#honestly i just think he should growl and bark and dig in the dirt I think it’d be funny

[faglaios]

i don’t tend to have headcanons for adventure time bc it creates its universe and characters so incredibly well but personally I really love the idea of finn (the human) having a lot of dog-like traits as an offset of being raised by dogs. especially since humans were completely unheard of, Joshua and Margaret would’ve had no way to try and connect him to human culture or “traits”

i can see it in my minds eye. Finn is a perfect specimen of nature vs nurture in that he wouldn’t have dog instincts, but he would absolutely pick up traits he sees from his two older brothers and his parents. Growling when agitated, using his foot to scratch an inch if he’s sitting or laying down, barking at anything unfamiliar that seems aggressive, etc.

It’s just the way he would’ve been raised, joshua and margaret wouldnt have had a different style to parent him from jake or jermaine! From a viewer standpoint whenever finn is introducing him and Jake to anybody, it’s silly when he says they’re brothers, because Jake is very much a dog. That’s funny, it’s a joke, jake is out of place! But in universe finn is out of place! He’s the only human around (for a while) and he was raised by dogs and that’s the normal part!

In my heart and soul finn the human the dog acts like one as he SHOULD

[britishassistant]

Consider for the Supervillain AU: Yuu is currently playing Hostage for one of the Dorms when they hear a crashing sound from another room. Thinking it’s one of the RSA boys, they decide not to engage Prefect Time.

Turns out, it’s one of the other NRC villain teams pulling a raid on their current captors. When said raiders spot Yuu as a hostage, they take them along and end up protecting them.

After getting out the Villains base, the Raiding Team and Yuu take a quick breath at a designated rendezvous point.

Playing the role of Innocent Hostage, Yuu thanks the Raiding Villain team for Saving them.

“‘Save you’?” They say. “More like...’under new management’”

Yuu can’t even finish a word before they felt themselves getting regagged again (maybe in a different style to reflect the dorm that just ‘saved’ them). Yuu knows that they’re going to get a major headache from all this nonsense

Bonus points for the villains being petty and sending a picture to the Villain Dorm that just got raided of not only the stuff they stole but one adorable Hostage as well they found along the way

Thank you for the ask, dear anon!

Something’s... off today.

Yuu’s sitting in their cell in the lair, shuffling and reshuffling a deck of playing cards to try and pass the time.

They were trying to subtly gather information about Royal Flush’s latest heist from Ace and Deuce while playing Go Fish, but then both minions’ phones went off. The pair of them grabbed their weapons and left, promising that whatever was going on would take no more than five minutes.

That was ten minutes ago.

Maybe it’s that “Champion” hero again, trying to reclaim that topaz Royal Flush stole two nights ago. He causes enough collateral damage that his presence would certainly warrant a call for all hands on deck, especially if Niko Niko Neko has decided to lend him some help. Poor Ace of Diamonds still has a fractured collarbone from the heroes’ last “collaboration”, though at least Seven of Spades finally has the cast off her foot.

The cell block is soundproofed, so even if the reporter strains their ears, they can hear nothing of what could be going on in the rest of the base. The sound of cards flipping between their fingers is doing little to settle their nerves.

Yuu’s arm brushes against the brim of their fedora.

No. No need to be hasty. It’ll look too suspicious if The Prefect appears from the cells and it turns out to just be the RSA heroes saving the day after all. Plus the haphazard stitches from where Ace’s throwing cards cut into their ribs still haven’t healed enough that they won’t get pulled if Yuu starts running around willy-nilly, and then how will they explain the blood? There’s no need to jump to conclusions. There probably isn’t anything seriously wr—

A loud crash echoes from the entrance to the cell block.

Yuu stands, shoving the deck of cards into a pocket of their blazer. They rush to the bars of their cell, trying to peer through and see what the source of the noise is.

Thick plaster is rolling in from the entrance, obscuring their vision. They think they can glimpse the sight of the door, a twisted mess of wood and metal lodged in the opposing wall.

What in the name of the Great Seven could’ve—?!

The reporter’s blood runs cold at the sound of a low, rumbling growl.

It almost sounds like a dog warning an unwelcome intruder, if that dog were much, much bigger than even a Great Dane had any business being.

Not a dog then. Yuu exhales, and calls out in their most level voice. “Hello? Is someone there?”

If it’s a monster, it can probably already smell them if it’s growling like that, and the bars should provide some measure of defense if it attacks so Yuu can figure out how to subdue it enough to run. If it’s not a monster...

The growl grows louder, but also...less, somehow? As if it had changed outputs or something, like going from listening in stereo to through headphones.

A figure becomes visible through the dust and gloom. One that’s as tall and built as Yuuken is. Oh dear.

An angry looking man with white hair in a rough-and-tumble outfit looms in front of the cell, arms crossed and one pointed ear on the top of his head flickering. A beastman, probably some kind of canine if the growl was any indication.

The reporter fights the urge to swallow nervously. “Excuse me, but you aren’t one of Royal Flush’s minions, are you? Who are you? Are-were you being held captive too?”

The beastman doesn’t answer their questions. Instead, he barks, “You’re that reporter, right? The one who gets captured a lot.”

Yuu’s mouth flattens into a line, but they nod. Oh Seven, they hope that’s not what they’re becoming famous for. “Well, I am a hostage here, and I am a reporter for TWST local news. Yuu Radcliffe, and you are?”

The beastman grimaces, looking even angrier at the admission. “Get back.”

They obligingly let go of the bars and back up a few steps, shuffling away a few more when another growl ripples out the man’s chest. They tilt their head as he seizes the bars they were just holding. Wait, what does he think he’s—

There’s a hideous shriek of metal as the beastman’s muscles ripple and the bars bend apart like they’re no more than wet clay. The reporter can see indents of his grip left from where he pushed at the steel.

Yuu feels a little lightheaded, staring blankly as the beastman steps into the cell. They do startle when he pulls what looks like a small black sack out of his pocket, holding it out to their head. “Hey, what-?!”

“You wanna get out of here?” The beastman says brusquely. “You wear this.”

There’s a sinking feeling in Yuu’s gut, but the way he’s brandishing the sack makes them think he’s not about to take “no” for an answer. They doubt they could outrun him at this range, given that he’s blocking the new exit out of the cell. The reporter reluctantly takes the bag and pulls it on over their head, wincing as their field of vision goes dark.

They can’t help the yelp they make as they’re suddenly scooped up by a pair of unseen arms and held a little too tightly for comfort. Yuu contemplates trying to squirm out of his grip, and then remembers what his hands did to the steel bars. Instead they just try to make themselves as small as possible as the beastman starts to run.

It’s disconcerting, hearing so much noise after being stuck in the soundproofed cellblock for so long. Screams, yells, cries, and howls, the sounds of a battle they can’t see raging around them. Yuu thinks they hear their name being called out once, but it’s drowned out as the beastman picks up speed and the scent of roses and strawberries is replaced by the fresher, more noxious air of the city outside.

Their ride takes so many twists and turns that Yuu can barely keep track of where they are relative to Royal Flush’s lair, let alone where they’re headed. They honestly feel a little motion sick by the time the beastman slows down, and releases one arm to push open what sounds like a creaky metal door.

It feels like a wall of heat and noise hits the reporter in the face. There’s lots of loud complaining and ribbing from what sounds like a large and rowdy group of people, and the grip of the man carrying them gets tighter, tucking them closer to his chest.

One voice rises above the rest. “Oi, Jack-kun, what took you so long? We were beginning to think you’d run off with our little guest there.”

“Jack-kun’s” hold tightens again at the sound of that voice, to the point where Yuu is beginning to get worried that they’re going to end up like the bars on their cell back in the lair. His voice is clipped as he bites out, “Had to lose a tail, senpai. Got sidetracked.”

The world tilts oddly and it takes the reporter a moment to get their feet under them and not stumble as they are finally, finally set down. One of “Jack’s” arms remains clamped on their shoulder, steadying them and preventing them from moving too far away from him.

“Well, you’re both in one piece!” The new voice comes closer. “Now let’s see the reporter who went and got Royal all bent out of shape, huh?”

They wince when the bag is pulled off their head suddenly, blinking in the sudden light. The face of another beastman swims in front of their eyes before their gaze finally focuses, greyish eyes and dyed blond hair with much more rounded ears perched atop it. The glimmering orange jewel the size of a canatloupe he’s clutching in one hand isn’t exactly helping any with how it keeps refracting light into the reporter’s eyes.

The same orange jewel that Royal Flush stole from the pier two nights ago.

The sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach only grows.

“Well, I don’t see the appeal.” The beastman declares. “Maybe that midget just has weird taste.”

“Ouch.” Yuu forces a thin smile onto their face. Play along, keep calm, keep the levity up. “You’ll hurt my feelings at this rate.”

“Hey, truth hurts.” The beastman shrugs, spreading his hands wide. “Woulda thought a nosy journo like you would know that by heart, with all the dirt you dig up.”

“You would think so.” Yuu chuckles weakly. “Well, thank you all so much for rescuing me from Royal Flush’s lair, in any case.”

The ears on Jack’s head flatten slightly, and he glares at a spot on the floor by Yuu’s feet.

Well. That’s disappointing. Unsurprising, given that everyone here is also in an outlandish form of uniform without being clowns, but disappointing all the same.

“Shi hi hi hi hi. Oh, I wouldn’t call it ‘rescued’.” The beastman chuckles, grinning unsettlingly wide. “More like...under new management.”

Yuu stares at the minion.

“Wow. Wow.” The reporter tells him flatly. “I hope your boss pays you well to say stuff like that.”

The beastman shrugs again, grin not diminishing in the slightest. “Four figures, with holiday bonuses and healthcare. It’s a pretty good gig.”

Yuu tilts their head in acknowledgement. It’s better than their current working conditions, they’ll give him that.

“Ah, before I forget. No point in a good raid without a celebration photo, right?” The blond man pulls out a smart phone and waggles it in one hand. “That’s what that selfie junkie of Royal Flush’s likes to do, right? Jack-kun, you get in too.”

It’s sad that this barely makes it into the top five most surreal selfies that Yuu has ever taken. Even when the senior minion orders Jack-kun to curl a hand around their throat, gripping tight enough to make their breath go short, while the blond man holds the jewel up by their face in a place of prominence. “Make sure to look nice and menaced now, kay~? Shi hi hi hi hi.”

The camera flash goes off, once, twice. Then the phone comes down, and the hand comes off the reporter’s throat. They try to suck in a series of deep breaths as discreetly as they can.

“Great expression there, really selling the unwilling captive shtick.” The beastman pats their cheek condescendingly, thumb moving over the screen of the phone until there’s the ping of a Magicam upload. “Ok, let’s get your hands and legs tied and hood back on. Oh, and I’d watch your mouth when I meet the boss man, if I were you. You’ve got an audience with the King, after all.”

“Do you get a raise every time you spout off a line like that?” Yuu grumbles as the deeply frowning Jack is handed a length of rope and begins looping it around their wrists.

“Not yet!” The beastman calls back jovially as he strides away, admiring the topaz in his hand and barking orders to all the other henchpeople milling around.

“...Sorry.” Jack mutters by their feet as he finishes the tight knot binding their ankles together.

“It’s okay.” Yuu murmurs back, as he picks up the bag to place it back on their head. “You're just doing your job, right?”

And they’ll just be doing theirs, the reporter thinks to themselves as the darkness descends again and they’re hoisted up over the minion’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

Maybe they’ll finally get to learn why the topaz is so important to both Royal Flush and their current captor that it was worth staging a raid on another supervillain’s lair to get it. At the very least they’ll have the opportunity to interview this “King” to uncover his side of the story...

That is, if he doesn’t somehow work out whose biological child they are first.

[abarbaricyalp]

handholding- 10/12/13

hugs - 34

kisses - 7/13/27

touching - 47

sambucky :)

Buddies, I literally cannot believe I managed to get all of these done without being too repetitive.

Handholding 10: Happily doing everything with one hand if that means they don't have to let go is already posted on my blog and on AO3: ElisabethMonroe: (til i carry you home) Your Hand in My Hand

Reblogging with AO3 links in a second

Kisses 27: Desperate Kisses

Inhale My Soul

(Listen, listen y'all, you don't know how many different universes of them dying and bleeding out in each other's arms y'all aren't reading here. I didn't do that to you. You're welcome)

Dissolving hadn’t felt like anything. Sam wasn’t sure he even understood what was actually happening. Maybe he’d thought it was just a trick of the reality stone. Maybe human minds weren’t meant to comprehend anything close to what had happened.

Coming back felt like dying.

He woke up on his back and he couldn’t breathe. It was like he had no lungs at all, just a trachea spasming in his throat without air, like a gills with no water. He grasped for the ground and the feeling of dirt was horrifying, a grave waiting to swallow him down into the Earth. The wind was knives on his skin. His suit felt like it was trying to pry his spine from his ribs. His legs ached like someone was trying to stretch the bones on a crank.

He must’ve screamed but there was no air to make a noise.

Finally sight came back and the first thing he saw were the trees falling over him, ready to crush him and hide him again.

Had anyone seen him disappear? No one was by his side. No one looked for him.

No, the trees weren’t falling. They were swaying in the wind. The sun kept gliding down through them with every shuffle of the leaves.

It was so quiet he felt like he could hear the leaves sighing as they grew.

It took him too long to realize the ragged breath that broke the silence like a gunshot came from his own chest. The hands digging his own grave shot to his chest, felt the rise and fall of his ribs and lungs, the proof that he was breathing. He was alive again.

He rolled onto his side and heaved until his ribs creaked, still firmly attached to his spine. There was nothing to come up, but the noise was comforting, the ache that he could name and handle was safe. Human. Living human.

His knees were in his legs when he leaned back on his haunches. They sank into the earth but the grave didn’t swallow him down. No unwilling sacrifice to be taken from him. He brought his dirt covered fingers--firm and whole and attached to him--up to his face. He found his cheeks, a beard with edges that were too straight for a man who had died and been put back together, his teeth. They throbbed in his gums like they were all about to fall out but they were there in his head. His tongue.

He could speak.

“Steve!” he shouted and his throat screamed in protest, the air in his lungs turned to fire. “Steve!” he called again and forced himself to his feet. His boots were tied. His pants were still tucked into them. There was no blood, which seemed wrong. He felt flayed open and left to soak into the ground. How could there be no blood?

“Steve!”

God, if Steve was dead…

Sam couldn’t lose more people. He couldn’t fight his way back. Not after this. Not while everything hurt so fucking much.

“Steve, please, God, where are you?!”

“Sam?”

Sam whirled around at the tired voice. The trees danced in his vision. The grass clutched at his legs, which still felt like they were being stretched out and sunk into the earth. The trees were going to take him over. The grass was going to eat him again. No one was looking. No one would find him. Why wasn’t anyone ever looking for him?

“Sam?” the voice called again.

Footsteps. Crushing grass. A metal screech in the bark of a tree. A colorful curse. “Sam, fuck, shout again!”

Sam stumbled forward, breaking free of the natural world trying to take him away again. He shoved himself away from a tree and crashed into a warm, solid, human body.

“Jesus, Sam,” Bucky breathed and wrapped his arms around Sam tightly. It hurt in the best way. Sam held him back, face hidden in Bucky’s shoulder. He didn’t even care about what gore he was smearing all over himself. Bucky’s hand came to the back of Sam’s head and Sam almost expected it to hit exposed brain but it didn’t. Instead his calloused fingers brushed over Sam’s short hair, smoothing over the natural lines and divots in it until goosebumps erupted over Sam’s skin.

Right. Things could feel good. That was part of being human and alive.

He had no idea how long they stood there. His shoulders were aching, but in a pleasant way that reminded him that there was something he loved right in front of him, in his arms.

Bucky was the first to move, stepping back half a step, a quarter of a step, barely any at all, just enough to bring his hands up to either side of Sam’s face. The cheeks and the mouth and the skin that was all there and new again. He tilted Sam’s head back, eyes intense and clear in front of Sam.

Had it not felt the same for him? Was he not grappling with his ridiculously weak claim to existence? Or, fuck, was this how he always felt after being frozen and woken up? Had he been going through this for seventy years with no one to run to? With no one to hold him and remind him that things could feel good?

Sam’s fingers tightened in Bucky’s vest and just as Bucky was starting to say something Sam couldn’t honestly answer--something about how he felt, if anything hurt, if he needed medical attention--Sam hauled him down into a desperate kiss. Their noses smashed together and pain bloomed across Sam’s face, made his eyes water, made him want to sneeze, made him want to lean into it all the more, like the pressed-on-bruise ache of Bucky’s arms around him.

He felt Bucky’s teeth notch a split into Sam’s lip by accident, crushed together with nowhere to go. Finally it softened. Bucky’s mouth pressed against his until Sam felt like he could actually breathe, until he could make his mouth do what he wanted, catch Bucky’s lower lip between both of his, wring out a noise he’d never heard the other man make before. Bucky’s hands on his face kept him close and Sam’s fingers tightened in his vest. He wanted to crawl into Bucky’s chest--felt like, maybe, he could after being unmade and remade. Their noses knocked together again as Sam tried to turn his head, kiss the other side of Bucky’s mouth, let Bucky bruise the rest of his lips.

Bucky pulled away, but didn’t let go of Sam’s face. Cool air flowed into Sam’s lungs until all of his bones and muscles felt like they slotted back into place.

“I can’t tell you how fucking happy I am to see you alive,” Bucky breathed.

We should talk about this. That. Later.

“I thought everyone was gone. I don’t know… I didn’t know how I came back. I thought it was just me.”

Bucky shook his head. “No. There’s hundreds of people. Not everyone, but at least half of us.”

Half of them.

“Oh my God,” Sam said. “Thanos won. He wiped out half of the universe.”

“I think that was us. I think...someone brought us back,” Bucky said. Pain flashed over his face as he looked at Sam and then pulled him in for another kiss. Sam tried to understand a second chance in it, but all he could feel was Bucky and relief and adoration. He wasn’t sure where that one came from more--him or Bucky.

“There’s still a fight,” someone said from behind them. Another magic shithead. Terror clutched at Sam’s chest like magic itself was enough to unmake him again, take him away again. “There’s still a world to save.”

Bucky’s hand found Sam’s between their bodies. Sam took a breath with lungs that almost seemed to work again. “What’re we waiting for then?” he asked.

Kiss 13: Frustrated Kiss

Better Than None

“Barnes, you wanna jump in? Any time’s fine,” Sam called out, though the volume wasn’t actually necessary, since he had an earpiece in and Bucky was only a few feet away, leaned on what was left of a building’s wall.

“Nah, you seem to be handling it just fine,” Bucky called back with a nod.

Sam ducked under the robot arm that had been flung at him. “Barnes, I swear, as soon as I get my hands on you--” he threatened.

“Y’know, normally that gets me going but seein’ as you were so anti-giving me a good luck kiss, I don’t know if I believe you anymore.”

“We don’t have time for this!” Sam threw the shield to cut through seven wire-y necks and caught it at degree 355 of its arc.

“It’s just a kiss. Takes two/tenths of a second,” Bucky said.

“I meant this dumbass argument.” Sam jumped out of the way of an electrical charge and Bucky watched it sail dangerously close to his head.

“Damn, maybe I am lucky without you,” he said and didn’t move at all.

“Bucky,” Sam sighed and ripped the head off of the nearest robot.

“Hot. Wish I could show you my appreciation.”

“How does me not giving you a good luck kiss translate you into not giving me any kisses?”

“It only seems fair. You’re putting my well-being at risk. There should be consequences.”

“That’s not how it works! You’re the one not--” Jesus, he didn’t have time to fall for the bait. He freed a mini-EMP from his utility belt and hurled it at the cluster of robots trying to scale the debris that first responders were using as a barricade to the rest of the street. A few seconds later, the robots fell away, powerless and useless.

“I kind of felt that in my arm,” Bucky said.

Sam growled out a huff and stalked over to Bucky. He shoved the front of the shield against his chest a little roughly and leaned in to kiss him, mostly teeth and irritation. The bastard still looked pleased when Sam pulled away.

“Good luck. Now will you please go do your job?”

Bucky grinned, all teeth and victory, and bolted into action.

Kisses 7: Passionate Kiss

Hand holding 13: Linking hands during s**

Bring Heaven to You

Sam swore he could feel Bucky’s mouth all over him. Every inch of his skin felt electric and alive. Frankenstein’s creature surging to life after a bolt of lightning, every nerve and muscle singing at the same time, overwhelming sensation in the best way. Like a freefall that keep him tethered to the mismatched hands clutching at his hips, his ribs, his chest, his shoulders, his thighs, the backs of his knees. Like Bucky couldn’t decide where he should be shocking Sam back to life either.

Bucky dragged his hand down Sam’s side, flat and steady so Sam could feel the golden band on his finger scorching his skin like it was made of fire. Like vows and rings and heavy promises weren’t enough to prove they belonged to each other, like they needed it written in flesh and blood like everything else about their lives.

Hahahaha, no. The rest is on AO3. Link in the reblog

Hand holding 12: Possessive hand holding

A Green Monster, And No We Don’t Mean The Hulk

“Welcome back to the show, Captain America!” a bubbly, young talk show host greeted. Bucky assumed he’d watched at least a few seconds of the program at some point when he was making it his life mission not to leave his apartment, but he couldn’t place her name for the life of him. “And you brought Mr. Barnes with you!” This she said with much less genuine enthusiasm and didn’t seem all that thrilled to have to look away from Sam to address Bucky.

“Well, you know I can’t stay away too long,” Sam said with a friendly smile. He held out his hand and the host took it in both of hers. It was less a hand shake and more an excuse for her to hang onto Sam, it looked like.

Sam and Bucky sat in the cushy seats for guests and, even though they’d already walked through the staging of this whole farce, Bucky was still deeply tempted to take Sam’s seat so he was between Sam and the host.

“So, Sam, last time we saw each other, you weren’t yet Captain America.”

“Funny how fast things like that can change, right?” Sam asked with twinkling eyes. Bucky wondered if the cameras were bolted down and if he could wrench one free even if they were.

“Well, I think it’s still not soon enough,” the host said and tossed her long hair over her shoulder. “You’ve always been Cap to us here. You’ve been so vocal about your mission statement as Captain America, so I won’t make you repeat yourself.” Sam nodded gratefully, though Bucky knew he’d repeat his goals and wishes until he ran out of breath if it meant one more person heard them and got inspired. “So I thought we could focus on what’s going on behind the scenes with you. Has anything else changed for you since you’ve been back?”

As if coming back to life wasn’t enough.

“Oh, definitely,” Sam said. “Buck and I just finished flipping a house down by my sister. Y’know, we got decent temporary accommodations--Buck still has his in New York--and staying with my sister again was nice, but there’s nothing like having a house to come home to that’s just ours. No pre-teens stealing all the food outta the fridge immediately after grocery shopping.”

The host laughed along with Sam, though her eyes couldn’t quite keep from flickering to Bucky. “It’s fun that you’re rooming with Mr. Barnes. Does it feel like having college roommates again?”

Sam frowned, opened his mouth to answer, ran through a bunch of diplomatic ways to say what should’ve been obvious but wasn’t because this lady was into Sam. Which, like, Bucky couldn’t blame her for. But he was anyway.

He reached over to grab Sam’s hand where it was picking at a loose thread in his pants. “Actually, it’s more like just living with a partner,” he answered for Sam. “That’s something else that’s changed too, huh?” he directed at Sam. “Turns out, with consistent showers and therapy, he thinks I’m pretty charming.”

Sam frowned again and scoffed. “No, I do not. That hasn’t changed.”

The host laughed again, forced but a decent show anyway. “Sure, we all love a good bromance,” she said.

Bucky’s eyebrows shot up.

“Don’t,” Sam warned.

“It’s a lot like a bromance, yeah. Just without the B,” Bucky said. “We kind of figured my name had enough Bs to last us for a while.”

“Sam, are you saying--”

Sam sighed and brought his other hand up to the bridge of his nose. “Unfortunately. And, yeah, he’s always like this. Some kinda puffed up bulldog or something.”

Bucky’s fingers tightened around Sam’s. “You’re my partner. I’m allowed to tell people that.”

“You don’t ever stop telling people.”

“Can’t blame him,” the host pointed out. Okay, maybe some of the hostility was misplaced, Bucky thought. Only some of it. “How did we not know about this, Cap?” she asked jovially, though Bucky thought she was still a little upset.

Sam shrugged. “Guess it’s not as exciting as superheroing. And cameras keep ending up destroyed,” he added pointedly.

Bucky narrowed his eyes at the accusation. “Half the places we go could be classified as an active war zone. It’s not always on me that media cameras get crushed under debris or aliens or something.”

“Every single one that catches you touching my face?”

Bucky shrugged.

“So...how long has this been a thing?” the host asked.

“Since before Sam took the shield. It’s actually a package deal. If you want the shield, you have to have me.”

Sam rolled his eyes and let out another long suffering sigh. “I’m sorry he’s ruining this interview.”

“Oh, no, I’m about to win an investigative journalism prize, I think,” the host laughed.

“I don’t know how investigative it is when your subject is physically incapable of shutting up,” Sam said, looking over at Bucky with a glare and the smallest pout that made Bucky want to kiss it off of his face.

So he did, holding their interlaced fingers next to their face to hide from the cameras at least a little bit.

Hugging 34: Hugging while grabbing butt

Get Sprung

(Man, I meant to put this in the fr@ story and forgot :/ )

The building came down faster than Sam expected it to. He supposed well placed explosives would do that. What happened to uncertain, uneven dynamite? Why was everything electrical and precise nowadays?

He had no idea how Bucky managed to get Sam and the shield bundled in his arms before the ceiling came down. He didn’t know how Bucky had managed to kick a piece of wall upright and then locked his metal arm to hold the shield in place above them. He had no idea how Bucky knew it’d make the perfect alcove for them. For someone who pretended not to know what math was when AJ asked for help on homework, he was very calculation savvy.

Bucky slowly freed his arm from the straps of the shield. The rubble shifted a little, pressed a little closer, and then stilled again. They both let out a small breath. There wasn’t enough room to lay out totally, or to stand fully, but they weren’t being crushed. Bucky’s arm joined the other around Sam’s waist. Sam dropped his face to Bucky’s shoulder and let Bucky’s pulse drum against his cheek for a second.

“Are you grabbing my ass?” he finally asked and Bucky coughed out a startled laugh.

“Yeah, you better hope it’s me and not some darkness monster.”

“Couldn’t blame the monster if it was,” Sam said.

“I gotta make sure it’s still there. Would be a shame to lose America’s ass, y’know.”

Sam shook his head and pulled away from Bucky enough to light up his wristlets. He shook them off and rested them on pieces of concrete and rebar to light the space.

Bucky sank down to the ground, legs bent a little to accommodate the space and Sam followed him down, settling between his legs.

“So, now we wait, huh?” he said, reaching for Bucky’s hands to tangle their fingers together.

“Guess we gotta,” Bucky agreed. “Are you hurt?”

Sam shook his head. There was still a ringing in his ears from the explosion and he was sore from Bucky tackling him out of the way, but nothing felt crushed or cut or broken. “You?”

“I’m fine,” Bucky said and then let out a breath at Sam’s arched brow. “I mean it. I’m not playing tough or anything. We got lucky. It came down on us, not sideways into us. I think there’s something lodged between the plates in my arm, but I don’t want you to do anything about it until we’re safe. It’s functional right now. I don’t need to be down an arm if we have to dig out.”

“We’re not gonna have to dig out,” Sam said. “Torres’ll track Redwing to us.”

“How’s your dumb robot?”

Sam reached for a wristlet and navigated to the Redwing menu. “Operational. Some exterior dinging, but nothing serious. He’ll be functional if we need.” Sam set the wristlet aside again and sighed. “Fuck, that was close, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. C’mere,” Bucky said, opening his arms. Sam shifted forward on his knees and leaned against Bucky’s chest, hugging him close. “‘M glad you’re okay,” Bucky murmured, lips brushing Sam’s temple.

Sam nodded and rubbed Bucky’s waist for a second. “Buck?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re grabbing my ass again.”

“I know.”

“Alright.”

Touch 47: Touching their elbow to get their attention

Quiet Birds Circling in Flight

(Jeez, the only thing that came to mind for ages on this prompt involved a spaceship but these men have SEEN aliens and spaceships so that’s not as fun :(((((( )

Sam stood outside the cenotaph long after everyone else had left the service. And that was quite the feat in and of itself. It felt like the mourning could go on for years. There’d been enough tears around him that he wasn’t sure what his own would add to the spectacle.

To everyone else, the cenotaph was a mausoleum. But Sam had been next to Bucky when he told the military to quietly bury him in the cemetery where his parents were both buried. “You know,” Bucky had said one afternoon while they watched the cenotaph being built stone by stone, engraving by engraving, “I’d wager that most mausoleums are just cenotaphs. Grave robbing and reactions to grave robbing mean probably everyone just got moved somewhere safer.”

“Plus decomposition.”

“Well, shit, Wilson. When do you stop being you after death? When does dirt become dirt again? When isn’t it your resting place? Does it even matter where your body is when alls said and done? Is that ever actually you or just a space filler?”

Sam had elbowed Bucky’s ribs and they’d each taken a piece of stone and pretended they didn’t see.

Sam weighed the shield against his shin, knocking it slightly to the side, and then looked up at the stone one ten more feet above his head.

Steve would hate this so much. Sam felt like he could feel his raging blush from the after life. Sam and Bucky had both asked for something more muted, something quieter. Hell, something that would do good for the world Steve was always trying to save. All this money and work and art, for what? A place to take pictures for likes on the internet?

No, Sam had to remind himself, it was a place for memory too.

As much as Sam kind of hated the whole thing, he couldn’t deny that looking up at the effigy of his friend inspired him the same way glancing over at him had in life too. The words wrapping around and around the base of the cenotaph sparked the same intense pride and righteousness they had the first time he heard them.

Maybe he didn’t hate the cenotaph. Maybe he just wanted the real thing back.

He startled at a gentle touch at his elbow. He thought it might’ve been another mourner come to offer condolences, though those mostly went to Bucky when someone was brave enough to approach him. Most people hadn’t looked at Sam twice. Not when Captain America was, in theory, laying in rest thirty feet beyond.

Sam was not in the mood to listen to anyone else talk about the time Steve smiled at them in a cafe or grabbed their cat out of a tree. If he heard his name again, he was going to break down.

But he had the shield now. He had to do the things Steve did. Smile when he didn’t want to. Hide any sign of weakness, lest it reflect poorly on the red, white, and blue he carried now. So he ground his teeth together until his gums ached and turned with a screwed on smile.

But it wasn’t a mourner. Not a random one anyway.

Bucky still had his fingers on Sam’s elbow, a sad look on his face. Dawn was creeping over the horizon and Sam realized with a start and a bloom of despair in his stomach that he’d spent the entire night in the park.

“Think if we wait two more days he’ll shove that stupid stone shield out of the way and come out?” Sam asked, voice wavering like a flag in the wind.

“We would literally never hear the end of it if he did,” Bucky pointed out.

Neither of them smiled. Neither of them really meant their jokes.

Sam finally broke down.

He collapsed against Bucky’s chest. It wasn’t until he lost his breath in the middle of a sob that he realized he wasn’t the only one shaking. Bucky was crying too. They clutched at each other, both terrified they might drift away, that the other might decide this was too difficult too and go back to something better at the first opportunity.

Sam didn’t even blame Steve. He’d laid awake in the temporary accommodation the government had put him up in and tried to convince himself that if he was in Steve’s shoes, he wouldn’t have saved Riley and stayed in that timeline. But he couldn’t. He knew he would have, almost certainly. And it wasn’t fair to ask Steve to give up a happy, quiet ending after more than a century of fighting and hurting.

But understanding it and accepting it didn’t make it hurt any less. “What are we supposed to do, Bucky?” he asked with an irritatingly genuine hiccup at the end of his words.

“I don’t know,” Bucky said, sounding for all the world like he was grinding his teeth together, trying to pull himself back together. “You have a lot more options than me.”

And it was true. Sam had had a job. The Air Force had reached out since he’d been back stateside. He had a family who missed him, who he missed. But it felt like something heavy and tethering had been locked away in that empty cenotaph. He didn’t want to walk away yet.

Bucky stepped back, kept a hand on Sam’s elbow. “For now, we should get back home. You need to sleep.”

Sam didn’t want to sleep. Everything hurt too much.

“Sam, come on,” Bucky insisted. “You don’t have to make any decisions right now.We could both use a few hours of being quiet, right?

Sam reached up to wipe the tears from his face. He had the shield. He had to act like it. “My place or yours?” he asked, still watery.

Bucky pretended like he didn’t notice. “Yours is nicer than mine.”

“And I have a bed.”

“I have a bed.”

“It’s unassembled in a box.”

Bucky squeezed his elbow and then tugged him into a brief hug that Sam was pretty sure they’d never speak of again. “Let’s get out of here. He’s not goin’ nowhere.”

Sam rubbed at his face again and nodded. “We-- We should order in. When’s the last time you ate?” he asked as they walked away.

“I had a better breakfast than you.”

“You didn’t have to give a speech.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised you didn’t throw up in front of everyone.”

“Shut up, I’m a great public speaker.”

“Sure, Wilson.”

“Screw you, Barnes.”

The dawn bloomed before them.

Do not stand

By my grave, and weep.

I am not there,

I do not sleep—

I am the thousand winds that blow

I am the diamond glints in snow

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle, autumn rain.

As you awake with morning’s hush,

I am the swift, up-flinging rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight,

I am the day transcending night.

Do not stand

By my grave, and cry—

I am not there,

I did not die.

[delimeful]

be unbroken or be brave again (1)

here it is! an AU ive been working on for a while that i am publishing today, 12/19, for our favorite emo nightmare’s birthday! :D hope you enjoy! 

warnings: blood, mention of illness and murder, injury, roman is a jerk but he’s just being an idiot, hurt/comfort

-

Virgil frowned, studying the tracks on the ground. Horse hooves, but more importantly, the treads of heavy boots. The same boots that had been following them from a slowly-decreasing distance for months now. He sighed, scuffing his own bare foot against the ground. 

The hunter was gaining ground too fast for comfort. 

If he had been alone, he could have lost the human easily. Would have lost him on day one, in fact. The reason his kind were so hard to track was because of their ability to take off and vanish into thin air, after all. Assuming they weren’t too busy starting massive fires, that was. 

Still, he wasn’t alone, and he had no plans to reveal his true self to the one person alive that tolerated him, so walking it was.

He turned to circle back around to camp, his leathery wings fluttering once on his back. It was dumb of him to let the glamor down in the open like this, but he couldn’t help but want to release the spell whenever he got the chance. It was taxing, hiding a bunch of his true features all the time, even in sleep. He would put it back up before he got to camp, but for now his horns and scales would stay, the same deep violet purple as his wings and tail. 

Those features were undoubtedly the reason the hunter was after them in the first place, probably to harvest his parts or slay him for the greater good or whatever nonsense Knights were always spouting about their reasons for murdering a whole species. He grit his teeth, fangs pressing into his lips near hard enough to cut.

He was used to such treatment, but Patton was perfectly human, and now he too was in danger because of Virgil. He should have taken more measures to hide their trail, shouldn’t have let the hunter catch his scent. Maybe he should have killed the last few that came after him. He imagined the look on Patton’s face if he ever found out and shook his head to dismiss the thought. He was as soft as ever when it came to humans, and he’d continue to be that way until he inevitably died. Probably his mom’s fault.

… Whatever. He’d make up some excuse to get him and Patton on the road again, take some shortcuts to lose their pursuer, and be more careful in the future. Lesson learned. 

A scraggly-looking tree he had marked earlier reminded him that he was getting closer to the clearing, and he quickly touched the stone between his collarbones to re-cast the glamor. It settled onto him like a heavy cloak, his senses becoming slightly muted, and he made sure to check his reflection in one of his daggers before moving on.

The clearing was fairly quiet, shielded from view by thick brush, but he could hear the soft movements of someone shuffling about in the dirt. Patton had already gotten back from gathering kindling, then. He pulled the canteens from his bag, to show that he had completed his own task.

“Hey, Pat, I found a river near-” His voice cut off as he realized that the man crouched in their campsite wasn’t Patton.

He was tall, with heavy leather armor covered in red sigils over every inch of him, kneeling in the dirt with one hand brushing the footprints that the two occupants had left in the camp. The same exact thing Virgil had been doing only minutes ago. Unquestionably a hunter by attire alone. 

The Knight’s head had snapped over to look at Virgil the moment he’d called out, and now they were frozen in a silent staring contest. Virgil let his gaze dip slightly to the sigil on the Knight’s shoulder, and paled at the sight of it. It was the Faerin coat of arms. 

A Knight from the Faerin Kingdom, known far and wide to be the most vicious and merciless to Dragonwitches. A Knight from an empire that he knew didn’t care about collateral damage any more than the dirt under their feet. 

A Knight that could hurt Patton, if the human got back to camp while Virgil was fighting him.

Without another thought, he bolted, the canteens dropping to the ground as he fled. There was a yell behind him, and he felt a wave of relief as the sound of footsteps took off behind him, a glance over his shoulder confirming that he was being chased doggedly. The Knight was taking the bait. Patton would be safe.

Now all he had to worry about was saving his own skin. 

He sprinted through the forest, twisting and ducking in case the Knight had projectiles. Maybe he didn’t even have to fight him. If he could outstrip the guy, he could double back and lose him, go back to the camp and get Patton and book it-

Twang!

He barely had time to register the thin, near-invisible wire he’d plowed through before something heavy and rough hit him head on, knocking him to the ground. He twisted around and dropped the glamor, trying to flare his wings and tail to get the offending object off, but it only got him more tangled in the metal netting. The trap- for what else could it be?- was weighed down at the edges by solid metal balls, so he couldn’t even rise to his feet to try and keep running. 

In a moment of desperation, he reached for the power of his other form, the one already snapping for control like a cornered animal. Nothing. The metal burned unnaturally against his skin, no doubt enchanted for the very purpose of holding him.

Loud footsteps made him still for a moment, and he summoned up a hateful glare as the Knight approached with an air of casualness. The bastard didn’t even seem out of breath. 

“Gotcha.” He said, voice arrogant, and Virgil snarled inhumanly at him between pants. “Oh, don’t be like that. Not my fault you were too slow.” 

He stepped closer, ignoring the threatening growl building in Virgil’s chest, and grabbed the upper arch of his left wing, entangled firmly in netting. He jerked away anyways, trying to thrash the limb, but the Knight’s grip held firm, fingers digging into the delicate flesh. “Let go!” 

“In a second, in a second.” The Knight’s face fell into a frown, deepening the longer he stared at the wing he was pulling on. “I suppose they look black in the right lighting…” He hummed, releasing the wing and circling back around to face Virgil from the front with a speculative gaze. 

Virgil’s lip curled up into a sneer. With the focus on his wings and scale color, this guy had to be a skinseller. Perfect. Just what he wanted to deal with today. Not.

The Knight flipped an ornate dagger from hand to hand, wandering slowly into range. He threw the dagger into the air with a frankly unnecessary amount of flair, and Virgil followed the shine of the blade carefully. “Committed any notable atrocities lately, monster?”

“Nothing more atrocious than that outfit.” Virgil shot back, voice rough and gravelly. He eyed the distance between the Knight’s hand and his teeth speculatively. Just a bit closer...

The knight placed a hand on his chest in a dramatic gesture of offense. “Honestly, you must be delirious with stress to think I look anything other than fantastic.” He cast a judgmental eye at Virgil’s own appearance. “Maybe delirious with heatstroke, under all that black. I wonder, does the color of your terrible clothing choices carry over to your true form, beast?”

“Bite me,” Virgil spat, and then lunged at the Knight’s nearest hand, dagger be damned. The longer he kept this one occupied, the longer Patton had to realize something was wrong and get out of there. 

Unfortunately, the Knight was quicker. His target was yanked out of biting reach, and then fingers promptly wrapped around one of his horns and tugged, driving his face into the ground. He grunted in pain as something in his nose gave way with a pop, and warm blood started to drip down over his mouth.

“Nice try, Bitey,” the Knight said, ignoring the low, rumbling growl radiating from Virgil’s chest. He planted the dagger in the dirt, inches from his bloody face. “Now, how about you make this easier on yourself and tell me the scale color of your little friend you meant to meet back in that camp? What was their name… Pat?” 

Virgil stiffened, his tail lashing back and forth as much as it could while so entangled. “Fuck me and my big mouth,” he mumbled incoherently into the ground, grimacing at the taste of dirt. 

“What was that?” the Knight asked, pulling him upright so he could breathe properly again. Virgil cleared his throat a few times as though about to speak, and then opened his mouth and spat a mixture of blood, mud, and spit directly into the Knight’s face. 

The Knight dropped him like a hot potato. “Ugh, come on!”

He sounded so disgruntled that Virgil couldn’t help but laugh hoarsely from where he was laid out on the ground. “Too gross for you, Your Highness?” 

The hunter stiffened, pausing in the process of wiping his face to stare at Virgil with surprise. Virgil’s lips curled up slightly, vindicated by the hunter’s reaction. Got it in one. 

He bared his fangs in an unfriendly smile. “You think you’re being subtle? I’ve met plenty of hunters, and only idiots and nobility wear Faerin’s crest and finery like a badge of honor. Congrats on fitting in both categories.” 

The Knight scowled at him, hooking a hand in the wires and hauling him up by the shirt. Virgil managed to brace himself just before the Knight slammed him up against a tree, and he hissed a pained breath through his teeth as the bark scraped against his back and the soft in-between flesh of his wings. 

“And how many of those hunters are still around?” the Knight asked, deadly serious as he pressed his other arm against Virgil’s throat and leaned forwards until they were only inches apart. “How many did you kill? How did you slaughter them?” 

Virgil almost rolled his eyes at the dramatics of it all, struggling to breathe through the damn bloody nose. If he’d killed those hunters, there was no way this idiot would have ever caught wind of him, let alone tracked him down like this. Knights were all the same. They only heard what they wanted to hear.

“Come on, you already know. I did what you’re supposed to do with trash,” he rasped, inhaling deeply enough to make his lungs ache from the pressure. A purple haze began to leak from his lips. “Burned it.” 

The Knight’s eyes widened, and he leaned back as Virgil clicked the sparkscales in the back of his throat and ignited a breath of deep purple flame directly into the hunter’s face. He held it for as long as he could, his exhale finally sputtering out seconds later. 

The Knight stared back at him, unimpressed. His eyebrows were slightly singed, but the rest of him remained completely intact, courtesy of the protective charms embedded in his armor. The sigils glowed and pulsed like hot coals. “Did you really think that would work?” 

“Nah,” Virgil admitted, and then drove his knee into the Knight’s groin with all the force he could muster. “But this will.”

The Knight made a noise that sounded like a mix between a mouse’s dying squeak and the wheeze of someone getting all the air punched out of their lungs. Virgil grinned with immense satisfaction at the way his skin paled to the color of spoiled milk, and then took advantage of his loosened grip to slam his forehead against the Knight’s with a resounding crack.

“Freaking ow!” the Knight recoiled, finally letting go of him to step out of range. As soon as he was released, Virgil’s legs gave out from under him, leaving him collapsed at the base of the tree trunk. He had planned to try and stay upright, maybe make a grab for the dagger or even just make some progress on untangling the net, but… 

“What in the underworld is your skull made of?” he screeched, trying to blink away the spots in front of his eyes. It felt like he’d headbutted a concrete wall instead of a normal human. “Do you have rocks in there instead of a brain?”  

“Me?” the Knight scowled, pointing at him imperiously. “What did you think you were going to achieve? Who in their right mind uses dirty street fighting without being able to run away after? You’re wrapped in a net!” 

“Oh, I dunno,” Virgil really did roll his eyes this time, “maybe someone who doesn’t want to die?” 

The Knight stopped short, and turned away to take a deep breath before facing Virgil again with a less harsh expression. “Look, I admire your tenacity,” he admitted. “I’m looking for a particular dragonwitch, and I doubt that you’re it. I don’t want to kill you. You don’t even have to tell me anything that would give me an advantage in a fight against your friend. If you’ll just tell me what they look like, I can escort you to become a protected citizen of Faerin.”

Virgil snorted. “Oh, so I can have my powers suppressed and die slowly of tar-lung working in some harvester mine instead?” And that was if an uppity Knight didn’t randomly decide to execute him for existing too loudly. Protected citizen, his ass. “I’ll pass.”   

“Yes, your powers would be sealed for everyone’s safety. And dragonwitches can’t get tar-lung.” The Knight frowned at him in reprimand, and Virgil almost pitied him for his sheltered naivety. He’d be in for a rough time in towns after he passed the range of his kingdom’s influence. Everyone hated dragonwitches, but a fair few hated Faerin as well.

Oh well. Not his problem.

“Even if that was in any way appealing, I’m not the type to sell out my friends,” Virgil flared his wings one last time, as though the net would suddenly decide to answer his pleas and fall away. Instead, the metal only cut into his wings harder, and he dipped his chin to touch his soulstone, his glamor settling back over him and his aching wings fading into non corporeality. If the hunter wanted to kill a monster, he’d make himself look as human as possible.

He leaned his head back against the tree, tilting his chin up in challenge. Pinned behind his back, his hands trembled. “Be more merciful your kingdom, hunter, and give me a quick death.” 

As expected, the jab at his kingdom made his expression darken with anger. Chauvinists. So predictable.

“I already offered you mercy, and you refused it.” The Knight pulled a broadsword from its scabbard with a scraping of metal, and Virgil clenched his hands into fists, keeping his gaze locked with the hunter’s. How was he planning to strike? The head or the heart? Could he dodge like this? For how long? Was there a point?

“I suppose we’ll see if your body will lure your friend out of hiding.” The Knight lifted his blade high, the tip poised to stab down through Virgil’s heart.

In the next moment, a human-sized blur dove out of the trees, tackling him from the side with a battle cry and knocking the hunter clear off his feet. They both went tumbling, the sword sliding across the ground far out of reach of any party, and Virgil stared at his savior in disbelief. Who would be stupid enough to attack a Faerin Knight within the kingdom’s borders, all alone-?

The attacker sat up from where he was half-straddling the Knight, twisting to check on Virgil. “Are you okay?” he cried, face strained with worry. 

“Patton?” Virgil’s voice went up an octave, fear surging through him. He started clawing desperately at the netting again. “Patton, no, no no no you have to run! Get out of here!” 

The human’s face furrowed in confusion. “Wha-?” 

In the next moment, the hunter had surged up and reversed their positions, pinning Patton to the ground by his shoulders. Virgil lunged forwards and let out an inhuman screech as he toppled over, his struggles only making the trap tighten against his flesh further. 

“Aha!” the Knight declared, and pulled a waterskin from his belt triumphantly. He tugged the cap off with his teeth and splashed the liquid inside all over Patton’s face. 

Patton spluttered, completely unharmed. “Rude! What is the matter with you? Why are you attacking Virgil, he didn’t do anything to you!” 

The Knight gaped, shocked enough that Patton was able to shove him off and climb back to his feet. “What- you’re human?” 

Virgil tried to push himself into an upright position, his blood still rushing in his ears from the scare. “Patton, please, you’ve got to get out of here!”

Patton, the wonderful idiot, gasped at the sight of him, bloodied and bruised, and immediately headed towards him. “Don’t worry, Virgil! I’ll help you!”

Virgil resisted the urge to groan, and then tensed against the net again as the Knight grabbed Patton’s wrist to stop him. “Wait!”

“Oh, what now?” Patton asked scornfully, with the sort of this-better-be-good expression that would have had Virgil properly abashed for at least an hour.

The Knight barely faltered, a testimony to his bravery. “You don’t have to listen to this foul beast’s orders anymore! You’re free.” And there was a testimony to his idiocy.

“What foul beast?” Patton’s frown only grew more severe as the Knight gestured expansively to Virgil’s entangled form. He pulled his wrist free to jab a finger into Roman’s chest. “That’s Virgil, and I don’t know what ale you’ve been drinking, sir, but it must have gone sour, because he’s just as human as you and me!” 

Virgil felt a chill go down his spine. Now that he wasn’t imminently facing the worst possible scenario (Patton dying), he had enough clarity to be terrified about facing the second-worst possible scenario (Patton finding out he wasn’t human). The Knight looked between the two of them, gaze settling on Virgil, probably easily reading the guilt written all over his face.

“You’ve been tricked,” he voiced his realization aloud, and held a hand up to stop Patton from going further. “Not to fear! I can prove my claim to you. I have an elixir that destroys any glamor upon contact. I’ll show you.” 

Ignoring Patton’s protests, the Knight strode up to where Virgil was propped up on one arm, his lips thin with anger. Virgil leaned back as he knelt next to him and met cold eyes, knowing it was meaningless to plead but desperate enough to try anyways. “Please.”

“Were you planning on granting that man a merciful death when you got tired of toying with him, demon?” the Knight asked with a voice like ice. Virgil didn’t even have time to open his mouth before the waterskin was upended over his head.

The elixir burned as all human magic did, and as he hissed, his glamor cracked away like ash to reveal his slitted pupils, his pointed ears, his dark scales. All irrefutable proof of his true nature. 

A sharp inhale made him look up, and he met Patton’s shocked gaze. “V… Virgil?” 

The fear in Patton’s soft brown eyes was like a physical blow. He looked away, noting the way the Knight stood between him and Patton protectively. He’d retrieved his sword.

“You can see the truth, clear as day,” the Knight spoke gently, but his words were harsh. “This is no friend of yours. The monster was only pretending to be human to lull you into a false sense of security. It’s a… common tactic for dragonwitches that prefer to,” the Knight grimaced, “play with their food. I’m sorry.”

“Virgil? That’s not true… is it?” Patton sounded near tears, and though he’d had nightmares about this exact scene frequently, he had never realized the way it would hurt, to hear his only friend doubt him. 

He opened his mouth, the words all on the edge of forming. Of course it wasn’t true! He would die before he hurt Patton, he would do anything to keep him safe. The very idea that he would ever devour his friend made him feel as though he was a second from throwing up.

All these defenses and more sprang to his mind, clamoring over each other, and yet- 

His mouth shut with a click. What would happen if he convinced Patton of his innocence? What would the Knight do? What would Patton do, to protect him? If there was one thing Faerin Knights excelled at, it was killing innocents. He was still trapped. He couldn’t do anything if the Knight turned his blade on Patton. 

He had to make sure Patton wouldn’t put himself at risk like that. He… He would do anything to keep Patton safe.

Even if that meant being the villain the Knight wanted to slay. 

Virgil swallowed thickly, forcing away the desolation to focus on what mattered. If he had to put on a show, it would have to be convincing. Patton would never believe it otherwise.

He let the last scraps of the glamor fall away, let his face shutter off into something dismissive and uncaring. “So you got me. I just wanted an easy meal at hand, is that such a crime?”

The knight stood tall, proud of having broken through a monster’s disguise. He looked down at Virgil with disgust. “Eating people is and probably always has been a crime, yes.”

He shrugged with loose shoulders. “S’not my fault snacks are so easy to fool these days.” His eyes caught Patton’s again, and he forced himself not to look away from the heartbroken expression. “If you really thought we were friends, you’re even stupider than I thought. Looks like your family really did pick the wrong one to die for.”

Patton’s face crumpled immediately, and he let out a sob. The Knight stepped in front of him, blocking Virgil’s gaze. His eyes dropped to the sword in his hand, and he felt a twisted sort of relief that he wouldn’t have to deal with the fact that he’d just said those awful things, that he’d taken what Patton had confided in him and turned it into something sharp to hurt him with. 

“Don’t worry. He won’t be able to hurt you or anyone else, anymore,” the Knight reassured Patton, and stepped forward with menace in every movement. 

Virgil forced himself to stay still, squeezed his eyes shut and ignored his racing heart. He was silent as the prince raised his blade, compliant because if it meant it wouldn’t be turned on Patton then it was worth it. It would always be worth it. 

He waited for the swing of the blade, the last thing he would ever hear- 

Clunk. 

The Knight made a strangled sound. Virgil’s eyes opened of their own accord, watching as the hunter swayed on his feet, his eyes rolling back in his head, and then collapsed bonelessly onto the ground. 

Just behind him, Patton stood, clutching a rock the size of his head in both hands. He was looking down at the fallen Knight with an expression that was just as stunned as Virgil felt, and dropped the rock to the forest floor with a thud. 

He took an uncertain, wobbling step towards Virgil, and he couldn’t help but flinch back because anything Patton did to him right now would be justified, but it would still hurt-

-and then there were suddenly trembling arms around him, tugging him into a hug against a warm chest. He froze, body stiff. “Patton...?” 

“You are a terrible liar,” Patton informed him wetly, “and you’re my best friend, you dummy. Human or not.” 

His voice was thick with tears, hitching with every breath, but it was devoid of hatred or fury or fear that in that moment, Virgil had never heard anything so comforting. 

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, and then, as though the words had broken a dam of tension within him, he immediately started muffling his own strangled, hiccuping sobs into Patton’s neck. “I didn’t m-mean any of that, I swear, I just- I’m sorry for not telling you. I was- I was scared.” 

“You were scared?” He could barely move his arms in the net, but Patton was doing enough clinging for both of them, limbs wrapped around him like a koala as he spoke. “When I realized that you’re actually a dragonwitch, I thought for sure that hunter was going to try and kill you! Again! That’s two murder attempts too many!”

Virgil made a sound that was half-chuckle, half-sniffle, and set his chin on Patton’s shoulder. “You’re really not mad?”

“Yeah. I’m not mad.” Patton stuck his hand under the net’s grooves and combed his fingers through Virgil’s hair soothingly, barely hesitating over the ridges where his horns met his skull. “It’s okay. I… I get it, Virge. I forgive you.”

The simple statement set him off again, which set Patton off again, and they went through a whole second round of tears and snot before Virgil felt coherent enough to speak once more. 

“What are we gonna do with that guy?”

Patton pulled away from him slightly so they could both stare at the unconscious body of the hunter. The guy totally had a head wound. Looked like his thick skull could be defeated after all.  

“Well…” Patton wiped a sleeve over his nose and then tapped his chin in consideration. “It’s been a while since we visited home. We could take him there. You could carry us there! Oh, we can travel places so fast now!” 

Virgil gave him a flat stare, ignoring the flying comment for the moment. “You want to take a Faerin Knight. To our house.” 

“Well, I’d feel kind of bad leaving him here with a nasty head wound like that!” Patton said, as though he wasn’t the one who had caused the injury. Or, more likely, because he was the one who had caused the injury. Virgil sighed. 

“Yeah, okay, fine. But I’m not going to like it. And he’s definitely not going to like it. And I’m not babysitting him.”

[out-of-this-town]

The will to protect

Inuyasha AU, InuKag, romance & adventure

Before dying, Kikyo ties Inuyasha’s life to her little sister, Kagome, in order to ensure her safety.

Inuyasha is not too pleased about getting dragged into this mess and demands that Kagome undo the spell. Unfortunately for him, she has no idea how to do that. As danger draws near, Inuyasha has to find the willingness to keep Kagome out of harm’s way as Kagome tries to find a way to release Inuyasha from the spell.

Chapter 4 (ao3) (ff)

“Could you slow down?” Kagome snapped for what felt like the hundredth time that day. The sun had barely been up when Inuyasha had demanded that they leave for Mushin’s temple. He had wanted to go last night, but Kagome absolutely refused to travel when the sun had already been setting. From the speed he was traveling with now, Kagome assumed he was either trying to catch up on the lost time or trying to take revenge on her. Probably both. 

Every time she had asked, Inuyasha refused to slow down. If Kagome tried to sit down to take a break, he would grab her arm and drag her after him until she agreed to continue. Now she was tired, hungry and mad. And it was all Inuyasha’s fault. 

“Pick up the pace! I’m already going at a crawling speed because of you and I ain’t about to slow down any more,” came the shout from a half-demon that was nothing but a red silhouette in the distance. Thanks to his hearing, she didn’t have to raise her voice to be heard whereas Inuyasha had to yell out his replies, making it sound like he was mad... he probably was. 

“I’m just a human you know! I can’t run all day in order to keep up with you.” Kagome kicked a small rock in frustration. They had been traveling less than half a day and she was already done with this, never mind that the journey should take at least three more days. There was no chance that they were both coming out of this experience alive, one of them would end up murdered by the roadside during the next few days. Maybe even by the end of this day.

“Ain’t my fault that you’re just a lousy human, and I sure as fuck ain’t suffering the consequences of it. Now, pick. Up. The fucking. Pace!”

“No! And stop cursing at me!” Kagome stopped her walking and glared at the reason for her bad mood. 

She could see Inuyasha turning around and heading back towards her. Kagome rolled her eyes and sat down on a rock next to the dirt road. She set down her bow and quiver, before starting to dig through the sack in which she carried food as well as other things she might need for this trip.

She was just about to take a bite out of her peach when Inuyasha came to a stop in front of her and grabbed her wrist. “No you don’t. No breaks until I say so, and there won’t be one until the sun starts setting. And that’s only if I’m feeling generous.”

Kagome tried to tuck her wrist -and her food- free from his grip while giving him her best stink eye. “If I don’t eat and rest, I will pass out. And if that keeps happening, I won’t be in good enough shape to undo the spell.”

She could see his jaw tensing as he mulled her words, and then -at last- he relented. With an angry sigh, Inuyasha let go of her and drop down to sit on the ground, legs grossed and chin resting on his hand. Kagome could practically feel the annoyance radiating off of him. 

She might have been a little pleased about that.

“You better be quick about it, were wasting time whenever were not moving,” he grumbled. Kagome hummed as if in agreement, but in her mind she decided to take all the time she wanted just to spite him.

“What’s your hurry anyway? It’s not like the temple will disappear if were not there in the next few days.” She took a careful bite out of the fruit and made a little noise of delight when the juice hit her mouth. Gods, she was thirsty but she had run out of water by the fourth hour of this trip. She’d have to convince Inuyasha to find her a stream soon... or she could just die of dehydration, which honestly seemed like a more pleasant thing to do.

“This mess has already take far too long to clean up. I ain’t spending any more time on this than I have to,” he scoffed.

Kagome snorted and rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, do you have some urgent half-demon things to take care of? Not enough villagers getting scared without your presence? A rabbit you have to hurry home to kill? Maybe there are some trees in your territory that you haven’t pissed on yet?”

He whirled around to face her, looking a little murderous. “What the fuck do you think you know about my life?”

“Nothing,” She shrugged. “That’s why I asked.” She did her best to adopt an innocent look on her face.

“Listen here you bitch,” Inuyasha barked. “we’re going to get to that temple and you ain’t gonna open you mouth again until we get there. Got that?”

“Or what, you’ll kill me? I thought you said yesterday that you weren’t suicidal.”

“I swear to the fucking Gods, I’m going to break your goddamn legs and drag you to that temple. See if that shut you up.”

“So, your plan is to drop a half-dead, severely injured priestess to a temple inhabited by powerful monks?” She raised an eyebrow. “Yes, that does sound like a great idea. I’m sure they will welcome you with open arms.”

Inuyasha’s lips started to peel back, revealing a set of sharp canines accompanied by the sound of a bone-chilling growl. The show of aggression would have probably freaked her out if she hadn’t known he couldn’t risk harming her. Also, her own anger and frustration did wonders in pushing down her natural instincts of ‘don’t piss him off, he can kill you in a blink of an eye’.

When, instead of answering, he just kept snarling at her, Kagome rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I want to talk to you either. Just let me rest and eat when I need to and we don’t have a problem.” 

He didn’t ease up. 

Kagome took an angry bite out of her peach and shook her head while swallowing, beyond annoyed with his attitude. “You seriously think I want to be here? I just found out my sister died and instead of dealing with that, I’m traveling with a complete jerk. I’m not planning on spending any unnecessary time with you, but I’m not going to get myself killed from sheer exhaustion just to keep you happy. So quit your growling and calm down, your the one wasting time arguing about this.” She grabbed her empty waterskin and threw it at him. “If you wan’t to be productive with your time, find water and fill that while I finish eating.”

To her surprise, Inuyasha did take the waterskin without another word and got up to head for the forest. He was, of course, glaring at her and muttering some less-than-kind words as he went, but that didn’t surprise her. 

Dumb jerk, was what she was thinking about while watching him go.

Trying to calm her anger, Kagome ate her food and watched as the clouds rolled past in the sky. She was really starting to regret deciding to help Inuyasha. He had said that, according to Kikyo, Kagome was the only one who could break the spell. And yet, he treated her like dirt. She should have just told him to get comfortable with his new way of life and to leave her be.

She was in the process of stretching out her legs and dreading the amount of blisters she would have by the end of this day, when she felt the shift in the air. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and a cold feeling of dread pool at the pit of her stomach.

Something bad was closing in. And that something wasn’t alone, there was a whole horde of them. 

Kagome slung the quiver over her shoulder and picked up her bow, ready to shoot as she felt the horde of demons coming to a stop as they reached the edge of the forest. She felt the mass of demon energy splitting up, no doubt they were planning to surround her before attacking from all sides.

Kagome kept herself facing towards the direction where the demonic energy was the strongest. Her accuracy was good, but unless these demons were extraordinarily slow she didn’t stand a chance against so many coming from all around her. Not to mention the limited amount of arrows she had. 

Even though she was sure Inuyasha had sensed the demons by now, and -unless he wanted to die- was on his way to make sure she survived this, she was still a little nervous. Kagome had never seen him fight, she didn’t know how well he would handle this. Add in the fact that they weren’t exactly on friendly terms, he probably wouldn’t mind if she lost a limb or two during this, as long as she remained alive.

As soon as she saw the first glimpse of a demon, Kagome let loose an arrow. It sunk into it’s target, the sacred light purifying the demon and a few others that were close enough to be affected by it. She was quick to turn to the side where another demon was trying to catch her off guard. The arrow did it’s duty, but Kagome cursed the fact that no other demon was close enough to be purified by the light. By her estimation there was at least forty different demonic auras, and her quiver could only hold 24 arrows -currently 22, so the more demons she took out in one shot the better.

Quickly, she took aim again, this time towards a grouping of demons, hoping to take out them all at once. Her concentration was broken when a loud, pained screech startled her. A fast glance told her that Inuyasha had arrived and was ripping off a demon’s arm and using it to skewer another. Charming.

Kagome returned to her earlier targets and cursed out loud when she noticed that they’d scattered and were running for her from three different directions. She let loose two arrows in quick succession, but the third demon was too close by the time she yanked out a new arrow. She gripped the arrow in her fist, preparing to duck from the demon’s claws and trying to spot a soft place on the demon that she’d be strong enough to stab her weapon into.

Just as the demon reached her, it collapsed to the ground as the result of a half-demon dropping down on it’s back.

“What the fuck are you standing there for!?” Inuyasha yelled as he ripped off the offending demon’s head. 

Kagome chose to ignore him in order to step away from the blood splatter and shoot down another group of demons.

“Put the fucking bow down! I’m getting us out of here.” Kagome yelped as pair of arms came around her, ready to whisk her away.

“No!” she yelled and let her powers flare a little. Inuyasha cursed and jumped away from her, shaking out his hands that had touched the purifying light.

“Did you already get hit on the head in the five fucking seconds I was away?” he growled at her while turning around and using his claws to slash at a demon that had tried to sneak up on him. “Or did you forget that you’ll get me killed too with your stupidity.” As soon as he was done with his opponent, he whirled back towards Kagome, who had gone back to aiming her bow.

“I didn’t forget, but if we run they’ll just follow us. Or they might move on to the nearest village. We can’t let that happen.” Kagome avoided looking at him, keeping her focus on her targets.

“What the hell do I care about some human village.” He stomped over to her and wrapped his fingers around her arm. “Now, put a fucking leash on your powers and quit being stupid. I’m getting us out of here.”

Kagome tried to free herself from him but he wasn’t letting up. “No! If you don’t want to fight then leave, but I’m not going anywhere until these demons are dead.” The demons in question were getting close, screeching and trying to find the best angle to attack from. Kagome was a little surprised at how smart they were being. Usually, a low-level demons like these would attack without much of a strategy, but these ones were taking their time, waiting until her focus was somewhere else before trying to charge at her from behind. 

She had a bad feeling on exactly who was responsible for teaching these demons.

“I’d get all of three steps away before keeling over because you got yourself gutted.” He was forced to let go of her so he could attack another demon that had dared to come too close. Kagome wasted no time before aiming again, now that her arm was free.

“Then I guess you’ll have to stay and help.” The only response she got was a string of insults and curses, as Inuyasha did just that.

It took a while and a few close calls, but they managed to kill all the demons. Neither of them were celebrating though, since they were busy glaring at each other.

“What the hell was that, wench? You nearly fucking shot me!” Inuyasha yelled and stomped towards her.

“I told you to get out of the way!” she snapped back while trying to shake off the demon goo from her sleeve. “Besides, I nearly got squashed by that demon corpse you threw!”

“If you don’t see a massive, dead demon flying your way, maybe you have no business being on the battlefield.”

“I shouldn’t have to worry about getting hurt by the person whose fighting on the same side as me!”

The arguing continued for a while longer until they had exhausted all their insults and accusations. After a long moment filled with more glaring, Kagome finally had enough and marched off, declaring that she needed wash off the demon blood from her hair. 

Surprisingly, Inuyasha didn’t fight her on that. Probably because he too was covered in demon entrails. He even showed her the way towards the river he had found earlier. Kagome had started to think that maybe they could get along, but as he walked past her, he made a comment about how awful she smelled.

Unsurprisingly, they argued some more after that.

[marshmallow-phd]

Lies Untold

Part of The Untamed - EXO Wolf Universe

Genre: Supernatural, Wolf Au

Pairing: Luhan x Reader

Summary: For generations, your family has been the protectors of mankind. You were considered one of the best and due to that reputation, you were sent on what could be the most important mission for the organization. Going under cover in a college to sniff out a particularly large and threatening wolf pack seemed easy enough. But when you meet one of the members, everything you’ve known since birth will be overturned and your loyalty to your family and heritage will be tested.

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 I Final

**

Your head was pounding when consciousness found you again. At first, that was all you could concentrate on, the pain in your head. Then, slowly, you became aware of the pressure on your wrists that was digging into your skin. Before ever opening your eyes, you took in what you could already feel: your hands were tied behind your back with rope, securing you to the sturdy kitchen chair you were sitting in. Your feet were loose, but you doubted that could work to your advantage. Not with who your captures were.

“You might as well open your eyes,” a rough voice barked. “We already know you’re awake.” It was a different voice than the professor who’d caught you. This one had a bitterness under every word that warned you to tread carefully or you just might find yourself a pile of scraps. A chill ran down your spine, knowing you’d have to obey.

At a pace to rival a snail’s, you opened your eyes and lifted your head. You were completely surrounded by wolves and mates alike. Neither Luhan nor Innie were among them that you could see and for that you were thankful. Your makeshift prison was a detached garage with high ceilings and a work bench. By the dirt and track on the floor, there used to be several more cars stored in here before it became your cell.

“(y-y/n)?” Baekhyun pushed himself to the front of the crowd, his mouth hanging open.

The tallest wolf with the most threatening glare turned to him. “You know her?”

Baekhyun nodded shakily. “She’s Hae In’s cousin.”

“Oh my god,” Jongdae gasped to your left. “You’re right. I was barely paying attention the last few times I met her, but that’s her.”

The professor – Junmyeon – turned to the stunned wolf. “Did Hae In know?”

“No!” Baekhyun protested angrily. “She had no idea! If she did, she would have told me! She would never hide something like this from me!”

“It’s okay, Baekhyun, we believe you.” Junmyeon frowned pointedly at the tall wolf. “Right, Kris?”

The dynamic between the of this pack was confusing you. While your research had concluded that Junmyeon was the alpha, he seemed to be treating this other wolf – Kris – like another leader.

“Can we just get on with it?” Kris growled.

Junmyeon glanced between you and Baekhyun before sighing. “Baek, maybe you should wait outside. You said earlier that Hae In was on her way. It’d be best if she didn’t come in here.”

Sparing one last look your way, Baekhyun nodded before exiting the garage.

Kris stepped towards you, crouching down at your level in order to look you right in the eye. “Alright, hunter. Tell us the truth and we might not kill you.”

“Kris,” Junmyeon hissed, but he went ignored.

“Why do you want the book?”

“To destroy it,” you answered honestly.

“Why would you want to destroy it?” Chanyeol asked, speaking up for the first time. His words weren’t harsh or angry, simply confused.

You swallowed, knowing full well they probably weren’t going to believe you. “To keep it out of hands it shouldn’t be in.”

“I think we’ve been doing that just fine for a few generations,” Junmyeon snapped.

“But you can’t keep it safe forever.” You really shouldn’t be arguing with a room full of highly charged werewolves, but… well lately you hadn’t exactly been the most intelligent. Falling for a trap and never once thinking it might not be safe was not your usual move. You’d become too self-focused to keep up with your training, to remember that nothing was as it seemed and it always picture every outcome before taking one step.

Kris snarled. “And why should we believe you? You’re the one who shot Minseok, aren’t you?”

For a moment, you just held your breath. Admitting that out loud just might be the button that set off the already tense atmosphere. But your silence could set him off as well. “Yes, but I on-”

“Are you seriously going to try and justify that?” Jongdae yelled. He’d lept forward only to be stopped by his mate.

“Jongdae, don’t-”

“Jiyoung, go outside,” he ordered her.

“No.”

“Stop it, both of you,” Junmyeon ordered. With a furrowed brow, he nodded at you. “Go on. Why did you do it?”

“I didn’t want to hurt him.” You tried to emphasis that little fact that was probably inconsequential to them. “I just needed you to bring the book out of the museum. I couldn’t get into that room it was being held in. But also-” You stopped, the words of betrayal catching in your throat.

“But also what?”

You sighed. They needed to know anyway. “But also my father had ordered me to do it. If I hadn’t, he would have sent another unit out here. A unit that didn’t care about the book. They would have just killed you. All of you.”

Letting that news sink in, Junmyeon pinched the bridge of his nose. The stress of the situation was written all over his face, integrated into his body language. The lives of his pack were his responsibility and there you were, threatening their peaceful existence. “How did you even know the book existed?”

You shrugged. “There had been rumors for decades.”

“But how did you know it was here?”

“I think that’s my fault.”

All heads turned to one of the youngest mates in the room. You’d hoped to avoid getting her in trouble. It wasn’t her fault at all. You were the one who put the bait out there. All she did was try to make a friend and help you out with your “paper”.

“Kita, what are you talking about?” Junmyeon’s words were catching in his throat.

“I think I brought her here,” the girl admitted.

With soft hands, Junmyeon took hold of Kita’s shoulders. “Sweetheart, what do you mean? Explain.”

“I just wanted to help,” she sniffed, tears clearly forming in her eyes. “You were so worried about the witch’s visions. I was just researching, trying to figure out what might be coming. If anyone had heard legends or stories of something that could hurt you. And then… I met someone in a chatroom.”

“So you just told them everything!” Kris shouted, teeth bared in anger.

“No!” Kita sobbed. “I just talked about the museum having… unique artifacts… and records….”

“It was easy to put two and two together after that,” you whispered for her.

Kita broke down completely, hiding her face in Junmyeon’s chest as he held her protectively. Jiyoung – the mate from before – approached carefully.

“I’ll take her, Junmyeon.”

The wolf nodded reluctantly before handing his mate over. The other two females left as well and then you were left alone with the pack.

**

Eight. That’s how many times Luhan called just for your phone to go to voicemail. He’d managed to sneak away from the gym and hide out in an ice cream shop a few blocks away to wait for your scheduled date this evening. But when you never called or gave the all clear for him to come over, he got worried. And then you never answered his calls, all his texts went unread. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

Finally, he did get a call. But not from you.

“Luhan, where are you?” Yixing asked as soon as he answered the phone.

“I’m still in town,” he replied. “I, uh, had a few errands to run. Is everything okay?”

Yixing sighed, exasperated. Something had happened. The med student was never like this. “You need to come back home.”

“What happened?” Luhan’s mouth went dry, terrified of the answer his brain was already coming up with.

“Junmyeon caught the hunter. They’re holding her in the garage right now. She’s not awake yet, but-”

Luhan didn’t wait to hear the rest.

Hanging up, he ran towards his car, thankful he’d driven separately from the others. He sped like mad through the forest, the engine of his car whining from the pressure Luhan was putting it under. Managing to make it back to the farmhouse in less than half the usual time, he jumped out of the car just as all the mates were headed into the house, save Hae In, who’d just arrived as well. Baekhyun was standing outside the garage and ran up to her as soon as her feet hit the dirt.

“Baekhyun!” Hae In ran to her mate, throwing her arms around his neck. “What’s going?” she asked as soon as she pulled back. “Kimberly wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone except that the hunter’s been caught.”

“They did catch the hunter,” Baekhyun confirmed, sending Luhan’s heart to his throat. “Why don’t you go inside the house and we’ll talk later.” The poor guy shot Luhan a desperate look. He knew exactly who was being held by the pack.

“What?” Hae In scoffed. “No. I want to see this monster who thinks its okay to just shoot someone.” Pushing herself out of Baekhyun’s arms, she tried to go around him to head inside the garage.

Baekhyun barely managed to catch her in time. “That’s not a good idea, Hae In. Kris is barely keeping it together as it is.”

“I’m not going to get in the way,” she argued. “Now let me go.”

“It’s your cousin, Hae In.”

As if Baekhyun had suddenly started speaking a different language, Hae In stared at him, opening mouthed and knitted eyebrows. For a second she didn’t speak, comprehending what Baekhyun had just told her.  

“(y/n)?” she laughed humorlessly. “No way.” Shaking her head ferociously, she yanked her arm free. “No way in hell it was her! She would never do that!” Not waiting on Baekhyun’s response, she shoved the door open with Luhan following after her.

All heads turned to see who had entered the garage when the door had slammed up against the wall, including yours. Luhan nearly roared at the sight of you tied to a chair. He took a step in your direction, but you gave him the slightest shake of your head, telling him no. So you hadn’t told them even though it might have helped you. But why did you want to keep hiding it now? Did you think it would keep him safe? They wouldn’t hurt him.

Hae In gasped at the truth in front of her. “(y/n)!”

“Hae In, get out!” Kris ordered.

“Screw you, Kris!” Hae In shouted back. She tried to run to you, but Baekhyun came up behind her and trapped her in his arms. “Let her go! She didn’t do this.”

“Innie.”

At the sound of your soft voice, she stopped fighting against Baekhyun’s hold. “(y/n)?”

“Just go, okay,” you begged her softly. “I’ll be fine.”

“It’s not true,” Hae In sniffed. She was crumbling right before their eyes, the mate that was always sarcastic and rolling her eyes was falling apart. “Just tell me it’s not true.”

You shook your head. “I can’t tell you that.”

All the fight left Hae In in an instant and Baekhyun was able to carry her out of there without any more difficulty.

“Do you see what you do to people?” Kris growled, turning back to you.

“I had no more of a choice than you did,” you spat back. “I grew up in this. I didn’t know anything else.”

Jongin scoffed. “Some excuse.”

Luhan wasn’t going to be able last much longer if the hostility kept up. Whether you wanted him to stay back or not, he had to speak up. They couldn’t hurt you if they knew the truth.

“Maybe we should listen to her. Give her a chance to explain,” Junmyeon suggested. He was becoming Luahn’s only hope right now, given the death glares everyone else was sending your way.

“Listen? To the hunter?” Kris was beginning to shake all over. Not good. Not good at all.

“She has a point-”

“No, she doesn’t!” Kris’ eyes flashed red, making everyone shrink back. The alpha was coming to the surface. “A hunter is a hunter. They shouldn’t get any mercy. Did they show Chanyeol’s parents mercy when they hunted them down? Or how about when they faked a car crash after killing my own?”

All the blood drained from your face, making you paler than the white paint of the car behind you. “C-car crash?” you gasped.

Kris turned on you. “Yes! Hunters like you killed my parents and then made it look like an accident!”

Your demeanor of bravery was cracking; Luhan could tell by the way you were grinding your teeth. “Was this almost ten years ago?”

Kris narrowed his eyes at you. “Yes… it was.”

Releasing a sigh, you hung your head.

“Do you know about that?” Yixing asked in his usual, quiet voice. At least someone was keeping their head.

You whispered so softly they all had to strain to hear you. “That was my parents.”

Kris lost it.

Before anyone could calm him down or get him out of the garage, Kris shifted, scraps of clothing flying through the air in all directions. Then he lunged for you.

Luhan didn’t even have to think. He hadn’t fully processed what was happening when he was suddenly on all fours, protecting you by pitting himself between you and the large red-brown wolf that had once been Kris. The rage had taken the alpha completely and he attacked the object standing in his way. Kris locked his jaw around Luhan’s neck and threw him to the side.

“No!”

Shaking off the hard landing, Luhan jumped back up and lunged at Kris. The alpha was nearly twice his size, but Luhan had to stop him. This time, Luhan got a hold on Kris’ shoulder with his teeth, flipping him over so they were both on their backs. Two more wolves joined in on the fight, trying to keep Kris at bay as he struggled back up to his feet. The alpha kept snapping at the three of them, but at least he didn’t attack any further, showing some sign of remember his pack members.

“Stop! Please!” you sobbed. Luhan jerked his head to look at you. Tears were streaming down your face. Immediately, he was by your side, licking the tears away and wrapping his body around the chair as best he could to ward off anyone else who dared to try and harm you.

“Luhan?” Sehun was standing in front of you two, naked. Apparently, he’d been one of the wolves that helped break up the fight. “What are you doing?”

Junmyeon took a step forward, throwing his hands up as soon as Luhan growled at him. His instincts keeps you safe were still running at high volume. He had no conscious control whatsoever over who he deemed a friend or foe.

“Well,” Jongdae scratched the back of his head as he let out a nervous laugh, “this complicates things a bit.”

“I’ll say,” Junmyeon grumbled. To Luhan, he asked, “Can you calm down enough to shift back? So we can talk about this?”

At first, Luhan didn’t want to. But when he looked up at you, your nod and reassuring smile made him change his mind.

When he was human again, he still stayed glued to your side. “She’s my mate,” he declared.

“I think that’s obvious,” Kyungsoo deadpanned. Luhan shot him a look, but didn’t reply.

Kris, now human again as well, glared. “How long have you known?”

“Since she first came here,” Luhan admitted.

“Did you know she was a hunter?”

He nodded.

Junmyeon swore. “Luhan, why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Because of this right here!” Luhan gestured to the crowd gathered around you. “You’re all so out for blood, you wouldn’t stop to think that she might not be like the rest of them!”

“We wouldn’t have done anything drastic.” Luhan actually felt a little guilty having been the cause of the stress weighing Junmyeon down right now. He was torn between the laws of the wolves: to protect a mate or protect the pack. “We would have figured this out.”

But still. Luhan couldn’t help the anger inside he had towards his members. “Tell that to the looks she’s getting right now. She’s not like the others, Junmyeon. She’s been trying to keep the other hunters away. She’s known that I’m a wolf and she knows that she’s my mate and she accepts me anyway.” He reached down and caressed your cheek with his thumb, you naturally leaning into his touch.

“I’m sorry, Luhan,” Junmyeon sighed. “I understand where you’re coming from, but she still admitted to being the one who shot Minseok. We can’t just let her go on your word. However,” he glanced at Kris before continuing, “we won’t harm her. She’ll stay out here, with you watching over her. At least until we can figure out where to go from here. Can you live with that?”

Luhan looked down at you. He hated the idea of you having to stay tied up like this. You weren’t going to hurt anyone, but there wasn’t much Luhan could do. And Junmyeon was giving him the option to watch over you, which he would have done anyway, instead someone else who might not be able to control their anger.

“I’ll be fine,” you insisted.

Still not liking it, Luhan gave in anyway. “Okay.”

Junmyeon nodded. “I’ll be back with some new clothes for you. Everyone else in the house. No one is allowed near the garage without my express permission.”

A few of his brothers grumbled under their breaths, but at least they all shuffled out of there without further protest or fighting. As soon as you were alone, Luhan took your face in his hands, inspecting nearly every inch of you.

“I’m fine,” you told him, your normal level of defiance back in full swing. But you weren’t completely without marks. Long, finger-like bruises decorated your neck.

With a shaky hand, Luhan pressed against the purple marks, making you flinch. “Who did this?”

“Well, technically, I did break into his office.” Your roundabout way of giving him the answer almost made him laugh, but this was no joking occasion.

Pushing himself up, Luhan said, “I’ll go get you some ice for that.”

“Don’t bother. It won’t do any good at this point.” You grunted a few times, wiggling your shoulders back and forth before bringing your now untied hands to your lap. The rope was tossed to the side and you rubbed your wrists that were bright red from the homemade handcuffs.

Luhan dropped his jaw in amazement. “Were you able to do that the whole time?”

You smirked. “Of course. I didn’t just learn how to shoot a bow. Self-preservation and escape are typically on the curriculum for hunters-in-training.”

Now finally calm ever since he learned that you were here, Luhan dropped to his knees and pulled you into his chest. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if something would have happened to you.”

“I’ll always be okay,” you promised. It was an impossible promise to make, but you still said it, so he was going to hold you to that.

**

After Luhan was satisfied that you really were fine and mostly unscathed, Junmyeon came back with the clothes he promised. The alpha didn’t bat an eye at the fact you were no longer tied up, simply shaking his head before leaving you two alone again. It was another few hours before one of the mates – Jiyoung, you were sure – brought you each a tray holding a bowl of soup and some buttered bread. You didn’t eat much of your own, only taking bites at Luhan’s insistence.

Soon, both of you became drowsy and ready for sleep. Your body was exhausted, pleading for a little rest. Luhan found some slightly dusty blankets hidden in a storage bin and laid them out on floor in a makeshift bed. Once you were comfortable, he took the spot beside you and pulled you in close. It didn’t take long for both of you to drift off.

Your sleep didn’t last very long before you were roughly shaken awake. With a gasp you sat up, ready to attack as a fist went flying out.

“I guess now I know why you were always so defensive when I woke you up.”

Rubbing your eyes, you blinked away the tiredness until your eyes concentrated on Innie kneeling down in front of you. Behind her was Kita and Jiyoung, who kept glancing at the door nervously.

“What’s going on?” you asked cautiously.

“We’re getting you out of here, duh.” Innie grabbed you by your arm pulled you up to your feet. A small growl rumbled in Luhan’s chest as his arm that had been draped over your hips fell to the floor, but besides that he didn’t move.

You frowned. “That’s weird.” You were sure he would have woken up from that, especially with him being on such high alert.

“Actually, we kind of drugged everyone,” Kita confessed. At your shock expression, she explained, “We crushed up sleeping pills and put them in the soup. Except for yours and ours.”

That was… impressive. “And they think I’m diabolical.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Innie groaned. “Come on. You can take my car. Kris is still pissed and, honestly, so are a lot of the guys. Besides, I think there’s something else you need to do.” She gave you a very pointed look that you knew all too well. That was the thing you loved most about your cousin. The two of you could read each other’s minds and she was quick to put things together. Yes, you probably needed to give the wolves some room to calm down about you being Luhan’s mate before one of them accidentally killed you, but there was something else that needed your attention even more: your family.

Giving Luhan a quick kiss on the cheek, you whispered a goodbye to him before tearing yourself away and following the others out.

“So, what’s your plan?” Innie asked as she handed over the keys.

“Get back to the compound, convince them that the book never existed and then destroy all the files on this place.” Much easier said than done. “They don’t know anything about you guys save for that there’s a pack here. If I can erase those files, they might not remember the exact location or name of this place.” As farfetched as it sounded, it’d actually happened once before, on accident. The techs couldn’t retrieve the information and they weren’t ever able to remember the name of the town they thought might be hiding wolves. Sometimes, the organization relied a little too heavily on technology. “Or, if I can’t do that, I’ll just change the crucial information.”

“Okay, then,” she nodded. “You’d better get going before everyone wakes up. I’ll deal with the fallout.”

You laughed at her brash way of thinking. “You’re insane, you know that?”

Innie raised an eyebrow at you. “Runs in the family.”

Not knowing when you would see her again, you pulled your cousin into a bone crushing hug. She returned the embrace with equal force. As much as you didn’t want to, you let go. Opening the car door, you looked to the others who’d aided in your escape. “Thank you.”

They nodded back in reply.

You didn’t want to leave. Even on the floor of that garage, you felt at home. Because you were with Luhan. Given a little time, you knew that the others… well, maybe not have warmed up to you, but would have eventually tolerated your presence. Leaving the life of a hunter behind would have been easy for you. Even though you were behind the wheel and the engine was running, you couldn’t bring yourself to close the door.

“It’s okay to go for now,” Innie whispered as she bent down. “He’ll understand.”

You swallowed back the tears that were threatening to surface. “Will he, though? What if I don’t come back?”  Would there be a way to return without alerting your family and bringing the hunters down on the pack? You didn’t know if it was possible.

“But you have to. What about Luhan?”

“That might be exactly why I can’t. If that means protecting him and the rest of you, I might not be able to come back. I can’t risk leading them here. Besides-” You stopped, unable to let yourself travel down that road.

It took Innie a second to realize where else your thoughts were going. “What will they do to you?”

You shrugged. “Probably just lock me up. Or shun me. One of the two.”

It was lie. Complete and utter bullshit. But you let Innie believe that, finally closing the door and driving away from the isolated house.

Being locked up would be the merciful thing for them to do to you. Because you weren’t just asking to walk away from the organization because you simply decided that this life wasn’t for you.

No. No, in their eyes, you’ve committed treason. The ultimate betrayal against mankind by associating with the enemy. It didn’t matter that you were a wolf’s mate. Because of who you were – because you were one of them, the hunters – you doubt you’d be shown the same kindness.

It didn’t matter, you told yourself over and over again. You just needed enough time to keep the pack safe, then… then they could with you what they wanted.

[bazypitchandsimonsnow]

Always Chasing After You

Rating: T

Genre: Angst/Fluff

Word Count: 5655

Summary: Baz is out for a walk, when the most ridiculous and beautiful boy in the universe runs into him. And the Chosen One has gotten himself into trouble. Again. Based on "there’s people chasing us and I pulled you into the alley with me and wow you’re close" and "I’m dying and I’m confessing my love for you" requests

Read on AO3

AN: Again, I can't express my apologies enough for taking so long with these requests. Stupid work and health, ugh. Idk if you guys are annoyed, but I'm def annoyed with myself. I hate being too tired to do things. But I got this done so yay! Hope you guys like it :)

———————————————

Baz

Why the fuck am I out here? It’s the day before Christmas Eve and bloody freezing, yet I’m wandering the streets like some moping emo. That’s probably what I am honestly. A depressed, lonely, lovesick emo, trying to freeze away my stupid feelings.

I shove my hands in my jacket pockets, warming up slightly. And my stupid lovesick brain imagines that warm, callused fingers are there heating my skin. I rip my hand out, keeping it in the cold, making the thoughts disappear by sheer stubbornness. No, stop it, subconscious. It’s not possible. Just because Snow and Wellbelove broke up last week doesn’t mean there’s a chance for me. There will never be a chance.

My head drops. I stare at the snow dusted ground, trying not to think of him. As if that’s even possible.

“Fuck fuck fuck!”

That’s the last thing I hear before a bloody fucking battering ram hits me. I yelp as I fall over onto the pavement, barely stopping my head from smashing open with my arm. Something or someone is pressing my back down. I whip my head back, ready to scream my head off, but then I’m met with panicked plain blue eyes.

“Snow?” I say.

“Baz?!” he replies, panting for breath. “What are you doing here?!”

“I could ask you the same thing.” I look to my left, and my eyes widen. “Why is your bloody sword out?”

“Uh, well, actually.” A rumble thrums through the pavement, like distant thunder. It gets closer and closer. Simon scrambles off me (unfortunately) and holds his sword tighter.

“You’re gonna want to run,” he says. “Like, now.”

I lift my head up just in time to see scaly feet pounding on the ground. “What the fuck?”

“Now!” Snow grabs my arm and hauls me to my feet. I scramble to follow him, the thundering sound chasing after us.

We bob and weave and duck through the streets. There’s only a couple of people, and they run away pretty quickly when they see whatever is behind us. I try to take note of Snow’s appearance. He’s in jeans and a hoodie, both tattered and bloodied. He’s not even wearing winter boots, just ratty old trainers. Bloody hell, he’s going to catch his death of cold. If we’re not killed by whatever’s chasing us first.

I catch up to Snow (thank magic for football). “What the ever loving fuck is going on, Snow?”

Snow dashes around the corner, and starts speaking between panting breaths. “Uh, long story short, accidentally wandered into a goblin nest while looking for a late night snack at a twenty four hour store.”

“Are you serious?!”

“Yeah.”

I follow Snow down a side street, and the thumping follows. “You are an utter fucking disaster, Snow!”

“Um, duh!” He grabs and swings around a pole to make a tight turn. I just use my feet like a normal person. “Why are you out here late at night? Isn’t your house in Hampshire?”

“I was at my aunts and I needed to clear my head.” Because I can only think about you, Snow. And it’s driving me to the brink of insanity.

Simon barks out a laugh. It’s wonderful noise. “What are the odds, huh? Just running into you.”

I let out my own tiny chuckle. “Yeah, true enough.”

We run down the streets at breakneck pace. Luckily, London provide lots of tight corners and winding paths. Snow looks over his shoulder a couple times, making his eyes widen in fear. That worries me. Snow has fought a chimera and a dragon. It takes a lot to get to him rattled, and he definitely looks a bit shaken up right now.

Snow dashes down a road, and I follow. But I quickly slam into his back with a formidable thwack, falling on my arse. “Ow!” I shout. “What the fuck, Snow!?”

“They looped around,” he pants out. “They fucking looped around.”

I scramble to my feet. I’m faced with oncoming horde of goblins, all pop star pretty with sharp teeth and claws. “Fuck.” I look over my shoulder. Another group is fast approaching. “Going back isn’t an option.”

Snow looks back too and frowns. “Fuck, you’re right.” Their thundering steps get louder and louder. “You got your wand?”

I pull it out of my inside pocket. “Always.

“Good.” He spins on his heels, sword raised high. “I think we’re going to have to fight our way out.”

“It’s the chimera all over again,” I grumble.

“Don’t get pissy about the chimera, that one was your own fault.” He moves into his fighting pose, every inch the mighty hero. Stupid Snow. Why must he always be so impressive?

I stick my wand out, fire already building at the tip. “Well, this one is your fault, so now we’re even.”

He growls deeply. The sound hits me harder than it should. “Just shut up and fight, Baz.”

“Gladly.”

The goblins close in. And all hell breaks loose.

It’s an absolute tornado of claws and blood and fire. Snow hacks and slashes like a madman. He’s a bloody force of nature with that sword. Nothing can get past him, no one can touch him. I unleash volleys of flames. The goblins roar and reel away, clutching their burnt arms. They jump at me with their supernatural speed, but luckily I’m a creature of darkness too. I block their attacks and kick them off with ease.

As I whip my wand around, sending a fiery lash into the final goblins’ face, I hear Snow shout loudly behind me. My dead heart kicks into overdrive. I spin around instantly. I couldn’t stand it if he got hurt, or worse. No no, that can’t happen.

Snow is being pushed back, feet digging into the ground, sword locked with a goblin’s claw. His drooling maw is far too close to Simon’s face for my comfort. His long teeth graze his face, drawing a drop of blood. My vision goes red. I charge forward and bash my shoulder into the beast’s broad chest, making him fly backwards into some of his fellow brethren. They fall like furious bowling pins, motionless on the ground.

After all the chaos, there’s a moment of silence. The calm after the storm, I suppose. Snow and I stare at each other, both our chests rising high in desperate gasps for air. There’s goblin blood all over his body, but he’s alive. That’s all that matters.

Snow’s gaze is wide, but I can’t tell what emotion lays behind it. Shock, fear, amazement, I have no clue.

“Baz...I...” he starts, words stalling out like a bad car motor. I open my mouth to reply, just as the worst pain I’ve ever felt scorches down my back.

I scream in agony, probably loud enough to wake some Normals. I stumble forward until a pair of strong arms wrap around me. Snow drags me over the waking goblins before they stand up. The pain is throbbing, burning, aching. I’ve heard rumours that goblin claws cause particularly terrible wounds. Unfortunately, they’re true. I push through it to get to my feet, running next to Snow away from these damn creatures.

We run like before through the serpentine pathways. The goblins are slower because of their injuries. They’re more than a few paces behind us. And it can definitely work to our advantage.

Snow and I turn a sharp corner. My eyes catch a narrow, almost invisible crack in a wall. I grip Simon’s arm tight and haul him towards it with all my remaining strength.

“Hey-” I cover his mouth before he can attract more attention with his shouting. He looks at my hand in surprise, but doesn’t push me off. I listen as the hoard approaches like an oncoming storm, then rush right past us. I wait until their heavy steps are completely gone before I (reluctantly) lower my hand from Snow’s mouth.

“They’re gone,” I sigh.

“Thank God,” Snow says.

We both take deep, calming breaths, though our chests are restricted in the tight space. I subtly flick my eyes downward. Blood hell. There’s barely an inch between Snow and I. Just a sliver of air separating my cold corpse from his warm being. He’s still disgusting, covered in goblin blood and dirt, but he’s still the most gorgeous thing in the cosmos. I force my eyes upwards, only to be met with Snow’s own.

Strangely, they’re not scared, or even shocked. I can’t tell what he’s thinking. All I can focus on is that he’s staring at me, that his pink lips are parted slightly, that I can feel his breath on my skin. He’s so close. One step, and we would be pressed together from head to toe. I could kiss him. Right here, right now. He doesn’t want me though, he never has. Yet...he’s looking at me like that. With wide, curious, pretty eyes. Could it be possible? Could he really?

“Simon,” I whisper. And in that moment of weakness, I reach forward, just about to touch his tawny cheek. Miraculously, he doesn’t pull away.

But that’s when the horrible pain shoots through my entire body again.

I gasp and hiss, suppressing the terrible scream I want to let out. My legs completely give out underneath me. Every bone in my body turns to jelly. As I’m falling, for the second time tonight, I feel arms wrap around me. Snow stops me from smashing my skull on the pavement. He gently lowers me down, my head pillowed on his thigh. I wish I was well enough to appreciate this.

“Holy fuck, Baz,” he says. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t know,” I reply, voice strained. I feel like I’m thinking through a fog. ”My back, it really hurts.”

Snow reaches around me, and I faintly feel his hand press against my back. When he pulls back, his palm and fingers are practically dripping in blood.

“Well,” I chuckle weakly, “that’s not good.”

“T-That’s a lot of blood...”

“No shit, Snow.”

He looks down at me with his wide eyes. “Why didn’t you say it was this bad?!”

“Well, we were a bit busy running for our lives.”

“Still!”

“Don’t worry, I’m-” I cough violently into my hand. When I pull it away, there’s tiny drops of scarlet on my pale skin. “Fine.”

“Oh my god, you’re dying.”

“Am not,” I grumble defiantly. Though, for once, Snow might have a point.

“Yes you are!” He runs a hand through his tangled curls. “Fuck, I don’t know any powerful healing spells. I don’t even have my wand!”

The reality of the situation finally hits me. Vampire healing can only work so fast. I suppose the wounds are too wide for it . Snow doesn’t have his wand, and it’s not like he can cast a proper spell anyway. I’m too weak to try to cast anything.

I’m going to bleed to death in an alley while Simon Snow holds me in his arms. It’s not exactly how I imagined I would go, but close enough.

The most surprising part though is how worried Snow looks. I’ve never seen him panicked like this. And all it’s over little old me. Interesting. Horrible, but interesting.

“Fuck, maybe we can get you to a hospital,” he mutters, more to himself than me.

“Snow,” I say, but he doesn’t listen.

“Maybe we can do to Dr. Wellbelove, he could help.”

“Snow.”

“Or maybe the Mage-”

“Simon.” That finally gets his attention and our eyes meet again. His are quivering, matching his shaky breaths. I reach up and touch his cheek. It’s soft, just like I always thought. “It’s okay.”

His brows pull together in indignation. “No, it’s not. You only got hurt because of me, a-and now you’re dying and I don’t know what to do!”

My weak hand trails from his cheek, down his arm, and finally lands on top of his fingers. “Stay,” I say hoarsely. “Just stay.”

Snow’s face tenses up again, and I swear I can see a few tears on his pretty face. It breaks my heart into pieces. He squeezes my hand. “Okay.”

I smile softly. My mind and body are fading, I can feel it. All my thoughts are getting muddled, inhibitions lowering, bravery rising in my final moments. I may finally be brave enough to say the one thing I’ve always wanted to.

“Hey, Snow,” I whisper.

“Yeah, Baz?” he replies.

“I never hated you.” His eyes bug out of his pretty skull. “You’re too incredible to hate.”

His lips fall open again. I want to kiss them. “What?”

“You’re amazing, the best person I’ve ever known.” My limbs are growing weaker. Snow’s face is becoming a blurry abstract blob of blue and bronze and gold. “I love you, Simon.”

The last thing I see is Snow’s beautiful face fall into utter shock, blue eyes sparkling and pink lips open wide. That’s a good thing to die looking at. I lose the ability to move at all. Everything is fading away. I wonder if my mother will greet me in the afterlife. I wonder if I even have a soul to go there.

And that’s my final thought before the world goes black.

———————————————

Hurts. Everything hurts.

My whole body aches worse than it has in years. Is this what Hell feels like? Just painful darkness for all eternity, uncertain of where you even are? It’s a far cry from fire and brimstone, but somehow so much worse.

Slowly, my other senses come back to me, something other than searing pain. I feel softness beneath me and over me. I hear clamoring voices and footsteps. And is that...bacon? Does hell smell like bacon?

It takes me awhile, but I realise I can open my eyes. Everything is too bright and blurry. I blink as my vision readjusts. Okay, I don’t think this is hell. Instead, it’s a small white room with old pine furniture. A closet, a desk, a shelf filled to the brim with books. I recognise the knapsack on the floor, dark blue with a feminist patch sewn on in blatant defiance of Watford’s uniform code. My eyes scan further up, and immediately grow wider.

Snow is curled up in a ratty arm chair, still dressed in his goblin blood covered jeans, hair tangled with the goop. His sleeping face is awkwardly squished against the side, a little drool falling from the corner of his mouth. But strangest of all, sprouting from Snow’s back are a pair of massive scaly red dragon wings that curl around him like a cocoon. A matching devil’s tale drapes over the seat and onto the floor. And I thought Snow couldn’t get anymore fascinatingly strange.

“Good morning, Basil.” I jolt up, causing pain to lance through my body. I hiss as I turn my head, though I already know who it is.

“Hello, Bunce,” I reply. “Where am I?”

“My house, in my room specifically.” She walks forward, looming over me in a strangely menacing way. “You’re welcome for the bed, by the way.”

I look down at the little twin bed I’m in. The sheets are moderately nice, and there’s a Star Wars blanket on top of me. “Um, thank you.” I run my hand over the fleece. It feels real enough. I look up at Bunce. “Am I dead?”

“Nope. Not for lack of trying though.” She points down, and I follow her finger. Well, this is something. My entire torso is wrapped in tight bandages, all the way from my shoulders to my waist.

“Oh my...”

“Yeah. You can thank my mum for that. She’s got five kids, she’s used to patching up scrapes. Though this was more than a scrape.”

“That’s an understatement. Damn goblins.”

“Simon told me all about it.”

My eyes flick over to Snow, curled up in his little wing cocoon. “What happened? How did I get here?”

She sighs and puts a hand on her hip. “Simon showed up here in the middle of the night carrying you and looking like...that. You were barely alive. He begged me to heal you. So we brought you upstairs and I casted every healing spell I know while Simon told me what happened, about the goblins and you saving his life. Then my mum bandaged you up. You survived, obviously, but I warned Simon that you may not wake up, considering how much blood you lost.” She glances over at the sleeping dragon boy. “He hasn’t left that chair, wouldn’t move no matter how much I asked him. For once, you might have a better idea of what’s going on with Simon than I do, Basil.”

If I had enough blood to blush, I would. Simon stayed with me. Was it out of guilt? Or something else? “I’m not sure, actually.”

“Alright.” She sounds a bit annoyed, but accepts it. “Do you need anything to eat? Or...anything to drink?”

I gulp and stare to the side. “Are you really buying into Snow’s crazy theories now, Bunce?”

“Not really. But you’re injured, so if he’s right, I think I’d rather ask than have you die.”

“Will you turn me into the Coven?”

Her eyes flick over to Simon, and her face softens, arms falling down. “I know I’m supposed to, but you saved my best friend’s life. I think it would be a dick move to turn you in after doing that.”

“You promise you won’t?”

“Yeah,” she sighs. “I promise.”

I see no sign of deception, no sign of malice. She looks genuinely kind. If I were stronger, I would probably keep refusing. But right now I feel like I’ve been run over by ten very heavy lorries. I don’t think I could survive without blood right now. So I lean further back against the wall.

“Animal blood works,” I say quietly. ”Despite Snow’s assumptions, I don’t kill humans. And if you have any real food it would be appreciated. I need that too.”

Bunce nods. “We made some blood pudding yesterday. I’ll get the leftover pig’s blood from the fridge. And I’ll make some soup too.”

I nod slowly. “Thank you, Penelope.”

She lightly pats my shoulder, trying to not aggravate my wounds. “Welcome.”

She turns on her heels and walks out. I take deep calming breaths, both for my wounds and for my panic. I just admitted I was a vampire. Penelope Bunce knows I’m a dark creature. But she hasn’t killed me. She’s grateful, because I saved Simon. And then I said I loved him. Bloody hell, what have I done?

“Baz?” I slowly turn my head to the side. Snow is rubbing his eye like a toddler just waking up from a nap. It’s absolutely adorable.

“Good morning, Snow,” I say with a raspy voice.

He stretches out, feet touching the ground and wings spreading out. He looks bloody majestic, like a storybook creature. “You’re awake.”

I laugh softly even though it hurts. “Yes, I am, last I checked.”

Snow stands up with shaky legs. His wings flare out and I’m even more glad that I can’t blush. “I...I thought you were dead.”

“Apparently I nearly was.”

“Yeah...” He walks towards while fiddling with his dirty fingers. “I really thought you were. Dead that is, in the alley after you passed out. There was so much blood...”

My heart aches at his small voice and nervous fiddling. He looks so scared. And it’s because of me. It hurts, yet a dark part of me wants him to care that I nearly died. “Yes, that goblin wasn’t playing around I suppose.”

My joke lands with with not even a fizzle. Snow’s face stays tense and nervous. He very slowly walks closer, like he’s afraid. I’m not sure of what though. “You were bleeding out, and I couldn’t think of anything to do. I was so sure you were going to die. I-I’ve never felt more scared and helpless in my life. And then...” He lifts his head. And his wide, wet, vulnerable eyes finally meet mine. “Baz, do you remember what you said to me? Just before you passed out?”

I gulp down the massive lump in my throat. Of course I remember. It was the stupidest decision I ever made, and I only did it because I assumed I was dying. Now I’m here, alive in a world where Simon Snow knows how much I adore him. So what do I do now? Do I run away? Or do I face the damage I’ve caused? I stare at Snow’s open face. There’s none of his usual anger. Snow has always worn his heart on his sleeve, he can’t hide anything he’s feeling. He’s obviously nervous, pulled in physically and emotionally, but he doesn’t look scared or angered. I think for once he doesn’t hate me. And I think for once I don’t need to be afraid.

“Yes,” I force out. “Yes, I remember, Snow.”

He lets out a quiet shaky, breath. A lot of tension leaves his shoulders. I think he assumed I would run away. I can’t blame him, I nearly did. Snow steps closer, standing at the edge of the bed. “Okay, okay. Did you, uh, mean it?”

My mouth pulls into a frown. Yes, Snow, I wanted to mess with you the minutes before I assumed I would die. Part of me wants to be angry, but I have never been truthful with him before. I can be now though. I nod slowly. “Yes, I did, Snow.”

“Oh.” His voice squeaks in this utterly adorable way. He rubs the back of his neck nervously. “Um, how long have you uh, felt like that?”

I chew my lip for a moment. No Basil, you’ve already gotten this far, don’t be a coward now. “A long time. Almost since we met.”

His eyes widen. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Y-You’ve never said anything...”

I sigh, putting a hand on my stomach. “I never could, Snow. We’re meant to be enemies.”

“Oh, yeah...” He looks at the end of the bed and lazily lifts his arm. “Can I, uh, can I sit here?”

“Go ahead.” I’ll never object to having Snow near me, even if it’s at the end of a bed and between a sheet.

“So,” he starts tracing random patterns on his leg, “I know we’re supposed to be enemies. But you don’t want that, right?”

My heart aches, just like it did the moment I realised my feelings at 15. “No, I don’t. But it’s not like I have much choice.”

“Who says?”

I furrow my eyebrows. Even that hurts a bit to do right now. “Let’s see, my father, my aunt, your mentor, years of power abuse, the ghost of my mother, and the entire bloody Magickal World.”

“But none of those people are you, Baz.”

That hits hard. It’s delightful if not a bit tragic that Snow thinks I have any control over this matter. That I have any ability to do what I want.“No, but that’s not the point. Even you call me your nemesis.” And it stabs me in my undead heart every time I hear it.

“Yeah, I know,” he grumbles. Snow finally looks at me again, his gaze now determined. “But I’m not sure that’s true now.”

I won’t lie, that sends an ever frightful spark of hope in me. I school my face, only raising one eyebrow. “Oh?”

Snow nods, hands linked in his lap. “Yeah. I mean, I thought you were an evil monster, but you’re not. You’re a snob, and a bully, but you’re not a monster.”

“Thank you?”

He sighs and drags a hand over his tired face. “Sorry, words, ugh. What I’m trying to say is that you’re not the villain I always thought you were. You helped me fight the goblins and saved my life, twice really. I don’t think an evil person would do that.”

My mouth nearly twitches up into a smile, but I keep my composure. “If you say so...”

“Yeah, I-I do. And then,” he gulps a little, “when you were dying, seeing you like that...it was horrible. I suddenly thought about life without you, and it was terrifying. You’ve always been there. I can’t imagine you not being near me, where I can see you, where I can make sure you’re safe.”

Oh, how incredibly glad I am that I can’t blush right now. Why must Snow do this to me? My undead heart and broken body can only take so much. “You care for my safety? What, want to make sure you’re the one who kills me?”

Snow tilts his head back. “Baz, stop,” he groans loudly. “I’m trying to be serious here! I’m saying I don’t want you to die at all! The thought of you actually dying scares the fucking shit out of me. When you passed out, I sprouted fucking dragon wings and flew you here I was so terrified.” He puts his face in his hands, shoulders trembling with every breath. “You said you fucking loved me, Baz. I...I can’t even think about killing you now, it makes me feel sick.”

Crowley. He looks so upset, so broken. My brave strong hero, completely destroyed by the thought of my demise at his hands. I never thought I’d see the day. It’s absolutely heart wrenching. It’s difficult for me to lean forward, but I do it, for Simon. I place my hand on his. They lower slightly from his eyes, letting me see a sliver of plain blue.

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly. “I’m sorry I scared you. And I’m sorry I put that on you so suddenly. It was unfair.”

Surprisingly, he doesn’t yell at me or storm off to go bash something. Snow just grabs my hand tight while he wipes his eyes with the other. “It’s alright. Y-You thought you were going to die...”

I squeeze his hand lightly. “Yes. I wouldn’t have been brave enough to say it otherwise.”

He nods slowly, looking me in the eye. And I think we understand each other more now than ever before.

“I don’t want to fight anymore,” he says quietly.

“You don’t have that option,” I reply. “Neither of us do.”

“I don’t care.” He looks at me with his puffy eyes and little frown. “I’m not going to fight you. Everyone else can fuck off.”

A laugh spills out of my mouth. But even that relatively small sound hurts my chest. I hiss and press a hand over my heart. And to my utter surprise, Snow presses his own hand there.

“Lay down. You should actually rest. We both should.” His voice is soft, caring, and I wish I could hear it like that all the time.

I do as he says, shimmying down so my head rests on the pillow. I expect Snow to go back to his chair. But instead, he moves further up the bed. I freeze, and he decides to look up.

“Can I?” he asks. “T-The chair isn’t really comfortable...”

I slowly nod, hoping I won’t burst into flames from all the insane emotions inside of me. Snow lays down, just next to my arm, human and dragon limbs alike hanging off the edge. I shift to the side. Snow moves even closer. We stare at each other for a long moment, time and space bending around his plain blue eyes and freckled face.

“I like this,” Snow whispers. “What we’re doing now. I like this better than fighting.”

“What is this?” I ask, because I’m genuinely confused. I know what I want this to be but Snow might have an entirely different idea. He probably does.

“I’m not sure yet. I just know I like being close to you, making sure your safe instead of yelling. I don’t know if it’s...love. Love is a big word. I’ve never really fully got love, never learned about it as a kid. But I care about you a lot. I always have, but now it’s a good way.”

I’m filled with a mix of emotions. A swirling sea of hope and confusion and wonder. I want to believe Snow loves me or one day could, I really do. But it’s an impossible feat. Right? “Snow-”

“You called me Simon before.” That little smirk is so annoying and so attractive.

“Simon,” I sigh. “That’s very nice to say, but you know how strongly I feel. So please don’t play with my emotions.”

Snow shakes his head as hard as he can. “I’m not, I wouldn’t do that, Baz. I-I just...so much has happened today. I’ve just found out my enemy has loved me for almost seven years after nearly being killed by goblins. My tried as fuck brain is still catching up and shit. But I do know I really care about you, and I want to try...being with you in a better way. That’s all I can say for sure right now.”

If Snow were a terrible person, someone like me, I would doubt him. Maybe think this is some long plot to get me to let my guard down. But he’s such a golden hero, always has been. He’s honest, honourable, and kind to a fault, the things I love the most about him. He wouldn’t lie to me. But there’s still so much in our way...

“What do you want us to do then?” I sigh. “Just pretend we’re not on opposite sides of a war?”

He shrugs one shoulder. “Yeah, I guess. Maybe we could do this and show everyone they can work together and don’t have to fight.”

“And the whole world of mages will hold hands and sing a song about cooperation.” My pessimism and sarcasm are always persistent.

Snow smiles slightly. I feel something brush against my hand and I jolt. I know exactly what it is though. All warm with rough calluses, what else it could be? “Could I start by holding your hand?”

I gulp again. I can’t imagine how ridiculous I look. I want that so much, but I’m scared. I’ve been scared for years. Snow has always been braver than I am. Maybe I can be brave too.

Slowly, I take Snow’s rough, warm hand in mine. Our fingers weave together perfectly like a finely made tapestry. Snow rubs his thumb back and forth on my skin. It’s so simple, yet my body feels like it’s burning to happy ash.

“We can talk more later,” he says. “I know you’ll want to overanalyze everything even more.”

I laugh again, not caring that it hurts my chest. “You know me too well.”

He smiles and squeezes my hand. “Yeah. Not as much as I thought I did though, so I want to learn more.”

It’s a miracle I’m not a puddle right now. I think Snow’s hand is the only thing anchoring me to this Earth. We stare at each other for a long time. He just keeps smiling. And slowly, I start doing the same.

“I want to learn more about you too.”

We grin at each other. Snow and I are both damaged, confused, exhausted young men. But that only means we can understand each other better than anyone else. It will be incredibly difficult. Almost everything and everyone will stand in our way. There’s a high chance of more bloodshed and tears. Yet, I think this could work.

Oh, how I want this to work.

———————————————

Penelope

Making any sort of food in my kitchen is incredibly difficult on a good day, what with six people living here, but today is particularly hellish. My mother and father are racing around trying to prepare for Christmas supper. They keep asking if Simon and Baz are going to be here tomorrow and if they’ll need more food. Priya asks if Simon is a pokemon now. Pip wonders if Baz is really a vampire. Pacey wants to eat the candy canes early. It takes far, far too long to make some damn soup and blood.

Finally, I get up the stairs with a bowl of chicken noodle and a thermos full of pig’s blood. I have no idea how Basil drinks this stuff. It smells absolutely vile. I keep the thermos far away from me as I climb the stairs. Slowly, I push open my bedroom door. And I nearly drop everything because of the sight I see.

I’m not sure what to make of this. Baz and Simon are both asleep, on the bed, very close together. I’ve never seen them so close, except when Simon was cradling Baz’s unconscious bleeding body earlier. This is far less horrifying.

Baz is still laying on his back with one hand on his stomach, but his other is entwined with Simon’s. He’s curled around Baz, face pressed into his long neck, arm draped over his shoulders, and one leg slung on top of his like he’s trying to climb Baz’s long body. Even his dragon limbs are all over Baz, tail wrapped around his thigh and wing draped over them like a scaly blanket. But the strangest thing is that Simon looks...calm. I’ve seen him sleep before, curled in a knot and whimpering from his nightmares. From what Simon has said, Baz has nightmares too. Right now though, they’re just laying there with no sign of pain.

Baz got seriously injured after saving Simon’s life. Simon brought a near dead Baz to me while almost in tears. Now they’re tangled up together and sleeping peacefully.

Everything is starting to make sense.

I leave the tray on my desk. I doubt the soup will still be warm by the time they wake up, but I’d rather let them sleep. Simon and Baz are still snoring softly when I close the door. And I think that’s the best thing to happen today.

———————————————

AN: Alright another one done! I've still got a quite a few in my inbox, including the ones I had to skip and go back to later. And if anyone else wants to send a request before I close them, please do so by September 2nd. You can choose from the cliche/trope list or just what you want. I can't promise I'll get to it soon, but I'll do my best. Have a nice day :D

[doctor-apocalypse]

Wildflower// Apocalyptic World

My legs burned and ached as I ran , my arms bleed as I passed through the thick branches of the pine trees, my heart was about to exploded on how fast it was beating against my chest but I pushed myself to run faster as I got a glimpse on the left of me to the reason on why I was running

  The adrenaline was pumping my veins making every inch of my body forget how my feet were aching. The feeling of fear was in the back of my head getting louder and louder but I couldn't let that take over me

"Aria!" my head whipped to where I had been called seeing an exact copy of myself slightly behind me

 Her panicked eyes looking at me as I nodded trying to calm her down -that we we're going to be fine

"come on where almost there!" I yelled my voice coming out horsed as I tried to turn to her direction but the trees only let me run forward , I started to recognize where I was in a few feet we'd be close to a rocky wall where I knew was safe; As we reached it I helped her up before getting myself up , clinging on the wall as I made it up getting help to pull me up the top as I looked down to the pile of moans and decaying bodies trying to get us as they stared up at us with milky dead eyes

  The flesh from their faces slowly rubbing off leaving me to see their bones , some barely had anything. The limbs hanging by thread just dragging along or other who were just a piece of meat crawling down towards the commotion

"God that went better than I thought" my sister laughed laying down on the half dead grass around us before taking her long brown hair from the pony tail it was in , my hands went in her bag she dumped beside her digging in until I found a can of beans

 Risking our lives for a few cans of beans was what what we did everyday -Normal for us

   sometimes it can be fun

"thank God cause I didn't even think it would work" she gave me wide eyed stare before laughing as I popped the lid of the can with my knife holding it to her  -she  did most of the work on stealing them while I just ran around being the carrot on the stick for the corpses

"honestly it was a bit cool"

 See fun. Distracting a bunch of corpses that's what I did everyday to survive

" cool? The end of the world isn't cool Aria" it's been a few months since the world came to shit , a virus plagued the living like we were nothing causing millions to fall dead in matter of weeks before we could even defend ourselves or find a cure the dead came back eating what was left of us.

 To be honest I only thought the zombie type of shit happened in movies, series and books but I was proven wrong when one day my parents got infected and tried to eat me and my twin sister.Fist time killing a creep as well and wasn't the last.

  Anna was always the smartest even in a crises making us pack what we needed and leave our childhood home and bolt from the city to the country side , we hided out for a few months in an old farm house but not only did we have to worry about being killed by those corpses but other humans. The one's you hear in the news. The one's that will try everything to get their hands on

They were worse than the undead

But we survived. We learned how to survive, now everyday we learn how to fight for ourselves. To fed ourselves, to clean ourselves.

 We only had each other -we we're going to survive this together; right?

"it's not the fun cool but it's cool cool" she rolled her honey eyes at me again as she handed me the unfinished can. We were identical twins the only difference separating us was a scar on my nose from when I let a bookshelf land on my face when I was six other than that we had the same brown hair and pale skin and honey eyes making our mom's job of keeping track who was who very hard

But we all knew she was the better then me in every single way

"you are so weird" I gave her a full mouthed smile making her turn away in disgust ,she was on her feet now pacing back and forth on the small clif as she looked around with that old map we found a while ago  "we still have a lot to go but it's gonna be night fall in a few hours"

"we can stay here , were high enough they can't reach us or be above us" I looked around us we had a small patch of rock grass thing , if we were quiet enough during the night the dead would think we left and just wonder off leaving a few for us to kill

"I hate this"

  She looked down before cringing and stepping back , she had a slight fear of heights but she'd rather be here then down there. I took the small blankets from our bags setting it down so we could be more comfortable during our time here

And finally get some sleep after 13 days without a proper night

"how long until we get to Ohio again?" I asked playing with knife as I stabbed the soft patch of grass next to me , the last time I checked we were at the boarder of West Virginia well I still hoped we were since we left our state of Virginia like months ago

Virginia. It was hard to leave our state but there wasn't anything left for us anymore, the radio at the time was planning to destroy the whole city and we didn't want to stay to see it go down

" I don't know maybe a few months to my calculations" Ohio was one of the cities that didn't evacuated during the spread since the Tv crew keep saying it was a safe zone , we didn't hear anything about it after since our radio doesn't work anymore and that was 6 months ago

 We tried to change the battery but it seemed like nobody on the other end was alive to warn us if we should continue or not -we we're headed to eventual death or good people who survived like us

"sometimes I wonder if they were alive they could do what we do" she whispered in a sad tone causing me to hold my laugh in knowing exactly how they would react, I remembered their reaction when they found out about the infection

"we are going to die" I laughed at my mother as my father mumbled if he needed to go to work or not making my mom yell at him for not thinking about the bigger picture

"hell no ....well dad would cause he'd be down for literally anything" she laughed lowly agreeing , that dude ate a spider cause his brother dared him to the apocalypse would be easy for him "mom on the other half would die in 5 second just by seeing us eat that dog food" we were low on food so we ended up finding a supply of dog food that lasted us a month , not good times to remember

"it tasted like dirt , she can't even jump properly imagine killing those things"bless my mom's soul but honestly she'd be a goner in this world now " I miss them"

"I do too" I reached over to her grabbing her hand as we just laid in silence hearing the cracking and moaning from the corpses below us

 The moaning drowing the squeaks of the bats flying around and the commotion of the crickets not letting me forget they would be there when I woke up

it's never a dream

                                                    ---                                                                              

"if we continue rout 250 we'll be there by tomorrow" she looked down the map reading it as I looked at it trying to figure out where I should look at

I never really did good in geography and she loved it so she was responsible for us not getting lost again; since last time we ended up going in a loop since she keep forgetting were we where all the time

"lead the way captain" I saluted her as she just pushed me forwarded , we walked in silence so we didn't attract many dead beats but I still killed the ones that crawled towards me

 The silence was intoxicating, for a lot of reasons. I missed that loud noise of crowds even if I didn't like it I missed the sound of people, I missed people -The feeling of being alone in this world scare me but I knew people survived ;some people trained for these moments for all their lives maybe we should have taught like them

"we should give theses dead beats a name" I couldn't help it , it was too damn quiet and I was bored out of my mind and it was only 2 hours in our walk

Probably my sense of time was bad but the sun wasn't in the middle of the sky anymore.

"they are called zombie like in the movies" she rolled her eyes adjusting her bag

Zombies? We rarely did call them, freaks or creeps were most used between us and also asshole from her side when one spilled it's gut all over her shirt

"yeah I know , but come on we're are literally apart of a movie if you haven't noticed -we need a cool name for them like T-800 and walkers" I whined remembering how I keep joking that would never happen in real life, and boy how I was wrong

 How wrong everyone was for not taking it seriously and staying home like they asked -everything just turned over night without much of a small warning

"okay let me think you baby" I shut my mouth smiling at her waiting for her to think of something , I did call them dead beats but that wasn't like cool enough "cannibals? I don't know"

"we are not naming them Hannibal Lector" I laughed pushing her slightly making her roll her eyes at me

"who cares Aria , their the jaws of our life now we are in their waters now we just have to be careful not to get bitten" I let out a laugh of excitement before shaking her bag as she pushed me off confused

"jaw biters dude , you're a genius" she barked up a laughing on looking how stupid I was acting but I didn't care I was having fun -and even if the name was stupid

it was very stupid but you had to pass the time with stupid shit like this didn't you

"you are so stupid A" Anna yet again rolled her eyes at me turning to look at me with a mocking face as I looked forward smiling a bit seeing a small crowd of creeps coming our way

We'd try to make a break for it in the forest if it were larger but but it was only four of them which could be taken care of

"yeah but now I get to say there are two jaw biters coming our way"

I pulled my knife out as she did too running quickly to them grabbing their full attention as they snapped their jaw at us growling, as I got close to two from our right I kicked  their legs so it would break letting me plung the knife in their skulls feeling the knife crack it's way in until it reached their brains. Pushing them forwards slipping my knife out of it's head seeing them slump down to the ground with their milky eyes roll back into their head

That's when they actually die; pulling limb by limb will never kill them its always the brain that finishes whatever keep them alive

"do I have blood on my face?" I asked as she turned to me with splatters of black blood across her face , it masked well with the rest of the dried blood in her hair and clothes since we haven't showed in the last three months or so

The smell of death was reeking off more from us them the actual corpses

"nah it goes great with the rest of the blood" she joked as I gave her a thumbs up before whipping the knife clean on my old jean which were covered in guts and that were a little loose on me, I had to tie it with a shoe lace so it wouldn't fall

 I was getting more thin everyday my skin was sticking to my muscles showing it much than it should be and I couldn't do anything about it since food was getting more scarse for us

"shut up and walk" I breathed out before following her up the road putting the knife back where I took it as I felt it dig a bit in my heel since the only place it would hold was in my boots.

 The road covered in bloodly feet from injured or dead people who use to pass by here , the destroyed cars were a memory of the people who tried to escape but didn't make it seeing them bang their dead hands agaisnt the window of the cars

 Burned police cars evidence that their helped never helped, their bodies burned with the patrol cars -some were still alive but glued to the car as we passed ignoring their moans and growls

  Mother nature destroyed the human race but the animals propered out of it , as I saw deer in the middle of the trees grazing peacfully making my stomach growl in protest on the hunger strike the world was giving me

"I can't believe we didn't run into a gas station by now" Ana complained again for the 5th time the past half hour as she cursed the map she was reading like it would talk to her back

If she started to speak it to it , we'd have a problem I would know how to help my sister if she went crazy. She was already annoying and bossy in a good state of mind I dont know what she would turn into crazy

"relax, we might be near don't pysch out just yet" the joke didn't really tickle her funny bone as she just gave me a death glare making me shut up as I listened to her mumbled under her breath

My head was driving me crazy as I raked my nails down on it trying to get that feeling of itching out of my system but only made it worse -I probably got flees from that dog kennel we slept three nights ago

"oh god I am going to kill you if you don't stop that" I stopped clicking my tongue as she hit my shoulder rubbing before looking at something that catched my eye

It was heaven. It was art. It was a shell gas station in all it's glory and beauty

 "kill me later cause I can smell the pringles from here" I pushed her aside as I took off running towards the gas stations that had only a few creeps walking around , Ana stopped right behind me taking out her knife as I picked up a broom stick from the ground breaking it in half with my knee

Ouch. Never as cool as in the movies

"avengers assemble" she sighed at my joked before charging at the creeps as I followed plunging the sharp end of the stick in one's eyes and the other's chests keeping them very far away from me, I had two on the end of my stick as I kicked them off before cracking their skulls open with my combat boots soaking the blood in blood once again

I turned around to smack the stick agaisnt a guy's head making him drop but still growling as blood poured out of his mouth , scrunching my nose in disgust I stabbed him in between his eyes

"I bet this one had like 50 cats" Ana joked kicking a creep all in cat shit towards me as I finished it off laughing a little too much , I looked to see only three coming our way which I could handle on my own as I turned to see only two pacing around the covinience store

"get inside clear out call me if you need me , I'll take care of them" she nodded heading inside as I turned to the rest who were heading staright towards me growling as I dodged it grabby hands feeling it limp at the end of my stick as I took care of the rest

I breathed heavily taking my foot out of it's head holding the bile that rose to my throat since the woman seemed to had died in feces or something that I really don't want to know

"yo! Is it clear?" I whipped the blood off my face with my shirt as I looked around so see that the place was almost raided out , Anna was in the corner with her back towards me making me pause for a second before calling her again.The fear made the hair in the back of my hair stand up as I looked at her but then she slowly turned to me looking up with me with a guilty look in her eyes and a can of pringles in her hands

"you son of a bitch, you better hope that is not the last can " I threatened as she gulped audibly since she was eating MY favorite flavor, I almost killed her for eating the last pringle can and for scarying me to death

Just picturing my sister dying I-; she's not gonna die. We we're going to survive this together

"hey, look at this" she told me with a mouth full of doritos as I didn't give her a glance making her sigh loudly rolling her eyes at me with a tired groan

"stop being a pouty baby and look"

"what" I turned about glare before immediately frowned to see a few maps on the floor behind the counter. I kneeled beside her as I looked at the map seeing a few states with crosses out with a big red cross as other with green, yellow or orange , the writing was faded out making it hard to read

"are these places they've been?"

There was so much information on it like the person was in a hurry to write them seeing the writing faded out or it was in possible to read the handwritting. Not to mention the bloody spots all over the brown map

"maybe the red were they have been to? Since looks like it's the majority or" but she looked like even she questioned it but that wasn't the only thing that made a chill run down my spine

 That fear came back as the crunch in my stomach began.

"Ana I don't think it's were they've been but where they avoided" I cleaned a part of the dusty map were there was a red cross to the side with big bold letters 'keep out' , she didn't even have time to talk already on her feet running around the store finding things for us to eat stuffing them in her bag as I stuffed the maps in mine

If she was thinking like me we needed to get out of here fast and now before we get into something we can't fight out of

"we should head to West Virginia we to close to Ohio , whatever they were running from might be close to us" I nodded grabbing a few chips and shoving it in the bag as well , before slamming against her back as I tried to follow her out the door

"Anna?" that's when I heard it , the moaning and the slow and uneven footsteps multiple footsteps.

 The feeling of death was normal for me to feel everyday. To see death and consume it was normal. To see your body finally catch up with reality and slows down your body letting the feeling of being a cold ice bath run throw your veins

 The aches you've ignore are now pouding in your head , the bitter taste in your mouth as you tried to take that dry feeling inside it

 Death...

"Run" she breathed out looking at a sea of jaw biters heading to us

...it was much closer than I thought

I hope you enjoyed my story, I am on wattpad at daddy_kins if you want to read the rest of the chapters I am currently posting. Thank you for reading!

[ccwastaken]

Sarge Finds A Monster

Beast!Radley au time babey!!

This was arguably his most dangerous mission yet.

There was a creature, the people claimed, terrorising the caverns near Neapolitown. And not a single person could take it down. Each and every attempt ended in failure and injury.

He had no idea what the creature was, or how he was supposed to take it down. There were rumors though, that it roared loud enough to shake the caverns, that it spat acid and had claws strong enough to dig into the rock. He'd heard it could climb the walls, and could track its prey with little effort, and that it was at least a dozen feet tall. The rumors were just that though; rumors. There were only three things he could confirm.

It was big, it was fast, and it was loud.

Those were also three attributes Sargeant Crushida Pepper had. So he didn't worry. That, and he had a good idea of where the creature had come from.

Or rather, who it had come from.

"Halt." He commanded to the men he'd brought with him. Some of Fort Onion's finest. They stood at the entrance to the caverns. Deadly quiet. "Forward march." They continued inwards.

Each soldier, including Sarge himself, was equipped with a head lamp and one gun. Sarge however, had a second weapon. Pepper bombs.

Just in case.

They continued into the caverns. It was oddly quiet inside. He'd expected to be able to hear the creature walking around.

A sudden movement made Sarge whirl around, grabbing his gun from the holster on his belt in less than a second. He brandished the weapon, pointing it at the source of the movement. A cookie doughman.

Huh. He had no idea those actually existed.

The doughman gasped and moved out from behind the rock he was hiding behind. Sarge lowered the gun as he walked over towards the doughman.

"You're here for it?" The doughman spoke in a hushed tone, full of fear. Sarge nodded.

"What do you know about it?" He asked. "Any and all information helps."

"You should leave," the doughman said. "Nobody can stop it- you'll be killed." Sarge frowned.

"That's not gonna happen." He replied sternly. The doughman looked at him, scared, then sighed.

"Alright, alright," he murmured. "It's fast. You won't be able to outrun it. And I think it can track scents." He glanced up, almost like he was paranoid. "It can climb the walls. I've seen it."

"Is there anywhere it usually stays?" Sarge asked.

"Near Mr Madish's home." The doughman replied. "But- nobody has seen him... we think he's-"

"We'll take care of it." Sarge cut him off abruptly. He stood up and looked over at his soldiers. "Deeper in, men."

The onions nodded and started walking off. Sarge moved to join them, but stopped when his hand was grabbed.

"If it got Radley-" the doughman started. Sarge pulled his hand away.

"Radley is fine." He said sternly, then walked away.

"Wait-!" The doughman followed them. They paused. "I can guide you- his home is hidden away, you see so-" he fiddled with his mittens nervously. "If you'd like."

Sarge stared at him for a few moments, then nodded. "You got a name?" He asked.

The doughman grinned. "Timothy!"

Timothy proved to be a useful guide. He knew the caverns well, and gradually grew to be less nervous. "My poor parents are worried sick with this monster going around," he explained. "My brother Terry- he's a lovely fellow, but can't keep himself out of trouble. He got attacked not too recently, the creature knocked him over. He almost fell halfway down a ravine! He's lucky to be alive!"

"Have many people been attacked by the creature?" Sarge asked.

"Not many- the creature seems a bit disoriented honestly. It does more damage running around than anything else." Timothy murmured. "It's still terrifying though...I really hope we don't run into it."

They stopped suddenly. They'd reached Radley's house. Sarge had never seen it- he and Radley hadn't spoken in over two years. It was...quaint, honestly. It looked cozy.

Or at least, it would be cozy, if it weren't a mess.

The door had been torn off, and lay on the ground a few feet away. A couple of the windows were broken, and a few smashed plant pots lay on the ground. Sarge stared at the disheveled home in shock. What- what happened here...?

Sarge didn't wait to hear Timothy's explanation, if there was one, he quickly walked over to the house. Inside looked how he expected. Once warm and cozy furniture had been tipped over or knocked out of place. Photo frames lay smashed on the ground, and claw marks covered the wall and floor. Panic rose in him.

"No no no no no-"

He moved into another room. The door hung ajar. It looked like a lab. The desk was covered in diagrams, blueprints and schematics. A few things, such as taxidermy snackimals and expensive looking instruments lay on the floor. The room smelled strange. A mix of chemicals, rotting food and sweet pollen.

Where on earth was Radley...?

"Sargent."

He whirled around. He saw a look of unease cross the soldier's face. It wasn't like him to be so openly afraid, not in front of his own men.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice turning firm again. All hints of fear disappeared.

"Would you like us to do a deep search of the house?" The soldier asked. Sarge nodded.

"Y-"

There was a sudden, sharp scream from outside, followed by yelling. Sarge sprinted out of the house. His soldiers held their guns out, pointing them all at one thing. The monster.

It held Timothy by the scarf, growling at the soldiers. The doughman struggled, trying desperately to untie the scarf and get away. But there was no need- the monster dropped him almost immediately when it saw Sarge.

The creature had three red eyes, and was huge. It could probably have eaten Timothy in only two bites, maybe even one. Sarge stared at it. This was it- this was the thing that had- had killed Radley. He wasn't an idiot- it was obvious what had happened to Radley now...this thing- this thing that was probably his creation had killed him.

Sarge shook. Radley had been by his side since he could remember. They grew up together, lived together, had been best friends since school. He remembered a teenage Radley, scared and shaking, hugging him tightly one late night. He remembered a small radish boy giggling next to him on a swing. He remembered a young man smiling at him sheepishly while he tried on a brand new pair of glasses.

Rage filled him.

The creature charged, and without another thought, Sarge did too. The monster roared, but not even that could put him off. He threw himself at it as it reared up onto its hind legs. The monster fell over onto its back, and cried out, struggling beneath him.

He punched the monster, slugging it again and again without a single hint of mercy. His breathing was ragged and shaky, full of rage. The monster thrashed and kicked, and managed to knock the angry soldier off. Sarge groaned as his body hit the ground. There was a dull pain in his fist, probably from hitting the monster too hard.

Speaking of the monster, it roared. The sound of bullets brought Sarge back to reality. "STOP!" He yelled out. "CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!" He sat up quickly. The soldiers stopped. This creature was his fight, nobody else's. He stood up, glaring at the creature. It whined and backed away.

The monster's face bled red, almost black blood. It trembled.

"How..." Sarge stepped towards it. "How dare you kill him- how dare you take him from me..." His voice was soft and breathy, but full of rage.

"S-shhh- shhhiii-" the creature hissed. It whined again. "Shhhs-s-shhhhiiiiida- shiiidaa-ah." It hissed out.

Sarge froze. It couldn't be-

"Shiiid-ah. Shidaaah."

This thing knew his name, not only that, but his NICKNAME. He stared. The creature seemed to perk up.

"Shiidah! Shid- Shida! Shidaah!"

"What-" he didn't even know how to respond to that. How could he respond to something like that? The monster stared at him, then down at the ground. Shida could only watch as it scratched something into the dirt.

B. Just a simple B. But to him it meant so much more. This creature knew both of their nicknames. It knew who he was, it- it- it was Radley...

The look in the creature's eyes was too aware to be just a feral monster. That was Radley, trapped in this new form. Shida moved closer, trembling.

"R-Radley-?" he murmured. Radley whined and walked over to him. Shida held his face, now covered in thick scruffy fur, in his trembling hands. "Radley..."

"Mmmm." Radley whined back. He closed his eyes as a single tear escaped him.

"What happened to you...?" He asked softly. Radley's whines grew louder, and soon he was crying. Shida blinked away his own tears. He had to be strong- strong for Radley. He had to be calm to help him.

Then Radley reared up onto his hind legs in order to give Shida the best hug he could, covering him in soft, furry warmth. He grit his teeth trying so hard not to cry. "Rad-"

He was cut off by sudden gunshots. Shida gasped and moved away from Radley. He heard a loud, animalistic yell of fear. "CEASE FIRE." He barked again. He held out his arms, blocking Radley from the attacks. He whirled around again and looked at Radley. "Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

"Y-yyyeeesss." He hissed. Radley's speech was stuttery and soft, like it was a struggle to talk. Shida nodded and smiled weakly. He reached out and cupped Radley's face in one of his hands, stroking the fur gently. "Mmmmrrrrr..."

"Radley," he pressed his forehead against his friend's. "It's gonna be okay, alright? I'm gonna fix this." He murmured. Radley looked at him.

"Y-yyy-yooooouu w-wi-wiiilllll?" He asked softly. Shida nodded.

"I'll figure something out," he said softly. "I promise."

Radley seemed to hesitate, then looked Shida in the eyes. "I-I- I lo-llllooovvve y-ou-u." He managed to purr out. Shida smiled softly, tears pricking the corners of his eyes again.

"I love you too." He said hoarsely.

[becomethevoidstuff]

Commission #1: Trust Goes Both Ways

Series:  Naruto / Boruto

Scenario:  The Hokage realizes he needs to step up his game. Believe it!

Genre:  Romance

Themes:  Angst, Slice of Life, Fluff

Word Count:  2000

Dedicated to:  KH, my first commissioner ♥

Akito was determined to sleep in and cuddle her man for hours this morning.  As she drowsily stretched her fingers to the other half of the mattress, only cold sheets greeted her grasp.  She sat up and yawned while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with a frown.

He never came home.  Again.

The woman huffed and shoved her luscious locks out of her face in frustration.  She muttered continuously, “He may be Hokage now, but that doesn’t mean leaving me hanging!��

Her irritation steadily increased as she sipped her green tea.  She glared at the clock over her mug.  Instead of more anger, she became exuberant once she noticed the time.  Lunch is approaching, and with it, an opportunity to shine!  She began to dig around for the ingredients she needed for her plan to work.

~ ~ ~

After lots of sweat and a few tears, her final product was safely packaged and ready for transport!  She scrambled to get dressed in time for Naruto’s lunch break – she had one chance and did not want to blow it!  She hopped into her pants and fixed her sports bra.  Her fighting style focused on speed and maneuverability versus strength and power, so she fixed her clothes accordingly.

After carefully balancing the package in her hand as she slipped on her shoes and locked up the apartment, she was ready to continue her operation:  the Hokage’s office.  Akito gave the usual brief greetings as she strolled through the village.  Yet, her focus remained entirely on the task at hand.  To a passerby, she sounded quite rude.  But to friends and colleagues?  Eh, it’s just Akito.

As she passed a newly constructed building, a loud bark in the distance caught her off-guard.  A familiar white dog barreled towards her at full speed.  Not today!

As the dog drew near, she carefully sidestepped while holding the package close to her chest.  A guy ran up close behind the animal, rubbing the back of his neck apologetically.  “Sorry about Akamaru, Akito! He hasn’t seen you in forever!”  He chuckled as he concluded with his signature grin.

Akito scoffed, “Yeah, if forever counts as yesterday!”  Her free hand went over the dog’s ears attentively.  He adored the attention.

Kiba crossed his arms and briefly looked her up and down, “You look particularly hot today, Akito.  Want to get a drink later?”

She was so focused on rubbing Akamaru’s back that she barely heard his request.  “Sorry, but I have to meet up with Naruto. See ya!”  After one last scratch under the chin, Akito left them to carry on.

She soon huffed in annoyance.  “Now, how to get his attention this time?”  An epiphany made her grin mischievously as she scaled the Hokage building, barely able to contain her excitement.  Her fingers gripped the too familiar side window as the other hand continued to clutch her precious cargo.

Akito shoved with her shoulder to pry the window open.  She exclaimed dramatically, “Knock knock, your favorite person with your favorite food!”

Naruto jolted awake in surprise, now completely consciousness.  “Akito!”  His signature grin made her heart go pleasantly aflutter.

“I come bearing a special gift made by yours truly,” she pointed to herself with her thumb as she positioned her package in the only spot on his desk free of paperwork.  “Dig in!”

He opened the travel container in earnest. The aroma immediately hit his nose.  He felt drool building up from just the smell and looks alone.  He clapped his hands together and bowed his head in thanks before digging in with his chopsticks.  As he slurped his noodles, he nearly cried from joy.  His entire being exuded happiness as he ate its deliciousness.  Akito leaned on the desk nearby and sported a smirk of triumph.

While holding the bowl to his lips and gulped down the broth, the office door swung open.  The visitor held up a couple papers as Akamaru dove for Akito.

“Well, we just keep finding each other today, huh?” Kiba grinned as he tossed his mission report on the table.

Akito snorts as she rubbed Akamaru’s belly, “Yeah right.”  Naruto almost choked in shock.

Kiba approached Akito, a mirror of their previous encounter.  He brushed a long strand of her hair behind her ear as he repeated his offer.  Her eyes narrowed as she stopped patting the dog, thinking over his words and confirming that she did not mishear.

Before she could reject him however, Naruto stated, “Inuzuka, I have received your report. Dismissed!”  The atmosphere in the office grew cold very quickly, enough for the huge canine to whine and bump his head on Kiba’s leg.  The man in question growled in annoyance yet formally nodded to Naruto in acknowledgement of the order.

Akito crosses her arms, bristling from a building agitation.  “What was that for, Naruto? Kiba was just in the area while I was on my way over! Akamaru loves me!  I don’t see anything wrong with this whole –“

“Akito.”  The way Naruto said her name made her blood run cold.  He sounded so angry and devastated all at once.  She could not understand why he changed attitudes so suddenly.  His tone both terrified and infuriated her.  She wasn’t too sure which one was the dominate emotion though.  What was he not telling her this time?!

She placed her hands on her hips and gave her man an intense glare, her stance completed with her tone of voice.  “What is it, Lord Hokage?”  Her speech dropped to such a monotone that Naruto had to suppress shudder.

But he refused to waver.  “Kiba asked you out on a date. He’s always been crazy about you, and you just said it yourself that Akamaru loves you. Do I need to be worried?”

Akito’s glare hardened as she leaned over the massive desk.  “Of course not. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

Naruto blinked a few times before saying, “What are you talking about, Akito?”

“You’re always here, in this big office, so far from home,” she turned in a circle with her hands up to emphasized her point, “Shouldn’t I be worried about you having some special friends over in my absence? You never keep your word anymore so you letting me down like that honestly wouldn’t faze me, Lord Hokage.”

The tension was thick in the air.  Neither of them refused to back down.  But Naruto soon hung his head in shame, wondering how this train of thought even started in Akito’s mind.  She knew he was busy here.  Was she just aggravated, or is this what she really thought of him now?  What was he supposed to think about this?  He began to tremble as tears slowly rushed down his cheeks and he did not try to stop any of it.

Akito huffed after her rant, feeling particularly overjoyed that she finally let everything out.  She was not about to apologize either!  She crossed her arms in triumph at finally telling the man she loves what went through her head for once.  After all, she is not able to talk to him much anymore!

However, her confidence quickly faded as she noticed that Naruto had not said a word.  He always has something to say.  She stepped closer to him, being cautious for once.  This was worrying her, more than it should have.

She touched his shoulder gently, “Naruto?”  Then, she heard it.  And it broke her heart immediately.  He was crying.  Naruto, the hyperactive knucklehead ninja she fought on the front lines with, the man she fell in love with, her Hokage, was crying his eyes out because of her.

Naruto tried valiantly to rub his eyes dry.  He hiccupped, “W-what is it, Akito?”  His tears wouldn’t stop, no matter how hard he tried.

Akito knelt down to become eye level with him.  She bit her lip to fight the squeamish feeling that was building in her belly as Naruto continued to look at her. She eventually sighed and put her hands on his cheeks, her thumbs softly brushing away the tears.  “Naruto, I am only going to say this once, because you mean a lot to me and I’m not about to lose you again because of my stupid decisions.”

He exhaled shakily and nodded.  She continued, “I was not trying to hurt you.  I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while now, just us.  Not work, the bills, or the village.  Just me and you.  I love your stubborn butt.  I’m very proud of you for going for your dream and never giving it up.  I don’t want to give us up.  I don’t want to push you away anymore.  I’m sorry.”

Her words, though direct, rang true.  Naruto knew she was sincere.  He knew her long enough to not be bothered by her particular word usage.  He placed his hands on hers, both still on his face.  He sighed and slowly began to smile.  “I’m sorry too.”

She grinned back, “So, my dear Hokage, what do we do now?”

~ ~ ~

Akito left the office through the window, the biggest smile on her face once again.  The two of them finally talked!  Naruto mentioned that he had to back get to work, understandably.  Being Hokage is a job stuffed to the brim with work.  But he just snickered and kissed her nose.  Her nose had scrunched up instinctively, which then made him laugh out loud.  He winked and promised that he was going to make everything up to her later.  She doesn’t have a clue how he’s going to do that, and she doesn’t care!  She’s just happy to actually have the opportunity to be alone with him that isn’t the Hokage office.  She heard Shikamaru and Sakura outside the door, but they did not dare enter until she left. Wise choice.

She held the empty ramen container with pride and a bounce in her step.  The food definitely helped her today.  It brought positive results in the end!  She’ll have to do this another time soon.

After a while, she drifted into her own world and thought about her time at the ninja academy forever ago, not paying attention to her surroundings.  It was only after her face was in the dirt she realized she was on the ground.  An excited bark brought her back to the present.  She rolled over onto her back as she sniggered.

“Wow, Akamaru!  You’re not giving up today!” she laughed more as she rubbed his furry belly.

The dog’s ninja partner showed up soon after she stood back up.  Kiba just smirked and called Akamaru to his side.  “Fancy meeting you here, Akito.”

She just rolled her eyes.  “Whatever you say, Kiba.  I have to go home now.”

“What about that drink though?” He pouted for a moment.

“I’ve never liked alcohol.  I’ll see you two later!” She turned around and then decided to add chakra to her feet to help her speed home before it got dark.

Eventually, she arrived home and immediately kicked off her sandals.  She wiggled her toes with excited delight at being back home.  She looked up and dropped her package from shock.  The table was set, complete with the lights off and candles glowing in the dark.  Food and flowers lay on the table in a special arrangement.  It was messy but beautiful all the same.  As she made her way through the apartment, she noticed that the bedroom door was ajar, another soft glow emitting from the room.  She cautiously walked in, not sure what to expect.

There, on the bed, lay Naruto, holding the torn yet still bright orange uniform he grew out of years ago.  Akito snuck behind him and held him close to her chest.  He looked up as she nuzzled his neck softly.  No words were needed between them this time around.  The silence was more than enough to finally feel content in their shared space at long last.

[agoddamnsupernova]

Chapter two is finally up my friends!

Beca is startled awake by the sound of her door being kicked in. She bolts up, eyes wide while Lincoln growls beside her. She makes a hand gesture at the dog to silence him, watching her commanding officer, Master Sergeant Posen, stomp up to her bed. “Yes, Aubrey?”

“That’s Master Sergeant to you, Mitchell,” Aubrey says, arms crossed over her chest. “Until you decide to clean up your act and take part of the pen pal program, you no longer have the privilege of calling me by my first name.”

“This is stupid, Bree,” Beca yawns, stretching her arms above her head.

“Beca, I’m supposed to be intimidating, why are you like this?” Aubrey pouts, relaxing her arms a bit.

“We’ve known each other too long, I know your bark is worse than your bite,” Beca snorts, scratching Lincoln’s ears.

“Whatever, you still have to do the program, everyone in the platoon does,” Aubrey sighs, moving to pet Lincoln, smiling when he licks her.

“I don’t understand why. What’s the point of talking to some civilian?” Beca huffs, flopping down against her pillow.

“It’s been proven to help relieve stress to have an outsider to vent to,” the older girl replies, shaking her head a bit. “And since today is a light day for you, you have no excuse.”

Beca opens her mouth to argue but gets smacked in the face with a notebook and then the pen follows. “Asshole!”

“Get writing, Mitchell!”

Beca is running through courses with the bomb dogs when the mail gets delivered, surprised when the private hands her a letter. “Thanks,” she says, motioning with one hand for Bowser to sit while she tucks the letter away.

She looks at the dog with a quirked brow and he just snorts at her, his tail beating the sand. “Yeah, yeah, I know it’s almost lunchtime for you guys,” she says, smiling at the way Bowser huffs at her. “Search.”

The dog immediately goes from playful to serious as he starts sniffing around the course, sitting next to a desk in the corner. She opens the drawer and smiles wide, patting his head. “Good boy,” she hums, tucking the package laced with volatiles into her bag. “Search.”

She runs through this with three more dogs before she’s taking their small pack back to their partners. Most training was done with their partners but once week Beca would run courses privately. She’d been their best handler in years and somehow earned the respect of all the others.

By the time they had dropped off all the dogs, Lincoln was happily wagging his tail beside her, ready for food, water, and a nice nap. “Come on buddy, let’s go get you some lunch,” she smiles, patting his head when he yips.

Beca grabs herself a tray of food and settles down at a table, setting Lincoln’s bowls on the ground, nodding when he tilts his head at her. He yips again before digging into his food happily. Beca picks at her food as she pulls her letter out of the pocket she had stashed it in. “Emily Junk.”

She snorts a little and tears into the envelope, cursing when it tears down the back, a few photos spilling onto the table. She scrambles to pick them up, not wanting them to blow away. A strangled whine comes from her lips as a hand snatches a photo off the table. “Hey!”

“Damn, Mitchell, your girl is smokin’ hot,” her fellow Sergeant, Cynthia Rose, comments, smirking at the picture. “How’d you manage to hook someone like this?”

“She’s not-I’m not, give it back!” Beca stumbles over her words, standing to try and snatch the photo back, only to have the taller woman hold it high in the air. “Don’t be such a cock!”

“Did I hear that right, Beca has a girlfriend?” Aubrey asks, a slight smile on her face as she watches Beca try to jump for the photo.

“I don’t!” Beca shouts, crossing her arms over her chest. “She’s just my fuckin pen pal.”

“Look at her, Bree,” CR chuckles, handing the photo over to the blonde who grins.

“Looks like you hit the jackpot, Bec,” Aubrey teases, handing the photo back. “Don’t screw it up.”

“Screw you, dude,” Beca huffs, tucking the photo along with the rest of the letter back into her pocket. “Come on, Lincoln, let’s go take a nap.”

Beca is curled up in bed when she finally gets a chance to read Emily’s letter and she spends the whole of it grinning at the slightly wrinkled piece of paper. “You’re something else, Junk,” she hums to herself, looking at the photos she included.

There’s one of a rather large tuxedo cat she assumes is Bun, the next is that of a sunset across a lake and the third is of Emily. She’s smiling at the camera, her dark hair falling around her face in waves. “Fuck, look at those eyes,” Beca says to Lincoln, who quirks his head at her. “She's got big brown eyes, man.”

Beca sighs softly, pulling a tin lunch box from under her bed, placing the letter and photos into it. There’s a few other letters inside, mostly from her mom, but there’s a few from her best friend Jesse, the man always knew how to make her smile.

She spends a few moments just soaking it in before she's rooting around for her notebook and pen.

Emily,

Lincoln is currently laid with his head on my legs, I assure you I will give him lots of love from you. It’ll spoil him I’m sure, but it should be worth it. When I opened your letter earlier the photos fell out and some of my friends teased me about you. They think you’re hot. I can’t say I disagree, but I would have phrased it better than “damn she’s smokin’ hot” but I mean, I’m not going to argue that fact. Cynthia Rose can be a bit crass, but when she’s right...she’s right.

The picture of the lake, that’s the lake at Bardon, right? My dad is a teacher there, you might know him. If you do, ask him why he doesn’t send his daughter letters anymore. I’m just kidding, you don’t have to do that, but he really is a pretty cool guy, even if he picked a monster to marry after he and my mom split. I hope you had a fun weekend with your friends, make sure to send me lots of pictures and the stories behind them. I’d kill for a lake right now.

Lincoln and I get shipped out tomorrow to clear some big areas, wish me luck. I don’t want to get blasted feet in the air again if I can help it. Lincoln is good, but shit happens sometimes, ya know? I’m honestly more worried for him than myself, I bounce back pretty quick but he’s still a pup, three years old and this is what he’s doing with his life. One day though, he’ll have a plush lawn and all the treats he can eat and a family to keep him safe. I just gotta keep him in one piece until then.

It’ll probably be a little while before I can write back, so just don’t worry too much. I signed up for this after all. Few more years and I’ll rotate out and be able to have a semi-normal life again, maybe. Who knows, my mom always told me there was no such thing as normal, but then again she was in the army too, so I could just have a skewed perspective of the world.

If you’re serious about the cheetos...can you get the jalapeno cheddar kind? I would fuckin kiss you if you did. Like the spicy salty combo is my favorite thing ever. I will get on my knees and worship you. ....That...that sounded dirty and I didn’t mean it like that. Well, I mean, unless you’re into that...I’m going to stop writing now.

-Beca

She shakes her head a bit, looking at Lincoln who is watching her. “I’m an idiot,” she chuckles and he just grunts as he gets comfortable. She pokes his side as she gets up, rummaging through her duffle to find the Polaroid camera her best friend had sent her ages ago.

She brushes her fingers through her hair a few times before she moves to pull Lincoln close to her, making sure he’s looking at the camera. “Say cheese, buddy,” she says, smiling at the lens. She clicks it after a moment, trying not to blink when the flash blinds her.

She shakes the picture while she settles down in bed again, smiling to herself. Lincoln’s tongue is lolling out and she’s grinning at the camera, her hair falling in loose waves around her face. She takes a pen and writes along the bottom. Beca and Lincoln smiling just for you.

She tucks everything into an envelope before bed, her thoughts full of the smiling brunette and her bubbly personality. Maybe she would dream a little dream of a girl across the ocean.

The sun is hot and the ground even hotter, they’ve been slowly clearing a path through the sand toward an empty building for hours now. So far they’ve found forty explosives buried in the dirt, ranging from just barely covered to a few feet down. Beca’s tired of sticking up flags but stays ever vigilant. She’s about to call a break, she knows they both need water, but right as she waves her arm up, hell breaks loose.

Shots are fired from the abandoned building and Beca and Lincoln take off through their carefully plotted path as quickly as they can. “Into the truck!” She hears Aubrey shout and she urges Lincoln ahead of her. She could take a bullet better than he could.

“Go, go, start moving!” Beca shouts as soon as Lincoln is in the truck, she’s got a few years to cover but she wouldn’t be slowing them down. They start moving ahead of her and just when she thinks she’s caught up, a bullet clips her calf. Fire spreads up to her knee and she stumbles hard enough to fall.

“Lincoln, no!” She hears Aubrey yell over the noise and sure enough, his wet nose is pressing against her dirt covered cheek.

“Stupid dog,” she murmurs, but she forces herself up, she wasn’t going to get her partner killed because of a flesh wound.

They’re running again, Beca’s pant leg warm and damp from the blood. Everything seems to happen in slow motion then. The truck swerves a bit to the left and Beca is too focused on getting Lincoln way from the shots to see the thick rope of wire that’s barely peeking out of the sand.

Good eye Aubrey Beca thinks as she skids to a stop, not quite making it before her weight triggers the bomb. A wave of heat and dirt washes over her as she and Lincoln are thrown a good thirty feet back. The air is knocked from her lungs and she can hear Lincoln’s whine when he hits the ground. If they died, this would be on her.

[hyper-writes]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Race for the Cure: Chapter 2

Hey. Are you okay?

H-Huh? Who’s--?

Oh! You can hear me! I’ve waited so long to hear your voice..

…

It’s all right, Kro.

!!!

We are in your mind, well sort of. I’m not really even supposed to be talking to you right now. But...I had to tell you. You are in danger.

WHAT?

Don’t panic! I will protect you, but you will have to get strong on your own. We aren’t as strong as we once were.

I-I have no idea what you are--

I have to go. Goodbye old friend…

WAIT--!

The sudden jump from the bulbasaur earned a yelp from the pink mudkip, who had been carefully dressing their head wound. Though the surprise quickly wore off when Nuyt saw the fear in the patient’s eyes. “Oh geez! Hey, it’s okay!”

This however didn’t really seem to comfort the distressed pokemon. But when the bulbasaur tried to stand up, they only made it a few inches off the ground before falling back onto the grass nest.

“H-Hey! Don’t move too much!” the pup insisted, applying pressure to the bandages in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The bulbasaur growled anxiously, pain clouding their conscious as tears welled in their bi-colored irises. “I-I know, just gotta make sure everything stays clean…”

After about half a minute--which felt like an hour to the cub--mudkip finally pulled his paws off their head. Bulbasaur panted heavily, claws dulling with every nervous drag against the wood floor. But they were brought back to the present by the shiny pokemon nudging a pristine apple in front of their nose.

Tight pupils stared at the apple for a good minute before finally rounding out to stare hopefully towards the pup. Nuyt gestured with his paw, a nervous smile on his face the whole time.

The bulbasaur stayed still for the longest time, gaze locked on the fruit as if trying to decide whether it was worth the risk. Though, one growl from their belly was all it took for the pokemon to take a big bite out of the Perfect Apple. A pale-pink tongue lapped over the their maw as they tried to get every drop of juice.

“See? It’s pretty good huh?” The mudkip asked, tail wagging behind him as he sat in front of the other. The bulbasaur nodded, pawing at their head to relieve an itch. Only to pause when they heard the rattle of metal, one look was all it took for it to click.

They were wearing a shackle.

“Oh, hey don’t worry about that!” The water pup interjected, fidgeting a bit in place as if fighting the urge to directly intervene. He had to be gentle with a patient in such a fragile state.

“Nuyt? Child please keep your voice down.” The deep voice nearly shook the ground, just the weight was enough to put the patient on high alert. And things only got worse as the massive figure showed up in the doorway. Even bent down, the mountain pokemon blotted out what little sunlight came through the windows.

Though the shiny mudkip wasn’t really affected by the monster’s presence, a big ol’ grin on his face as he spun around to face Gigalith. “It’s okay, Giga. They’re awake!”

This seemed to catch Gigalith off guard; but the second he caught sight of the wide-eyed bulbasaur, the shock melted away to instead switch to unwavering compassion. “I’m sorry, child. I didn't mean to frighten you.”

Luckily he was not alone in this front; Nuyt swiftly bounced over to the other child, sporting an inviting smile. “It’s alright! That’s just Gigalith, he’s the bestest healer in the whole world!”

A timid laugh echoed from the rock monster’s throat, “Oh, Nuyt. I wish that were true.”

“It is, though?” Nuyt replied quickly, the hearty laugh from Gigalith was enough to get a hiccupy giggle from the bulbasaur.

“C’mon, Kro!” The excited yap of the mudkip caught the attention of a small group of children, they had been talking amongst themselves in the middle of the village.

The striped bulbasaur followed Nuyt out from the small hut, the bandage on their head only there to keep the wound clean; otherwise they were simply in the rehilbiltation stage. Which was pretty amazing considering they were a day ahead of Gigalith’s estimate, though neither Nuyt or Gigalith would look a gift Rapidash in the mouth.

The four waiting kids approached the pair, one trailing behind the rest. Venipede was the first to speak, “Hey, you’re pretty cool!” he chirped while Ponyta sniffed at Kro’s head curiously.

“I know right? Kro is the coolest!” Nuyt grinned proudly, rudder tail swishing behind him while Kro allowed Ponyta to get a good sense of their scent. They had been told that they had a pleasant smell, so it only seemed polite to share.

Though, their attention was quickly pulled from the three new pokemon when they saw a small Poochyena behind the ranks. The canine pokemon pawed idly at the grass, staring past the ground in a distant manner.

“Well, we’ll have to sssee if they can keep up! Ready for a rematch?” Ekans prompted as he presented a worn cloth on his rattle.

“Hey! It’s my turn to start!” Venipede interrupted.

“You guys, it doesn’t matter y’know. Cause I’m gonna win either way.” Ponyta chuckled, raising a hoof in front of her chest with a confident grin.

“I think Kro should start, it’s their first time after all.” Nuyt stated, earning a reluctant nod from the others. “Okay, Kro. You ready to pl--huh?” he whined in confusion when he looked to his side and found that the bulbasaur wasn’t there anymore.

“O-O-Oh! I-I’m so-s-sorry!” All four kids looked towards the source of the stuttering, and were all silent for a moment while watching Kro observe Poochyena. “I-I d-d-didn’t see you th-there, I-I…”

Kro hesitated at first, but then they rested their paw on top of the pup’s. Poochyena looked up to the bulbasaur in sheer fear, but then that worry melted away and he sniffled softly. Kro offered a gentle smile to Poochyena, which led to the pup giggling anxiously. “T-Thank you…”

Kro turned their head towards Nuyt, appearing guilty. Though the young healer simply nodded before speaking back up, “Okay guys, we’re down two players. But that’s okay! Ponyta can be on my team.”

“H-Hey! Don’t leave me with that snake!” Venipede squealed indignantly, which earned laughs from the other three kids.

Meanwhile, Kro sat next to Poochyena. And there they stayed while Nuyt and the other kids played a game they called Goalie.

It was a little confusing for Kro, but all they really cared about was keeping an eye on Nuyt. This was the first time they had seen the mudkip in action, and honestly they were pretty impressed. Nuyt was really fast, like almost on par with Ponyta. Though his turns were much sloppier, as evident when he went for the scarf but kept skidding regardless of the fact that Ekans--and the scarf--were already on the other side of the square.

Ekans cackled while Nuyt shook off the dirt from his skin, “Still as sloppy as ever! C’mon, dig your tiny paws in and let’s get goi--HEY!” Ekans shrieked when Ponyta swiped the scarf from his grasp.

“You should stop gloating, and focus on winning!” The equine called back, only just avoiding trampling Venipede when the bug tried to trip her. Though it looked as if things weren’t going to be that easy.

“Yeah! Bring it over here, Ponyta!” Nuyt barked excitedly, running after his teammate with renewed vigour.

As the kids played, Kro noticed two figures out of the corner of their eye. It was two pokemon they didn’t recognize, and all that initially registered was the color of one of them. A pale green.

“W-Wow, Nuyt is p-pretty good. I t-think he might a-actually w-win. How b-bout you K-Kr--K-Kro?” Poochyena shivered when he saw the distant look in the grass pokemon’s eyes. He followed their gaze, preparing himself to see something terrifying. But he was baffled to just see Scyther and Lucario. “K-Kro, that’s just S-Scyther and Lucario. I-I mean, Scyther’s k-kinda grumpy b-but…”

Kro’s whole body started to shudder, they took a few steps back before finally bolting the opposite direction. The voices of the other children becoming drowned out by a distant chanting.

This was not good, the forest was a dangerous place that only got worse the further in you went. Only the brave entered such a place alone. Or someone running from the shadows.

Thankfully, Gigalith was quick to come to his charge’s aid. Nuyt had bolted after the bulbasaur the second they’d ran, and it was good that Ponyta has the foresight to alert the healer. The small pup wasn’t alone for more than a minute before the massive pokemon caught up to him. “Nuyt! Slow down!”

Though the mudkip wasn’t going to be persuaded, his friend was out in the very forest that had nearly killed them a few days prior. There was no way he’d stop until he found them.

Gigalith slowed his own pace, if Kro was nearby he didn’t want to jar them with his thunderous steps. Nuyt was used to it, able to jump with the rhythm rather than stay there and ride with the trembling earth. But with Kro’s head injury, he couldn’t risk harming them unintentionally.

The healer scanned the surrounding area, his head jumping back towards Nuyt when his tail thumped lightly on the dirt. Gigalith approached his apprentice slowly, knowing full well what the gentle thump meant.

Nuyt didn’t want to startle them.

Gigalith’s eyes widened as he saw the missing bulbasaur, their back to the duo. The trembling in their legs practically broke his heart. But that pain was dulled with the swelling pride for Nuyt, who was slowly inching towards Kro on his belly.

A soft chirp left Nuyt’s mouth as he tilted his head towards his shivering companion. Kro’s head snapped to the sound, but their anxiety faded slowly as Nuyt whispered comfortingly to them. Within a few minutes, Kro pressed their forehead against Nuyt’s. Tears streaming down their face while Nuyt purred gently.

Gigalith allowed the two some privacy, Nuyt was best suited for this kind of thing. Ever since they’d found Kro, the young mudkip hadn’t so much as left their side. And while Kro is appreciative of Gigalith too; it wasn’t until he would leave the hut that he’d hear their weak voice talking to Nuyt.

There was something growing between the two children, and honestly Gigalith was glad. Everyone needs someone they can trust, he would know that better than anyone.

A half-hour passed before the trio made their way home, both children set up between the healer’s front feet for protection. It was more of a comfort thing, to put something between Kro and whatever startled them.

Nuyt walked beside his friend, offering his shoulder should they need the support. But Kro was more tired than anything, every little step made their eyelids heavier. They went as far as they could before finally collapsing, “G-Giga!”

The healer froze, backing up to see what had happened. One look at his charge and he nodded; Gigalith lowered his head and gently slipped his maw over Kro’s body. Once he had a good grip on them, he walked the rest of the way home. Nuyt trotted beside his mentor, soft blue eyes staring up at his passed out companion with a small whine.

What had scared them so badly?

Please don’t forget to comment! That fuels the writing process and is overall just nice! I wanna hear your theories and stuff, seriously that is like the best!

[ogwnostalgia]

Cover art by Mike Vosberg

Title: The Secret

Series: Tales From the Crypt

Original Airdate: July 31, 1990

Description: A 12-year-old orphan is adopted by a rich childless couple (William Frankfather and Grace Zabriskie) who harbor a dark secret. However, the couple themselves do not realize that the young orphan has a dark secret of his own.

Note: This wasn’t actually the cover photo I wanted to use, but every screencap I could find was way too spoilery. So instead, enjoy the episode art that the Cryptkeeper shows us going into the episode.

  Nostalgia Time!

Boy, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these full moon werewolf recaps, huh? I’m really slacking on them! But here we have the second of the two whole werewolf episodes Tales From the Crypt ever did, and like the other one, this one also has vampires. Well, who doesn’t like vampires with their werewolves, I guess.

So, I really dig this episode. I know I didn’t include it in my favorites list I published a while back, but for a while I had this episode on constant rotation. Due in part to Larry Drake, whose performances I always enjoy. (RIP. And seriously, he’s the only good thing about Dr. Giggles.) Vampires, werewolves, mysterious goings-on . . . yeah, this episode sells it hard.

Recap

We open, of course, with Cryptkeeper intro. He’s surprisingly sedate (for him, at least), and just makes a few Charles Dickens puns in reference to the copy of Oliver Twist he’s reading. He’s disappointed that there was no twist, because he had such Great Expectations. Yeah. Moving on.

The story opens on a dark and stormy night at the Gaines Orphanage. We follow a young boy in pajamas and a coonskin cap (because this is the 50s? Unclear.) sneaking down the stairs inside. We can hear one woman telling another that these boys can’t be trusted, and we fade out on their conversation as Coonskin Cap makes his way into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator. He grabs a chicken drumstick that’s just sitting uncovered by itself on a plate, and puts back just the bone a few seconds later. Ew?

The boy grabs an apple that is also sitting on a plate in the fridge for some fucking reason, and makes his way back out of the kitchen. We can now hear Older Woman telling Younger Woman that the boys cheat off each other’s papers, while Younger Woman protests that she’s never witnessed that. They move out to the room Boy is in as Older Woman says that they have to do something about Theodore – he’s way past the desirable age for adoption. From the indignant look on Boy’s face, we surmise that he is Theodore. He is also hiding pretty much in plain sight under a table.

Younger Woman wants to know what happened to his parents, and Older Woman snaps that she must never mention his parents, or his behavior problems! Well, okay. That’s not super suspicious or anything.

Then Theodore drops the apple, which rolls right up to Older Woman’s feet. Smooth, kiddo.

Older Woman (whose name is Miss Hagstead) drags Theodore out from under the table and accuses him of spying. Nope, he was just hungry, because he’s bigger than the other kids. Miss Hagstead orders Younger Woman to take him back to his room, “and make sure he stays there,” while brandishing a key. I’m pretty sure locking kids in their rooms at an orphanage violates fire codes or something, but sure. Asshole.

Younger Woman (now known as Miss Heather) walks Theodore upstairs while telling him the meal plan for tomorrow, because this kid is apparently a bottomless pit, and much like my little dog, extremely food-motivated. We transition to a shot of clouds revealing a full moon. No werewolf action yet, though. We’re only 4 minutes in, after all.

The next morning, Miss Heather frantically reports to Miss Hagstead that Theodore is gone and his window is open! Miss Hagstead is annoyed, not worried. He throws these temper tantrums sometimes and runs off for a few hours. Oh. Is it always during the . . . full moon . . . ?

Cut to the door opening and Theodore standing on the porch, covered in dirt. Miss Hagstead yells at him, then orders him to the kitchen to help Joey with the dishes. As he walks by, she complains that “it’s getting worse.” Oh . . . ?

Miss Heather rocks up and sends Joey out of the kitchen so she can tell Theo that some people are coming by later tonight and are very interested in meeting him. He knows what this means, right? Well, normally it could mean adoption and happily ever after, but this is Tales From the Crypt, so.

New Mom might have stolen that jacket from Cruella de Vil

Cut to these two weirdos showing up and telling Theo that he’s perfect and they’ll take him. Like he’s a puppy in a store window. Or a tasty veal cutlet at the butcher’s shop. (Spoilers?)

Theo asks what if he doesn’t want to go, and New Mom (Mrs. Colbert) tempts him with living in the lap of luxury – he’ll have his own bathroom and towels with his initials on them! Wow, just what every 12-year-old boy dreams of!

Miss Hagstead, on the other hand, is clearly using every ounce of self-control not to scream, “Now listen you little shit, you’re going! End of story!”

Oh, spoke too soon. Miss Hagstead pulls Theo off to the kitchen to “help her make tea” and proceeds to basically scream exactly that at him. He asks what happened to his real parents, and she says they died when he was just a baby, but refuses to provide details. She tells him the Colberts are “a little eccentric” but they’ll provide him with a lovely home and lots of good, sweet things to eat.

Okay, I was joking about Theo being like a food-motivated dog, but apparently everyone else was dead serious about it. Huh.

There’s a moody shot of Larry Drake, who is the Colberts’ . . . butler? valet? something? and then Theo staring moodily out the back of a car while Miss Heather and the Orphan Boys wave goodbye. Also, the lighting is so blue it’s almost impossible to see what’s happening.

There’s voice over from Mrs. Colbert as they drive away, talking about how wonderful Theo will have it at his new home, and she asks her husband, “Won’t it be wonderful having him?” He replies, “Mmm. Wonderful. Having him.” Yes, yes, this is normal, nothing to worry about!

They pull up to the house and holy shit everything onscreen is so blue I can’t tell what anything looks like, goddamn. Fortunately the interior of the house has normal lighting. I really don’t know what they were thinking with this fucking blue filter, but whatever. Theo comments that it looks like a museum, and as he reaches out to touch a huge . . . urn? vase? a Rottweiler rocks up out of nowhere to bark and growl at him. New Mom tells him he must never touch anything; some of these pieces are very old.

So. We have foster/adoptive parents who have things at touching-height that the kids aren’t allowed to touch, and the presence of Grace Zabriskie? Is this just Child’s Play 2 all over again?

The Colberts and Larry Drake show Theo to his room, which is huge and contains tons of toys, including a model train going around its track and blowing a whistle. Theo turns to thank them, but all the adults have exited the room and locked him in. He runs to look out the keyhole, where New Mom is telling New Dad that he’s been so patient, while Theo calls out asking why they’ve locked him in. They walk off, ignoring him, and now it’s time for Doggie Jump Scare! as the Rottie (Mrs. Colbert called Doggie by name, but I don’t have captions and I can’t for the life of me figure out what she called him) jumps at the door, barking and growling.

Theo falls backwards to the floor, and exclaims, “What did Mrs. Hagstead tell them?!”

Well, Theo, she wanted to get rid of you, so it couldn’t have been that bad.

Theo is woken up the next morning by Larry Drake, AKA Tobias, serving him breakfast in bed. Well, I suppose it’s breakfast in the technical sense of it’s breaking his fast, but it’s all sweets – cake, pie, when Theo asks for milk, Tobias offers him a milkshake. Ooh, does it bring all the werewolves to the yard?

Theo notices there are bars on the windows, and Tobias assures him that there are bars on all the windows – for security. Eh, that might have been weird in the (I’m still not sure but possibly) 1950s, but it doesn’t really raise many eyebrows today.

Cue a montage of Theo playing with all his new toys, and eating enough cakes, eclairs, pie, and milkshakes for it to qualify as a miracle he doesn’t go into diabetic shock. Nope, nothing to worry about here; this isn’t a Hansel and Gretel story, so you should be perfectly safe!

Cut to this new little family all walking around the estate together, and Theo asking why he has to stay in his room all day while the Colberts are at “work.” Mm, work, yes. Definitely work. New Mom answers that Theo is the most precious thing they have, and they can’t risk something happening to him. And Tobias is far too old to be chasing after him in the woods. Umm, Larry Drake was 40 when this episode aired. I turn 39 in less than two weeks. I feel very insulted right now. Not that I want to chase 12-year-olds around in the woods, but still. Very insulted.

Theo goes on to ask if they can go out sometime and do something together like a real family – a movie, roller skating, a ballgame? I’m trying to picture these weirdos on roller skates, and honestly, it’s kinda hilarious. Anyway, they claim they’re busy tomorrow planning a surprise for Theo. It’s a secret, though. Theo hates secrets.

Tobias stares pensively after them as he falls behind with Doggie. At least, I think he does. This blue filter is pretty much the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed.

Cut to Tobias bringing Theo yet more junk food for lunch. Somehow, Theo isn’t dying of malnutrition yet. He asks if Tobias can come back and see him before dinner, and Tobias says he supposes he can stop by and they can play cards or something.

Cue the “Theo and Tobias become friends” montage.

Theo thinks about fun times he had at the orphanage with Miss Heather and his friends, and is suddenly . . . homesick, I guess it would be? Kind of? He asks where the Colberts are, and just as Tobias says they’re indisposed, they burst into the room with party horns and a birthday cake, yelling “Surprise!”

Theo is surprised, mostly because it isn’t his birthday. New Mom brushes it off – of course it’s not his birthday; it wouldn’t be a surprise if it was. Then they dish up about half the cake onto a plate for him, because they clearly want him to go into insulin shock. Theo’s not hungry because he had two boxes of Crackerjacks about an hour ago. Gross.

The Colberts tell Theo they’re going out to paint the town red. Yes. Yes, I bet you are. They call him “son” and tell him to open his presents and have fun with Tobias.

Cut to Tobias bonding with Theo as he tucks him into bed. Tobias was also an orphan who never got adopted; he agrees that Theo may call him “Toby” since Theo used to know a Tobias at his orphanage who went by Toby. Then Mrs. Colbert calls Tobias out of the room.

Later that night, Theo is woken up by the Colberts talking outside his door. New Mom says that this was her idea; she calls the shots; and she’ll say when their little orphan delicacy is ready for . . . whatever this is. They open the door and stare at Theo, who pretends to be asleep, and New Mom says she doesn’t think she can wait much longer. They’ll tell Theo their secret when they get home tonight.

I’m . . . sure it’s a fun secret, right? . . . right?

Time passes until it’s four thirty in the damn morning, and someone unlocks Theo’s bedroom door. Oh, it’s Toby! He rushes in to wake Theo up, telling him they have to get out of here. Theo moans that he doesn’t feel well.

Yeah, no shit. You’ve just spent what I’m about to guess is a full month eating roughly the same amount of sugar as Brazil exports in a year; what did you expect?

They start to make their way down the stairs, but are stopped by Mrs. Colbert, who looks considerably more vampish than we’ve seen previously. Apparently Tobias was promised immortality in exchange for his babysitting services, but he’s changed his mind and doesn’t want Theo to end up vampire chow.

Mrs. Colbert protests that his blood is so sweet now, and . . . okay. So, they’ve been feeding him nothing but sugar so that his blood will taste sweet to them? They’re vampires with a sweet tooth? That’s . . . okay. Sure. I mean, they couldn’t just get a mouthful of blood, pour some sugar on me in their mouths, and shake it around? Their plot seems overly complicated, is all I’m saying.

Anyway, Mr. Colbert appears out of nowhere on the stairs above Tobias, and bites into him while Theo laments his new friend’s demise. Theo jumps down the stairs and runs out the door as Mrs. Colbert sends Doggie after him, commanding Doggie to leave some for them.

Theo runs off into the woods; Doggie chases after; we’re shown a full moon as the Colberts join the chase, so I was right – it’s been a full month. A month of no food except sweets. I’m feeling sick just thinking about it.

Theo stumbles and falls as Doggie (it sounds like New Dad calls him “Lalitu”? “Laleetoo”? I don’t fucking know, y’all) catches up to him. The Colberts come out of the blueness darkness and we hear growling.

Theo is on his hands and knees facing away from the Colberts, and as they approach he tells them that now he knows what happened to his parents. You see, he has a secret too, and it’s better than the Colberts’. New Mom is the picture of condescending boredom, telling Theo that she’s sure he does. As Theo continues, his voice gets deeper and growlier. He turns around to reveal that he is a werewolf – with a taste for vampires!

I’m not quite sure how he would know that, but you do you, kiddo.

He leaps at Mrs. Colbert and rips her throat out (again, I think. This deep blue everything is a bitch for actually seeing what’s happening), then takes off after Mr. Colbert, who has started running away like a little bitch. Theo catches up to him, and he screams as we fade to black . . .

. . . and cut to the interior of the orphanage as someone pounds on the front door. Mrs. Hagstead opens the door to reveal Theo and Doggie on the porch. Theo tells her that he knows his secret now, and he thinks some things are going to change around here. He stares at her, and there’s wolf-face superimposed over his kid-face. Mrs. Hagstead is terrified, a wolf howls, and we fade to black again.

And then we get the Cryptkeeper’s wrap-up and exit puns. They’re not worth spending space on here. Sorry, Crypty.

Nostalgia Glasses Off

So yeah. This werewolf episode took basically the entire episode to werewolf. And to vampire, for what it’s worth.

So, what are we to believe did happen to Theo’s parents? We can assume they were also werewolves, right? Are we to believe they were killed by . . . werewolf hunters? Vampires? Buffy? Sam and Dean? The episode treats it like we should just know, and I really don’t.

I still like this episode a lot, but I think it’s fallen off of my favorites list. There’s not much to it when you boil it down.

Except diabeetus. This episode is full of diabeetus.

(Note: Wilford Brimley passed away the day after I finished this recap (including inserting these images), and a couple days before it was scheduled to go up. Weird coincidence. RIP, and thanks for the memes, sir.)

  Well, it's another full moon, so you know what that means - time for a werewolf story! This month I recapped the Tales From the Crypt episode, The Secret! Can you guess what the secret is? I bet you can! (The secret is ... diabeetus!) Title: The Secret Series: Tales From the Crypt Original Airdate: July 31, 1990 Description: A 12-year-old orphan is adopted by a rich childless couple (William Frankfather and Grace Zabriskie) who harbor a dark secret.