#he might get kidnapped if we're not careful

[rainbowsuitcase]

roll on your name (take that risk) - 6K

“Come here, stay low,” Tom reaches for him, feeling how hard he’s shaking with a hand on his shoulder. He wants to hug him, but there’s no fucking time. “Take Widow’s bike and don’t look back. You’ll be alright there.”

“Won’t feel alright until you’re with me,” Mav admits and it would be so damn sweet if a bullet didn’t give the car window a real stress test only a second later.

Or; They have safe houses set up all over the city. But when it comes to Maverick’s safety, there’s only one place Tom is willing to send him.

Top Gun/The Saint/MCU crossover

IceMav

Protective Slider

[itsclydebitches]

Watching The Apothecary Diaries and from a character perspective I love the detail of the pipe, the one used in the warehouse explosion. In just a few, literal seconds of storytelling we're shown quite clearly who Maomao is:

She notes that she "accidentally" took the pipe with her. Despite being a poor commoner surrounded by luxury, she resists most temptations towards theft. There's one moment - was it when she went to Ah-Duo's palace? - where she notes that anyone with so many nice things wouldn't notice something small going missing, but then she knocks herself out of that thinking. Maomao isn't some #pure protagonist who'd never even consider such a thing, rather she's an upstanding and smart individual who realizes this is both wrong and, notably, a dumb move if she gets caught. Maomao is careful to ask for the materials she needs to pull off the bomb experiment and there are times when, even basking in a love of herbs, she will not pick them if they're from someone else's garden. Maomao respects others' property and not even her hyperfixations will override that (a common flaw in other single-minded protagonists). This also dovetails nicely into her admission that she and Luomen built a lot of things they needed because she grew up poor. Who's to say how hard someone else worked to make/buy/secure that object?

Sidenote: It's interesting to me that the exception here seems to be Jinshi. Just an episode earlier Maomao tried to fleece him of who knows how much through the sale of Granny's "educational materials," which, you know, is very much theft. Beyond the fact that the general wealth of a noble differs greatly from the specific possession of a commoner (or even a woman concubine), it feels almost... intimate to me? That's not quite the word I'm looking for, but I mean that Maomao allows Jinshi to influence her in ways she doesn't let others, at least outside of her immediate family. Another notable example of that is her unwillingness to fake an interest in him. We see many times over the course of the show - facing off against the women in the outer court, acting as a courtesan for the night, etc. - that Maomao is perfectly capable of playing the smiling, docile, hapless woman society expects. Yet from day one she's refused to apply that mask for Jinshi's sake and, in turn, despises when he turns his charm mask on her. Maomao wants people to exist plainly, just as she normally does... and a part of that is accepting that she's sometimes an imperfect, immoral person. Weirdly, trying to steal from Jinshi feels like an act of trust towards him, both on a safety level (I trust that you won't punish me too harshly if I get caught) and an emotional one (I trust you to see an important part of my character: that I'll bend and even break the rules for my family's sake).

Moving on, Maomao is also incredibly practical and is living under the realities of a) poverty and b) a patriarchal society. She notes many times throughout the series (this episode included) that Luomen is terrible at turning a profit and Maomao herself owes Granny a fair bit. Combine that with the reminder that she was just fired from one position after being kidnapped from another and of course Maomao thinks about selling the pipe. She didn't intentionally steal it and - crucially - she has no reason to think it's still important to the investigation, but now that it's in her possession she might as well make use of it. Clean it up, find a new mouthpiece, and sell it off for a good price. Maomao is constantly thinking about the price of things, particularly in the context of whether she, a commoner, deserves them and that leads to her likewise noting the everyday objects that could make a big difference in her life, things that others don't even notice. For Jinshi that's just a useless stack of papers to burn; for Maomao they're a potential source of income, translating directly to her father keeping a roof over his head. Class is HUGE in The Apothecary Diaries, so of course Maomao takes one look at a beautifully carved pipe and considers how much she could sell it for.

...but she doesn't. Maomao looks closer still, uses those keen deduction skills to assume the pipe may have sentimental importance, and decides to give it back. Laomen isn't in immediate danger of being evicted, she may have just snagged him a new customer in Lihaku, and Granny isn't hounding her too much, so soft-hearted Maomao is going to put practicality aside and return it. Because she is soft-hearted. This is the girl utterly committed to the big gestures - risking exposure to warn two mothers about the poison killing their babies - as well as the small: staying up night after night to sew pockets into everyone's clothes just so they might be a little warmer for one festival. Now here, Maomao decides to still clean up the pipe. It's not enough to just return it, she's going to return it in pristine condition, even though that won't net her anything other than a potential 'Thank you' now. For me, Maomao so often embodies the message that when peoples' basic needs are met, they're then free to be quite kind to one another.

Love this girl. So, so much.

[nymph-ette111]

Hi, could i ask for some headcanons for Toby, Ej and Ben with a S/O who gets easily lost, like even getting lost in the most absurd places

(♡) Authors note; my first request LET'S GOOO 💪 I'm still not used to writing headcanons but I really want to, and I realized that I started quite blindly :') I should've made some character analysis or aus beforehand but oh well. I'll do it another time but for now, here you go <3 also not proofread so ignore any mistakes

TOBY;

- this man is the embodiment of attachment issues. It took a pretty long time for him to crack open his protective shell, and once he did he swore to never leave your side.

- I imagine this happening whenever you two are outside, which rarely happens. I mean...he finally found a lover, he won't risk them running away because let's be honest, he probably kidnapped you but that's another story.- you two were just taking a stroll in some area and then all of a sudden you're gone. Completely out of sight.

- low-key panics once he realizes that you're not beside him anymore.- will literally search the whole entire place for you, calling out your name multiple times. He doesn't care if some passerby hears him. He will find you.

- once he catches a mere glimpse of you, he's immediately running over. It's clear that he's upset, he really thought you took the chance to run away since he finally warmed up to the idea of going outside and not keeping you locked up in his stinky ass cabin (please get this man a proper home he really needs it)

- good luck convincing him that you just wandered off because he would not believe you. After a while he might let it go but best believe the little walk you two planned is cut short. He's taking you back to his place as soon as possible.

- it might take him some time to let you go outside again since he's still a little suspicious. And now he's even more clingy but hey, we're not complaining. Who wouldn't want Toby by their side 24/7?

EYELESS JACK;

-quite similar to Toby, this cannibalistic demon finally found someone who actually loves him (which he still doesn't get what you see in him) let's just say...he wouldn't be very happy about the situation.

-would also think you were running away from him. After the whole failed cult sacrifice thing and him losing his vision, his other senses are now heightened. He'd use that to his advantage to find you.

-which isn't too hard for him, you didn't wander far since he probably heard you as soon as you walked away.

-he isn't angry, just worried. He starts to look after you more often, always keeping an eye out Incase you get lost again (...he doesn't have eyes:3)

-it becomes a little thing where whenever you start to walk off, he's dragging you back by the collar of your shirt so you don't get lost again.

BEN;

-this isn't much of a problem for him, sure he'd be quite confused at first because where the fuck are you going?

-this little fucker probably finds it amusing, not even doing anything about it just to see you get lost.

-eventually guides you back to wherever you two were originally. Like I said, it isn't a problem for him and he won't panic like the others since he is literally a ghost...he could just teleport to you whenever.

-most of the time he drags it out to see you get scared once you realize you wandered off again and can't seem to find your way back but he'll still help you. Just after a long time because he's an asshole like that.

[kat651]

Spiked (Bucky x reader)

summary: the avengers attempt to get you and Bucky to confess your feelings for one another using a rather… interesting approach.

warnings: angry Bucky, readers drunk getting spiked, attempted kidnapping, alcohol, fluffy ending tho.

word count:2k

You smiled and walked up to Thor, elbowing him playfully. “Hey sparky,” you said, you’d given him that name when you were mad at him and it just kind of stuck. No one else was allowed to call him that though. 

“y/n, you came!” Thor pulled you into one of his bone crushing hugs. “Loki, look who it is!” 

Loki looked up, he already had a drink in his hand, he clearly didn't really want to be at the party. 

‘Help’ you mouthed to Loki, trying to wiggle your way out of Thor's hug. “Can't breathe…” you whispered. These two Asguardians had become like your big brothers. They were protective, caring, and knew just how to press all the right buttons to make you want to strangle them.

Thor let go and you gasped for air, taking a few steps back. “Thor, when you do that I can't breathe….” you chuckled before walking over to loki, you were one of the few people he could tolerate. “Thor isn't driving you too crazy is he?” 

“That's all he ever does,” Loki said, sipping his drink.  

You peered at the contents. “What even is that?” you asked. 

Loki frowned. “It's from Asgard, it's good,” he said, holding it out for you to try. You hesitated before taking a sip. It had a fruity flavor along with something else you couldn't pinpoint. 

“Vixfruit, native to Asgard…” Loki said as a smile spread across your face. 

“That's really good…” you whispered, going to hand the drink back to loki. 

Loki made another glass appear in his hand. “Keep it…” 

You smiled and sat down, holding a conversation with loki. 

Meanwhile, Steve and Sam were attempting to pull Bucky out of his room. “Come on,” Steve growled. 

“y/n will be there!” Sam said. 

Bucky growled. “Fine, now let go,” he ordered, pulling his hand away from Steve. “And I'm NOT going just because y/n will be there.”

“Mhmm…” Sam said, “everyone knows you like her except for y/n herself.” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Whatever, let's go.” 

.-.-.

When Sam, Bucky, and Steve arrived, bass was pumping through the floor and people were dancing and drinking. Bucky scanned the room, searching for you. He found you sitting on the couch, talking to Loki and Thor. Of course Bucky was able to recognise you from behind. He took a breath and went over to you, but Nat stopped him. 

“You gotta tell her, everyone knows you like her…” Nat said, crossing her arms. 

Bucky rolled his eyes, “you too huh?” 

“Oh come on guys, Bucky does not like me, we're just… friends…” you said, trying to get them to drop the subject. 

“Oh for the love of- will you quit being stubborn and admit that you like him?!” Thor growled. 

You sighed. “I didn't say that I don't like Bucky, I said that Bucky doesn't like me… not like that… and no, I'm not going to push it, I don't want to lose him, Bucky is… a really good friend…” 

Loki sighed. “But what if he isn't? What if he feels the same?” 

You shook your head. “No” 

Loki and Thor sighed. Plan B it was then. “Jane!” Thor shouted, jumping to his feet and running over to her. Loki sighed and stood. 

“We’ll be back… eventually…” 

You shook your head and stood, going over to get a drink. You sat next to Yelena, smiling. “Hey.” 

Yelena smiled. “What's up?” 

You shrugged and ordered a drink. “Thor and Loki are insisting that I tell Bucky about…”

“Are you going too?” 

“No! I'm not putting my friendship with him on the line in hopes that he might like me back.” you sighed as the drink you ordered slid over to you. “I do like him… a lot, but I don't want to ruin things…”

Bucky finished talking with Nat and made his way to you. Suddenly Loki walked past you, disguised as a random pedestrian he'd seen on the street, he dropped something in your drink as he walked by. Bucky gasped, picking up the paise, he had to stop you before you drank it. 

Thor stopped Bucky, giving him a bone crushing hug. Bucky tried to escape Thor's grasp as you picked up your drink. 

Steve, Tony, and Sam were all watching to make sure you didn't get hurt. This was a plan to get the two of you together, yes, but they also didn't want you to get hurt in the process. Yelena also knew about the plan, that's why she was keeping you in a conversation. 

Bucky wiggled out of thor’s tight hug a moment too late, the glass was on your lips and you were tilting it up, finishing it. Bucky arrived at your side as you set the empty drink on the counter. “Oh, hi Bucky.” 

Bucky stared at the empty glass then your eyes. They were slowly dilating. You felt nauseous and slowly stood. “I'll be right back,” you said, heading towards the bathroom.  

Bucky jumped up and went after you. He was beginning to panic. He bumped into Bruce on the way. “Sorry.”

“Bucky, slow down.” Bruce said, grabbing his arm. 

“I will not slow down, y/n’s drink just got spiked and now she's heading to the bathroom, let go.”

Bruce let go, panic flooding his face as he followed Bucky. Tony stopped bruce. “Tony let go.”

“It's all a set up, to get y/n and bucky together.” 

“What?”

Thori walked up. “Everythings in place, now Bucky just has to be the hero, Loki’s in his disguise.”

“You mean to tell me this is all a set up?” Bruce asked. 

“Yup.” Sam said, appearing at his side. 

Bucky turned in circles, searching for you, where did you go? Then he saw you near the exit, the man who had spiked your drink leading you out of the building. Bucky bolted, knowing he needed to get to you before you left the building. 

“That's right, come on, let's go…”

You tried to fight back, but you were too weak, you felt like your body had the flu and your head was underwater. Your limbs were slow and shaky. 

Bucky tackled the man then caught you before you fell. “y/n are you ok?”

“Bucky?” you mumbled. “I don't feel so good…’ you mumbled, leaning into him. “I just need to… sit down…” 

Tony and Bruce came running up, grabbing Loki who was still disguised as a random person. “We’ll take care of him, get her somewhere safe…”

Your legs began to shake and Bucky gently lifted you in his arms. “It's ok… I've got you…”

“Bucky, I feel sick…” 

“I know, do you want me to take you home?” he asked, gently cradling you in his arms. 

You moaned. “Just… hold me… please…”

Bucky carried you back inside and you pressed a button on the elevator. “Let's get you back upstairs and in bed, you look terrible…” 

“Can I stay with you? I don't want to be alone…” your voice was barely a whisper. 

“Of course, doll.” Bucky stiffened, he didn't mean to let that slip out. He looked down at you, your cheeks were turning pink. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

Bucky sighed, there was no getting out of this. “It means your beautiful…”

You blushed harder. “Bucky… i-i don't know what to say…” you mumbled, leaning into him as he carried you to his apartment and lay you on the couch. 

“Do you want some water?”

You nodded, looking up at him. 

Bucky walked off and returned a moment later with a glass of water and a blanket. “Here, sit up…”

You slowly sat up and Bucky lifted the glass to your lips. “Thank you…” you mumbled, nuzzling up to him. 

Bucky smiled and wrapped the blanket around you. “Of course”

“Bucky?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you…”  you mumbled before your eyes slid closed.

.-.-.

When you woke up your head was throbbing. You slowly sat up and the world immediately began to spin, causing you to whimper. 

“y/n?” Bucky walked over. “Are you ok?”

You shook your head. “My head is pounding…”

Bucky had you drink some water and take some pain killer before laying you back down and placing a warm cloth on your forehead. “I’ll take care of you… ok?” You nodded as bucky gently squeezed your hand. “y/n?”

You had already fallen back asleep. Bucky smiled and placed a kiss on your cheek. “Sleep well.”

Suddenly there was a knock and Bucky answered. Everyone was there. “How is she?” Nat asked, peering into the room. 

“She just fell back asleep, she's still kind of out of it…”

Steve smiled, “look at you, her knight in shining armor.” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Nothings changed… of course i love her.”  Bucky said, looking over at you. “I'd be a fool not to love y/n…” 

“Dude you have to tell her,” Bruce said. 

“What if she doesn't feel the same?” 

“What if she does?” Loki said, crossing his arms. 

Bucky paused. “I guess you have a point…”

“Tell her when she wakes up,” Sam said. 

“Oh, we got take out so you don't have to worry about cooking, just take care of her,” Tony said, handing Bucky a bag with food. “Make sure she's comfortable.”

Bucky nodded and the others left. He sighed and leaned against the door. “What am I gonna do?”

Bucku looked at the food and shook his head. Lunch and dinner, but he wanted to make you breakfast on his own. 

Bucky put the food in the fridge and began to make pancakes, eggs, and bacon. 

The smell of the food pulled you back to the realm of the conscious, making your eyes drift open. You slowly sat up and wandered into the kitchen, bucky was humming along to whatever music was in his earbuds. You walked closer and put your arms around his middle before placing your chin on his shoulder. “Hi…” 

Bucky was bright pink now. “Hey, feeling better?”

You nodded. “Yeah… Thank you for everything.”

Bucky smiled and turned to look at you. “Are you hungry?” he asked, flipping the pancake. 

You nodded. “Yeah…”

Bucky smiled and put the food on two plates and led you over to the table. Once you both finished eating, Bucky took care of the plates before pulling you to your feet. “y/n?”

“Yeah?” you mumbled. 

Bucky slowly tilted your chin up. “I…” three little words, that's it… he just had to say them. “I love you.”

He inwardly flinched, preparing for rejection instead he felt lips press on his cheek. “I love you too…”

Bucky smiled and pulled you into a hug. “Will… will you be my girlfriend?”

You looked up at him with a smile on your face. “Yes… yes I will…”

.-.-.

Six months later, everyone was sitting just enjoying each other's company. 

“You guys remember the party, when y/n almost got kidnaped?” Steve asked.

Bucky looked up. “Yup, how could I forget? Did we ever figure out who the guy was after he got away?”

Tony laughed and Loki shook his head. 

“The whole thing was a huge set up to get you two together…” Loki said. 

“What?!?!” Bucky shouted. 

Nat sighed and Clint looked around. “Come on! The one party I miss and you guys set them up!?”

So, Steve told the whole story, and Bucky frowned. “Are you serious?!?”

“Well it worked didn't it?” Tony asked. 

Bucky looked at you. “Yeah I guess it did…” he whispered, kissing your forehead. 

[ryoalouette]

I believe this is like. Part 6 of this AU of Machi's continuation? Dang. When the Inspiration kicks I guess XD

Not Danny not anybody else enjoys nosy reporters but they can't go against them exactly (free of information or something like that) so all the reporters caught sneaking in are sent to a tiny cell (different and far away from the heroes) for seven days and seven nights. That's how you end with an underground world convention with reporters from Le monde, Al Jazeera, The Globe, Marca, Spiegel, Daily Buthan, The Hindu, Harian Metro, etc. all trapped in the ice castle jail. Only Ireland and Wales refused to send a reporter, they are smarter than that.

They all agree that it is amazing that these creatures can understand and talk with anybody in their mother tongue (bc the dead speak any language) even if they only speak in riddles (it's bc they hate reporters and refuse to give a straight answer but it checks with fae legends so nobody questioned it). Another thing they (the reporters) all agree on is that they are either incredibly beautiful or incredibly ugly, no in-between (which also checks with fae legends) and apparently the ugly ones are more popular? (Star is now Lunch Lady's apprentice for reasons and when some mean reporters made some comments about her body Star jumped to passionately defend her saying that she was beautiful and had a loving family)

The reporters also mention their estrange naming conventions: Star, Lunch Lady, Fright Night, Dawn (they misunderstood Kwan name), Dash, etc. And wrongly conclude that those who have human names is bc they stole it from somebody else (third thing that checks with fae legends, some people are starting to regret their career choice, others are starting to convert). When Amity Park citizens find out they think it's hilarious so they start to change their names to sound more fae.

Machi's #7 DP x DC Prompt

We all know that at some point Pariah Dark dumped Amity Park into the Ghost Zone. So, what if when Danny is king he tries to put the city back in its place only to pick the wrong dimension? Now all the DC heroes are freaking out bc of the fae city that has appeared out of nowhere.

[awearywritersworld]

the day of my execution

sukuna x reader summary: gojo, yuuji, and sukuna discuss what happened at the store. sukuna begins to consider your mortality like never before and takes care of you when you're sick. w/c: 2.7k tags/warnings: fluff. mentions of attempted kidnapping. banter. reader has the flu. aged up!yuuji. not canon compliant. fem!reader. no use of y/n. a/n: sorry for disappearing for so long, but here is the long awaited next chapter. i've put a second a/n at the end, so i hope you'll read it. please excuse me talking out of my ass trying to rationalize my application of jujutsu, but if gege does it, so can i. i hope it kind of makes sense though. series masterlist // masterlist

truthfully, yuuji expects his wednesday morning to be as uneventful as any other, but when he stands in front of the bathroom sink to brush his teeth, his eyes are not the only ones staring back at him.

"what d'ya want?" he groans. "it's too early for this."

"we need to talk."

sukuna doesn't give his vessel a chance to respond before he begins recounting the events of the previous night, a story which has yuuji's face cycling between surprise, worry, and dismay. "the man claimed someone sent him?"

"that's what i said," sukuna responds impatiently.

"why would anyone be after her? i don't understand."

"would it kill you to use your brain for once?" sukuna questions, having had the entirety of the night to ponder the situation. "think, idiot. who would be interested in using her in some ploy? against you. against... us."

yuuji's eyes widen. "the higher ups?

"no one else would be so brazen."

it strikes sukuna as ironic that just days after he relayed the cruelness he endured at the hands of jujutsu society's higher ups a millenia ago, you too almost became one of their victims. it's a reality that he despises.

"i should call gojo—"

"that is out of the question."

"do you want to keep her safe or not?"

sukuna scoffs. "this is how we keep her safe. if the higher ups are after her, we can't trust other sorcerers."

yuuji almost seems offended on gojo's behalf. after all, he's known him for the better part of a decade. "i'd trust gojo with my life."

"well this isn't your life we're talking about. this is much more important."

yuuji chuckles. "i know. that's exactly why we need help."

before sukuna can protest, yuuji's dialing his old sensei and asking to meet somewhere they can speak privately.

that's how they end up at a small bakery on the outskirts of tokyo, sukuna relaying the story for the second time that morning.

once he finishes, gojo leans back in his chair and folds his hands behind his head. "well, i don't think you're wrong about the higher ups being involved."

"so what are we supposed to do?" yuuji asks. "they might use her to get to me, but you don't think the higher ups would actually put her life in danger, do you?"

though yuuji's question is directed toward gojo, it isn't him that answers.

"you're as naive as ever," sukuna scoffs. "they'll stop at nothing to achieve their own ends."

gojo grimaces, a silent agreement with the assertion. "i can do some poking around, see who ordered it to be done."

"and what exactly is that going to do? there's no reasoning with them."

"a fact i am well aware of," the white haired man narrows his eyes at the king of curses. "but there is leverage in power, something i happen to have more of than anybody—"

"almost anybody—"

"so as the strongest, i'll take care of this as soon as i can."

"hey, um, so as productive as all the dick measuring is," yuuji interrupts. "it doesn't keep her safe in the meantime."

"i have an idea in that regard," sukuna says. "it's an ancient practice, and while it doesn't offer any protective measures, it will allow me to find her if they make another attempt like last night."

gojo leans forward, clearly interested to hear more.

"i can imbue a talisman with a part of myself and if she wears it, it will act as a beacon for her location."

"with part of yourself? as in, your cursed energy?" yuuji speculates. "wouldn't that do more harm than good? attract cursed spirits and whatever?"

"no, i'm not a fool. it's not cursed energy."

sukuna is hesitant to clarify further. he'd done something similar when creating his fingers, but it was different then. it was a selfish endeavor to preserve his life long after it was his time to die. it was a dark sort of jujutsu, one meant only to bring destruction.

but intention is important in sorcery. it can change the very essence of the practice.

for the first time in his life, sukuna is acting selflessly, concerned only with your protection. it's a pure sort of jujutsu this time around, one that allows him to impart a piece of himself that isn't tainted by cursed energy.

and because of that, that part of him would be unprotected. it'd leave him uniquely vulnerable. it's a steep and dangerous measure. that's why the practice had been forgotten long before the modern age.

"then what could it possibly be?" it's quiet for a moment as yuuji's question hangs in the air.

"it's your soul, isn't it?" the disbelief lacing gojo's voice is quite plain, but he's heard whispers of such techniques. "you'd give her a piece of your soul."

sukuna's never been one for unfinished business, so it's no surprise when he finds himself on the couch, intent on finishing the stranger. besides, it had become clear he'd been focusing on the wrong aspects of the book when he first began reading it.

he's three chapters from the end when he hears a loud shatter from the kitchen, followed by a sharp gasp. the broken glass hasn't even finished sliding across the floor before he's at your side.

"what happened?" the alarm in his voice doesn't go unnoticed by you.

"nothing, nothing," you assure him. "i just dropped my cup."

crouching down, you reach for one of the bigger pieces before your hand is swiftly smacked away. "don't."

"it's fine. it's only a little glass."

when you reach for it again, he grabs your wrist. "you troublesome little thing. do you ever listen?"

"i don't make a habit of it."

"i know. the question was rhetorical."

sukuna's already noticed the shards of glass surrounding your bare feet, so he wastes no time in picking you up and placing you on the countertop.

"don't move." he says it in such a way that, for once, you don't even think about disobeying him.

he all but stomps out of the room, returning moments later with a broom and dust pan. there's a small smile playing on your lips as you watch him gather the larger pieces before sweeping up the rest.

and you know, it's really not fair. sukuna could even call it a cosmic injustice, the way he has to worry about broken glass and fragile fingertips.

but he likes you and he likes the pads of your fingers, particularly the way they feel against his skin and run through his hair, so he swallows his pride.

it's been consuming him lately— the fact that you are just as easily broken as the glass that littered the kitchen tile. he never considered just how many ways there are for a human to die until you were nearly taken from him.

so once he's done, he rests the broom and dustpan against the wall and stands in front of you, his hips situated between your knees.

reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a necklace and your mouth falls open in shock. a delicate chain is threaded around his fingers, while its ruby pendant dangles in the air. "i want you to have this."

"what.. what is it?"

he snorts. "you don't know what a necklace is?"

you let out a breath of a laugh. "of course i do. i'm just surprised."

you hold up your palm and he places the necklace there gently. inspecting the gem, you notice it bears a striking resemblance to the color of his eyes.

strangely, it's almost as if it's heavier than it should be— like it's weighed down by some importance beyond your comprehension.

"it's beautiful," you tell him honestly. "are you sure?"

"sure of what?"

"that i should have it."

he pauses before responding, taking in the way you're so gingerly holding it. he's scared you've realized what he's actually giving you. that you're repulsed by it.

he's hesitant when he asks, "why would you think otherwise?"

"i didn't do anything to deserve something like this."

sukuna breathes a sigh of relief. "you are ever the fool."

his hands find your hips, pulling you off the counter and onto your feet. he plucks the necklace from your hand, then shifts to stand behind you.

moving your hair to the side, his fingers brush lightly against your skin. "the necklace is undeserving of adorning your neck. not the other way around."

and he knows it's the truth. a piece of him, attached to a creature so lovely she should be out of his reach... well, that's just unseemly, isn't it?

"but promise me something anyway."

"anything," you say without delay.

he situates the chain around your neck, the pendant lying in the space where your collarbones meet, and fastens the clasp. when you turn to face him, you're met with an alarmingly grave expression.

"promise you won't ever take it off."

you fiddle with the ruby somewhat nervously, feeling as if you're missing some important piece of the puzzle.

you nod in response to his request, but it isn't enough for him.

"say it."

"i promise."

he can see that you're biting back questions, so he explains, "if you're wearing that, i'll always know where to find you."

it finally dawns on you, for the first time, how much the incident at the store truly affected him. it's not the way he ended those men that clued you in, nor is it the way he pleaded with you to forgive him.

it happens in this moment. it's the gentleness of his voice, despite his underlying desperation. it's the way he's watching you carefully, as if you're likely to disappear. it's the fact he wouldn't let you clean up a mess of your own making, because he can't stand the thought of seeing you bleed.

"i... i don't know what to say."

"well, that's a first."

"shut up," you punch his shoulder. "you're ruining the moment."

"right, my bad," he chuckles and glances down at the gemstone. "do you like it?"

you let out a breath. "of course. i love it."

he smiles at your words— soft and genuine— truly a rare sight. "good."

you notice that he's looking at you. really looking at you. his eyes shift away from yours and over to each of your temples. then down to your nose. your mouth. even your chin.

he takes in every detail and he feels like he's in your debt simply for gazing at your countenance.

you almost regret it when your hands curl around the collar of his shirt and pull his lips to yours. you should have savored his smile, spent time committing it to memory.

although, that's soon forgotten as you feel the curve of his mouth deepen while his lips move against yours.

it isn't until day three of your ceaseless coughing and sneezing that sukuna adds them to his list— broken glass, fragile fingertips, coughs, and sniffles.

his concern is clear from the way he dotes on you. he brings you cold cloths, makes you tea, massages your neck, runs you baths.

now he's on his way to a twenty four hour pharmacy to pick up more medicine to reduce your fever, and while it's only a block away, he's still doing it alone.

but not even for a moment does he consider running off to burn the world's largest city to the ground. the streets are crawling with people, but he finds himself avoiding them more than anything.

he has to get back to you after all.

the only thought on his mind other than you is the ending of the stranger. the main character, while awaiting his beheading from his prison cell, conveys his final words to readers:

for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, i opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. finding it so much like myself— so like a brother, really— i felt that i had been happy and that i was happy again. for everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, i had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators on the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.

in sukuna's first life, perhaps this line would have resonated with him. it was a life where he had resolved himself to the idea that nothing really mattered, because the alternative was too painful. it didn't matter that jujutsu society betrayed him. it didn't matter that he stole people's lives out from under them. it didn't matter that he was alone.

and while he would have never surrendered himself to execution, if that had been his fate, he would have preferred to go out surrounded by living reminders of all he had accomplished. surrounded by all the people he had ruined.

however, when he imagines such an occurrence happening in his present life, there is only one face throughout the entire crowd and it belongs to you.

the very thought makes him sick with grief.

looking up, he realizes that there are no stars in tokyo anymore, that there is no feeling of indifference when it comes to you, and that there is no happiness to be had when you are not by his side.

he knows he'll never shed another drop of innocent blood if it means you'll always have that look of adoration in your eyes when your gaze falls on him.

so his trip to the pharmacy is short and hurried.

opening your apartment door, he's careful to be quiet in case you're sleeping, but he finds you peering at him from the couch.

your hair is disheveled. there's a sheen of sweat across your forehead. your eyes are beyond tired. your shirt is wrinkled.

you're still the most pleasing thing he's ever laid eyes on.

"you're back," you rasp.

"i'm back," he affirms, slipping off his shoes.

you sit up and quickly regret it, your hand coming to rest against your stomach. "god, i feel like i'm gonna puke."

"charming."

you use all your strength to throw a pillow at him, which he easily catches before tossing something small in your direction— a ginger chew to help with the nausea.

you unwrap it and pop it in your mouth. "thanks."

he hums in response, settling down in the spot beside you. once he pulls the medicine from the bag, it's followed by two bottles. "got you these, too."

recognizing them as your favorite drink, your exhausted and delirious brain makes your eyes well up with grateful tears. "you're so sweet."

"yeah, whatever. don't get used to it."

"but you are. you're sweet and kind, except i'm the only one who knows it," you pause before continuing, your head falling onto his shoulder. "why is that?"

he contemplates denying that he possesses any such quality, but decides against it. "you're the only one who's ever cared to know."

he can feel the heat of your temple through his shirt, so he opens the box of fever reducers and pops out two tablets before handing them to you. "take these. you're burning up."

you do as he says without protest. standing up and stretching your arms above your head, sukuna's eyes wander to where your shirt rides up and reveals your stomach.

"c'mon, let's go to bed," you yawn.

he follows after you wordlessly, carelessly pulling off his shirt and climbing into bed beside you. curling up against his side, your head comes to rest on his chest and it's quiet for a few passing moments.

"you can't see the stars from tokyo anymore."

"what?" you ask sleepily.

"the stars. there's too much light to see them from here."

"oh, yeah. we can take a trip to the mountains soon. you can see them pretty well from there."

"i'll hold you to that."

and so with the promise of a beautiful night sky, with the company of someone who means the world to him, and with the feeling of your body pressed against his— sukuna feels that he had been happy and that he was happy again.

a/n 2: hey! so i'm sorry again for stopping updates without really saying anything. i think i just needed to step away from tumblr and writing for a while because i was getting a bit overwhelmed. i was also a little unsure about the direction of this chapter. i was struggling to incorporate the necklace part without it seeming cheesy or weird. that being said, thanks as always to everyone for your support of this series. it's really heartwarming and much appreciated. if you have any feedback, i'd love to hear! i'm not sure when the next update will be, but i'll do my best to keep you guys posted. all my love - m<3

taglist: @96jnie @ay0nha @sad-darksoul @bbysatoruuu @luciiferian @risuola @lirasmoon @disaster-rose @archivist-ghoul606 @creative1writings @sloppyzengarden @omismicrowave @cecesharktales @tanyeonn @hiqhkey @ruixrei @yellowsubiesdance @thefallofruins @anything-and-everything-here69 @emzalot @elusivemoon @annoyingstrawberryballoon @miabiar @hyeon-yi @iluv-ace @wineyoungie @vduxx @inflatabledinosaurs19 @harrystylesfan2686 @silentmajesticfox @am-the-renegade @certainduckanchor @moons-reblog @scarletrosesposts @th3-audac1ty @darlink-xoxo @ayeputita @nanmiik @namjooningera @hermxssaa @annieleonhardtsbitch @nugget-eater123 @integers @thefunbanshee @thepup356 @browneyedgirl22 @lantsovheiress @luckypeacevoid @kiki17483 @ruttteerr @yourbelloved @heyohalie // users in bold could not be tagged. if i forgot to tag anyone, my apologies!! just give me a heads up.

[thirdsaltyhunter]

Girl's Night

Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: Jody and Donna ask you for help on a hunt and you all get drunk and call your boyfriend while you're away

Warning: fluff, cuteness, kissing, mentions of a hunt so violence?, celebratory drinking, getting drunk

A/N: not proofread, all mistakes are my own

You woke up earlier than you usually did. Jody had given you a call to tell you that her and Donna had caught wind of a pack of werewolves just south of Sioux Falls and could use your help taking them out.

You wanted to start driving early so you could avoid most of the traffic and offer your expertise as soon as possible. However, mornings aren't really your thing. You fought back the groan at how much you didn't want to leave your comfortable spot in bed where Dean was currently keeping you warm. Nonetheless, you began wiggling your way out from under his arm. You were trying not to wake him up this early because he hadn't slept enough this week.

As you tossed some clothes into your duffel bag, you thought you might be able to make it out without waking him, but he was always a light sleeper. A quiet grumble of your name sounded from beneath the covers.

"Hey baby," you whispered going back to the side of the bed.

"You leaving?" he asked, noticing your packed duffle bag, voice rough with sleep.

"Yeah, Jody asked me to help her and Donna take out some wolves."

"You know I will." You propped yourself up on your elbow so you could look down at him. "Besides, you know it's gonna be a milk run. They probably don't even need me, they just want me to come up there so we can have girl's night."

He nodded and reached for you to pull you into a hug which, from the position he was in, meant that you were just laying on top of him. He was always extra cuddly in the mornings and you loved it, despite how much it tempted you to crawl back under the covers with him.

"Be careful out there," he said, placing a kiss to your temple.

He chuckled at that, because he knew you were right. Now that he thought about it, the last time he saw them, Donna had threatened that she'd drive down to Kansas herself and kidnap you if he didn't hand you over for a weekend.

He leaned up to plant a sweet kiss to your lips. "Call me when you finish the hunt so I know you're ok."

"I will." You kissed him again before crawling off of him. "I love you, go back to sleep."

"I love you too, sweetheart," he said, already burying his face into the pillow.

You couldn't help but smile at how quickly he gave in to your request. Grabbing your duffle, you headed out of the bedroom to say your goodbyes to Sam before you made your way to your car to start the long drive up to Sioux Falls.

The hunt ended up being even easier than you thought it would be. You, Jody and Donna made a pretty formidable and efficient hunting team. The hunt was done before the sun even fully set, so you headed back to Jody's house to begin cooking dinner.

You all decided to forget the plan of cooking dinner and reward yourselves for a hunt-well-done by ordering pizza instead. Claire was off on her own hunt and Alex was working a late shift at the hospital. That left only you, Donna and Jody, sitting on the livingroom floor around a mostly empty pizza box, passing around a bottle of wine.

After catching up on everything and finishing off the bottle of wine, Jody decided to pull out the bourbon and poured a good amount of each of you.

About an hour later, the three of you were well past tipsy and were having the best time, laughing and telling stories from various hunts.

"Soooo", Jody began with a hint of mischief in her voice. "How's Dean?"

"Yeah we need to hear about our favorite couple," Donna chimed in.

You knew she was talking about you and Dean but you decided to play around. "I don't know what you're talking about," you teased.

"Oh come on you know what we're talk'n about. We want to know what you and ol' Dean's like when you're away from the eyes of the world, y'know, when you put the hunter armor down," Jody inquired.

"I betcha he wears fuzzy socks and watches chick-flics, don't he?" Donna added teasingly.

That had you almost rolling on the floor with laughter. "Oh yeah, definitely."

It was nice being kind of childish like this with them. You had never had many friends in your teenage years and the hunting life didn't typically allow for gal-pals, but you had developed a really good friendship despite not having the time to see each other very often.

You wiped the tears of laughter from your eyes. "Oh shit, I forgot to call him", you attempted to grab your phone out of your bag, which took longer than needed, given your lack of coordination. "Dean asked me to call him after the hunt."

Jody and Donna looked at each other and awwww'ed in unison.

You tapped Dean's contact and put the phone to your ear. After a few rings you heard his voice. "Hey sweetheart."

"Heeeey", you greeted excitedly, voice slightly slurred.

"Hiya Dean-o", Donna said loud enough for Dean to hear.

You could hear him laugh on the other end, clearly gathering that you were all pretty inebriated and having a good time. "So I take it the hunt went well", he said with amusement in his voice.

"Oh it went great, we're badasses."

"I have no doubt of that," he said fondly.

"Hey Dean!" Jody cut in. "Is it true you wear fuzzy socks and watch chick-flicks when you're at home?"

"Baby, what did you tell them about me?" Dean asked you with mock annoyance.

"Oh nothing," you responded playfully. "Anyway gotta go."

You could hear he was barely holding back from laughing. "Hey hold on-" *click*

You bit your lip as you hung up on him before looking up at Jody and Donna. As soon as you made eye contact you all bust out laughing.

[lostreverb]

DAD!RALPH BOHNER HEADCANONS

a/n: if we're gonna call him a dilf might as well write about it! also he gives girl dad vibes so we're going with that! AND SORRY ABOUT THE ANGST I'M LIKE ADDICTED TO WRITING IT

warning: mentions of PTSD, swearing

--

• you and your four year old daughter were coincidentally on a trip to visit family when the hex happened, your husband ralph couldn't get out of work but insisted you go without him

• after everything, ralph's mental state was so poor he had to quit his job, so instead of having a nanny, ralph becomes a stay at home dad while you work

• you were reasonably uncertain if ralph was mentally stable enough to take care of a child as well as himself but he insisted he's capable

• loves you and his daughter more than anything in the world

• calls her "bub, hon, sweetpea, babygirl, little gremlin, kiddo"

• is very protective of his family (especially after the hex)

• he buys everyone evil eye necklaces and makes you wear them to keep you safe

• doesn't sleep much anymore unless he's napping with his daughter

• it's quite literally the only time he gets any kind of peaceful sleep

• you had definitely spent an entire year trying to get her sleep on her own but that's out the window now and she'll only sleep in your bed

• on the occasions he does try to get a full night's rest, ralph still gets nightmares. but when he wakes up in a sweat, seeing "his girls" cuddled up with him calms him down, sometimes enough to where he can go back to sleep

• your daughter adores her dad's grown out curls, and often raves about how they look just like hers (compared to the cropped hair he had before) and mindlessly plays with his beard when they're sat on the couch watching TV

• does funny voices when he reads stories to her

• lives for hearing + making her laugh with corny jokes (btw she thinks he's the funniest person in the world)

• practices his one man show for her and the reason you know is because she'll try and recite certain plot points to you as if that's something that happened to her

• ralph forgets to eat but when he does, it's often just whatever your daughter doesn't finish of her food or he raids the fridge at 3 am

• generally his diet consists of celsius and half eaten dino nuggets

• sends her to preschool with totems he makes for show n' tell

• you got a call at work once because she did the black magic warding chants ralph taught her with an animal skull totem and it scared some kids and made them cry

• according to your daughter it was only "like 2 people" who cried and assured you that everything was fine b/c the rest of the class thought she was "the awesomest"

• you have to tell her to stop going around telling people her dad is an expert in "getting rid of witches" b/c they think she means "bitches"

• whenever you come home to seeing your daughter sat in ralph's lap at his computer, he tells you he's just working on his one man show but he's really on reddit and other forums teaching her how to protect herself from witches

• has learned well how to dress his daughter but b/c of his sketchy appearance sometimes ppl think she's been kidnapped, especially if she starts to throw a tantrum in public and you're not around

• cared very much for billy and tommy b/c they reminded him of his daughter

• there's been times where he's particularly struggling with his PTSD and accidentally scares her and it breaks his heart

• despite this, she'll come over and try to cheer him up with one of her stuffed animals and hug him or do one of the chants he taught her because that's what her idea of protection and safety is

-----------

ANGST DRABBLE

ralph sits with his head in his hands, distraught. he had another episode, this time in front of his young daughter. seeing the look of shock and fear on her face broke his heart.

those damn witches had hell to pay for what they've done.

"daddy?" he hears a small voice say. ralph's head shoots up. his daughter, holding her favorite teddy bear (which she renamed "papa bear" after noticing how closely his new look resembles the stuffed animal) walked up to him. her eyes are still a bit glossy, but she's smiling regardless.

"hey hon..." ralph speaks softly, reaching out to stroke her hair. "what have you got there?"

she puts the teddy into his arms, searching his face for a reaction.

"is.. this for me?"

she nods and ralph gasps holding it tight.

"oh wow, thank you babygirl- c'mere-"

he pulls her in for a deep embrace, kissing her head and whispering that he's sorry and that he loves her so much. a tear falls down his cheek as he holds her small body against his, hearing her say "i love you more, daddy!" in that sweet tone of hers.

it takes everything in his power not to completely break down.

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

FLUFF DRABBLE

after finishing dinner, you walk up the stairs, hearing the sound of chanting coming from the bedroom.

"close! remember kiddo you've got to do it twice for it to really work so let's go again- OUMMMM-"

"mommy!" at the sight of you, your daughter jumps off ralph's lap and throws her little arms around your legs.

"hi!" you respond enthusiastically, hugging her back. "just wanted to let you both know dinner was ready. what are you guys... up to?"

ralph avoids your eyes by pretending to look around the room. your daughter smiles up at you, bursting with excitement.

"daddy was teaching me-"

ralph interrupts. "dinner's ready? oh, you have perfect timing babe we're starving- uh kiddo? why don't you go wash your hands?"

"ooookayyyy!!" your daughter skips out of the room, curly ponytail swinging back and forth in time with her steps.

"again? ralph we talked about this-"

"i know, sorry..." he sighs. you notice his eyes linger on your chest.

"like what you see?" you tease, wiggling your eyebrows.

"no-! i mean- yes, of course but- you're not wearing the necklace..." he pouts.

you roll your eyes and reach into your shirt to pull the chain out.

"oh- my bad"

"yeah- now mr. bohnerrific69, could you please tell my husband that dinner's ready and he needs to actually eat tonight? because a whole pack of oreo's is not a sufficient meal."

"who told you i-?!"

ralph's gaze moves to your daughter, who's peeking past the door frame giggling.

"snitch!" ralph gasps dramatically and stands up from his desk, starting to playfully chase her down the hall. "thought you could rat me out huh? we had a deal!"

--

tags (ask to be added or removed anytime!): @fear-is-truth @juliamaximoff @jazz-berry @violetsghosts @quickreider @tiffysdeath @honeymoon8 @wcnderlnds @lacucarachapisser @xrag-dollx

[baby-tini]

So... you accept dark content? Perfect. Not a confession but.. I just need your thoughts on a dark poly skk

My personal thoughts is that, I could see it working out, there would obviously be arguments and shit but entertaining none the less. You said dark, so I'm giving dark hc thoughts 😘 TW- Noncon implied, kidnapping, abuse, dehumanization

-Dazai doesn't have the space or money to keep you captive, so that's on Chuuya to do. You most likely have your own room at first just to settle in and learn to behave before they unchained you.

-Dazai is definitely the most affectionate, he doesn't know the meaning of boundaries. He'll touch you and kiss you, groping at your chest and ass. Pushing him away won't deter him, he's an asshole, he's gonna instigate shit.

-Chuuya would definitely be more open to treating you like a human and not just a pet or smth to stick his dick in (*cough* Dazai *cough*) he's more gentle and respectful of your boundaries and limits. Although... if he wants a kiss before he leaves for work.. then he's not taking "no" for an answer, love.

-Punishments... depends on who and why you're getting one. Dazai tends to let loose and be more sadistic with his punishments. Chuuya, depending on what you did, can either just spank you or edge you for hours. There ABSOLUTELY WILL be noncon involved at some point, sometimes Chuuya just doesn't have the patience to sweetly talk you into sucking him off... and Dazai? Dazai doesn't care all that much, especially if we're talking PM Dazai.. that fucker gives 0 shits about what you want.

-I do wanna say that if the punishment involves BOTH of them... just one question, WHAT DID YOU DO??? Dazai most likely will lead with most punishments because Chuuya is a pretty empathetic person so he'll go easy sometimes. You will definitely be chained up and spread open, they might drug you if you're fighting a little to much. You will ABSOLUTELY be fucked within an inch of your life, you won't know left from right anymore.

[yourfriendlyfanperson]

A Chemical Reaction Called Love

Chapter 1: A missing case in a small town

~Pairing: Steve Harrington x F!reader

~Summary: Being the daughter of Hawkins Middle School Science teacher, Scott Clarke, has its perks. Constantly having to explain things to 'King' Steve Harrington wasn't necessarily one of them but it was something you had gotten used to. He might not be the brightest guy but at least he tried, and you appreciated that. You had big plans for the future, but they might be forced to change thanks to a phone call...

~Warnings: Sensitive topics might be brought up so reader discretion is advised.

~Word Count: 3.3K

~Authors Note: Hey everyone! This is my first time posting my fanfics in tumblr, I have them in ao3 or w-tpadd usually, but I've wanted to post them in tumblre for a long time. If someone knows how to do the fancy chapter thing where you add the numbers at the top please let me know! Any support is very much appreciated! This fanfic is still in the works! You can find me on Ao3 as Lilpipsqueak and W-tpadd as friendlyfanperson!

~Narrator's POV~

"And to that, you need to add?"

"Hydrochloric acid," Y/n says turning to look at her dad as she remembers the answer, both of them walking through the car park of Hawkins Middle School as Y/n revised for her chemistry test which was in a couple of minutes. She always did well in her exams, especially her science ones, given the fact her dad was a science teacher so he always helped her out, but she still liked to revise before each exam.

"Great, you're all set for the exam," He tells her with a smile.

"Thanks for helping me out dad," She says.

"Morning Mr. Clarke!" Dustin shouts as he walks up to them, Lucas behind him, "Morning Y/n"

"Good morning Dustin, Lucas, how are you boys doing today?" He asks them.

"We're okay," Lucas tells him.

"Where's Mike?" Y/n asks them, knowing the three, though usually four boys, always arrived at school together.

"He should be here soon," Dustin told her, "What are you studying?" He asks.

"Chemistry, I have an exam first period, I should probably get going," She tells them with a smile, "See you later kids, be careful, and I'll meet you at your classroom after school dad"

"Good luck with the exam, honey," Her dad says as she walks away.

"Bye Y/n!" The two boys add waving at her.

She takes out her headphones and puts them on as she starts listening to "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbinson, walking to Hawkins High School and focusing on the lyrics. She looked back at the boys who were happily talking with her dad, and all she could think about was the 4th member of their party, Will Byers, who had gone missing yesterday. She knew him really well, after all, she was always helping Joyce by looking after him while she and Jonathan worked, he was like the little brother she never had. When she heard the news about Will's disappearance she was devastated, she couldn't imagine Will running away or getting himself in some kind of trouble, but she also couldn't imagine him getting kidnapped by anyone in Hawkins, sure you had your usual creeps like every other town, but none that would ever do such a thing. All she could do, for now, was help around with the investigation and stay alert for anything weird so he could hopefully be found soon.

"Jonathan!" Y/n shouts as she sees him walking to school in front of her, she pauses the song taking off her headphones and walks towards him.

"Y/n, hey," He says, looking more tired than usual.

"Have you heard anything?" She asked him, hoping for some good news.

"Nothing yet, I'm going to check and see if my dad has something to do with it though I doubt it, he never cared about us" Jonathan explains to her as they start walking towards the main doors.

"Well if you need anything at all, just let me and my dad know okay?"

"Okay, I'll make sure to let you know," He says.

Y/n smiles at him, she looks down and notices a paper in his hand.

"What's that?" She asks him.

"Oh, just a missing poster my mom and I made, I'm going to put it in the school news board so people can keep a lookout," He tells her handing her the poster.

She takes it looking down at it, 'Have you seen me?' is written in capital letters on the top of the page with two pictures of Will under it, the general information about him and the clothes he was wearing when he went missing.

"We'll find him, I'm sure of it, Will's smart, he'll be okay," She tells Jonathan handing the paper back to him, hoping that the words coming out of her mouth will come true.

"I hope so, I really hope so," He says as they walk into the school, "I'll see you later"

"Yeah, I'll see you around" She adds waving goodbye at him as he goes over to the news board.

Y/n puts her headphones back on as she starts walking down the corridor, she sees Nancy and Barbara standing with none other than Steve Harrington, Tommy Hagan and Carol Perkins, which she found extremely surprising, after all, Nancy and Barbara are not popular, at all, so it was strange to see them together, she had heard rumours though that Steve was going out with Nancy, so she guessed they must be true because there's no other reasonable option for them to be even near each other. Y/n gets along well with everyone really, she's nice to people and helps them out during lessons so luckily no one had ever really found a reason to bully her, which allowed Y/n to get through her so far 3 years of high school without a problem.

She talked with Nancy sometimes, they weren't necessarily friends but they were more than classmates, especially given the fact she knew the Wheelers quite well. Barbara and Y/n had interacted before but they didn't really talk, she got the feeling Barbara didn't like her very much, but she could never figure out why. She never really spoke to Tommy or Carol except when they needed help during class, but they didn't bother her so she didn't really care about them.

And then there was Steve Harrington, Y/n had known him since middle school, growing up in a small town means you pretty much grow up with everyone you go to high school with, in middle school they didn't really talk, Y/n had her friends and Steve had his, it wasn't really until the start of sophomore year when they started sitting next to each other in science that they started talking. Steve isn't the brighter student, but he has parents that have high expectations for him, so he needs to do good in school, lucky for him he sat next to Y/n. The first thing he said to her when she sat next to him on that first day of sophomore year was "Clarke you're smart, help me out here" and she did exactly that.

Did Y/n think Steve was a bad person? Not really, he had always been kind to her and he actually put effort during lessons when she helped him, so she appreciated that. Did she think the rumours about him were true? Yeah, Steve is famously known around the school not only for being the King of Hawkins high school, but also for making all the girls fall in love with him, and sleeping with them, and as far as Y/n knew that was true, most of the girls she knew had liked him at some point, most except her, and her best friend, Robin Buckley. Robin had an entirely different reason for not liking him than Y/n did though, Robin couldn't like Steve, Y/n on the other hand technically could, she just didn't see anything special about him, sure he's good looking, she accepts that, but he's a bit of an asshole to some people, he's way too popular and has a huge ego, and she didn't really like that.

"Oh, god, that's depressing" She heard Steve say as she walked past them, she knew they were talking about Jonathan, he was known around as a freak, but those weren't news to Y/n.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asked them.

"I don't think he speaks," Carol told her, chuckling.

"How much you wanna bet he killed him?" Tommy asked.

Y/n stopped walking, listening to what he said, she was a nice person, and she was calm, but like any decent human being, she had her limits.

She turned around to look at them as she opened her mouth ready to snap at Tommy, but before she could say anything, Steve pushed Tommy shaking his head.

"Shut up," He said, not much, the minimum actually, but his tone did show that even he knew Tommy had gone too far, she knew that in comparison to her telling Tommy something, he would at least listen to Steve, and so she decided to keep on walking away as she put her music back on.

Sometimes Y/n asked herself how things would be if Steve didn't hang out with assholes like Tommy and Carol, she believed, from what she knew and saw, that in comparison to them Steve was actually a good person, which she supposes isn't something necessarily hard to be, but from what she had learned about Steve from sitting next to him in the last year and a half, she could tell he was actually a kind person with a good heart when he was away from them, and she guessed he had probably ended up being the way he was because of the friends he has.

"Earth to Y/n!" She snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up, seeing none other than Robin in front of her, "Morning weirdo"

"Morning freak, how are you doing?" She asked Robin, pausing her music and taking off her headphones, stopping at her locker and opening it.

"I am actually doing pretty decent today, which is unusual given the fact I have a stupid math exam first period, and I also have to seat next to Jim, but I guess I shouldn't complain about being in a good mood" She explains to Y/n, rambling, as usual, thought Y/n didn't mind, she actually enjoys listening to Robin over share.

"Well, regardless of the math exam and having to seat next to Jim I'm glad you're having a good morning," Y/n tells her smiling as she takes out her books and puts them in her locker.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm alright, just worried about the chemistry exam and Will," She tells her closing her locker and turning around to fully look at Robin.

"I hope they find him soon," She tells her, worried, even though Robin had never spoken to Will she knew he was Y/n's friend, and she also knew no kid deserves to go through the trauma of going missing.

The school bell starts ringing, Y/n and Robin look at each other with worry.

"Time for the stupid exam," Robin says as they start walking to their classrooms.

"We've got this, it's just common sense," Y/n tells her trying to make sure she doesn't get too stressed.

"Right, just common sense" Robin repeats, not believing a thing, "I'll see you at recess, good luck, love you"

"Love you too, good luck" Y/n tells her as she walks away and into her chemistry room.

She walks inside the classroom and takes a seat at her table, putting her bag on the floor as she takes out her chemistry book, she knows Mr. Thompson gives them some time to do some last minutes studying, so she can at least look over things one last time.

"You could've phrased it differently," She says turning to look at Steve walking over to his desk.

"What?" He asks looking at her confused.

"What you said about Jonathan, well, more like the way you said it, about him putting up a poster being depressive, it actually is, his brother is missing and his family have already been having a hard time, it's not really something to joke about" She explains to him.

"Oh, right, well I'm sorry," He says, and to Y/n's surprise she can actually tell he means it and is being serious, "Today's the exam right?" Steve asks as he takes a seat next to her.

"Yeah, did you study?" She asks him.

"You'll be proud to hear I actually did, so I think I'm going to do pretty well today," He says smirking at her, taking out his notebook.

"Well I am proud, I can't believe you actually studied"

"Neither can I, it was only for like an hour though so don't be too proud," He tells her chuckling.

"Right of course, that I am not surprised about" She adds smiling at him.

The class ended up having 5 minutes to study, which were all taken by Steve asking Y/n a bunch of questions regarding his notes and the things he hadn't understood, but at least she was able to explain things to him before the time ran out.

The exam lasted an hour, for Y/n it was an hour of her just answering the questions, which were surprisingly easy, but for Steve, it was an hour of either trying to remember what he just read or looking over at Y/n with puppy eyes trying to get her to help him up, and she did, for like two questions, the hardest ones in the test, because she knew that giving him most of the answers would help no one, not even him.

Once the time was up Y/n and Steve, along with the rest of the class, stood up and left the paper on Mr. Thompson's desk.

"How do you think you did?" Steve asks Y/n as they walked back to their desks and grabbed their bags.

"I think I did pretty good, how about you?"

"I actually think I did decent, but we'll have to see," He tells her as they walk out of the classroom.

"I guess we will," She tells him.

"Thanks again for helping me out with the two questions, I really didn't understand them"

"It's alright, they were a bit hard and took away a lot of points, I'll see you next lesson Harrington," She tells him, as she starts turning around to go to her next class.

"Yep, see you later, Einstein"

Einstein, Steve's famous nickname for Y/n, he came up with it after she started helping him in science, he called her Einstein for two reasons; The first one being the fact that in his eyes she was extremely smart, like genius smart, she didn't personally think she was that good at science, but she knew she was better than average, or at least better than Steve; And the second reason was that Albert Einstein was the only scientist Steve actually knew something about, because if he really wanted to give her a nickname that actually made sense, he would've called her Marie Curie, given the fact Y/n was better at chemistry than physics.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, just like most. Y/n had her lessons, then her breaks, and talked with Robin, it was a simple day, which was all she could really ask for.

"And I mean he doesn't even like her, I don't understand what she can see in him" Robin complained as they walk out of the school.

"I mean most girls probably like him based on looks purely, I bet most haven't even had a proper conversation with him, and come on Robin you can do better than wannabe Madonna anyway," She tells her.

Wanna be Madonna is their nickname for Tammy Thompson, they couldn't just go around the school talking about the girl Robin liked without a worry in the world, someone could hear and that would just be chaos.

"I guess, I mean she's just so pretty, and don't know what but there's just something about her that I find hypnotic almost" Robin explains as they walk to the bus.

"I mean she's pretty, but let's be honest how likely is it for her to be anything else but straight?" She asked Robin, whispering the last part.

"Not likely, like at all, god I'm going to be single forever," She said moving her hands to cover her face in defeat.

"No you won't, Robin I guarantee you that one of these days you're going to meet the girl of your dreams and we'll look back at this moment and laugh about your crush on her, trust me," Y/n says moving her hand to Robin's shoulder.

"I hope so, but we'll see, I'll see you tomorrow, take care weirdo," Robin says as she gets on the bus.

"Goodbye freak" Y/n shouts at her walking away to the middle school.

She sees Dustin and Lucas rushing out of the school towards their bikes, in a panic.

"Hey! What's the rush?" She asks them.

"I-umm, nothing, it's nothing, don't worry" Dustin shouts as they get their bikes and pedal away.

"Well that was weird" She mumbles walking inside the school.

She made her way through the corridor and knocked on her dad's classroom as she walked in.

"Hey dad," She says smiling.

"Hey honey, how did your test go?" He asks her, organising some papers on his desk.

"I think it went well, we get the results next lesson"

"Well, I'm sure you did wonderfully," He tells her.

"Hopefully, how were the boys feeling today?" She asks, taking a pile of the papers.

"Well Mike didn't come to school, his mom called to say he wasn't feeling well, he seems really worried about Will" He explains to her as he gets his bag, grabs the other pile of papers, and starts walking out of the room.

"I can't even imagine how worried they must be, I really hope they find him, have they heard anything?"

"Well apparently Earl saw Will, so I'm going around with some others to help look for him," He tells her, locking the door behind him.

"Can I go? I want to help, I don't want to sit at home doing nothing"

He looked at her unsure, ever since Will's disappearance he had been worried sick about some lunatic going around Hawkins, he was worried about something happening to Y/n, but he also knew it was better to let her do things before she found a way to do them herself.

"Sure, but you'll be with me the whole time, okay?"

"You got it chief" She smiled.

~~~~

"So, what exactly do we need to look for? Apart from a small boy, of course," Y/n asks her dad as they walk through the woods.

The evening was a cold one, but it was early November so it was to be expected, the woods were covered in darkness, the only thing giving them light being the flashbacks they had. There were at least fifty people around looking for Will, so hopefully, they could find something.

"Well, we need to look out for anything that might give us a clue to someone being around here, maybe blood, some clothes, an object of his" He explains looking around the ground for anything.

Y/n nods looking around as well but stops when she sees a small hole, she wasn't sure if it was part of the sewers or if it led somewhere else, so she kneeled down in front of it as she looked inside, the space was small but big enough for a small kid to go through it.

"Will!" She shouts, she waits for a response, but there's none, and then she sees it, a ripped-out piece of clothing.

"Dad! Dad! I found something!" She says, Scott immediately turns to her kneeling down.

"What is it?" He asks.

"Look, it's like someone came out from here and ripped a piece of their shirt, don't you think?" She questions.

"Maybe," He says, he takes his whistle and alerts the Chief of police Hopper that they found something.

"Hey, what do you got?" Hopper asks as he runs up to them.

"Not sure," Scott tells him.

"I found this, in there," Y/n tells him, handing him the ripped piece of shirt.

"No way a kid can crawl through there" Officer Powell says, looking inside.

"I don't know, a scared enough one might, his brother said he was good at hiding," Hopper told him.

"And he's small, I could see him fitting through there" Y/n adds, "Do you think it could be Will's?"

"I don't know kid, we'll have to see," Hopper says standing up and walking away.

Thank you for reading!

[rootspiral]

Agatha All Along deep dive: episode 3 part 1

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][+1] ep5 [1][2][3][4][5] ep6 [1][2][3] ep7 [1][2][3][4][5][6] ep8 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] ep9 [1][2][3][4][5][6])

hey hey, it's episode 3 Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials and we're on the Road, witches!

Agatha knew All Along (that Billy created the Road), evidence number 1 out of 646132.

And see how they added black bars in this episode? They're getting ready to switch aspect ratio like they did in Wandavision

but like, she's not wrong. you see that sharon's not wrong, don't you? she has been kidnapped by witches. again.

agatha's grimace when they say it's all her fault. which a) it totally is and b) she never expects other witches to be supportive of her anyway

oh sharon, you beautiful fish out of water. we all laugh at her, meanwhile she's PANICKING. HARD.

this particular group needs to figure out how to do that first, Billy. but hey, they'll get there. sort of.

Jen, looking directly at agatha: why is this MAGICLESS HELPLESS lady coming with us on a deadly mission, whose sick idea was this? she has no business being here!

Sharon, her voice drowned by everyone else: see that's what I've been trying to tell you~

Agatha deflecting hard, like the coward she is: HEY THIS IS MY GOOD FRIEND MRS HART YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT

a very scared coven looks at agatha for answers, because she's the only one who's ever been on the Road.

agatha, who's never fucking been on the Road and made up the whole thing: I've bullshitted my way into this mess, I'll bullshit my way out of it. live laugh love bitches!

I'm looking at this scene clearly for the first time now that I've brightened it, and wow, the others are worried, but sharon looks so scared, always so scared

billy is having the time of his life, and you'd think agatha would step in at some point and warn him about what he's done. but nah. let's wait and see. as long as she's covering her own ass.

lilia looking at billy's sigil like, damn that's some neat handiwork, wonder who did that. she sounds like a cool witch.

agatha totally insults stuff when she's impressed with it like some cheap anime tsundere

lies.

but see how she puts her whole body between billy and the others? super protective mama

HOW COULD YOU GUYS LOSE HER SO QUICKLY. it's funny and all, but this is exactly how she'll die: they'll forget about her until it's too late.

it's so clever what they're doing with sharon, and it's so clever that they chose debra jo rupp for it, because she's so delightfully funny. I've talked already about how the comedy in the first few episodes is deceptive. sharon is living in a horror movie and you're not supposed to see it quite yet.

you think she's a funny old lady upset about losing her purse. you think maybe she's gonna find out she's magical and join the coven, who knows! so much fun, so many possibilities! you don't think that this is a woman in her 70s who was brutally tortured by a witch only a few years back, you forgot the lesson from wandavision. this evening she was tending her garden and now she's god knows where with a bunch of those very witches she's sure to be terrified of, kidnapped by a neighbor she thought she could trust. think about that, she's not going home, ever. I'll elaborate more at the end of the episode, but this is a show about the inevitability of death. sharon is like nicky, doomed by the narrative, and it'll take you two or three or four rewatches to fully see it and to make your peace with it.

alice tenderheart, alice braveheart jumps to the rescue with no hesitation. she is a protection witch. she protects.

agatha stands in the back and (pretends she) doesn't care, like some asshole.

hey agatha, hey agatha? fuck you. fuck you agatha.

she's pulling all this out of her ass. she might as well be doing fart noises right now

my headcanon is that this is where Billy dreams to retire with Boyf in their golden years. you know he thinks about that sort of stuff

thank you to @friedwizardwhispers for pointing out that agatha is also in awe of the Road and the magic it took to create it. she is! look at her here, she's scared but also excited, she's fundamentally a nerd who's always hungry to learn and discover more about magic and spellcraft. she hates the witch community but she's also obsessed with it

now look at this sequence: agatha demonstrates once again that she knows Billy is behind all of this. only she goes about it with hints and metaphors because - you know - she's a damn fucking coward

sharon has gone through all the stages of grief in twenty minutes: denial (this is a kidnapping!), anger (this came from talbots, you can't have it!) bargain (okay, okay, okay, catching my breath, okay), depression (I don't know how do you expect me to walk and walk and walk when there is nowhere to walk to!) aaand now she's accepted her fate. time to get drunk. and die.

"That would be such a bummer." WOULD IT NOW BILLY. WOULD IT BE SUCH A BUMMER IF SHARON DIED SO SENSELESSLY? WOULD IT SEND AUDIENCES THROUGH ALL FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF TOO IF SHE WAS KILLED LIKE THAT??? IT'S ALMOST AS IF THEY'RE DOING IT ON PURPOSE OR SMTH BILLY

what I'm saying is, the writers are truly basking in some cruel irony right now. especially considering that billy is going to feel so responsible about sharon's death

the others look back at the house, agatha is the only one looking at billy, she's the only one who understands the implications of the exchange between billy and sharon. I imagine her process being something like "this is really going to hurt the kid later -> should I say something? -> should I step in? -> should i...? -> ... ->nah"

so the moon in the sky and the color of the leaves on the Road depend on the trial? is that why they were blue just now? I need to pay more attention to stuff like that

sharon takes a deep breath, sighs, goes into the house last.

sudden aspect ratio change! not my favorite outfits, but I love those pants on kathryn

see you tomorrow peeps ❤️

go to episode 3 part 2

[kaely1916]

NEVER AGAIN 🫂

Context: Edwin had to spend a few days with the night nurse to handle some paperwork needed to get his permit to officially work in the lost and found department. Charles was far from happy about it.

"So, let me get this straight. You're going with the night nurse to do some paperwork?"

"That's what I told you, yes."

"And you plan to go alone?"

"I was planning on it, yes."

"Without Charles?"

"I do think I understand the meaning of the word 'alone.' Do you, Crystal?"

"Very funny, but you know what I mean. Charles will freak out if you leave him here alone."

"He'll be fine."

"He certainly won't. You weren't here when the Cat King kidnapped you for hours, remember?"

"I understand that we're quite protective of each other."

"Codependent is the word you're looking for."

"Well, in that case, this will be a good exercise, won't it?"

"If you say so. Just mark my words, Charles isn't going to be happy about you going away alone."

"Edwin is going away alone to where?!"

"Told you so!"

"I just need to take care of some documents with the night nurse in her department."

"Okay? Then I'll go with you."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible. She specifically requested only me, without any distractions."

"Come on, mate. You can't just leave me here alone. For how long?"

"Umm, it's a lot of paperwork, so let's say... like three—"

"Hours?!"

"Days, Charles."

"WHAAAT?!"

"Charles, do not overreact."

"dO nOt OvErReAcT? Mate, I haven't spent a day without you in 30 years, and I'm not starting now!"

"I'm afraid we have no other choice... Besides, maybe this will do us some good."

"W-what are you..."

"Being apart will give us time to think and breathe after... everything that's happened. Something I really need. Please?"

"...O-okay... if you say so."

"Everything will be fine. You won't even notice I'm gone."

"Y-yeah, sure thing, mate..."

Day 1

Charles definitely noticed Edwin's absence. During the day, things were manageable with Crystal and Jenny keeping him company, but at night, when the girls were asleep, Charles missed his partner by his side—reading to him, talking...

Man, he really missed Edwin.

Day 2

Charles was climbing the walls. Everything felt wrong. He should be with Edwin. What if something happened to him again, like the Cat King incident again, or another witch again, or hell coming back for him again again????

*Jenny watched as Charles paced around the room like a maniac.*

"What the hell is wrong with him?"

"He has attachment issues"

"I DO NOT have attachment issues!"

"Just ignore him. The separation anxiety makes him moody."

Day 3

Just one more day, just one more day and Edwin would be back. Yesterday, Crystal had almost locked him in the office to stop him from trying to find Edwin, making him promise he'd behave. He just needed to wait a little longer, just a little longer.

Day 4

Charles was a little disappointed that Edwin wasn't back at midnight. The three days were over, right? But no, instead he had to deal with a client that morning until Crystal's voice startled him.

"Oh, he's already here. Oi, Charles, Edwin—"

But Charles wasn't there anymore. He had just passed through the floor and the next thing Crystal saw was him sprinting towards Edwin, who was calmly walking to the agency.

But then, he noticed Charles and ran to meet him halfway. They embraced tightly, gripping each other with a strength that Crystal thought might hurt if they could feel it.

"What a pair of idiots"

Meanwhile, Charles buried his face in Edwin's neck, fighting back tears, while Edwin sighed in relief.

"N-never again."

"Hmm... Never again."

[doctorbitchcrxft]

No Exit | Supernatural Series Rewrite | Dean Winchester x Reader

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader (Eventual ? )

Warnings: Jo and reader are dicks to each other, canon violence, canon gore

Word Count: 5754

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You and the Winchester boys had been hunkered down in the rooms Ellen told you about the first time she met you for a few days now. You were grateful for her generosity while you and the brothers tried to pin down your next move with the demon or another hunt, but you were going stir crazy. You sat on the hood of the Impala under the shade of a tree pouring through newspapers. Sam and Dean approached you after a few hours of you researching.

“What are you doing to my baby?” Dean asked you.

“Dee, she’s fine, we’re bonding,” you said, tapping the spot next to you on the hood. “Nothing’s dented or broken; promise.”

He gave you a skeptical look but said nothing else.

“ ‘Sides, I was getting ready to come get you anyway,” you said, hopping down. “I think I got something. Los Angeles, California.”

“What’s in L.A.?” Sam asked.

“Young girl's been kidnapped by an evil cult,” you smirked.

“Yeah? Girl got a name?” 

“Katie Holmes.”

Dean chuckled, and a grin spread across your face. 

“Seriously, though, it’s like all things supernatural disappeared off the face of the earth,” you continued.

Dean turned his head toward the Roadhouse at the sound of a glass breaking. “Ooh, catfight.”

You grimaced and followed the boys into the bar cautiously. Ellen and Jo were arguing loudly about Jo wanting to go off and Ellen wanting her to stay at the Roadhouse or go back to school. She stopped shouting when she noticed you. “Guys, bad time.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Sam said. The three of you turned to leave.

Dean got one more quip in, saying, “Yeah, we rarely drink before ten anyway.”

“Funny, let’s go,” you deadpanned, grabbing his jacket lightly and pulling him to the door.

“Wait. I wanna know what they think about this,” Jo said.

At the sound of the creaking front door, you turned to see a family with two kids under three walking in wearing bright yellow “Nebraska is for Lovers” t-shirts.

Ellen continued to yell despite the customers that had entered. “I don't care what they think!”

The father of the two young kids cut Ellen off. “Are you guys open?”

Jo yelled, “No!” and her mother yelled, “Yes!”

The dad grimaced and shrank away. “We’ll just… check out the Arby’s down the road.”

The phone rang as the family left, and Ellen went to answer it. Jo turned to you and the brothers; her gaze mostly focused on Dean, per usual. 

“Three weeks ago, a young girl disappears from a Philadelphia apartment.” She shoved a file at Dean. Dean looked down at it strangely.  “Take it, it won't bite,” she said.

“No, but your mom might,” he responded.

Jo’s lips pinched, still holding out the folder. He took it reluctantly as Jo continued explaining. “And this girl wasn't the first. Over the past eighty years six women have vanished. All from the same building, all young blondes. Only happens every decade or two so cops never eyeball the pattern. So we're either dealing with one very old serial killer, or—”

Dean flipped through it and cut her off. “Who put this together? Ash?"

Jo smiled proudly. “I did it myself.”

Dean hummed, impressed, and you took the folder from him. You flipped through it, secretly hoping to find holes in it somewhere, but you couldn’t at first glance. You were impressed, too, much to your chagrin.

“I gotta admit. We hit the road for a lot less,” Sam added.

“Good. You like the case so much, you take it,” Ellen stated.

“Mom!”

“Joanna Beth, this family has lost enough. And I won't lose you too. I just won't.”

Your gaze softened as you took in Ellen’s grief-stricken features. You could completely empathize with how that felt. And so, you and the brothers set off. 

***

“I feel kind of bad, snaking Jo's case,” Sam said as the three of you stalked around the deceased’s apartment.

“I don’t,” you said. “Her mom’s only trying to protect her.”

“Exactly. Maybe she put together a good file,” Dean added, “but could you see her out here working one of these things? I don't think so.”

You pulled out your EMF meter and continued walking around the very nice apartment. “What I wouldn’t give to have one of these,” you muttered. “You getting anything?”

“No, not yet,” replied Sam. Just as he spoke, you heard his meter beeping. He leaned over to something in front of him, and you walked over.

“What's that?” you asked.

“What?” Dean came up behind you as Sam reached down to the lightswitch and lightly touched it.

“Holy crap,” the younger Winchester said.

Dean reached forward, too. “That's ectoplasm. Well, Sam, I think I know what we're dealing with here. It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.”

You snickered. “Can we get through one hunt without a Ghostbusters reference, please?”

“Never.”

“Guys, focus, please,” Sam deadpanned. “I've only seen this stuff, like, twice. I mean, to make this stuff you have to be one majorly pissed off spirit.”

“Alright, let's find this badass before he snags any more girls,” Dean said. You followed him out of the apartment and immediately had to cling to a wall to avoid being seen by the approaching voices. Your face fell when you realized one of the voices was Jo’s.

“It is so spacious.” Her voice was getting closer. “You know, my friend told me I absolutely have to come check it out, and I have to admit, she was right. You did a really good job with this place.”

Dean stepped out suddenly. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“There you are, honey,” Jo grinned, wrapping an arm around Dean’s waist. You could’ve killed her.  “This is my boyfriend Dean, and his buddies, Sam and (Y/N).”

“Good to meetcha,” the landlord said. “Quite a gal you've got here.”

Dean smacked her ass roughly, trying to convey his frustration to her. “Oh yeah, she's a pistol.”

“So, did you already check out that apartment? The one for rent,” Jo asked Dean.

“Yeah. Yes. Loved it. Heh. Great flow.”

“How'd you get in?” the landlord asked.

Dean swallowed harshly. “It was open.”

“Now, Ed, um, when did the last tenant move out?” Jo grinned back at the landlord.

“Oh, about a month ago. Cut and run, too. Stuck me for the rent.”

“Well. Her loss, our gain! 'Cause if Dean-o loves it, it's good enough for me.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Dean gritted through his teeth, smacking her again.

Jo pulled out a wad of cash. “We’ll take it.”

The landlord’s eyes widened, and he immediately brought you back to the front office to get a key.

***

You paced around the lovely apartment furiously at Jo re-hijacking the hunt you’d hijacked from her. 

“I’ll flip you for the sofa,” she said to you.

“Does your mom even know you’re here?” you asked.

“Told her I was going to Vegas.”

You scoffed. “She’s not stupid, She’s not gonna buy that.”

“I'm not an idiot,” Jo challenged. “I got Ash to lay a credit card trail all the way to the casinos.”

Dean took your humorless laugh as an opportunity to jump in before you got any uglier. “You know, you shouldn't lie to your mom. Shouldn't be here, either.”

“Well, I am,” she said. “So untwist your boxers and deal with it.”

“Where'd you get all that money from, anyways?” Sam questioned.

She gave a prideful smile. “Working. At the Roadhouse.”

“Hunters don’t tip that well,” Dean replied.

“Well, they aren't that good at poker, either,” she smirked.

‘Take away her immaturity, inexperience, rashness, and massive crush on Dean, I probably could be friends with her,’ you thought.

Dean’s cell phone rang. “Yeah?” He answered, still glaring at Jo. “Oh, hi, Ellen.” Dean and Jo had a furious muttered argument before he said, “I haven’t seen her” back into the phone. “Yeah, I'm sure… Absolutely.” Dean hung up, and Jo grinned cheerfully.

“Why didn’t you tell her?” you hissed at Dean. “Ellen’s gonna murder us.”

“Seriously?” Jo folded her arms at you. “You’re scared of my mom?”

“No,” you spat back. “I just don’t wanna babysit the whole time I’m trying to hunt.”

“(Y/N), stop it,” Sam warned.

“Me? This chick has a death wish, and I need to ‘stop it’?” you snarked. “I’m going to get some air.” You stomped out of the room, Dean trailing behind you.

“(Y/N), where are you going?” he asked.

“Away,” you snorted. “She’s pissing me off. I’m not hunting with her.”

He grabbed your arm. “I’m not happy, either, but what’s this really about?”

You felt caught. “What?”

“You heard me. What’s goin’ on? You’re normally the one who has to talk me off the ledge. Not the other way around,” he said.

You lowered your voice. “I don’t trust her,” you began. “I don’t trust her to have any of our backs. All she’s tried to do thus far is get in your pants and act like an immature brat.

"She has potential, sure, and she’s smart, but she’s not one of us. And I have no idea what her skillset is. She pointed a rifle at you one time; we’ve never seen her use one. She could be an awful shot. And she has no idea how to actually kill anything. She’s, what, twenty-one, twenty-two? She didn’t grow up hunting. She has no experience.

"She doesn’t belong here. And you not telling Ellen she’s here was a huge mistake. Because now, she’s our responsibility. And like I said, I’m not babysitting. If it’s between you or Sam, and her, I’m saving you and Sam every time.”

Dean smirked down at you.

“What?” you hissed.

“You’re jealous,” he said simply.

“Seriously? Did you hear anything else I said?” You crossed your arms and quirked a brow.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I did, and I agree. I’ll watch her if you’ll watch Sam, okay? No blood on your hands if something happens to her,” he replied.

You shook your head. “No, Dean, I don’t like that, either—”

Dean smirked down at you. “What, don’t you trust me?”

“Of course, I do,” you replied. “I don’t trust her.”

He chuckled. “I think you said that already.”

“Just—” you huffed. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Dean snorted. “C’mon, it’s me we’re talking about. I’ll be fine. Will you come back and be civil now?” he asked.

“No promises.”

“Okay, I guess we’re doing this, then.” He raised his pinky at you, and you rolled your eyes.

“I can’t make a pinky promise I can’t keep,” you replied.

“That’s the point. You have to, so I know you’ll be civil.” Dean looked down at you, a challenge in his eyes and a smile plastered on his face.

“But—” you tried.

“No.”

“Dean,” you groaned but locked pinkies with him nonetheless.

“See, was that so hard?” he smirked down at you.

“You can’t use my own thing against me,” you said as you headed back to the apartment. “That’s against the rules of pinky promises.”

“Oh, there’s rules now?” Dean questioned playfully.

“There are when I say there are,” you responded flippantly, opening the door to the apartment.

Jo and Sam turned to face you, and you suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable. 

“Look, Jo—” you started.

“Save it. It’s fine,” she replied.

“Well, okay, then,” you mumbled, softly enough that only Dean could hear you mocking her. 

Dean gave you a warning look. “(Y/N).”

“I know, I know.”

***

You sat at the table with your laptop next to Sam as Dean paced around the room. Jo had been flipping her little knife around for the last thirty minutes while she looked over the blueprints for the apartment.

“This place was built in 1924. It was originally a warehouse, converted into apartments a few months ago,” she explained.

“Yeah? What was here before 1924?” Dean questioned.

“Nothing. Empty field.”

“So, most likely scenario, someone died bloody in the building, and now he's back and raising hell,” Sam added.

Jo shook her head. “I already checked. In the past eighty-two years, zero violent deaths. Unless you count a janitor who slipped on a wet floor.” She looked up to Dean. “Would you sit down, please?”

Dean sat hesitantly at the head of the table, eyeing Jo guardedly. “So, have you checked police reports, county death records—”

“Obituaries, mortuary reports and seven other sources. I know what I'm doing,” she said.

“Jury’s still out on that one,” Dean replied. “Could you put the knife down?”

She complied, eyeing him angrily. He glared back.

Sam huffed. “Okay! So, uh, it's something else, then. Maybe some kind of cursed object that brought a spirit with it.”

“Meh, unless somebody’s got a relic from an Egyptian tomb, I’m not sure a cursed object has the kind of spirit power necessary to make ectoplasm,” you said. 

Jo completely ignored you. “Well, we've got to scan the whole building. Everywhere we can get to, right?”

“Right. So. You and me, we'll take the top two floors,” Dean said firmly. “Sam and (Y/N)’ll take the bottom two.”

“We'd move faster if we split up,” the blonde tried.

“Oh, this isn't negotiable,” Dean responded. 

***

You and Sam returned to the room way sooner than Dean and Jo did. The two of you found nothing of particular interest, unfortunately, and opted to just sprawl out on the couch and floor watching a rerun of Seinfeld. 

“I just wanted to tell you,” Sam began, “I don’t think you’re wrong about Jo. Just… tone it down a bit. My brother’s dickish enough to her.”

You sighed. “Dean made me pinky promise I would be civil, so you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

He scoffed. “My brother made you pinky promise?”

You giggled. “I introduced him to the concept.”

“What have you done to him?” Sam chuckled sarcastically. 

You shook your head. “I have no idea. I don’t know what he’s doing to me, either.”

Sam paused. “Have you… talked about it at all?”

You nodded your head from side to side as if to say, “sorta.” “I just don’t think now’s the right time. I mean, after your dad, I don’t wanna take advantage of that or him to use me as a distraction.”

He nodded in understanding. “I get it. But… I also don’t think Dean would use you.”

You shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.” You paused. “How are you holding up, by the way? We haven’t had much of an opportunity to hang out one-on-one recently.”

“Honestly? Not great,” he sighed. “I’m scared, man. I don’t know what’s happening or how to stop it. And I think my dad died thinking I hate him.” Tears began to well in his eyes. “I never should’ve said those things to him.”

You got up from the floor and went to sit next to him. You reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing firmly. “If it helps at all, I think my dad died thinking the same. And that feeling goes away after a while. I think both our dads knew that despite our many, many, many issues with each other, the bottom line is, we loved each other a lot.”

He squeezed your hand back and looked at you with sad, puppy-dog eyes. “I hope you’re right.”

The door opened to reveal Dean and Jo bickering and Dean’s fist clenched around a clump of blonde hair with skin attached to it. 

You giggled. “What, you hate each other that much that you ripped a piece of Jo’s hair out?”

Dean deadpanned, “No, smartass. We found this in a vent.”

Your stomach dropped. “Oh. Gross.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Dean grumbled. He opened the trash can in the room and dumped it inside.

“Alright, it’s getting late,” Jo stated. “Who’s sleeping where? There’s four of us, two beds, and a couch.”

“(Y/N) and I’ll take a bed,” Dean said casually almost immediately. “Sam’ll take the other. Jo, you got the couch.”

The three of you were stunned at Dean and his adamancy. 

Oh-kay,” Jo said, still shocked. 

“C’mon,” Dean said, jerking his head toward one of the rooms. He picked up your duffel bags and headed off.

You followed behind, saying “Goodnight, guys,” and shut the door behind you. You tapped the sides of your thighs with your palms as you stayed firmly planted by the door.

Dean seemed to feel a little awkward, too, and blew out a breath. “Was this… uh, okay?”

You nodded. “Yeah! Yeah. Sure. Why not? We’re adults. We’re friends. We can share a bed. No big.”

He chuckled. “You sure? You ramble when you’re nervous.”

“Nervous?” you laughed awkwardly. “Why would I be nervous?” He raised a brow at you, and you took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’ve just… I’ve never… Hunting’s lonely. Even when I did hook up, I’d leave before I fell asleep.”

Dean seemed stunned. “Really? Why?”

“I don’t know, it just… felt too intimate, I guess? And I’ve never had anybody I seriously cared about that I’d want to experience that with,” you explained, sitting on the foot of the bed and kicking off your shoes.

His voice quieted considerably. “You sure you’re okay with this?”

You nodded. He seemed to understand what that meant, though both of you refused to talk about it. 

Dean showered, as did you, and then you climbed into bed next to one another. The two of you seemed to have scooted to the far edges of the bed, facing away from each other. After several minutes in silence, Dean spoke up.

“(Y/N)?” he murmured.

“Yeah?” 

“C’mere.” 

You could feel yourself getting flustered as you shuffled over to Dean, who now laid in the center of the bed. He opened his arms and wrapped them around you, allowing you to lay on his chest. You rested your hand on his stomach, and he took in a sharp breath.

“Should’ve cleaned the pipes,” he muttered.

You scoffed. “Perv,” and moved your arm across his stomach completely. You settled into him and drifted off to the most peaceful sleep you’d had in a while.

***

The next time you awoke, you felt arms around you, and you tensed. It took you a second to remember Dean was sleeping soundly next to you. His arms held tighter when he felt you shift, and you turned your face toward his. You smiled sadly at his beautiful, peaceful face, knowing this hunt would be the only time for quite a while that you’d get to wake up to him. You closed your eyes and nuzzled back into him, only to feel him groan above you; beginning to awaken.

“Morning,” he said. His sleepy voice was incredibly attractive. His arms didn’t move from around you.

A smile spread across your face. “G’morning. How’d you sleep?”

“Great, actually,” he admitted. He almost looked sad and regretful as he looked down at you.

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

“You’re confusing me again,” Dean said.

You looked away from him, understanding. Your face fell, too. “You’re confusing me, too.”

“I want to… be more to you so bad,” he began, “but I can’t. I’m tired, (Y/N). I’m so fucking tired. I’m tired of this job, I’m tired of dealing with my dad, I’m tired of… all of it.”

“I know,” you said. “So, what do you want us to do? Do you— Do you want me to leave?”

“No, god, no,” he said quickly. “I don’t know what I want.”

You snorted. “Well, what is it you don’t want? Why don’t we start there?”

He considered for a moment. “I don’t wanna lose you.”

“You won’t,” you immediately said.

“Will you let me finish?”

“Sorry.”

He sighed. “I don’t wanna name and claim anything right now. I don’t wanna be just your best friend, but I also— I don’t think I can—” Dean paused and took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t be able to give you what I want to give you right now. I can’t be what you deserve.”

“Dean,” you said. “This is a very low-pressure situation. I know you and I can’t go there right now. I know that. And… I want to, too. I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about… anybody else.” You swallowed tensely, not sure if you’d said too much. “I— I want you to heal. And I know you’re tired. And I know it’s awful. And I hope that one day, I can make things better for you. But I also know that you have to fix you first. But until then, we can just be us. I won’t initiate anything. I need you to come to me when you’re ready. And until then, we’ll just be you and me.”

He nodded. “Thanks.”

You smiled softly. “Always.”

***

After you and Dean talked things over a bit, you learned from Sam that another girl had died. Dean was off to investigate the room while you, Sam, and Jo researched. Jo wouldn’t look at you with anything but disgust after you spent the night with Dean. Her schoolgirl-ish crush was beginning to really just annoy you more than make you jealous.

Dean burst through the door. “Teresa Ellis, Apartment 2F. Boyfriend reported her missing around dawn.”

“And her apartment?” Jo questioned.

“Cracks all over the plaster, walls, ceiling. There was ectoplasm, too.”

“Well, between that and that tuft of hair, I'd say this sucker's coming from the walls,” Sam added.

“But who is it? Building's history is totally clean,” Dean reminded you.

There were various pictures and blueprints from Jo’s file spread across the table between you, Sam, and Jo. You picked up a picture of the field where the apartments now stood. Next to it was a building with bars on its windows. “Check this out. We’re next door to a prison.” 

“Nice going, (Y/N),” Sam grinned. 

Jo pulled out her phone. “I’ll call Ash—”

“No,” you shook your head, standing. “Let me figure this one out. Something about this is sounding really familiar to me, and it’s gonna bother me if I’m not the one to nail it down.”

“And what a shame that would be,” Jo snarked.

You glared at her as you continued to pace around the room. “Blonde hair, in the walls, prison, field, Philadelphia…” you murmured to yourself. You repeated it over and over to yourself until something struck you. “H. H. Holmes,” you breathed. “Holy shit.”

“What? What about him?” Sam questioned, straightening in his seat.

“That was his whole thing! He was really, and I mean, really into blondes— though, he’d kill just about anybody— had his whole ‘murder castle’ thing in Chicago, and the feds tracked him all the way to Boston. They brought him back to Philly, and he was hanged. Hence, field. Fields next to old prisons were almost always used for hangings,” you explained.

“What do you mean, ‘murder castle’?” Jo questioned. “And how do you know all this?”

“I like true crime,” you shrugged. “He built all these fake walls, fake hallways; his place was a fucking maze. Acid vats, trap doors, quicklime pits all up in his basement— although most of that was probably sensationalized— but anyway, this guy was a complete freak. ‘Multi-murderer’ was first used to describe him before they knew what serial killers were. He confessed to twenty-seven murders, but he probably killed over a hundred. He, uh, he used chloroform to kill his victims.”

Dean nodded, “Which is what I smelled in the hallway last night.”

“At his place,” you continued, “cops found human remains, bone fragments, and long locks of bloody blonde hair.”

Dean snickered at Jo. “Boy, you sure know how to pick 'em.”

“Well, we just find the bones, salt 'em and burn 'em, right?” she said, anxiously.

“Nope. His body’s in town encased in a couple tons of concrete,” you responded.

“What, why?” she asked.

“Didn’t want anybody fuckin’ with his corpse. ‘Cause, y’know, that’s what he did,” you cringed. 

“Wait, (Y/N), that means Teresa could still be alive. Inside the walls,” Sam added.

You nodded. “Yeah. Poor girl.”

“We need sledgehammers, crowbars. We've got to smash these walls; anywhere thick enough to hide a girl,” Dean barked out, hurriedly moving around the apartment.

***

You went with Sam, and Dean went with Jo as he promised you he would. Sam couldn’t get too far into the crawl-spaces of the walls, and you insisted on pressing forward. If you could get through, then the space was big enough to hide a girl. 

“(Y/N), holler if you need, okay?” Sam called to you.

“I’m good, dude, I promise. But you do the same.” You continued to wriggle through winding, claustrophobia-inducing corridors till you came face to face with the man himself; H. H. Holmes. Although, this version of the famed serial killer was a lot more gray, decayed, and gaunt than the one you’d seen in pictures. You screamed, “Sam!” before the world went dark.

***

You next awoke in a box that eerily mirrored a coffin; it was made of wood and just big enough for you to lay down in. You pointed your flashlight up at the ceiling to see long, deep, bloodied gashes in the wood; presumably nail marks. You huffed out a shaky breath, collecting yourself, when you noticed a slit in the wood to your right. A noise startled your already shaken mind, and you heard Jo say, “Hello?” You refused to talk, worried that it would upset Holmes even more.

You heard another woman’s voice coming from a different part of the room. “Is- Is anybody there?”

Jo continued talking. “Your name's Teresa? This won't make you feel better, but I'm here to rescue you.”

“Oh, god. He's out there; he's gonna kill us!” Teresa cried.

“No, he won't. We're getting out,” Jo insisted. “My friends are looking for us; they'll find us.”

Footsteps fell eerily nearby, and you could vaguely make out something approaching you.

“Oh, god, he's here!” Teresa sobbed.

“Shh! Just be quiet!” Jo scolded.

‘So much for being quiet, Jo,’ you thought. The next thing you heard was Jo screaming in pain, and you bit the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from calling out to her.

You took a knife out of your belt and began hacking at the wall. You kicked with all your might until you finally started to break through a little. Suddenly, a man’s mouth appeared at the opening you were making in the wood. 

“You're so pretty. So beautiful,” the spirit cooed, reaching in your cell to stroke your cheek. You cringed and turned away, groaning in disgust. You turned back and stabbed it with your knife, the spirit crying out before disappearing again. You went back to kicking and hacking at the door with even more force than before. At long last, the paneling came loose, and you laughed in relief. You pried the rest of the paneling away from the wall and rolled out onto the floor, catching yourself before you toppled over completely. When you stood and dusted off your hands, Holmes appeared behind you and clasped a hand over your mouth. You kicked and struggled against him, screaming behind his hand muffling you. You wrestled with him a bit more before the spirit suddenly let you go. He disappeared completely when you heard a gunshot go off.

“(Y/N)!” Dean ran into the room, holding a shotgun.

You breathed out a sigh of relief. “Holy shit, I’m so happy to see you.” You ran to him and wrapped your arms around him.

“Um, little help, here!” Jo said from her box. 

You ran to the wall next to her and picked up a crowbar lying nearby. You began prying the cell open, groaning strenuously as you did so. When it finally released, you helped Jo down. “You okay?” you asked her.

“Been better. Let's get the hell out of here before he comes back,” she answered.

“I’m not leaving here just yet,” you said.

“(Y/N), no—” Dean protested firmly. He seemed to understand what you were doing.

“What other plan do you have, Dean?” “Wait, what’s going on here?” Jo questioned.

“(Y/N)’s gonna use herself as bait,” he explained. 

“What, would you rather Jo be bait? I don’t think so,” you said flippantly. “Now, get them out of here.” You gestured to Sam to help a frightened Teresa and Jo out of the room. 

***

You sat in the center of the room completely unmoving. You sat cross-legged, breathing evenly. You’d learned long ago how to steel yourself to these situations. You grinned slightly when Holmes began to approach you. When he got very close, Dean yelled, “Now!” and Sam and Dean began shooting the bags of salt you’d strung up to the ceiling to create a perfect circle of salt around the spirit. You ran out of the circle, leaving Holmes trapped inside. He wailed and growled at you, running around the salt circle pathetically.

“Scream all you want, you dick, but there's no way you're stepping over that salt!” you laughed coldly.

You and the brothers climbed back up out of the sewer and closed the grate, fully silencing Holmes’ howls.

***

“So? This job as glamorous as you thought it would be?” Sam asked Jo as the three of you stood over the top of the closed sewer..

“Well, except for all the pee-your-pants terror, yeah. Sure. But that Teresa girl's gonna live a life because of us. It's worth it, isn't it?” Jo replied.

You nodded. “Yeah. It is.”

“Hey, what if somebody finds that sewer down there, or a storm washes the salt away?” she questioned.

Sam chuckled. “Both very fine points. Which is why we're waiting here.”

“For what?”

As if on cue, you heard the beeping of a large truck backing up. You grinned over your shoulder at Dean backing up the cement truck he’d stolen, and motioned for him to stop when the spout lined up over the sewer’s entrance.

Dean got out of the cab and came to stand next to you.

“You ripped off a cement truck?” Jo scoffed.

“We’ll give it back,” you shrugged. You turned a lever on the side of the truck and watched the cement pour down into the entrance. 

“Well, that oughta keep him down there till hell freezes over,” Dean grinned.

***

As you and the brothers were heading out with Jo in tow, Ellen appeared at the entrance of the apartments, intense anger bubbling just under the surface. You and the boys cringed at the sight of her.

“Mom—” Jo began.

“Not now.”

She forced the five of you to ride back to the Roadhouse in complete silence. Ellen sat in the front seat, staring blankly ahead, and you were sandwiched between Jo and Sam in the back.

Dean chuckled awkwardly. “Boy, you– you really weren't kidding about flying out, were you?”

“You told her?!” you couldn’t help but blurt out.

Ellen scowled at you in the rearview mirror. You shrunk under her gaze. 

“How about we listen to some music?” Dean flicked the radio on. Ellen immediately reached forward and flicked the radio off.

You looked up to Dean, who looked back to you.

“This is gonna be a long drive,” he muttered.

***

Ellen dragged her daughter into the Roadhouse by her elbow, and you and the brothers followed closely.

“Ellen? This is my fault. Okay?” Dean tried. “I lied to you and I'm sorry. But Jo did good out there. I think her dad would be proud.”

Ellen whipped around, angrily commanding, “Don't you dare say that. Not you. I need a moment with my daughter. Alone.”

The three of you left and loitered around in silence for the next few minutes. Jo stormed out of the Roadhouse soon after, tossing a glance to Dean to incentivize him to follow her.

“That bad, huh?” he asked as he walked after her.

“Not right now.”

“What happened? Hey, talk to me.” He grabbed her arm and spun her around.

Jo immediately jerked her arm out of Dean's grasp. “Get off me!”

“Sorry. See you around,” he said, turning back to you and Sam.

“Dean,” Jo’s broken voice called.

He turned back to the blonde.

“It turns out my dad had a partner on his last hunt. Funny, he usually worked alone; this guy did too, but,” she swallowed her forming tears, “I guess my father figured he could trust him. Mistake. Guy screwed up, got my dad killed.”

The older brother’s face scrunched up. “What does this have to do with—”

“It was your father, Dean.”

Dean scoffed. “What?”

“Why do you think John never came back? Never told you about us? Because he couldn't look my mom in the eye after that, that's why,” Jo spat.

“Jo—” Dean tried.

“Just... just get out of here. Please, just leave.”

The three of you did as Jo asked. You headed back to Bobby’s to regroup and find yourselves another hunt. Dean was silent on the multi-hour-long drive back. When you stopped at Bobby’s house, Sam went inside. Dean stayed seated in his car, and you stayed with him.

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

He scoffed. “ ‘What’s wrong’? Did you hear anything Jo said?”

“I did, I just wanted to see what’s goin’ on in your head,” you replied, unfazed by his attitude.

He shook his head and sighed. “If Ellen hated my dad so much and didn’t trust us at all, then why the fuck would she have called my dad in the first place?”

You nodded, getting out of the car; followed by Dean. “Yeah, I don’t get it,” you agreed. “She wants to get involved with your personal family shit and the demon and let us bunk at her place, and then bring up old crap you and Sam weren’t even a part of? I mean, I get that John did something that got ‘im killed, but I really don’t see how that’s your fault.”

“Whatever,” Dean grumbled. “At least we don’t have to babysit anymore.”

You snorted. “That’s one way to look at it, I guess. But you don’t have to pretend you’re not bothered by it. I know you are.”

He scoffed.

“Dean. I know you are. And I also know that I trust you with my life. And you know I don’t trust easily. You are not your father.” You walked up the steps into Bobby’s house, leaving Dean in the junkyard to mull over your words.

Series Rewrite Taglist: @polireader @brightlilith @atcamillanorrman @jrizzelle @insomnia-bookworm @procrastination20 @mrs-liebgott @djs8891 @tiggytaylor @staple-your-mouth @jesstherebel @rach5ive @strawberrykiwisdogog @bruhidkjustwannaread @mxltifxnd0m @sunshine-on-marz @big-ol-boat @mgchaser @capncrankle @chervbs @simpingdeadcharacters @nesnejwritings @stillhere197 @tearsforhan @take-it-on-the-run @iloveyou2mia @maxinehufflepuffprincess @ohgeehowdigethere @seninjakitey @berarenado @s0urw00lf @princessleahorgana @quarterhorse19 @isla-finke-blog @silverdoragon @karacaroldanvers @gayandfairycore @examishbookwyrm @star-yawnznn @real-sharena-h @fandomloverrr @metalmonki @onlyangel-444 @yu-winchester @benniwiththefanni @daisychaingirl @immagods @missmieux @yoongi-holland @littledebbieinabigworld

[inkdemonapologist]

FINALLY got these scribbles from last session of the Cthulhu game scanned in lmao, THINGS HAVE BEEN SO BUSY but cthulhu has been very exciting!!

While looking for some Alan Leroy guy to figure out why the Phantom is following(?) him(?), we asked around with (a) his book club friends and (b) the mob, as one does. Sammy managed to avoid seeing the yellow sign when he realised very quickly what Cool Obscure Book this book club pal might be describing (unlike Jack, a polite boy who does not RAPIDLY AVERT HIS EYES FROM HIS CONVERSATIONAL PARTNER), but did not manage to avoid being hustled off by the mob to talk to The Boss when Henry asked just a few too many questions. it went fine but Sammy was SO STRESSED, HES ALREADY BEEN KIDNAPPED BY GANGSTERS ONCE HE DOESNT WANT TO DO IT AGAIN

also hes still cute in this hat. you should wear hats more often sammy. ANYWAY if you're here for Out of Context quotes from this session, I GOT EM RIGHT HERE UNDER THE CUT:

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[Sammy] He will mention to Henry, something about "Oh boy, dreams are starting up again" kind of thing. [Henry] Yyyyup. [Henry] Don't get possessed again. [Sammy] [Sammy] i dON'T THINK SAMMY KNOWS WHAT TO DO WITH THAT!! The last time he got possessed was BY PROPHET, whom he still shares a body with!! [Henry] Prophet doesn't count! Don't get possessed by anyone else. [Sammy] .... I'LL DO MY BEST, [Sammy] I just like the idea of Henry being like 'don't get possessed' and Sammy just LOOKS at him, like............ I'm already possessed, what are you talking about

[Sammy] Given how these things like to happen on auspicious days, I'm a little worried about New Years,

[Joey] That's exactly the spin he's going to put on it -- Some time off for New Years, and a bonus day off to recover from the celebrations! [Jack] Gotta account for those, now that drinking's back!

[Henry] Oh good, I was really worried Joey would call Norman and get a "who are you?" [Jack] Norman DOES do that, but just because he thinks it's funny. [GM] That's possible, yeah, [Sammy] Oh my gosh. I believe it, is the thing. [GM] I do too, honestly... this might just be a thing that happens.

[GM] And the studio seems normal, and nobody got kidnapped in the night, not even Norman, and Henry's family is safe -- things are doing so good! [Jack] Nobody that we're currently in contact with got kidnapped in the night! [GM] That's true. [Jack] I'm not ruling out Bertrum getting kidnapped. [Jack] ...unrelated to the Carcosa nonsense, he just got kidnapped. [GM] That's what he gets for hanging out with the mob. [Jack] Sorry, I mean, "The Great Bertrum Piedmont." Have to use his full and official title. [GM] That's how you get him un-kidnapped, he just breaks through a wall to correct you. [Jack] *laughing* The Kool-Aid Bert................ [GM] The Great Kool-Aid Piedmont, [Jack] Now that's fanart I don't want to see.

[GM] Welcome back! We've been talking about the Great Bertrum Piedmont Kool-Aid-ing through a wall to correct you about his name. [Sammy] *startled wheezing* Okay, well it sounds like I've missed some really important developments!

[Jack] I think Jack would lean in the direction of like, they wanted to get in touch with him at the charity thing-- aaagh, that's technically not true. He's not the fast talk boy, he's not allowed to, [Sammy] I mean, he CAN fast talk, Henry does it all the time! [Jack] But does he succeed-- [Sammy] Henry's not the Fast Talk Boy but he keeps LYING anyway!!!

[Sammy] I feel like Jack is good at looking worried, and, caring about his fellow man, [Jack] I don't think he has to TRY to look worried??? [Sammy] I don't think Sammy contains these qualities. Sammy looks like he's here to arrest you. [GM] She's actually giving Sammy a concerned look, [Sammy] Sammy is HERE FOR THE PROTECTION MONEY.

[Jack] Well, this was lovely! Time to leave, because Sammy's already... vibrating against the door trying to clip through it.

[Sammy] Sammy's IMMEDIATELY going to tell him about this clarinet with the missing E flat extension. [Sammy] ....and then ALSO mention that he thinks maybe he's seen this guy before.

[Joey] Joey slightly fixes Henry's hair before they head in. [Sammy] (That's a little bit gay, but alright,) [Jack] (I think it's more than a little bit) [Joey] LISTEN, listen, Joey recognises-- [Jack] Linda's out of town! [Joey] --Joey recognises the neighbourhood,

[GM] The door gets opened pretty quickly, but the guy inside actually looks a little like he's suddenly out of his depth, because whatever he was expecting to happen is not what is happening. [Sammy] That's a common reaction to Joey Drew.

[Joey] I feel like it's not going to be a fast talk roll, actually, to make this guy feel like this is NOT a dangerous ask? So I'm gonna go with persuade instead. [GM] Are you going with the tack that you were concerned parties from the event? [Joey] I think, concerned party, perhaps leaning towards the notion that they hit it off well at the party, and -- I'm just turning it into a fast talk, [Joey] *trying again* I think Joey is leaning more into an idea that they are freshly met, but have similar interests? Or... possibly leaning into he's ...a friend of a friend and we're looking into it for that friend? [Sammy] Joey trying NOT to lie is really funny. "Oh well obviously I'll just say -- oh, I guess that's not true; I'll just -- WELL, that's not technically true either," [Joey] ADMITTEDLY, if this does turn into a fast talk roll, using the same roll it's now a BETTER SUCCESS, so, [Sammy] Just really funny how hard it is for Joey to just, HONESTLY REASSURE someone without inventing a whole narrative [Joey] I'M GOOD AT COMING UP WITH STORIES!! I'm not good at... fact-checking them first...

[Joey] Please, if you hear from him, or get any more information, please reach out to us as soon as possible, because the sooner we can prevent this, the better off he'll be -- y'know, that whole thing! [Joey] Do the most heartfelt, emotional connection he can... it's a little gay, but... [Sammy] I fully believe in Joey's ability to extoll the virtues of this man he's never met.

[Sammy] We can just check with Norman, have him peek out the window and see if it looks weird, [Joey] "Hey Norman, is your house in the right location?" [Jack] "Dunno why you called me outside just to tell me that you moved my house!"

[GM] Norman answers the door, and gives you guys a quizzical look. [Henry, out of character] :D Hey, did your house move? [Sammy, in-character] >:/ Did your house move?

[Sammy] Sammy will point out things Jack noticed as being different, as if he also noticed them. [GM] He'll turn back to you, and just kind of observe in a blase sort of way that he's apparently moved. [Jack] I love Norman,,,, [Joey] I love Norman's 89% Sanity score that never gets hit, apparently! [Jack] His sense of humour is actually an indefinite insanity. [Sammy] A constant coping mechanism, [Jack] Can't go insane when you already are!!

[Jack] Jack is, not happy about this, [GM, as Norman] He wonders if you'd like to come in for a housewarming, then.

[Sammy] Sammy's going to just catch her up on, the guy we're looking for read the play, [Sammy] Also, might be a guy that Sammy saw in New Orleans, and that might be why he knew the music?? [Sammy] ALSO, WEIRD THING with his clarinet, he doesn't have the E flat extension that you'd EXPECT HIM TO HAVE? [GM] I think Susie knows enough that she would say that's weird if he's playing seriously. [Jack] I was about to ask if this meant anything to these two-- [Joey] Norman is regaining sanity by watching Sammy rattle on about all this. [GM] He's probably chiming in opinions, too, that are completely not based in any actual musical knowledge -- [Henry] Norman just like "He's missing the E extension? Next he's gonna lose the, the F Shortener!" [GM] "What's the world coming to!" [Sammy] Sammy's giving him the most unamused look, and this is all Norman wanted. [GM] Yeah, yeah, this is how he keeps his sanity high. [Sammy] Just annoy Sammy Lawrence. That's the secret.

[Jack] Good to make sure things aren't going weirder over here-- which, uhhh, [Sammy] Which they are!!

[Sammy] That's smart, but that's also really spooky. Like okay, cool! The whole world has re-written this! Cool cool cool cool cool. [GM] He doesn't seem PLEASED about it, but he seems about normal. [Henry] He seems Norman about it. [Jack] Yeah, Normal Polk. [Jack] *cracking up* He shows up at work the next day and he's called "Normal Ponk." That's his name now.

[Jack] Reality's rewriting itself, wanna kiss about it? [Henry] Ah, Jack's okay again.

[Jack] If this was Fowler, then WHO WAS PHONE????

[GM] Well, okay, first things first, does Joey have Peter's number memorised? [Joey] HM. [Joey] ...I feel like he wouldn't admit it, but yes.

[Joey] Joey says he's going to call Peter back in a minute. And hangs up. [GM] You cut him off in the middle of some sort of response-- [Joey] Cool.

[Joey] He managed to break into a safe once by doing this! [Henry] "Break into" is... a bit of a strong phrasing. [GM] *mumbling* "Get locked inside of,"

[Joey] The main thing is, Do Not Go Alone, because if something happens to Peter... we have no way of tracking down the information that he has! We, we lose, all of his evidence! [Jack] .....and that's the ONLY thing, [Joey] Yup! [Henry] We ALSO lose his, HIM, [Joey] *mumbling* No, no that doesn't matter as much, as evidence, [Joey] It's clearly just, the fact that they lose all the benefits of having a reporter with ghost powers on their side, and NOT Peter himself, that is the issue! [Jack] iTS NOT LIKE HE CARES ABOUT YOU OR ANYTHING!!!

[Jack] *spongebob meme* You like Peter Sunstram, don't you, Joey?

[Joey] Both Henry and Sammy are the best able to get themselves out of a tough, fight-y situation, [Sammy] We can both punch, and Henry has magical power if something supernatural happens... [Joey] Also! Also, neither Joey nor Jack are there to be taken hostage and used against them! [Sammy] ... I think you're actually right. I hate to admit it, but I think you're right. [Jack] I can't wait for Jack to be kidnapped at the magic shop, you guys!

[Henry] I can't believe we're sending the two least talky boys off together to talk to the mob, [Joey] LISTEN. Henry and Sammy can go to the restaurant! Henry likes food! There we go! [GM] I can't believe Joey's just making sure Henry gets a nice meal after his shake-up earlier... [Sammy] I dunno, maybe Peter should come with us, just in ghost form. Henry can see him, potentially, [Jack] So Pete's body can... Not be where he left it when he gets back to it! [Sammy] ....hm, [Joey] *startled laughter* [Sammy] ....okay, nevermind,... [Jack] Just leave him in the car, what could go wrong! That's not disappeared MULITPLE TIMES!

[GM] Johnny Nero is of average height and build, with dark, slicked back hair, and a neatly trimmed moustache -- so not like any of the other people that you know! [GM] Wears expensive tailored suits, though. [Jack & Joey] *snickering* So, not like, any of the people you know-- [GM] It narrows it down a bit!! [Sammy] Alright, alright; bargain bin Joey Drew, got it.

[GM] You guys do get an offer to have food, while you're waiting. [Sammy] Yeah.... why not..... [Henry] Henry will, not,,, [Joey] *shocked* NO????? [Joey] *absolutely flabbergasted* FOOD!!!!! [Sammy] Gangsters don't usually poison you, they usually give you nice food and then they knock you out and throw you in the river. [Henry] WELL HENRY DOESNT KNOW THAT! [GM] He hasn't done speakeasies like Sammy has!!

[Sammy] I'm noticing that this guy actually looks really nervous, and isn't taking charge of the situation, [GM] He DOES have something that's probably a firearm in his pocket. [Sammy] Yeah, yeah, but, [Jack] It's his emotional support firearm!

[Sammy] Actually... Sammy WILL ask him if he saw it. [GM] Uh, [Sammy] Because he was RIGHT THERE looking at him. And I feel like, once you've seen it, and it does the weird thing where it gets in your head, you're not going to be confused what somebody's talking about if they ask you if you saw the yellow sign. You're going to know what that means. [GM] [GM] Are you going to say the thing...? [Sammy] Have You Seen The Yellow Sign?

[Henry] Henry is half-considering... [Sammy] *manically excited* DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THE THORN OUT OF THIS LION'S PAW, HENRY???

[Henry] You haven't been able to think straight since, have you? [GM] He kind of squints at you, because he's a gangster and he doesn't want to be like "D: YEAH, ITS BEEN REALLY ROUGH :(" [Joey] *laughs* Henry IMMEDIATELY knows this look, because Joey does this as well!

[Sammy] Push the roll!! Push push push! [Henry] *nervous* I DON'T KNOW IF I WANT TO PUSH IT,,, [Sammy] WE'RE ALREADY KIDNAPPED! WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG!

[Henry] We didn't get kidnapped, so it's you guys' turn! [Joey] We have the kidnapping charm with us, also known as "Jack Fain"! [Sammy] Oh I thought it was Peter Sunstram. [Sammy] [Sammy] DO THEY STACK?

[Jack] I can't wait for us to get to these spooky occult magic shops, and it's just like, "here's a bunch of overpriced tumbled gemstones and some incense!" [GM] The first one you go to is kind of that style. [Jack] Ideal! I hope they have a really tacky fake skull. [Joey] Joey is judging the whole place.

[Joey] WAIT, wait, they took you from the bar to the restaurant, and then you got the heckin' sign out of Nero's head, and he's not even gonna offer you a ride back to the bar?!? [Henry] I think what we got out of it is "not being kidnapped". [GM] JOEY is the one with the history of talking kidnappers into giving him rides, [Sammy] I do think it would be classier if he gave us a ride. I'm with Boo on this, it would be a classy gangster move. [Sammy] With that guy they kidnapped to do music for whoever's birthday party, they dropped him back off later, but, you know, it's fine, [Joey] Show your heckin' appreciation! *exasperated* THIS IS HOW WE CAN TELL HE'S AVERAGE!! [GM] Uh, lemme roll a quick like............. etiquette roll, [Sammy] Gangster Classiness, [GM] *rolls terribly* Yeah, I think he's frazzled enough -- this is gonna reflect poorly on him later. [Joey] Wow.

[Jack] Normal success for Jack! How many terrible tacky skulls do I see? [GM] Just SO many. [Sammy] This place won't help you, buddy. [Jack] I dunno, if you buy enough tacky skulls, maybe the guy won't wanna get near you. [Henry] Just throw tacky skulls at him! [Jack] A tacky skull a day keeps the pallid mask away!!

[GM] A more discerning occult collection than the other one. [Jack] The kind of place that has the more occult things like, in a locked cabinet instead of in a heap on the counter. [Sammy] In the bargain bin, [Jack] "Box of assorted random magic junk"? Yeah, I wanna rummage my hand in that, I'm not gonna get five curses, [Jack] *laughs* I'm not even AT the other place anymore and I'm still dunking on it! [Sammy] Jack's just saying these things to Joey to like, keep his spirits up. [Joey] It would be working,

[Sammy] I am curious if the restaurant is at the same address that we remember it being on. [GM] It is the same address! The name is different. [Jack] What's the new name? [GM] Lombardi's! It was Leon's. [Henry] ... some dude got his whole name changed, [Jack] Oh man, when do they do that to me, I want a legal name change! [Jack] Bringing the Yellow King into the world to get a free transition, [Sammy] No! Don't do it! He won't transition you into a human, it'll be..... something else,

[Henry] We're gonna run over the Pallid Mask. Vroom vroom motherfucker.

[GM] You do bump into something that is unyielding. [Jack] Oh no, Jack's car! [Jack] ... and also, whatever he hit, I guess!

[Joey] Joey is immediately flipping around to grab his cane; if the guy tries to get in the car, he's going to bash him in the face! and say GET OUT!! [Sammy] Well, it worked really well for Nero, so [Henry] The guy just got hit by a car and didn't move! I don't think the cane's gonna do much! [Jack] Especially not with Joey's weak noodle arms! [Joey] Yeah but he's upset!! That this guy is trying to get in the car! He was not invited in! [GM] ...make a CON roll. [Joey] [Joey] oKEY DOKEY,,,

[Sammy] Peter now is NOT the time to astral project [GM] Luckily he doesn't have that insanity currently, or he'd already be gone! [Jack] The car stops and Pete's ghost just flies through the windshield,

[Jack] I'm losing my mind... [GM] You are! 1d6 of it!

[GM] This is kind of wild magic zone, so you get some creative license. [Joey] Hmm. Hmm! Hmmmmmm... [Sammy] Oh no, you've given Joey Drew creative license,

[Joey] But when I picked out Jack's car, it's the first car that has full safety glass in it!! [Jack] [Jack] SO EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE!!!

[kiraley]

Hitoshi Shinsou x Yandere!Reader

Description: Shinsou doesn’t like your obsessive coddling. Or maybe he does.

Trigger Warnings - Infantilization. Pet play. Yandere and tsundere themes. Kidnapping. Brief brainwashing. Mentions of bullying, insecurity, and being restrained. Stockholm syndrome. This is meant to be a lighthearted one-shot, however, so nothing too serious is shown! No NSFW content. Age of Characters - 18+. Gender Identity of (Y/n) - Unspecified. 

***

“Stay still for me, Kitty Cat!”

“No.”

“But these cat ears are the cutest! You’d look so cute if you just stayed still and let me put them on you.”

“Don’t care.”

“Don’t be like that. Who’s my good little kitty cat?”

“Stop this.”

“You are! Yes, you are~!”

“I said stop.”

Shinsou’s deep voice severed through your affectionate babbles. He dismissed you in any way he could. Though, he couldn’t do much to begin with. Not with you straddled to the lap of the taller male, forcing him to be pampered like a helpless little kitten. He shifted in discomfort against the restraints securing him to a chair. Funnily enough, the restraints in question were of his own capture weapon. He was almost impressed at your ability to one-up him, had he not been pissed at being abducted. He’s long since abandoned the struggle to escape his binding, but that didn’t stop him from occasionally retracting from you, or uttering a grievance in protest. He didn’t appreciate you stepping over his pride with your affectionate overindulgence. He found it to be quite flustering.

“Why would I stop now? We’re just getting to the good part!”

After placing a cat ear headband onto his scalp, you continued to accessorize your darling. Hitoshi’s gaze lingered past your own as he stared off into the distance with a deadpan expression. Your fingers brushed against the nape of his neck as you worked to clasp a black choker around his neck suited with a small bell. He shivered against the feeling of your fingers on his skin. Finally, you dismounted his lap and stepped back to view your progress. Hitoshi donned a black, white, and purple themed cat boy maid outfit, with matching cat ears, gloves, thigh-high stockings, and a tail. Minor cosmetic application complimented his look as you adorned his face with emo-esq eyeliner- accentuating his sleep-deprived eyes, and a touch of dark lipstick. And of course a painted on nose and whiskers!

You couldn’t help but swoon even more. He was just too cute! Though the outfit was missing something- a final touch! BUT WHAT???

In contrast, Hitoshi grunted in dissatisfaction. He couldn’t have been more humiliated.

“We're just about done with your outfit! It's coming along so nicely.”

“Oh, goody.”

Your outstretched smile was greeted by his unimpressed muse. You giggled at his reaction and toyed with the bell attached to his necklace.

“This choker really adds to the edge of your personality. Wouldn’t you say?”

“I'm not answering that.”

“You just did, Kitty Cat!”

“Stop calling me that.”

“I'll consider it if you behave like a good kitty for me~,”

“That's an oxymoron.”

“Aw, shucks. I guess you're right! Might as well call you Kitty Cat, anyway.”

Much to his dismay, his impassive commentary was dodged left and right, rendered ineffective against your blinding adoration. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, enclasping him partially, and snuggled into the side of his face. He huffed out and tried to turn his head away from yours as you rubbed against him like a clingy feline in demand of scritchies. For someone who refers to him as a kitty cat, you sure acted more like a cat than he did.

“This is highly unorthodox.”

“"Unorthodox"? Please! Is it so wrong to be hopelessly in-love with you?” you purred in admiration.

“If that’s what you’d call being a delusional stalker.” 

A quirk of agitation flexed a muscle on his forehead as you laughed off his insult.

“Being feisty, are we? I do love it when you bare your teeth at me, Kitty Cat,” you lulled into his ear. “Be a good little kitten and “meow” for me, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m not entertaining your insanity.”

“You should. It’s far too much fun.”

“Have mercy on me, (Y/n). I’m not a pet.” he retorted, sardonically.

“That’s not my name, silly.” you countered in a sickeningly sweet tone. 

Through gritted teeth, Hitoshi spoke with much reluctance.

“Oh, sweet darling of mine,” he corrected himself with the most apathetic voice, “please, do have mercy on me. I think we’ve both had our fair share of coddling tonight.”

“But, Kitty Cat! It would be the opposite of mercy if I deprived you of my affection!” you objected lightly, “And you’re just the cutest thing ever! I couldn’t stop showering you in love, even if I wanted to. Not that I would ever want to. Or even could.” 

“How considerate of you.” he mumbled sarcastically. He tried to ignore the warmth in his cheeks by looking away. Maybe he was just feeling restless.

“Look, I'm getting tired. Can I just go to bed?”

“You mean, can WE go to bed~?”

“Can. We. Please. Go. To. Bed.” he seethed through a gritted smile.

“But I'm so close to completing your outfit! And I had so many fun activities planned! And you just wanna sleep?!”

“Obviously.”

You sighed out.

“Well, I don't want you to be tired. My kitty needs his beauty sleep, after all. So I guess I'll wrap this up.”

“Good.” he said sternly.

“Right after I finish your look and take some pictures!”

“ . . . ”

“I'd knew you'd agree!”

“I was feeling the exact opposite.”

“Now,” you cleared your throat as you reached for something in your back pocket, “let’s finish your look, shall we? This bow-tie is just the thing.”

“Please, don’t.” he countered blandly as he attempted to wriggle away. His disobedience caused you to grin.

“I’ll loosen your binds if you promise to behave like a good kitten.”

He stopped moving and his eyes noticeably lit up at the prospect. Was he about to sacrifice what little pride he had left just to appease your mania? Well, not like he had much pride to begin with after everything you’ve subjected him to in terms of your mollycoddling. He considered your proposal as a possible way to break free to the outside world once again. Without being tied-up, he’d have a much easier time to plan his escape. And inevitably fail. 

His compliance lacked verbalization as he nodded silently in agreement.

“Use your words, Kitty.”

He paused to glare at you. You were getting under his skin, and he knew that you knew that. He could tell from your ever-growing smirk and how your words tinged with such innocent condescension. There was nothing more enjoyable to you than teasing your darling to death.

“I promise.” 

“You promise to~?” you drawled with a loving coo, leaning in for added effect.

He heaved another sigh and rolled his eyes.

“I promise to behave.”

You hummed a smooth chuckle and patted his head as a reward for his obedience. He cringed as you did so.

“Good boy.”

You parted from his lap to unravel the binding cloth around his torso and limbs. The white fabric fell to the floor in a muted thump as his arms and hands gained freedom. You stepped back and watched him stretch out his weary limbs and rub his eyes. You couldn’t help but smile at his ever-persistent state of sleepiness. He reminded you too much of a cat, even down to the smallest of details. You knew the cat costume was a great idea! And of course it had to be maid-themed. Not for any particular reason. But the emo aspect of his outfit spoke for itself. It fit his personality!

His eyes slowly drifted to meet yours. A subtle look of calculation crossed his visage. A look that, perhaps, you'd fail to pick up on in your current state of swooning.

“Will you ever get tired of the kitten play?” he asked strategically.

“I could never!!”

Bingo.

He smirked to himself. The words slipped past your lips seemingly without thought. With his body unrestrained, and your blissful ignorance causing you to respond, the opportunity to escape presented itself. He was about to activate his quirk when he stopped to ponder his plan. Maybe he'll keep you under a state of immobilization. But how long would the effects of his quirk last until he found a means to escape? You’ve broken the immobilization tactic before as he was mid-escape; the process would likely repeat if he tried it again. Or he could brainwash you into going to sleep. Or brainwash you into entering a comatose state.

No- he's tried that, too. The moment he ordered you to slip into unconsciousness, your conscious mind awakened immediately to subdue him. It both impressed him and terrified him, to say the least. You may not be the first to break from his hypnosis, but you remain the only person to actively break from his hypnosis. It's as if the grip of his quirk is completely useless against you. Or at least, his quirk is rendered useless if it were to come in the way of you and your beloved.

If he can't subdue you in that regard, maybe he could brainwash you to unlock a door or window leading to the outside world. Then he could run away into the night with his newly found freedom. Or maybe he could restrain you with his capture weapon, and then summon the police and/or pro-hero's to deal with your crazy ass. He needed to find a way to brainwash you that wouldn't involve you snapping out of his hypnosis, consequently leading to a time-out for his misbehavior. Sometimes he'd be forced to wear a hat of shame as part of his punishment for acting out, but we don't talk about that.

. . .  

“Earth to 'Toshi~,”

Just like that, he was snapped from his daze.

“''Toshi"? That's your new nickname for me?” he answered sarcastically.

“I figured that would get your attention.”

He shot you a stoical expression.

“I honestly can't believe how uncool you are.”

“Le gasp!! I am OFFENDED!” you overemphasized as you clamped a hand over your heart, before a smile flickered on your lips. “Anyway, where were we?”

“Doing anything but this.”

“Heh! You're funny!”

Hitoshi grunted. For once, he decided to ignore his thoughts. He'll think of an escape plan later, he rationalized as he thinned his lips, tasting the faint flavor of the lipstick. His gloved fingers started smoothening over his wrists and forearms. They were kind of sore from being restrained. You replaced his fingers with your own as you massaged the tender areas. You hummed as you did so- a contended look etched on your face. His hardened gaze softened ever so lightly at your delicate ministrations. There was such a slight, but tender look in his eye as he inspected your countenance, as if the tranquility of your aura was affecting him, as well. The way your fingers moved with such gentle precision . . . Taking care of him with such doting consideration . . . As you always did . . .

“Better?” you questioned, snapping him away from another daze.

“Yeah,” he replied softly, “thanks.”

His absentminded politeness caused you to let out a surprised gasp.

“Look at you using proper manners! I didn't even have to remind you. I’m so proud of you, Kitty Cat.”

Your hand found its way to his head as you rewarded him with the head pats of a lifetime. Your fingers interweaved with his already messy locks, rustling his hair back and forth, and the tips of your nails gently grazed his scalp. You even caressed his cat ears, feigning them to be real ears.

“Such a good kitty cat, aren’t you? Aren’t youuuu? Who's my precious baby boy?”

His contentment dispersed, replaced by bashfulness. A stuttered noise emitted from his throat as he found himself at a loss for words. To add insult to injury, you started leaving smoochies all over his face. The added peppering of kisses proved too much for him to handle and he crumbled under the weight of your love.

“Ngh, hey--! Stop that!”

A deep shade of crimson tinctured his fair face. With your affection making him feel more flustered than usual, his brows furrowed and he tried to shoo you away. You denied his efforts to do so- instead, you giggled at his mortification.

“Awe, is my kitty feeling embarrassed? Do you enjoy your head pats and kisses? Don't be shy, now. You can tell me.”

He refuted your observation with subtle indignance, huffing to himself. 

“N--no, I don't, you idiot. Don’t get the wrong idea.” 

“Noooo, I would never.” you teased, sitting back down onto the comfort of his lap, “It's not like your face is beet red or anything.”

He cleared his throat sharply. The uncomfortably hot sensation in his cheeks couldn't be disputed. You were an expert in making him feel flustered, after all. It's not like there was a part of him that subconsciously enjoyed this.

“I'm only red because you're irritating me.”

“Sureeeeee. Definitely not from blushing!”

“Would you shut up already?” he mumbled, cursing at himself internally for blushing.

“Easy, tiger! No need to bring your claws out! Let’s just finish up your outfit, shall we?”

Begrudgingly, he sat there in silence as you finalized his look. You fastened a frilly purple bow tie around his neck to seal the deal, humming innocently to yourself. The reserved man detested this more than anything. The man just wanted his sleep. Or in the very least, to get away from your babying. His pride and heart couldn't take much more of this.

An adjustment here- a tightening there, and . . . VOILA! You bounced to your feet to admire your magnum opus. At last, the emo cat boy arc has been achieved, and you couldn’t have been happier. The same could not be said for your purple-haired pet. You doubled-over, placing your hands on your knees as you positioned yourself to be at eye-level with Hitoshi.

“Do you feel bonita?” 

. . . 

“Do you, or do you not feel bonita?” you asked again- this time, with much more conviction.

He sighed out the last remaining semblance of dignity.

“I feel bonita.”

“Wonderful! Because you look bonita,”

You grabbed his face and planted a prolonged smooch on his forehead. A noise of disgruntlement warbled from his squished cheeks as you rested your forehead against his.

“You are very precious to me.”

“I can't say the same.”

“Come on, now,” you started, softly, “it’s not so bad, is it? Being here with me? We're in-love, and we're meant to be together. Forever. You know this just as much as I do.” 

Shinsou's stare hardened as he glared daggers at you. An expression that read "are you kidding me?"

“This is what you would call a power imbalance. Or perhaps a "toxic relationship." No- "unrequited love" works better. What we have is not even a relationship to begin with. I never agreed to be your partner.”

“Silly little kitten,” you murmured with a hint of slyness in your tone, “if you were against me as much as you say, you would’ve used your quirk to free yourself ages ago.”

Suddenly, his fierce composure wavered. His gaze inadvertently softened as his eyes expanded in realization.

“I–I have tried. Numerous times.” he stumbled over his words, foiling his attempt to sound serious.

“No, no, no,” you booped his nose in three intervals, feigning offence, “don’t lie like that. It's not fair to the both of us. You can’t sit there and tell me you were actually trying to escape those previous times.”

Hitoshi gave you an incredulous look. Your accusations had him flummoxed to a degree he couldn't quite explain. He was against this situation, wasn't he? Of course he would be. There's no way he actually enjoyed your company.

. . .

Maybe you had a point, after all.

No. He shook his head.

There's just no way.

Maybe just a little bit.

Hitoshi scoffed, his eye failing to meet yours as he dismissed your words, “What makes you think I wasn't trying, (Y/n)? You literally kidnapped me. You force me to be your "kitty cat" everyday. So of course I've tried to escape.”

“Hitoshi, darling,” you started and pulled away to meet his uncertain gaze, “"Tried" is exactly the point. You don't try to escape with that much effort anymore. I'll admit, at first when I brought you here, you gave it your all trying to escape my love. Trying to deny your love for me. You almost got away from me at one point, too, y'know. Almost,”

You pinched his cheek lovingly before continuing.

“But it didn't take long for your self-proclaimed "declaration of war" to run its course. You aren't resisting nearly as much anymore. Your attempts to "fight back" are amusing at best, lackluster at worst. And let's be real; you're the type to put up a fight to ensure you won't let anything get in your way. It doesn't matter the cost. You and I both know just how capable you are. How strong and dedicated you are when it comes to your goals. You aren’t weak. Not by any means. If you wanted to leave, you would’ve done so long ago. Especially with how powerful your quirk is.”

Silence was his only response- sans for a gaping mouth. The deepest hue of rosiness tinged his pale cheeks and his brain wracked with a surge of thoughts as he struggled to rationalize with this revelation. Meanwhile, you were nonchalant. Your half-lidded gaze looked down as you adjusted his bowtie. It's like you were expecting this. And that's because you were.

“That’s why I know that, deep down, you're okay with this. That’s how I know you love me, too. You just haven't accepted it into your heart yet. Not completely, anyway.”

You crane your neck to peer down at him with an expression of prideful amusement. His composure faltered underneath your softly domineering smirk. There was no way he could refute your argument. You had him figured out even before he had himself figured out.

“Judging by your reaction, I can already tell you've come to terms with all of this. I can see you accepted that, maybe, just maybe, you aren't as against this as you initially thought. Isn't that right?”

He avoided your gaze to glance to the side as he cleared the tension from the back of his throat.

Well, shit.

Looks like the cat is out of the bag for real this time.

“I guess I’ll take this over being outcasted by society and villainized for my quirk.”

His relented response caused you to chuckle. He attempted to establish an expressionless facade but you could tell he was overwhelmed with emotion. And you wouldn't be wrong. You maneuvered your hand through the soft, disheveled tufts of his Indigo mane. The small act of comfort caused his heart to soar with elation. He probably shouldn’t enjoy this, but he can’t help it. He was wrapped around your pretty little finger; an indisputable fact, one that he'd finally come to accept. Maybe deep down, all along, he knew his little acts of resistance were something to prolong the inevitable. To delay accepting his feelings for you. After all, the only real escape was in your arms. The only future he had going for him is a future where you're right beside him. Even if that meant being pampered like a pet all the way. Maybe you weren't that bad, after all.

“I already knew that.” you said, smiling.

He closed his eyes and sighed gently. Not in agitation. Rather, in a subtle display of submission and acceptance.

“The world doesn’t appreciate you. It never has. Nobody has ever appreciated you,” you spoke partially to yourself and partially to him. “Nobody could ever appreciate you the way I do.”

A deep chuckle reverberated from his chest. He couldn’t help but agree with your statement.

“Maybe you’re right. You’re the first person to not view me as less than human, or accuse me of being something I’m not. The first to see me as something other than a villain.”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“I mean, at this point, there's no point in denying my feelings. And there's no denying that you're the only one who never judged me for my quirk. And for that, I'm grateful to you, (Y/n). For giving me a chance. For always being there for me, and for taking care of me now.”

He hated to admit it, but he could appreciate you for who you are. Even prior to becoming your captive, you were the only one to ever treat him with basic human respect. Others rejected him, ostracized him. They deemed him a freak- someone with a quirk suited for villainy. He kept to himself, yet they persisted in his apparent villainous nature. If he was silent, he was plotting. If he spoke, he was an intrusion. If he looked at you, he was perverse. If he didn’t, he was judging. If he worked with others, he was a mooch. If he was alone, he was stuck-up. That’s all he was to people; the embodiment of depravity, no matter the angle he was viewed from, no matter how contradictory their accusations were. He would always be the bad guy. All because of his natural gift.

“Of course. It’s because I love you. I’m the only one in this world who understands you. The REAL you.”

You were the opposite. The complete opposite to what he’d been accustomed to for his entire life. You weren’t afraid to be around him. You weren’t disgusted, judgmental, or abrasive. You spoke to him directly, answering his questions with direct eye-contact. No sign of hesitation, no waver in your voice. You regarded him as another human being- simple as that. You felt comfortable enough to approach him, to smile at him, to invite him for studying sessions and the likes. The only one to ever see past his apparent “villainous” exterior. And for that, he had to thank you, to show you his gratitude.

“The people who judge you and bully you- they claim to be better, yet they treat you so terribly. Who is the villain then, huh? The one fighting to become a hero despite everything, or the one who rejects those based on something they can’t control?” you asked in rhetorical reference. “You aren't the villain. They are. The audacity they have to mistreat you, abuse you, and then claim to be heroic is disgusting. They're all hypocrites. Every last one of them.”

You scoffed. Your hands instinctively tightened around him and you nestled into the curvature of his neck. Your words, tinged with repugnance, hit too close to home for the introverted male. All he could do was look at you in his state of shock. His heart fluttered, accelerated by a burning passion emerging from his soul. He remained silent, allowing the sentiments to fester in his mind, and allowing his repressed feelings to finally surface.

“You don’t need to worry about them anymore. You don't need to worry about anything else anymore. I’ll take care of you. From now until forever.”

A comfortable silence befell the two of you. He made no effort to protest your love this time around, nor did he feel any resistance to your benevolence. On the contrary- he wanted to indulge further. From the bottom of his heart, he longed to share his heart with yours. He wanted to accept your love. To be a willing recipient, who not only receives love, but delivers it, too. His soft expression then soured. His thoughts of internal self-wallowing began to emerge, and his expression furrowed into a display of doubt. Even after your declaration, lingering anxieties got the better of him. The remnants of his past came back to haunt him again as he doubted your intentions. He couldn't help it.

“You mean it when you say you love me, right? This isn’t some sick joke? Some misguided, deluded power-trip?”

Your head shot up as you responded to him in a heartbeat.

“Of course I do–,”

The sound of your own heartbeat reverberated in your ears as an immediate stillness enclosed every fiber of your being. A cold numbness beyond your capabilities restricted your mind and body, depriving you of free will. No longer were you in control of yourself.

With your movements halted and your eyes glazed over with an expression starved of emotion, he pounced. He’s brainwashed you before, but never to inquire about your true intentions. A part of him needed to be reminded of your love, but under the condition of his quirk. He needed to know that this was real.

He was a needy little kitty, after all.

“Answer truthfully,” he commanded. “Do you love me?”

“Yes. I love you more than anything. I would do anything to prove my love for you. I would do anything for you to love me.”

Your response was instantaneous. Even under hypnosis, your voice was defined by pure, unadulterated compassion. Shinsou released a staggered breath of air- one he wasn’t aware he was holding in.

He shouldn’t care about your love.

He really shouldn’t.

He shouldn’t even think about loving you, either.

Even after you kidnapped him- even after the countless pampering sessions, where you treat him as some little pet needing to be cared for constantly. He shouldn’t be entertaining your insanity; he’s said it before.

But . . . 

Maybe he doesn't care what he "should" or "shouldn't" do anymore. Maybe that’s the line between heroism and villainy that becomes blurred. To love someone who is a villain- to acknowledge and appreciate the good qualities in them.

But who's to say who is and who isn't a villain? Maybe you were just like him. Someone deemed a “villain” merely for existing out of the boundaries of conventionality. Someone called a "villain" just because you lived life a little differently from others.

You may have done some.. less than lawful things, but you still had a good heart. Was this justification? Rationalization? Should he be concerned that he was falling for his kidnapper?

Eh.

Looks like he didn’t care about that anymore.

Coloration was restored the shrinking whites of your eyes as the grip of his quirk relinquished from your being. When you came to, you gazed at him in loving adoration, a soft smirk adorning your lips. The coldness from his quirk was replaced by the warmth of your love. He refused your stare by looking at the ground in shame. The bell on his choker jangled slightly as he did so.

“Have I,” he struggled to find his words as he willingly resigned to his fate, “misbehaved?”

You giggled at his remark.

“Not at all,”

Your hand grasped his cheek as you redirected his gaze, staring deeply into his dark purple eyes.

“I like when you use your quirk on me, Kitty Cat.”

Any mental restraint holding him back disappeared once you said those words.

For the first time, Shinsou initiated the first move by leaning in to kiss you. Something unanticipated from both sides. Your breathing caught in your throat as you were taken aback by his emboldened move. His arms slithered around your form to pull you flush against his chest- his long digits splaying across your back, sending a series of pleasant tingles down your spine. Your shock diminished quickly and you melted into his touch. Your palms cupped his cheeks as you cradled his face in your hands and rubbed your thumb over his cheekbone. His lips moved in slow, passional synchronization to your own as you indulged in a moment of tender intimacy. For once, he allowed himself to be vulnerable, accepting you as his own. The world beyond the two of you didn't need to matter. Not anymore. Your hands slithered up his outfit to entangle in his hair. The feline-themed headband fell to the ground as your fingers tousled about, and you could taste his lipstick smearing onto your own lips. He tilted your head slightly to deepen the kiss and you oh so graciously accepted. The two of you kissed passionately for what felt like a heavenly eternity. When the kiss parted, the two of you were breathless, weighted in an atmosphere of requited fondness. Hitoshi’s breath intermingled with your own. His lips hovered against yours, as if waiting with bated breath for your next word. 

The silence was broken when he peered up at you and muttered against your lips, “You’re the first person to say that to me.”

You smiled and leaned in to kiss him.

“I’ll be the first and only one.”

He closed his eyes to indulge in the taste and feeling of your lips once more. You pulled away briefly, a mischievous glint sparkling in your eye.

“Now, then,” you cooed, “why don’t you meow for me, like the good little kitty that you are?”

Shinsou sighed. This time, he sighed in contentment, with a gentle smile gracing his lips.

“Meow.”

“Now purr for me!”

“Don't push your luck.”

[sunflowerdigs]

As many people have pointed out, S8 seems to be S5: Tim's version. There are also callbacks to S3, but the structure seems to mirror S5 (the season it's also speculated that Buddie would have happened if not for Fox).

With that in mind, I've put together some speculation about Buck and Eddie in the back half of s8, based on S5.

I'm anticipating Eddie going through with the El Paso idea in 8x10 like he went through with leaving the 118 in 5x10. Drama, not realism, is the point of the series, so even though Eddie is obviously coming back, I suspect they'll have him leave in a way that seems permanent (and it also sounds like it will affect the whole 118 this time, so that's nice).

Given the show's current set up, Eddie can't stay in El Paso alone for as long as he stayed at Dispatch. Only Peter and Angela are currently getting multi-episode arcs with multiple guest stars attached. Also, El Paso isn't built into the show like Dispatch was. My suspicion is that we'll get one episode (8x11 or 8x12) where Eddie has the B or C storyline and reconnects with Chris as well as talks to Helena and Ramón. I think we'll see him start to realize that LA and the 118 are home for him, and that his own happiness is paramount to taking good care of Chris, so he'll make the choice to bring Chris home.

In the meantime, Buck is going to be dealing with his abandonment issues and with the fact that Eddie's absence has hit him so hard. Now, 911 could easily chicken out here and try to examine the abandonment without going into Eddie specifically (which wouldn't make much storytelling sense if Buddie is indeed where Buck and Eddie's storylines are headed, but would let them drag Buddie out longer 🙄). Either way, as with s5, I'm expecting Buck to make some dumb relationship decision in 8x11 (5x11 kiss with Lucy) and then make some kind of confession about it in either 8x12 or 8x13 (he confessed to Taylor about the kiss in 5x13, but probably would have done so in 5x12 had the Boston episode not happened). The confession could be to whoever he made the dumb romantic choice about or it could be to Maddie (since he confessed to Maddie about the Lucy kiss before he did Taylor). If we're lucky, the confession will be about both his abandonment issues and how he feels about Eddie (his Oh moment, if you will).

And then, right after Buck makes that confession and things are looking more hopeful for him (8x12 or 8x13), he'll get a frantic call from Eddie, telling him that Helena is trying to take full custody of Christopher and may actually be able to do it and he needs Buck's help. This would parallel Christopher's call about Eddie's breakdown in 5x13, but would also be an evolution of it, with Eddie choosing to reach out to Buck rather than break down in a room alone. Buck would burn rubber down to El Paso, and the next episode would be Eddie's big confrontation with Helena, Buck by his side. Imo, having to justify his life in LA to a mediator with custody of Chris on the line might force a level of honesty out of Eddie that he may not be consciously aware of and could kick-start his own feelings realization.

Eddie would win custody with Buck's support in 8x13 or 8x14 (parallel to Buck helping with the horse therapy in 5x14). And then...idk. With both Buck and Eddie in Texas, the show could justify extending the arc there a few more episodes and could let a vengeful Helena kidnap Chris (imo unlikely since 911 seems to like to forgive bad parents). Or Buck and Eddie could return to LA and the 118 with Chris immediately after Eddie gets custody. Either way, I think the show will let feelings between Buck and Eddie percolate for a bit until either the episode before the finale or the finale itself, which will probably be their first kiss (in time for Pride month! If Pride month still happens in America...😬).