwayne hits it once more kissing your lower back as he continues his fingers against the sweet spot in a quicker rhythm. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” You yell out curling your toes and clenching the blanket below you. As your moans get louder Dwayne goes faster and kisses your ass quickly biting down, you yelp at the action feeling a sharp pain that soon turns into unimaginable pleasure. With that last push of pleasure you are pushed over the edge, not noticing the fact that something warm was trailing down the back of your thigh. As you came your body twitched and your chest fell to the mattress so your ass was right up in the air. Dwayne helped you ride out the high and gave a sweet kiss on your back as leather clad palms flipped you to your back. Marko was now in front of you, “You think you take more?” He asks, tilting his head, he had his pants unbuckled and below his groin, his cock restraining against the fabric of his underwear. The only response you can give is a hum and pull him close with your legs wrapped around his waist. You moan as his clothed dick pressed against your wet throbbing core. Paul and Dwayne dipped their way on the mattress splaying their fingers on your body, touching every inch of your skin with passion to stimulate your mind. 

Marko was swift at pushing his underwear out of the way and he pushed his jacket off as well, tossing it and tying his hair into a low ponytail before leaning over you. You grasp his shaft and line him up, “Holy shit,” you whisper feeling just how girthy he was. Marko smirked down at you and placed a passionate kiss on your lips to distract you as he pushed his cock into your warmth. A high pitched moan left your throat as you felt him stretch you out filling every inch of you. You pull away to gasp as he bottoms out in you. “Holy shit,” you repeat breathlessly and arch your back. Marko slowly thrusts to start you off and you can’t help but moan every time he pulls away enjoying the pleasure of the pressure in your pelvis and the tightness of his hands pushing your hips down into the mattress. As his speed picks up and your moans become louder you open your eyes to Paul and Dwayne each attached to a breast. “Oh God!” You call out grasping both of their heads, entangling your fingers in their hair. “Oh shit, babe! You feel so fucking good!” Marko gasps as he hardens his thrusts pulling you in with each thrust. 

“Fuck, oh fuck!” You yell out as you feel the coil build up in the pit of your stomach once more. This one feeling more powerful than the last. Paul lets go of your nipple with a pop and kisses up your neck, “Keep yelling like that babe, it’s so fucking hot. Louder.” Paul mumbles against your skin between hickeys and nips. The encouragement caused you to moan with each stroke of Marko’s power. With your loud moans fingers find your swollen clit rubbing it in patterns you couldn't recognize but it sent your mind through another universe. Your legs tighten around Marko’s waist as his thrusts begin to get sloppy as you feel Paul’s teeth graze your neck, along with something sharp that wasn’t his blunt teeth. Goosebumps raise on your skin and your toes curl as he bites down on your neck. The pain was distracted by the pleasure as the filthy actions continue on your clit. Energy surges through your body as the coil begins to snap. As you feel yourself going over the edge and a string of curses leaving your lips all the men pull away. You whine out of irritation and you are flipped around within a blink of an eye. Kneeling on the bed and with both of the blondes by your side you couldn’t use your investigation skills as your world was spinning. Dwayne lines his cock against your entrance and slips in with ease causing you to roll your eyes back in pleasure. “Oh my God,” you breathlessly moan into the air. as he thrusts shallowly into you. 

The rustling of leather causes you to snap your eyes forward to see David squatting in front of you. His eyes admiring your disheveled state, drinking you in with each second that passes by. Each moan and yelp causes his sly smirk to grow bigger by the moment. His leather clad hand reaches up to your forehead and pushes back the hairs that stuck to your face from the perspiration that surfaced. “No God has anything to do with this, sweetheart.” David whispers; his cold breath hitting your features causes you to flutter your eyes closed. “Such a good girl, look at you. Obedient, taking all the pleasure,” David starts and trails his hand down your neck swiping the warm liquid that was falling from your chest. When your eyes opened from Dwayne thrusting once again against you sweet spot you gasped against David. He held a finger in his mouth sucking off whatever was on it. “Oh kitten, you taste so sweet. Let go, come for us. Let it all go.” He whispers and wraps his hand around your throat, giving it a steady pressure that caused your eyes to roll back and close. “Let go.” He whispers as Dwayne erratically thrusts from behind you, pressing you further into David’s hand. “Let go, come for us.” One last graze against your g spot sent you spiraling and David was the one to catch your moans and gasps with his lips. The kiss was hard and dominating as his tongue clashed with yours, wrestling for dominance. To ride out your high Dwayne rubbed your clit quickly and with passion to get you over the edge faster.

Dwayne groaned and pulled out spilling his seed on your back. You could hear Paul and Marko as well moan in unison from what you can puzzle from them pleasuring themselves. You felt more liquid hit your back and sides. David pulled away gracefully leaving you to ride out your high with loud moans and gasps as your body convulsed with pleasure. Your body wanted to collapse against the bed but strong arms held you by your waist. Your eyes closed for a moment, causing you not to pick up any recognition of what was happening. You blinked in and out of the punks cleaning you up. Even Paul dressed you in a large band t-shirt and your underwear. You only could remember the feeling of fingertips brushing over your features and a pair of cool lips pressed against your forehead. 

Your wild night concluded you were entangled with four bodies of strangers you met that crashed the bachelorette party. Each one took care of you in a different way. Each one touching your body one way whether that be by their hands, legs, or feet. You all were piled in one bed. The soft and warm nest lulled you to a deep sleep that would seem eternal.

You wake up with a shift in the bed as Paul pulls you closer to his bare chest. He held you delicately as Marko had his arms wrapped around Paul's waist but holding your hand. Dwayne had a hand on your thigh as he laid on his back as with David by his side with his head resting under his own arm no longer wearing his layers. You blink at your darken surroundings. You try to shift but your body screams with anger and protest as it was sore and worn out. You inhale sharply trying not to wake the boys as you sneak out of their grasps. Standing on the bed you shift to your feet. For a moment you admire the sight in front of you. How peaceful they all looked sleeping. Then it hit you like a brick wall. You did not just do that!! As you tiptoed around the bodies to hop off the mattress a strong of whispered curses left your mouth as you struggled to find your way out of the tunnel. Once you reach the main area of the cave you search for your shorts. Eventually finding them you turn off the radio that was still playing the soft rock from last night. As you put on your shorts stiffly you struggle to find a mirror to make sure you look presentable. Yet there were no mirrors. Who the hell does not have mirrors?! This was going to be worse walk of shame in the history of sex.

You sweep your shoes from the ground and on your feet. With a struggle you find your way out of the cave and on top of the cliff. Holy shit was it bright out. Your whole body was beating you up as you just had climbed up flights of stairs to get on the dirt path. Hudson’s bluff. You haven’t been out here since high school. And that was to buy from a sketchy dealer and get drunk in the little bit of forest. “Holy shit, I can’t believe I just did that.” You grumble rubbing your face looking out at the horizon of crashing waves. A huff leaves your lips as you straighten out the oversized shirt, “Well, time to be in a wedding.” 

[laddieseddiemunster]

Hiii can i request an poly lost boys x reader (the boys think she cheated on them 《the didnt btw》 and so they cheat on her and she finds out. How will they react when they find out She didn't cheat on them?

This is my first Poly, so let me know how I did. Fyi, there is no happy ending to this.

This is long by the way

You Cheated On Me? (Poly!Lost Boys x Fem!Reader)

Warning: angst, manipulation (sort of), slight violence, some nsfw

The boys all had a mixture of feelings going around in their heads. disappointment, sadness, but mainly anger. you had cheated on them, or so they thought.

You were originally supposed to meet them at the boardwalk, but you told them that you’d be late because you were going out with a friend. They didn’t think too much of it...at first.

It was until they accidentally saw you near the carousel with your friend. They also noticed that your friend was a guy, so instead of trusting you the boys decided to watch and see what you guys were doing.

At first, nothing happened that was out of the ordinary. You two were just talking. But then, from what they could see, things started to take a turn. Every single one of the boys could tell that whatever conversation you were having with your friend was very deep and personal. they could tell by the facial expressions both of you were making. You looked sad and concerned, and your friend looked sad and only sad. The boys tried not to stare at the two of you because there’s no way you’d cheat on them. Right?

Then all of a sudden you planted a kiss on his cheek. Now the boys were steaming. Their vampire blood was boiling inside of them. Even if it was just a kiss on the cheek, that’s enough to make them jealous. Marko was close to running up to the two of you and ripping him off of you. He kept his cool because he wanted to see how far you’d go with this. Not that Marko would ever want you to cheat, he just wanted to what would happen next just in case he’d have to throw it back in your face later on.

David was calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside he was getting pretty jealous. He wanted to rip your friend apart. Especially when he hugged you and wrapped his arms around your waist. That just made David more angry. He hates when some nobody touches what is his.

Dwayne was a bit angry, but he was more hurt. He tried to tell himself that he was just overthinking everything because he knew you’d never cheat on them. But when he saw you kiss your friend on the cheek, Dwayne was starting to think that this wasn’t just your friend.

Paul was a mixture of anger and sadness. He didn’t know what to feel. From what he could see it looked like you were cheating on them, and that thought alone hurts his non-beating heart. He thought he could trust you, but now he’s starting to think he can’t.

During all the mixed emotions, an action from your friend made them all snap back into present time. All of a sudden he pulled you away from the hug and kissed your cheek, like you had kissed his earlier. Now each one of the boys were ready to throttle him. No one touches what’s theirs except for them. Both of Marko’s hands were now in fists, and if it wasn’t for you being there he probably would have killed him right then and there. David was now more than furious, and he started his motorcycle and drove out of the boardwalk. The rest of the boys followed him because they knew that when David starts to drive away, then they must follow unless told not to.

When the boys got to the cave, David immediately sat in his wheelchair, and the rest of the guys took a seat somewhere around him. The three of them knew David long enough to know that he was going to have a say in this situation, and it was not going to be pushed under the rug.

“She cheated on us,” David said, still in disbelief.

“Maybe she wasn’t,” Paul said trying to convince David and himself that they were wrong. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, come on!” Marko scoffed. “We saw it first hand! She cheated!”

“Why would she do that to us?” Paul asked, feeling more hurt than angry.

“She doesn’t love us like we thought she did,” It hurt Dwayne to say that, but that was the only conclusion.

“I wanna kill the guy that she was with!” Marko said kicking some dirt on the ground in frustration. “And I’m going to!”

“Should we just...break up with her?” Paul asked with slight pain in his voice.

“No,” David finally spoke. “Not yet.”

“Why not?” Dwayne asked, thinking that was the logical and right thing to do.

“We should get her back for this! She deserves to feel the pain that we are feeling right now!” David said standing up from his chair.

“What do you wanna do? Kill her?!” Paul asked hoping that he was wrong.

“No!” David quickly replied. “Let’s get revenge.”

“Revenge? What kind of revenge?” Marko asked. Even though Marko loved you, he was angry, and when he’s angry he loves some good tasty revenge.

David thought for a moment before coming up with the perfect way to get back at you. “We’ll cheat on her.”

“Cheat on her?” Dwayne asked completely lost.

“Yeah. We can get four girls up in here, and she’ll come and catch us. But then, we remind her that she cheated on us, so then she’ll be just as hurt as we are. Maybe even more,” David said completely satisfied with his plan.

“Wait a minute, David. That doesn’t sound right,” Paul said. Even though Paul was definitely a lot of crazy things, but a cheater was not one of them.

“What she did to us wasn’t right!” Marko practicality yelled. “I say she deserves this! Who knows how long she’s been cheating on us!”

“Right!” David exclaimed. “And if any of you don’t want to do it then go try to get an apology out of her! Because she obviously doesn’t love us enough! Or else none of this would’ve ever happened!”

The other boys knew that David was right. You didn’t love them, if you did you wouldn’t have cheated. Marko was up for the plan right when David suggested it. Marko wasn’t too fond of the idea of cheating on you, the thing he really wanted to do was kill your friend. No one touches what’s his and gets away with it. David was furious, but also disappointed. Even if David wasn’t always good at showing it, he loved you very much, and to see you cheating really hurt him. Paul was pretty heartbroken at this point. He’s not the kind of guy to go look for a rebound after a breakup with someone he truly loved. He just kind of tries to smoke it off. Doesn’t always work. Dwayne was still hoping that all this was a big misunderstanding, but the proof was there, and he couldn’t deny it.

The boys knew that you’d come straight to the cave after hanging out with your ‘friend’, so they had to work fast. David didn’t really care who he was going to cheat on you with, he just wanted to get revenge. So, the guys found the first four girls they saw on the beach, and hypnotized them with their mind tricks to get the girls to come back to the cave with them.

Marko wanted to get revenge, but he was more interested in killing your friend. He could feel the heat and anger building up inside him whenever he thought about your friend kissing your cheek. Nothing could satisfy Marko more than killing your friend in the most violent way possible.

Paul feelings were all a bit mixed up. He felt sad because he’s in love with you, and not this chick that he picked up from the beach. Instead of rejecting the girl, he locked his lips with hers and kissed her hard. The slight anger he had in his system struck and all of a sudden, he wanted you to feel the same way he was feeling. Paul slipped his tongue down her throat hoping you would happen to walk into the cave right that second. The girl only pulled him closer allowing Paul to massage one of her breasts. He didn’t love the girl one bit, but revenge never felt so good in that moment.

Dwayne felt like he was going to puke. He never thought in all his years that he’d been cheating on his girlfriend. He swore that he’d never do it, but look at him now. The girl he chose had her face in the crook of Dwayne’s neck leaving hickeys all over his skin, and he wasn’t rejecting her. He couldn’t deny that she was pretty, but it wasn’t you. Dwayne wanted you, but you obviously didn’t want him. The girl was basically throwing herself at him, and he wasn’t giving her any of the attention back. Dwayne was hurt, and he didn’t want this broad. The girl tried to unzip his pants, and that’s when Dwayne had just about enough of this. He grabbed her shoulder tightly and told her to stop, but she didn’t listen. She just whined and tried to unzip his pants again, and then Dwayne decided that a midnight snack sounded pretty good at the moment. So, he grabbed her by her shoulders and dug his fangs into her neck. He sucked all of her blood until she didn’t have any left, and then he took her outside the cave and left her body out in the canyons not caring at all if someone would find her.

David took the girl he chose, and went to one of the open bedrooms in the cave. The girl got completely undressed, but David decided to leave his clothes on. He didn’t really want to have sex with his girl, he just wanted you to walk in on him cheating on you. This girl threw herself at David just like the other girls did too with the other guys. David let her basically do anything she wanted. He didn’t care about her one bit. He let her make out with him, give him hickeys all over his throat and chest, and he even let her undress him so she could give him a blowjob. David didn’t give her any attention though. He barely touched her. He was angry and wanted nothing more than for you to catch him doing something he shouldn’t be doing.

Marko barley even looked at the girl he chose. All he could think about was killing your friend that you ‘cheated’ on them with. The girl kept trying to kiss him and touch him and at first he let her, but after so many times Marko was sick of her. She kept pulling on his jacket too hard, and kept trying to take off his pants. Marko was about to kill her, but then he realized that she doesn’t deserve it. After all she was in a trance. So, Marko just dropped her off at the beach and ended the trance. For once, Marko let someone live, but that was because he had his eye on another target. Marko looked all over for your friend, and when he found him, Marko attacked him immediately. Luckily it wasn’t in public, so no one would see. Marko had no mercy for the guy. He did everything he could to make your friend suffer.

“You think you can touch my girl?” Marko chuckled while gripping the guys neck making his gasp for air. Tears ran down your friends face as he tried to stop Marko from choking him to death, but the grip was too strong. Marko smiled when he realized that he was successful in killing your friend, but then Marko’s smile dropped. He looked at the name tag on his victim’s work uniform. It said [insert your friends name]. That wasn’t just any friend. That was your friend that happened to be gay. You had known him for years, but you were never able to introduce him to the boys. You only told them his name.

Marko had never felt so ashamed in all his life. He basically just killed your friend for no reason, and not even that. He cheated. They all cheated. But you didn’t do anything. This was all a terrible misunderstanding, but they assumed too quickly. Marko’s heart was in his balls. He really screwed up. If the sun was out he’d let himself burn. Marko jumped on his motorcycle as quick as he could. Maybe if he could get to the boys before you did, you would never find out about this.

After seeing your friend, you waited by the beach assuming the boys would pick you up. They didn’t. You didn’t think too much of it though. After all, it could have been some miscommunication. So, you got your car and drove to the cave. You were excited to see the boys since you hadn’t seen them all day, but that changed when you walked into the cave.

The first thing you saw made your heart break. Paul was making out with some random girl on the couch. He had his hands all over her, and her top was off.

“P-Paul?!” Your voice cracked. “What are you doing?!” They both separated immediately. Paul’s face had drained all color. Even though he knew this was going to happen, he hated seeing how sad you looked.

Then you saw David walk out of one of the bedrooms with a half naked girl next to him. Your heart was shattering. Especially when you saw that David had a smile on his face.

“You’ve arrived, y/n” David said with a smirk.

Tears were starting to cover your vision. Paul and David were cheating on you?!

“Baby! Wait it’s not what it looks like!” Paul said regretting this whole revenge idea. He tried to hug you, but you shoved him away.

“No! Don’t touch me!” Tears were now escaping your eyes. Paul hated seeing you cry. Especially when he was the one making you sad. Dwayne grabbed you and held you. He knew that he was in the wrong as well, but he couldn’t stand to see you so broken. You accepted Dwayne’s hug until you noticed some dark purple hickeys on his neck, and you did not make those.

“Get away from me!” You yelled at Dwayne pushing him away from you. “Why are you all doing this?! I thought you loved me!”

“Well we thought you loved us!” David yelled no longer having a smile on his face.

Marko got to the cave and jumped off of his bike. “David! We have a real problem here!” Marko was about to continue, but then he realized he was too late. You were already there, and he knew that you were never going to forgive them.

“Did you do it too?” You asked Marko with a whimper. Marko couldn’t look at you. He couldn’t believe that they could make such a mistake.

“Y/n, don’t act like you didn’t cheat on us!” David yelled scaring Marko’s pigeons.

“David stop! She didn’t cheat on us!” Marko yelled feeling more and more like a dick.

“What do you mean?” Dwayne asked hoping that this was all just a bad dream.

“Her friend that she was with earlier. The one that I went to hunt. That was [insert friends name].” All the boys hearts sunk. They knew that your friend was gay, but they didn’t know that was him. David was no longer angry with you, he was now angry at himself. This was his plan after all, and you hadn’t done anything wrong. He yelled at the two other girls and told them to leave, he couldn’t believe what was happening. Paul felt like staking himself. His heart shattered along with yours. Dwayne couldn’t believe what was happening, and he had no one to blame but himself.

“What?!” You shouted at Marko. “You killed my friend?!” Marko didn’t answer. You walked up to him and slapped him across the face as hard as you could calling him every name in the book. Calling all of them every name in the book. Marko didn’t move. He felt like he deserved it.

“Y/n...we didn’t know,” David said trying to calm you down. “We thought-”

“You all thought I cheated?!” You bellowed. “He told me his dad had just passed away! And I hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek to comfort him! And he gave me a kiss on the cheek as a thank you for always being there for him!” That explanation just made the boys feel worse. They should’ve just asked you what happened, but they didn’t do that.

“We’re sorry!” Paul said. “We-We didn’t know!”

By this point you were sobbing. “‘Sorry’ isn’t going to work this time!”

You wanted to punch all of them and scream until you lost your voice, but you felt so broken that you could barely stand up straight.

“I never want to see any of you again! This is over!” And with that you ran out of the cave. None of the boys ran after you. They felt too ashamed to even talk. You deserved better than them. No matter how much they wanted to get on their knees and beg for forgiveness, they all knew that it was hopeless. They broke your heart into a million pieces, and they weren’t going to be able to get you back.

[thewidowsghost]

Daughter of the Sea - Chapter 1

So, I started this on my Wattpad, and if figured I'd just put it on here! Just tell me if you want me to add you to the taglist!

Percy's POV

My name is Percy Jackson.

I am twelve years old. I'm a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York, and my sister, (Y/n), taking online schooling at home.

Am I a troubled kid?

Yeah. You could say that.

I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan—twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.

I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.

But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.

Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.

I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.

See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course, I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that...Well, you get the idea.

On this trip, I was determined to be good.

All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.

Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwiches that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.

"I'm going to kill her," I mumble.

Grover tries to calm me down. "I'm okay. I like peanut butter -" He dodges another piece of Nancy's lunch.

"That's it." I start to get up, but Grover pulls me back to my seat.

"You're already on probation," he reminds me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."

Mr. Brunner leads the museum tour.

He rides up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.

It blows my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.

He gathers us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and starts telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.

Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.

One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."

Mr. Brunner keeps talking about Greek funeral art.

Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickers something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turn around and say, "Will you shut up?"

It comes out louder than I meant it to.

The whole group laughs. Mr. Brunner stops his story. "Mr. Jackson," he says, "did you have a comment?"

My face is totally red, I think. I answer, "No, sir."

Mr. Brunner points to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

I look at the carving, and feel a flush of relief, because I actually recognize it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"

"Yes," Mr. Brunner says, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because..."

"Well..." I rack my brain to remember. (Y/n) would have known the answer. She was nuts for this kind of stuff. "Kronos was the king god, and —"

"God?" Mr. Brunner asks.

"Titan," I correct myself. "And...he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"

"Eeew!" says one of the girls behind me.

"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continue, "and the gods won."

Some snickers from the group.

Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbles to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"

"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner says, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover mutters.

"Shut up," Nancy hisses, her face even brighter red than her hair.

At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.

I think about his question, and shrug. "I don't know, sir."

"I see." Mr. Brunner looks disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

The class drifts off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.

Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."

I knew that was coming.

I tell Grover to keep going; then I turn toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go—intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything. "You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner tells me.

"About the Titans?"

'"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."

"Oh."

"What you learn from me," he says, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."

I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, swordpoint against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C– in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.

I mumble something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner takes one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.

He tells me to go outside and eat my lunch.

The class gathers on the front steps of the museum, where we can watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.

Overhead, a huge storm is brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figure maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.

Nobody else seems to notice, though. Some of the guys are pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit is trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds isn't seeing a thing.

Grover and I sit on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.

"Detention?" Grover asked.

"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius, not like (Y/n). She seems to know everything."

Grover doesn't say anything for a while. Then, when I think he is going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he asks, "Can I have your apple?"

I don't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.

I watch the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and think about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sit. I hadn't seen her or my sister since Christmas. I want so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. Mom and (Y/n) would hug me and be glad to see me, but Mom would be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I couldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table.

I am about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appears in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumps her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

"Oops." She grins at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles are orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.

I try to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I am so mad my mind went blank. A wave roars in my ears.

I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy is sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"

Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.

Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"

"—the water—"

"—like it grabbed her—"

I don't know what they were talking about. All I know is that I was in trouble again.

As soon as Mrs. Dodds is sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turns on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"

"I know," I grumble. "A month erasing workbooks." That wasn't the right thing to say.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds says.

"Wait!" Grover yelps. "It was me. I pushed her."

I stare at him, stunned. I can't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.

She glares at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.

"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she says.

"But—"

"You—will—stay—here."

Grover looks at me desperately.

"It's okay, man," I tell him. "Thanks for trying."

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barks at me. "Now."

Nancy Bobofit smirks. I give her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turn to face Mrs. Dodds, but she isn't there. She is standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.

How'd she get there so fast?

I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.

I wasn't so sure. I go after Mrs. Dodds.

Halfway up the steps, I glance back at Grover. He is looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner is absorbed in his novel.

I look back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She is now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.

Okay, I think. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.

But apparently, that wasn't the plan.

I follow her deeper into the museum. When I finally catch up to her, we are back in the Greek and Roman section.

Except for us, the gallery is empty.

Mrs. Dodds stands with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She is making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.

Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze as if she wanted to pulverize it...

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she says.

I do the safe thing. I reply, "Yes, ma'am."

She tugs on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"

The look in her eyes is beyond mad. It was evil.

She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. I say, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."

Thunder shakes the building.

"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

I didn't know what she's talking about.

All I can think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.

"Well?" she demands.

"Ma'am, I don't..."

"Your time is up," she hisses.

Then the weirdest thing happens. Her eyes begin to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretch, turning into talons. Her jacket melts into large, leathery wings. She isn't human. She is a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.

Then things got even stranger.

Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheels his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.

"What ho, Percy!" he shouts and tosses the pen through the air.

Mrs. Dodds lunges at me.

With a yelp, I dodge and feel talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatch the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hits my hand, it isn;t a pen anymore. It is a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always uses on tournament day.

Mrs. Dodds spins towards me with a murderous look in her eyes.

My knees are jelly. My hands are shaking so bad I almost drop the sword.

She snarl, "Die, honey!" And she flies straight at me.

Absolute terror runs through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swing the sword.

The metal blade hits her shoulder and passes clean through her body as if she was made of water. Hisss!

Mrs. Dodds was a sandcastle in a power fan. She explodes into yellow powder, vaporizing on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes are still watching me.

I'm alone.

There is a ballpoint pen in my hand.

Mr. Brunner isn't there. Nobody is there but me.

My hands are still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.

Had I imagined the whole thing?

I walk back outside.

It had started to rain.

Grover is sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit is still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she sees me, she says, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

I answer, "Who?"

"Our teacher. Duh!"

I blink. We don't have a teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I ask Nancy what she is talking about.

She just rolls her eyes and turns away.

I ask Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.

"Who?" he asks, but he pauses first and he wouldn't look at me, so I figure he was messing with me.

"Not funny, man," I tell him. "This is serious."

Thunder booms overhead.

I see Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book as if he'd never moved.

I go over to him.

He looks up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."

I had Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.

"Sir," I ask, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"

He stares blankly at me, "Who?"

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

He frowns and sits forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

Word Count: 3159 words

So yeah, this is the first chapter of this book.

Not much (Y/n) yet, but we'll get there.

Love y'all!              Kaitlynn ❤️😍

[fantastic-rambles]

Sk8 Character Thoughts

Yeah, so y’all have to deal with me venting my latest obsession, lol. Sorry to everyone who followed me for other stuff, I will get back to it eventually. ^^;

I was gonna write out individual walls of text for everyone to be fair, but I decided that’s too much work and I’d go crazy before I finished (plus I’m feeling guilty for neglecting my fanfiction writing), so I’m just gonna bullet point some of the random things I think about various skaters (opinions and theories).

The order is the approximate order of which I like characters, though it’s not a strict ranking. I like most of the characters in the show to some extent.

Adam (Shindo Ainosuke)

I’ve already said a lot about him, you can check it out here and here. I’ll probably end up saying more about him before the show ends, too. xD

Yes, he is an absolutely awful person, but that’s what makes him amazing.

I will say that he needs a better costume designer. He looks like a clown. It looks like something that he designed when he was, like, five years old.

The mask is great though. <3

Cherry Blossom (Sakurayashiki Kaoru)

I love the super analytical types, but I also feel like Carla is a crutch for him. He’s a great skater, but if he didn’t have Carla, I don’t think he’d be able to compete at the level of the other top skaters. But all the more props to him for finding a way that he could compete at that level.

He totally had a thing for Adam before. But I think that even then, Adam was too fucked up to be able to have a romantic relationship, so nothing came of it. Because if Adam did actually learn what real love was like rather than confusing abuse for love, I don’t think he would have turned out the way he did.

It’s pretty clear that until he gets smacked by Adam, he’s still looking up to Adam and clinging to what they had before. And it bleeds into his non-skating life as well: when he did his calligraphy demonstration, I think that he hoped Adam would see it, which was why he picked that specific phrase and explained it--to let Adam know that it wasn’t too late to make amends (not that Adam would have given a fuck even if he did see it).

I love his character design as a teen, and I’m sad that he’s become more respectable-looking (though still hot af) as an adult. I’m a sucker for guys with long hair in anime/manga.

He is absolutely a weeb. He’s made an AI assistant who he calls Carla, which creeps out Joe (in a cute, lovable way, not in an Adam way), and he incorporates her into almost all aspects of his life. Like, he just happens to have an AI-augmented wheelchair handy, why?

He also dresses up like a ninja when he’s skating, goes around in a kimono in his daily life, etc. etc. Okay, maybe the kimono can be excused since he’s a calligrapher (though I’m pretty sure that’s not the norm regardless, except for maybe if the artist is at some sort of exhibition?), but people’s costumes seem to show off who they really are beneath the mask they put on for society. So Cherry secretly wants to be a ninja. xD

I’m not on any specific ship, but if I had to pick one to board, it would be Matchablossom.

Can we please have a spinoff that’s just about Adam, Cherry, and Joe when they’re teenagers?

Snow (Hasegawa Langa)

Frankly, Langa’s only up this high because I love his dynamic/rivalry with Adam. If Adam didn’t exist, he’d be below Joe, maybe below Tadashi.

Not that I don’t like Langa, but he’s just an oblivious skating nerd. He’s skilled and passionate, but I don’t really feel that he really stands out as a standalone character. He’s more of a foil for other characters (mostly Adam and Reki).

I guess what stands out the most to me is his ability to improvise when he’s falling behind, since his skill level is understandably lower than most of the other people he skates against. Like finding alternative pathways to the finish line versus Shadow and Miya, or using Joe’s strength to propel him forward. Or just, like, flying off the edge of a cliff to take a shortcut. That too. xD

His snow motif is pretty cool. (No pun intended.)

And I won’t deny that he’s cute. He’s actually the reason I started watching, because I saw some fanart of him and got curious. Came for the Langa, stayed for the Adam. <3

I feel bad for him for having a jealous jerk as basically his only friend though.

Joe (Nanjo Kojiro)

He’s such a teddy bear. <3

Joe’s the heart to Cherry’s brain, and I adore the way they balance each other out. I love Vitriolic Best Buds.

What surprised me, though, is that Joe seems to have a better understanding of Adam’s current character than Cherry does, since Cherry is so precise and analytical. Though the flashback clarified that some since it’s pretty obvious that Cherry is/was biased where Adam is concerned. Sure, Joe was also friends with Adam back then, but it seems that Cherry was the one most star-struck by Adam.

But Joe obviously knows and accepts that Adam’s changed, unlike Cherry, though he probably doesn’t know the reason why. He seemed to be expecting something to happen during the race, so it didn’t surprise him when it did, though he was sad/disappointed by it. It seemed like he was concerned and wanted to warn Cherry before his race (which is super cute), and when everyone else was flinching from seeing the assault on Cherry, Joe didn’t look away. I don’t think he knew exactly what Adam was going to do (I don’t think anyone did, lol), but he knew Adam was going to do something.

I don’t think he was serious when he said the reason Adam is avoiding their beefs is because he’s afraid he’ll lose, though. Yeah, he wants to race Adam, and he wants to win, but I think he’s more grounded when it comes to Adam, so he probably knows that Adam would beat him if it came down to it. Whereas Cherry legitimately thought he could win if Adam held back.

Also, his skateboard wheels are ridiculous. How do they even work?

Snake (Kikuchi Tadashi)

He got an ask post, yay, so not going to rehash it here.

I really hope that Adam realizes at some point that Tadashi is the only person who really knows and understands him, and comes to appreciate everything that Tadashi’s done for him.

Miya (Chinen Miya)

Such a brat, omg.

I get that he’s a kid, and kids are brats, and so it’s a fairly realistic depiction. I just hate kids. >.>

Pretty much the only time I’ll really like a child character is when they’re precocious as fuck and not child-like at all, which I get defeats the purpose, but that’s me.

Brattiness aside, he is skilled and appreciates Reki standing up to Adam on his behalf, so much so that he’s willing to spend his time training a “slime” just so Reki doesn’t get completely crushed by Adam. And he’s also willing to work with Langa to teach him the most difficult trick in skating (the Caspar Slide) for the same reason.

Ultimately, he’s a good kid, but he’s had some bad experiences that make it harder for him to trust people since he’s afraid they’ll leave him. He’s still willing to try, though, if people will give him a chance.

Also, the one ep when they go on vacation and Miya pretends Joe is his daddy (and Cherry is his mommy, rofl--hi Matchablossom!) to drive away the women Joe’s hitting on... hilarious.

Kyan Reki 

An even bigger brat.

Again, yeah, he’s a teenager and teens are “just like that,” but I hate those kinds of characters.

Just because his friend is a skating genius, he gets all pissy and stops being friends with him? Showing up to cheer Langa on and then completely running away doesn’t redeem him in my eyes. I get that he’s disappointed that he’s not capable of skating at the level of the top skaters and frustrated that Langa surpassed him so easily, but that’s no excuse to take it out on Langa (or anyone else).

And everyone complains about Adam being possessive, but they just gloss over the fact that Reki repeatedly tries to force Langa to promise to not skate against Adam, even roping in their manager, when he knows that Langa likes accepting challenges and has fun doing them. He just wants to keep Langa to himself, and he’s jealous as fuck that Langa is obsessed with skating against Adam.

Langa even explicitly tells him that he’s not racing Adam just because he’s upset about what Adam did to Reki, but because he wants to do it. Which is the exact same fucking reason Reki gives for not listening to Joe and Miya, and Langa supports his decision then. Why can’t Reki do the same?

Yes, he’s traumatized because his friend who introduced him to skating was seriously injured and had to quit skating, and he got hurt skating against Adam, but just like for Adam: YOUR TRAUMA/BACKSTORY DOES NOT JUSTIFY YOUR BEHAVIOR.

Plus, the whole “we’ll never disappear from your sight” that he told Miya? Psych!

Like, seriously. He knows the kid has abandonment issues because people leave him because he’s too good at what he does, and then he just goes ahead and poofs, putting both Miya and Langa through the same exact fucking thing.

Though I’m sure that the power of friendship will give him a miraculous recovery and he’ll build a new board for Langa so Langa can beat Adam before Adam gets hauled off to jail. It’ll probably be a cheesy make-up where Langa says something about how he can only use Reki’s boards, so it’s like they’re skating together when he races or whatever.

I do respect his ability to observe other skaters and make boards that are perfectly suited to them, though. And he knows that he’d be good in that support role. But he wants to be the hero, so he’s suffering from eighth grader syndrome and lashing out because reality doesn’t conform to his wishes.

Shadow (Higa Hiromi)

Just fucking die already, ‘kay?

I don’t even know what to say. He’s all caught up in his “antihero” complex or whatever (I don’t even remember if that’s the right term, and I don’t give a fuck), and he’s got a nasty personality. Like burning Reki’s board or threatening to have a guy tattoo “Dumpster Slut” above his girlfriend’s name.

You really expect me to believe that he’d treat his manager respectfully if they started dating when he does something like that? His polite florist persona is such a sham.

And he’s a shit skater. How the hell is he in the top 8? If they can throw in a random guy we’ve never seen before (Harry), then they could have just as well put in some other trash mob instead of Shadow, who only didn’t get knocked out in the quarterfinal round because he was racing a nobody.

Imo, all of his “cute” little tricks like throwing fireworks at his opponent or shining a laser into their eyes is worse than what Adam does. Once he does that, he relinquishes all control over the situation, so anything could happen, such as his opponent crashing into a wall or falling off a cliff, which could result in serious injuries or even death. On the other hand, Adam always remains in control when he’s trying to throw off his opponent by forcing them to dance with him and freaking them the fuck out by pushing their limits. Even when he’s holding Reki’s head about an inch above the ground, he won’t let Reki brain himself on a rock or something. And even when he smacks Cherry with his skateboard, his attack leaves Cherry conscious and so lightly injured (relative to what could have been) that he doesn’t even need to stay in the hospital. (I don’t think he actually needs a wheelchair, other than probably being a bit woozy from a concussion, maybe. And maybe not even that if Joe isn’t concerned enough to wake him up/keep him from being unconscious.) Yeah, Adam fucks with his opponents, but if they can get over it, they can get back on a board. There’s a good chance that won’t happen if they get in an accident caused by Shadow, other than for anime logic.

“What about Adam’s Love Hugs??” What about them? Yes, he’s not holding on to his opponents to control their falls, but the point of it is to make them flinch and fall backwards, against the line of motion. That naturally will decrease the severity of their physical injuries, unlike when Reki and Harry fall off the course at full speed versus Shadow.

The only reason he doesn’t have a higher body count than Adam (or even a literal body count) is plot convenience, since he’s not the villain.

[theyreonlynoodlesmike]

Hi! First I wanna thank you for reawakening my unhealthy obsession with the boys. I was wondering if I could request a male poly fic, where the reader is a bit of a loud mouth who gets in a fight with someone and the boys are like “we like this one”. You can add any extra bits you want. I trust you, so I’m sure it’ll turn out amazing no matter what you do!

YES! My first male x boys fic! Okay, so, I’m totally down with writing this. Here it is and I hope you enjoy!!!

Tough Guy (Poly!Lost Boys x Male!Reader) fic

Warnings: minor 80s typical homophobia, harassment

Word Count: 1299

The boys were always looking for trouble. Sometimes they didn’t even have to look very hard. All it would take was to walk past a particularly rowdy group of surf-nazis and they’d get pulled into a fight. Of course, some members of their group were far more willing to fight than others. Marko and David were the first to drop whatever they were doing and dive right in. Paul usually did the best he could from keeping Marko from using his vampire strength on the boardwalk, and Dwayne preferred to watch from the side-lines. He’d drop anyone if they really tried to pick a fight with him, but he preferred to let the others handle it.

They had been leaning on the railing, minding their own business, when they heard someone start to yell. Their enhanced hearing could pick up any voice they wanted, but the boys quickly tuned in to this one. They were always looking for entertainment, and it seemed like a show was about to get put on only a few feet away from them.

They saw you, a boy their age, standing up to a bunch of surf-nazis nearly twice your size. They saw the pink triangle decorating the arm of your jacket. They knew what it meant, as they’d been alive when it was used, and they admired your gumption. This was the 80s. People weren’t exactly open about their sexualities, especially guys. It seemed the surf-nazis didn’t like that.

“What, did I make the little fairy mad?” The leader said, and his friends jeered and taunted you. They could see from here that you were getting fired up. You weren’t backing down, and you weren’t turning the other cheek. They watched you scoff.

“Fairy? Is that the best you can come up with, asshole?” You asked. The surf-nazis grabbed you by the front of your jacket. It wasn’t exactly the best comeback in the world, but standing up to them was ballsy enough. 

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” The surf-nazi asked, getting in your face. They watched you smirk, as if you knew whatever you were going to say next was probably going to earn you a punch in the face.

“No, but I suck your father off with it.” And the boys couldn’t believe their ears. Oh, they liked you. They watched the surf-nazis smirk fall off his face and turn into a cruel sneer. He looked as if he was going to cock back his fist to land a punch right on the jaw, but you kneed him in the groin first. The second his grip loosened, you were gone like a shot. You ran through the crowd, and it only took a second for them to realize you were heading right for them. Well, for the stairs besides them. You were probably going to make your escape down into the beach, but the boys guessed that the minute you hit the sand the surf-nazis wouldn’t hesitate to chase you down and beat the shit out of you. You were easily the most interesting person that had walked onto the boardwalk that night, and the boys couldn’t deny that they liked you. Maybe even wanted you. They weren’t going to let a bunch of surf-nazis ruin your pretty face, or worse. So, David tossed his cigarette aside, revved his engine, and nodded to the empty seat behind him just as you were about to pass.

You gripped the railing. You looked at him and the others, and then at the group of six quickly catching up to you.

Four insanely hot bikers. A bleached haired blonde with a Billy Idol vibe, a personification of tall, dark and handsome, a Def Leppard look-a-like, and a baby-faced cupid. Or six ugly, homophobic assholes that were definitely going to beat your ass instead of rail it. It was an easy choice. 

You hopped on the back of his bike, and then he drove down the stairs. The boys hooted and hollered as they descended, and you flipped off the surf-nazis as you zipped past. To Davids pleasure, you laughed and gripped onto him tight.

When they took you back to the cave, it was like you had been there forever. You quickly asked for their names and supplied your own, and you were sitting on the couch and laughing with them like you had known them for years. Finally, Marko said,

“Y’know, that was pretty ballsy what you said back there.” He said. You heard them all chuckle, and then Marko nudged your leg. He was sitting at your feet, and he grinned up at you with his nail between his teeth. His light brown eyes were alight with something you couldn’t quite read, and you smiled down at him. Dwayne was sitting at your side, and, when you looked over at him, he was giving you a small smile as well. He had dark, intense eyes, and his jacket did nothing to hide his chest. You had taken a few glances, but had spared yourself the embarrassment of taking a real, long look. His smile had given you a boost of confidence.

“They’re just mad because they pent up all their ‘sinful desires’. Tough guy back there probably just wanted to fuck me and didn’t know how to handle it.” You said. You were a loud mouth when you weren’t fucked up, and the boys had already supplied some herbal refreshment.  The one responsible for that was Paul. He was sitting next to you and facing you, his arm wrapped around behind you on the couch. You liked his attention. Paul had crystal blue eyes and perfect smile. When he leaned in close, you could feel your heart fluttering in your chest.

“Who wouldn’t?” He asked, and your brain stopped for a moment. You had thought that they were just cool. Unbothered by your sexuality. It had never occurred to you that any of them could be gay as well. But that remark? It was definitely flirting. Or, at least, you’d like to think it was. “Speaking of pent up...” Paul gave you a bright smile, and his hand reached to grip your thigh. Okay, he was definitely flirting. You looked at the others, as if to see if this was a trick or not. Your eyes fell onto David.

He was the farthest away, and he was sitting in his wheelchair. He had a cigarette balanced between his lips, and he seemed to be watching you with great interest. Almost, calculating. You caught his eyes, and you could feel Pauls hand start to massage your thigh. This wasn’t how you planned having your night going, but you could think of a lot of worse things that could happen. But you had to make sure.

“You guys are...” You trailed off, deciding to let them fill in the blanks. Three of them answered at the same time, and Dwayne started playing with your hair instead,

“Gay?” Markos voice asked from below. 

“Together?” David asked from across of you.

“Horny?” Paul asked, and he leaned in so his breath would fan your ear. It made you shiver, and you didn’t even have to look over to know that he was grinning. Okay, that was one way to get your questions answered. Four hot, gay, and horny guys that were apparently together. Interesting, definitely interesting.

“I think, I could use a drink.” You breathed, and Davids eyes flashed with something, something you hadn’t quite caught, right as you said that. You weren’t talking about water, and that was pretty obvious. You were going to need something a little stronger if you didn’t want to freak out because four hot guys were about to fuck you. David smiled, and said,

“Marko, bring me my wine.”

[dalekofchaos]

My critique of the Sequel Trilogy Lightsaber duels

My biggest problems with the Sequel Trilogy are the blatant rip off and unoriginality, no clear plan at all, lore breaking bullshit, lack of worldbuilding and poor executions of great character concepts. In this post, one of my My biggest gripes with the Sequels is the terrible Lightsaber fights.

The only good duel in my opinion is Finn vs Kylo Ren. This feels raw and powerful. A hardened soldier who has just became familiar to Lightsaber combat vs a trained dark side warrior. Despite Ren's years on training, though, Finn puts up a good fight and is able to hold his own before having his back sliced up. But.....that's what kills the fight for me. Finn's injuries. If this were in the first 6 movies or anywhere in the EU, Finn would be in a wheelchair or in a bacta tank for life. And guess what? A movie later and Finn’s injuries are never brought up again or treated with any severity.

Like Finn’s injuries, Finn’s rivalry with Kylo Ren is dropped for no reason whatsoever and never mentioned again. Finn and Kylo Ren are narrative foils, yet after TFA it’s dropped??? From the start they have been prominent foils to each other: dark from light and light from dark, both in the First Order but in drastically different positions. And Kylo too obviously has strong feelings about his defection. I also believe that Finn is the awakening in the force that Kylo and Snoke felt. Perhaps that is why Kylo focused on Finn and is so angry about him. Finn is also the first person to use the legacy lightsaber and is the first to actually fight Kylo. TLJ could've focused on Finn and Kylo being  narrative foils having a force connection and Kylo wondering why Finn would switch to the Resistance while Finn wonders why Kylo joined The First Order and  Rey standing in the middle of it all wondering with the new realization that her family has a mixed past of good and evil and her questioning where exactly does she belong? The way at the height of tfa when Kylo Ren rejected Han Solo’s offer for redemption and killed him he looked over and noticed Finn. Like they both locked eyes and in that moment was a surge of emotions between them— shock (and some fear) on Finn’s end, and anger on Kylo’s as he shouts at Finn that he’s a traitor— and those circumstances set Finn and Kylo up to be the dynamic for the sequel trilogy. They were foils, and the trilogy had the potential to truly expand on that and see their development in a final standoff/rematch at the very end. But it was wasted, because why have good movies.

Rey vs Kylo Ren. This duel was bullshit from start to finish. Okay, I don't care how force sensitive she is. I don't care that she downloaded Kylo's abilities in the interrogation. ANd I don't give a fuck WHO she turned out to be related to. If you are thrown into a tree, you are gonna be out for at least an hour. I will hand it to them that it feels like a genuine fight, but it just feels cheap when Rey won. It also doesn't make it any better that Kylo's injuries doesn't force him to wear the helmet at all times, his facial wounds are non-consequential. Rey has no prior training. Never held a lightsaber. Rey fighting off thieves with her quarterstaff is not the same thing, it is understandable that Kylo was struggling because of his injuries, but Rey didn’t struggle against Kylo. Even Luke struggled with Vader and Anakin struggled with Dooku. What should have happened is as it looks like Kylo is about to win, Chewie from the Falcon fires his bowcaster to keep Ren at bay and both Rey and Finn make it to the Falcon. This way we can keep Kylo Ren strong and show Rey struggling to overcome Kylo. It will also show This is how powerful he is when injured, so imagine him at his peak. Instead we get a pointless fight instead of Rey and Finn just escaping Starkiller base while Ren collapses due to injuries and Rey beating Kylo served no purpose(the end goal to destroy Starkiller Base was already accomplished) and helped derail their villain of the trilogy.

The Throne Room Duel. Everyone knew that Rey and Kylo would kill the Praetorian Guards. This is a fight with absolutely zero stakes. It's one thing if Rey and Kylo dueled Snoke himself, that might be a good fight. But come on, did anyone REALLY think they would lose? There is no tension in the scene and it is pointless. Kylo Ren and Rey are fighting a faceless a group of guards that we know absolutely nothing about and have literally no purpose in the entire story except for this one fight. We know neither of the characters are going to die because these are just faceless red shirts and there is still like 30 to 40 minutes left of the movie. Terrible editing takes away any enjoyment one might have with the fight choreography, if you've got to literally photoshop out the bad guys weapons in post production to not look stupid you might need to recoreograph the shot. There are multiple times where Rey, Kylo and the guards are just doing motions and actions because they look cool but serve no purpose but to look cool. Kylo stabbing the ground? Pointless. Rey twirling her rave stick around while someone falls behind her, pointless. Not even once do we see them displaying their powers is what cheapens the fight. Kylo Ren is powerful enough to freeze a blaster and a person in place and Rey herself unlocked Kylo’s powers, so the two of them could have easily ended the fight sooner than it was dragged out. Kylo is powerful in the force but he SERIOUSLY could not stop a Praetorian Guard choke holding him and Rey struggled with a guard? Rey and Kylo were stronger in TFA and are just made weaker in the duel with the Praetorian Guards. Kylo could have frozen half of the guards and Rey could have mind tricked the other half into killing the frozen guards and Kylo and Rey could have finished them. They are masters of light and darkness, but they are made weaker. The throne room scene is a symbolization of everything wrong with the movie. It’s all flash, but no substance and the more you think about it, the worse it gets.

All this duel makes me believe is that Rey and Ben should’ve both switched sides in TLJ. Rey gives in to the dark side and Ben returns home. Rey is the most Sith like character if you obey the rules of George Lucas for Light and Dark sides of the force. Ben Solo is more Jedi like throughout the movie until the end. Let me explain. Rey throughout the sequel trilogy has given in to her passion and anger. In the end of TFA Rey gave in to anger and hate to defeat Kylo. and in TLJ she is shown to use anger and hate throughout the movie. She is shown to as Yoda put it “take the quick and easy path to the dark side” gives in to anger and hate in almost every scene before she boards the Supremacy and gave in to the temptations of the dark side water cave. Her dark side actions in TROS speak for itself. Ben is calm and clear minded like a Jedi, he even wants to cut all ties to attachments like a Jedi. Everything we were told of the Jedi and how disciplined they are, Ben displays that in TLJ until after the Throne room fight. Hell, EVEN THE THRONE ROOM FIGHT SUGGESTS THIS. Think about the fact that Ben really does not move or even engage. He just stands there and dodges and swings once when the guard rushes him. Contrast that to Rey, who is clearly being more aggressive with her lightsaber and attacking rather than just being passive. How again is Rey the Jedi and Kylo is the dark side force user in this movie? They’re fighting in the exact opposite way they should be. Rey fights for the kill while Kylo gets a glancing blow in the armor in the opening fight. Their style of fighting in the Throne Room with the Praetorian Guards really suggests that they should’ve switched sides. What they should have done is have Ben realize that Snoke was evil and shows regret for his actions and turn to the light. While Rey feeling betrayed by Luke and the revelation of her family turns to the dark. This would not only be unexpected but would even rival Vader’s “I am your father” twist. And it would logically follow what we’ve seen of these two characters leading up to this point. Rather than just out of the blue Kylo turns angry and irrational and Rey is calm when Ben was calm and rational throughout the movie and Rey was full of anger and hate throughout this movie. You have them follow an arc that makes sense for their individual personalities. Ben is always calm, but he felt betrayed by those on the light, but he comes to realize that betrayal was an incorrect perception and he desperately wants to make amends to Luke and Leia and therefore he should rejoin what he knows in his heart is good. While Rey is full of passion and anger and as that builds up and she realizes that even the great Jedi Luke Skywalker is a disappointment and her family abandoned her, she knows the only person who can live up to her own expectations is herself and that self-centered attitude leads her to the dark side. That would make sense and we would have something to fight for, save Rey from herself or stop her.

Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren. Originally, I thought they were gonna have Luke first send the Walkers’ turboblasts right back at them and use the force to bring down the transports, TIEs and the shuttle and then toy with his nephew like Vader did to him and leave Kylo Ren in defeat and his ruined fleet. In a way he did(minus the ruined fleet), but it took away any tension away by having Luke just be a force projection. He wasn't there. His moment with Leia and 3-PO doesn't feel genuine anymore. And the "duel" if you can call it that is just bad. Luke doesn't have his Green Lightsaber and their blades do not clash. A Jedi is all about defense. But a Jedi will also fight in self-defense to defend others. The argument that Luke did the "most Jedi thing ever" is bullshit. A Jedi will stand up for what's right and face the threat. Instead Luke pulled a practical joke and died pointlessly. I mean if he instead pulled the X-Wing out afterwords and told R2 "Come on R2, we've got work to do." I would forgive that and then we could've gotten a genuine master and apprentice relationship between Luke and Rey and a proper reunion between Luke and Leia. But no, he has to die of force exhaustion. If Palpatine, who uses the force like crack didn't die of force exhaustion, then why did Luke?

The duels in TROS are all equally terrible. Not once did I felt any excitement between Rey and Kylo's duels as I did with Finn and Kylo from TFA. Every Lightsaber duel is forgettable. The fight in Ren's Quarters is just bad. The fight on the Death Star Ruins is just terrible. It's like they both got high on deathsticks and could barley remember that they are both trained with a Lightsaber. Fighting in ruins surrounded by water SHOULD BE EXCITING! But they did everything in their power to make this duel boring, mediocre and lackluster. They act as if they are swinging bats, not Lightsabers. Lightsabers aren’t baseball bats, stop treating them like they are!  

The worst part is that THIS was the final Lightsaber duel of the Star Wars saga. A huge step down if compared to Obi Wan vs Anakin in Mustafar and Darth Vader vs Luke Skywalker in the Emperor’s Throne Room, which unlike the previous prequel, had awesome shooting and use of the soundtrack, also being very lengthy.

Then we get the Luke and Leia flashback. The ONLY well choreographed fight scene is a fucking flashback.

Then Ben Solo and the Knights Of Ren. Again, we know the Knights are gonna die. If JJ Abrams bothered to characterize the Knights, then yes they might've had a chance, but like the Praetorian Guards, they exist for background and die pointlessly.

Of Course we don't get to see Palpatine duel wielding his twin Sith Lightsabers and fighting Rey and Ben, cause JJ mr I hate the Prequels can't give the fans any decent Lightsaber fights. Instead of Palpatine facing Rey and Ben in an epic climatic final battle, we get Palpatine killed by his own lightning.

The fights in TFA is adequate at best. TLJ is meaningless. TROS is absolutely terrible and forgettable.

John, Daisy and Adam deserved better choreography than they were given. There's no excuse for the lackluster duels we see in the ST, whether from Rey, Finn or Kylo.

One of the biggest complaints for the Prequels is Lightsaber fights is "they are too choreographed" and anyone who believes this is an idiot. What? You wanted Jedi in their prime to slap sticks like old people? You wanted them to fight like drunken hobos? One of the best things in the prequels was finally getting to see the Jedi finally go all out in some awesome lightsaber duels. The Jedi should be masters at Lightsaber combat. Fight choreography is a good thing. Look at the duels in the prequels. You can like or hate them but the duel between Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon and Maul was great. As was Obi-Wan vs Jango, Yoda vs Dooku and every duel in ROTS. Even The Clone Wars had great fight choreography. There was more planning and choreography in The Clone Wars S7E10 than in the whole sequel trilogy.

Seriously, why wasn't Nick Gillard contacted? He is the main reason why the Lightsaber duels in the prequels were so good. I don't care if too many Lightsabers were a big complaint amongst the Prequel haters, the duels were good. So instead of great fight scenes, you traded great fight choreography for mediocre baseball bat fights?

The choreography is not the issue alone. There is no emotion. In TFA. Starkiller Base was already set to blow, so the fight was pointless. In TLJ there is no emotion at stake for the Throne Room fight and the Resistance already got away prior to Luke's pointless death. Rey vs Kylo doesn’t even matter because the characters HAVE THE SAME GOAL. Both want to get to Exegol via a wayfinder before the duel and both get to Exegol with a wayfinder (or memory of it) at the end of the duel. While Kylo gets redeemed, the duel wasn’t necessary for this part as Leia just needed to talk to him and then give him the force induced memory. The only thing this proves is that Rey is not a Jedi because she gives into anger and blind rage to start the duel.

The duels in the prequels and originals had themes, emotion and meaning. Not just that but they looked damn impressive and was the spectacle that helped made Star Wars, Star Wars.

There isn't any good musical scores for any of the Lightsaber fights either or at the very least, nothing memorable. Nothing as iconic as Duel Of Fates, Battle Of Heroes and the Throne Room fight in ROTJ. I don't remember any themes in the Sequels and that's a problem.

And it doesn’t help that these duels have no meaningful deaths either. A bunch of faceless guards and Luke (through indirect means) are the only deaths via a duel. But this is what happens when you hide the mentor archetype on an island and have the hero and villain go at it for three films.

The Lightsaber duel is no longer an emotional spectacle and a grand duel to the death. It's a bunch of idiots high on deathsticks fighting pointlessly and fighting for absolutely nothing. Rey fights like a Sith but she's a Jedi. Ben fights like a Jedi but is leading the First Order? They don't matter anymore and the duels in the sequels are the most forgettable thing about them.

[ourladyofomega]

Summer of 2006. I waited to take the trip to Philadelphia for a month to see Sleater-Kinney since my former ‘friend’ and fellow DJ D-Klein offered tickets for people to go with him. We had no idea who else would be playing up until then. With us was Elizabeth, D-Klein’’s friend and a huge Sleater-Kinney fan. And off we went to Philadelphia in a sweltering partly cloudy 95* day.

We travel through Coney Island when out of nowhere D-Klein and Elizabeth decide to stop at Astroland to ride the Cyclone. It put the trip on pause like a video game to take a spontaneous time out. But they enjoyed themselves, and why not? I wasn’t going to keep them.

We then drive through the Verrazano Bridge, then Staten Island and through New Jersey. I see all the industrial areas, petrol-storage facilities, the many rest stops, restaurants, and Sunocos lining the New Jersey Turnpike. Last time I checked, the Sunocos averaged no more than $3.05 a gallon. The music played nothing but, you guessed it, Sleater-Kinney, a taste to what to expect. So Olympian, so Kill Rock Stars. Also on the player was D-Klein spinning almost the ntire X-Ray Spex CD as well. We finally arrive in the Philadelphia outskirts at around 6:30 PM and shortly thereafter we cut through Chinatown. I didn’t know Philadelphia even had a Chinatown, but the three of us riding around assumed this was where we would go for some sushi.

Eventually we drive past the venue and see the young Philadelphia hipsters do nothing but stand in line waiting for the show to start and others walking the Philly streets towards the venue as well. We park in front of the bistros and tables and chairs set up on the sidewalks of Philly. At this point we still had no idea who else was playing other than Sleater-Kinney.

We choose Swanky Bubbles, a champagne and sushi bar. For a small eatery it was pretty neat with well-lit ambience and matching low-volume music to go with it. Me, D-Klein, and Elizabeth sit down and talk about the difference between the Philadelphia and Long Island punk scenes, some college student economics, party appearances, and other fine places to eat over our sushi dinner. We order between us wasabi mashed potatoes, a lychee drink, six spears of buttered asparagus salted with parmesan cheese, and sushi rolls such as California, Tuna, Philly, Spider Leg, Time Bomb, and Double Dragon (wasn’t that a video game?); and for dessert, a crispy Thailand banana split. $110.00 was the bill. Sold.

We walk back to the venue and the valet parking guy allowed us to park right in front of the entrance. It was now Club Polaris, formerly the Starlight Ballroom. We get there and find people with extra tickets to give away or sell. In the meantime, we hang out with the organizer of the venue. D-Klein was talking to him about the past shows of yester-years and decades ago. The promoter informs us that Clear Channel was trying to buy out both their venue and Philly scene. It’s depressing to think that Clear Channel would buy out the punk, indie-rock, and hardcore kids and tell them to fuck off so that Clear Channel can put their clean, polished, packaged industry acts in there, with no other outlets for these kids to go who call the streets their own. How we thought that pretty soon, the scene could implode with nowhere to go and be swallowed up into nothing. Where else would we go but further down?

It was when we stand in front of the Polaris waiting to get in that we heard music from inside the venue. We all finally find out to our surprise from the organizer the band was sharing the bill with Sleater-Kinney:

…The Roger Sisters.

Me and D-Klein were floored and it was then we knew that a great show was already going to become even greater.

We go in and this truly was the scene the magazines always talked about. Guys dressing hardcore, some moppy, some Napolean Dynamite cartoonish, and some slim t-shirts. The girls were pretty cute as well with their art-school haircuts, skirts, funny tees, piercings, and either Olympia-type or Williamsburg-type super-feminist style. Imagine makeoutclub ever having a meeting center.

Polaris was dark and crowded. All around us were many bars to get beer. There were many booths where kids sat around and mostly in groups drinking beers and water. (Remember, this was during a heat-wave. The Eastern board was hit with 90 degree-plus weather with lots of humidity). Some were quiet, arms crossed and minding their own. Others were very delighted to see each other and were greeted with hugs and kisses. We witnessed a couple of lesbians making out as well. And you had to give it to one fan who came to the show in a wheelchair.

The ballroom, as expected, was huge with lots of standing space. When the three of us got there, the front of the standing room was taken up but we managed to make our way about ten feet from the speakers, with a very lucky few who took a spot standing right under the vent. We had a good view to see the Rogers Sisters perform. Miyuki Furtado (bass / vocals) dedicated a song to Spiro Agnew, but took it back and later dedicated it to Condoleezza Rice. Jennifer Rogers (vocals / guitar) applied her lip gloss to prepare for the end of their set. Miyuki whipped himself around in a frenzy, performing sonic guitar tricks and creating feedback for all of us. We literally see the sweat and mist come off of his forehead. Laura Rogers (drums / vocals) whipped herself into a frenzy, too. The set lasted only 45 minutes but it was a good set. As we didn’t even know that the Rogers Sisters would play, it was no loss and all gain. Everyone wins.

The three of us hit the merchandise tables. I score Sleater-Kinney’s self-titled CD for $15.00 and I wanted to get some Rogers Sisters stuff but no one was at the tables yet. We sit around taking in all this humidity and heat observing the scene for a little bit more before we hit the merch- tables again where Miyuki and Laura finally set shop. A d.i.y. ethic. For $7.00 I grabbed three 7” singles from the Sisters who came off as very nice and gracious people. Elizabeth scores a Roger Sisters CD and matching Sleater-Kinney tees for her and her friend.

What hooked me to the Rogers Sisters was that I discovered them on WUSB’s Riot Grrrl Plus show in Summer 2003 and happened to record “I’m A Ballerina” on tape. And every chance I had I aimed to play them on the air. Why not? I figured people can be art-smart from getting into them. Bonus.

Sleater-Kinney finally came to play for a good 90 minutes. I believe D-Klein’s life has now culminated into this one night: he’s a huge fan who never had failed to play them on his show on a consistent basis (and he’s known to do that with Sonic Youth as well). Without him he wouldn’t have made this attempt to see them one last time.

One last time? Yes, Sleater-Kinney would finally call it quits after eleven years of making Kill Rock Stars a lot of money. This was their last tour and The Woods was their final record. They had to go out with style big time.

They came on and it was deafening. These ladies knew how to rock. Listen to the way they sound as theirs was rivaled by no other. Mid-set, Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker faced off and play their guitars towards each other and it was amazing. I was taken over. For 90 minutes I was trying to follow and absorb everything that Sleater-Kinney performed. Janet throws drumsticks and Carrie shakes out water bottles at the crowd to cool themdown. Fans screamed for them to keep going, not to go. They really loved this band that truly represented the indie-rock crowd and grrrls / femmes in general. One guy even ran on stage and urged the crowd to get ready to catch him up as he was about to stage-dive. He jumps off and instead lands on his feet. Sorry, Charlie. It’s not how it goes here at a Sleater-Kinney show.

After a while, they walk off-stage and fans just did not want to get it, so they stand there cheering and clapping heavily for five minutes more. And yes, they came back to play a few more songs, some off of The Woods. And that’s all she wrote in Philadelphia. An extended ovation as one-by-one Sleater-Kinney walks off-stage and acknowledge their fans with handshakes and smiles.

I don’t know about D-Klein or Elizabeth, but my head was about to explode. Throbbing. My entire body dripping of sweat, my shirt damp from the humidity. We leave Polaris and start driving home, a very exhausting three-hour drive compounded by listening to more Sleater-Kinney, X-Ray Spex and now The Rogers Sisters, taking home a still-pounding headache and wonderful memories from the last day of July that year.

[percysaysfuck]

THREE OLD BITCHES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.

Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.

It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

Almost.

But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was fucking lying.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.

I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her shit faced friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.

Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.

The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

Fine, I told myself. Just fine.

I was homesick.

I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious fucking stepfather and his shitty poker parties.

And yet. . . there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. Id miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little fucked up. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.

I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.

The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Fucking forget it.

I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.

I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.

I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said ". . . worried about Percy, sir. "

I froze.

Shit.

I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking shit about you to an adult.

I inched closer.

". . . alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. "

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can. "

"Sir, he saw her. . . . "

"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. "

"Sir, I . . . I can't fail in my duties again. " Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean. "

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now lets just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"

The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

Fuck.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archers bow.

I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.

A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice. "

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn . . . "

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow. "

"Don't remind me. "

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.

I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.

Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.

Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.

"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"

I didn't answer.

"You look awful. " He frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Just. . . tired. "

I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.

I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.

But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.

For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's . . . it's for the best. "

His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit fucking smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.

I mumbled, "Okay, sir. "

"I mean . . . " Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time. "

My eyes stung.

Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.

"Right," I said, trembling.

"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say . . . you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"

"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for fucking reminding me. "

"Percy—"

But I was already gone.

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of fucking nobodies.

They asked me what Id be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.

What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool. "

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

Finally I couldn't fucking stand it anymore.

I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"

I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh . . . not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

He winced. "Look, Percy . . . I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers . . . "

"Grover—"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and . . . "

"Grover, you're a really, really bad fucking liar. "

His ears turned pink.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."

The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"What's Half—"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um . . . summer address. "

My heart sank. Grover had a fucking summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.

"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion. "

He nodded. "Or . . . or if you need me. "

"Why the fuck would I need you?"

It came out harsher than I meant it to.

Grover blushed right down to his Adams apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you. "

I stared at him.

All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who fucking defended me.

"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really fucking good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks Id ever seen.

I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right fucking at me.

I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all. "

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

"Were getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on. "

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "

"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the fucking flu.

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not fucking telling me?"

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like . . . Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw. "

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she fucking cut the yarn. "

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.

He said, "You saw her snip the cord. "

"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time. "

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth. "

"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to fucking scare me. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me. "

This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.

"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.

No answer.

"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to fucking die?"

He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.

Fuck.

[inky-here]

Kindergarten x Camp Camp AU introduction

Sooo, my crossover-loving mind came up with this idea... Let me tell you something about this AU of mine:

- There's a time skip (3 years)

- Jasper (Camp Camp) is somehow alive and a counselor in Camp Campbell

- Daniel (Camp Camp) is also still alive, but he's not a counselor, he's still 'the bad guy', but no one knows where he is

- The Woodscouts, The Flowerscouts and the Platypus are also still here, but older

- Camp Campbell is still not as good as their advert is saying, but it's not as expensive as before, becouse David is in charge

Let's move to each one of the characters and start with the Campbell campers:

Max (13)

- David's foster child

- Still swears a lot and is a little bit of an asshole

- Has a bad feeling about the new kids (Kindergarteners)

Nikki (13)

- Doesn't act her age

- Loves nature and adventure

- Has a crush on Ered

Neil (14)

- Pretty smart

- Trying to work on his social anxiety

- Less hates Tabii and Space Kid

David (27)

- Max's foster father

- Loves camping, singing and playing guitar

- Doesn't want to talk about his feeling when he's sad

Gwen (26?)

- Gets anxiety attacks

- Doesn't want a different job anymore

Jasper (26)

- Doesn't argue with David anymore

- Calls David "Davey"

- Defends David whenever anyone is mean to him

- Controls dreams

Nerris (13)

- Has a crush on Harrison but is too tsundere to admit it or to confess

- Usually has no one to play or do quests with

Harrison (13)

- Has a crush on Nerris but is too shy to admit or confess

- Learning to control his magic which got stronger

- His magic gets out of control when he's emotional

Nurf (15)

- Can do cool tricks with knives

- Doesn't bully anymore

Ered (15)

- The coolest

- Lesbian

- Loves to dye her hair different colors very often

Dolph (12)

- Very good artist

- WALKING PURENESS

- Really kind and nice

Space Kid (12)

- Doesn't wear his space suit anymore

- Likes to be called "Space Kid" instead of "Neil"

- Owns a lot of clothes with the NASA logo

Preston (14)

- Has slight doubled personality - the main is the regular Preston and the second is pretty mean and selfish, but it doesn't show much

- Has a ponytail and a scarf

Tabii (13)

- Still has a crush on Neil

Now for the kindergarteners:

Kid/protagonist/player (14)

- His name is Kidd

- Friends with Nugget, Lily and Billy

- Pansexual

- Adventure camp

- Controls time (oh wow)

Nugget (14)

- Still speaks third person

- Has a crush on Lily

- Cooking camp

Lily (13)

- Likes Nugget a little

- Shy but brave

- Loves flower and wears a flower crown

- Gardening camp

- Hates useless plastic (save the turtles)

Billy (13)

- Really protective

- Does karate

- Loves wearing oversized hoodies

- Adventure camp

Cindy (13)

- Still a b_tch

- Loves putting gums in others hair

- Wears expensive clothes

- Wanted to be a Flowerscout but her parents disagreed

- Fashion camp

Monty (14)

- Still sells and buys stuff

- Always has a lot of money with him

- Dating Jerome

- Wheelchair boi

- Business camp

Jerome (13)

- Does cool yoyo tricks and spends a lot of time learning them

- Helps Monty with getting to places and stuff

- Sensitive about mentioning his father

- Dating Monty

- Extreme sports camp

Buggs (14)

- The bully

- Always has a knife with him

- Doesn't mind using violence to get what he wants

- Likes Cindy

- Photo camp (his mother signed him up but he likes it)

Penny (a robot, but her programmed age is 14)

- Lives with Monty as his sister

- A walking encyclopedia

- Nice to everyone

- Science camp

Carla (13)

- The troublemaker

- Able to sneak anything through anywhere (for a prize)

- Often a snack or sweets dealer

- Parkour camp

My OC - Emerald/Emma Janna Oakwood (15)

- From a really rich family

- Monty's cousin

- Has freckles and heterochromia, but hides it with contacts and make-up

- Used to go to the same kindergarten with the others but then they lost touch

- Anger issues

- Used to be a tsundere but a nice person, but she got pretty f_cked up since she lost touch with the other kids

- Manipulative, great liar and actor

- Fells something like sympathies to Ted, she can't really describe it

- Introduced herself as Emilia, only Monty and Jerome know it's her

- Doesn't want to get attached to anyone, but fails anyway

- Thinks that parents beating up their children is okay because she was raised that way and told to not question anything

- Controls some kind of black magic

- Music camp (her choice)

Ted (15)

- Kind of worships Felix

- Finds Emilia really familiar

- Has low self-confidence

- Nice to everybody

- Feels like people like Max, Buggs, Cindy or Emilia can change

- Loves hugs, but has no one to hug :c

- Music camp

Felix (15)

- Manipulative

- Always gets what he wants

- Not trying to get rid of Ted anymore

- When he needs something, he just tells Ted to do it

- Business camp

Ozzy (13)

- Madison is his girlfriend

- Doesn't want to get dirty or hurt

- Slightly paranoid

- Preston's friend

- Writing camp

So yeah, that's finally all. I'm wondering. Should I add Madison, Ron and Alice or this is already too much? Anyway...

[ASKBOX IS OPEN FOR THE CAMPBELL CAMPERS, COUNSELORS, KINDERGARTENERS, WOODSCOUTS AND FLOWERSCOUTS]

[propertyofnikkisthighs]

Afraid Ch. 3

Warnings: None

1988

“Nikki I will tackle you” I growled under my breath.

“Do it then brat” Nikki challenged with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Oh I was gonna make him eat those words.

“Don’t whine later from your wheelchair” I smirked walking backward to gain momentum before charging forward across the table and into Nikki’s middle section. He must not have believed I would do it because he quickly lost footing and fell to the floor with me on top of him. “Nikki?!” I thought I really hurt him because he wasn’t saying anything, and then he erupted into laughter.

“You really tackled me holy shit” Nikki gasped between giggles. “All that over a pudding cup” I couldn’t help but laugh with him when he had a laugh like that. It was a young laugh, boyish, like a child being pushed high on the swings for the first time. It made my body feel warm, I quickly squash that thought with a shake of my head and snatch the pudding cup from Nikki’s hand and begin to eat it.

“Come on give me a bite” He begged trying to give me a pout. It was really cute, but I refused to fall for that game. He wasn’t pulling the old ‘Nikki Sixx charm’ on me.

“Fuck off Sixx.” I said getting ready to spoon another helping into my mouth when Nikki grabbed my hand and tried to pull the spoon, and my hand with it, into his mouth. The shaking of the spoon caused some to land on my fingers.

“Sixx, what the fu-” The words died in my throat as Nikki licked the pudding off the spoon and then my fingers without breaking eye contact.

“Thanks (y/n)” He winked getting up from the table. I sat there watching his with my mouth slightly agape until I heard a scoff. I jolted back to reality and looked at Mick shaking his head and eating his own lunch.

“If you two don’t fuck the moment this thing is over all this sexual tension would be wasted” He rolled his eyes and got up making his way to the trash. No? I wasn’t attracted to Nikki. He annoyed me and he was always placing his arm on my head like my skull said “Resting place for Nikki Sixx’s arm and his arm only”. He was cocky and believed his was the baddest guy in rock ‘n’ roll. Yes he had pretty eyes, and yes sometimes I admire how his thighs looked when he walked around in his athletic shorts, and sometimes she got dizzy looking at his lips, but there was no way I wanted to be any sort of intimate with Nikki Sixx. I just was suffering from a cloudy brain due to a dry spell. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

I couldn’t get the image of Nikki licking my fingers out of my head. Every time I started to zone out during an activity or in group I would go back to that moment of Nikki flicking his tongue across my index finger while looking at me with smokey-

“What’s got you thinking so hard there, poohbear?” Nikki spoke up startling me and bringing me back to the present.

“Jesus christ don’t scare me like that.” I said remembering I was smoking by the greenhouse and taking a drag off my cigarette.

“I’ve been here for like 5 minutes while you stared into the abyss and got progressively more red in the face” He snickered and I felt my face grow red again. Fuck.

“I was just thinking about how happy I will be to get home and see the person who means the most to me” I side eyed him gauging his reaction. At first his smile fell and he looked pissed, but then his mouth twisted up into his signature smirk.

“Whoever he is I bet he isn’t as cool as me” He scoot closer to me leaning with his arm above my head.

“Oh I don’t know about that. Some would say he’s the coolest cat in town.” I teased staring right into his eyes.

“Psh he definitely isn’t as handsome as I am” He leaned closer to my face and I could smell a hint of coffee on his breath.

“I would say he’s double as handsome as you are actually” I stood on my tippy toes getting my face right up to Nikki’s. I could feel his breath ghost over my face and our lips were dangerously close.

“If he’ s so amazing, then why are you like this right now with me?” Nikki whispered nudging my nose with his. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his head down so my lips were barely grazing his ear.

“Because he’s my fucking cat you idiot” I whispered before ducking under his arm and walking away giggling at his dumbfounded expression. Men were so easy to trick sometimes. I made my way to my room and thought about Nikki leaning over me, touching his nose to mine, his soft pink lips so close to mine, and his eyes a mix of desire and nervousness. He’s an asshole don’t fall for his bullshit, I tried to tell myself, but it was of no use. I went to sleep picturing his hands above my head gripping the headboard using it for leverage as he ground his hips into mine teasing me, never quite letting me have what I want. Which was him.

Nikki’s POV

(Y/N) was driving me crazy. She had to know what she was doing to me with every giggle, every look thrown my way, hell even her rolling her eyes at me was giving me butterflies these days. I decided I would ask possibly the worst person for advice on the subject, Tommy.

“Dude you totally love her” Tommy laughed and punched my arm softly as we avoided the painting activity to talk to each other and occasionally paint the other’s arm.

“I don’t love her Tommy. I don’t know her.” I rolled my eyes and swiped a red stripe down his arm.

“Listen man I don’t know about a lot of shit, but I know love. That’s how I felt when I met Heather dude. Without her shit’s just gray dude. She brings light into your life like Heather does for me.” Tommy shook his head as if I was the clueless one.

“I don’t even know who she really is as a person. What if she’s a huge cunt?” I scoffed.

“Dude when you love someone it’s all worth it. Promise” Tommy leaned back to admire his painting. I turned toward him more to get a better look and saw it was just two big boobs on the canvas. Tommy was absolutely right. He didn’t know much.

I snuck away to the greenhouse to smoke a cigarette and secretly hoped that (y/n) would be there so I could try to get her all flustered again, but it was only Vince there.

“What’s up dude?” Vince said handing me his matches as I took a spot on the wall next to him.

“Oh ya know, living the dream teenage me thought we would be living.” Nikki snickered and was surprised to hear Vince chuckle a little at his joke.

“Man I can’t wait to see Sharise when we get out of here.” Vince sighed “I’m gonna pound her into the matress” It was always the same shit with Vince, booze, pussy, and fast cars were the only things he seemed to care about and it was really starting to piss me off.

“I want to head to Vancouver pretty soon after we’re done here to start working on the next album. I already have some stuff written that I think you guys will like.” I said taking a puff and exhaling through my nose.

“Man I feel like we just got back from working and tour and shit. Can’t we take a year off I got a fucking little girl man.” Vince kicked a rock on the ground at the fence.

“I want us to keep this sober momentum” I shrugged as he stalked off clearly pissed. Normally I’d poke the bear, but today I was content on contemplating my feelings in private. “So what are you doing when this is done with?” I asked (y/n) leaning over the table and stealing one of her chunks of watermelon that was served with our dinner tonight.

“I can’t wait till next week when we can eat in our rooms so I never had to try to stomach food around you again.” She slapped my hand and glared at me. It was really cute how she scrunched her nose when she scowled at someone.

“That doesn’t answer my question” I smiled wide for her. Only for her.

“I am not sure what I’m doing when this is done. I assume that I work on whatever album Elektra tells me to work on.” She shrugged. This was perfect for me.

“Come to Vancouver with us then.” I replied nonchalantly despite me freaking out on the inside.

“Excuse me?! You want me to what??” She choked

“Come with us to help produce our next album” I shrugged “You work for the record label we’re under anyway.” Ah there was that blush that I loved to see.

“Um wh-why do you want me to come?” She was growing more red by the minute.

“Because I think you would be an asset to this next album” I half lied. “Plus I want a reason to continue to bother you for more months”

“Oh my god you’re such a child” She laughed and lightly shoved my arm, but I grabbed her wrist and held it close to my mouth. I watched as she gulped and I felt my mouth twist into a smirk at the sight.

“So what do you say?” I ghosted my lips across her knuckles and revelled in the reaction I was getting out of her.

“I’ll go. But only because I’ve always wanted to go to Canada.” She squeaked snatching her hand out of my grasp and getting up from the table to throw her trash away.

“You two are fucking ridiculous” Mick grumbled from across the table with his arms folded across his chest.

“Oh save it I had to watch you and Emi make eyes for a full tour” I grunted getting up from the table.

I didn’t know what these feelings that I had for (y/n) were, but I knew I wanted to continue to explore them. Hell, if that was gonna be on Elektra’s dime the whole time, then he was perfectly fine dragging this out for a few months.

[o-a-crutchfeild]

Of Lions and Eagles

Circus AU for the Caprive Prince Reverse Bang 2019 

@capri-bigbang2k19

This fic is based on the lovely @silverdraeconis‘ Cirque du Vere piece! 

Available on AO3

When Damen woke, he was locked in a cage with a lion, and his head was killing him.

He was on his feet in less than three seconds, trying to put as much distance between himself and the creature as possible. He took a deep breath, and assessed the situation… the lion was chained to the opposite wall, and didn’t seem all that interested in him. It didn’t have the range of motion to reach him, and even if it could, it probably knew that food was coming soon, and Damen wouldn’t be the easiest meal it could get. For the moment, he wasn’t in acute danger from the lion. 

Despite this, he was definitely in acute danger from someone, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall how he’d ended up in this cage. The last thing he remembered was going out for the night, and following Jokaste into a tavern that she swore would make all his worries disappear. He’d chosen a golden drink that he remembered tasted like honey and good rum, and after that… the night was blurred. 

Well, his worries certainly had vanished, but they seemed to have been replaced with a whole new set of far more pressing concerns, such as what he was going to do to get out of this cage, who put him here in the first place, and where, geographically, he was. 

He wouldn’t have to wonder for long on all three accounts, however, as the door of the cage swung open to reveal an aging man with a broad-shouldered physique and a nearly black beard. The man crossed to stand near the lion, stroking its mane in a manner that did not show any kind of warmth or affection. “What are you worth, do you think?” the man asked, glancing at Damen with a cool judgement in his eyes. “Tall, quite strong obviously, mildly attractive… what price could you fetch?” 

Damen did not answer. The man looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place him, and considering that this was clearly his captor, the last thing he wanted was to play into his games. Showing a hand never ended well, especially before you knew the rules of the table or even what your cards meant. 

“Of course, your father will most likely pay the most for you,” the old man said with what sounded like it could have been a laugh if it wasn’t so false. “That’s very good news for you. It means that this little encounter shouldn’t change your living situation for all that long, and you’ll get away scot free.” 

Damen leaned against the bars of the cage, waiting for the old man to come out and say what he meant. All these implications and provocations were getting tiresome very quickly. He couldn’t understand what the point of it was- who was the villainous monologue even for? Was his kidnapper actually expecting to impress him, hoping for a positive review on his kidnapping skills later? Was it meant to be entertainment? 

The old man seemed to be frustrated by his silence, because he growled, yes, outright growled like the animal he had ceased petting, and almost moved closer to Damen, before seeming to think better of getting out of range of his little pet, and scoffing. “Well, and here I thought when they said you were a big dumb lump, they were talking about your intellect. Are you actually incapable of speech?” 

“No. I just haven’t heard much worth a response.”

The look on the old man’s face was quite amusing. Damen wasn’t certain what had been expected. This old guy really expected him to be intimidated? Damen couldn’t fathom how, even drunk, this man could have gotten the jump on him, but he was far more interested in how he’d get out of the situation than how he’d gotten into it, and somehow he was pretty sure that any questions about that particular topic would go unanswered. 

Unfortunately, Damen had forgotten one crucial thing that really should have made him a bit more nervous, and that one crucial thing was called a lion. He remembered that one crucial lion just as the old man walked towards the place where the chain was affixed to the bars of the cage, with a large silver key. He paused, just before unlocking the beast, to look at Damen, seeming quite self-satisfied. “You’ll find,” the old man said, “that I am impatient, and so is this lovely creature.” He stood up, pocketing the key and meeting Damen’s eyes, a cool threat hanging in them. “Tonight, you and he will go into the arena. You’ll be given a whip, and a costume. Whether you succeed or fail… The audience of the Cirque di Vere has been promised a show, and a show they shall have.”

In an instant, everything clicked, and Damen felt a sinking in his stomach. He knew at once where he’d recognized the man from. 

It was Auguste’s uncle. 

…

Two years ago, Damen had made a terrible, horrible mistake and decided to take his girl of the week, a petite blonde whose name he couldn’t for the life of him recall, to the circus. It was all well and good that he couldn’t remember her, because halfway through the date she’d gotten quite annoyed with him- specifically, when the silk dancers came out, and one of them, a tall, confident looking man with an infectious smile and what seemed like an infallible charm landed just in front of their seats. Damen had nearly forgotten that he was on a date at all, as he bended to kiss the extended hand. The girl had left, claiming that she felt a bit ill. At the door to the tent, Damen had been handed a slip of paper, inviting him backstage. 

It was just going to be a fling, he’d thought, and for a few hours, it was… until they’d both had a few drinks in them, and Damen had ended up with Auguste on top of the trapeze platforms, doing something that trapeze platforms were not meant for. Then, he’d asked to see some of the tricks in private, and Auguste had agreed, if Damen promised to catch him.

He’d missed. 

The crunch of bones snapping was sobering to say the least, and it had been a nightmare when they’d tried to sue him. Auguste couldn’t perform anymore- his leg had been shattered, and while his father’s lawyers had avoided any charges going through, and Damen had tried to forget the whole awful incident, it was clear now that he’d escaped nothing. 

He sighed heavily, glancing at the lion. Even with a weapon, he wasn’t sure that his was getting out of this alive. He stepped closer to the lion, and heard a voice coming from behind him. “I wouldn’t, if I were you.” 

Damen took a deep breath, and turned around. “And why is that?” he asked, looking at the man sitting in the wheelchair with a kind of wariness that he wasn’t used to having around anyone. 

“Because if you come at a lion like that it’ll take your hand off,” Auguste said dryly. “Look. I may hate you, but I don’t actually want you to die. I’d rather just get that nice ransom check for the amount that we tried to sue you for in the first place and be done with it. My brother is good with the animals. He’ll be in here to coach you for a bit, make sure you know enough to not get eaten, and in return, you’ll never mention our names again. Deal?” 

Damen looked at Auguste, and then at the lion. Well, this wasn’t going to be fun, was it? But it might be a little less horrible if he had some semblance of knowledge of how to not die tonight, so… “Deal. Honestly though, I have to ask, why do I have to fight a lion in the first place?” 

“Because my uncle knows that a lot of people really dislike your family and will pay a lot for the chance to witness you being eaten alive.” August offered a quick smile, the kind that made Damen feel like there was a joke he wasn’t in on, most likely at his expense. “Best of luck.”

As he wheeled out, Damen had to wonder just what his family had ever done to make anyone hate him that much. 

…

Damen’s first impression of Laurent was- who the fuck lets this kid near lions?

“I was all for letting you get eaten,” he declared, stepping into the cage haughtily and shooting Damen and ice-cold glare. “But Auguste says that if you die, he’ll know I didn’t train you properly and he’ll be quite disappointed, so you’d better listen carefully and do as I say or else.” 

Damen’s second impression of Laurent was, oh, that’s why they let that kid near lions. 

Laurent stepped up to the lion, holding a whip in his pale, thin hands, before twisting around to meet Damen’s. Damen knew, in that moment, that he was very glad that he was expensive. “Do you know how to crack it?” Laurent asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Damen glanced at the whip, considering. “In theory, but I’m better with a sword.” 

Laurent rolled his eyes. “Well, that’s convenient. It’d be easier to do this with more space,” he muttered. “Alright, you can’t actually crack the whip inside the cage, obviously, so we’re just going to make sure you have a really solid base in theoreticals.” He moved closer, and demonstrated his grip, his feet solid beneath his shoulders, as he held the whip firmly. “You see how I’m holding it? I want you to copy my pose and grip.” 

Damen chuckled. “Kid, I’m pretty sure I know how to hold it.” 

Laurent crossed his arms. “Do you want to learn or do you want to get eaten by a lion?” 

Damen mirrored Laurent’s earlier pose. “Alright. So how does this keep me from being eaten?” 

“He’s trained,” Laurent said, a bit of pride in his voice. “Mostly. He’ll recognize if you can control the whip, and he knows what a lashing feels like. If you can get one or two good hits on his hide, he won’t mess with you much until you put the weapon down… so you just have to not put the weapon down until you’re out of the ring. Think you can manage it?” 

“Yeah, seems simple enough.” 

“Simple enough while he’s chained up.” 

Damen nodded. “So I just… swing it, right? Not much to it?” 

Laurent rolled his eyes again. It seemed to be a favorite expression of his. “Not quite,” he said. “At least, not unless you don’t care about getting caught on it. As fun as it would be to see you take a lashing, it’d be inefficient in keeping you alive for you to trip over your own whip.” Laurent stepped back, letting the whip fall behind him, and to the side. “When you bring it up, you don’t want it to hit you.” 

Damen nodded. “Can I try?” 

Laurent looked up at him, blue eyes tense. “You want me to hand you a weapon, while I’m alone with you in a cage?” 

“How else am I supposed to figure out how to use it?” Damen asked. 

Laurent scowled, and moved within range of the lion, holding the whip out to Damen. “Fine. If you don’t give it back, I’m unlocking him. You don’t know how to use it properly yet, so don’t get any clever plans.” 

“Can’t be too clever if they wouldn’t work,” Damen pointed out. 

Laurent nearly smiled. Nearly. Damen was almost entirely sure. 

Damen looked down, lying the whip to his right, behind him. “Is that how I should hold it?” he asked. “Is it accurate?” 

Laurent nodded. “Looks about right to me. Now, hand it back. We can’t do any cracking in here, like I said, so there’s no reason for you to keep holding onto it.” 

Damen passed the weapon back. “So, now what?” 

“Do you know how looping works?” Laurent asked. 

Damen shrugged. “More or less.” 

“Show me.” 

Damen swung his arm up smoothly, before bringing it down fast. Laurent stepped back quickly. “Was that correct?” Damen asked. 

“Yes. Yes, that was… that was fine,” Laurent nodded. “That should work for a forward crack. Do you want to learn other variations?” 

“Think it will help?” 

Laurent nodded. “It could.” 

“Then yes, of course.”

Laurent moved, placing his left foot forward, and pulling back his arm. “It’s like throwing a ball for the overhand crack,” he explained, demonstrating the movement. He paused for a moment, looking Damen over. “Well, are you going to try it or not? I’d prefer not to be wasting my time here if all you’re going to do is gawk and then-” 

“Why doesn’t it bite you?” Damen cut him off. “You or the old man. You’re not holding a weapon, so how come I can’t put mine down once I’ve trained it?” 

Laurent looked amused, and shook his head. “I can go near him- not it- because I was there when he was born, and helped raise him from a cub. Lions are very hierarchical, and this one knows I’m part of his pride, so he won’t let any harm come to me. Same goes for the rest of the troupe, with a few exceptions.” 

“What exceptions?”

“The ones who beat him, obviously,” Laurent chuckled. “If you hit a dog, it’ll stay loyal. If you hit a cat, it’ll hold a grudge. Alas, this is one cat you’ll have to hit, because you’re not part of his pride, and he’ll eat you if you don’t.” 

Damen frowned. “So you’re alright with your pet being whipped?” 

“I don’t have a choice in the matter, do I? People pay to see it more than most acts, so it’s not as though my uncle’s going to close that ring’s centerpiece.”  

Damen frowned. That didn’t quite seem right… but he wasn’t exactly his business. “Well, what’s his name, anyway?”

Laurent gave Damen an unamused look. “What’s it matter to you? Now, there’s one last lash I’m going to teach you, and then tonight, hopefully for all of us, the ransom will arrive, and you will be gone from our lives forever. Thing you can manage that?” 

Damen grinned. “Shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I’m not the one who decided to be here.” 

…

That night, Damen was thrown an outfit with more buttons than he could honestly say he knew what to do with, and brought in chains to the tents. His heart was pounding, and he hoped desperately that the theory would be enough in practice. He passed Auguste, and tensed instantly… but the dark blue eyes seemed much less sharp than before, almost playful. Damen wasn’t sure if that was because Auguste was looking forward to seeing him murdered by a lion, or something else entirely, but it was almost comforting to see. He nodded, and Auguste gave him a tiny salute, just as Damen was unchained, and shoved into the ring. The crowd began screaming, clearly ready for the slaughter. There was something special about bloodlust cries that made them quite different from normal excitement, Damen thought. He’d been to plenty of sporting events, but none of them had ever had this kind of dissonance in the air, like the crowd was cheering in a minor chord. 

Damen took a deep breath, and stepped into the ring, taking the whip from the wall, and remembering the theory, placed it on the ground to his right, behind him, before swinging it up smoothly, and cracking it down. If the sound of the crack hadn’t alerted him, Damen would have been able to tell he’d gotten it right purely based on the reaction of the crowd around him, which nearly doubled in volume. Damen looked up for the first time, and for a moment, he was sure there had to be some hideous joke being played upon him, because up above was a blond acrobat on the silks, performing that same routine that Damen had watched, years earlier. 

For a moment, Damen thought that perhaps the entire incident had been a scam, and Auguste’s legs had never been harmed. Maybe this was his brother’s idea of a great practical joke? Kastor had never really known what was appropriate… but then, Damen saw the face of the acrobat, dancing artfully above him, and recognized his short-tempered teacher from just hours before. 

He was just as entranced by the show as he’d been two years ago, which was a problem, considering that the lion had just been released. 

Damen brought the whip up quickly, cracking it in the air just as the lion leapt through, and… stopped. Damen took a step back, as the lion stared him down, eyes shining with what seemed like sheer glee. The crowd was dead silent, uncertain what to expect. Two pure exhibits of peak physical form, Damen and the lion, eye to eye, neither one moving an inch. Damen glanced up, and saw that Laurent had paused his routine, perched on the trapeze and looking down on the scene with an intense, calculative gaze. When Damen caught his gaze, Laurent tilted his head, almost accusingly. 

Slowly, Damen brought his hand up, and ran it down the lion’s forehead. The lion closed his eyes, and made a low, rumbling noise that, if Damen wasn’t very, very mistaken, was a purr. Damen felt a grin split his face, and he stroked the lion again. 

The crowd’s reaction was… less than positive. Damen had been right about the bloodlust- if not a man eaten, the crowd had at least been promised a lion beaten into submission, and a fantastic battle, not some brat whose father most of them hated getting to pet an exotic cat. The booing was louder than even the cheering had been, and Damen found quickly that the real task of the night would be to dodge circus food, flung from disappointed guests’ baskets and laps. He hadn’t known people actually did that kind of thing. 

It was at this moment that Laurent decided to land in the ring. For some reason that Damen would be more than a little hard pressed to guess at, the younger man seemed to be interested in taking a more hands-on role in the show. 

“I don’t know what you did,” he growled in Damen’s ear, “but this is going to be a show. If you’re not going to fight a lion, you better believe you’ll be riding him.”

“Riding?” Damen demanded, perhaps a bit loudly, because the crowd seemed to suddenly develop a far greater interest in the events that were transpiring in the ring. 

“Yes. Riding. You’ve got such an affinity, after all, don’t you? Why not take it a step further?” 

Damen hesitated. He’d ridden bareback before, yes, but that was horses, that was entirely different. He reached out, and stroked the lion’s mane again. “Think he’ll let me?” 

“I think that if we have a failed show, my uncle will be extremely unhappy. Climb on, and leave some room for me.” 

“What?” Damen demanded, but Laurent was already moving across the arena. Damen bit his lip, uncertainly staring down the lion’s back… there was not truly a lot that could be done about it, was there? He took a deep breath, and then, in under three seconds, he’d jumped onto the lion’s back, and was gripping his sides with his legs as tight as he could, holding on for dear life. The crowd was, once more, delighted by this turn of events. They really were quite fickle, Damen thought, glancing at the half eaten cotton candy on the ground before him, that the lion quickly stepped over. 

It was then that Damen felt something landing behind him, and heard the crowd’s cheering yet again. It wasn’t cruel cheering this time, however. It was the kind of amazed applause that he’d recalled from the last circus. Damen turned his head to see, behind him, Laurent, standing on one foot on the lion’s rump, his other foot held high over his head, and his back arched beautifully. Damen nearly fell off the lion at the sight. It really was, he had to admit, a fantastic circus, kidnapping aside. 

Damen considered for a moment, before tapping the lion in the side, a small nudge meant to say, go faster. It was as though a gunshot had been released. A half hysterical, half delighted laugh ripped unbidden from Damen’s throat as the beast raced around the circle, and he felt himself leaning forward, truly enjoying the ride. If this was what it meant to be kidnapped and tortured, he’d have to try it more often. He laughed, and looked up at the crowd, raising one hand and waving. 

It was almost too short a time in the ring before the act was over, and the curtains came down around the ring. Laurent jumped down, scowling and stretching himself out. “You had to make him go faster, didn’t you?” Laurent groaned. “Do you have any idea how difficult it was to hold that pose when he was racing around at fifty miles an hour?” 

“I doubt more difficult than what your uncle had planned for me,” Damen retorted. “What happened, anyway? Why didn’t he attack?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea. You’re lucky I was there to save the act, though, because if you’d impacted ticket sales, or heaven forbid caused a refund, you’d have definitely ended up on his bad side.”

Damen nodded slowly. “Why did you help me, anyway? Don’t you want me dead? I’d think that you would hope for me to be on his bad side.” 

Laurent glanced at Damen, scowling. “I want the ransom money, not your neck. And in any case, Auguste wants you to survive, so… I suppose I do as well.” 

Damen shrugged it off. That made a good deal of sense- loyalty and greed were great motivators for many an unlikely ally, and in this… literal freakshow… Damen could use every ally he could get. He glanced at the lion, uncertainly. He’d curled up on the ground, and seemed to have fallen back asleep. Maybe it was a vegetarian lion or something along those lines. 

As Damen walked over, the lion opened one eye, and then closed it again. Damen knelt down, and was about to stroke his mane, when the beast let out an unmistakable growl. Clearly, whatever had happened in the ring must have been some kind of insane fluke.

… 

Damen was brought back to the cage, with little more than a dirty look from the old man. That night, when he heard the door opening, Damen was half expecting to be shouted at in some ridiculous fashion, but instead, light footsteps came up to the cage, and Laurent slipped in, a plate of food in one hand. He held it out, looking annoyed. “Well? Are you going to eat, or not?” 

Damen hesitated, before taking the plate. “Is it poisoned?” he asked. “Since the lion didn’t actually end up killing me?” 

Laurent scoffed, looking annoyed as he sat down across from Damen, crossing his arms and legs at once. “Don’t be an idiot. We can’t get money for your safe return if you’re dead.” 

Damen raised a brow. Was this kid actually planning to sit with him while he was eating? “Well, maybe it’s just poisoned to make me ill, without any of the lethal effects.” 

“Why would we want you to get sick in a cage we have to clean? The lion’s filth is enough without adding yours to it,” Laurent said. 

Damen nodded, taking a bite. “So, was that all you came for?” It wasn’t terrible, he had to admit. Some bread, seemed like it was fresh, and a thick beef stew that wasn’t half bad at all. “I mean, I’m glad I won’t have to starve while I’m waiting for the ransom money to come through, so thanks.”

Laurent rolled his eyes. Yep, that was definitely his favorite thing to do in response to just about anything Damen had to say. “Actually,” he said, his tone a bit clipped, “the first half of the money was just wired to a foreign account. We’ll get the other half in cash when we go to swap you tomorrow.” 

“That was fast,” Damen grinned. “I was worried I’d be stuck here for months on end.”

Laurent shrugged. “You’re a liability, and I think my uncle’s a bit afraid of you now that he knows he can’t rely on the lion eating you if you get too close to him. I doubt you’ll be seeing him again while you’re here.” 

Damen nodded slowly. “Why are you telling me this?” he asked. “Why didn’t you just give me the food and leave?” 

“I need to bring the plate back when you’re done with it,” Laurent said promptly, before hesitating, and continuing. “Also… Auguste and I had a conversation. A few, actually. And he said, from what he can remember, that everything that happened was… not something you would have meant to do.”

“Honestly,” Damen said quietly, “I’m sorry for what happened. I don’t think it was alright to kidnap me, or throw me in a ring with a lion, but all things considered… you deserved compensation. At least, Auguste did. I never meant to hurt him.” 

Laurent nodded, and for a moment, in the halflight of the cage, Damen could see something almost vulnerable about him. Damen took another bite of the food, before setting it aside, and looking at Laurent, trying to pick out details about him. Laurent looked up, and his eyes were sharp again. “If you’re even thinking about giving a description to the police-”

“How did I end up here?” Damen asked, cutting him off. 

Laurent shifted uncomfortably. “A girl,” he said, finally. “I didn’t get her name, but my uncle paid her a lot to deliver you. He’s already made ten times that in profit, and he’s only got half the ransom, but still…” He shrugged. “If I were you, I’d choose who I sleep with a lot more carefully, you seem to have the absolute worst ability to stay out of dangerous, sex-related situations of anyone I’ve ever met.”

Damen wasn’t sure how to deny it, or even if denying it was an option at this point. “Was she blonde? Pale skinned, with blue eyes?” 

“You certainly have a type, don’t you?” Laurent smirked. “Yes, she was, though I’m not sure how far that will narrow things down for you.”

For a moment, they were quiet in the cage. It was a comfortable silence. Damen wondered how long it took most people to develop Stockholm Syndrome. It was typically more than one day, right? 

“If you ever need someone to ride a lion again…” Damen started, before trailing off, realizing that it was probably not the smartest thing to offer. 

Laurent’s head jerked up, his eyes wide with astonishment. “You’re joking. You have to be joking.”

Damen shrugged. Not the smartest thing to offer, maybe, but perhaps one of the more interesting ways to spend a weekend. “You know how to get in touch, considering that you have to have stalked me a fair bit to manage to pull off this kidnapping thing. Just… give me a call next time. No need to hold me for ransom, alright?”

Laurent blinked, and though he carefully composed his expression, Damen was pretty sure he’d succeeded in baffling that particular acrobat. It wasn’t a bad experience, overall… though it seemed that it would be a very expensive one. 

…

The next morning, Damen was brought into a van with three strongmen, and the old man at the wheel. He was brought to a forest in the middle of nowhere, and once a backpack filled with cash had been handed off, the van was unlocked, and he was escorted out, and told, along with his parents, that if they didn’t want any more trouble, they’d remain there for the next fifteen minutes. It was a rather awkward fifteen minutes, before Damen was brought into his father’s car, seated next to Kastor, who made jokes about Damen running off to join the circus for the next several minutes until their father, Theomedes, snapped at him that he’d said quite enough.

The next week seemed to be more or less ordinary, though Damen made a point of not asking out Jokaste again. He didn’t have any proof that it had been her who sold him out, but there was definitely something false about her relief when he came home. Damen hadn’t really stopped thinking about the experience eleven days later- who would?- but he had lost any slight expectation of contact from the circus when his phone rang. 

It was a blocked number, and Damen answered, expecting a robotic voice to tell him that unfortunately, his social security number had been cancelled, and he needed to register his credit card with said robot to reopen it. Instead, a sharp, tense voice on the other end asked, “Did you mean it as a joke?”

Damen knew at once who it was on the other end, of course. “Well,” he said, leaning back in his bed. “That would depend on what, exactly, you’re referring to.”

“Eagle hasn’t been letting anyone on his back since you,” Laurent snapped. “The audience wants to see the act, and it’s not available, and we’ll pay you to show up and do it.” Then, muttered under his breath, “Stupid cat…” 

“Eagle?” Damen asked, half laughing. “Is that his name?” 

“Will you be there or not?”

Damen considered for a moment. It would definitely be among his worse ideas to go back into a ring with a lion, among people who had recently kidnapped him, and then try to recreate what had obviously been some kind of fluke that he’d been lucky enough to survive. “Tell me where I’m going.”