#hell the first time i tried to tell them my mom didn't take it seriously and turned it into a joke.

[practically-an-x-man]

arghhhhhh I'm so tired of being called by my birth name irl but I also really don't want to deal with all the hassle and effort and questions that come with socially changing it

[aledmorningstar]

╰┈➤Misunderstood

Summary: How the gang finds out about Sukuna's girlfriend in a misunderstanding.

Relationship: Ryomen Sukuna/Reader

Word count: 3.0k

Note: I'm a liar, I know I said this would go up yesterday, in my defense we set very optimistic goals. Please comment and feel free to send me anything to my inbox

-‘๑’-: No curses au, uni au, sfw, humor, fluff, bad english

The house of the twins Yuji and Ryomen seemed more lively than normal, as every weekend they had planned a movie afternoon, the meetings began early after leaving school, buying snacks, preparing comfortable clothes and choosing some games of table.

Yuji's face wrinkled into a displeased grimace at seeing his twin dressing casually to go out for a walk down the street, while he and his friends were already prepared wearing their comical pajamas, it wasn't fair. This time it was Yuji's turn to choose the movie so as not to let his brother get away with it.

“What are you doing?”

Sukuna turned to look for a second indifferently at his brother while he finished fastening the buttons of his dark shirt. How could he take seriously his brother who maintained an irritated pout while wearing those ridiculous tiger-themed full-body pajamas?

"I'm going out, tell mom I'll be late"

Yuji's moan of annoyance echoed throughout the house, drawing the attention of Nobara and Megumi who were stealthily trying to spy on the conversation by hiding behind a wall.

"You said you would watch Human Worm 4 with us today!"

The one with the caramel eyes began to complain about the injustice that was occurring, a perfect time for his faithful friends to take action.

“We already prepared everything, you can't leave us stranded for an afternoon of movies!”

Nobara grumbled as she tried to fix the sleeves of her raccoon pajamas.

"We made a pact, you must suffer with us"

Megumi was supposed to be the most mature of the group, perhaps Sukuna had overestimated him because he never imagined seeing him share the same neuron as his friends while also wearing ridiculous beige dog pajamas.

“It's a shame brats, it'll have to be another day.”

The older twin's hands didn't stop moving trying to find the car keys; he had somehow managed to look appropriately with a hint of elegance, but without losing that menacing aura, a pair of black pants held up by an expensive belt that he had stolen from his father, a dark gray shirt with the first few buttons open showing his collarbones and the sleeves perfectly arranged at his elbows showing his tattooed arms.

"You look like a criminal"

“Who said I'm not?”

Itadori's intentions to plant some blame on his brother for abandoning them on a seemingly important night were noticeable for miles.

"At least have the decency to tell me where the hell you're going."

Sukuna took a while to respond, his eyes straying suspiciously and the trio could see a slight nervousness on his face. Wait, nerves? Sukuna? Those words were naturally contrary, it even seemed strange to put them together in one sentence. Here was definitely another shoe that was taking a while to drop.

"Mind your own business, don't be nosy"

Itadori instantly stood between his brother and the front door, blocking his way, he would get to the bottom of this matter at any cost.

"Are you planning something bad? Mom will be angry if you get into trouble again"

"Yes, yes, yes. I plan to do many bad and illegal things, in fact in this mood I plan to strangle the first person in front of me"

Itadori, Nobara, and Megumi looked at each other before leaving the hallway clear, letting Sukuna walk.

"Behave badly, take good care of yourself and if they discover you, deny everything"

“See you”

Once the so-called evil twin left the house, the hallway was completely silent for a few seconds.

“Don't you feel...? Curiosity?"

An excited Nobara looked at her friends with bright, gossip-hungry eyes.

"No not really"

Megumi's voice was ignored as Itadori pushed the Fushiguro boy's face away with his hand.

"I was hoping you'd ask, Nobara! In fact, my brother has been acting strange lately."

Itadori put on a thoughtful expression as he remembered his brother's unusual behavior in recent weeks.

"What do you mean he's been acting strange?"

At that moment Nobara had taken on a detective attitude, while the previously disinterested Megumi began to listen attentively to his friends.

“He's been coming home late, more than usual.”

“That doesn't seem strange for someone like him.”

An exalted Itadori raises his hands dramatically as he defends his argument.

“But when he is usually late it is always because he is causing problems in the streets and he is not at all careful with his arrival, now it is different!”

Sharing a room with Itadori, Sukuna didn't care how scandalous he could be when he showed up at home after curfew. He didn't pay attention to the fact that the noise of his shoes being thrown to any side of the room or that the sound of his swear words every time he tripped over something could disturb his brother's sleep.

Lately, however, the nights that Sukuna had spent late away from home had become more frequent, and Itadori couldn't help but notice even in the dead of night how messy his twin's clothes were every time he returned with silent footsteps and he also did not overlook the large number of marks that stood out on Sukuna's neck.

“Also, he has been trying hard in all his school subjects, he has turned in all his homework and sometimes he goes out to the library to study. Did you hear what I said? He goes to the library to study!”

“That's definitely not the Sukuna we know, something is happening to him.”

The three teenagers headed to the living room to sit down to discuss more calmly and solve that mystery.

“Do you think someone is bullying him?”

Itadori looked worried for a split second at Nobara's statement until Megumi gave him a strange, brief sarcastic smile.

“Are you serious right now? Do you think Sukuna, the most feared man on campus, could be bothered by someone? Jesus Christ even earned the nickname “The King of Curses”

They didn't need much time to agree with Megumi, it was impossible to imagine Sukuna being submissive to anyone.

“True, it would make more sense for him to be the one who bothered someone… It can't be possible”

“I told him clearly not to get into trouble, but he never listens to me!”

“Wait, Yuji, calm down. Don't you think that if that's the case, he's spending too much time on that person?”

Itadori seemed to think about it for a second and his face transformed into one of much more dramatic horror than before.

"So he really hates that person! Maybe he's planning a murder? Your brother isn't exactly known for being patient"

Nobara's words were the little push Itadori needed to panic.

"Sukuna definitely can't go to the correctional facility again!... Mom was very sad back then..."

Nobara and Megumi looked into each other's eyes, unable to abandon their friend in such a situation.

"Fine! Our mission today is to prevent your brother from becoming a criminal.”

"Are we allowed to use force? I still have to get revenge for the books I lent him."

The brown-haired girl, Kugisaki, was the first to stand up and was followed by Fushiguro. It seemed like a scene worthy of a movie, this was the motivational part because both friends extended their hands to the boy in tiger pajamas.

“Wait, wait, wait… What happened to your books?”

“I'll ask your brother when I see him.”

It had been approximately 30 minutes since the trio of friends had located and followed Sukuna, a difficult mission that had begun with the friends running after the older twin's car. The fatigue was overcome by surprise when seeing the target enter a flower shop.

“We're late, he's already planning the funeral!”

“Wait, give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe… Maybe he's going to visit a friend?”

“Impossible, my brother has no friends”

Nobara and Yuji's brief talk was interrupted when they saw Sukuna leaving that flower shop with a huge and pretty bouquet of yellow carnations.

"You see it? Maybe your brother is not as bad as he seems” Nobara's voice tried to be optimistic, and it also seemed strange to her that a man would buy flowers for no apparent reason.

“Now I'm quite confused” Itadori, for his part, narrowed his eyes, staring at Sukuna, trying to read his brother's mind.

Megumi spoke with a stiff voice drawing the attention of his friends.

"Don't be so surprised, in the language of flowers, carnations of that color mean contempt"

"Is he turning his assassination attempt into a performance? He's getting creative"

"Hey, he's leaving. Hurry up"

The gang quickly got into a taxi and like every chase scene, Itadori and Nobara yelled at the driver to follow the car in front of them, Megumi had to apologize to the driver at the end of the ride.

Sukuna drove his car until he reached the darkest and most dangerous neighborhood that anyone could imagine, clearly that place had an invisible sign indicating that it was better not to be there, there were few passers-by and the streets were cold with graffiti everywhere.

The older twin got out of his car after having entered the area a little, he walked as if that place was his territory, as if he felt at home, he adjusted the sleeves of his shirt, raising them to his elbows, with a bored look he observed the time on his watch and then leaned his back against the wall waiting patiently. Meanwhile, the trio had remained hidden behind a pile of boxes and seemingly useless objects, thinking about Ryomen's intentions.

"There isn't a soul in this place, what is he planning to do?"

Itadori's question was answered when Megumi held his jaw making him look to his right, his eyes widened as he saw a girl with a small frame, transmitting an aura of delicacy and fragility, she was the complete stereotype of a little princess wearing a pink dress and white sneakers, light makeup and a flower crown adorning her hair, she looked out of context walking with a smile and humming a song in that horrible alley.

"It can't be her... There's no way Sukuna..."

Nobara's words were cut off when the red-eyed man put out his cigarette and walked over to where the girl was with a proud smile on his face.

The fear that this small, fragile woman could be hurt by his violent brother made Itadori quickly get up from his hiding place and stand in front of his brother.

"Sukuna! Stop right there, don't do it!"

The sudden entrance of his nosy brother surprised Sukuna who maintained a displeased scowl at his twin's actions.

"What the fuck? Get out of the way brat, I'm on something important right now"

"Don't you dare take another step, don't do something you'll regret!"

Itadori's voice took a drastic change, sounding too threatening compared to his usual cheerful tone.

"What the hell are you talking about? Leave me alone, I don't have time for this."

Sukuna looked at the horrified girl who was just a few meters away from him, he pushed his brother away with one hand with the intention of walking towards where she was, however he was stopped and subdued on the ground by Megumi.

“Don't even try it, you disgusting scoundrel.”

“Leave me alone, you fucking bastards!”

While the three men argued and fought among themselves, Nobara also came out of her hiding place and walked towards the frightened woman, being careful not to exalt her even more, Kugisaki placed his hands on her shoulders trying to calm her down.

"Are you okay? “Did he do something to you?”

The girl's hands remained covering her mouth, completely surprised by the situation. She instantly left Nobara and ran quickly to where Sukuna was lying on the ground.

"What are you doing?! Get your hands off him!"

Megumi and Itadori's movements stopped, still holding Sukuna on the ground, they turned to look completely surprised at the owner of that little voice, their minds went blank as they watched her approach, she put her hands on Fushiguro's chest. making an attempt to push him away from the red-eyed twin.

"What are you doing to my boyfriend?! Leave him alone!"

Still bewildered, Itadori was the first to move away and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder for him to do the same, allowing Sukuna to stand up a little dazed.

"I don't know what 'Kuna did to you, but what you are doing is not right, it is not right to intimidate others, problems are solved by talking"

You stood in front of your boyfriend trying to be the one to defend him this time, you used to be a little shy when talking to strangers, but you weren't going to let your lover be the victim of such an unfair situation.

"Honey, calm down. They are—"

"No, love! They were very mean to you, no matter who they are!"

You knew that Sukuna had a special weakness for you that made him want to protect you from any danger, everyone told you that, obviously he would also want to take control of this situation in his hands. No, this time it was your turn to protect him, to be his knight in shining armor.

On the other hand, there were also the three idiots who had tried to play detective, watching the situation in astonishment.

"She... just called him love"

“Yes, she really did”

"I can't believe it"

Ryomen had tried to calm his girlfriend's little anger by taking her hands and caressing them, it worked for a few seconds until that trio spoke again.

Upon hearing the incredulous voices of those strangers, you let go of Sukuna's hands and walked a few steps close to those you thought were criminals.

"Listen, my parents are very important people, I will make sure you are punished appropriately"

Your acute and sweet angry voice was silenced by Sukuna's lips, one of his large hands finding a place on your waist while the other caressed your soft cheek.

"It's okay, princess"

"No, it's not okay-"

You tried to reply to his deep voice, you would be lying if you said it didn't make you shiver, his voice was only directed at you, only for you to hear, that made you calm down and also lowered the tone of your voice.

"Pretty, this is my stupid brother and his friends."

"...Impossible, it can't be…, they were subduing you"

"Don't worry, I'm sure they have a good explanation for doing all this, right?"

The affectionate look that Sukuna had given his supposed girlfriend had changed drastically when he turned to look at his friends, removed his touch from his beloved and walked towards the frightened trio, cracking the fingers of his fists.

"Last words?"

Approximately 10 minutes had passed after that disastrous encounter, Sukuna had considered himself generous that day so he decided to take his brother and his friends to the house where they should have stayed from the beginning, very kind, it had nothing to do with his girlfriend will look at those three idiots like abandoned puppies.

"How were we supposed to know you were visiting your girlfriend?"

"What kind of dates are you taking her on?"

"Yeah, you looked like you were about to commit a crime!"

Of course Itadori, Megumi and Nobara tested their patience throughout the car ride, complaining from the back seats and trying to alleviate the pain caused by the car owner's blows. Your curious little eyes turned to look at the trio with intrigue.

"Why do you say that?"

None of them knew how to answer your question, the answer was so obvious that they thought you were stupid or blind, of course none of them said that thought out loud, not when they felt Sukuna's psychopathic gaze in the rearview mirror. However, that didn't stop Yuji from continuing the conversation either.

"You were alone in that horrible and dangerous place, it is the perfect opportunity for a madman"

"Oh, that..."

Your calm reaction to that comment only confused them more, you were too sweet to be in those places and even worse to be there with Sukuna for no good reason.

"Her parents are renowned people and they do not agree with our relationship, that is why we must meet in the most discreet places possible"

"Sometimes dad hires people to watch me, so our meeting point for dates is that place."

The older twin's words left the dynamic trio thinking, especially Itadori and Nobara, Megumi didn't really care much, your complementation made them imagine a current version of Romeo and Juliet. The explanations of your strange relationship had clarified most of his doubts regarding the strange day.

"Wait, what about the flowers?"

Nobara's comment made all the attention focus on Ryomen who wrinkled his face in confusion until he remembered the detail that his friend was talking about at the same time that he stopped the car in front of his house.

"What flowers?"

"Oh right, I brought you something"

Sukuna got out of the car and went to the back taking something out of the trunk, a nice big bouquet of flowers appeared in front of you held by your handsome boyfriend.

"Oh, honey, you shouldn't have bothered."

"It's no bother when I can make you happy"

You received the beautiful flowers in your small hands, allowing yourself to smell them, such a fresh smell while you lovingly observed your loved one and he returned the same look, absorbed in that cloying atmosphere.

Of course that beautiful moment was not the most comfortable for everyone present, much less for Yuji Itadori imitating his twin with a shrill and annoying voice, since he had never seen his brother in that silly state.

"It's no bother when I can make you happy"

“I'm going to kick your ass”

Megumi couldn't stay silent for long either, because something kept echoing in her mind.

"But the meaning of flowers..."

"Excuse me?"

You looked at him with a smile so sweet and innocent that he hesitated for a second on his next words.

“Those flowers have a negative meaning…”

"It's funny you think my 'Kuna knows the meaning of flowers"

"We should have assumed that"

⋆·˚ ༘ *🔭 master list is here

[lexosaurus]

Gym 101

In which Valerie forces Danny to go workout with her

[ao3]

Characters: Danny & Valerie Warnings: None Wc: 2,230

****

"You're not engaging your core, Danny. What do I keep telling you?" Valerie sighed and put down her weight. "You're going to fuck up your knees if you don't slow down and do this right."

"And I keep telling you I don't even know what that means!" Danny snapped, not for the first time this week and probably not the last.

When he told Valerie that he, Danny Fenton, was also Danny Phantom, Danny had been expecting Valerie to be so mad at him that she never wanted to speak to him again.

And, well, she had been that mad at him. Very mad, in fact. So pissed, that for a minute, Danny was worried she was going to blast him off her roof.

He hadn't stuck around long after that.

And while he was beginning to make himself comfortable in the campground called, "Valerie's Cold Shoulder," he barely had two days to settle in before she had seemingly decided that enough was enough. 

Just before homeroom began, she strode to him in the hall, pulled him to the side—literally, she yanked him around the corner by his shirt sleeve—and demanded they start hitting the gym together.

"Because," Valerie had explained at his whining, and not patiently either, "I get that you have ghost powers, but your human half is such a twig. Seriously, Danny, do you know how much you're holding yourself back right now? If you actually tried strength training, I bet you'd level up pretty hardcore in ghost fights. Who knows? You might be able to train your reflexes to dodge one of Skulker's blasts from time to time."

And well, that bruise to both Danny's ghostly ego and his human teenage boy ego had been all he needed to agree to start working out with none other than his former rival turned ally, Valerie Gray.

"Stand up straight," Valerie ordered, pulling him back to his present world of pain.

He had no idea how Jazz and his mom liked doing this stuff. At the current moment, he was pretty sure the person who invented the concept of lifting weights was a giant masochist because there was simply no way in hell anyone throughout history would have ever said, "You know what sounds like the most fun thing ever? Let's take heavy objects, lift them, do a little movement, and then put them back down in the same spot we lifted them from!"

But apparently, he was the weirdo for not understanding why there was a dedicated fanbase of people who put a metal bar on their back, put some weights on the sides of the bar, squatted into a crouch, and then stood back up.

And repeated the process.

Again.

And again.

And again. Ten times, resting, and then ten more times.

Danny weakly stood, gripping the bar behind his shoulders like it was the only thing tethering his will to live to this plane of existence, and glared at Valerie through sweaty bangs. "Okay, standing. What next?"

"We godda fix your core."

"Be my guest," Danny said. He wasn't even sure if Valerie could fix something he'd never had to begin with, but if she truly wanted to, then...whatever. He'd lost by coming here, anyway.

Valerie scrutinized him as if he was some sort of science project that wasn't quite working out how she'd hoped. Which, thinking about it for a moment, he figured that was probably exactly what he was to Valerie. 

Then, without warning, she put her hand on his stomach.

Now, Phantom was largely considered a very suave and cool hero. Well, maybe Sam and Tucker would disagree, and sure there was a whole TikTok tag dedicated to videos of him falling into random objects, but still. There were enough random people around who would agree that Phantom was at least somewhat socially sufficient.

But Fenton on the other hand was very much not. He was an awkward, goofy teen. He wasn't popular, and he didn't exactly have a lot of girls fawning over him at every turn.

Which was why Valerie, his former girlfriend who maybe he still had some deeply buried feelings for, touching him so casually was setting off all sorts of alarm bells in his brain.

"...got it?" Valerie was saying.

Certainly, she had said something.

Something that Danny was supposed to be listening to.

Oh, shit. 

"Uh..." Danny tried to re-circuit his brain.

"Here, follow my lead. Okay? Breathe," she said. "Good. Now, tighten your abs."

Danny tried his best to follow.

"No, see, you're sucking in. Tightening your abs doesn't mean sucking in. It's like, okay, think of it this way. Try hardening your abs into a brick wall. Like, squeeze them together. Now—yeah, like that. Now, can you try adding your side and lower back into that brick wall too?"

"Try adding what?"

The corners of Valerie's lip twitched up. "The sides of your stomach? You have abs there too. And there are muscles in your lower back. That's all part of your core too. Remember what I said about your core's job to keep your body stable? Those muscles are all important for that."

"Valerie, I think you're really overestimating how in shape I am. I didn't even know there was more than one ab muscle, much less that there were abs on the sides of my body."

"Well, you have them, ghost boy."

"Doesn't help much if I can't feel them."

Valerie rolled her eyes. "Well, just try your best."

"Yes, Ma'am." Danny did his best to follow her lead while also struggling to ignore the fact that her hand was still on his stomach. 

He was so glad Tucker wasn't here to see his face. He could only hope that Valerie had come to the conclusion that the redness he could feel burning from his cheeks was proof that he was way more out of shape than she thought he was. That was still pretty embarrassing, and likely not even all wrong, but he would take it over the truth.

"Okay, now reset your shoulders. Stop hunching so much," she said.

"But the bar feels weird," Danny defended.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll get used to it. Stop looking down so much. You want your spine to be straight."

"I know." 

Half of what Valerie had been telling him for the past week was to straighten his spine. He couldn't help it if his back was a visual representation of his many years of late-night gaming. 

"Okay, now squat down." She leaned forward, and her dark eyes were just inches from his own. "No—look at me the whole time. Don't drop your eyes to your feet."

Oh, his face was burning burning now.

He slowly lowered his body, focusing on staying balanced as best as he could. Having a bar on his back was still a new sensation, and Valerie was refusing to let him load any weight onto it. Apparently, everyone started from an empty bar until they got the hang of the motion. Danny wasn't sure if that was something Valerie was just saying to be nice to him, or if that was actually true. 

He did try asking, and she just got offended that he would dare think so low of her that she would lie about something gym-related, and then she told him to stop screwing around and focus on the exercise.

So, it was fifty-fifty at this point.

"Keep going down," Valerie instructed, stepping back and thankfully removing her hand from him in the process.

Seriously, that had been the longest several seconds of his entire life and half-life combined.

"But I thought you weren't supposed to go past ninety degrees or something?" Danny asked from his invisible chair-like position in his squat.

"No, that's a lie. I think they just tell that to people who have butt-wink or bad mobility or something."

"The hell is butt-wink? See, now I just think you're making stuff up."

"I'm not! It's actually something you're doing right now." Valerie pointed at him in the mirror. "See how your pelvis is tucking in and curving your lower back? That's butt-wink." She moved to stand next to him and lowered down in a squat. "See my lower back? It's straight. This is how you want to be."

Danny wasn't aware that working out would just give him more things to be self-conscious about. He tried to straighten his lower back, but it was almost impossible to do so without feeling like he was going to fall on his ass. "Okay, then how do I fix that?"

"Well, I'm not exactly a doctor, so I'm sure it could be caused by a few different things. But the most common one I've heard is that butt wink happens when your core is shit. But it could also just as likely be an ankle and hip flexibility issue too."

Danny rolled his eyes. "As we've established, my core is shit. And I'm not flexible at all. "

"Yeah, I know," Valerie lamented. "I can't believe you've been fighting as Phantom for all these years and you haven't gone to the gym even once. Isn't Sam really into working out or something? Why didn't you ask to be her gym buddy?"

"Because I value my life." Danny paused. "My half-life, whatever. Tucker worked out with her once to prepare for the President's fitness test they did freshmen year, and I didn't stop hearing about it for months. She's ruthless."

"You know what, I believe that."

"Yup," Danny grunted, lowering to do another squat.

Two down, about five million more to go.

People actually enjoyed lifting weights? They came to the gym willingly? As in, of their own volition?

They seriously sweated and lifted heavy objects in a room surrounded by a bunch of equally sweaty, smelly strangers who were lifting other objects? 

And they thought it was fun?

That seemed absurd.

Valerie scrunched her nose at him.

"What?" Danny asked, his voice teetering past the line between speaking normally and whining, but he was far too exhausted to care. "Why are you looking at me like that? What am I doing wrong now?"

"No, it's just—" Valerie tilted her head. "Try widening your stance more. And maybe try pointing your toes out a little bit. That should help with your form. I mean, ideally, your ankle mobility would be better, but given it's pretty shit right now, this might be the best fix."

"God, I'm hopeless. Just give me the word and I'll leave."

"Oh, stop. You're not hopeless. You just need to stretch more. And train more."

Danny shuffled his feet and bent down into another squat. Having a wider stand did make the squat feel easier, but he wasn't about to admit that to her. "No, I am definitely hopeless. It'll be a blow to my ego, but I think I can emotionally recover if I leave the gym right now."

Valerie punched his arm, though it had no real power to it. She'd long since stopped legitimately trying to hurt him. 

Nevertheless, he would have sooner let Skulker capture him than pass up an opportunity to verbally torment Valerie. "Wow, I can't believe my ally is trying to beat me up and murder me in public. Especially while I'm trying to better myself in the gym."

"Oh, shut up." Although she tried to look angry, Danny could see the corners of her lips quirk into a smile. "Alright, your form is looking a lot better. It's still not perfect, but it's way better than when we started."

"Thank god."

"Maybe in a few weeks we can start adding plates."

A few weeks?

He must have let his internal expression show, because she once again snapped with, "It's normal for people to only squat the bar when they first start. It's way more important to get proper form than to lift heavy. You see that guy over there?"

She nodded across the room at a man doing chest presses. He was using weights that Danny could only dream of, pumping them up and down with a confidence that Danny was sure rivaled even Dash.

So the man looked alright to Danny, but apparently, that was the wrong conclusion to come to, if Valerie's critical eye was any judge.

"See how his elbows are basically straight out from his body? And see how he's not extending his arms all the way when he presses? He's rushing through the exercise. It's bad form, and while it may feel cool to lift heavy, bulky weights, if you can't even do the exercise properly, you just end up looking like a fool." She turned back to him. "Remember, you're in a gym. That means you're surrounded by people who have been doing this shit for years. Trust me when I say you're not going to impress anyone by rushing through the exercises to try to look cool."

"Aye-aye, captain."

It wasn't like he was going to impress anyone with the way he was wobbling while attempting to squat the naked bar, anyway.

"Alright, that's enough of a rest, I think. This time, let's actually do eight reps."

"Literal torture."

"Keep the whining up, and I might just call my blaster out."

Danny could see it in her eyes that she wasn't joking.

And so, he began.

****

[read more of my fics here]

[gartenofbanny]

So I watched Helluva Boss S2E6 "Oops" and let me tell you, it's better than Unhappy Campers, but it's also pretty mediocre too. So let's start off with the things I did like

Pros

Fizzarolli and Asmodeus's relationship

Fizzarolli and Ozzie's relationship is pretty adorable to look at, unlike Stolas and Blitzo's. They actually bounce off each other pretty well and are actually cute. Dick jokes aside.

I also like how Fizzarolli is sort of an advisor to Asmodeus's business related things, telling him what he needs to do for the day, and I also like how he tries to hide how other demons are starting to question whether or not their relationship is entirely lustful or actually romantic.

Asmodeus is very protective of Fizzarolli and respects whatever decision he makes. This is what Stolitz wants to be lmao.

Anyway, that's really the only thing I liked about this episode, now onto what I don't like

Cons

The intelligence of the characters

Most of the characters shown on screen are just dumb for the sake of moving the plot along.

Fizzarolli says he won't raise attention but then decides to raise attention in the Greed Ring where there are theives, bank robbers, and mob bosses.

Asmodeus, despite being one of the Seven Princes of Hell doesn't want to read a fucking contract. I get that he's impatient, but he's one of the Seven Princes and he's had to sign a contract AT LEAST ONCE in his centuries of living.

Striker and Crimson are just..they get distracted in a song where Fizzarolli is intentionally distracting them. I know Crimson is dumb as hell, but Striker and the rest of Crimson's mob? How am I supposed to take these antagonists seriously when they're stupid as hell?

Stolas

Stolas really had no reason being here since why isn't he in the hospital recovering from his injuries? How fast can demons regenerate if it has only been a week since Western Energy? That just removes even more tension even more for when certain characters take injuries because they can just heal from them at most a week later.

Stolas serves ZERO purpose to the plot. He barely does anything throughout this episode. Instead, he just gets all giddy at the sight of a stack of papers. He also says "get fucked little one" and I'm over here like YOU DID NOTHING SHUT UP.

In my opinion, they should've just let Asmodeus answer the phone call alone and read through the contract off-screen. Or have Asmodeus kill the lawyer and search for Fizzarolli while wandering around the Greed Ring.

The entire lawyer scene was pointless anyway because Asmodeus killed the lawyer in the end.

The Backstory

The backstory between Fizzarolli and Blitzo was...eh. I didn't really feel anything while watching the backstory because it was pretty predictable. While I was surprised that Blitzo admits that it was his fault (because when's the last time Blitzo took accountability)

I just could not feel sad for the life of me. And then, when Blitzo tries explaining, he's just interrupted. I'll get to the tonal shift of this episode later, but Blitzo says, "You have no idea what I lost in that fire". So Blitzo's mom died, and I'm wondering was Blitzo even aware that Fizzarolli was alive or not?

Because in Fizzarolli's perspective, Blitzo did see him but just ignored him. Not to mention, Blitzo somehow didn't acknowledge the fire when he bumped into Wally Wackford.

I'm damn sure Wally Wackford was screaming. Even then, Blitzo should've heard the flames go off, Blitzo should've seen the light of the fire in his peripheral vision, but he doesn't acknowledge it.

Blitzo's mom

Yeah, I'm counting this as a con. I don't feel bad that Tilla died because WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HER. She's the same as Moxxie's mom but with a name.

Are the mothers of male characters just supposed to fucking die? At least we got to see Moxxie's mom on screen. We never even saw Tilla in the first place aside from some fucking portraits.

Is this supposed to make me feel bad for Blitzo because he caused the fire, and I'm pretty sure Fizzarolli also had a good relationship with her, yet we never see his reaction to the death of Tilla either. Just Blitzo's and, to an extent, Barbie Wire's. Speaking of

Barbie Wire

Yeah, Barbie Wire wasn't really mentioned at all throughout this entire episode, not even in the flashback.

In the storyboard she did appear, but in the final version she just doesn't make an appearance for some reason. Vivziepop does not give a shit about their female characters

Fizzarolli forgiving Blitzo

Fizzarolli forgave Blitzo way too quickly in this episode. It doesn't make any sense that Fizzarolli forgave Blitzo, but Barbie Wire doesn't. Even though Barbie Wire has still been in contact with Blitzo.

Turns out Fizzarolli and Blitzo's hatred for each other was just a huge misunderstanding. Someone or something has prevented them from coming into contact with one another. They both keep saying, "But they told me" or "I never told them that" and who the hell is "they"? Just leaving out information for no reason at all.

Fizzarolli says, "It's hard to forgive you. It's been 15 years," but then he proceeds to forgive Blitzo near the end of the episode.

That's not how forgiveness works. Forgiveness takes time to go into effect it doesn't just happen when you hear a sob story.

Personally, I wouldn't have mind if FizArolli forgave Blitzo but not in the same episode where they're the main focused of an episode for the first time.

Convenient shit

Stuff just happens because it happens in this episode. Blitzo is at Greed because he wants breakfast and just so happens to meet Fizzarolli despite the fact that Crimson is still around.

Striker and Crimson coincidentally meet and are conveniently near Fizzarolli and Blitzo, allowing the two to get kidnapped.

A goon conveniently has anger issues and kills a large amount of his own crew allowing Blitzo and Fizz to escape

Striker and Fizzarolli are conveniently behind fucking gasoline WHY IS THERE PERFECTLY GOOD GASOLINE IN A DUMP?!

Fizzarolli's arms conveniently malfunction, so he can't escape the flames, so Blitzo has to save him.

It's just convenient stuff just so the plot can move along.

Tone issues

Can't be a Helluva Boss episode without tone issues. I don't feel like listing the examples because there are A LOT, but one major example I will put is Crimson blackmailing Asmodeus and at the end of it, one of his goons don't know how to hang up a phone or to stop a video.

This series can not have a serious scene if it saved its life.

Conclusion

I would comment on how Striker is just mischaracterized again through Blitzo calling him a supremacist or how the antagonists overall in this episode are dumb as hell. Or how this episode raises even more questions

But I believe those two deserve blogs by themselves. Anyway, thank you all for reading, and I hope you all have a nice day! ❤️

And I give this episode a 3.1/10

[xsweetcatastrophe]

You Broke Me First

Part 22

18+ minors DNI

Zoe tried to take her time on the stairs as she made her way down, but Cillian said he was going to kick the back of her knees and roll her down the stairs if she moved any slower. She considered it, thinking it's probably less painful then dealing with her mother.

"Your funeral," she mumbled to him. "remember, don't take anything she says to heart, she's rude and she doesn't even know it" she reminded him.

"would you relax? Do you know some of the people i worked with?" Cillian whispered back.

Zoe made her way to the kitchen where she found her mom by the island unpacking groceries. In the background, she could see Jen and her husband, John, sitting on the patio while Sophie was running around on the lawn.

"Look who decided to visit her mother!" Zoe's mom said, holding out her arms and making her way towards her. Zoe hugged her back, begrudgingly.

"Hey mom... you look great" Zoe said, pulling back and looking at her.

Zoe's mom always looked put together. She didn't own a single pair of sweatpants or a sweatshirt. Her blonde hair was blown out, curling slightly below her shoulders. She wore light blue linen pants and a white linen shirt with sandals and gold jewelry.

"And is this the man who's been keeping you away from me?" She said, turning to Cillian.

"No mom, I do that all on my own," Zoe said. "This is Cillian"

"Simone. Nice to meet you honey," Zoe's mom said, giving him a hug.

"Great to meet you too. Thanks so much for letting us stay and having me," Cillian replied.

"Oh, please. The more the merrier. I have this house and none of my kids visit me." She said, waving her hand around. "This one can't stand me so much she moved to the other side of the country for crying out loud!" She said, laughing. Cillian laughed back. Zoe looked between the two of them then shot Cillian a look. It'll be a cold day in hell before her mother and Cillian get along and form an alliance in front of her.

"Grandma!!!" Sophie said, running into the kitchen.

"Hi Angel," Zoe's mom said, leaning down to give her a hug. "But what did I tell you? Don't call me grandma. Now, can the almost birthday girl help me with the groceries?" She said, picking her up and placing her on the counter.

"Hey Ma," Jen said walking into the kitchen as well with John. John walked over to Cillian and shook his hand, keeping the introduction short and sweet, as it should be. John was always neutral and didn't get involved in any family drama. He knew the women in this family have stuff they need to talk through and he wasn't about to get in the middle of it. He would keep his distance and remove himself and leave the room if it started getting loud or an argument started ... and he would pray if they were to ever have a second child, it would be a boy.

"I think I'll do a pesto sauce tonight? Is that okay with everyone?" Zoe's mom announced. Everyone nodded their head.

"Zoe, why don't you go freshen up. You look tired," She continued.

Zoe's jaw tightened and her nostrils flared. "Thanks, mom. Maybe I will. Come on, Cill" She said, grabbing Cillian's arm and pulling him out of the room. She heard him stifle a laugh as they made it to the stairs.

They made it to the bedroom and she shoved him in and closed the door behind her.

"Don't you think for one second you're gonna gang up with her this weekend," She said, pointing her finger at him.

Cillian let out the laugh he was holding in. "You just gotta laugh, don't take it so seriously." He said.

"No I don't have to laugh. I wish it was sunday already and we were flying back," She said, flopping onto the bed.

"I'm sorry. How can I help?" Cillian said, sitting on the bed next to you.

"I don't know. But I think i'm gonna take a shower," She said, sitting up and heading towards the bathroom. "I'll just be a few minutes."

Cillian laid back on the bed and had every intention of shutting his eyes for a few minutes. Zoe had left the bathroom door opened so he heard her turn the water on. He opened one eye and could only see her shadow, she was too far into the bathroom off to the side for him to see her full figure.

But he DID see her throw her clothes onto the ground. Including her bra. Right in his eyesight.

Cillian lifted one eyebrow staring at her bra as he felt the blood rush to his cock. Something about seeing her bra on the floor, like the first night he ever stepped foot in her apartment, turned him on. He now heard her pull back the shower door and step inside. He sat up on his elbows and weighed his options. The bedroom door was closed... he got off the bed and made his way towards it, locking the door. He stepped to the window and looked into the yard, where he could see Zoe's mom, sister, brother in law and niece outside. He looked again towards the bathroom and smirked as he took his shirt off.

Zoe was in the shower letting the water run down her back, relaxing her muscles. She wonder how hot the water she could make it without giving her serious burns. The water was already pretty hot and the steam was thick in the bathroom. She could stay in here forever.

Suddenly she felt hands on her hips.

"What the -" She yelled, spinning around. Cillian quickly covered his mouth with his hand. She looked up at him, as the water bounced off of his now wet body, hair plastered to his forehead.

"Can you be quiet for me?" he said lowly. He could feel her smirk under his hand as she nodded.

"yea? You think so?" He replied, removing his hand and moving it down her jaw, neck, breast, stomach, landing right above where she wanted him the most. "I think I should test that theory" He said, diving into her folds.

Zoe sucked in a breath and bit her lip. He glared at her. "You know what biting that lip does to me," He said, kissing her roughly. She kissed him back, grabbing him and tangling her hands in his short hair. She took one hand and dragged it down to his cock, stroking it slowly. He groaned into her mouth.

"You have no idea what you do to me," He said, pulling away slightly from her lips. She smiled at him and leaned forward, kissing him again as she hooked her leg over her hip. Cillian grabbed it with his free hand and held it in place.

"We gotta make this quick, it's so hot in here I'm gonna pass out - how fucking hot do you have the fuckin' water in here?" Cillian said, breaking away to look at the faucet.

Zoe laughed and pulled his face towards him. "Are you gonna fuck me or are you gonna take the temperature?" she said, biting her lip.

Cillian's eyes went dark as he grabbed his cock and lined himself up with her, slowly pushing into her. Zoe threw her head back against the wall, feeling him stretch her out. He finally bottomed out and stayed there for a couple seconds, placing kisses on her neck and chest.

He finally started moving, a few slow strokes then faster, hitting just the right spot in Zoe to make her moan entirely too loud.

"Shhh" Cillian said, not slowing down. "What did I say? Do I need to cover your mouth?"

Before Zoe could even control it, she let out a moan. Cillian smiled.

"You would like that, don't you?" He said, hand coming back up to cover her mouth. "What my girl wants, my girl gets."

My girl.

Cillian knew just what to say to set her off.

"Please" she mumbled behind his hand.

"Please what?" He said, still fucking up into her. The angle was too perfect for both of them.

"Is my girl going to cum?" He asked.

there it is again; my girl.

Zoe felt her muscles tighten around him at him calling her his. Truth is, it did turn her on. Cillian groaned. "that's it, keep squeezing me like that," He said, fucking her harder as a hand slipped between her and rubbed her clit.

With the added pressure, Zoe couldn't hold back any longer. She squeezed her eyes shut as her orgasm hit her, with a muffled moan behind Cillian's hand.

"Fuck," Cillian moaned, thrusts now starting to falter. "You feel so good cumnming on my cock... going to fill you up... you feel so good baby... He said, chasing his release.

Zoe's hip fell from being hooked around his hip, and she tried to lift it but her legs felt like jello. With Cillian's now free hand, he held it against his hip as he came a groan, spilling inside of her. Forehead pressed against hers, breathing heavy as he came down from his high. He removed his hand from her mouth and placed both hands on her hips instead as he tried to get his breathing back to normal. She wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.

There was a couple minutes of complete silence while they held each other; only sounds were the shower water and their labored breathing filled the room. There was a lingering feeling Zoe felt, and it was eating at her inside. She wanted to express how happy she was with him, how safe and comfortable she felt... but it was too soon. She couldn't say that. And there's no way he could feel it either... right?

Cillian finally pulled away and looked at her, wiping her cheek with his thumb.

"You are so.. so perfect Zoe." He whispered. "... But these showers are too fucking hot" he added.

Zoe laughed. "Wanna take a cold shower with me then?"

"I'm gonna have to. I can't tell what's sweat and what's water at this point. I also might have to sit before I pass out"

"okay dramatic" Zoe said, laughing.

After Zoe and Cillian showered (for real this time) and got dressed, they made their way downstairs to the kitchen. Zoe's mom and Sophie were at the kitchen island, mixing the penne and pesto sauce together. Sophie was sitting on the island countertop with a wooden spoon mixing, and Zoe's mom was supervising.

"ZoZo, i picked-ed I picked the basil myself" Sophie said upon seeing her enter the room.

"You did??? Big girl cooking dinner for us!" She said, walking over and giving her a squeeze.

"Yea, her and mom went outside to pick the basil from the garden and then I got assigned the job of picking out all grass Sophie picked instead of basil... so, you're welcome everybody" Jen said, butting in. She grabbed a bottle of wine and bunch of glasses, offering Cillian one and pouring it for him.

"She did a great job, let's all go sit down," Zoe's mom said, bringing the big bowl to the table and placing it in the center. They all gathered around the table and took their seats. Zoe took the initiative to start serving people. She grabbed her mother's plate before her mom grabbed her wrist. "Not a lot, Zoe, I'm taking pilates classes. I can't have too many carbs."

Zoe stared at her. "Then why did you make so much?"

"Because you eat enough for all of us, and I knew you're not eating right over wherever the hell you are," She replied, waving her hand as if she couldn't be bothered.

"I what??!" Zoe exclaimed, setting the spoon down.

Cillian froze, Jen audibly sighed, John took a large gulp of his wine, and Sophie continued to bang her fork on the plate.

"What? What did I say? I'm your mother, I just hope you're eating enough. You used to eat 3 bowls of pasta when you were growing up for dinner. I just want to make sure you eat. Pardon me for caring," Her mom replied.

"You know mom, you have a funny way of showing you care," Zoe said, picking the spoon back up and started serving everyone.

"I served myself last to make sure everyone else got their servings, since, you know, I eat all the food apparently," Zoe said, finishing up her portion and sitting back down.

"Cillian, how's filming Peaky?" Jen said, trying to change the subject.

"What's Peaky?" Zoe's mom chimed in.

"It's a fucking good show, that's what it is. How long you keepin' the haircut?" John interjected.

CiIlian laughed. "For a couple more weeks, then I start the process of growing it out which is a pain,"

"I'm not a fan of your hair," Zoe's mom stated. Zoe shot a look at her mom. "Mom seriously?"

"Me neither, honestly" Cillian said, letting the comment roll off his back.

"My Husband used to love Netflix. I don't even know how to work the thing. I don't understand streaming. It's like cable, right?"

Zoe groaned. "Can this not be a IT consultation and just have it be dinner?"

"Does Esme ever come back with John's kids?" John asked.

"How often do you have to shave the sides?" Jen interjected, still stuck on the topic of the haircut.

"Peaky, Peaky, Peaky," Sophie said out loud to herself as she played with her pasta.

"But does the streaming have a TV guide? how do I know when shows are on? Do I have to pay for this?" Zoe's mom added.

"OKAY LETS PLAY THE QUIET GAME" Zoe yelled, hoping for peaceful rest of the dinner.

Zoe woke up and rolled over, feeling Cillian's arm draped over her. She looked at the time; 5am.

They had survived the rest of the dinner, and Cillian handed the interrogation - i mean, questions, perfectly. He was calm, patient, and even explained streaming vs cable to Zoe's mom. Will she retain the information? probably not, but let's see how calm and cool Cillian is the 45th time she asks how it works in a week span.

Zoe laid on her back, then turned her head to the window. She was wide awake, and she wanted to do something she hasn't done in a long time... not since the last time she was back home.

Not since her father died.

"Cillian," Zoe whispered, poking him in the side. He grunted, but eyes remained closed.

"Cillian, wake up," she said louder, pushing him harder. He groaned, and opened his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, get up, I'm taking you somewhere," Zoe said, pulling back the covers.

"What?" Cillian mumbled, confused.

"Get. Up. let's go, we don't have much time," She said, pulling on a hoodie.

Cillian sat up and stretched. "Where are we going? at 5am?" Cillian said, rubbing his hand through his hair.

"Just put on a hoodie and grab your shoes, let's go lets go!!!" Zoe said excitedly, grabbing a blanket from her closet.

"Please don't take me to that diner, it's 5am I reserve fried foods for at least 8am" Cillian groaned, getting out of bed and pulling a hoodie from his suitcase, and slipping his sneakers on.

The two of them made their way down the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the backyard. They walked to the far end, and unlocked the gate and made their way onto the beach. It wasn't pitch black, but it was still pretty dark.

Zoe took her shoes off and continued walking onto the sand. Cillian wasn't walking as fast as her as he was still waking up.

"Come on, hurry up!!" She yelled softly behind her.

"You know, this isn't what I had in mind when I said I liked waking up next to you. This is torture, I like sleep" Cillian replied, talking through a yawn. "Is this what it's going to be like back at home? You waking me up and dragging me somewhere? Is this some sort of initiation? Does Scout have to do this too-"

"You're talking too much for 5am," Zoe cut in, finally stopping and laying down the blanket. After smoothing it out, she sat down in the middle and left space for him next to her. Cillian plopped down next to her, laying down on his back while she stayed sitting up right. "Whoever said sleeping on the beach is romantic is a liar. Sand is uncomfortable," He said, adjusting.

"You've been awake for 10 minutes and you'e done nothing but complain, but sit up, it's happening!!" Zoe said, hitting his leg.

Confused, Cillian sat up and followed her gaze out to the ocean.

"Woahhhh...." Cillian said, staring out at the sky that was now painted an orange/purple color. In the distance, the sun starting to rise just at the horizon.

Cillian adjusted himself, and sat behind Zoe with his legs on either side of her. She leaned back into him and he wrapped his arms around her, placing his head on her shoulders. She leaned her head against his, not saying a word. She couldn't be closer to him and yet, she wanted to be. She didn't want an inch of her body untouched by him.

"Beautiful," Cillian said softly, right next to Zoe's ear.

Zoe never felt more comfortable sitting in silence with someone. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I used to do this with... my dad. He would do 48 hour shifts sometimes at the firehouse... he would come home around this time. He would wake me up, bundle me in his arms and walk me down to the beach and we would watch it together. I haven't done it in such a long time... not since he died."

"Keep doing it," Cillian said. "Don't be afraid to do things you used to do with him because you might get sad. Things like this keeps him alive. Talking about him, sharing stories with people... it makes you feel better. Because then you tell the funny stories and you laugh. And other people laugh with you. And then suddenly your day and other people's days are a little brighter because they laughed over something he did. that's how you keep a memory of someone alive," Cillian said, squeezing her tigher.

Zoe smiled, a teardrop quietly trailing down her cheek.

"This is my favorite place to be," Zoe said. "And I wanted to take you here. I wanted you to see it."

Cillian smiled. "I'd go anywhere with you. Thank you," He said, kissing her temple.

"I wish I could freeze time right here. I want to stay like this forever. Everything quiet. Everything good. Like a clean slate. But then once the sun is up life goes back to normal. It's these quick couple of minutes it's like watching everything reset and restart. God, I want to be this happy forever," Zoe said, leaning back further into Cillian and closing her eyes.

"You will be, babe. I promise."

Zoe chucked. "Yea, we'll see."

After about 15 minutes, the sun was up and people were staring to join them on the beach. Many of them going for a morning run, some fishing, and some just walking.

"We should head back," Cillian said, stretching. Zoe groaned. "I don't wannaaaaa" she whined, laying back onto the sand.

"We have a birthday party to attend. the social event of the year, and I have no clue what I'm wearing," Cillian joked, standing up and holding out his hand her. Zoe took it and stood up, leaning into him and giving him a kiss.

"Ugh, fine. Let's go" She groaned, hand in and started the walk back, hand in hand with him.

"Come on, we'll be alright," He said, squeezing her hand.

Zoe took in her surroundings as she walked home with him. If you would of told her a year ago she'd be walking home from watching the sunrise on the beach with Cillian Murphy, something she doesn't do with ANYONE, she would never believe you. And, for the first time in years, she felt a lot calmer about being home. She felt safe... with him next to her. She felt like she could get through anything with him by her side. That's all she wanted, was to be next to him. All of these new feelings she felt - all the good ones - were because of him.

"yea..." She replied to him, smiling. "Maybe we will. We'll be alright."

tags: @lau219 @shopgirl6us @borntodiemp3

[fandomworld9728]

The Life of the Morningstars - Chapter 16:

"Alright. What do you want?"

"Have you been filling Emily's head with nonsense again? I thought we agreed that you wouldn't tell her anything about Lucifer."

See? This is what pisses him off. Expecting people to keep their promises to her yet she can't keep the ones she makes. "Yeah? And didn't you promise Luci that you would tell her about her other parent?"

"Don't call him that!" Taking a deep breath, Sera tried her best to calm down. How was Adam still so wrapped around the fallen angel's finger? "I said what was needed to make sure he didn't completely crumble apart. That would have hurt Emily."

"What hurt Emily was taking her away from her mother!"

"Don't raise your voice-"

"No! I'm tired of this shit, Sera. You broke the connection between an Omega mother and a pup only a couple months after birth. Not only that, but you didn't give her to me. You know? Her father? You kept her! She should have just gone with Lucifer. You see how little miss sunshine Morningstar is. Ems would have been fine." Taking his mask off, Adam headed for the door. "It's really sad that his own sister can't keep her promise. That's up to the shitty ex he screwed over."

Leaving the Seraphim speechless, the first man made his way back to his room. They had court soon and he needed time to think and decompress. Sometimes it felt like all Sera wanted was the quirky former angel out of the way and a child of her own. With how Adam tended to run his mouth as freely as he wanted, he seemed to be getting into more and more trouble lately. The latest had been him taking the fall for the Exterminations.

He had suggested it when he was experiencing one of his really low moments. The moments when he missed his omega. Where it physically hurt that he wasn't there with him. He didn't think Sera would take it seriously and actually agree to it. She almost seemed giddy about it. Not in the face though. It all showed in her eyes. And as guilty as he felt about the Exterminations... it was also a way to get out that feeling of rage and pain at the omega abandoning him for Lilith.

Though... things never seemed to add up in his head. Those final days together in the garden. Sera's behavior. None of it made sense. He needed to talk to the Princess of Hell. And soon. Without Lute. However, luck didn't seem to be on his side.

~

"This is so much fun! I wish we could hang out all the time."

"Me too! Too bad mom and dad aren't together. If they were we could see each other all the time."

"I've been meaning to ask... who is your mom?"

Confused, Emily stopped walking. "What do you mean? We have the same mom- oh! That's right. You grew up calling Lilith your mom. So, you wouldn't call our omega parent mom like me."

Did this mean that her older sister had two male parents like she did? Charlie was even more interested to learn about who Emily's other parent is now. Should she start calling her dad her mom instead? Wouldn't hurt to try and calling him dad had really truly felt right. At this point though, it was habit.

"My alpha parent is actually Adam."

"Wait what?! Adam?!"

"Yeah. And don't take anything that he says or does in front of the other angels personally. He has to keep up a certain persona in front of them to stay on Sera's good side. He still cares about mom so much. Sometimes he thinks about taking me and going to Hell to live with you two when it gets too painful for him to be separated. That pain also makes him do bad things..."

Like the Exterminations. It wasn't an excuse, but it certainly explained a lot about Adam. "Thank you for telling me that, Emily."

~

What was Lucifer thinking? He was too old for this. And too much of a recluse to handle all of these people, the flashing lights, and the loud music. Usually, he'd use alcohol to help dull his senses to make it all easier to handle, but this stuff wasn't as strong as what Bee has at her parties so his magic burns right through any effects it could have on him. He had half a mind to just buy a couple bottles and chug them just to feel a buzz.

"What's wrong, short king? Aren't ya havin' fun?"

"I guess this isn't really my scene anymore... maybe I should just go back to the hotel."

"Nonsense!" Slamming down a shot, Cherri turned to the two men with a large grin. "How about you grab someone and go into one those private rooms? Or you could just grab me for a fun time."

Nervously laughing, Lucifer tugged on the collar of his shirt to try and cool off. All the flirting Angel's friend has been doing paired with strong smell of sex was making him feel a little over heated. He would have left already if it wasn't for his gut screaming at him to stay put. "T-That's flattering but no thank you. As much as I like girls I'm more into men."

A shrug and another shot were all the punk girl needed before she was focused on something else, making Lucifer breathe a little easier. Luckily, Angel was too busy having fun and trailing after a drunk Niffty to try flirting with him too. Could also have something to do with Husk being there. He wasn't going to complain. The less attention on him the better.

However, that left him alone with Alastor, who seemed to be enjoying watching the chaos unfolding. What little bit this night had been going in the king's favor quickly flipped against him. He was going to need to do something about this odd attraction he had to the creepy demon sitting next to him at the bar area. Beel and Ozzie keep telling him to get himself back out in the dating scene, but it always felt like Alastor didn't like him for some reason.

Their interactions left him feeling as if the other man was being intentionally hostile towards him. Like, what the fuck did Lucifer do to the guy? Absolutely nothing! Well, besides that small little spat when they met. But he apologized for that! Though... Alastor had called his sour scent delicious. He didn't understand how someone could like a scent that left most people's stomachs churning. 

No. He couldn't get involved with the radio demon. No matter how effected he was by the man's scent, appearance, and words. Not to mention his show of power whenever he needs to prove a point... Nope! Not going down that road again! He did not need the club smelling the mess he makes of himself just thinking about some sinner he met not that long ago.

Maybe he did need to get laid. Who would be a good choice? Angel Dust? He was experienced and Lucifer hadn't had sex in a really long time. But the spider demon had sex with people all day at work and was working horrible hours. Sir Pentious might be a good choice. The poor guy kept striking out tonight. He could use a win. People also tended to want what they couldn't have. Cherri might be more interested in the snake demon after. So, a win win win. Pentious gets a win and confidence boost, Lucifer gets laid, and Cherri might get either jealous and/or interested in the other sinner after.

His thoughts came to a screeching halt at the scene he saw. It made his blood boil, and he was moving before he could stop himself.

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[strangerstilinski]

𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐈 ✶ Teen Wolf Rewrite

Stiles Stilinski / Original Female Character

TW | S2

chapter seven

fic summary; as if the last month and a half hadn't been stressful enough – now there were a few more werewolves, a kanima, and a seriously disturbed old man added into the mix. but amber, stiles, and scott could totally handle it. it would be fine. everything was great.

word count; 19k

warnings; the possibly triggering scene from the show with Jackson being creepy in the locker room, slight gore maybe?, eventual explicit sexual content, oral sex (both m and f), fluff fluff and more fluff

chapter notes; the group tries to figure out who's been controlling jackson all this time. ben davis makes a brief return as my own personal plot device. stiles is his typically over-dramatic self and amber is, as usual, super into it.

masterlist

c h a p t e r s e v e n

restraint

Amber's nerves had her nearly dropping her phone to the floor of her car as she climbed behind the wheel while simultaneously trying to get ahold of Stiles. Fingers of her free hand fumbled over the touchscreen, already turning her key in the ignition as the call began to ring through. Stiles was answering before the first trill through the speaker had even finished sounding out, his voice frantic.

"Why the hell haven't you been answering your phone?" He shouted through the speaker, the pitch of his voice higher than normal.

"Is Scott still with you?" She asked immediately, taking the turn off of her street a touch too quickly than was probably good for her tires, "Because I was just with Lydia and-"

"Jackson escaped." Scott's voice supplied through the phone.

"He what?" Amber squeaked, letting off the clutch to shift gears and increase the speed of the car that much more, "Guys he's not-"

"Yeah, he got out and the asshole went straight to the police," Stiles told her, "His dad's here and my dad's pissed and Scott's mom is on her way down to the station."

"You guys are at the station?" She cursed, slamming on the breaks so she could make a messy three point turn and backtrack in the direction of the Sheriff's station.

"Yeah, and we're totally screwed," Stiles was telling her as she reoriented her car in the right direction, "My dad said the Whittemore's are filing a restraining order against Scott and I. As soon as Scott's mom gets here my dad has to read out the terms and-"

"Stiles!" Amber interrupted sharply, "That sucks but it's not important right now, okay? Lydia translated part of the kanima entry from the bestiary-"

"How'd she do that?" Scott cut in.

"She knows Archaic Latin, Scott. Now shut up and listen to me," Amber snapped as she turned onto the next street, "Mrs. Morrell translated it wrong! The kanima doesn't seek a friend, alright? The kanima seeks a master! Which means someone's controlling Jackson-"

"Woah, what?" Stiles exclaimed through the speaker.

"Stiles, you said that Jackson still didn't believe you when you were explaining everything to him earlier, right?" She asked, shifting gears as she went around a sharp corner.

"Yeah, pretty much." Stiles agreed.

"Well, so- If Jackson doesn't know what he's doing then he must not know someone's even controlling him." Amber deduced.

"Or he doesn't remember." Scott supplied.

"What if it's the same kinda thing that happened with Lydia when she took off from the hospital?" Stiles questioned.

"Right!" Amber recalled, "Like a fugue state-"

Scott's voice came through the phone again, "But then he'd have to forget everything.. The murder-"

"Getting rid of all the blood-" Amber offered up, an image flashing behind her eyes of Jackson's bloodied body at the nightclub. She thought of how he would've had to have washed the blood away himself after he'd killed Tucker, and Isaac's dad, and then the hunter-

"Yeah," Stiles agreed, "He had help with one thing though.. The video. Someone else helped him forget that." He reminded them of the erased footage.

"Whoever's controlling him." Scott said quietly.

The tires of Amber's car squealed quietly in protest as she peeled into the parking lot at the station and jerked to a slightly crooked stop between the painted white lines.

"Jackson thinks that being with Lydia somehow made him immune and, like, delayed the whole werewolf bite thing-" Amber told them, throwing herself from the vehicle and nearly falling to the pavement in her haste to slam the door shut behind her, "Where exactly are you guys?"

"What d'you mean?" Stiles asked in confusion as Amber pushed the front door to the station open, "I told you we're down at the station-"

"Yeah, so am I," She panted slightly, adrenaline still pumping in her veins from the wild drive from her house, "So where are you guys?"

She let her phone drop from her ear to her shoulder as she stepped up to the door that led to the interrogation rooms, only to find the door locked, the handle stiff and unmoving when she jiggled it. She turned to cast an incredulous look at the female deputy who was watching her from behind the front desk and Amber gestured wildly at the door with her free hand.

"Tara, I know you recognize me," Amber said in exasperation, "C'mon, buzz me in-"

Tara frowned, slowly eyeing the girl's frazzled state, but pressed her finger down on the button to unlock entry into the hallway. Amber sighed gratefully as she rushed through, nearly running straight into Stiles' chest when she stepped into the hall at the same time that he and Scott stumbled out of the room at the front end of the corridor.

"Jesus!" She exclaimed in surprise as her boyfriend's hands came up to steady her.

She abandoned her phone completely, ending the call and shoving it into her pocket as she looked at her best friends.

"We need to find out who's controlling him." Scott quietly continued their conversation from before.

"D'you think he'll talk to us?" Amber questioned, "I mean.. After what we did? Kidnapping him and all?"

Stiles shrugged, "Yeah, it's us. He'll talk to us," He nodded before catching Amber's unsure frown, "..Right?"

It was at that moment that Sheriff Stilinski stepped out from a room further down the hall and cast a disappointed look at the three teens.

"Scott, your mom just pulled in. So, you boys get your asses into this room," He said firmly, "Now."

Stiles and Scott lowered their heads and followed the order, moving down the hall and into the larger interrogation room. Ms. McCall hurried past Amber only a moment later and the girl immediately moved to follow but Sheriff Stilinski held up a hand in signal for her to stop.

"No." He said simply.

Amber spluttered, taking another aborted step forward, "Wh- But- If I could just-"

"This doesn't concern you," He told her firmly before raising his eyebrows in question, "Does it?"

"Um.. No?" She told him cautiously.

"Then you stay out here." He said, giving her a serious look before moving into the room himself, leaving the door into the hallway open behind him.

Amber moved to the edge of the doorway, attempting to listen closely to what was going on just on the other side of the wall. Ms. McCall hovered at the edge of the room, her arms crossed over the scrub top she was still wearing after having rushed down to the station straight from work.

"Scott. Stiles. This is going to apply to both of you, so listen to me very closely," The Sheriff said in a stern voice, "You will not go within fifty feet of Jackson Whittemore. You will not speak to him.. You will not approach him.. You will not assault or harass him physically or psychologically."

"What about school?" Stiles questioned immediately.

His father sighed, "You both can attend classes while attempting to maintain a fifty foot distance."

Amber shook her head, unsure how such a thing was possible when they shared so many classes with the other boy in addition to lacrosse.

"Bu- Okay, what if we both have to use the bathroom at the same time-" Stiles started, words rambling together quickly as Amber clenched her eyes shut and silently willed him to stop talking while he continued, "-And there's only two stalls available, and those two stalls are right next to each other?"

There was a brief silence and Amber brought her fingers up to pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"-I'll just hold it." Stiles said quietly after a few moments.

A few minutes later, Stiles' father was leading him out of the room with a hand fisted in the collar of the boy's sweatshirt, "Do I need to remind you how lucky we are that they're not pressing charges?" The Sheriff demanded.

"Oh, come on! It was a joke!" Stiles attempted to justify their actions.

Amber had to physically fight the urge to press the palm of her hand against her forehead in vexation.

"It was a joke?" Sheriff Stilinski repeated incredulously.

"Yes!" Stiles agreed quickly, "I didn't think it would be taken this seriously. Dad, humor's very subjective, okay? We're talking, like, multiple levels of interpretation here."

His father's gaze cut to Amber and she stepped forward slowly as if pulled by the weight of his glare.

"You and Stiles have a pretty similar sense of humor," Sheriff Stilinski pointed out, "How would you interpret the situation? You think it was funny?" He questioned sternly.

"I, um.." She bit down on her lip as her eyes bounced between her boyfriend and his father, "Not.. Not wildly funny."

'Traitor' Stiles motioned with his lips silently, shaking his head at her cowardice under his father's attention.

"Uh huh," Sheriff Stilinski looked between them with narrowed eyes for a moment before refocusing on his son, "Well, uh, how exactly am I supposed to interpret the stolen prison transport van, huh?"

Stiles spluttered, hands waving around wildly, "We filled the tank!"

His father raised his hands with a deep breath as he stepped away, removing himself from the conversation entirely with a shake of his head and leaving the two of them alone in the narrow hall.

"A prank?" Amber hissed, landing a hard punch to her boyfriend's shoulder, "You told them it was a prank?"

"What? Like you had a better excuse lined up?" He questioned while he rubbed at the sore spot on his arm. Amber's face pinched as she tried to quickly come up with something and Stiles nodded at her after a few seconds of silence, "Yeah, that's what I thought, smartass."

Her eyes narrowed at his words, "You are infuriating sometimes, y'know that?" She muttered quietly.

Stiles' lips pulled into a slow grin, his cheek dimpling as his eyes flicked over her frustrated expression. He noted the way she'd petulantly crossed her arms before his gaze trailed back up to her face, "Infuriating in a way that kinda makes you wanna kiss me to shut me up?" He questioned in quiet optimism.

She glared despite the flutter in her stomach at his words, "No."

Stiles took a step closer, his palms dragging softly up and down over her upper arms, "You sure? Because I could keep saying infuriating things if that'll-"

"Move!" Ms. McCall yelled at her son sharply as she shoved him out of the interrogation room and they stepped out into the hall, "It's not just this. Although, a restraining order is a new low that I didn't think you would reach quite this soon." She scolded loudly.

Amber and Stiles both winced as Scott followed closely behind his mother, the family unit walking a few steps past where the couple had been loitering.

"-It's everything on top of it!" Ms. McCall continued, spinning around to face her son with a disappointed look, "The completely bizarre behavior, the late nights coming home, having to beg Mr. Harris to let you make up that Chemistry test that you missed-"

"I missed a Chemistry test?" Scott questioned in genuine confusion.

"Really, Scott? Really?" His mother shook her head with a deep sigh, "I- I have to ground you. I'm grounding you. You.. Are grounded."

Amber blinked in surprise. She couldn't remember a single time in their lives when Scott's mom had been angry enough with him to do such a thing. He'd been punished, sure – lots of times – but never to the point of a grounding.

"What about work?" Scott questioned immediately.

"Fine. Other than work." His mother acquiesced, "And no TV." She added as an afterthought.

Scott merely shrugged, "My TV's broken."

Amber shook her head silently and tried to catch his eye, pleading for her best friend to shut up.

"Then no computer." Ms. McCall said easily.

"..I need the computer for school." Scott said slowly.

His mother's face pinched in annoyance, "Then no, uh.." Her gaze drifted over Scott's shoulder, eyes catching on her son's best friends. Her face seemed to light up with an idea, "No Stiles and no Amber."

Amber squeaked in protest, "Wh-"

"No Stiles?" Stiles repeated, voice high.

"No! No Stiles! No Amber!" Ms. McCall repeated with more authority than before, looking back to her son again, "And no more car privileges. Give me your key-"

Scott reared a small step back in response to his mother's words, "But-"

"Give 'em to me!" Ms. McCall snapped.

Scott pulled his keyring from the pocket of his jeans and handed it over weakly. The three teens all watched his mother pulled frantically at the split ring, trying to separate the pieces enough to slip the car key off of the loop with clumsy fingers and working herself up further the more that she struggled.

"Oh, for the love of God." Ms. McCall muttered with a frustrated sniffle.

Scott reached out toward her with caution, "Mom, do you want me to-"

"No." His mother snapped.

"Mom, come on. Just let me- Mom!" Scott pleaded, his hand wrapping around her shaking ones to grip the keys, "Mom."

Ms. McCall sniffled again and Amber took a small step back, her knuckles knocking lightly against Stiles' before he tangled their fingers together wordlessly.

"What is going on with you?" Ms. McCall asked quietly, "Is this about Allison?"

Scott turned his head to shoot his friends a pleading look and Amber instinctively chewed at her lower lip, knowing exactly how badly Scott wanted to come clean about all of the supernatural crap that had suddenly infiltrated their lives.

"Do you really wanna know?" Scott asked his mom slowly.

Stiles began to shake his head vehemently at Scott as Ms. McCall begged her son to explain what his problem was. Scott looked to his friends desperately once more and Amber gave him a small shrug as Stiles continued to silently display his disapproval.

"-Is this about your dad?" Ms. McCall asked weakly.

The question seemed to catch him off guard and Scott was still trying to decide on his next words when his mom continued.

"It is, isn't it?" Her gaze caught on Amber and Stiles still hovering just a few feet away and her posture straightened up with a final sniffle, "Okay, you know what? Um, we'll talk about this at home. I'm- I'm gonna go get the car."

They all watched her go with varying expressions of dismay and Scott waited until the door at the end of the hallway sealed shut with a click before turning to face his friends fully.

"I'm the worst son ever." Scott said with a shattered look.

"Well, I'm not exactly winning any prizes either." Stiles countered easily.

"It's gonna be okay," Amber assured them, her voice coming out sounding less firm than she'd intended, "It- It is gonna be okay, right?" She asked after a moment as she looked between them anxiously.

Stiles wrapped his arm around her neck, their joined hands coming up to rest at her shoulder as he pulled her into his chest, words muffled slightly in her hair, "Yeah. Yeah, everything's gonna be fine."

Upon arriving home, Amber was entirely surprised to find her brother standing in their living room. His shift had only started at the fire station a few hours before, so she wasn't expecting to see him for another eighteen hours, but he was currently dragging his feet across the hardwood restlessly as he paced back and forth across the space.

His attention snapped up at the sound of the front door closing as Amber dropped her keys onto the table in the entryway, his face pinching in a tight frown the moment his gaze found her.

"Jase..?" She asked cautiously as she toed off her shoes, "Is uh, is everything okay?"

"Get in here. And sit." He demanded, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the couch.

"Okay.." She said slowly, stepping into the room, "What's-"

"Amber Evangeline Callisto-"

The girl's eyes widened at the use of her full name, something she was nearly certain she hadn't heard in a scolding since their mother had been alive.

"-Sit. Down." Jason finished sternly, the volume of his voice was wholly surprising and Amber's butt landed on the couch immediately.

"I- Um, I'm going to take a wild guess from the fact that you're, y'know, here, and the deeply pissed off look on your face.. And assume that Sheriff Stilinski called you?" She pulled her socked feet up underneath herself on the cushions nervously, eyes focused on her brother's stiff jaw as he clenched it in anger.

Jason ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands as he looked around the room and neither confirmed nor denied her assumtion, "Am I supposed to confiscate your phone and take away your car keys?" He questioned frantically, "Lock you in your bedroom and just.. Homeschool you? Is that what it's gonna take to keep your ass out of trouble, or what?"

She balked, "I- I'm not even in trouble! Jackson only filed for restraining orders against-"

"If you honestly think that I am gonna believe you didn't have anything to do with this so-called 'joke' your knucklehead best friends pulled-" He took an angry breath that sounded loudly through his nose, "Do you think that I'm stupid? Or just insanely fucking unobservant?"

"Well, I -"

"Amber, I am fucking trying here, okay?" His voice cracked and Amber felt a little like her heart might have cracked too as she watched her brother's internal struggle, "I feel like I'm just watching you kids spiral out of control and I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it-"

"You don't- You're not doing anything wrong-"

"Well clearly I am!" He yelled suddenly. His own shout seemed to catch him off guard and he sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of her with a sigh, "I- I don't know what I'm doing. It's been four years and I still feel like I'm fucking drowning sometimes, trying to be your parent and your brother at the same time."

"I'm sorry." She spoke quietly, her voice thick with unshed tears as her eyes welled.

"I don't want you to apologize. I want you to stop getting into trouble.. To stop showing up at all of these crime scenes, and inserting yourself into murder investigations, and-"

"I- I don't know what to say." She admitted quietly as a few tears broke free and rolled down her cheeks.

Even she were to try and explain, Amber didn't know where she could possibly start.

She could start with Derek; how he'd come back into town and started showing up everywhere all suspicious-like before revealing that he was a werewolf and that Scott was no longer her sweet best friend, but instead, a genuine danger to be around. She could tell him about Peter; explain that he hadn't been as weak and incapacitated as everyone had initially thought and that, really, this whole thing had all started with him. She could mention how Allison's family played into it all; the heinous things her aunt had done before her demise and all of the things her father and grandfather were still a part of now. She could tell her brother about all of the new teenage werewolves running around town and the murderous rampage her classmate had unknowingly undertaken and okay, yes, she'd helped kidnap him but they'd had no other choice because Jackson was seriously dangerous and he didn't even know what he was doing-

Amber couldn't find it in her to voice any of those things, however. Instead, she gnawed on her lower lip and sniffled quietly as she guiltily avoided her brother's gaze, settling back into the couch with the acceptance that the evening was only destined to get more difficult.

"Did Lydia finish translating the entry about the kanima?" A hushed voice questioned from only a few inches behind Amber, causing the girl to flinch in surprise.

"Jesus," Amber exclaimed as she spun around, locker door slamming shut when her shoulder collided with the cool metal, "A bell. You need a bell."

Allison rolled her eyes with a fond smile and crossed her arms over her chest, "Well? Did she?"

With a nod of her head, Amber pulled a crisp, brand new composition notebook from her bag and held it out toward the other girl.

"She did. I went over first thing this morning to get it. She's, uh, pretty annoyed with us, but she did it."

Allison studied the words on the pages with determined focus for a few moments before pulling a tablet from her own bag and motioning for Amber to hold the journal for her. Amber dutifully held her arms out to display the pages, flipping through them slowly as Allison photographed the information to create a digital copy.

"Have you shown Scott or Stiles yet?" Allison asked as she finished.

Amber slapped the book shut and slipped it back into her bookbag with a shake of her head, "I was on my way now. They're waiting in the library."

"I'll come with you." Allison said easily, adjusting the strap of her shoulder bag and moving in the direction of the library while still studying the photographs she'd taken of the notebook pages.

As they pushed through the double-doors, Amber's eyes peered through the spaces between bookshelves, flicking over the students spread out at tables trying to finish up last minute assignments before the start of morning classes.

She toyed with her lower lip between her teeth as she searched for her best friends and when she finally spotted them, Scott and Stiles were tucked at the back of one of the stacks having a hushed conversation. As she approached, hand absentmindedly dragging over her boyfriend's shoulder and up to his neck, her fingertips dug into his skin softly as she stepped up beside them.

Her backpack hit the ground at the base of the bookshelf and their attention turned to her, Stiles' eyebrows raising a fraction as he took her in for the first time that morning.

"Hello," He greeted with emphasis, reaching out until the backs of his fingers could skim over the soft material of her sundress, "You're looking spring-y."

He pinched the hem between his thumb and forefinger, his knuckles brushing against the smooth skin of her bare thigh as he idly rubbed at the fabric.

"Thanks," She said somewhat breathlessly. Her own hand dropped to wrap lightly around his wrist in warning and she waited until he let the skirt fall back down against her legs before she continued, "I, uh, I'm trying to manifest warmer weather or something."

His lips pulled into a small smile and she felt slightly overwhelmed by the butterflies that bloomed in her stomach.

"Well, you look really beautiful." He told her softly.

"Can you guys be disgusting later?" Scott interjected in clear impatience.

The couple flinched as they were torn from the romance-heady bubble they'd somehow managed to slip into.

Amber was quick to recover and she laced her fingers with Stiles as her eyes narrowed in Scott's direction, "You're just jealous because of the whole Romeo and Juliet thing that means you can't flirt with your girlfriend unless it's in a dark creepy corridor or, like, a janitor's closet-"

"Ha," Stiles said in amusement, seconding her assessment, "What she said. The green monster's not a great look on you, buddy-"

A soft throat clearing from the other side of the bookshelf caught Amber's attention and she spotted Allison peering through a gap from the next aisle over.

"Lydia's translations.." Allison prompted gently as she pulled a book from the shelf and pretended to look at it in interest.

"Right, yeah," Amber nodded, "So Lydia gave me her translations this morning. She was up pretty late last night writing it all down for me-"

"Apparently she's not thrilled about still being left in the dark." Allison supplied quietly, sliding her tablet through the gap in books so that Scott and Stiles could peer down at the photographs she'd taken of the translated pages.

"Oh, yeah," Scott realized as his gaze found Amber, "What'd you tell her?"

Amber winced, rolling her shoulders and tightening her fingers around Stiles' hand, "Um, I'm only about thirty percent confident she bought it.. But I, uh- I told her we were a part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."

Stiles perked up, "I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." He said quietly, the words fanning out over his girlfriend's neck as he peered down at the tablet.

A breathy laugh slipped from her lips and she knocked her hip against his lightly, "Yeah, I know. I helped you figure out that part with the evil goblins, remember?"

"They were actually gnomes." Stiles corrected immediately.

Scott was shaking head at his friends in clear exasperation, "Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling Jackson?" He questioned in an attempt to redirect the conversation.

"Not from what I read." Allison frowned, swapping the book in her hands for another as she tried to hide the fact that she was conversing with them.

"But Stiles was right about the murderers." Amber revealed.

"Yes!" He cheered excitedly, dropping his girlfriend's hand to punch the air at the small victory.

Scott and Allison both narrowed their eyes at him for his slightly too loud reaction and his hands slowly lowered under the weight of their glare. Amber shuffled closer as he deflated and his arm slipped beneath her cardigan to wrap around her waist, pulling her into his side as she continued to share the information she'd recently obtained.

"The bestiary calls the kanima a 'weapon of vengeance'," She recited quietly, "There's a story in there about this South American priest who used the kanima to execute murderers in his village-"

"Alright, see?" Stiles interrupted, "That's not so bad."

Amber leaned more heavily against him with a grimace, "-Until their bond grew so strong that it eventually just killed whoever he wanted it to. Murderer or not." She finished.

"All bad," Stiles backtracked, "All very, very bad."

"Thing is, though-" Amber continued quietly, dragging her finger lightly over a sentence displayed on the tablet, "The kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But, it can't be until-"

"'Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it.'" Scott read aloud.

"Okay, if that means Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that myself." Stiles said with a roll of his eyes.

Amber sighed, "Yeah, no shit. The guy's basically unresolved anger and toxic masculinity all wrapped up in a stupidly handsome bow-"

"Euck, handsome?" Stiles repeated with a displeased frown.

"Oh, be quiet," She scolded him, turning in his grip to brush her lips lightly over the corner of his mouth, "You're the most handsome." She whispered quietly against his cheek.

With a satisfied huff, Stiles slid his arm up around her shoulders to tug her back against his chest, releasing his exhale into the loose waves of her hair to hide his grin.

"What if it has to do with Jackson's parents?" Allison pondered, "He's adopted, right? So maybe its something to do with his real parents."

Scott nodded in agreement, "Does anybody actually know what happened to them?" He questioned, eyes flicking to Amber curiously as he spoke.

"I mean.. I know he never really knew them. He was adopted as a baby. Like, really young, I'm pretty sure-" She said slowly, face pinched up in thought, "But, I- Lydia might know more."

"Great," Stiles nodded, "You guys talk to Lydia and Scott and I'll talk to Jackson-"

"Nope. Not gonna work." Amber interrupted with a shake of her head. "Restraining order." She reminded him.

He sighed in annoyance, "God, fine. Then what-"

"During free period, you go talk to Lydia," She told Stiles, "Allison and I will team up to talk to Jackson. And Scott-" The boy in question looked at her with wide eyes, ready for whatever job his best friend was about to dole out, "Scott's gonna go and ace his Chem make-up test."

He made a face like he was going to argue but his girlfriend cut in quickly.

"Scott, she's right." Allison said softly, reaching through the gap in the bookshelf to take Scott's hand.

He sighed in reluctance, "If he does anything, you both run the other way." He said seriously, looking back and forth between the two girls.

"We can take care of ourselves." Allison whispered with a frown.

"I'm serious," Scott whispered, "If either one of you gets hurt while I'm taking some stupid test, someone's gonna need to take care of me," His jaw clenched, hand tightening around Allison's as his eyes continued to bounce between them, "If he does anything-"

Amber scoffed, "Like-?"

"Anything.. Weird. Bizarre. Anything-"

"Anything evil." Stiles interrupted finally, arm tightening around his girlfriend.

"We'll be fine," Amber told both boys, "This is serious, okay? If either of you guys get in trouble for breaking the restraining order, it could mean serious, like, legal consequences. And, Scott, You know you need to retake this test to bring your grade up." She said firmly.

Scott groaned but nodded, pulling his backpack onto his shoulders as they all slowly broke away from one another and filed out of the library.

"We, uh.. We're totally sure it's safe for you and Allison to be talking to Jackson alone?" Stiles worried privately as they stopped in front of his locker.

"We'll be fine," She assured him in a soft voice, "And besides, it's kind of our only option right now-"

"Yeah. Because those are reassuring words." Stiles muttered sarcastically, yanking his locker open to grab his books for English.

"Okay, worry wort. I'm pretty sure we've established that he doesn't actually want to kill any of us," She reminded him as he slammed the metal door shut again, "I mean, if he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead like three times over at this point, right?"

His face scrunched in clear reluctance to agree with her, "Yeah, I guess."

She reached out to cup the side of his face, her thumb skimming over the tiny constellation of moles that created a path toward his mouth. The tip of her finger had barely brushed the corner of his lips when Stiles leaned in to press them to her own in a quick kiss.

As they finally turned to head in the direction of the English classroom, they only managed to get a few steps from Stiles' locker before a familiar voice was calling out loudly behind them.

"Stilinski! Amber! Wait, I- Hold up!"

They both turned as there was a loud crash. Ben Davis slammed his shoulder into the lockers beside them in what both looked and sounded like a painful collision. He rubbed at his shoulder with a frown as he righted himself and looked between Amber and Stiles wide-eyed.

"Davis," Stiles greeted with a wince, "Listen, if this is about the ball that almost hit you in the junk this morning at practice, you should know that I haven't perfected my backhand and I swear it was-"

Ben shook his head in surprise, "What? No. Stilinski, you're fine." He assured the other boy before turning his attention toward Amber, "I actually, really need to talk to you, if that's cool-"

She frowned at the urgency in his voice and began to step forward when Stiles pulled her back with a hand fisted in her cardigan.

"And what exactly do you need to talk to my girlfriend about?" Stiles questioned suspiciously.

"I, uh-" Ben's gaze flicked between them nervously, "Just.. A thing?"

Amber held up a finger in a signal for Ben to give her a moment and spun around to face Stiles, stepping close to give them more privacy as she spoke, "Stiles. Babe, I'll catch up with you in a few?" She whispered in question.

His eyes flicked between her and the spot over her shoulder where Ben was standing behind her and a small noise of distress slipped past her boyfriend's lips.

"But he-" When Amber brought a hand up to rest on his shoulder, he continued in a whisper of his own, "I could stay.. Just as backup, y'know. In case you need me. In case he tries to make a move or-"

Ben's snort of laughter from behind her let them know that he'd heard the hushed comment.

"Dude, when I tell you that you have nothing to worry about between me and Amber-" Ben started in amusement, "I am very, like, keenly aware of how into you she is. I know we went on a date but I mean, she literally said-"

Amber could tell that he was only a second away from bringing up her embarrassing slip of tongue at the end of their tragic date the month before and she turned her head to shoot him a warning glare, causing Ben's words to cut off sharply. When she deemed it safe, she turned back to Stiles again.

"You're sweet and it is stupidly cute, but you really don't need to worry about Ben, alright?" She said even more quietly.

Stiles' lips pulled up reluctantly, "Yeah, okay."

She couldn't hold back a grin, endlessly endeared by his protectiveness. She leaned in to press a chaste kiss to his lips before giving him a pat on his cheek, "Okay, cool. So I'll catch up with you later then."

Stiles pinched her chin between his forefinger and thumb to tip her head back up again and she went easily. Their lips met in another kiss, this one lingering for a moment before she pushed him away with a flustered laugh.

"Alright, I'm going!" Stiles said, raising his hands in surrender as he turned to leave.

When she turned to face Ben again, she was still sporting a faint blush and giddy smile that wouldn't seem to fade.

"So, what's up? What's the gossip?" She joked, hoping to lighten the mood when she noticed the stressed expression on his face once again.

"I wanted to talk to you about Matt." He said in a hushed voice.

"Daehler?" She asked curiously, frowning when he nodded, "What about him?"

Ben wiped his hands on his jeans as if his palms were sweaty and he looked around them cautiously before speaking, "I, uh.. I saw some pictures on his camera that were kinda.. Um. Well, they were of you-"

"Oh!" She relaxed, "That's what you're all worked up about? It's fine. I know about the pictures."

Ben blinked, faltering for a moment, "You.. You know about the pictures?" He repeated slowly.

"Yeah," She waved off, "He's good with a camera.. It's art — No big deal. It's kinda flattering, honestly, the way he knows how to frame his pictures just right? It's like I'm a model or something except, y'know, all his photos are candid."

"So.." Ben drew out the word, eyes squinting in disbelief, "You know he's been taking these.. Candid pictures, and you're.. Cool with it?" He asked slowly.

She reached out to pat Ben on his broad shoulder with a laugh, "Yes. I'm totally cool with it. He was worried I would think it was creepy, but like I said, it's art. I can appreciate that, y'know? I was actually thinking that if he gets another really good one, I might ask for a copy? Get it printed out and maybe I could frame it and give it to Stiles as a part of his birthday present or something.. That might be cool.." She shook her head as she began to get lost in her thoughts, laughing again quietly, "Anyway, my point is, don't worry about it."

Ben's previously tense shoulders seemed to slump in relief, "I- Okay, then. I just- My bad, I guess." He blew out a long breath through his lips and shrugged awkwardly.

"I seriously appreciate your concern, though," She said honestly, "It was really cool of you to come to me."

He nodded with a serious look, "Yeah, of course. I'm just glad I came to you first instead of, like, immediately confronting Matt and giving him shit about it-"

"Oh, god, yeah!" She nodded in realization.

Ben shook his head, taking a small step back, "Right. So, y'know.. See ya later-"

She waved and bid him goodbye, watching him go with a small smile, grateful that things had been cleared up.

When free period rolled around, Amber and Allison followed as stealthily as they could manage behind Jackson, lurking in the nonexistent shadows as they waited for the right moment to corner him. They kept a safe distance as he walked into the east wing of the school, heading toward the locker rooms and the gymnasium, on his way to get more lacrosse in even after the team's morning practice.

As they entered the more deserted area of the school, devoid of voices and the laughter that had drowned out their steps before, Allison slipped her heels off to quiet her footfalls beside Amber, opting to hold them in her hand instead.

The two girls loitered as he practiced shooting on goal with Danny. When they finally headed back inside, the girls peeked around a corner to watch Jackson enter the boy's locker room as Danny headed in the opposite direction down the hall.

Amber reached for the door handle as they got to the already closed locker room door, but both girls reeled back in shock and a touch of fear when it swung open from the other side just as Amber's fingers brushed the metal.

"You just scared the hell out of me!" Matt Daehler laughed as he exited the locker room while Amber tried to calm her now-racing heart.

"Sorry!" She apologized with a breathless laugh, "Holy shit. I, uh- We we're just-"

"-Nothing," Allison interrupted weakly, "We were just, um, nothing.."

Matt blinked at them in confusion and shook his head, gaze dropping down to the shoes still clutched between Allison's fingers, "Uh, nice heels." He commented with a curious eyebrow raise.

"Oh!" Allison realized, having forgotten she was holding the footwear at all, "Yeah, uh-"

"Her feet were hurting." Amber supplied quickly.

Matt shrugged with a grin, "Same reason I never wear mine." He agreed jokingly.

Amber laughed in surprised amusement and Matt's smile seemed to brighten at the sound.

"Uh, hey.. Did you hear about the underground show?" He asked, eyes focused solely on Amber as he fiddled with the strap of the backpack over his shoulder, "Apparently they've got some big names spinning."

"Spinning-?" Amber repeated the word in confusion.

"Yeah, y'know.. DJ's." Matt clarified.

The pieces clicked together slowly in Amber's mind, "Oh, like a.. Rave?"

Matt scoffed with a smile, "Is it still a rave if you don't roll?" He questioned, "I just call it a party but- Hey! I've got a friend who can hook us up with tickets, if you're down. Y-you want me to get you one?" He asked her hopefully.

"Oh, um-" She frowned, "I don't- I mean, y'know Stiles and I are together-"

"Oh sure, yeah," Matt interrupted, "No, I know, but.. We could still go together as friends, right?"

Amber hesitated, "I mean, yeah, but- Parties like that aren't really my-"

"It'd be really fun, I swear." He promised with a hopeful smile.

Allison nudged at Amber's shoulder anxiously with a nod toward the locker room door to remind Amber of the task at hand.

"I, um- Just as friends?" Amber repeated quickly.

"Yeah, yeah. Just friends," Matt agreed, "I, uh, I could get both of you a ticket?" He suggested, gaze finally drifting over to Allison.

"Uh, fine, yeah," Amber agreed finally, her eyes flicking anxiously toward the locker room, "Sure."

"Cool! Um, it's Friday so I'll get the tickets and-" Matt stepped around them to begin his retreat down the hallway toward the main part of the building, "-Looking forward to it."

As he disappeared around a corner, Amber locked eyes with Allison and saw the other girl was frowning, "That kinda sounded like a date." Allison said quietly.

Amber scoffed, "Which part, exactly? The part where we talked about how I have a boyfriend, the part where we both agreed to go just as friends, or the part where he offered to get you a ticket too?"

Allison's lips were parted with a retort at the ready when there was a sudden ragged coughing from inside the locker room as if Jackson were choking.

"Shit-! Go get Scott," Amber told Allison with wide eyes. The other girl looked like she wanted to fight her on it and Amber shook her head as Jackson's choked noises grew more pained, "Alli, come on. He could be either hurt or going full kanima in there- I'm serious. Jackson won't hurt me but you need to go and get Scott. He's more attuned to you anyway, he'll probably hear you coming before you even get out of the stairwell."

Allison scrunched her face, "Fine. Just.. Be careful." She huffed before turning to run down the hallway.

Amber dropped her unzipped backpack to the ground carelessly, throwing the locker room door open with a bang as she stumbled through the doorway. She listened for sounds of distress, but the noises that Jackson had been making only moments before were gone, now replaced with the quiet sound of running water from the showers at the far side of the room.

"Jackson?" She called out cautiously, slightly worried for the boy as she moved through the rows of lockers in search, "Jackson?"

"In here." Jackson's voice supplied casually from the direction of the showers.

Amber's feet carried her that much faster, converse slapping against the tiles as she headed toward his voice. As she rounded the lockers and came to a stop in the entryway of the showers, she stumbled over her feet in surprise, quickly spinning away at the sight of Jackson's very naked body beneath the spray, staring in her direction with a blank, unaffected gaze.

Amber was staring at the row of lockers across from her with wide eyes as she leaned against the tile wall outside of the showers.

"Something wrong?" He questioned from behind her.

"I- Shit, Jackson!" She exclaimed in disbelief, "A little bit of warning when your dick is out, maybe?"

There was a high-pitched creak as he turned the knob to cut off the flow of hot water and Amber tried desperately to erase the image of Jackson's privates from her brain.

"You're the one who walked into the boy's locker room." He pointed out blankly.

"Wh- I thought I heard you-" She began to defend automatically, thinking back on the horrifying choking noises she'd heard from the hallway, "I mean, I thou- Whatever. Nevermind." She shook her head.

"Did you want to talk about something?" He questioned, his voice sounding from directly behind her now, prompting her to flinch in surprise at his close proximity.

"I- Yeah, but we can-" She huffed out a disbelieving breath as she began to step past him, "We can talk later-"

"No-" Jackson's arm shot out in front of her, his palm pressing against the tile as he caged her back against the tiled wall outside of the showers. Amber immediately forced her eyes upward to avert them from his still-naked body as it dripped with water. She was staring up at the ceiling while he quickly continued, "-Let's talk now."

Her gaze fell to his and she watched Jackson's jaw clench as he glared at her with an especially dark look. She found her heart stuttering slightly in her chest at the coldness behind his eyes.

She licked her lips in thought, "You know? I, uh- I actually should probably start heading to my next class-"

"Oh, no, no-" His face pulled into an irritated snarl and he immediately blocked her attempt to step around him, "No, you don't. You have perfect grades. You can skip one class."

She swallowed audibly at the sudden closeness of the boy's wet body to her own, their torsos practically brushing against one another. A small flash of fear filled her and she felt suddenly stupid for being so blinded by the noises that had sent her barreling into the locker room worried for Jackson's well-being and unafraid of the kanima.

The way Jackson was acting now – the way he was looking at her – It had her feeling suddenly afraid of him for reasons entirely unrelated to the kanima-fueled dangers that she'd mentally prepared herself for earlier in the day.

His gaze fell to her sternum and his lips pulled into a smirk before his eyes returned to hers, "You okay?" He asked condescendingly, "Your heart's beating like crazy."

"I'm fine." She said in a rush as she moved past him, her eyes glued to the tense lines of his body as she began to back away slowly.

"I thought you wanted to talk?" Jackson questioned teasingly, raising his eyebrows and matching her steps.

"I, uh, ch- Changed my mind." She stumbled as she spoke when she backed into one of the wooden changing benches, arms flailing for a moment as she caught her balance.

"You sure? Because you look a little stressed-" His face contorted into anger again and Amber took a shaky breath, still backing away as he continued, "Is it Stilinski? Things falling apart between you two already?"

She shook her head slightly, lips parting to speak but cut off before she could say anything.

"-Can't say it would surprise me. It's not like you two are gonna last," Jackson scoffed meanly, "You know that one day, he and Scott are gonna decide they don't need a little cunt like you always dragging them down. I mean, what teenage guy honestly wants a chick for a best friend, huh? Now that Stilinski's gotten into your pants, it's really only a matter of time."

His words cut deeper than they probably should have, and she was surprised to find her back thumping blindly against the far wall of the locker room. Amber's eyes went wide when she realized she'd unintentionally caged herself again, Jackson's naked frame towering over her as he stepped close enough that patches of her dress darkened with the water from his still dripping body.

"You're being a dick." She told him.

Jackson scoffed cruelly, "I'm being honest. And if you don't realize that then you gotta be the stupidest bitch in this town. Well, other than Scott and Stiles because they seem to be pretty stupid bitches themselves-"

"Just stop." Amber demanded with a clenched jaw, gaze drifting toward the door to the locker room as she contemplated whether or not she could make it into the hallway before he caught up to her – she wasn't entirely confident that the odds weighed in her favor.

"What are you gonna do, Amber?!" Jackson shouted, his anger seeming to grow as he leaned even closer, "When your stupid bitch of a best friend- When Scott turns on you! What are you gonna do!"

His fists slammed into the wall on either side of her head and she couldn't hold back a quiet whimper as she flinched in fear, her wide eyes glued to the blind rage that had overtaken his face.

"They almost killed Lydia!" He spit the words in her face in sharp reminder, "Who do you think's gonna be next! Hm? Not you, oh no- Because you're in love with Stiles, and Scott's your best friend and he'd never let you get hurt-?" He shook his head condescendingly. His face was flooded with anger and his nose nearly brushed against hers as he continued to tear into her, "Is that what you tell yourself? Huh? If that's what you tell yourself then you're already dead."

One of Jackson's hands left the wall behind her, sharp claws now on display. He stroked them delicately down the length of Amber's cheek before pausing at the edge of her jawline, the sharp points poking at the skin of her throat just light enough that, while they didn't cut through her flesh, the threat was evident. Jackson's lips pulled back in another terrifying snarl and Amber found her heart racing anxiously at the combined feeling of the tips of his claws against her cheek and his naked body against her.

"Tell me, if your big bad werewolf of a best friend really cared, would he really let you walk around without any way to protect yourself?" Jackson's hand drifted, claws lightly skimming farther down the length of her throat as he spoke.

"I, um," She licked her lips as her body trembled anxiously, trying to work up the nerve to do what she needed to, "I wouldn't say I'm totally helpless-"

She threw her arms up and out to shove his hands away from her, thrusting her leg up sharply in the same moment to slam her knee into his naked groin. When he stumbled back half a step in surprise, she moved to rush past him, but she was yanked back roughly by her arm before she could make it more than a step away. Her cardigan tore from her shoulder as he spun her back around and suddenly they were falling through the air. Her back slammed down onto the ground and a pained grunt slipped past her lips as Jackson's weight landed heavily on top of her.

The moment they collided and his naked body pinned her to the floor, Jackson's eyes were widening, lips parted in surprise as if he'd suddenly been broken from a trance.

"Amber?" He questioned in panicked confusion as he scrambled to his feet frantically, "What are you doing here?"

The girl's heart was sill pounding in her chest too heavily for her to formulate a response. Her lips parted in a loss for words as she shuffled along the floor to put space between them. Her back hit the wall and the cold tile pressed against her bare shoulder where her sweater and the thin strap of her dress were still askew, the fabric dangling loosely down her arm. She watched as Jackson reached for a discarded pair of athletic shorts on the changing bench and moved to cover himself.

The locker room door swung open before she could respond and her wide eyes cut across the room to see Scott standing in the doorway, his gaze flicking back and forth between where she was on the floor, looking disheveled and afraid, and where Jackson was still pulling a pair of shorts over his naked legs with frantic movements.

"I- I'm fine," She assured her best friend quickly, "I'm fi-"

Her words didn't seem to quell the way that Scott's face morphed into one of blind fury. It was only then that Amber realized exactly how bad the scene in front of him appeared.

Without a moment of hesitation, Scott was storming toward Jackson furiously and Amber clumsily climbed to her feet as she watched her best friend shove Jackson back through the air with enough force that a row of lockers caved when the boy's body slammed into them.

"No, Scott! Scott, stop! I'm fine!" She repeated quickly.

Jackson righted himself with a renewed rage, "I. Have. A. Restraining order!"

"Trust me, I restrained myself." Scott retorted angrily.

In a blink, Jackson was tackling Scott and Amber watched in distress as they began to throw one another around the locker room with superhuman strength. They moved toward the showers at the back of the room and she heard an unmistakable crack as the tiles shattered from the force of their brawl.

Jackson stepped back into view, breathing heavily and scowling at Amber where she was still standing wide eyed at the front of the room, but before he could make it more than a few steps toward her, Scott was launching himself out of the showers and sending him hurtling back toward the weight benches.

"You guys, seriously! Stop!" Amber pleaded as she watched Jackson grab a forty-five pound weight, his fingers wrapping around the plate and launching it in Scott's direction as if it weighed nothing at all.

Amber squeaked as her hands came up to cover her mouth, but Scott caught the weight before it could crash into his chest.

He didn't get a moment to recover. Jackson rushed forward to kick him back into the wall, tiles cracking beneath Scott's weight only seconds before he was thrown into the row of sinks along the wall.

The porcelain shattered with a loud crash, water spraying from the burst pipes as the boys continued to throw one another back and forth across the room.

"Guys!" She tried again, voice hitching slightly. Her back hit the wall when they moved closer as she tried to stay away from the action, "Guys, stop!"

As if she hadn't spoken at all, the two continued to shove and kick at each other and Amber's heart pounded anxiously in her chest with each minute that passed, growing more and more worried that one of them might truly get hurt. Her hands scrambled as she patted herself down in search of her cell phone, a disbelieving whine leaving her lips when she realized it was in her backpack in the hallway due to the lack of pockets in her attire.

Jackson sent a final hard kick to Scott's chest and Amber watched her friend slam against the locker room door with a loud crash, the door tearing from its hinges as Scott fell back on top of it and into the hallway.

Amber rushed behind Jackson when he immediately stormed out of the room after Scott, the girl finding Erica already restraining Jackson and pulling him off of Scott. Stiles was attempting to hold Scott back while he tried to charge forward again and Amber pushed her hands against Scott's chest as Stiles wrapped his arms around him.

"Scott!" She pleaded, "Seriously, Scott, I-"

"What the hell is going on!"

Amber's eyes pinched shut in disbelief of their luck as she heard Mr. Harris yelling down the hallway, his footfalls growing louder as he stormed toward them.

"Hey!" The teacher shouted when he saw the boys still fighting against the students that were attempting to keep them apart, "Enough!"

Jackson and Scott seemed to deflate at the sound of their Chemistry teacher's angry yelling, both boys slumping against the arms holding them back as they finally stopped fighting.

"What do you idiots think you're doing?" Mr. Harris yelled, looking between the group of teens with a scowl, "Mr. McCall? Care to explain yourself?" He questioned sharply before his eyes drifted to the two teens who had released him but were still standing beside their friend, "Callisto? Stilinski?"

Amber swallowed loudly and looked around, but the entire group remained silent for a long moment.

"..You dropped this." Matt's voice cut in awkwardly, stepping from behind Mr. Harris and handing Amber's unzipped backpack to her.

Her notebook of bestiary translations was laying at the top of her books in a way that she hadn't quite remembered it being when she'd stuffed it into her bag earlier. As she took her backpack from him, she winced at the water dripping from the fabric due to the leak that had flowed out of the locker room and into the hallway.

"You, and you," Mr. Harris pointed between Jackson and Scott before shaking his head and letting his eyes rake across the group again, his gaze even drifting to where Matt was hovering behind him for a moment, "Actually.. All of you. Detention. Three o'clock."

They all slumped at the announcement of their punishment, Jackson shooting them a dark glare before storming off behind their teacher and Matt as they retreated. The moment that the hallway had cleared out, Scott was rounding on Amber with a furious glare.

"What the heck were you thinking?!" He snapped.

She flinched underneath his anger suddenly directed at her and took a small step back from him, "Wh-"

"Why would you guys split up?" He asked loudly, barely glancing at his girlfriend before he was glaring at Amber again, "That was the stupidest, most reckless-"

"Hey, Scott.." Stiles interrupted Scott's enraged scolding to move between them, nudging Scott back a step, "Take it down a notch, man."

"You didn't see the way-" Scott shook his head, his anger seeming to fade suddenly into concern in the time it took him to inhale and exhale. He moved forward again, "I- Amber, are you alright?"

"I- I'm fine, Scott," She promised, taking Stiles' hand gratefully when his fingers nudged against hers in offering, "I told you-"

Scott's chest heaved as he took a breath to keep calm, "If he.. I swear to god I'm gonna kill him-"

"Scott, stop." Amber interrupted, "It seriously wasn't what it looked like, okay? He didn't-"

"What did it look like?" Stiles questioned in confusion, he and Allison both slightly lost in the conversation.

Scott let out another sharp breath, "It looked like Jackson was-"

"I know what it looked like!" Amber cut him off again frantically, not wanting to hear the words, "Scott he was just yelling at me, okay? He was being an asshole but he wasn't going to- He-" She took a shaky breath, "He wasn't going to do anything. Not what you're thinking. He wasn't going to do.. that."

"Do what?"

Allison and Stiles voiced the words at the same time, the former still sounding confused and the latter simply exasperated at being left out.

Scott didn't speak, but he held eye contact with Amber for a long moment as if he were trying to search her face for any trace of a lie, even after having listened to the way her heartbeat remained steady while she'd spoken the words. He nodded slowly in indication that he believed her, his shoulders slumping from their rigid stance. Amber took a small step forward to pull him into a one armed hug, her other hand still extended behind her with Stiles' fingers trapped in her grip.

"I'm okay," She murmured quietly into his ear, "But regardless, I'm glad you came when you did," She said slightly louder as she released him and stepped back, "Did- Did you do okay on your makeup test? Did me and Stiles' flash cards help?"

There was a pause before he responded and she frowned at his moment of hesitation.

"I, uh, yeah. Totally. They definitely helped!" Scott said after a moment with a bit too much enthusiasm.

Amber groaned, her head rolling back on her shoulders, "You weren't finished and you bombed it to get down here and help me, didn't you?"

Scott winced, "Yeah."

Amber sighed, her grip tightening around Stiles' hand as she shook her head to clear away negative thoughts, "It's fine, it's totally fine! Y'know why? We- New game plan! Stiles and I will help you with some extra credit work instead and your grade will just-" She pulled at Stiles' wrist as she slapped her free palm against their joined hands, imitating something shooting up into the air, "We can still fix this."

At the end of the day, Amber was surprised by a pair of arms wrapping around her waist from behind, warmth filling her chest as the scent of Stiles' cologne washed over her. His mouth pressed softly against the side of her neck and Amber's breath stuttered at the feeling. She abandoned the book she'd been pulling from her locker to reach back toward him, fingers wrapping around the back of his neck as she tipped her head at an awkward angle to catch his lips with her own.

"Mm, hello." She greeted quietly against his mouth.

"Hi," Stiles grinned, his arms tightening around her ribs as she turned back to collect her World History textbook, "You ready for detention?"

"As ready as one can be for punishment in the form of forced labor." She zipped up her backpack and closed her locker as she turned in her boyfriend's arms. Her back hit the lockers softly as Stiles leaned into her space to press his lips against hers again in a quick kiss.

"We're going to reshelve a couple books. It's not exactly punitive labor." He commented in amusement, prying her backpack from her fingers and releasing her so that he could drape the strap over his shoulder atop his own bag.

She took his hand in hers and rolled her eyes, "Didn't anyone ever tell you that you're supposed to agree with your girlfriend no matter what? Even when you think she's wrong or being ridiculous or batshit crazy?"

"I dunno, I think that might be a myth.." Stiles teased with a barely concealed grin as they headed toward the library.

"I'm just saying.. Maybe you should look into it-" She couldn't fight the smile that pulled at her own lips as his thumb ran softly back and forth along the back of her hand. She changed the subject with a quiet huff, "D'you think Erica really kept all the kanima stuff about Jackson a secret after you talked to her earlier? That she didn't tell Derek?"

Stiles sighed, "I freakin' hope so. You guys only just convinced me that we shouldn't kill him, it'd be a real bummer now if Derek just ripped his throat out anyway."

She winced, "That's.. Graphic."

"Sorry," Stiles made a face, "But, I mean- Wouldn't be the first time, would it? The guy didn't even hesitate when it was his own uncle-"

"That's a little different, I think-" She defended weakly, "I mean, his uncle was a psychopath whereas Jackson's technically one of Derek's Betas. Or, y'know, he would be if he didn't have so much repressed shit-"

"You think Derek being the one to give him the bite would really make him think twice?" Stiles questioned, pulling open the library doors and letting Amber step through first.

She shrugged, "I wouldn't necessarily count on it, but there's no harm in hoping, right?"

She dropped into a chair across the table from where Scott was already sitting and Stiles was quick to claim the one beside her.

"Oh, um, we can't be in detention together," Jackson told Mr. Harris as he sat down in the seat behind Amber, "I have a restraining order against these tools."

"All of these tools?" Their teacher asked with an unimpressed look, eyes flicking over their table.

"No, just us tools." Stiles supplied with a sigh, pointing between himself and Scott.

"Fine. Jackson, sit there," Mr. Harris said with an eye roll, gesturing to the empty seat at the table where Matt and Allison were sitting on the other side of the room before focusing back on the other teens as Erica sat down at an unoccupied table behind the teacher, "You two keep your distance from him."

Their teacher's attention left them to focus elsewhere and Scott took the opportunity to lean across the table, his face pinched tight in anger, "I'm gonna kill him." He stated, eyes flicking over to Jackson before refocusing on his best friends.

"No, you're not." Amber whispered.

"You're gonna find out who's controlling him." Stiles reminded him.

"-And then you're gonna help save him." Amber finished seriously.

"No," Scott whispered with a determined look, attention drifting to Stiles, "You were right. Let's kill him."

"He was not right," Amber whispered sharply, "You two are killing me. Get it together."

"Hey, I'm on your side now, remember?" Stiles defended, reaching out to pat her leg beneath the table as he spoke.

Amber gripped his hand over her bare thigh and squeezed it with a grateful nod.

"Hey, what if it's Matt?" Stiles pondered aloud after a few minutes, his eyes focussed on the boy sitting across the room beside Allison, "-I mean this whole thing comes back to the video, right? It was his camera-"

Scott shook his head, "Danny said that Matt was the one that found the two hours of footage that was missing-"

"Exactly!" Stiles whispered, raising his eyebrows as he continued to make his point, "He's trying to throw suspicion off himself."

Amber and Scott let their gazes drift across the room to watch the boy in question as he crunched on a chip from the snack bag he'd been picking at since the start of detention.

"..So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your Jeep?" Scott deduced in confusion.

"Yes!" Stiles hissed.

"Why would he do that?" Amber questioned incredulously.

"Because.. He's evil." Stiles supplied slowly.

She peered across the room again and watched as Matt shook his bag of chips across the table at Jackson in offering.

"Yeah, he looks like a real criminal mastermind." Amber whispered sarcastically.

"You just don't like him." Scott told Stiles with a shake of his head.

"The guy bugs me, I dunno what it is," Stiles agreed quietly, "Just.. Look at his face."

Amber pulled her hand from Stiles' with a wince and bit down on her lip, "Does that mean now is a bad time to mention that he asked me to go to that rave concert thing with him on Friday-"

Stiles shot her a look of disbelief, eye twitching as he searched for words, "He what?"

"I mean, as friends, obviously-" She added, feeling slightly guilty from the look on her boyfriend's face.

"But you said no, right?" Stiles whispered, his gaze flicking over her shoulder to scowl at Matt before returning to her face.

She scrunched her nose, "Not exactly."

Scott listened in on their interaction silently, eyes bouncing between his best friends as if he were watching a tennis match while they went back and forth.

"Well what exactly did you say, then?" Stiles followed up.

"..Yes?"

"What!" Stiles said a little too loudly, shrinking back as everyone looked over at him and repeating himself in a hushed whisper, "What?"

Amber dropped her hand over his knee with a sympathetic frown, "I made sure he knew you and I were together and that we'd just be going as friends. And in the end he offered to get a ticket for Allison too," She promised quietly, "I didn't realize you despised him quite so much or else I would've-"

"Well if I disliked him before, I freakin' loathe him now." Stiles glared over her shoulder once more.

She sighed, grip tightening on his leg, "Babe, I'm sorry, but.. I'm not canceling on him after I already agreed to go-"

"I didn't- I'm not asking you to-" Stiles huffed with a shake of his head, "Just, be careful, alright? There's something off about the guy."

She turned her head to look back at Matt again and watched as the boy finished his chips and began meticulously folding the empty bag in half over and over until it was shaped into a small square of trash that he proceeded to tuck away in the pocket of his jeans.

"Right.." Amber drew out the word quietly, unconvinced.

A silence fell over their table, the quiet stretching on for a few minutes before Jackson suddenly pushed out of his chair and began to stumble toward the library doors with a mumbled excuse about needing to use the bathroom.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Harris questioned, looking genuinely worried for the boy in a way that had Amber very nearly rolling her eyes, "You don't look so good-"

Jackson merely pushed past the teacher when they crossed paths, "I just need to get some water." He muttered as he pushed through the doors and exited the library.

Mr. Harris watched him go for only a moment before he moved to follow behind him, pausing at the doors to turn back and glare at the rest of them, "No one leaves their seats." He warned.

The moment the doors closed behind him, Amber, Scott, and Stiles all shared a look in silent communication before they wordlessly pushed up from their chairs and rushed over to the table Erica had taken up by herself.

"Stiles says you know how Jackson's parents died." Scott addressed the blonde, wasting no time with beating around the bush.

Erica looked between the three of them as they sat down and shrugged in nonchalance, "Maybe."

"Talk." Scott urged quickly.

Erica flipped her notebook closed with a sigh and leaned over the table on her elbows, "It was a car accident. My dad was the insurance investigator, and every time he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche, he makes some comment about the huge settlement he'll be getting when he turns eighteen."

Stiles narrowed his eyes in disbelief, "So, not only is Jackson rich now, but he's getting even richer at eighteen?"

"Yup." Erica grinned at the annoyance in his voice.

"There is something so deeply wrong with that." Stiles muttered.

"The last thing that boy needs is more money to further inflate his ego." Amber agreed quietly.

"You know what?" Erica murmured, opening her laptop and clicking around on the trackpad as she navigated the screen, "I could try to find the insurance report in my dad's inbox.. He keeps everything."

"Scott McCall, Please report to the principal's office. Scott McCall. Principal's office."

Amber had pushed out of her seat and was headed to the opposite side of the table where Stiles and Erica were sitting when the announcement rang out loudly through the PA system. She frowned as she looked at her friend in question but Scott shrugged in response with a frown of his own, patting her on the shoulder as he stood and moved to head down to the front office.

Stiles spread his legs over the sides of his wide chair and Amber settled between his thighs easily so that they could both peer at the computer screen while Erica did a deep dive through her father's old emails.

As the blonde finally pulled up the message thread they were looking for a few minutes later, the doors to the library reopened with a quiet click as Jackson and Mr. Harris came back into the room, but the three teens paid no attention, continuing to read through the attachments as Erica opened them up on the screen.

"Wait, wait-" Amber whispered, her eyes suddenly catching on the words written on the copy of the insurance claim, "Look at the dates."

"Passengers arrived at the hospital DOA-" Erica read from the middle of the page, "The estimated time of death - 9:26 P.M., June 14, 1995." She finished with a questioning lilt to her voice, eyebrows lifting as if she wasn't sure what could be possibly important about that particular piece of information

"Jackson's birthday is June 15." Stiles pointed out, pulling the words straight from Amber's mouth.

Erica turned to blink at them in surprise.

The sudden zing of a zipper rang out through the room and everyone's attention was drawn to where Mr. Harris was pulling his bag over his shoulder and grabbing his things as he moved to leave early. The teens all followed suit in collective relief, beginning to gather their own belongings together before the sound of their teacher chuckling quietly made them pause.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry-" He laughed, not sounding the least bit apologetic, "Uh, yes.. I'm leaving. But none of you are," He explained, stepping up to one of the many wheeled carts stacked high with books, "You may go when you're done with the reshelving. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Mr. Harris chuckled again as he left the room and Amber's face pinched up in disgust.

"I genuinely hate that man." She muttered, dropping down into the seat again and leaning back into Stiles' chest with a sigh.

Erica's eyes were flicking over the screen of her laptop again, still searching for something following the discovery made by Stiles and Amber.

"What?" Amber questioned after a moment.

Erica closed the lid to her computer and blinked, "They kept his mom on life support until they could get her body prepped for surgery." She explained quietly.

"Jesus." Stiles muttered.

All of their gazes drifted over to where Jackson was leaning heavily over the top of his table, looking slightly sweaty and feverishly unwell.

"You think he's good?" Amber questioned in a whisper, head tipped back onto Stiles shoulder so she could speak quietly into his ear.

Stiles shrugged behind her, "Maybe the bite's finally gonna kill him." He joked.

Amber pinched his arm between her fingers in reprimand, "Cut that out. Now, c'mon. Let's do some reshelving. I'd like to go home at some point today."

Erica rolled her eyes at the couple just as the doors were thrown open once again and Scott reemerged. He immediately came to stand where Amber was already beginning to roll one of the carts of books in the direction of the stacks, nodding his head toward Allison in a motion for her to follow them. Stiles stepped around Amber to pull the cart from the other side, grabbing a book at random once they were hidden away between the shelves and peering down at the sticker on the bottom of the binding as he searched for the place where it belonged amongst the shelved books.

"Did you guys find anything?" Scott questioned his friends as Allison stepped up beside them.

Amber grimaced as she grabbed a book of her own, "Yeah, kinda." She supplied weakly, pushing up onto her toes to shove the book onto a high shelf.

"You guys found something?" Allison repeated curiously, "About his parents?"

Amber and Stiles both nodded, looking at one another silently as they debated who should speak and eventually the girl caved with a sigh, "Well, you know they both died in a car accident-" She whispered, fighting against the flashes of painful memories that cropped up at the reminder of how her own parents had been taken from her, "But it was only a couple of hours before Jackson was born." She continued.

"What does that mean?" Scott asked in confusion.

"It means he was born after his mom died," Amber explained, "..By c-section."

"They had to pull him out of her dead body." Stiles supplied grimly.

"Oh my god." Allison whispered.

Amber nodded in agreement as she reshelved another book, "So, yeah. His parents were killed before tiny Jackson was even born into the world."

"Killed.." Allison repeated slowly, "So, was it an accident or not?"

Stiles shrugged, "The word all over the reports is 'inconclusive'."

Scott leaned on his elbows, resting his weight onto a stack of books with wide eyes, "What? His parents could've been murdered?"

Stiles nodded with another noncommittal shrug, "If they were, then it falls in line with the kanima myth, right?"

Amber nodded in agreement, "It seeks out and kills murderers but.. What, because it had a loved one who was also murdered?"

"Would that go for Jackson? Or the person controlling him?" Allison questioned in a hushed voice.

"Maybe both?" Amber pondered, "I mean, maybe that's why they bonded in the first place."

"Could be." Stiles agreed easily.

"Regardless, I don't think Jackson wants to kill anybody," Amber whispered, "I mean, if he knew what he was-"

"We have to talk to him," Scott interrupted, moving around the book cart to walk to the front of the aisle, "We have to tell him."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Amber countered, stepping forward to follow after him, "I don't think he's gonna listen to-" Scott left the row of shelves without another word and Amber sighed as she turned back to Allison and Stiles, "-And he's gone.. Y'know, he used to listen to me."

"Yeah, him going Teen Wolf and no longer being such a pushover is a real pain in the ass, isn't it?" Stiles lamented in agreement.

"Yes." Amber agreed in discontent.

A loud crash from a few rows over had Amber flinching in surprise, head whipping toward the commotion as another crash immediately followed, the second one sounding out slightly closer.

"Erica!" Scott yelled from another row.

Amber took a nervous step back toward Stiles as her heart picked up in her chest. The next crash sounded from directly above them as a dark blur jumped from one towering bookshelf to another, slamming into the ceiling and shattering lights as it moved. Amber brought her hands up to cover her head as small shards of glass along with styrofoam and dust from the ceiling tiles rained down over them and Stiles pulled her to the ground, wrapping one arm around her waist and positioning the other protectively over their heads.

They heard Erica let out a small scream from the next row and as Stiles lowered his arm slowly, Amber looked between him and Allison with wide eyes.

The shattered light bulbs above were sparking dangerously as electricity continued to flow into them and Amber took ahold of Stiles' wrist as the sound of wood splintering and loud crashes continued from beyond the stack that they were tucked away in.

The familiar screech of the kanima sounded out only moments before Scott was tossed back into a cart of books in need of re-shelving at the end of the bookshelves. Amber made a small, unconscious move to go toward her friend to help but Stiles tugged her back into his arms without hesitation, scolding her quietly.

Scott groaned as he righted himself and he slipped into the row of shelves upon spotting the three of them still ducked down beside the other book cart. He came to a crouch in front of them all, blocking them off from the end of the row and stretching his arms out protectively as Allison flocked to her boyfriend's back.

It was only then that Amber's eyes fell on Jackson. He was stood in front of a blackboard across the room, half-shifted in a way she'd only ever seen when he was unconscious outside of the nightclub, his skin lightly covered in scales though he remained looking mostly human. His head lolled to the side limply as he gripped a piece of chalk and began to write on the board, showing no indication that he knew what he was doing, like a puppet controlled by someone pulling at its strings.

The chalk clicked loudly against the board in the sudden silence as Jackson's unfocused yellow eyes gazed at nothing in particular across the room and Amber gripped onto Stiles that much tighter in unease. Jackson finished his messy scrawl of large letters on the board, remaining still for a terrifying moment before he launched himself out of the second story library window in a loud crash of shattering glass.

Amber let out a shaky exhale and Stiles pressed his mouth to her temple, not quite kissing her but simply panting anxious breaths into her skin as they all took in the message that had been left behind on the blackboard.

STAY OUT OF MY WAY OR I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU

The four rose to their feet, slowly stepping out from the row of bookshelves as the lights continued to flicker and spark above them. Amber's gaze drifted to the next row over as it came into view and she stumbled over her own feet at the sight of the blonde werewolf convulsing on the floor.

Amber pushed past Stiles and fell to her knees, rolling Erica over onto her back until she could see the other girl's face.

"Woah, woah- Hey!" Stiles alerted the others immediately as he followed his girlfriend's footsteps and helped her hold onto Erica while the girl thrashed.

"She's having a seizure-" Amber shouted in confusion, "She's a werewolf! How- How is she having a seizure?"

"Hey, we need to get her to a hospital." Stiles announced obviously.

"Derek-" Erica disagreed in a quick burst, "T-To Derek."

Their grip on the blonde tightened further as she twitched and Scott dropped down to the floor alongside them, looking over to the next row where Allison was checking on an unconscious Matt.

"He's alive." Allison declared.

Scott sighed in relief, his eyes meeting Amber's panicked ones before his gaze dropped down to Erica for a moment. He looked back at Allison, "When we get her to the hospital-"

"To Derek," Erica was quick to repeat, jerking beneath Amber's hands, "To Derek."

"Okay," Amber agreed easily as Stiles sat Erica up in his arms, "Okay, we'll go to Derek." She promised.

Scott was still looking at Allison longingly and he stood suddenly before rounding the bookshelf to drop down beside his girlfriend.

Stiles' head snapped up in annoyance, "Hey, Scott!"

"Asshole." Amber muttered under her breath as she pushed a clump of curls from Erica's face and tucked them behind her ear, "Scott!" She called out again in frustration.

She could hear the hushed whisperings between Scott and Allison but couldn't quite make out the words that were being said and her eyes went to her boyfriend's to meet Stiles' own irritated gaze.

"Scott, go." Allison said loudly.

"Yeah, Scott, get your ass over here!" Amber snapped as she helped Stiles get to his feet with Erica draped in his arms bridal style.

Scott finally approached them again a few seconds later and immediately took Erica's weight from Stiles' arms, carrying her effortlessly as he rushed toward the exit. Stiles huffed quietly in annoyance as they followed behind Scott with quick steps and Amber's hand found his back as they moved through the empty halls.

"I had that." Stiles muttered quietly.

"I know you did." Amber assented, rubbing her hand over his shoulder blades as they rushed down the hallway.

"I wasn't struggling that much. I could've carried her-"

Amber nodded empathetically, "I'm sure you could've."

Stiles huffed as they rounded a corner to head toward the front doors, "Why do I get the feeling you're just trying to appease me?"

"Because I am." Amber said easily, grabbing his hand to pull him to move faster.

"Wh- I mean, I've carried you plenty of times! You know I could-"

"You're very strong, baby, okay?" She placated quickly as they followed Scott through the doors and down the steps to the sidewalk, "But we both know Scott's stronger. There's no point in wearing out your human muscles, right?"

Stiles frowned as he pulled out his keys, "Yeah, I- Okay."

She knew that couldn't possibly be the end of it, the very last thing Stiles was known for was his ability to let things go, or concede in a fight — but it seemed he was willing to drop the subject for now, and Amber rewarded him with a tender stroke of her thumb over his cheek before she climbed into the vehicle.

As sickening as it was to watch Derek snap the bones in Erica's arm to jumpstart her healing process, it was nothing compared to the positively blood curdling scream that Erica let out when he sunk his claws into her flesh to squeeze the kanima venom out through the broken limb.

Amber had never had any real problems with the sight of blood, but as Derek dug his fingers into the skin of Erica's arm and thick red streams of it poured out onto the dirty floor of the train car, she had to hold back a gag as nausea flooded her body.

Stiles' warm breath against her neck as he shielded his own eyes from the gore-y scene was a welcomed comfort. She reached to cup the back of his head and he burrowed his face further into her hair with a wince when Derek tightened his grip once more and Erica's screams started up again.

"Derek-" Amber choked out, tightening her other hand around Erica's as a few tears leaked down the blonde's cheeks.

"I'm almost done." Derek promised them.

The next few minutes were painful for everyone involved and their ears were still ringing with Erica's cries of pain by the time Derek released his grip on her arm. They all slumped in relief at the sudden silence while Erica caught her breath and Derek and Scott were quick to rise to their feet and exit the ratty train car.

Amber stumbled to her own feet, temples throbbing slightly from both the anxiety and the screams that had filled her head for the last couple hours. She gave Stiles' shoulder a squeeze before she followed the path out of the train car in search for where Scott and Derek had wandered off to only moments before.

"You knew who it was." Scott accused Derek as Amber stepped up behind the two werewolves.

She watched with a sick weight in her stomach as Derek wiped Erica's blood away from his hands with a rag before he nodded and spoke, "Jackson."

"You just wanted Erica to confirm it, didn't you?" Scott asked in annoyance.

Derek nodded again but Amber took another step into their space before he could respond, "You're not going to hurt him."

"I'm not?" Derek crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows.

"Face it, Derek. You need help from Scott and his worthless pack of humans," Her words were laced with venom and she almost felt satisfied by the look of surprise on the older werewolf's face, "And we'll help you, alright? But we're not hurting him."

"Amber-" Derek's words were cut off when Scott cut in.

"She's right," Scott nodded seriously, placing a hand on Amber's shoulder in a show of support, "We'll help you stop him. But we do it on one condition; we're gonna find a way to catch him, not kill him."

Derek sighed, "So what's your plan then?"

Silence.

"You want to do things 'your way', but neither of you has a plan?" Derek huffed in exasperation.

"The rave on Friday.." Amber said after a moment.

Derek shook his head immediately, "There'll be too many people-"

"Exactly," Scott agreed immediately, "Jackson won't be expecting us to corner him in such a crowded location and he'll be a whole lot easier to catch if he's not expecting it."

"So, Mr. I'm A Werewolf And I Know Everything-" Amber looked at Derek expectantly, "How does one set a trap for demented lizard-wolf?"

"We could use mountain ash, maybe.." Derek said with a shrug, "But I don't have any."

"Well who would?" Amber asked immediately.

Derek frowned, "Scott's boss might-"

"You think Deaton has this stuff?" Scott questioned.

"There's a lot you don't know about him, Scott," Derek supplied unhelpfully, "And I doubt he'd give it to me, but he might be willing to give it to you."

"Okay," Amber said easily, "So we ask Dr. Deaton for this ashy shit.. What exactly is it though? How is it gonna help us catch Jackson?"

Derek sighed a long suffering sigh before giving them a painfully undetailed run down of how they might be able to use the mountain ash to trap Jackson, but voiced that he was unsure how they'd subdue the kanima once they had him trapped. Scott was quick to insist that Deaton would be able to help them come up with a more thorough plan and that he, Amber, and Stiles would go and speak with his boss after school one day.

"Cool. So we have a week to come up with a plan, then," Amber said, bitterness seeping into her voice as her eyes drifted to Derek again, "I guess we'll just have one of your precious Betas let you know once we have it all hashed out, since you've made sure that it's impossible for any of us to get a hold of you."

She turned away with a huff and made her way down the dark, dirty hallway, needing just a moment by herself as anger pulsed violently in her chest. She flinched when a hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her to a stop in an empty stretch of the abandoned railway cars.

"Amber, hang on a second." Derek said calmly.

Her eyes narrowed, hurt creeping up inside her as she recalled what he'd said just a few days before to shed some light on why he'd entirely cut off contact with her.

I didn't want you to be a part of my pack if you wanted to stay human.

"What?" She sighed weakly.

"I know I hurt your feelings," He said slowly, "And I-"

"You didn't," She lied with a small shrug, "Why would I be hurt?"

Derek gave her a look as if she were being wholly ridiculous, "I know I hurt you," He repeated, "When I told you I didn't want you to be a part of my pack-"

"I'm a part of Scott's pack, remember? You said so yourself. I don't want to be a part of your stupid agro-pack anyway, okay?"

He appeared sad as he frowned at her and she couldn't quite tell if it was hurt or pity swimming in his eyes, but her throat tightened regardless.

He sighed, "I just wanted to apologize, alright? My mother never really considered the human family members to be part of the pack and until I saw the bond that Scott's formed with you, and Stiles, and Allison, I thought that was just how it was supposed to be. I didn't-"

"Didn't want a sixteen year old little girl to get in the way and ruin your perfect pack of werewolves?"

She refused to even look at the older werewolf as she spit his words back at him, her eyes focussed on the dirty cement wall behind him instead. She hadn't even been truly angry when he'd initially said the words, but now that her frustration had pushed its way to the surface, she felt her emotions taking over for the first time since the night she'd turned down his offer of the bite.

"I shouldn't have said that," Derek confessed quietly, "I didn't mean it. I was angry that you turned me down but I shouldn't have pushed you away the way I did."

Her jaw clenched, "No. You shouldn't have."

"I'm sorry."

At his apology, her eyes finally flicked back to Derek and her stiffness loosened slightly at the genuine regret on his normally stoic face.

"All I ever wanted was to help you." She said quietly.

"I know."

"I- I was starting to think of you like a brother and you just.. You said you didn't want me anymore and you left." Her voice caught in her throat and Derek's eyes widened at the shift in her emotions, "I cared about you."

"I.." Derek's face scrunched up like he was struggling entirely too hard with his words before continuing, "I care about you too."

Her face broke into a grin accompanied by glassy eyes as she threw her arms around his shoulders, "Aw, Sourwolf.. I forgive you. For being such a big stupid dickhead."

Derek chuckled quietly as he returned her hug and Amber's chest felt decidedly warm.

"Oh, come on! Alpha paws off my girlfriend. For the love of God." Stiles' voice exclaimed as he rounded the corner.

Amber laughed as she released the werewolf and she took Stiles' hand in hers as soon as he was at her side, "How's Erica?" She asked.

Stiles smiled sadly, "Healed. She passed out but she looks a lot better than she did."

Derek nodded at his words before moving past them and Amber's arms looped around her boyfriend's waist the moment they were alone. She nuzzled her head into his neck and he huffed an amused laugh as he returned her embrace, combing his fingers through her hair in a familiar motion.

"What's up?" He asked quietly.

She shrugged and attempted to bury herself deeper in him, "Are you and Scott ready to go?"

Stiles hummed a confirmation before dropping his arms around her waist, "Should I carry you to the Jeep? To prove my more than adequate human strength?" He tightened his arms and lifted her until her toes could only just brush the ground but she shoved him away with a squeal of laughter.

"No," She said quickly as she moved down the hall, "Nope, no carrying necessary. Let's go get Scott. We can start planning Operation Capture Jackson on the way."

Stiles ran up behind her and she broke into laughter again while dodging his attempts to get his arms around her, tangling her fingers with his instead as she pulled him along.

"Stiles!"

Amber fisted the fabric of his flannel between her fingers in the scramble for something substantial to hold onto as her voice rose.

"I'm serious! Put me down!" She demanded in a shout.

"Nope," He slammed the passenger door of the Jeep closed and turned to head inside the house, his hands gripping her thighs tightly to ensure she didn't fall from the place where she'd been thrown over his shoulder after insisting he help her from the vehicle in what she'd thought had been an act of chivalry, "Not until we're upstairs. I'm-"

"You have proven your point!" She found herself laughing despite the way his shoulder was digging somewhat painfully into her gut.

"Not yet."

As he stepped into the house, Stiles took a moment to toe off his shoes while using one hand to pull Amber's from her feet and dropping them to smack against the floor one at a time.

"I'm wearing a dress!" She squealed when he still didn't set her down. She suddenly found herself desperately hoping that none of his nosy neighbors had been looking through their windows at the right moment to receive a full view of her ass as he'd carried her inside.

"You sure are," Stiles agreed as he moved past the entryway and deeper into the house, his right hand sliding dangerously further up her thigh as he went, "Thanks for that, by the way. It's a nice view."

She pinched his backside in retaliation as he began to climb the stairs and his knees buckled worryingly for a moment in surprise on the bottom step.

"Do not drop me, Stilinski-" She threatened seriously.

"Don't distract me!" He countered.

"You're being ridiculous!" She argued, watching with unease as the distance between her head and the floor grew, "And you're lucky I don't get motion sickness because looking down all of these stairs is mildly terrifying-"

"I'm not gonna drop you." He promised.

He made a point of tightening his fingers around her thighs further to reassure her but his actions had an entirely different effect. She had to bite down on her lower lip painfully to hold back the quiet moan that threatened to escape as his fingers dug into the soft flesh just beneath the roundness of her ass, his thumb dipping torturously between her thighs as he squeezed, the tip achingly close to pressing against her lace-covered core. So close, she could very nearly taste it.

When they made it to his bedroom, Stiles unceremoniously dropped her down onto the bed and she quickly propped herself up on her elbows to look up at him in disbelief, her cheeks flushed with heat.

"That.. Was so unnecessary." She said breathlessly as she pushed herself to sit up at the edge of his bed.

Stiles only grinned, "Told you I could do it, though. I'm not even winded. In fact, I could've-"

His words cut off in surprise when Amber dragged him forward with a hand fisted in his shirt, his knees bumping the mattress as he stumbled to a stop between her parted legs. She blinked up at him while she continued to catch her breath, tongue poking out to wet her lips unconsciously as her gaze flicked from his eyes to his mouth.

Stiles watched the movements and leaned down suddenly with one knee on the mattress between her thighs to pull her into a kiss, his hand gliding over her jaw to cradle the back of her head until his fingers could tangle in her hair.

She groaned into his mouth, her arms sliding across his shoulders to loop around his neck so that she could pull him down against her as she fell to her back on the bed. The sparks that had pooled in her belly crept lower, fluttering excitedly between her legs as his weight settled on top of her and she sighed contentedly through her nose when he deepened the kiss.

His fingers skimmed with the ghost of a touch over the skin of her biceps, dragging up past her elbows where he untangled her arms from around his neck to push them down against the mattress. His hands trailed back toward her own to tangle their fingers together once her arms were splayed out on either side of her head. When his lips left hers, she tipped her head back while his mouth left a wet trail of kisses along her jaw and down the length of her neck.

Her hips canted up reflexively as his teeth scraped softly over the sensitive skin of her throat, his warm breath tingling along her skin, and Stiles groaned into her neck when her pelvis made contact with the growing bulge at the front of his jeans.

"Stiles-" She breathed as his hands tightened around hers, arching up against him again in a desperate search for friction.

The scratch of denim was rough against her bare thighs as he shifted between her legs. The smell of his body wash still lingered on his skin from his morning shower and it filled her lungs with much needed oxygen while simultaneously filling her head with a giddy static that left her reeling, like the black and white fuzz of a channel that didn't come in on the television.

His lips trailed lower to leave hot kisses along her collarbones, his hands releasing her only so that he could slide her sweater from her shoulders, the strap of her dress following suit and slipping down past her elbow. His mouth was quick to find the newly revealed skin of her chest and she groaned while he stripped her of her cardigan completely, allowing him to tug it down her arms and toss it blindly over the side of the bed.

She pushed his own overshirt from his shoulders in response and his hands gravitated back to her skin the moment it was stripped away so that he could hike the fabric of her dress up, his thumbs pressing into her flesh intoxicatingly when he reached the tops of her thighs. She helped him drag the fabric up over her stomach and chest, tearing the dress over her head in a quick movement.

Stiles stared at her in awe for a moment before he was crowding her back against the bed to recapture her lips. Their tongues danced between hot breaths but eventually he was leaning down to reattach his mouth to the skin of her chest with wet kisses instead.

She felt his hands slip beneath her back to tug at the clasp of her bra. His mouth paused distractedly where he'd been kissing at her skin and the offer to assist him was on her lips when the fabric suddenly fell loose around her chest.

"Got it," Stiles boasted quietly, pulling the article from her body and throwing that behind himself as well, his lips immediately gravitating back to her chest, "Stupid demon contraption-" He muttered against her skin before sealing his mouth around a pebbled nipple.

The moan she let out was pornographic as her spine arched up from the mattress, chasing the feeling of his mouth, of his teeth scraping lightly against the bud while his thumb brushed lightly over her other breast.

It felt all too sudden when he pulled back and she blinked at him in confusion, feeling ridiculously disheveled from just fifteen minutes of kissing and a few seconds of his mouth on her tits.

"Hickeys," Stiles said simply as they looked at one another with lust-filled eyes. He licked at his swollen lips before continuing, "How do you feel about hickeys if they're not on your neck? Y'know? Is that still a no, or-"

She nodded wildly, "'S fine, that's fine."

An excited grin spread across his face and Amber wondered for a fleeting moment if she'd later regret granting him permission, but the thoughts were cast out of her mind the second he bit down on the sensitive flesh on the side of her breast, teeth sinking into the softness with a sudden and pleasurable sting.

She keened and gripped at the back of his neck as he sucked harshly on the sensitive skin before moving on to a new spot, his mouth leaving a smattering of biting kisses over both her breasts, littering her with spots in a wide array of pink and purple. He gripped her waist tightly, one hand holding her still as he worked while the other trailed down the outside of her thigh to pull her leg up around his hip.

When he finally kissed his way back up to her mouth, she angled her head to deepen the kiss immediately and reached between them to press her palm against the bulge beneath the zip of his pants as their tongues tangled. Stiles groaned into her mouth and she was quick to begin working at the button on his jeans, tugging it free and yanking down the zipper before pulling at the fabric at his hips.

He leaned back to rid himself of his jeans and slipped back into the space between her thighs in a flash, his hips rolling down against hers lightly as he reattached their mouths. He didn't waste any time before his lips were dragging back down her neck and chest, leaving a wet trail in their wake as he kissed and licked at her skin.

She was about to plead with him to do something but the words died on her lips when he moved lower, kissing a line down her stomach and nipping lightly at her hip bone before trailing lower still and repeating the treatment he'd given her breasts on the skin at the top of her thighs with teasing bites and kisses.

His fingers finally hooked beneath the waistband of her underwear and he slipped the fabric down her legs until they were out of the way, absentmindedly leaving them hooked around just one of her ankles in his rush to get back to the task at hand.

His head dipped down between her thighs tongue first and Amber cried out, gripping desperately at his shoulders over his shirt as he began to work his mouth against her clit.

"Yes," She praised simply in a low whisper, "S-shit."

He slid a hand up her stomach to massage her breast and she found herself having a hard time holding back the breathy noises that left her as he alternated between licking down at her entrance and moving a little higher up to flick his tongue over the sensitive bundle of nerves there instead. He swirled around her clit a few times, warm and soft and so fucking incredible, before he was flattening his tongue to apply more pressure.

"Sti-" She gasped, "Shit, y-yes. Just like- You- S-shit-"

Her chest was heaving with strangled breaths, fingers digging into his shoulders desperately as she tried to vocalize how good he was making her feel.

Her thighs began to tremble with the build of her orgasm, legs tightening around his shoulders as he worked her closer and closer to her peak. She was teetering on the edge, gasping and whining slack-jawed, when Stiles closed his lips around her clit and sucked lightly, his tongue still flicking against the nub, and her orgasm suddenly crashed over her in a wave of white-hot pleasure. Her hips twitched beneath him and his name spilled from her lips as her whole body jerked with her release.

He didn't back off until she began to wriggle uncomfortably beneath him from overstimulation. He haphazardly wiped the slick covering his mouth off against the love-bitten skin of her thigh before he crawled his way back up her body to drop his forehead against hers, their noses brushing lightly as she caught her breath.

"It- It's almost annoying how good you are at that." She murmured, tipping her chin up to catch his lips against hers lightly.

Stiles grinned in satisfaction at the compliment and he leaned down to slot their lips together more firmly, the taste of her own arousal lingering on his mouth.

After a moment of recovery, Amber reached down to wrap a hand around the hard line of his cock over his boxers, a surprisingly large patch of precome dampening the fabric, his length warm and heavy in her hand. He huffed a sharp breath into her mouth and she pulled back from the kiss slightly to peer up at him, watching the way his eyelashes fluttered and his lips parted as she tightened her fingers around him and worked her hand slowly.

Stiles groaned weakly when she released him but she ignored his noises of protest, forcing his boxers down his hips and pushing at his shoulders determinedly until he was laying on his back. She pulled her own underwear up over her thighs again before discarding his and settling between his spread knees.

He was achingly hard now, his cock long and thick where it curved up his stomach, the head of it red and leaking a small trail of precome into the dark hairs of his happy trail. She took him back into her hand while pushing the fabric of his shirt up his chest slightly, her fingers scratching through the damp trail of hair that led up from his groin before pressing into the tensed muscles of his stomach.

She fought not to cringe at the action as she spit over the tip and began to jerk him off in earnest, thumbing away the strand of connection to her mouth. Her embarrassment washed away in a flash of confidence when Stiles let out another devastatingly weak groan, the sound of it high and breathy.

Her hand tightened at the head, collecting the precome leaking from his tip and combining it with her own spit with an easy twist of her wrist before slipping her fist back down his length, the glide smooth and noisy with the slick of the makeshift lubricant.

She leaned down slowly after a moment of simply pumping him with her fist, guiding the head of his cock to her lips. She watched him watching her — watched the moment his eyes slipped shut with a curse and his thighs twitched as she wrapped her lips around the tip.

"Oh, shit." He hissed, hands tangling in her hair, his fingers fumbling to gather her it away from her face so he could watch her move with no obstructions when he looked down again.

She swirled her tongue around the head once, relishing in the stuttered noises of desperation that Stiles was letting out, the way his thighs twitched as he tried not to thrust up into the heat of her mouth, the muscles of his stomach growing firm beneath her palm as he tensed.

"Babe. Baby, I'm-"

As he moaned, she was tightening her fist around the base, sucking lightly at the head and suddenly, Stiles was coming with a groan, warmth coating her tongue as his muscles tensed further and his grip tightened in her hair. She pulled back slightly in surprise, swallowing what was in her mouth, the taste of it salty and slightly metallic. She rubbed her thumb over the slick tip while come continued to shoot out in weak spirts, watching her boyfriend twitch with the waves of his own release, the way his muscles tensed and relaxed rapidly beneath dark hair and pale skin.

"Holy.. shit." He whispered, hips jerking and eyes closed as the last dregs of his release coated her fingers.

She waited, momentarily mesmerized by the rise and fall of his chest with labored breaths, before she reached past him to grab a tissue and began to wipe the mess away from the bottom of his stomach and her hand. When she reached back up for a second tissue, Stiles halted her movements to look at her with wide eyes.

His thumb rubbed along her jaw softly, "Oh my god," He whispered, "I'm.. So sorry. I just.. Shit. I'm sorry." He repeated quietly, looking adorably flushed from embarrassment or his orgasm or possibly some combination of both.

"What exactly are you apologizing for?" She asked curiously, her hand trailing up his cheek as she reached up to drag her fingertips through the softness of his short hair.

He grimaced, "Well first off for having, like, zero restraint whenever you're on top of me and always embarrassing myself by coming in like ten seconds-" He began quietly, "But mostly for just coming in your mouth without any warning-"

Amber knocked their foreheads together as she snorted an amused laugh, "Mhm. Totally unforgivable.." She teased, "But I guess.. Just this once.."

She leaned down to give him a kiss but his head tipped away to avoid her lips as he continued.

"I'm serious. I swear I usually last longer, but-"

"Usually?" She repeated the word playfully, "What, when you're jerking off in bed all by yourself?"

His nose scrunched up cutely in annoyance, "Well, I.. Yeah."

She laughed, "Aw, Sti. I'm sorry that having a real life half-naked girl on top of you is proving so detrimental to your sexual stamina."

"It's just not the presence of a naked girl that's been ruining me. Y'know, just for the record," He said quietly, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear as he continued, "It's that it's you."

"You're ridiculous." She blushed despite herself.

"I'm serious," He corrected, "I've wanted you for as long as I can remember and as if listening to the sounds you make when I'm eating you out aren't bad enough, then you actually get your hands on me, tits out, and you look up at me with those freakin' eyes while you put my dick in your mouth?" He shook his head with a small smile, "Nope.. No fuckin' way. I don't stand a chance."

"You're a pretty smooth talker aren't you, Stilinski?"

"I'm not trying t-"

She silenced him with a kiss, their mouths separating and quickly reconnecting in fluid movements until she had no choice but to lean back so that they could both catch their breath again.

"We should probably get started on homework if we don't want to end up like Scott." She commented reluctantly.

"I'm not sure it's even possible to fall as far behind as Scott," Stiles squeezed her hip lightly, "But you're probably right."

Amber leaned over the side of the bed to retrieve his underwear, passing them to him before crossing the room to dig around in his dresser for something comfortable to wear, "What do you want to do for dinner? Is your dad working late or should we maybe wait for him-?"

As she spoke, her eyes caught on a rolled up bundle of white cotton at the back corner of the drawer and she pulled it out excitedly, rubbing her thumb over the faded logo on the front before tugging it over her head.

"Working late. Again." Stiles sighed as he stepped up behind her, swapping the drawers to pull open the one stuffed with his sweats and pajama bottoms. He paused in his search for a pair of pants and grabbed at her shoulder curiously, "What shirt-?"

His words cut off as she was turned to face him with an excited grin on her face. She stretched her arms out at her sides with a flourish as she showed off the shirt she'd uncovered from the depths of his dresser.

"How long d'you think it's been since this even fit you?" She laughed.

Stiles was staring distractedly at the way her hardened nipples poked out beneath the faded Star Wars logo covering her chest and he shook his head after a few seconds of deafening silence before responding, "I, uh.. I dunno. Maybe when I was twelve? Thirteen?"

The soft worn cotton of the shirt only reached the tops of her thighs, not quite long enough to cover her underwear completely and Stiles was weak to do anything but immediately crowd her back against the dresser. He toyed with the loose collar, fingers brushing against the column of her throat, and her heart stuttered at the warmth of his body pressed against her. His free hand slipped beneath the hem to run along her stomach, sliding back to the bottom of her spine while he tugged the collar to the side and dipped his head to press his lips softly to the base of her neck.

"Sti, we.. We're supposed to be getting dressed-"

"Maybe we should get undressed one more time, and then get re-dressed." He suggested before kissing her neck again.

"Homework. Studying.."

She sighed, closing her eyes and tipping her head to the side in contradiction to her words so that she could bask in the feeling of his mouth just a little longer. The knowledge that they needed to be responsible did nothing to quell the heat that pooled beneath lace as he nipped lightly at her skin, just soft enough to teasingly suggest the threat of a real bite.

She gripped the warm skin of his hips, fingernails digging into pale flesh as she let out a breathy sigh and relaxed back against the dresser.

She let him continue for a long minute before pushing him back slightly, cupping his face in her hands, "Homework. We'll do homework and eat something and then maybe, before bed.."

Stiles groaned, "Fine."

She kissed the pout on his lips lightly, "We're making good choices."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

[arcanumofthestars]

My truest self

Hello everyone, I know I haven't been posting much but this is about to change. This post is written for the @marauderswithpalestineproject

Word count: 4k

Warnings: around two curse words

Enjoy!!

The window creaked. He noted to himself that it needed to be immediately fixed. Then he ran out of thoughts. Thinking was too hard. Too exhausting.

James Potter collapsed on his bed, all his muscles- hell, even muscles he didn't know he owned, aching. It had been bad, that last chase. Of course, nothing was too hard for him, he tried to convince himself. Except for midnight chases, and physics, and history, and eating Walburga Black's food- that guy he had been chasing reminded James of Walburga. Dressed in black, heavy accent, and those vicious eyes...

If only it hadn't been two in the morning when he’d heard police sirens out of his window... At least he had an hour of sleep or so before the nightmare called 'High School' started. Should he change his-

AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! he jumped, trying to find out where the inhuman scream was coming from. Was it from outside? Unless the person screaming was also a bird, there was no way it would be audible from the sixth storey.

He was running out of time, his parents would wake up soon wandering what was happening and- he turned around. The damn thing was coming out of his phone.

"Damn you, Wormtail. You and your stupid pranks. Who even does something like that?" There was a knock on his door.

"James? Is everything alright? I thought I heard a scream.."

James froze. "Yeah, dad, everything is fine, I think it was from the apartment downstairs... They woke me up too."

"I'll have to talk to them about it tomorrow. Go to sleep, son." was Fleamont's answer.

"Sure will." The boy was asleep in a matter of seconds.

"James Fleamont Potter!" There was a bang at the door, not as gentle as his father's. "If you're still asleep I swear-" another one. James groaned and looked at the clock. He'd managed to oversleep again.

"One minute!" One minute to get up. One minute to change his clothes and sloppily throw away the suit. Why was he asleep in his suit in the first place? One minute to brush his teeth and fix the mess he called hair. One minute to throw all of his books in his bag- they were probably the wrong ones, but who cares? One minute to wear his shoes and rush to the kitchen.

"You're twenty one seconds late. Don't forget to take your lunch." His mother’s voice did not sound accusing at all, instead a bright smile appearing on her face. "Have a good day honey!"

James kissed Euphemia on the cheek, shouting a "Thanks mom!" before grabbing his lunch and rushing out of the apartment and to the stairs.

One of the most useful things when it comes to Spiderman’s everyday life is his spider senses. The thing that helpes when it comes to preventing small accidents- like James Potter tripping down the stairs, something that would’ve been inevitable if he was not a superhero.

Finally on the ground floor, he opened the door, only to find Sirius Black beaming, mere inches from his face. Remus and Peter were standing not far away, Peter with a huge grin on his face.

"You’re late" Remus remarked.

"I don’t thing a good morning would’ve hurt you, Moony." He responded, as they started walking towards the Hogwarts School for Gifted Students.

"Excuse me that I don’t want to be late for our exam on first period today."

James blinked. "Our what?" He looked worriedly to the other Marauders.

"Our maths exam that we have on second pe- Tell me you didn’t study. Again." Remus pinched his nose. "Seriously, me and the girls have been studying for it for like... a week?! And you don’t even remember?!"

"Now, now" Peter cut in, "maybe he was just too tired?" He shot James a mischievous knowing look, before continuing "You don’t know how tired someone might be, huh, Prongs?"

"You little-" James didn’t get to respond, as Peter hid behind Remus, who was - for the fifth time since his friend had come with them - checking his watch.

"Um, why were you even so late? Did you like forget to change from your superhero suit?" Sirius, who sensed the upcoming storm that was going to burst from his best friend (even if he didn’t know what it was about), stepped in.

"My.... super.. hero suit?" James repested slowly. Had they found out? Was this their way of telling him they knew his secret? He didn’t want to hide it in the first place, it was just for safety and...

"Prongs? You good?" Sirius said slowly. "Relax man, it was just a joke."

James realised he had stopped walking. "Yeah, a joke. Right. Sorry, I’m just really tired. Haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a few days..."

The blank paper he had handed in when the maths exam ended was appearing again and again in James’s mind as he walked towards the history classroom. The double superhero-student life had already started to weigh on him, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to end well.

Peter had gone home already, apparently something he ate had triggered an allergic reaction or something like that. James couldn’t care less. He desrved it after the prank he’d pulled last night.

Since Remus and Sirius always sat together at history, he was going to be alone for the next period. That was, if Mrs King would be so kind as to not make him sit next to another person that was also sitting alone (the chances were aproximately the same as for another Spiderman to come swinging to his face that exact moment).

As he pushed the door to the classroom, he was met with Mrs King’s crooked nose.

“Mr Potter, you’re almost late.”

“Aha, very original, indeed...” James muttered under his breath.

His teacher raised an eyebrow, a very unpleasant expression starting to form on her face. That wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for today.

“What was that, Mr Potter?”

“Nothing, Mrs King, I am just very tired today.” He looked up at her, a seemingly innocent smile on his face.

“Take your sit, Potter. As Mr Pettigrew is absent, you will be sitting next to Ms Evans.”

James huffed, but complied. How cliché. Sitting next to fucking Lily Evans the only day he was too exhausted to flirt. What a waste. He didn’t complain though, as he made his way towards the girl.

Sirius had a huge grin on his face, giving him thumbs-up repeatedly, mouthing way to go! from the other side of the classrooom. Next to him, Remus was trying to calm his boyfriend down, as he had started making quite the fuss.

He sighed and sat next to Lily, who moved all her stuff and sat as far away from him as possible.

“You don’t talk to me, I don’t talk to you. I’m not up for any of your shit today, Potter.”

James put on a fake wounded expression and brought the back of his hand to his forehead, leaning back.

“You wound me, Miss Evans. I am woe. Woe is me. Don’t you ever think of a poor boy’s feelings?”

He half-opened his eye, glancing at her. Surprisingly, she was almost smiling. Maybe this day wasn’t going to be that bad.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Was the answer to his smile.

They both had to stop talking, as Mrs King was now explicitly looking at them, her brows furrowed.

The girl cleared her throat and turned back to her notebooks.

"Today, dear students" said the teacher with a smile that could only be described as ominous, "you will get assigned to the project of the semester. You will work in pairs, preferably, and with that I mean definitely with the person sitting besides you at the moment. Our two absent students will be together. This semester's subject is modern history of our city. You are free to write about any famous event or person that changed our city in the last one hundred years. You have until the end of the month, which is..." she turned around to see the calendar on the wall, "exactly fifteen days from today. Any projects handed in late will not be accepted. And remember, this is worth about half your grade, so make your best effort."

James had blacked out for about the rest of the period. Paired with Evans?!? As in, Lily Evans? This had better be good. It was the first time in five years that such an opportunity was presented. He'd make sure to do his best. Grades might not matter, but Lily Evans certainly did.

He pushed aside his thoughts when the bell rang. He and the other Marauders rushed out of the classroom and to the hallway.

Sirius gripped him by the shoulders.

"You did it, mate! You got her! We should totally send flowers to King."

“Woah, woah, dude, calm down. Even I’m not that excited about it” said James, dizzy because of his best friend shaking him. He stabilised himself before continuing.

“I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do... We didn’t make any plans...” It was Remus’s turn to grip him by the shoulders.

“What do you mean you didn’t make any plans? She was talking to you the whole time, mate! Weren’t you paying any attention to her? At all??” He stared into James’s eyes. James blinked. Again. He did that a lot these days.

Then he started shouting.

“She was talking to me??! Why didn’t you guys tell me anything? I mean, I was so lost in thought... HOW COULD I NOT NOTICE!”

“Well, now her not being interested in you kinda makes sense...”

“Shut up Sirius. I need to make it up to her. I’ll... I’ll go talk to her. Make arrangements for the project and-”

He ran towards the direction he saw the girls walking to earlier.

“Wait, James, you can’t just-” Remus’s voice faded in the distance.

As he ran in the hallways, thoughts raced in his mind. What would he tell her? Should he apologise? Of course he should apologise. He’d treated her very badly. Would she forgive him? He couldn’t mess this up. He couldn’t afford it. Not this time.

He took a sharp left turn to avoid a teachers’ office, and stumbled upon something. He fell down, someone landing in front of him. He got tangled in a green backpack and loads of ginger hair as he tried to get up. As he processed his surroundings, the realisation of the person on top washed over him.

“Evans! I- I’m so sorry! I was actually coming to find you, to talk about-”

“The project” she cut him off, fixing her clothes. “Yeah, I figured you didn’t take in a word from what I was saying.”

“You’re not mad?”

“I can’t fix every idiot in this world, Potter. You still owe me an apology for our current situation, though.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t really looking where I was going...” It was weird that his spider-sense didn’t prevent him from actually falling on top of the girl. Maybe it wanted them to meet more desperately that he himslef did?

“I’m very sorry. So about the history project-”

“I was actually about to grab some lunch with MnM. I suppose you could come with us to discuss the details.” She cut him off once again, picking her stuff up.

James helped. “MnM? What’s that supposed to mean?

“Mary and Marlene. So? Are you coming or not?” She started walking towards the dining hall.

“Hell yeah I am!” said the boy with a smirk.

As he swinged his webs, moving in between buildings like he was walking, James thought about her. Her little smiles, the small freckles painting her face like stars in a faraway galaxy, her green eyes, forests he could get lost staring at. Her beautiful ginger hair... She was insecure about it. She always tried not to make any hairstyles that would attract attention to it. Little did she know, he was always there, admiring the flames around her face, those flames that danced with her every move.

He saw some girls on the street shouting to him, encouraging him to come down. Pretty sure they wanted to take a photo with him. He moved past them, uninterested. She was nothing to them. She would never beg for attention like that.

And at that exact moment, when he compared her to any other woman he’d ever met, James Potter was sure that Lily Evans would, one day, be his wife.

Well, that project was for sure a message from the universe. It might had been his only chance. The project...

Spiderman stopped on the roof of an insignificant building. The city had a ton of those. He took his glove off and checked his watch. Nice gadget, that was... Remus had given it to him a year ago, after he saw him drooling over some other smartwatches.

Friday the 16th, six o’clock in the afternoon...

He scratched his head. Did he have something to do? Friday the 16th, six o’clock in the afternoon. He’d finished all his homework, so it wasn’t that. Not a day he had to go out with the Marauders either. What was it? Not the project... That was set for three days after...

James paled. He turned around and started swinging again, this time faster. The wind screamed in his ears, it was starting to get tiring, but he didn’t care. He was almost late. If he could make it in time... He could just hope that Lily would be late as well. Why had they agreed to meet at his apartment? Hadn’t Sirius said that it was best to go to her place? Why?...

How?...

When?...

He entered his room from the window, trying to make as less noise as possible. He closed it, and slowly turned around, taking his mask off.

Lily Evans was staring at him, mouth open, eyes wide, the books in her hands almost having fallen to the ground. He didn't want her to make that much noise. It would alarm his parents. She backed away, taking a few steps closer to the door.

James froze. It was now or never, and the only chance he had to stop the girl from running away and possibly making his identity public.

He shook his head, and walked towards her. She was still in shock, he could say. She moved the books and notebooks to her left arm, and tried the door handle behind her back with the other, still not daring to look away.

He gripped her shoulder, and stared in her eyes. She stopped moving. Had he been in any other circumstances, he'd had made a joke, or flirted, or just stared in those green eyes...

"Wait. Please. I can explain." To be fair to himself, the boy didn't know why she was terrified. He was sure that other girls would act crazy if they ever had the chance to meet him in person, or actually know his true identity.

"Just.. don't tell anyone ok?"

She let go of the handle and relaxed a bit. He motioned for her to sit on his bed, as he sat on the chair opposite.

"Actually I don't really know what I'm supposed to say... Hello... I'm James Potter... And I'm Spiderman?" He laughed awkwardly.

Lily seemed more relaxed at that point. She'd placed the books on the bed, and was looking at him curiously.

"Don't you have anything to say? Not a 'I don't want to talk to you any more'? A 'I don't know what I should do'? An 'I knew it'?"

"No, it's not that..." She spoke for the first time since he showed up. "I just can't understand why, of all people, it's you. It could be anyone. Just a huge coincidence I guess..."

"What do you mean?..." He questioned, but she interrupted, back to her usual self.

"I don't think we have to discuss anything further. Since you left me here waiting for" she checked her watch "twelve minutes, I get to choose the topic of our project."

"Hold on, hold on. I need you promise- no, make an oath, that you will not tell anyone about this. Anyone, you hear me?" His last words were harsh, maybe harsher than they should've been. But he couldn't take chances.

"Oh, um..."

He started to worry when he saw her hesitation.

"I mean, yeah, of course. I won't tell the whole world" she started walking towards the window he'd come in, a dangerous smirk on her lips, "that JAMES POTTER IS SECRETLY SPIDERMAN!" she yelled outside.

James was speechless. Before she could continue letting the passengers down on the street know his identity that he had spent so long trying to keep covered, he acted.

He lunged forward, grabbing Lily by the waist with one arm and pulling her back, and closing the window with the other.

The girl screeched at the sudden touch and tried to move away, but tripped. They ended up one on top of another one more time (it reminded James awfully of that time he'd bumped into her last week), trying to get up at the same time.

As she got up, breathless, he tried to apologise, but was met instead with her sad eyes.

“Sorry, James. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Yeah, no problem.. I don’t think anyone noticed anyway...”

Was he tripping? She’d called him James? He was pretty sure that was the first time she hadn’t called him by his last name. It sounded, peculiar, coming out of her mouth... But, at the same time, like it was meant to be said by her...

He flinched when he realised she was snapping her fingers close to his face. He’d been so carried away, but that wouldn’t happen again.

“Potter, do you hear me? Please tell me you didn’t zone out again. Ugh.”

He already missed the sound of his name.

“What? I mean, yes, yes I’m here, you were saying?”

He flashed her with one of those charming smiles of his, hoping that it would get him out of the embarassing situation.

“As I was saying, since you were late, I get to decide the topic of our project. And I think I’ve found the perfect one. We’ll write about Spiderman.” She smirked.

James was dumbfounded. It was clear that she was trying to get a reaction out of him, and he was determined to not let her have it.

“I mean, if you like writing and talking about me that much, who am I to say no?” He smiled one more time.

“Go change clothes. You’re still in your suit.” She sounded irritated, but he could see that the corner of her mouth was slightly lifted.

He, on the other hand, continued grinning, as he grabbed some clothes and ran to the bathroom next to his room, a genuine smile that lasted for the rest of the day.

Being nervous wasn’t James’s thing. After all, it was just a project presentation. He was sure that they’d done their best, and, as all the motivational posters on the school’s walls he and his friends made fun of every day, that was all that mattered.

He entered the history classroom with the Marauders, and searched for Lily in the crowd of students. She wasn’t easy to miss, ginger hair and all. She was leaning over the stack of papers on their shared desk. That stack of papers they had spent hours working on, but he couldn’t complain. After all, it was a great excuse for him to spend time with her.

He walked over to the girl, and touched her shoulder gently. She turned around, and her eyes lit up.

“Good morning” he said.

“Good morning to you too. Are you ready?” She responded witha smile.

“If I said yes, it would be a lie.”

She chuckled and went back to fixing the last notes. Her attitude towards James had changed drastically over the past two weeks. His charm always worked in the end. Besides that though, he was still surprised that he’d actually got to know that side of her. Where she would usually be sarcastic, or even rude, now she would be gentle, and kind, and caring (She’d brought him lunch a couple of times.)

They’d met at his apartment almost every day, and, when they didn’t work on the project (as much as James loved talkiing about himself and his accomplishments as Spiderman) they would talk for hours about anything.

He got to know her pretty well. Her favorite color, her favorite food. What made her laugh. Which compliments made blush. Her insecurities, her worries, her hopes. He’d shared a lot of things about himself as well. How he was bit by a spider and became Spiderman. How he made his suit and web shooters. His hardest battles, and, damn it, his isecurities as well (he had a lot of those).

They’d chat until night fell, and then, every night she was at his place, he’d take her in his arms and bring her to the roof with his webs. The light pollution from the city below was severe enough to cover the stars, but the moon was still beautiful. And there they would sit, gazing in the sky.

It had been hard to get her to trust him. He was proud to be worth her trust, though.

The Marauders had admitted to be a bit jealous of him spending that much time with a girl, but he’d explained that it was mostly for the project.

Lily grabbed his arm.

“I think we have to go first. Grab your notes, i’ll grab mine.”

He nodded.

James didn’t remember much of his part on the presenation. Lily had agreed to do most of it, since he had practically provided all the information they needed.

Her part though. The confidence in her words, the determination which was always accompanied by a smile. He had learned to recognise that expression. It was a special one, only used when she was sure, sure and proud.

He got lost in the sound of her voice, yet managed to nod a few times so as to not embarass himself in front of the whole class.

The sound of clapping brought James back to reality.

“I think we did pretty well” she wispered into his ear as they walked back to their seats. “I have a surprise for you after class.”

He was not going to object to that.

The bell rang.

“Meet me behind the football field” the girl said before she moved towards the door, disappering among the other students.

He ignored the calls of his friends and went straight up to the place she’d told him.

It was quite the long walk there, considering the field was almost outside of campus, so he was suprised when he saw her standing there.

He quickened his steps, eager to know what she’d prepared.

“Hey” he started, breathless “what’s all this a-”

The sensation of her finger on his lips was something he had never expected to feel.

“I wanted to say thank you. For all your hard work, and our nights on the roof, and, well, everything. Thank you James Potter.” she whispered.

All James could do was stare in her emerald eyes as their lips connected. Once more, his thoughts vanished. Thinking was too hard, too exhausting. But then again, who needed thoughts when she was right there.

That was it! Likes and reblogs are always appreciated!

My requests are open, check my pinned post for more info!

[meet-me-in-the-pouringrain]

The Phoenix and The Rocket

Chapter 7/8

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Emily Prentiss, at the insistent of her therapist, signs up for a trauma ‘dumping’ site. She never expected that her Dump would connect her back to her old boss and the man she’s been in love with for over ten years.

Also the man who she is absolutely furious at for leaving

Ya’ll this is 5k words.

Since publishing the first 5 chapters, I have been made aware that the term ‘Trauma Bonding’ is actually an abuse tactic and doesn’t mean ‘bonding over shared trauma’. Would like to make it clear that was a very strong mistake on my part and I apologise deeply for any offence. Moving forward, PenPal will be used in place of Trauma Buddy, with only the website being titled a such. Thank you for understanding.

Warning : Smut, 18+, Unprotected sex.

Never written smut before and I don’t think I ever will again so don’t bully me too hard okay I really tried.

Read below the cut

Jack stares at his father as he sits at the table, ever present scowl back on his face. "Dad?" He questions. "You've been quiet all day, since you met up with E-Phoenix" He almost slips up and winces but Aaron doesn't notice.

"Have I?"

"Dad."

Aaron sighs and looks up from his pasta to look at his son, spying the blue eyes of his ex wife staring daggers into him. Jack tilts his head, his expression all Haley, and waits patiently. "Jack this is a grown-"

"Don't give me that" Jack interrupts, looking like Haley but sounding like him. Aaron rolls his eyes and points his finger at him.

"Stop." He says. "First and final warning."

Jack sighs and leans against the wall of the dining room. "Sorry" He mumbles. Aaron's sat at the table, eating takeout pasta that he put on a plate to feel better about himself. Jack didn't want anything so he's just ventured out of his room to see if Aaron was in a better mood. "Did something happen with Phoenix?" He asked.

Aaron takes a big gulp of water and sighs. "It..turns out that I already know her." He tells Jack in a mumble. "And I didn't realise who."

Jack blinks.

It's not Emily?

He glares out the window at his mom, the wind doesn't blow, and shrugs.

"Who was it?" He asks, casually.

Aaron looks up at him again and shrugs. Jack sits next to him, concerned. "Nobody-"

"Dad you can tell me" Jack prods. Then he lights up. "Is it Beth? It's gotta be Beth-" Beth was nice, she made him happy. He could live with that. Not the brunette woman he thought (or wanted) but it's liveable.

"It's Emily." Aaron tells him, almost breathlessly. "The woman...Phoenix. It's Emily."

Jack stares at his father, unblinking.

He's kidding. Right?

Aaron didn't know what to expect with Jack's reaction but silence wasn't one of them.

Finally, he talks.

"Yeah" Jack says. "I guessed that." He speaks slowly, confused. Aaron opens his mouth but no sound comes out. "Her name is PhoenixPren" Jack tells him, shocked. "Dad, seriously? She's got half her name in her user."

Aaron blanches at that, shocked at himself.

"She rose from the dead like a phoenix" Jack carries on. "..There's no way you didn't know!" He practically begs, almost laughing. Aaron just sits still, staring. "Jesus, Dad!" Jack exclaims, standing up. "You told me she works cases"  He continues, full of disbelief.

"I thought she was a lawyer" Aaron says, more to himself than his son, with furrowed brows.

"Oh my God" Jack shakes his head,

"I- uh i wasn't thinking about Prentiss at the time" Aaron mumbles, trying to save himself.

Jack shoots him a coy look. "Dad, you always think about her" He says pointedly. He smiles and pats his fathers shoulder. "I'm glad you've found her again."

"Really?"

Jack nods. "Mom's been dead for over ten years dad" He tells him. "You've had one serious girlfriend in that time. And she looked a hell of a lot like Emily did." He's quiet now, the mention of Haley bringing a somber tone.

"Beth did not-"

"She wore the exact same blue shawl to Jj's wedding" Jack rolls his eyes. "I'm going to meet Auntie Jess for dinner." He tells him, moving to the front door. He pauses though, and turns to his father. "You've missed her a lot dad. I think you should invite her over for dinner or something."

Aaron chuckles though it's bitter and pained. "It doesn't work like that, son." He replies. "She's furious at me. I've missed my chance."

Jack actually laughs this time, a whole hearted belly laugh. "Yeah, Somehow I doubt that" He shakes his head. "Call her dad. Don't give up."

Aaron smiles at his teenager, shaking his head. He stands and walks over to Jack to hug him tightly. The boy is almost as tall as him now and that fact pains him. "Thanks buddy. Enjoy dinner"

Jack pushes him off with a false grimace. "Gross" He mumbles. "Call her" He orders. "And then call Uncle Dave."

"Uncle Dave-"

"Oh we both know you miss him too" Jack rolls his eyes before disappearing into the evening. Aaron watches as he waits on the curb until a blue car rolls up and Jess hops out. She waves at her ex brother in law happily before wrapping her nephew in a long hug. Her husband pops out from the drivers side with a smile, giving a side hug to Jack.

Jess smiles at her husband, laying a hand on her round stomach. Aaron's chest tightens as he kisses her forehead and a little brunette girl rolls down the window of the car, yelling impatiently that she was hungry. Jess waves at Aaron again, smiling before they all pile in and the car drives off.

He can't get the image of Jess' daughter out of his head as her face morphs into a near identical one to the woman he can't stop thinking about either.

It was too late for that in life, he realises with a lang of bitterness. Emily was turning 53 in March and he was on the ugly side of 60 already.

Just another chance they've missed out on.

With that aggressive thought he picks up his mobile forcefully. As he's punching in a well remembered number, he pauses and realises that it's been almost three years since he last called her. He may not even have the same number.

A horrible noise emits from his throat as he reset his phone. Aaron rubs at his forehead, utterly stressed before switching tactics and dialling a new number, one he knows hasn't changed.

"Hello?" A coy voice answers. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hey Dave" Aaron smiles despite himself. "I need your help."

~

"What do you want?" Emily snaps a few days later, feeling the presence of someone standing behind her. She slams the spoon on the counter and whirls to find Dave standing there behind her. They're doing over time in the office, Linda Barnes was intent on torturing them as much as possible and as such the bullpen was half empty, only their team and a few others mulling about. Didn’t help that she had drunk herself half blind (again. Don’t worry she’s sworn off alcohol for the time being) the previous night and was feeling dead on her feet.

"Coffee." Dave shrugs and moves around. "Thats all."

Emily hums in suspicion before plucking up her own. She eyes Dave as he sings a tune to himself while moving around the Kitchenette.

"You drank the last of it" Dave states, not even attempting to act innocent as he pours the fresh coffee pot down the drain.

"Dave!" Emily protests, trying to stop him. "What are you-"

"You're gonna have to make a coffee run" Dave tells her, shaking the pot so it empties. "You know the office rules, Prentiss."

She huffs at him, putting down her mug. He shrugs.

"PRENTISS DRANK THE LAST OF THE COFFEE" Dave suddenly yells loudly. Tara throws her head back and groans while JJ whirls in her seat to glare at their boss. Spencer was in the process of walking up to make his own and he stops and pouts in the middle of the bullpen.

"No I didn't!" Emily has the urge to stomp her foot. "Dave, I'm really not in the mood for your shit today." She groans, picking her coffee up again.

"Look, See!" Dave points at the china. "Proof,"

"Dammit Emily." JJ curses.

"I-" Emily tries to process. "Fine." She concedes and slams the mug back down. "This is the second time you've done that to me." She hisses at him, feeling the urge to throw a punch at his smug smirk and marches off. She orders JJ to text her everyone's coffee order over her shoulder as she stalks out angrily.

"Okay" Dave claps his hands together. "Everyone go home." He waves his hands in a dismissive motion

Penelope, who entered just as Emily left while cursing in Italian, laughed a little. "What?" She giggles. "But Prentiss just-"

"She won't be getting coffee" Dave tells them nonchalantly.

Spencer narrows his eyes. "What did you do?" He asks. Dave shrugs.

"What about Barnes?" Luke asks, fiddling with a pen.

Penelope flicks his ear, rolling her eyes at his loud exclaim. "Linda left two hours ago." She tells him as if he's stupid. "Stupid." There you go.

Tara is still staring at Rossi. "What did you do, man?" She asks, suspicion coating her.

Rossi rolls his eyes. "Does it matter?" He asks, ignoring the way the girls look at each other. "Look, Prentiss has been stressed out lately, more than usual right?" He prods gently. "I may have stumbled across a solution and fixed that. Can we drop it."

"You got Prentiss laid?" Tara responds, making Penelope giggle and Spencer scoff in disgust. "It better not be Mendoza" She warns, standing up.

"Like it'll be that fuckhead." Rossi tells her seriously, almost mad at the mere suggestion.

"Good" JJ stretches in her chair. Her phone pings and she flips it to check, smirking at the username. "She's hounding me for the order, what shall I say?"

"Make excuses for everyone leaving, I don't care." Dave shrugs before leaving them to fend for themselves.

CheetoBreath : Don't kill me.

Blackbird : Fuck off. What happened?

CheetoBreath : Well, Michael got sick so Will called me I'm halfway out the door, Luke's dog sitter has to leave Roxy so he followed you out. Tara's ex husband is kicking up a fuss with the lawyers and Penelope has a meeting with some tech kids. Morgan called Spencer because Sav has taken Hank to her parents for a visit so they're having a guys night. Dunno what Dave's doing.

Blackbird : ALL of you are leaving? After sending me out on a GODDAM COFFEE RUN??

Cheetobreath ; Yes. I'm so sorry.

Emily launches her phone onto the passenger seat of her car, yelling profanities in a multitude of different languages. She groans loudly when she's done swearing and lays her head on the steering wheel.

Knock Knock

Emily jumps in her seat and fumbles for her gun in the glovebox on instinct. She turns her head to the passenger window to find certain Aaron Hotchner standing out there, two mugs of coffee in his hand and a sheepish smile on his face.

Emily narrows her eyes.

Fuckin' Dave.

She curses the man as she rolls down the window.

"Don't kill Dave." Aaron quips, suppressing a sigh when she just glared at him. "I put him up to it. Here" He holds out one of the takeaway cups. "Peace offering. A Caramel Latte, Decaf. No sugar, one packet of Splenda." He rattles off her usual order and unknowingly disarms her.

She can't tell whether that makes her angrier or sadder.

"You remember?" She says softly. When Aaron nods, looking up at her with wide hopeful eyes she sighs. "Get in." She orders, unlocking her car.

"Huh?"

"In. The. Car." Emily orders him again, grabbing the peace offering. He smirks in victory as he yanks open the door while she takes a delicate sip. "Thanks for the coffee." She says, clearing her throat. "Did you drive here?"

"Took a cab" He replies, tensely. "Jack's got the car, he's gone to visit his old friends."

Emily pauses as she reaches for the ignition. "Jack's driving?" She asks quietly, awed. The image of the small boy, dressed far to somber for a kid his age blowing a kiss to his mothers coffin rudely enters her mind.

The passage of time is just so cruel.

Theyre sat silent for a while as Emily pulls away from the curb she parked on to text JJ.

"Why am I getting the sense that you're mad that Rocket was me?" Aaron begins as soon as they pull away. He means it as an icebreaker, a joke, but it serves the opposite effect.

Emily's focus is on driving and her knuckles are white with the force of her grip on the wheel. Her jaw is clenched just as firmly and her eyes are locked in front of her. "Huh" She replies, sarcastically. "Guess retirement has made you a little rusty." She quips, yanking the gear stick back with more force than needed.

"Prentiss." He shoots back, familiar authority rising in his chest without permission. An order.

Emily rolls her eyes. "You're not my boss anymore" She sasses. "And you haven't been for 7 years, you can call me Emily."

"Emil-"

"I'm not mad" She interrupts him before he can sass her back. "At the fact that you're Rocket." She practically spits out.

To be fair, that's sort of the truth. Emily feels a twisted sense of relief that she hasn't unloaded all her baggage on a complete stranger. It's confusing and hurtful but relief covers her that her PenPal is the only man in the whole world that actually can understand her.

They drive around aimlessly for a while in tense silence, willing the other to speak before Emily decides she's had enough of driving.

They pull up to her apartment building and he winces when she clambers out, slamming the door. He follows after her quickly, vaguely wondering why she's brought him home, and quietly.

Emily storms off to her apartment and forces open the door, slamming it when he gingerly steps in behind her. Aaron watches, awkwardly, as his ex employee hurls her purse across the room to the couch with a huff.

"Why are we here?" Aaron asks, taking in the apartment. It doesn't look lived in, more like a show room with immaculate couch cushions, spotless counter tops and stark white carpets. The only real homely attributes are the magazines laying haphazardly on the counter and the cat items thrown about.

She's still not settled, even after two years, and that fact only cuts him deeply and hurts even more. She really had put her own life on hold to help him.

How could he ever thank her?

Emily shrugs. "Needed a private place to have a talk" She mumbles.

A black tuff of fur runs out from her bedroom, yowling. He beelines straight for the man, hissing and glaring. Emily catches him as if she expected that.

"Serg, it's just Hotch" She mumbles as the man's name made him hiss more. She calmly puts Sergio in his crate and moves him back into her bedroom.

"Did you know?" She asks quietly as she comes back. "That it was me you were talking to?" She whirls around on Aaron, narrowing her eyes.

"How would I have known?" Aaron's so confused. "You lied in half your dumps!" He accuses her.

Now that he knows the truth about Phoenix, he can't help but feel annoyed at the fact she lied to him. She was willingly lying while he was opening up.

Emily clenched her jaw and wonders off to the kitchen, not really wanting anything but busying herself with finding a snack. "Technically it wasn't a lie, just wasn't the full truth." She retorts. Aaron perches himself at the other side of the kitchen, against the counter. She settles for a kitkat and distracts herself with fidgeting with the foil.

He folds his arms. "Did you know?" He asks her, suspicious now. "That it was me? Did Garcia put you up to it?"

"Excuse me?" Emily laughs at his ridiculous question, barely looking up from her chocolate. "No, I didn't know it was you at first."

"At first?"

"I spoke to Dave about it" She tells him honestly. "He said something that had me realising it was you. I figured it out 3 days ago." She states, slamming her chocolate on the counter and changing lanes, making up a glass of water.

"So you did know it was me?" He asks.

"Yes."

"Then I'm so confused, Emily." He emphasised her name and she pauses because her stomach bounces with butterflies at the sound. She can count on one hand how many times he's used her first time to refer to her. "You're angry at me because of what exactly?"

She snaps.

"BECAUSE YOU LEFT." She hollers, slamming her cabinet door shut. Aaron stares at her as she gets off on a roll. "YOU LEFT THE TEAM AND ME." Emily's too far gone in her anger to think about the words coming out of her mouth. "AND YOU GOT ME TO OPEN UP AGAIN AND HOW?? HOW ARE YOU ALWAYS THE ONE?!" She finishes with a deep breath, throwing stuff around. She turns away from him as her words began to register in her head and she cringes.

"Okay, first of all YOU left." Aaron boils over too, her yelling accusatory and hypocritical things does him in. "Multiple times!" He adds, louder.

Emily sighs and drops her shoulders. She closes her eyes and shakes her head. "I know..." She replies, softer. "I know. I'm sorry."

Emily can't tell whether she apologises because she yelled, because she's being a hypocrite or because she left.

Aaron doesn't know what to say to that. 'You left me'  echoes around his head in the quiet. They're silent for a long, tension filled, while

"In your dump.." Emily begins in the silence, eyes narrowed. She turns around again and walks forward, standing in the middle of her kitchen.  "You said you lost the love of your life when she-"

His hardened stare makes her voice trail off. "I lost her when she died and came back a hollow shell. She couldn't handle being a ghost and she left."

Her heart pounds in her chest while he talks. His hands are shaking.

"I lost you."

Emily's glass clatters to the ground when he steps towards her. He keeps moving until she's backed up against her kitchen counter. Aaron isn't thinking rationally anymore, not when he pins her against the marble by gripping her hips. He stares down at her like a lion with prey but she's strong and stubborn so her gaze is as equally dark. Filled with lust, heat and heartbreak.

Aaron comes to his senses when there's no reply apart from heavy breaths. He releases her as if her skin burned him. "Shit. Em I'm-"

She cuts off his apology by gripping the sleeves of his shirt and bringing his head down to her. She pushes their lips together like he was water and she had been in the desert for days. He's still, shocked, just for a second, until his brain kicks in to high gear and he's responding just as passionately. He pushes back against her furiously, again pinning her to the counter. They're connected until their lungs are burning and their eyes are dripping with tears.

Emily pulls away first with a loud sigh. He chases her and their foreheads stay merged. They're breathing heavily in the silence, Aaron's hands on her hips and hers on his biceps. Both of their grips are almost painful, as if the other would be swept away in a moments notice.

"Me?" Emily asks quietly, taking him off guard.

Aaron swallows and removes one of his hands to cup her chin. The sight of her reddening, unsure eyes makes his heart break. "You, Emily." He confirms, voice thick with his own emotion. "Since before Viper." He adds, smiling a little at his ridiculousness. "Me?" He asks, now insecure.

Emily's breath comes out in a laugh. "You" She replies before going in again. "Since Foyet." She mumbles against his lips.

"God we're such idiots" He laughs, making her break too. "How the hell didn't we realise this sooner?"

"How the hell didn't we realise that we were each others PenPal?" Emily replies, pressing another kiss to the corner of his lips. He silences her by reconnecting them fully.

They barely part for air this time before they're back together. Soon, the kiss becomes more heated and their hands start wandering. Emily unexpectedly moans into it and Aaron's no longer powered by his brain. The sound is delicious and he wants more of it. He disconnects their lips, smirking at her whine, before planting them on her neck. Her whine turns into a low groan as he instantly finds her pulse point and sucks hard.

"Hotch" She gasps out, impulsively arching her hips.

Aaron pulls back and stares into her eyes. "Aaron." He corrects, seriously.

Emily's flushed under his gaze and she nods. "Aaron" She corrects herself, licking her lips.

He trails the action and literally growls. She would've made fun of him for it, if he didn't follow the action with hoisting her up onto the counter with strength you wouldn't know he has.  He kisses her again and she's helpless against it.

"Mhm" She makes a sound as she pulls back from him. "Not here."

They're too old, too tired to be fucking against the kitchen counter. Aaron looks seconds away from protesting but her heated gaze makes him nod. He doesn't wait for her to jump and instead simply picks her back up and carries her into the room where she stuck her cat. Emily pushes Sergio out, rolling her eyes when he hisses at her again. She turns back to him only to be smothered by another furious kiss.

Their clothes are removed in a desperate frenzy and she finds herself with her back against the pillows with him hovering above her. This part is slower, awkward, as they finally take each other in.

"Fuck you're so stunning" Aaron states, raking his eyes over her. He's thought about her before - what man in proximity to her hasn't? - but nothing he's imagined has ever come close to the real thing.

Emily licks her lips as she looks over him. "You too" She breathes, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at his proud smirk.

Aaron gazes at her with something that can be only described as love and it catches her off guard, makes her breath stick in her throat. He ignores her scars, except the branding from Doyle she kept as a token of survival. He glares at it as if he could will it away before suddenly clamping his lips over it. Emily bucks off the bed in surprise as Aaron uncaringly sucks a bruise over the raised skin, claiming her as his. He trails his tongue over the pattern twice before releasing her. He moves over to the other breast and does the same, his hand toyed and pulled at the neglected nipple each time.

Then his hand takes her by surprise again and cups her vagina unexpectedly. She gasps in surprise, throwing her head back, and exposing her throat. He takes the opportunity to reattach his lips to her neck.

"Someone's excited" He chuckles against her flesh, making her swat the back of his head.

He tries to go further down, dropping a kiss on the scar of her torso but she stops him and tugs him back up. "Next time" She sighs, staring up at him. "Want you" Emily mumbles. She hates how pathetic she's sounding and hates him (not really) for how he's made her like that.

Aaron can't help the ecstatic grin on his face at her words. Next Time. She arches her hips against him in response, a raised eyebrow, and that grin falls. He groans in her ear and the sound nearly makes Emily fall over the edge.

Their gazes are locked when he finally enters her for the first time. Emily gasps at the intrusion and lifts her hips in response, tensing up. He hisses at the way she's clenched and reluctantly stills to give her time to adjust. He already knows he's not going to last very long, so while he's still, his hand comes up to press down on the small bud of nerves between them.

Emily moans out and nods her head, reconnecting their eyes. She's completely under his mercy. Aaron begins a slow, experimental pace but soon speeds up, encouraged by her cries. He grunts in pleasure as he leans down to reconnect their lips again. They move in tandem, chasing their highs, finally feeling each other.

"I've thought about this." He admits as he thrusts into her. "For years."

Emily cant even reply, her senses overtaken. She worms and wriggles underneath him, moaning loudly. Finally she gets out a weak "Me too." She confesses, staring at him. "Years."

"Sometimes I'd wonder what you'd look like, bent over my desk at work" He teases her, his hand coming back to toy with her clit. Emily's moans got louder in response and shes clenched impossibly harder. He told her some more of his sinful thoughts that starred her over the years and it's not long until she's falling over the edge, his name on the tip of her tongue. "Fuck Emily" He grits out as she slumps down, knowing he was going to follow. He pumps a few more times before pulling out just in time, spurting all over her stomach.

He collapses next to her, utterly exhausted, chest heaving. Emily opens her eyes weakly to look at him.

"Didn't have you down for a talker" She says first breathlessly.

Aaron laughs in response and nods, not verbally replying, ironically. Emily looks at him properly, lying in her bed and satisfied, and her eyes start burning at the image.

He was here. He was in her bed and He was in love with her.

He leaves to the kitchen during her thoughts, coming back with wipes and a drink of water. Emily watches through half open, teary eyes as he thoughtfully cleans himself off her stomach and makes her drink the water.

Aaron's emotional himself, looking over the figure of her. Hair tousled, lips swollen with her neck and chest covered in love bites and bruises. He winces at the roughness of her chest, the clover glowing red where his mouth had been. He reaches out and brushes his fingertips over it as he lies back down.

Emily breaks then. She begins sobbing under his gaze, even harder when he simply pulls her into his arms.

"I just" She tries to get out an excuse for her crying but Aaron just shushes her and hold onto her while she shakes. His hand rests on her back, her face in his chest and tucked under his chin. They curl together as she cries, not saying a word and instead just holding onto each other. When she finally calms down, still crying but not profusely, she pulls away and looks up at him. "I love you" Emily says. Her smile is fake and watery when he glances down in shock.

She's worried she's scared him, admitting that so soon after everything, paranoid that he's going to take off again.

On some level, she has to agree saying that then and there is fucking insane. But she had to get it out. Had to see that through. The universe, so far, hasn't been on their side so Emily figured she better get ahead of it this time.

So no, she's not taking it back.

"I love you." Aaron repeats it back to her, softly. She breaks again, crying in relief this time, and goes back to hiding in his chest. He keeps her there, soothing her tears and repeating that he loves her too. She's never normally this emotional about anything (Derek once called her a sociopath) so this crying shocks them both. Emily would later consider that this outburst was the climax of everything over the years, all the heart ache and pain her own stubbornness put her through.

Eventually, she tires herself out and falls asleep pressed against him.

The Rocket allows himself to break then, knowing she couldn't see him. Though he'd been overly vulnerable with her over the past 6 months it's different now.

Phoenix was a stranger. Prentiss was certainly not.

Emily had always been the one to know him more intimately. She was there for him after Foyet, the one who sought him out after the bomb, the one who was his fucking pen pal before he knew what that even entailed.

Aaron cries in the stillness of the darkening room, holding onto the woman he loves as she slept. All the emotions came back to him at once like a freight train and he loses it in the safety of her arms.

He doesn't realise that she's awake and moved to hold him instead until after he's done crying. She runs her fingers through his salt and pepper hair and shushes him softly.

"I've got you" Emily muttered in his hair. "I've got you." He pulls back to look at her fully.

"I'm in this." He tells her. "I'm staying. It's your turn to run." He reminds her softly.

Emily bites her lip and shakes her head slowly. "I'm staying." She practically whispers. "I'm not running."

They make love again, slowly this time less desperate with the confirmations that neither were willing to go, as the moon rises. They whisper all the words they wished they could have said years ago in each other's ear, urging the other to let go.

Afterwards, Their phones ring and make them jolt apart. Emily has a case in Florida and Jack's calling out of concern when Aaron wasn't home when he came back.

They reluctantly pull themselves away to get dressed. Aaron notices with a twisted sense of pride that she's limping and there's a hickey on her neck that has to be covered up.

"We'll talk when I get back?" Emily asks, almost hesitantly, after she locks her door. She reaches out for him but drops her hand before she touches him. "Please?" She hates how insecure and small she sounds but it melts away when he smiles at her.

Aaron pulls her by her off centre belt to him, smirking. "Yeah" He agrees, stamping a kiss on her lips that leaves her wanting more. "We'll talk." He pauses and fixes her collar nonchalantly. "Wheels up." He states.

Emily laughs at him, noting that his words don't fill her with bitterness like they usually do , and bends down to pick up Sergio's crate. "I love you." She tells the man softly.

Aaron smiles. "I love you." It's hard not to get choked up at the words. It was only the disbelief that she actually said them to him that stopped his emotions coming though.

"C'mon you" Emily huffs, putting Sergio in her trunk. "Off to Penny's"

He watches as she drives off, taking his heart with him. Aaron's smiling though, grinning like a crazed man in the moonlit as he journeys home.

Taglist : @lonelychicagos @84hotpockets @serqueljisbon @loriprentiss @velvetblackness @castielryan

[andiv3r]

So. I need to make a whole post about lots of things but I've decided that dermatillomania is one of them. Cw for blood and lots of skin-picking stuff below.

Story time. I remember in eighth grade, my religion teacher pulled me out into the halls to talk to me, and my first thought was, "Oh shit, another one," because the previous religion teacher had put me through hell and back for being queer (which was information I had not even shared with her). I braced to have an awkward conversation about my love life and gender identity for the second time in two years. Instead, she pointed at my arm.

"What's that?" She asked. I glanced down at my arms, covered in scabs, red and radiating heat from where I'd been picking for hours. "Your skin, I mean. Why is it... like that?"

Oh. Right. She was new. She didn't know.

"Genetic skin condition." I replied. "It's not really that bad on its own, but I pick at it whenever I'm nervous or upset or sad or bored or... just kind of whenever." She opened her mouth and I interrupted before she could say it. "I've tried to stop, and I've tried wearing long sleeves, and I've tried medicine, and I keep my nails short, but it doesn't help, so... yeah. Don't worry about it. It's not contagious or anything, it's genetic."

Her face scrunched into a frown, but she didn't say anything else and told me to return to my English class. I did.

Later that day, I had to go to Science class. The worst of them, at least in terms of places I picked at my arms. The teacher was nice enough, but I fucking hated science as a class. So, while everyone else was taking notes, I ran my hand along my arms. They were warm. Wet in some places, from the blood that had pooled around some bumps. But most of all, they were so... bumpy. So easy to just... pinch. Squeeze. Scratch.

I walked out of Science class that day with my left arm covered in bloody spots. Shit. My mom was gonna kill me.

No.

Don't think about her.

Don't do it, or else you'll get nervous, and when you get nervous you-

Too late. The fingers that had been rhythmically tapping my desk in Pre-Algebra were now tracing my jawline, searching for...

Ah. There.

Pinch. Squeeze. Scratch. Move my fingers up a bit to my cheek. Pinch. Squeeze. Scratch. Move. Pinch. Squeeze. Scratch. Move. Pinch. Squeeze. Scratch. Move, pinch, squeeze, scratch, move, pinch, squeeze, sc-

"[deadname], your face is bleeding!" I jerked my hands away from my face and stared down at my fingers, their tips stained crimson. So it was.

"Ah. Yeah. D'you have a kleenex?" I replied to the alarmed blond beside me.

"Uh... yeah." He passed one over with a frown. He knew about my skin-picking, so I'm not sure why he was so surprised. Maybe it was the blood. I licked my fingers, wetting them so that the blood would come off. It didn't.

The bell rang.

I swung my backpack onto my back and felt the fabric rub against my raw and open skin.

Well that fucking hurts, but I did it to myself, so I ignored it. I could've just stopped picking, as my mother so often reminded me. I should've just stopped.

I mean, it's not like I had some mental condition I didn't know about that was fueling this, right?

When my mom picked me up from after hours that day, both of my arms were red, both from blood and inflammation. Scabs littered every place in my skin that I could reach. The first thing she did was pull up my sleeve and her frown turned into a scowl.

"Really, [deadname]? Seriously? After all I told you about how that's horrible for your skin? Do you want to be so ugly no boy will want to date you?"

That did sound pleasant, actually, but I didn't need to tell her that. Besides, that wasn't why I was doing it. To be honest, there wasn't really a why. I didn't even realize I was doing it, usually, until I had. I zoned out as she ranted about how I'd never be able to wear a swimsuit, I would have permanent scars, and as I did, my left hand trailed up my arm, grazing the warm, itchy, painful bumps.

Pinch. Squeeze. Scratch.

[vamp-stamp-fics]

Being Griffin Staggs older brother figure Headcanons

Fandom: the black phone

Word count:

Tags: Griffin Stagg x male reader (PLATONIC), fluff, Headcanons, reader is in highschool, no grabber Au, mentions of Vance bc apparently this progressed into just Y/n, Vance, & Griffin being a friend group or it could be seen as Y/n & Vance being a couple while they adopted Griffin as Thier son/j

A/n: this kid was on screen for less than 5 minutes and within those 5 minutes I wanted to be his big brother and buy him snacks and give him head pats bc he's a sweet kid to me whenever I see a kid in any form of media I like I have the urge to adopt them

How you 2 met is that you both were neighbors

He always saw you outside on the sidewalk on your skateboard if you don't skate just pretend you do lol

thought you were pretty cool but didn't say anything cus teenagers scared him same Griffin same

one day his bike broke and his mom was at work so he decided to ask you for help

you both knew of each other before, you'd sometimes help his mom with her errands. But y'all barely spoke to each other besides the hellos sometimes

Knocked at your door and just stood there like "🕴️"

He's an awkward kid alright?

After telling you what he needed you dragged the bike into your garage and fixed it

He sat on one of the plastic bins and talked with you while you tried fixing it

Asked a shit load of questions 💀

"How old are you?"

"(Your age)"

"What's your favorite food?"

"(Favorite food)"

"Hm my favorites goldfish if I could I'd eat them all the time but my mom says that I shouldn't cus I'd get sick"

"yeah goldfish are pretty good but your mom's probably right"

"How long have you had your skateboard?"

"Few good years, like maybe around 3?"

Griffin immediately takes note how you don't brush him off or tell him to be quiet, and even tho you're busy with something you're still answering him. He continues to ramble as you just listen what the kid has to say

after that interaction y'all become a little closer

k now let's get time skip to where y'all actually are friends

your nicknames for him are kid and little man

if you have a job you always save a little for Griffin so you can buy him snacks whenever y'all go to the store

after school he'll come by your house and y'all just talk while you fix your board in the garage or doing skating around the sidewalk

that or you play video games that you have (they had small gaming consoles in the 70s like Atari & telegames)

he's kinda a sore loser tho 💀

he'll complain about losing for the 3rd time in a row while you laugh your ass off. He punches you in the arm for it

you try to teach how to actually get good at it

since y'all are basically brothers you also play fight/argue

you'll smack him on the back of the neck sometimes (not hard enough that it actually hurts it just startles him lol) and he'll punch you in the arm, causing you to give him a noogie (if you don't know what that is it's when someone playfully wrap your arm around someone and mess up Thier hair)

of course since you're older then him you always make sure you don't seriously hurt him

when he does get seriously injured tho from scraping his knee from riding his bike or just playing outside you always patch him up

"Jesus kid what the hell happened to you?"

"I fell 😐"

you always have first aid with you cus you get scrapes from skating yourself, so when Griffin gets scratched up sometimes you already have it ready

Griffins mom absolutely adores you and how you're like an older brother for her son. She knows he doesn't have alot of friends so you being one of his makes her really happy

whenever y'all go to the grab n go you always steer Griffin away from Vance

you actually took an ass beating from Vance for Griffin after some dick from his school tripped him and he slammed into the pinball machine

• I mean Vance wouldn't have beat Griffins ass anyways cus he's a little kid but no one knew that

afterwards you both sat on the curb while you held a cold soda to your now black eye

"Can't believe you let that guy beat you over some stupid game 😒"

"Griffin shut the fuck up-"

now if you're friends with Vance ignore the above lol

when Griffin slammed into the machine Vance almost cussed him out but you quickly grabbed the kid as you tried to explain to Vance

"Yo Vance chill he's with me man. Griffin say hi"

"Hey"

he just responded with a huff and went back to playing pinball, slamming the machine in the process from frustration. Griffin thought Vance didn't like him but you assured him

"Don't worry kid he thinks your cool, he just needs to concentrate on his game"

you know that Griffin gets somewhat picked on so you tried to teach him how to fight. If you don't know how to fight tho you just have Vance help him lol

speaking of which just cus he gets bullied a lot doesn't mean he can't talk shit back. Griffin has the mouth of a damn sailor if he wants to, of course he doesn't cuss in front of his mother or teachers but when it's just you, him, and Vance it's free game

he kinda finds it funny when people see him as some little innocent boy but then spew the most terrible mashed up form of words put together in the English language 💀

you laughed when you first heard him call someone a butt fucking dickhead

as if he wasn't friends with you and Vance

tried to teach him how to skate one time

Y/n, Vance, and Griffin we're at the park. Y/n put Thier foot on the board and kept the other on the ground. "You put your dominant foot here and keep the one on the ground then push off the sidewalk then put your foot on the board got it?" Griffin nodded as Vance watched. "Alright here" Y/n got off the board and sat on the sidewalk. Griffin copied Y/n movements on the board and started skating down the sidewalk. Vance snorted "I bet his dumbass slips and busts his ass" Y/n smacked his arm "shut up ass hat" Griffin went further down the sidewalk as Y/n cheered.

"You're doing great Little man!"

Griffin turned back to Y/n and Vance, causing him to slip and fall slamming into the pavement.

"Shit-"

"SHIT MAN" Vance and Y/n ran over to where Griffin was now lying. Y/n sat him up and gave him a quick look over "you good? You hit the ground pretty hard" the kid nodded trying to hold back tears

you patched him up and told him that y'all could try again another time

you're always blasting some form of music from your cassette player whenever you're skating around and always try to get Griffin to listen to it

if you're a heavy metal fan he probably won't like it. I hc that Griffin has sensitive ears so really loud noise or music he dislikes so you always try to play more less blaring rock music like some led zeppelin songs

but if you don't listen to metal/rock then he'll probably give it a listen

always try to give him sort of school advice and just advice in general

"Y'know you should never give a shit what people think of you Griffin, if it doesn't affect you in 5 years then I say do whatever the fuck you want 😤"

"Thanks I guess 😐"

if you watch horror movies you always try to get him to watch it and try to convince him it's not that scary

"Griffin it's not that scary I swear!" Y'all watched Texas chainsaw massacre 💀

he gripped on your arm tight the entire time

thought it was gonna snap off from how hard he was holding it

he couldn't sleep for a week afterwards

if you smoke, drink, or anything like that you never do it front of him. you wanna set a good example for Griffin

well you say that yet you and Vance do the worst in front of him

literally beat tf out of people in front of him and go to abandoned buildings to hang out yet draw the line of him witnessing a cigarette in your hands

Y/n: "Im okay with beating people up, but I draw the line at smoking"

Griffin: "you're okay with beating people up? 🤨"

if you have a car you sometimes pick Griffin up from school which is a funny scenario cus Vance likes to tag along sometimes

just imagine being one of Griffins classmates and you just see a car pull up blasting metal/heavy rock (if you Don't listen to that type of music Then Vance chose the music that time lol) of two teenagers one of them being the Vance fucking hopper only for Griffin to walk up and drive off in it while hearing the two teens argue about whether to turn the music down or not

"VANCE TURN THE DAMN MUSIC DOWN Y'KNOW GRIFFINS SENSITIVE"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP MAN ITS NOT THAT LOUD"

"I HAVE TO SHOUT IN ORDER FOR YOUR DUMBASS TO HEAR ME"

Griffin: you two bicker like an old married couple 😒

That's all the hcs I got for now but if I have more I'll update this

[ssj2hindudude]

You know, the more I think about Kajol's "Tribhanga", the more I think

This old lady ain't s*** as a mother

Let me explain. Again, spoilers ahead if you haven't seen the movie and want to.

Tribhanga stars Kajol as the daughter of a famous writer who she just finds out is now in a coma. However, she hates her guts and the movie goes through a series of flashbacks telling us why. And even though it sorta justifies the woman's actions at the end, I can't help making a list of reasons why this lady's trash as a mom

The first thing we find out is this lady is obsessed with her writing, to the point where her mother-in-law took care of the house and kids more than she did. And before you say it, no, she is not justified for neglecting her house and family because she's a career oriented woman. The woman pushed her husband away at every chance of romance, didn't want to do anything in the house but write, and she even wanted to move out of the house because her mother-in-law complained that she's always writing and wouldn't even notice if her kids were dying. Like I get that's taking it extreme, but seeing how little she did in the flashbacks we've seen, the audience is kinda forced to think it's warranted. And when her husband said "The kids are happy here, we can't just up and leave", this lady looks him dead in the eye and says "What about MY happiness?" and proceeded to take the kids.

Yes, you read right, SHE took the kids. The same lady that had zero time for them when Dad and grandma were taking care of them just up and became a single parent. At first I was more forgiving because later when little Kajol called the dad and wanted to move back with him, he tried reasoning with her saying he'd be too busy working and grandma would be too old to take care of them. This sounded like the two of them at least talked a little and said "Oh yeah, it's best if they live with you" but you can tell by his reaction to her walking out with the kids that this was a spur of the moment thing and he had little say in it.

And let's not forget that she would spend the rest of the kids' lives letting them have the impression that dad is trash because he never came to get them when in reality he literally never stopped thinking of them to the point where this man was old with Alzheimer's and still had them on his mind 24/7. And did you notice that there's zero evidence that this man was a bad father? This lady alienated her kids from him because SHE was offended.

Oh and it gets worse. Remember how I said she would push this man away at every romantic opportunity? Yeah, the woman would justify it by saying she never had passion with him so she found it with her new boyfriend. Yeah sure, just brush the man off every time he makes an effort and blame HIM for the lack of passion in your life. But wait, we're not talking about bad spousing, we're talking bad parenting

Anyway, mother of the year here brought in a new boyfriend with little to no regard for her kids' safety and he ends up molesting little Kajol right under this woman's nose. Yup, her kid closed off from her when this dude showed up and she didn't even know her kid got molested in her house until years later when Kajol made a book about it. Seriously, tell me why Natural Guardianship, the concept that moms should automatically get sole custody of the kids, is still a thing when s*** like THIS happens?!?

And don't go saying it wasn't her fault. SHE took the kids when SHE wasn't happy, SHE brought this guy into the house, and SHE spent so little time talking to her kid that didn't feel safe going to her with this even though SHE should've been one of the first to know! If this isn't neglect, it sure as hell is endangering the welfare of her child

And it's not like it ended when Kajol hit adulthood. Tell me why this lady heard noises coming from her pregnant daughter's apartment and the first thing she does is check on the boyfriend? And lo and behold, Kajol was getting abused by this man and barely managed to get him out of there. When she threw the old lady out too, I wanted to get up and start clapping because she had that coming.

That ending high-key felt forced because even though this lady said she regrets everything, it doesn't justify anything she did. In fact, I can't even take the regret seriously after this narcissist said "I wish my kids were one of my characters, then I could write them as I wished."

The movie was alright to watch but this character makes Rose "I let my sisters try to kill everyone" Quartz look like a good mom. Not all moms are good ones, and this movie shows what happens when you let them get away with the s*** they do.

As a mom, this lady was not s***

[rainbowvolt]

I tried this once already but out of nowhere I got attacked by the overwhelming notion that my antics are pointless and that the world around me is crumbling and so I deleted the entire message and took some time to journal out my feelings in the classic rambling poetry style that I have perfected over the years. It didn't make me feel better nor did it provide any fresh prospective but I'm feeling better today so I came to the conclusion that if nothing matters then I'm going to go back to inviting just a little bit of chaos into the everyday lives of people I have never met just because at least im having fun that way. That being said, what the fuck is up gamer? I put on some sublime to write this one to bit now amazon music is playing beck (loser) but I actually really like that song so I'll allow it. Anyway I was on hinge the other day, because just like you I am chronically single, and unlike you I do care because being alone with my thoughts for too long drives me insane and to do shit like this for fun. So I'm swiping and I'm complimenting I mean just imagine me turning on the God damn charm, and I match with this one girl who I think is attractive and we're chatting it up and suddenly bam, no reason at all, I lose all interest. I just felt like it was pointless to even keep talking to her my heart just wasn't in it so I did, I stopped. I probably still could hit her up if I wanted but the truth is it's just a lot of work, relationships that is, and I don't think I have the time to dedicate someone that I want to be able to dedicate. It's weird. Life. Love. Happiness. I try to remind myself that happiness, at least the way that we see in happily ever after movies and books, doesn't really exist. The best you I can ever hope for is to be content. And I'm not sure if that's true or if that's pure unfiltered copium that I'm doling out to myself on a strict rationing schedule so I can make it through the throes of years long depressive episodes. I've considered therapy but whats a therapist going to tell me? Oh you're unhappy for literally no reason, just take these pills? I've done that ya know, the pills didn't make me happy they just made me numb to the world around me and incapable of emotions. Plus my job would kick me out onto the streets if I sought out help, I already got a waiver for it the one time and if I get back on them I'm afraid it'll be game over for my career. So I guess I'm kinda screwing the pooch here. It's always like that, coin tosses and horse races I guess. I just want to break free. I don't know if that'll solve it all, but I want the option to at least seek it out. I used to believe, genuinely, without an ounce of fucking irony that my depressive thoughts and feelings, and my borderline schizophrenic tendencies were genuine fucking shortcuts to creativity. I would sit there and really channel them into my poetry, but you know what? While some of that shit is undoubtedly the best I ever wrote, it wasn't because mental illness is some sort of magical potion, it's not because hurt and pain breeds greatness, it's because I was just being truthful I think, as raw and true as I could possibly be. And I've read some of it to people ya know, like my mom and a few friends, and they just say it's so good and I guess I appreciate their support but it's not good, it's bad ya know, i was trying to share a piece of me that i rarely let anyone see and I guess people just saw it as a piece without the deep emotional relationship that it has to my psyche, maybe I gotta specify like hey this is real shit. But ya know I've also been trying to breed a mental positivity, I try to tell myself good job and "hell yeah dude" for anything that could be considered an accomplishment. I wouldn't say it's the most effective but maybe it's doing a little something. This whole self awareness thing is kinda new to me, obviously, like I seriously lived the first 8 years of my life without a single thought, I remember like watching TV or having a conversation and it was just static upstairs.

Which is kinda funny actually cause now all I fucking do is think. Ugh. To be a frog. A mindless bug eating happy little frog. Those guys have got it made. Love frogs. A ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark and disappointing world. That and when people say bazinga. That shit is hilarious. Also, you have to say bazinga, that's the whole point of this. We've established a raport and now I'm cashing in pal, you gotta say bazinga, you owe me. And if you don't I'm reporting you to PepsiCo. They will bottle and carbonate your ass. You'll be sold worldwide. I wouldn't risk it just fucking say bazinga. I'm dialing them right now, doot doot doot look I've only got a few numbers left last chance bud

I, an autistic person who is currently wearing a flash t shirt, have been asked to say.. that word. Irony aside.. no. I'm not falling for your silly tricks, your insightful-incel Seinfeld style stand up routine, and so.. I turn it back on you. You have to say 'wubba lubba dub dub'. I'm exchanging all my favours, my coupons are going straight in to this uncomfortably shaped vending machine and my goodness something better come out. It's time to make good on your reputation, time to come forth and fulfil your destiny, to do what must be done; it's time to whip out a test tube or two to help Frankenstein some confidence into that ugly little lump of brain mass and say the damn words. Say. The damn. Words. Wubba lubba dub dub.

[casspurrjoybell-25]

Skating on Thin Ice - Chapter 41 - Part 2

*Warning - Adult Content*

Elijah Ellis

I felt safe with Fox's hand in mine as we continued down the hall toward our hotel room.

When we turned the corner, neither of us were prepared for who was standing outside our door.

Fox let go of my hand and stomped over to the door when he laid eyes on Wren.

Wren seemed unbothered as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and a wry smile on his face.

"Back off. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now," Fox spat, pulling the room key out of his wallet to open the door.

Wren glanced over at me as I made my way to the door, not being put off by his brother's brash attitude.

"I just wanted to check up on you," Wren said in a bored tone. 

Fox ignored his brother, opening the door and going inside the room.

Wren was quick to catch the door and follow him, holding the door open for me.

When Fox saw that Wren had followed him inside, his expression soured as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Wren stood in front of him and I stood off to the side, frightened to witness whatever would happen between the feuding brothers.

"I know you're not here because you're worried about me," Fox pointed out, raising his eyebrows.

"So what do you actually want?"

Wren shook his head at him, placing his hands on my hips.

"I can actually be worried about my brother after seeing him get tackled during a hockey game, you know that right?"

"It seems unlikely."

I didn't know whether I should leave.

Fox definitely wouldn't want me to but I didn't want to be intruding on a private moment between the two of them.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that I actually care about you?" Wren asked, his voice raising.

"Because you never have before," Fox replied with an eye roll.

Wren scoffed.

"Yes, I have."

"Seriously, fuck off," Fox spat, his eyes turning to slits.

"I'm still very pissed off about the game and I'm warning you right now not to mess with me."

"Typical Fox, resorting to anger for his default emotion," Wren said in a dark tone.

I could see Fox's eyes darken.

"Yeah and you're so perfect right?" Fox snapped.

"You don't get angry, you just get manipulative. You shouldn't have even come here."

The room felt too small for these two clashing personalities. 

"Why shouldn't I have come here?"

"Because you're just acting like everything is fine between us," Fox exclaimed, standing up from the bed.

"But you've never even apologized for trying to manipulate Elijah into telling me you knew about us and freaking him out. Yes, I know you tried to get him to do it and you owe him an apology."

Wren let out a sigh.

"Okay, to be fair Fox, I did let you punch me for that."

Fox scoffed.

"You've punched me for less."

Wren shrugged and hummed in agreement which only seemed to make Fox angrier.

"I don't even understand why you did that," Fox continued, throwing his hands up in the air.

"It literally makes no sense. You wanted me to know but didn't want to be the one to tell me? And then ended up telling me anyway?"

"Maybe I just wanted to avoid getting punched," Wren retorted.

"No because I'm pretty damn certain that you didn't just want me to know for the sake of me knowing," Fox said in an almost hissing tone.

"You have a motive, you always do."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you don't remember when I first got my license and you, being the nice brother you are, let me use the car just so I could pick your drunk ass up every weekend?" Fox seethed.

"But any other time I wanted to use it, I couldn't? Or when you manipulated me into taking the blame when you drunkenly crashed into the fence?"

"Mom and Dad expected you to crash into shit because you just got your license, it wasn't like you got in trouble," Wren shot back in an irritated tone.

"Right but you didn't deserve any consequences for actually doing it?" Fox said, raising his eyebrows at his brother.

"And now you take every chance you get to lecture me when you're the one always doing messed up shit."

The two of them didn't look like they were ready to stop the arguing any time soon.

I was hoping for Joshua and Ian to show up to the room but as each moment went by, the door remained closed.

Wren let out a heavy breath, his hand rubbing his forehead.

"I just wanted to check up on you, not argue. What do you want from me, Fox?"

Fox's jaw clenched.

"I want you to tell me why you tried manipulating Elijah, I want you to apologize to him and then I want you to leave."

Wren was silent for a few moments as he and his brother shared hard stares.

The tension was thick as we waited for Wren's response.

I couldn't help but wonder why he wanted me to tell Fox he knew about his sexuality.

It was a strange situation and at this moment, Wren knowing didn't seem to matter much.

So why was it such a big deal before?

"I wanted you to know because I wanted you to come out," Wren admitted with a sigh.

"I thought if you knew that I knew, it would freak you out and if Elijah was the one to tell you, it would make you think I would tell people, so you would do it before I could."

"Why the fuck were you so obsessed with me coming out?" Fox yelled, his mouth parted.

"Why did it fucking matter so much?"

"Because I'm bisexual," Wren confessed and the words hung in the air. 

I could tell by the blank look on Fox's face that he didn't know what to say.

He was trying not to explode.

"And I'm such a terrible brother because I thought that if you came out first, it would take the heat off of me when I did," Wren continued in an emotionless voice.

That was enough to cause the explosion.

"What the hell is the matter with you," Fox exclaimed as he began pacing around the room.

I wanted to reach out and hold his hand to calm him down, but I knew it wouldn't work.

"Are you that fucking self-centered that you don't even realize how different our situations are?" Fox continued, shaking his head as he paced the floor.

Wren silently stared at his brother as Fox came to a stop in front of him.

"I'm trying to get college hockey teams to recruit me, you already go to a liberal ass Ivy League school that would love to use you as a token of their diversity," Fox boomed.

"I have things to lose, you don't."

Wren just stood there, letting his brother scream in his face.

It felt like Wren was using this as a way to punish himself.

He felt guilty but he didn't want to admit it, so he would settle for allowing Fox to take out his frustrations on him.

I would almost feel bad for him if he didn't just admit to using Fox's coming out for his own gain.

Before Fox could continue ripping into his brother, there was a loud knock on the door, causing all of us to look over at it.

An uncomfortable feeling crept across my body.

If it were Joshua and Ian, they wouldn't be knocking.

If it were the coaches or anyone from the team, they would've announced themselves after we didn't immediately open the door. 

I shared my nervous expression with Fox and he made his way to the door, checking the peephole and letting out a curse.

"It's Dave and your mom," Fox muttered just as they knocked on the door again.

"Should we call Coach Silva?" I asked in a slightly panicked tone.

"He's probably still in his meeting with the tournament people," Fox replied, another knock causing his face to darken even more.

Wren walked over to the door and lightly moved Fox out of the way.

He opened the door and slipped out, shutting it before anyone could get in.

"What the hell is he doing?" I hissed as Fox looked through the peephole.

"He's talking to them," Fox replied, placing his ear against the door to try to hear what they were saying.

"Can you hear anything?" I asked him.

Fox shook his head and looked through the peephole again.

"They're gone," Fox said, his voice sounding slightly confused.

"Wren too?"

Fox nodded and backed away from the door.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"You've been asking me that a lot lately," Fox pointed out with a grin.

"That's because a lot has been happening lately," I replied. 

"Wren's an asshole. I already knew that and I'll get over it," Fox said, leaning back against the door.

A moment later another knock sounded on the door.

Fox groaned and turned to look through the peephole before opening the door to reveal Wren.

"You're welcome," was all Wren said before turning on his heel and walking away.

Fox glared at him as he walked away just as Joshua and Ian made their way to us.

"What's going on?" Joshua asked as he entered the room and Fox slammed the door behind them.

"Long story," I replied.

"Your mother is going to kill you going home looking like that," Fox told Ian as he took in his bruised appearance. 

Ian looked just as bad as Fox but that was what he got for going after a guy twice his size.

Ian shrugged.

"She'll probably whack me a few times, tell me how stupid I am and then ask me for money, so nothing new."

I shook my head at him and plopped myself down on the bed.

I couldn't wait to be back home.

There was too much drama for me in too few days.

"At least one good thing came out of this trip," Joshua said, sitting at the edge of his bed.

He was a little bruised like I was, nothing like Fox and Ian.

Ian scoffed.

"Like what?"

"Fox and Elijah got to be together," Joshua said, a faint smile on his face.

Fox and I shared a look as he got down on the bed beside me.

"Yeah," Fox started with a content sigh.

"At least we have that."

[mindscape-adventures]

I learned last week that me seeing dogs that other people can't see is probably because those dogs are Hecate's dogs. Yesterday I was sitting in the car having a difficult conversation and I heard loud sniffing like from a dog. But I didn't see any around. The person in the car with me didn't hear or see anything either.

When I was five years old I was helping my dad work on the car by holding a flashlight for him and getting him tools. I went outside to take a break and play, or, I tried to, but I didn't get very far. I got to about the opening of the garage door, and I looked out at the hill next to the woods, and I saw a big dog, a husky looking dog, with red eyes (or maybe I just imagined they were red) and it looked at me, with no particular aggressive body language, before turning around slowly and walking into the woods. I was far too scared to go out and play that day or for a few weeks after that. I never saw it again, I don't think our neighbors had dogs like that.

When I was 11 or 12 I was playing in the woods alone and I heard a sound behind me. I was entirely sober, at that point in my life I hadn't done any drugs except maybe a sip or two of alcohol at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Behind me I saw a Golden retriever dog, maybe a young adult, standing behind me about 10-15 feet away. It was totally clean, not dirty at all even though it was muddy outside that day. It looked at me with no particularly aggressive body language and turned and walked away calmly. I felt like it was telling me to follow it. So I did. But even though the path was straight when I turned the corner not 10 seconds later the dog was completely gone, even though I would have definitely been able to see it from where I was even if it had started running immediately after it left my sight the first time. I followed the path looking for the dog until the sun went down and I was lost and alone, and then I wandered around an unknown neighborhood until a woman in a truck who apparently knew my mom picked me up and dropped me off closer to home.

Once when I was 16 I was smoking weed in the woods with my boyfriend at the time. It was only weed, no other drugs. We had both smoked weed before. It was about 1 am. It was totally dark except the light from the bowl we were smoking which was minimal. We were quietly laughing and talking together. Suddenly I heard a sound behind me, like footsteps in rustling leaves. I turned around quickly thinking it was a deer, or maybe a person coming to yell at us. It was neither of those things, it was a dog. When I tell this story I tend to say I saw a wolf, because it was so big, but I know it was not a wolf. It was a big, black or maybe dark gray dog, similar to but not exactly a doberman with floppy ears, but without the patterning, it was all one color, and it looked a little fatter than a doberman. It stood there and looked at me and my boyfriend, not displaying any kind of aggressive body language or anything like that, but it racked my body with fear. I stared at it thinking, holy shit, this is it this is how I die. I turned to my boyfriend, looking at him in fear, and he asked me what the hell I was doing. I said, "there's a dog." He said, "I have no idea what you're talking about." I took out my phone flashlight and shined it at the dog, which did not react to the light whatsoever. It just stood there, looking at us. "See?? It's a dog!" I said. He looked at me in confusion. "There's no dog there. I don't understand." He responded. The dog was no more than 4 feet away from me. I turned back to him. "You seriously don't see it at all?" I asked. "No." He said. I looked at him, then back at the dog, then at him, then the dog. And then then dog dematerialized in front of my eyes, like it was turning into little pixels or dust, and was gone. We went inside after that.

Dogs scare me. I don't like them. Not even small ones, but big ones are worse. I don't think most people should have them as pets, they are like horses to me. They're working animals. If you have sheep you need herded, or need a guide dog, or have guard dogs, or hunting dogs, that's different to me. I don't think they're like pets. They're like horses.

[kiwikiwikiwisstuff]

3-1

(Rengoku, Uzui, Obanai and Shinazugawa followed the group of circus performers to the outskirts of the brothel, taking advantage of all the commotion of the fight. They looked towards the roofs and at least six of the ten young men, without their costumes and revealing their identity, running upstairs at full speed, so the four of them jumped up to chase them) Tsubame: (looking back, next to Ren and Hiroko, half annoyed but mocking) Tsk, did you fall out of the crib when you were born that you are stupid from birth or are you, Ren? Now we have that little group following us! Ren: the work they gave us now was boring and slow, we needed a little action, even if they are mortal, Tsubame~ Hiroko: I don't know why youtake it lightly, guys, demon slayers and high-ranking people are following us, what a nuisance! Tsubame: Shhh… not everyone knows the existence of that, Hiroko Hiroko: Explain to me who the hell will listen to us if we're running on the roofs like it's nothing! Ren: (turning his head) HEY, IDIOTS! Are you following us for this?~ (he said in a sing-song voice, making the Hashiras even more furious) Shinazugawa: GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK, YOU SON OF A BITCH! Ren: Do you talk to your mother with that mouth? Shinazugawa: MY MOTHER IS DEAD, DAMN IT! Ren: (to the girls) Oops, this time I lost my bearings~ Uzui: (to Shinazugawa) Hey! It's still not your money ["At least he's helping me get my bag of money back"] Rengoku: keep up with him to reach them, there are only three in front. (Suddenly, Kaito, Enko and Yoru jumped next to the Hashiras, they were laughing at them and grinning)

Enko: Wow, wow~ What do we have here? People who were in the audience want more show? Kaito: What if the three of us fight, guys? It doesn't matter if they are one more, I'm sure we can Yoru: Kumiko gave the order that we should not fight anyone and unless we shed blood, Kaito Kaito: How boring… then we'll have to stop them Enko: But we can mess around without any problem~ Yoru: HEY, REN!! PASS IT ON!!

(Ren threw the bag of money at Yoru and together with Kaito and Enko they deviated between mocking laughter. The Hashiras began to chase them, already annoyed by the new boys next to them) Obanai: Give that back, motherfuckers. Enko: Oh~ excuse me, but my mom had an honorable job, how about yours, guys? Yoru: I couldn't tell you, I didn't know my mother. Kaito: At least mine too, how about yours, new guys? (laughs) YORU, HERE! (The boys separated and Yoru threw the bag to Kaito and had Uzui and Shinazugawa at his sides) Kaito: Wow, he's the guy who tried to flirt with Kumiko at tonight's show (his tone was mocking but jealous) Enko & Yoru: ["Are you seriously going to think about that while we have this chase?"] Shinazugawa: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Kaito: Oh, plus you have an attitude… strangely she likes guys like that, but the vacancy is filled Shinazugawa: SHUT UP AND GIVE ME THE BAG Kaito: You should put a muzzle or something on your friend the mad dog (this time he was talking to Uzui) Uzui: (for the first time in all that time, his face lit up and he laughed) HAHAHAHA HE'S RIGHT THAT YOU LOOK LIKE A MAD DOG, SANEMI! (Kaito continued running and turned around, with the bag in hand and doing pirouettes to get away from the group faster and smiled at Uzui) Kaito: Well, I'm quite right~ Uzui: To be stealing from me, you have a very elegant and flamboyant style. Kaito: Oh well, thank you, it's part of the show to have grace, style and be handsome… but we're not stealing, we're borrowing Uzui: What? Kaito: God will provide~ ENKO! (he threw the bag to his friend and whistled)

Shinazugawa & Uzui: OH C'MON!

(Enko received the bag and laughed, behind her was Rengoku) Enko: I can't believe they're doing all this for a bag of money. Rengoku: It's my friend's money. Enko: Your boyfriend? Rengoku: MY FRIEND AND COMPANION Enko: It's just a couple of borrowed coins Rengoku: I don't care! Just by carrying out the act they would be considered criminals! Enko: (laughing out loud) Did you guys hear that? Now the law is officially looking for us but with demon hunters! (While his companions laughed, the Hashiras looked bewildered) Hashiras: How do you know who we are? Enko: Oh, it's a long story, like for a cup of tea or something else… Hey, Kaito! Did you call Toshio too? Kaito: I called everyone, Kumiko and the rest still don't show up (Quickly, about five monkeys and a falcon appeared next to each one, throwing each of the young rebels a sword guard, although they were very different from each other�� Enko received a Masakari, but the material was not common and ordinary) Rengoku: (widening his eyes, he was stunned) nichirin katanas? A Nichirin Masakari? Enko: (grinning) That's right… you are not the only demon slayers in this chase~