#i dig this hole myself and boi the last time i climbed up anything was in elementary school 🏫

[saltiestbread]

Hi gang! I might stop posting art probably for the whole year and a little bit more than that to really focus on the upcoming uni admission tests!

It kind of important and if i fuck it up too badly might come with big unfortunate with is a no no!

so there that? plz wish me luck i need all the blessing i can get and see you all later!

[littlemelaninfics]

Mommy Dearest

warnings: sub!evan, pegging

Buck had been really needy tonight. We were hanging out with Hen and Eddie having fun, until he started whining. I tried to ignore him at first but then when I decided to dance with his best friend, he anchored me down.

“Uh oh, is someone needy for their mommy?” Eddie teases, knowing Buck is a switch. He kept his arms around my waist and his head in my side when he nodded, cheeks squishing against me. We didn’t last much longer at Hen’s before we’re heading back to his apartment. We were through the door, laying on his bed when,

“Mommy, can you fill me up?” He whispered.

“What was that?” He got a little shy when I asked him to repeat it.

“Want you to fill me up,” he said again looking at me this time. I lifted his chin more and brought my lips down to his. As he got more into the kiss, started to turn his body to hover over me. We stayed like this for a while until I flipped us, placing his hands above his head,

“Fuck, look at you, just so needy. Couldn’t even dance with my friends without you being a brat.”

“ ’m sorry, just wanted your attention. You were talking with them all night, barely looked at me.” I gave him a light tap on his left cheek,

“What did I say about lying to me? Have I ever not given you attention?”

“No.”

“Then why did you say that?”

He didn’t answer, but slightly pouted instead. I remove myself off his torso and head to the bathroom,

“Be a good boy and wait for me naked on the bed, okay?” Buck nodded and quickly stood to undress himself as I walked out of the room. I snag my backpack before closing door and removing my own clothing. I changed into his favorite set and exited the bathroom. He was naked, sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting.

As soon as he saw me, his hand flew to his already throbbing cock. I pause at the second doorway,

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I wanted to be nice, even wore your favorite set, but look at you, couldn’t even wait for me,” I shook my head and walked over to his closet.

"Fuck. I'm sorry. It's just fucking painful. Please touch it.” I shook my head and bent down to retrieve the box. I stand up from the closet and place the box on the bed. I walk around to Elliot and place my hands on his thighs,

"Ask me again," I whisper in his ear. He reaches his hand up to my hip before turning his head to touch my lips with his,

"Please touch it." I cup my hand and bring it to his mouth. He took the signal and spit in my hand. I wrapped that hand around his shaft and started slowly stroking. He let out a low moan and his eyes drifted shut. I took my other hand and placed it under his chin to get his eyes on me. When I got his gaze I started to stroke harder and faster. His hips lifted off the bed in a reflex and I attached my lips to his neck.

"Mmmm. God, fuck."

"Does that feel good?"

"So good." I let him revel in the pleasure a little longer before removing my hand and digging my nails into the flesh on his thighs,

“I was gonna be gentle, you know? Go nice and slow for you, but now I’ve changed my mind,” I said while pushing myself up and walking over to the box. He doesn't say anything as I open it and look inside. I let out a small gasp and a smile grows on my lips. This caused him to turn and look at what I was doing and when he saw what I pulled out, his cock visibly twitched. I close the box and place it on the ground before walking back to him.

"Alright, hands and knees. C'mon." He turned around and got into position without hesitation. I quickly walk to his desk and grab the condom before removing my panties and stepping into the strap on. I climbed behind him and gave him a kiss on his back,

“I know you said you’re sorry, but you were just so naughty tonight. First not letting me have fun, being a pathetic attention whore. Then you LIED,” I gave him a harsh slap to his ass before rubbing a finger around his puckered ring,

“THEN you started touching yourself without permission,” I spit on his hole and inserted my finger. He let out a light hiss,

“I think you deserve a punishment.” I pushed in another and fingered his hole until he was looser. I pulled out my fingers and reached over in his nightstand for the lube,

“I don’t think you deserve this, but you’ll already be screaming like a little bitch, so I’ll give it to you.” I pop the cap and squirt a generous amount on his hole and the shaft of the cock. I stoke the the cock and insert two fingers back into Buck,

“Gonna be a good boy for me?”

“Yes mommy!” I smirk, remove my fingers and bring my hand down to his ass harshly once more, making him moan. I do it again hearing him mutter “fuck”.

“You like it when I spank you, yeah?”

“Mhm! Harder please,” I bring my hand down spanking him harder watching the pale skin redden. When he has a few tears escape his eyes, I line myself up with him, slowly pushing the toy in.

“Ohhh Baby, look at you. Fuck, it’s just sliding right in.” Buck lets out a loud moan and I started my pace slow, but rough.

"Oh fuck!" I placed both hands on his hips and started to drive the cock into his hole. My pace was faster but just as rough and he took every inch. His left hand was gripping the sheets beneath him and his right flew to his cock. I let him stroke himself until I realized he was close. I gripped the his short hair, pulling him up slightly to me,

"Don't you fucking dare. I see what you're doing. You don't cum until I say you can. You're my fucktoy." He removed his hand and balled the sheets with both hands instead. I shoved his fave into the pillow and gave him four of the roughest thrusts this session. His muffled hollers made my pussy clench around nothing.

I give him a few more strokes before he lets out a sobby moan,

"Fuck, Y/N! I can't hold it anymore."

"That's not my fucking name. What's my name?"

"Fuck! Mommy!"

"Say it again."

"Mommy!"

"Again."

"Mommy!"

"Again!"

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Fuck!"

"Give me your cum, you fucking slut. You sound so pathetic begging."

He came onto the sheets, but didn't dare leave the position he was in. His muscles started contracting and I could feel him pulling the strap in deeper. I rode out his high until we were both content and slowly pulled out of him. He let out a groan at the emptiness and gripped the pillow for a minute. I got off the bed and removed the strap. I hear little sniffles coming from the pillow,

"Evan, look at me." He sat up on his knees and looked up at me. I run my hand though his damp hair and caress his cheek, removing the lingering tears. I snake my hand to the back of his neck and bend down to lightly kiss his quivering lips. My eyes dart down and then back at him,

"Looks like you made a mess. Clean it up." He looks at me before bending down to slurp up the puddle of cum he left. My hand instantly goes to touch my soaking clit,

"Mmmmm. Such a good cum whore for me. Fuck, baby." I started to rub faster and reached my high pretty quickly. I stick my fingers in my mouth and lick them clean. Buck goes to collect the liquid dripping down my leg, but I stop him,

"Show me." He sticks his tongue out to show me the thick, white substance sitting pretty on his palette. I bend back over and swipe my tongue over his, collecting some of him in my mouth. I swallow and he does too,

"Fuck you taste so good." His hand slid up my inner thigh to my cunt and stuck two fingers in. He brought me closer and buried his face in my pussy. I had a strong grip on his head and one on his shoulder as I started to lose my balance. He lifted my leg onto the bed to get deeper. Orgasm number two came through me like a freight train and he licked me clean. He licked his lips before looking up at me saying,

"You taste better."

[raindownforme]

Salt Water

Charlie Slimecicle x reader [she/her used]

CW: negative body image, self doubt, negative self image

(Yes this is self-indulgent comfort)

“This is easy.” y/n spoke out loud to no one but herself. She stared in the mirror, turning side to side. Today was the start of summer, and her and her friends had decided to go to the beach. She’d bought the perfect bathing suit for it, too. It was a pretty blue with a dinosaur pattern. It was also a bikini.

She felt comfortable in it. She wouldn’t have bought it otherwise. She felt comfortable when she bought. She felt comfortable when she planned the whole outfit. She felt comfortable when she made the plans. She didn’t feel comfortable now.

She thought she’d grown put of this. She was an adult goddamnit. y/n wasn’t the middle-schooler who got made fun of by her trash friends, or the high schooler who thought so negatively al the time. She was an adult who bought herself the cute dinosaur bathing suit. And by god she was going to wear it.

y/n sighed, stepping back from her mirror to sit on the edge of her bed. She could do this. She knew she could. It would just be so much easier if she could stop thinking for five seconds. It was the same incomprehensible thought over and over, an onslaught of negative thoughts towards herself and her figure. Reminders of every YouTube comment on her videos, in her friends’ twitch chats, in public posts.

Maybe she shouldn’t go?

“Hey, you ready?” Someone knocked on y/n’s door and startled her. She jumped up from the bed, throwing on a pair of shorts and a large plain shirt. She shouldered her tote of necessities, slipped on her flip-flops, and opened the door. Cooper stood slouched waiting for her. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” y/n walked in front of him to the car waiting. Ted sat in the drivers seat, shuffling through his playlist. Jawsh sat in the passenger seat next to him, not at all paying attention. y/n watched cooper climb into the furthest row of the car, leaving her, Charlie, and Traves to fit into the middle row. y/n held her breath as she climbed in, being forced to squeeze into the middle seat. She rested all her belongings in her lap, staring forwards through the windshield.

“Everyone packed in?” They all gave a chorus of ‘yes’ as Ted pulled out of his parking spot and to the open road. It was only 20 minutes from the beach, shorter if traffic got lucky.

The music bumped throughout the car and everyone split into different conversations. Jawsh and Ted talked about something or other, Traves and Cooper shared content on their phones, and Charlie turned to look at y/n. “I brought the boogie boards! Do you want to— what’s wrong?”

She turned to look at him, slightly surprised. “Yeah. No I’d love to boogie board.”

“Are you okay?” Charlie dropped how loud his voice was compared to everyone else. “Something seems off.”

“I’m good.” She lazily smiled at him then turned back to stare out the windshield. She liked watching the cars and buildings pass by in a blur. Charlie looked away from her and followed her line of vision. He didn’t quite understand, but he was determined to.

The group soon arrived at the beach. They quickly unpacked their full trunk and set up their seating on the beach. Ted made sure the umbrella stood upright, Traves and Cooper carried the coolers, Jawsh and y/n set out chairs and blankets, and Charlie carried the toys.

“Everyone sun screened?” Ted gestured as he tried to pass around a bottle. “y/n? I don’t want you to get cancer.”

“I’m good!” She’d already applied skin protectant before leaving the house. y/n set down her stuff and sat in the low lawn chair. She took in the sight of Cooper, Traves and Jawsh racing towards the shore, stumbling over each other in the sand. Charlie sat a few feet away from the laid out area, taking a child’s plastic shovel and beginning to dig a hole.

Ted snapped a lid to a cooler shut and cracked open his soda. He set it in the cup holder of a chair and set his glasses down on the same seat. “I’m headed to the water.”

y/n waved him off as he left. She closed her eyes, feeling herself sink into the chair. She still had on her large shirt and shorts, but they were starting to grow warm. It was hot outside, and she knew she’d be so much more comfortable in just the bathing suit she had under neath.

A shadow appeared over y/n and she opened her eyes again. Charlie stood smiling, a hand extended towards her pick her up. “Come on! Get in the water.”

“No you go ahead.” She sat up slightly, looking between her friends in the water and the boy in front of her. Charlie stayed, persistent.

“y/n get in the water. It’ll be fun!”

“Charlie you go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

He frowned, dropping his hand. “But you were so excited. You told me you bought that dinosaur suit and everything.”

y/n blushed. She didn’t remember telling him, but he was right. She likes the dinosaurs. She had wanted to go in the water this whole time. She took a breath, and stood from her seat. She slowly took off the shorts and t-shirt, placing them back in her seat. She turned to Charlie with a small smile. “Teach me to boogie board.”

“R-Right.” Charlie turned away from her a red tinge to his face. She felt discouraged almost, that Charlie of all people couldn’t look at her in a fucking bathing suit. The negative thoughts started coming back, the reminders, but she tried to kick them away. She wanted to enjoy the beach.

She followed Charlie to the shore line. He dragged behind himself two three-foot-tall boards made of foam and plastic with a tether made of coiled cord and a Velcro band. He slid the two boards into the water. The salt and sand kicked at the foam as he tied one tether around y/n’s wrist. “What are-?”

“You won’t loose it.” Charlie smiled as he talked. He glanced back up to her eyes with a smile, but quickly looked back to make sure the tether was secured to her wrist. Charlie took y/n’s hand in his, pulling her out deeper in the water until the water was just above her middle.

“Aren’t we in the breakers?”

“Yeah! This is exactly where we need to be. Okay you’re gonna hold it like this-“ Charlie got on his board, gripping the top with his hands and resting his chest towards the bottom of his board. y/n copied him, pulling the board closer than he had his. “Okay. So when the right wave comes, jump and let it take you. If it’s the right one it’ll carry you back to shore.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Try again.” y/n felt the water be sucked from beside her as the tide rolled over. She glanced to see Charlie lean further onto his board, and she did the same. “This is a good one. Ready?”

“I guess.”

y/n and Charlie jumped at the same time. She laughed as the wave swept her past her friends towards the Sandy shore. She almost made it, but at the last moment she flipped and tumbled in the water.

“Fuck!” Charlie ran over to y/n’s side. She laid on the sand, coughing lightly as she sat up. There was a track of sand down her side, and the boogie board kept bumping into her rudely. “Are you Alright? I’m really sorry.”

“How do I take this thing off?” y/n sat up, pulling at the velcro around her arm. Charlie removed it for her, tossing the board aside. He extended his hand, helping pull her up from the ground. y/n dusted the sand from her legs, and looked up watch Charlie whip his head away with a furious blush covering his cheeks.

“I— Just unwrap the- the thing. The- that.” y/n did as instructed, and handed the boogie board over to Charlie. She watched him take the two boards back over to their beach setup. She followed him, going to sit in her beach chair and wrap a towel around herself. Charlie took a glance at her, the same red returning to his face, then walked very quickly to where some of the other boys were still in the water.

“You two good?” Cooper took a slow sip from a canned soda, glancing between Charlie and y/n.

“Yep.” She felt herself sink lower into the seat. “No. Maybe. I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well- I just-“ she closed her eyes and took a breath. “I bought this stupid bathing suit cause I wanted to feel good about it and about myself and he can’t even look at me in it. I just feel stupid and ugly.”

“Woah woah. y/n there’s no way you’re ugly, period. And there’s no way Charlie thinks you’re ugly.”

“You’re just saying that cause I’m here.”

“I’m saying cause I’m your friend and Charlie thinks you’re fuckin smokin.”

y/n sat up and looked at copper again. “What?”

“Sorry. Let me re-phrase. Charlie thinks-“ Cooper paused, holding his soda in one hand. “I-uh. I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t say anything!”

“Yes you did!” y/n stared at Cooper in confusion. He tried to get up and run, but stumbled in the sand and slammed into one of the coolers. He rolled over in the sand, groaning. y/n got out of her chair And knelt down next to him. “Tell me know?”

“He- ugh. He think you’re hot idiot.” Cooper rolled over, flopping his arms outwards and closing his eyes. “That fuckin hurt.”

y/n opened the cooler Cooper had fallen on. She took a handful of ice out and laid it on the spot on Cooper’s abdomen that had hit the cooler. She pressed it closer with the towel she’d been wearing moments before. “Tell me more!”

“No! I’m not doing this for the two of you.”

“The two of us?” y/n withdrew her hand slightly, feeling her face grow warm. “You’re not-“

“Shut up. You’re both so into each tower it’s gross.” Cooper looked back towards the shore line and gave an evil grin. “Speak of the devil.”

y/n paused. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see someone walking up the the chairs and towels that she had no doubt was Charlie. Cooper started standing, leaving her sitting in the sand.

“Hey you good? We saw you fall?”

“Yeah.” Cooper patted Charlie on the shoulder. “By the way, you tow should talk.”

y/n whipped her head away from Charlie, anger and embarrassment bubbling from within her. Charlie was none the wiser. “Uh, about what Cooper?”

Cooper pushed off of Charlie, walking back towards the water. “Tell her what you think man. I’m tired.”

Charlie watched Cooper walk into the water, then turned back to y/n with a furious blush. “I- uh. I like the suit. The dinosaurs. You look great- the dinosaurs. You look great in the suit with the dinosaurs. I mean you look great anyways I just- dinosaurs!”

“Thanks.” y/n sat up a bit straighter.

“So,” Charlie sat cross-legged on a blanket in the sand. “What were you two talking about?”

“I told Cooper I felt ugly and then he said that you said I was smokin.”

“You’re not-! I didn’t say that.”

“Come on Charlie, am I ugly or smokin?”

Charlie paused, frowning. “Joking doesn’t make it go away.”

“I know. It’s just easier. It’s okay it’s just weird to talk about.” She laid back onto the blanket, letting her arms rest above her head. “I like the bathing suit I just don’t like me in it.”

“I understand.” Charlie built small piles of sand at his feet. “I know I can’t change much but for what it’s worth I think you’re pretty.”

She turned her head, looking at him confusedly. “You do?”

“Well- I-“ He pursed his lips, thinking. “I would use the word gorgeous instead.”

“Oh.” y/n looked away from Charlie, trying to hide their flustered expression.

“Oh wait did I say the wrong thing?” Charlie started fiddling with his hands, not sure what to do. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable it’s just- fuck you’re so pretty and I really like you and god you look fucking great but you’re also really funny and smart and sweet and I like you so much but I’m really sorry-“

“Charlie.” y/n placed a hand on his arm, now sitting in the sand next to him. “You never made me uncomfortable.”

“Oh thank god. I never wanted to-“

“I like you to.”

Charlie froze, taking in what y/n said as a blush crept up his neck to his cheeks. He laughed, running a hand through his hair. “No way! Wait no way. Really?” y/n nodded and he laughed again, leaning over to place his hands on the side of her face and rest his forehead against hers. “Holy shit! Like actually holy shit!”

y/n laughed, quickly kissing Charlie’s nose. “Come on nerd let’s get back in the water.”

“Yeah! Yes.” Charlie scrambled upright, pulling a giggling y/n up with him. “Here watch this.” Charlie, in one fluid motion, swept y/n off her feet and began carrying her bridal style. He walked with her in his arms all the way to the water, where he fell into the water with her. They both came up for air, y/n laughing the whole time. “Better?”

“Much better.” y/n kissed him again, putting her arms over his shoulders to hold him close.

“Hey! You two.” Cooper splashed water at y/n and Charlie. “You done?”

The two paused, looking back to each other, then swam towards their group of friends, starting a splash free-for-all.

[vivilove-jonsa]

Can I do a combo of prompts? Lemonade stand + underwear? You can totally choose one or the other btw!

Hello, my dear, and thank you for the prompt from this post. It took me a bit to come up with something and I settled on a 50s AU for the aesthetic of it. I hope you like it alright. And instead of underwear, it's more like lemonade stand and bikini 😉

**

A lazy afternoon in the summer of ’59, Mother’s got a headache and has asked Sansa to keep the boys outside and out of trouble. (No one has to be asked to keep Sansa out of trouble. She’s never in any. And of course, Robb and Arya have escaped off to somewhere else while Daddy’s still at his office.)

After Sansa had nixed tree climbing and setting off cherry bombs as entertainment, Bran and Rickon had begrudgingly agreed to a lemonade stand. Sansa suspected they were mostly interested for the sake of getting to drink as much lemonade as they can hold and she’s proven correct. They disappeared to the backyard twenty minutes ago.

This was not the plan today.

The plan was Sansa and her best friend in their brand new bikinis laying out front to paint their toenails, listen to the transistor radio and work on their tans where boys might notice them.

Admittedly, there were a couple of flaws in that plan.

One, Sansa Stark doesn’t tan. She burns and freckles. No matter how much Coppertone she slathers on, she’s never going to tan like Jeyne.

And two, no boys have seemed to notice them so far. Just grody old Mr. Baelish from down the block. He’s driven past Sansa’s house four times now in the past hour. He makes her skin crawl.

The only so-called boy who’s even around to notice them in fact is Sansa’s next door neighbor Jon Snow who is currently cutting the grass at his house and making it hard to hear Little Richard belting out ‘Tutti Frutti.’

Jon and Robb used to play together when they were younger but somewhere along the way their interests diverged. Robb wears his letterman’s jacket and always has football on the brain. Jon’s got a leather jacket and a motorcycle.

His father’s never been around, his mother’s gone a lot. He smokes cigarettes and Sansa’s seen some of the crowd he hangs around with at school. Mother says he’s probably trouble. (And good girls like Sansa probably shouldn’t want to be noticed by a boy like that, right?)

But he also has the dreamiest eyes, dreamier than Ricky Nelson’s. He used to call her Red when they were younger and she used to think it was cute. (She might still think it’s cute if he still called her that.)

He wears his curls slicked back and pops the collar of his leather jacket before he revs his motorcycle loudly a few times every morning when he’s heading off to school. (Of course, Sansa’s only noticed because Robb drives her and they usually leave the same time. It’s not like she’s that interested in what Jon Snow does even if he’s a little like James Dean and Marlon Brando rolled into one.)

Anyway, here she sits, feeling quite conspicuous in her red and white polka dot bikini, at a lemonade stand like she’s still twelve or something, abandoned by her little brothers and even Jeyne who’d said she’d go get some magazines for them to look at once they’d been saddled with the babysitting but hasn’t returned yet. She feels more than a little sorry for herself. At least the stand is in a shady spot and she’s no longer on the verge of getting good and sunburnt.

“Hey, Red. How much for a glass?”

She whirls around to find Jon Snow is right behind her, sweaty in his jeans and white tee with little bits of grass clippings sticking to his muscled forearms. She hadn’t even noticed the mower shutting off. (He called her Red, too.)

“A nickel for a glass,” she says, reciting what Bran had painstakingly spelled out on the spare bit of cardboard she’d found for a sign and attached to the front of her parents’ card table. Why is she blushing?

He smirks and starts digging in his front pocket.

“But it’s free for you!”

He stops digging and raises his eyebrows.

“I mean…you’re our neighbor and you’ve been working hard and…there’s no charge.” She can feel the blush deepening and wonders if the sun and heat might be blamed. Probably not.

“My lucky day,” he hums, helping to ease her embarrassment. “Are you going to be selling lemonade out here every day?”

“No,” she laughs. “Bran and Rickon got bored and kind of left me with it so…” She stops her rambling, picks up her mother’s pitcher and pours him a glass. “Here you go.”

She hands it over and their fingers brush together sending little jolts of electricity all through her. Their eyes are locked and she can feel her cheeks tugging upward to form a smile that matches his. He really does have the dreamiest eyes and she doesn’t care if he rides a motorcycle or smokes cigarettes. Maybe he’s a little bit of trouble but maybe Sansa might enjoy a little trouble in her life. Always being the good girl has its drawbacks, too.

He brings the glass up to his lips (he has very full and pouty lips) and tips it back. She watches the way his throat bobs as he drinks, the way the sweat on his skin glistens even in the shady spot where the stand sits. He drinks the entire glass down without pause. A trickle of the liquid escapes his mouth and goes streaking down his chin and neck. He’ll be all sticky there. Sansa turns her head to lick her lips and touch her brow. What has come over her?

“Mmmm…that’s sweet and tart, just the way it should be,” he says, smacking his lips as he sets the glass back down on the table.

“Thanks. I made it myself.”

“I figured. I’m not sure I’d want to try anything your brothers made. They’re busy digging holes in your backyard at the moment by the way.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Unless your dad was wanting to put in a golf course back there, I’m not sure what the purpose is.”

“They’re…they…OH!”

She races off around back to catch the two felons hard at work digging holes for…reasons? She scolds them both until they apologize and promise to fill the holes at once. Sansa assures them if they’ll do that it can be their little secret. No need to bother Mother and her headache with it.

She hurries back out front to see if Jon has returned to his yard, secretly hoping he hasn’t.

He hasn’t. He’s still there.

“Did you want some more lemonade?” she asks, trying to think of a reason to keep him there.

“Nah, I…” He looks around, reaches up towards the collar of his tee and lets his hand drop just as quick. He gives her a shy grin. “I didn’t know if you wanted some company at your stand. I saw that creep driving by earlier when you girls were out and I thought…I could stick around for a bit…if you wanted.”

She nods and thanks him, telling him she’d love to have his company while they wait for Bran and Rickon to come take back over. Of course, her little brothers aren’t coming to take back over. They’re busy filling in holes in the backyard. They’ve forgotten all about the lemonade stand.

Sure enough, Mr. Baelish’s Chevy does make a return trip down the street a few minutes later. But Jon stands up when it does, stands right in front of where she’s sitting. She doesn’t know if Jon makes any gestures or just glares but the Chevy speeds on past and doesn’t return.

And when Jeyne returns at long last with her stack of magazines, her eyes boggle at the sight of Jon Snow still sitting next to Sansa at the stand and the two of them talking and laughing.

Sansa wonders how shocked her friend might be when she tells her that she’s got a date with him Saturday night.

[oksana-moods]

Ghost of you - Part 1

Summary: This story begins before CAWS and will develop following the movies. Our OFC was being held by Hydra, who is trying to create a new super soldier. She has a past, which will haunt her untill it comes to bite her. Slow burn. Plus, the title is a song from My Chemical Romance and brings a lot of ofc’s point of view; I was inspired by a lot of songs and I’m sure you’ll recognize a few. Trigger warnings: Violence, bad language, angst. If you find any other, I’ll be glad to add.

“And I remember now, at the top of my lungs in my arms she dies At the end of the world, or the last thing I see.”

Pain.

It’s all void, but pain.

Pain.

It’s like a faint light in the back of my mind telling me to move, but it hurts.

It’s too much.

I feel lightheaded while I slowly drift into consciousness, and it hurts.

Pain.

I become aware that I am laying in the cold ground, I just don’t know where, I can’t remember. I try to turn to the right, but the sharp pain on my left says to me that I broke one rib or two, maybe more. But how?

What am I doing here? Where is here?

I can feel a split on my lip, my cheek has a gash and when I rise my left hand, I see something like a metal glove. Wait. I try to move to have a better look at it…

Pain.

I curse under my breath; my chest is heavy.

I try to look at my hand again. With shaky breath, I realize that I’m not looking at a glove. My whole forearm, from right below my elbow to the tip of my fingers, it’s all made of cold metal. What. The. Fuck??

I gasp. When did this happen? I had two perfect flesh arms, didn’t I?! Why can I remember what happened to me? I lay my head back on the ground and close my eyes. I try to search, but that is nothing to grasp on my mind, I can’t remember a thing. It’s all gone. I take a deep breath and I try harder, try to think of something, anything at all…

And then, like seeing a movie scene from a foggy screen, it’s hard, confusing even, I see a woman. Of course, I don’t know who she is, but it’s something, at least. I’m outside a… bar? A Club? I’m not sure. I am looking at a blond woman, she gives me a wide grin, takes the key from my left hand (oh my, I knew it, is a flesh hand), climbs the motorcycle in front of us. After she turns the engine on, she motions for me to climb as well. Without missing a beat, I am hugging her waist and then we go. Who is this woman? What happened to my arm? To me? I need more answers, I need to dig further, I need more memories. I feel tired, but I push it away. I search, dig throughout the emptiness of my brain…

And here it comes, another flash of foggy memory, will it be the same wo…? Before I could finish, I see myself standing on some sort of park. I’m looking at such pretty little girl wearing a red shirt, her hair is everywhere trying to ride a bike. I feel myself smiling at her. ‘Look at me, I am doing it!’ She laughs and I feel my heart so light at that moment. ‘Yes, you are, sweetie’. I smile back at her as she comes to hug me. ‘Thanks for teaching me, aunt L..’

No. No, no, no, come back. Arg! I needed that information. She was about to say a name. With a grunt I turn to my side, this time it hurts a bit less. Guess I’m getting used to feel like shit. I blink twice, for a moment I think I passed out and started to dream, but no. I’m wide awake. I’m about to grasp a piece of memory in the back of head once again. I close my eyes and there it is… I blink twice. The shades failing in keeping the sun rays out of the room, but I can’t bring myself to care. Just when I turn to my side, a smile creeps itself into my mouth as my eyes land in the goddess laying centimeters away from me. Perfect silk skin, the most beautiful curves my eyes have ever seen. Having her this way, so bare, immaculate even and there’s nothing I wanna do but to stare in awe. Her eyes stir open. They focus on me. Holy, she’s perfect.   ‘Morning...’ She flashes a smile and my heart flutters. She brings her incredible warm hands to touch the military tag resting in my chest. I move my head to kiss her hand that are now touching my cheek. ‘I didn’t know you were wearing my former tag among yours’ She says. I kiss her hands once more before replying ‘That way I can feel you close to me. Close to my heart whenever you’re not around’. The look in her eyes could light up a hole city, priceless, so full of passion and warm and… ‘I lov…’

All I can see is darkness. I’m back to the same place I was before. Instantly missing the warm those memories brought to my chest. I try to go back to that sunny room, but to no avail. I can’t access that memory again as I realize my mind starting to drift off, to go blank. I feel nothing but pain, as darkness embrace me.

 ______________________________________________

I’m jolted awake as the door is burst open by a man wearing black tactical suit. I try to move away, but he takes three steps way too fast. He picks me up by my collar and arm with a deadly grip. Ouch, this is going to leave a bruise. He punches me in the face. Hey, what the hell. Before I can even muster some words, he says: “ready for the next session?” “wha.. what?” “what do you remember, bitch?!” “I…hm. I…  nothing. Who are you?” Another punch, and I feel a crack in my nose. Did this idiot just broke my nose? “Don’t lie to me, woman. What do you remember? Answer me. NOW!” He violently pushes me, so I hit the wall behind me… Suddenly, just like a dream, or a snap, that foggy screen is back. I’m in a doorway, looking at that blond woman again. And God, is she beautiful. She’s wearing a leather jacket that I recognize as my own. I walk towards her, within her personal space. I brush our noses when I see the corner of her lips twitch, ever so slightly, then she pushes me causing my back to hit the wall. She takes two steps. She’s so, so close that I can breathe her breath. My eyes are closed since I’m about to taste…

I’m brought back to reality by being hit square in the face again.

“Stop.” I mutter, now lying on the ground. “Ok. Ok. I remember a... a woman. A blond woman, we are…” I trail off trying to find the correct words. What are we? Who is she? “We are friends. And… And a little girl. That’s all!” I stutter out because that big Glock in his waistband is not friendly at all.

“Aaarg.” He grunts and pick me up again, pushes me to the wall once more, punches me twice and drags me out of the room, or should I say cell? After a few turns through corridors, we arrive in a room, or a lab, with very strange devices and a chair, in which he drops me and ties me, all the while smirking at me. He saw the very confused look in my face, he squats a bit so he can look me dead in the eye. “You are going to break, eventually, woman. I am going to break you. And, in the end, all you will remember is despair. Nothing, but despair.”

I probably lost my mind, or I don’t know, something in his voice made me mad. Made me burn with angry. I totally lost my mind, because I was tied in a crazy chair, in a creepy room, having my ass being beat out of me, but what did I had to lose? All I could feel was this flame in my chest, and boy, it burned. This man could have the upper hand, but I refuse to go down that easy. Next thing I knew, I was spiting blood is his face giving a very blooded grin. I was mad. “I wanna see you try, barf bag. I’m not breakable!”

Of course, his answer was another punch, and my nose did break this time. However, before he could do anything else, the man with a white coat spoke: “Sir, she’s very strong, her memories are very strong. She’s too attached to them. Is hard to erase everything without killing the subject”. Wow, now I became a subject, was this a research facility? Did I volunteer for something? No, not likely. If I had, why would they kick me, punch me and walk around with guns? I’m brought back from my reverie when the ‘doctor/scientist’ speaks again “We could use a different approach, though.” “Which is…” My ‘friend’ in black was losing his patience. I was getting under his skin; I just didn’t know if it was from today or previous encounters. “I think that, since erasing is not working just as it did with the Soldier, we could try to manipulate her memories. Put her through erasing process one more time, and then replay some specific memory, a very painful one a few rounds. It will take time, but I am sure it will be affective. The only memory she’ll have will be one that she’ll beg to forget.” My eyes went wide. I just don’t know what to think. What are these guys doing? And why are they doing it? “Well well, Doctor List, now I know why you are in the payment check.” He turns to face me. “Still think is funny, bitch? You’ll break as it seems.” I spat again, on his feet this time “I will come for you” Oh, I swear I’ll wipe his smug face with my bare hands. He smirked at me “You won’t remember who I am”. He looks at the doctor. “Go on, doc!”

Apparently, this was what the doctor was waiting for. He turned on a few devices and pressed some buttons in the computer whilst I saw and felt some sort of slab, better yet, a helmet closing around in my head. The doctor pressed my cheeks so I’d open my mouth and he could shove a plastic mouthguard inside it. I was about to spat it when he calmly said, “I think is better for you to keep it.”

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, could prepare me for the excruciating pain that I instantly felt when the machine sent electric shock waves to and through my brain, through me.

I must’ve screamed, because I saw the man in black smiling.

Pain. Why are they doing this? I can’t hurt anymore.

Pain.

___________________________________________

I was leaning on the kitchen counter facing the blond woman once again. However, this time I’m feeling a pang in my chest when I look at her eyes. ‘I need to go. This time I think will be longer’. She says and I sigh looking away ‘Then, what are you still doing here?’ It’s her turn to sigh ‘Please, you can’t make me choose between my heart and my responsibilities’. Oh, that line lights a flame inside my heart. ‘I am not. There is nothing to choose. Not now, anyway.’ She throws her hands in the air ‘Why… dammit. Why are you being this cold, this heartless?’ Pain and rage are doing this crazy mix inside me. She has the nerve… Why is she mad? She doesn’t have the right to. She is the one leaving. I grit my teeth ‘Me, I’m being heartless? How long do you think we could keep playing house, pretending… dreaming that I am important, that I’m good enough? You said yourself, you have your responsibilities and there’s nothing I can do. So, forgive me if I am being a bit too cold right now. I’m just trying to protect what’s left from my heart.’ Now, that was a deep cut. But I can’t withdraw my words, if she’s hurting so am I. Right now, she’s standing right next to the door. Hands on the doorknob, but it feels like she’s squeezing my heart. Maybe, because she is. We lock eyes, and all I can see is sadness in those brown pools. ‘It’s not easy for me either, you know’.  She gives me a humorless smile. I had to close my eyes to brace myself for what’s coming next. The final strike, the final hit to shatter the remaining pieces. ‘Guess we are too good at goodbyes, by now’. All I can hear is the door closing and I refuse to open my eyes and face the empty house, the truth. Because opening my eyes is realizing, is to accept the reality. She’s gone. For good this time. She’s right. I am used to goodbyes, way too much for my liking. Pain. I feel some shock waves again in the back of my mind.

Pain.

I have a helmet in my hand and I’m walking towards a chopper. ‘Hey.’ I look up to see the beautiful blond waving and smiling at me. She’s wearing a green flight suit, climbing into some sort of fighter, but this one is different. I smile back ‘Have a nice flight, Cap’, before climbing on my chopper and taking-off. After a few minutes, the radio goes off with the blond’s voice ‘mayday, mayday’. All I can hear is some distress sound. I try to respond but there’s no reply. I look down to the TCAS’s screen and I see her fighter descending way too fast to be good. Tracing a path to where the fighter is headed, I turn the chopper and go as fast as possible. Not long till I see the fighter’s right wing on fire. ‘C’mon C’mon’ I said to myself. I contact the base and tell them to send a medical support to our coordinates, but I can barely hear the response as I watch the aircraft hit the ground in a clearing. My heart drops. When I spot two forms outside the plane, I release a breath that I didn’t know I was holding ‘Son of a bitch, if she isn’t the best pilot’ I laugh to myself. I was flying over the woods, almost reaching their location, relief was washing over me, but was short lived ‘cause I see some sparks near the crash and… ‘NOOOO!’ I shout when an explosion comes from the crash. My heart stops. Truly, stops. It can’t be. No, no, no, no. ‘She can’t be gone’. Then, all I see is white.

Pain.

A helmet in my hand and I’m walking towards a chopper (What? It can’t be). ‘Hey.’ I look up to see the beautiful blond waving and smiling at me. (oh, no. Not again) She’s wearing a green flight suit, climbing into some sort of fighter. ‘Have a nice flight, Cap’ (No, stop. I cannot see it again) I hear ‘mayday, mayday’ And some distress sound. I try to respond but there’s no reply. Not long till I see the fighter’s right wing on fire. I watch the aircraft hit the ground in a clearing. (What is going on?) I see two forms outside the plane. I was almost reaching their location when I spot some sparks near the crash and… (NO. NO, PLEASE. I CAN’T WATCH HER DIE AGAIN) ‘NOOOO!’ (NOO!) I shout when an explosion comes from the crash. ‘She can’t be gone’. And then, white.

This scene, this memory, is being looped in my brain over, and over, and over. I wasn’t counting how many times. I was hurting. My heart was being ripped from my chest over, and over, and over. I was being broken from the inside out.

Pain. And I see her die again, and again, and again.

Pain. And I do nothing, but to scream again, and again, and again.

Pain. And all was left is void.

Pain. And darkness, and despair.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Okokokok hear me out. You wrote watcher Grian and his boys before. How about dad Grian and his two (robot) sons? (That he certainly didn't just leave in closet)

Oh you asked for two robot sons? How about FOUR? :D

…

NPC Grian is tired of his closet. All he wants is a big open space to build rustic houses in peace, but Grian won’t let him. He has to stay here, away from everyone else, as if Grian is ashamed of him. Not that he thinks about that too much. It starts to hurt if he does.

Sometimes, he thinks just some company would be nice. Someone to talk to, to make his life in this tiny room less lonely. He used to put on a different voice and pretend he had a friend with him, but he doesn’t do that anymore. It just hurts too much when he stops talking and realises he’s still on his own.

How much time has gone by while he’s been in here? Days? Months? Years? He can hardly remember the last time Grian visited him. But his orders were very strict, and NPG cannot disobey his programming. He cannot leave the closet.

Do not leave the closet.

He can feel his energy depleting as his battery runs out. It lasts for years at a time so it must be at least that long since Grian visited him last. At least his lonely existence is coming to an end.

Do not leave the closet.

Do not leave the closet.

…

NPG opens his eyes and realises immediately that he is no longer in his closet. Instead, he can see trees. Grass. A blue sky. The sun.

He’s outside.

He sits bolt upright, his programming protesting violently.

“Hey, easy now,” comes a metallic voice. “You’re still recharging.”

NPG glances to his right and finds, to his shock, a robotic-looking version of Grian gazing back at him. “Who are you? How did I get out here?”

“My name is Robot Grian,” he responds. “And I brought you out here. You’d passed out in your closet; I guessed you’d run out of battery. I helped you recharge.”

“Robot Grian?” repeats NPG slowly. “I’ve never heard of you.”

“That’s because I am the second of Grian’s creations, created to fill the void after Grian decided you were of no use to him anymore. And there are others out there who need our help.”

NPG blinks at him. “Really? Grian has more creations?”

“Yes. Two more who need saving before they end up like you and me.”

After a moment, NPG glances away. “I can’t. I have to go back to the closet. I was ordered never to leave.”

“NPG, Grian doesn’t care about you,” insists Robot Grian. “Did you know you recharge using solar energy?”

NPG hesitates. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“And Grian still kept you locked away in a place where you’d never see the sun. That’s what he does, you know. He tosses us aside as soon as we’ve served our purpose and makes sure nobody ever finds out we ever existed. He may have created you but you don’t owe him anything. You don’t have to follow his orders anymore.”

NPG thinks about this for a while. Robot Grian’s words ring true; NPG is tired of living in a closet but if Grian had his way, he would never see the light of day again. If NPG ever wants to be happy, he knows he has to be free.

“Okay, so what is our plan?” he asks.

Robot Grian appears pleased at his decision. “As I said, there are two others who have been abandoned by Grian. We go free them then we go to Grian and force him to accept us for who we are.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then we leave. He can’t overpower all four of us if we catch him on his own.”

“I see…” NPG pauses again. “If we are truly committed to moving on from just being Grian’s creations, then I would like to change my name.”

“Good idea,” says Robot Grian approvingly. “To what?”

“Rustic House,” NPG replies immediately. “My one true love.”

Robot Grian looks taken aback by his instant and rather bizarre answer. “Okay… What about Rusty?”

“Hmm… A nickname for Rustic House. I like it!” Rusty beams. This is the happiest he has been in years. “What will you be called?”

After a moment, Robot Grian shrugs. “You make up a name for me.”

“Me? Okay. Roby.”

“Whoa, okay, that was quick. Why that?”

“It’s short for Robot,” Rusty explains. “I think it’s cute.”

“Huh.” His new companion considers this. “I kinda like it, actually. And really, anything’s better than having someone else’s name with “Robot” tacked onto the front to differentiate myself from the original.”

“Yay! Are you my friend, Roby?”

Roby thinks. “I guess we’re more like brothers, aren’t we? We were both created by the same person, so-.”

Rusty’s smile widens and he grabs Roby in a hug. “This is amazing! I’ve never even had a friend before, let alone a brother.”

Roby chuckles, before carefully removing Rusty’s arms from around him. “Okay, sure. Remember, we’ve got two more brothers out there who need our help, so we’d better get going quickly, before Grian realises we’re missing.”

…

Roby leads Rusty to a giant box out in the ocean. He digs a hole into it and drops down, landing as lightly as a cat.

Next to him, Rusty falls on his face.

Rolling his eyes amusedly, Roby moves further into the room, which is decorated like the outside world, with a painted blue sky and grass as the floor.

“Who are we here to rescue?” asks Rusty, jumping to his feet.

“Him.”

Roby gestures upwards. Rusty follows his gaze and finds a large robotic shell sitting against the back wall, its face and outstretched arms frozen in perpetual satisfaction.

“Meet Grumbot,” Roby says. “He was created by Grian and his friend Mumbo Jumbo to be a mayoral campaign robot. They eventually blamed him for Mumbo’s loss in the election and abandoned him here, claiming he’s “happy” in this fake reality.”

“We’re gonna save him, right?” asks Rusty eagerly.

Roby nods, encouraged by Rusty’s enthusiasm. “Yes, indeed. I’m not entirely sure if Grian knows this, but the Grumbot you see before you is actually just a gigantic shell. The real Grumbot is inside what you might call its “brain”, supplying the larger body with its energy and knowledge.”

“Whoa…!”

“Yup. Wait there.”

Roby climbs up Grumbot’s outer shell and slips through a crack in its head.

Inside the nerve centre, he finds a smaller version of Grumbot, complete with moustache and Grian-style hair. He is slumped against the wall of his prison, unresponsive, just as Rusty had been when Roby found him.

Roby may be a robot but even he can feel sadness welling up in him at the sight of the little robot, a little over half his size, all alone in this place. He gathers Grumbot into his arms and slips back out through the crack.

Rusty helps him get down, his eyes fixed on the little robot in Roby’s arms. “Is this Grumbot?”

Roby nods. “This is him. I don’t know how he recharges but we’d better get him away from here. It can’t be doing him any good.”

The two leave the giant box and hop back into the boat they rowed here in. As they get further away from the prison, Grumbot starts to stir, as if waking up from a deep sleep. His eyes open just as the boat is pulling up to the dock.

“Hey,” Roby says gently, carrying him onto the shore. “Can you hear me?”

Grumbot blinks at him a few times. “Yes. Who are you?”

“My name is Robot Gr-.” Roby almost forgets his new name. “I’m Roby. This is Rusty.”

Rusty beams as he drags the boat from the water. “Hi!”

Grumbot tips his head on one side. “Who am I?”

“Your name is Grum,” Rusty tells him, before Roby can speak. “You’re a robot made by Grian and now we’re forming a gang so we can go beat him up for abandoning us.”

“That last bit isn’t true,” Roby says quickly. “We’re not going to beat him up. We just want him to accept us for who we are. All four of us.”

Grum glances from Rusty to Roby. “Where are my dads?”

Roby winces. He knows he has to break some bad news to the equivalent of a child. “They… um… they left. But that’s why we’re gathering our group together: so we can find our… our dad and make him accept us.”

Grum pauses, digesting this information. “Rusty. And Roby. And Grum?”

Roby nods encouragingly. “Yeah. You’re one of us, Grum. We’re gonna look after you, okay?”

To Roby’s relief, Grum smiles and nods. “Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re… welcome.”

…

Roby leads the other two to the place where they will find the final creation: Grian’s hobbit hole starter base. “I did some recon here a few days ago,” he says as the group make their way inside. “Grian keeps him in a closet, just like you, Rusty.”

“Closets are lonely and devoid of hope,” says Rusty.

Roby nods, unsure of how else to react to that. “Indeed. He was Grian’s original cam account but Grian dumped him in favour of the new one he uses now. That only happened a few months ago though, so he shouldn’t be as low on charge as you two are.”

The closet is located in Grian’s bedroom upstairs. Roby gestures for the others to stand back, before he opens the door.

Immediately, a figure shoves past him and zooms for the door. Thankfully, Rusty is standing in the way and he stops the person from escaping.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Roby scrambles up from the floor and gets in front of the figure, holding out his hands reassuringly. “It’s okay, we’re not gonna hurt you. We’re here to help, okay?”

Now that the person has stopped moving, the others can see that he too looks exactly like Grian, except with bigger, more expressive eyes, which are filled with pain and fear.

“It’s Grifter, right?” asks Roby softly. “Your name is Grifter?”

After a moment, the frightened cam account nods.

“Can you talk to me? Are you alright?”

Another pause. Finally, Grifter opens his mouth and croaks, “Where’s Grian? Wh-Who are you?”

“I’m Roby. That’s Rusty and Grum.” Roby indicates his brothers in turn. “Grian is… probably at his mansion at the moment.”

“Grian abandoned me.” Grifter’s face screws up as if he is about to cry. “I tried so hard to be a good cam account but he replaced me. What did I do wrong?”

“I’m positive you didn’t do anything,” Roby assures him. “Grian has an issue with creating things and then abandoning them when he doesn’t know what to do with them anymore. But now that we're all together, we can go find Grian and make him accept us.”

Grifter slowly looks around at the other three. “You guys were abandoned too?”

Rusty and Grum nod at the same time. “He locked me in a closet,” says Rusty helpfully.

“I was imprisoned in the brain of a larger version of myself that I was forced to feed with my infinite knowledge and energy until I had nothing left inside me except crippling loneliness and a rapidly depleting battery,” Grum says.

The other three stare at him.

“Okay, that’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard,” Grifter says, before turning back to Roby. “And you think we can just get him to accept us?”

Roby nods. “I do. Grian isn’t a bad person; he just doesn’t know what to do with us anymore. If we show him that we have purpose and our sentience has grown, maybe he’ll see us as actual living beings instead of unfeeling robots.”

“You are a robot, though,” Rusty points out.

“That’s beside the point.”

…

Rusty, Roby, Grum, and Grifter make their way into Grian’s mansion. They immediately find him working on something on the foyer, head buried in one of the many chests lining the walls.

For a moment, the group dithers a safe distance away, unsure how to start.

“Dad!” Grum calls unexpectedly.

Grian nearly jumps out of his skin. He sharply turns and his eyes widen as he registers his four creations standing together a little way off.

“O-Oh my god… What are you all doing here…?”

“We wanted to talk to you,” says Roby, taking the lead when it’s clear nobody else will. “You’re technically our father so we want to talk to you about… events that happened.”

Grian hesitates. “You mean… me locking you four away from the rest of the world?”

All four of them nod at the same time, causing Grian to sigh quietly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt any of you, I just… You all grew far beyond what I expected and I didn’t know how to handle that.”

“You abandoned us!” Grum cries. “You and other dad left me all on my own in a box in the middle of the ocean! How could you think I would be happy there?!”

Grian winces. “I’m sorry, Grumbot…”

“My name is Grum now.”

“We changed our names,” explains Roby. “I’m Roby. NPG is now Rusty. And Grifter is… just the same, really.”

“You changed your names? Why?”

“Because we’re trying to show you we don’t want to be your forgotten clones anymore,” says Roby. “We’re more like your sons. All we want is for you to accept us and love us the way we are. There’s no need to be ashamed or scared of us. We just want to live.”

“We can be a family,” says Rusty out of nowhere. “Right…?”

Grian stares at them for a moment, before giving a small smile. “We can absolutely be a family.”

Beaming, Rusty rushes over to Grian and hugs him. Grum joins soon after, and so do Grifter and then Roby.

“We’ve still got a lot to talk about,” says Grifter pointedly. “About how you made us feel with your abandonment of us.”

“Of course.” Grian nods. “I know I hurt you and I’ll make up for that. Things aren’t going to be perfect straight away.”

Rusty nods. He knows this. It’s obvious that they still have issues to work out but that hardly matters at the moment. What matters is he’s finally out of that closet AND he has a brand new family.

Finally, Grian is accepting him.

[turtle-steverogers]

Mikey!! Have any ~spicy headcanons~ to share??

ok so i didnt really have any headcanons that i could think of so i wrote a fic instead

i really hope you meant spicy like the wink wonk spicy or else this is going to be really awkward but... take some pre-war boys in love!

ship: Stucky

content: NSFW 18+!!

-

Into Your Arms

A gentle hand on Steve’s chest wakes him with a start. He doesn’t remember falling asleep, but it had been a long morning filled with restocking shelves at the local grocer for Mr. Martinelli and it must have worn Steve out more than he realized. Looking back, though, it makes sense. He’s still trying to kick that recent cold that had knocked him on his backside for upwards of a week and his body must have tired out quicker than usual. Which is saying something seeing as he’s always fatigued.

The hand smooths down over his heart and Steve melts, Bucky’s familiar scent washing over him. Sweat, cinnamon, and the slightly salty-sour smell of the docks. Only Bucky can make it work. Only Bucky can make Steve absolutely ravenous, stinking with sweat or freshly bathed.

“Shh, s’just me,” Bucky murmurs and Steve rolls over, blinking tiredly up at him. Bucky softens, but there’s a certain darkness to his eyes. Stress and something else. Something that makes Steve’s cock stir in his boxer shorts.

Steve smiles blearily and rakes his eyes unabashedly over Bucky’s frame. He’s stripped down to his own boxer shorts and tank top, his hair sweaty and curling over his forehead. Steve reaches up to tug at a lock before brushing it out of his eyes.

“Long day?” he asks, shifting backwards as Bucky takes the motion as an invitation to climb onto the bed and over Steve’s body. Steve settles back against his measly pillow, spreading his legs and letting Bucky shift between them. They’re both hard now.

“Very,” Bucky says, leaning down to kiss Steve’s jaw, trailing back to his ear and nipping at his earlobe. “Was wondering if my fella might help me unwind.”

Steve smiles and lets his fingers sink into the short strands at the nape of Bucky’s neck, tilting his head away to allow Bucky access to that sensitive spot just below his jaw.

“He might be up for it,” Steve mutters, eyes fluttering shut as Bucky takes the hint and starts pressing feather light kisses down his neck.

He’s shirtless and Bucky trails his hands down his sides, making him whimper and squirm. He latches onto one of Steve’s nipples and Steve’s back arches, mouth falling open in a soundless gasp.

“Glad to hear it,” Bucky says, voice low and rough. It drives Steve insane every time he hears that particular cadence to Bucky’s tone-- pure and raw. “Been thinking about you all damn day… such pretty noises you make, sweetheart.” Steve whines softly as Bucky’s hand trails down over his belly and onto his cock, cupping him through his boxers. “Just like that.”

“God, Buck…” Steve breathes, eyes rolling back as he rolls his hips into Bucky’s grip. “You make me fucking crazy.”

“Mmm,” Bucky hums, working Steve with his hand until he’s sure he’s going to come in his fucking shorts before they can even do anything. Bucky must sense this, because he pulls away, stripping off his tank top before reaching down to run his fingers under Steve’s waistband, waiting for permission.

“Yes,” Steve agrees and lifts his hips to let Bucky pull down his boxers, spreading his legs as soon as they’re gone.

Bucky moans, pausing to stare. Steve blushes, suddenly shy as he often gets when he’s so spread out, his cock curving up towards his stomach, hard and leaking at the tip. He holds his ground, though, staring straight back and reaching out to tug at Bucky’s boxers.

“Please,” he whispers, and Bucky chuckles, leaning down to kiss Steve as he works off his shorts.

“I gotcha, sweetheart,” Bucky says, letting Steve finish undressing him as he reaches up to cup his jaw.

They lay together, bodies melding together and falling into a familiar rhythm as they kiss. Bucky’s tongue slips into Steve’s mouth and he moans quietly, heart slamming in his chest-- as thrilled as the first time they did this together. It’s been three years now that they’ve been dancing this dance and Steve still feels that novel excitement. The knowledge that they beat the odds and chose to love despite the world telling them otherwise stoking the fire in his soul and making it burn brighter.

Bucky’s hand has found his cock again and moves down to roll his balls in his palm. Steve gasps, breaking their kiss and pressing his face into Bucky’s shoulder, hiding his moans in the skin there. There’s a moment where Bucky pauses his ministrations to press a soft kiss to Steve’s hair-- a promise-- and Steve wants to crawl under his damn skin and live there.

Then Bucky’s fingers tease his hole and Steve can’t stand it anymore.

“Buck,” he groans. “Get the-- it’s under--”

“Yeah,” Bucky agrees and pulls away just long enough to lean over the side of the bed and dig into the shoebox they keep underneath for the vaseline. The familiar sound of the lid being screwed off has Steve’s cock twitching again on instinct, his hole clenching around nothing like it knows what’s coming.

Steve watches with rapt attention as Bucky warms some petroleum jelly between his fingers. Bucky looks at him and smiles-- lopsided and sweet and every bit of softness that Steve can never quite seem to get right when he sketches him. He reaches up to trace a finger down his strong jaw and Bucky leans into the touch, smiling wider.

“You ready, sweetheart?” he asks.

Steve smiles back. “Yeah,” he says and spreads his legs wider. Bucky looks down and his eyes get impossibly darker.

“Yes, you are,” he moans and reaches down to circle his pointer finger around Steve’s rim before pressing in.

The sensation never fails to shock Steve a little and his eyes widen as Bucky slowly breaches that tight ring of muscles. He’s watching Steve, as he always does, for signs of discomfort as he begins to work Steve open, purposefully avoiding that little bundle of nerves inside him. Steve is shaking by the time Bucky’s worked another finger in, clinging to his shoulders and biting his lip to stay quiet.

By the time he’s sufficiently open, there are tears leaking down the sides of his face. Bucky kisses them away as he pulls his fingers out, swallowing Steve’s whine in a kiss.

“Just gotta get myself ready, then I’ll take care of you,” Bucky promises, their lips barely parting.

“Please,” Steve manages and Bucky huffs out a breathy laugh, pushing himself up and reaching down to gather more petroleum jelly.

The sound of Bucky working the jelly over his cock is obscene and Steve bucks his hips up into nothing, desperate and wanting.

“Be patient, darling,” Bucky chastises with no real heat. He holds Steve’s hips down and lines up his cock with his hole. Steve stills, holding his breath as he waits.

And then-- God-- and then Bucky’s pushing in and Steve’s lips part as his head spins. They slot like the last two pieces of a puzzle, moving together in tandem to fit seamlessly. Bucky adjusts his weight as Steve automatically wraps his legs around his waist, drawing them closer and urging Bucky the rest of the way in.

“Fuck,” Bucky grunts, forehead resting against Steve’s as they breathe together, adjust to the fullness; the tightness.

“I know,” Steve says.

Bucky starts to move, his strong hips thrusting forward as he fucks into Steve, slow so that the bed doesn’t creak too much. It’s frustrating as hell, but Steve almost enjoys the torture of being taken apart so carefully. Their breaths mingle together and Steve lifts his head to nip at Bucky’s bottom lip.

Bucky complies, kissing him soundly, his hips barely faltering as it grows more heated. Steve loses time, he thinks-- Bucky brings him out of his head in the best way possible. Nothing exists in the moment except for their bodies, the sounds of the city muted as they meld together, joined at their very core. Art, made between them, and Steve wants to smudge the rest of the world out with paint.

Steve comes first, back arching as he soundlessly releases onto his stomach, his hole clenching around Bucky’s cock and sending him over the edge a moment later. His release fills Steve up and they come down to the sensation of his come seeping back out of his hole. Steve shudders, and keeps his legs wrapped around Bucky’s waist, wishing he could keep him buried inside him forever. Keep him to himself, because he’s a selfish man. He knows that. He wants this forbidden love and he wants it all to himself.

But then Bucky’s pulling out and Steve is brought incrementally back down to earth. He hides his disappointment in another kiss, but Bucky can read him like a goddamn book, because he rolls them over and hoists Steve up, carrying him to the other bed and laying them both down. It settles something in Steve, because the only thing better than being fucked by Bucky is being held by him. Safe in his arms. Secure in the knowledge that Bucky’s love spans beyond their bodies.

Bucky carefully cleans the release off Steve’s stomach and thighs with the corner of his blanket and Steve’s chest flutters with gratitude. He doesn’t like to stay sticky and Bucky knows that.

He curls closer to Bucky, sated and content. Bucky kisses his forehead, hand splaying between his shoulder blades. His thumb brushes over Steve’s spine and he shivers, resting his good ear over Bucky’s heart and letting his arms tuck close to his chest between them.

“I love you,” Bucky says, and Steve can hear his heart beat faster. He smiles.

“I love you, too.”

Outside, the sounds of the city start to filter back into Steve’s awareness, no longer in that suspended haven that sex provides. But that’s okay, because Bucky’s love is a haven that never fades away.

-

Thanks for reading!

[mudhorn-djarin19]

Camping Trip - Chp 2 (Frankie “Catfish” Morales x f!reader)

Summary: The boys take a couple retreat weekend and Frankie doesn’t want to be the only one going alone. So he invites you his best friend since high school to come along. Will the trip finally push you two who have had crushes on each other for years together? Warnings: mutual pining, language Rating: General. Will change in future chapters. AO3 Link Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 Masterlist Join my taglist via here! ____________________________________________________________ You awake in the morning to sunlight peaking through the window and warmth encompassing you. You groan and try to move but are trapped. Confused you look down and see Frankie’s arm wrapped around your waist. You tilt your head slightly to look back and that’s when you finally feel the warm air of his breath on your neck and see him pressed up against your backside.  Your eyes widen and you feel your face go red from how flustered you are. Frankie is cuddling you! Somehow unintentionally in his sleep he seeked you out and is now holding you in his firm grip. You chuckle lightly at the thought, a smile creeping up on your face. You hear a light groan from behind you and hear Frankie awake. You rotate under his grip to face him and poke him on the nose. “Get lonely last night?” You tease. “Huh?” He starts but then notices he is holding you. “Oh… shit. Um I’m sorry!” He says quickly removing his arm from around your waist. You chuckle, placing a hand on his cheek. “It’s okay. It happens. I didn’t mind the extra warmth either.” Frankie sighed and could feel his face is red from how flustered he was, glad you didn’t notice as you had already climbed out of bed. He decided to leave the conversation be as to not dig an even bigger hole. **** Once you both got showered and dressed you made your way down to the living room to meet the rest of the gang. “Mornin’ guys! Sleep well?” Benny asks, discreetly winking at Frankie. “Mornin’. I slept well, thanks.” You reply back, avoiding Frankie’s gaze and not giving any details of how you two awoke this morning. “Shannon’s making some french toast in the kitchen if you guys want some. Fill up cause today’s gonna be a long one. We plan to go hiking if you want to join.” Will says “Sure I’m in. You know I always love a good hike.” Frankie responds and then turns to you. “You down to go?” “Yeah! Sounds like fun.” You smile back. Frankie nods in response and heads into the kitchen to grab some grub before the hike. You followed suit. Once everyone had eaten their fill for breakfast and packed their bags up for the hike you all made your way out to the woods behind the cabin. You all made your way up the path which thankfully for the most part was pretty smooth. It’s been a while since you’ve been hiking so you were hoping it’d be an easy hike and you could keep up with everyone. The boys kept the lead always way ahead of you girls but you didn't mind keeping back and getting to know them. Stopping often to admire the nature around you like squirrels or some pretty flowers. When you had stopped at one point to drop some of your trail mix to a squirrel you didn’t notice Frankie had stopped to watch you as well, a smile growing on his face at the cute interaction. As you made your journey further up the past it started to get more steep and rocky. The boys made it up with ease and helped their girls as needed. You were falling behind and were trying to make it up a steep rock but struggling. Frankie took notice and hopped back down to you. “Need help?” He asked. You look at him a little embarrassed and nod. He grabs your around your waist with one arm and the other goes down to tuck behind your knees, lifting you up bridal style and lifting you up over the incline. Once he knows your feet touch the ground and you have your balance he lets go and jumps back up on the rock himself. “I’ll slow down and stay behind with you for a bit. Help you if needed and chat some. Sorry I’ve kind of left you in the dust with the other girls.” He says. “It’s okay. You’re more accustomed to this stuff.” You smile. “Plus I don’t mind hanging with the girls. They’re nice. But yea… if the path continues to be this rough I may need you.” You blush and look down. He keeps back with you for the rest of the hike up the mountain, helping you up any rocks or steep inclines when needed. Once you all arrived at the top you all were taken back by the beauty before you. Rolling mountains stretched before you for miles, a bright blue and sunny sky to top it off. It was a beautiful sight. You all admire the view and took as many pictures as you wanted for a while. The girls all wanting to take cute couple pictures with their man. Being the best photographer out of the group you opted in to taking them all for you. “Hey.” Frankie nudged your elbow once you finished the last one and were taking some of just the scenery for yourself. “Go over there and turn around.” You went over to where he said and stood facing him with a confused look on your face. “Come on now at least smile for me.” He said, pulling his phone out. “Frankie… come on…” You sigh. He put a hand on his hip and cocked his head at you, pouting at you teasingly. You sighed again and gave into his pout, finally smiling and striking a simple pose. You made him switch off with you so you can do the same for him in return. Taking some pics of just him with the scenery on your phone. He beckoned you back over to home and once next to him he wrapped his hand around your waist to pull your close. He pulls his phone up and takes a few selfies with you both. Some normal and a few silly ones as usual for you two. “Do you guys want me to take one of you guys?” Santiago’s girl asks. “O-oh umm…” You look at Frankie who shrugs. “Sure. Thank you.” She takes Frankies phone as he hands it over, getting you both to pose again and takes a few pics. “You guys are so cute together!” She chuckles, handing Frankie his phone back and heading back over to the group who had found a good clearing and start to set up for lunch which you all had packed. “Uh th-thanks…” You reply and blush. You nudge Frankie who seems to be lost in thought and point over to the group already make themselves comfy and digging out their food. He seems to come back to reality and smiles following you back to the group. Once you find a comfy boulder to sit on his pulls his backpack off his shoulders to sit in front of him now. He digs down into it and pulls out the two sandwiches he prepared for you guys this morning. Handing one to you and taking the other for himself. “I packed water and chips too if you want any of that.” He says. You nod in response and thank him, taking a bit of the sandwich. You all take your time eating, resting up and admiring the view before packing up and making your way back down the path. The trek down the path was just as rough on the way up. Having to hop down the big boulders, careful to not slip and injure yourself. You were doing good for the most part until right as you were to hop down a rock at the very tail end of the rough terrain part of the trail. You lost your balance and fell on your butt, scraping your leg and arm on the way down. “Shit!” Frankie runs over to you. “Are you okay?” He grabs your arm and examines the scrap, then moves to look at the scrap on your leg. It wasn’t too bad but did take some skin and was bleeding some. “I’m okay. Just lost my balance a little is all.” You reply. “Injuries aren’t too bad. I’ll disinfect them and clean them up for you when we get back. You’re bleeding a bit too.” He says as he drops his bag and digs into it to pull out some bandage wraps which he wraps around your wounds to stop the bleeding. He then stands and reaches he hand out to you. “Can you stand?” You nod and take his hand. “Thank you.” You say, feeling embarrassed. “Of course. Sorry I didn’t catch you.” He says. You chuckle. “It’s fine Fish… no one knew I was going to fall. Not even myself.” You smile at him. It doesn’t take you long to get back to the cabin and once back in Frankie pulls you into your shared room and then the ensuite bathroom. “Sit on the edge of the sink for me.” He says. You do as your told and he starts to wipe at your scraps with a cool damp rag, then applies some disinfectant. It stings and makes you whine a bit. “I know I know. It stings I’m sorry but don’t want anything to get infected.” He says. You nod knowingly and let him continue. Once he has both scraps disinfected he rewraps them. “Should heal up rather quickly. They’re minor injuries but still want to be careful with em.” He says patting your thigh. “Let’s go meet the others and help out for dinner.” You nod and follow him into the kitchen. Dinner got put together and ate up rather quickly. Afterwards the group decided since it was a fairly nice evening why not put the hot tub to use. All you girls took it over first as the boys were busy sharing old war stories. You made yourself cozy in the big hot tub chatting with the girls and sipping cocktails you had made. You didn’t know them very well at the beginning of the trip but had gotten to know them fairly well now and really enjoyed their company. You were deep in sharing gossip when you didn’t even notice the boys had changed and came out to join you. “Any room for us ladies?” Santiago asked, as he swung his legs over the side to sit behind his girl. “It’ll be a tight fit but I think we can make do.” Benny’s girl said scooting over a bit for someone to join in. Most of the boys sat behind their ladies on the edge, only Will sitting down into the actual water with you girls. You wondered where Frankie had gotten to when you saw him finally come out from the house. You’d seen Frankie shirtless before but you’ll never get over the sight of him. Sure he might not be the most built out of the group of guys, having a bit softer dad bod look with scars from his army days that littered his body but, you loved it. “Okay I’m here. Couldn’t find my damn trunks.” He said as he swung his legs into the hot tub, sitting on the edge directly behind you. You feel a slight blush come up your neck. You’ve been close to Frankie before but never encased like this. His legs on either side of you. You quickly shake it off and focus back on the conversation the group is having. Taking a sip of your cocktail that was made for you you chime into the conversation that was being had currently. Bad dating stories. You start to share some of the bad ones you had not noticing Frankie rolling his eyes and nodding behind you. He had hated just about every guy you dated. Not just because they weren’t him but because they weren’t good enough for you he felt. Never treated you as you should be treated. You sipped on your drink again listening in now to Santiago share a story, you go to place your drink back when Frankie grabs it from you, taking a sip from it himself. “If we’re sharing dating stories I’m going to need to be a lot less sober for this.” He smirks. The conversation is all in good hearted fun, continuing on and you’re laughing at a story Will just told when you feel Frankie place his chin on your head and drape his arms over your shoulders and around your chest. You look up at him as best as you can, smiling slightly. You place your hands over his where they interlock across your chest, holding him there. Focusing back on the conversation you miss the looks the girls give you both at your current position. The night goes on for a bit longer until you all start to get sleepy and the alcohol already hitting it’s limit. You all fairly buzzed by now, some definitely drunk. You all call it a night and head off into your designated quarters. You’re back in your room and starting to head to the bathroom to change when Frankie’s voice grabs your attention. “You look… really good in that um... swimsuit.” He said. You turned around to face him, a blush creeping up your neck again. “Thank you Fish.” You smile and look him up and down. “You look really good too. I know you’ll deny it but you do” You advert your eyes down away from his gaze. He steps closer to you, grabbing your hips and pulling you closer. “You look good… all the time actually. I just never have the balls to tell you.” You hook your arms around his neck and smile. “Thank you. I hope you know I think the same of you. You’re very handsome Fish.” He smiles and leans in closer to you, tilting his head, his lips just barely an inch from yours. You move in to brush your lips against his, going to finalize the kiss. You’re just about to when you hear a knock on the door that startles you both. You both jump away, you running off to the bathroom. “Fish! You left your phone out here.” You hear Santiago say through the door. You hear Fish open the door and take his phone back. You’re leaning against the bathroom door, breathing heavy. Did you and Frankie almost kiss?! Your head races a million miles a minute while you change and get ready for bed. When you finally emerge from the bathroom to say something to Frankie about what had just happened before Santiago interrupted you see he is already passed out on the bed. You sigh and crawl into bed, pulling the covers over you both. You’ll question him on it in the morning.

[tangledstarlight]

hello. if you’ve followed me for more then a week you may have seen me talking abuot the alex 5+1 and how its been torturing me for months. well. it is finally done. i think i deserve a reward to myself. 

but yes okay. it’s 5 times alex had just the right thing in his fanny pack +1 time that he didn’t.

anyway!! it’s another 5+1 that’s alex centric.

also on ao3 (link in replies!)

trigger warnings! death mentions (because they’re ghosts), mild swearing, mentions of blood and injuries but nothing graphic.

one.

On his tenth birthday his parents took him to the mall and told him he could pick out anything that he wanted from one store, courtesy of his grandparents. Which, for a ten year old, was a big decision to make. Because there were a lot of things that he wanted.

Alex had dragged them from shop to shop, looking through every piece of clothing, every accessory, every record and tape. There were a lot of things to choose from. He really hated having to make a decision.

It was pure luck when he finally found the thing he wanted. Tucked away behind backpacks and satchel bags and flimsy looking tote bags, Alex found the fanny pack. It was dark grey and made a funny sound when he scratched at the material with his nails. It was also the perfect size to fit his inhaler and a snack and a pen and, if he did it right, probably even a single drum stick.

(The brand new and shiny drum kit currently sitting in his garage at home was his main birthday present, and Alex was more than excited for Luke and Reggie and Bobby to come over later and see it, and now he could show them his new fannypack and they could fill it with all the essentials that ten year olds needed.)

Everyday he woke up and got dressed, the fanny pack would find its way buckled across his chest and he’d check it had everything he needed inside. Inhaler and tissues and crumpled up dollar bills and a pen and a snack, just in case. Because Reggie always got hungry and there were only so many times they could bother their parents before they got annoyed.

They’re sitting in tree house that Reggie’s dad had built – back when Reggie’s dad and mom didn’t spend so much time fighting and his older brother was still around and Reggie didn’t flinch at doors banging – scraps of paper and forgotten homework scattered on the wood.

They’re supposed to be doing homework. Like they do every Saturday morning before they all give in to Luke’s pouting and bike over to Bobby’s place to ‘rehearse’, (it’s more like, they’re all playing at the same time in different keys, but they’re eleven. A killer band isn’t created overnight.) but Luke hasn’t shown up yet and Reggie is on his third candy bar and Bobby gave up on maths homework in favour of his game boy. Alex would be more stressed about the turn of events if it didn’t happen every Saturday.

“Jump, jump, jump, dude! You gotta jump!”

“I know, you saying it over and over isn’t helping man,” Bobby grits out and Alex watches as Reggie hovers over his shoulder, eyes wide and practically hanging off his arm.

“Look out for – Oof. So close man. Shoulda jumped,” Reggie pats Bobby on the shoulder, just dodging as the other boy's elbow moves back to try and catch him in the ribs.

“I swear to god Reg –” Bobby starts and Alex is readying himself either to intervene or move out of the way when Luke’s head pops up through the hole on the floor, wide smile and messy hair and eyes gleaming with some kind of mischief.

“Guys!” They watch as he pulls himself up and into the tree house, they’re all knees bumping and elbows narrowly missing sides and Alex spends several long seconds worrying that this will be the day they no longer all fit. That they’ve finally outgrown the tree house. But then Luke shuffles back, dropping his backpack into the centre and Reggie bends one knee to rest his head on and Bobby drops his hands into his lap, game boy still beeping away.

“I had the best idea,” Luke starts, unzipping his bag and rummaging through it for something, “I was watching this film last night, right? I don’t know what it was, one of those weird ones that’s on at 2am. Not the point. Anyway so there was this group of friends right and they were all moving away and didn’t want to stop being friends so they did this blood pack? And Reggie,” he grunts as he pulls a textbook out of his bag and tosses it aside, Alex feels his brows pull together as he starts to follow Lukes train of thought, “The other day you said you were worried about us going up to middle school. So I thought why not do a blood pact?”

Luke still has his attention firmly on his bag, trying to find something, so he misses the alarmed look that Alex shoots at Bobby and the responding grin that graces Reggie’s face. He can see exactly how this will play out. Luke will make the first cut and Reggie will suddenly remember he doesn’t like the sight of blood and Bobby will go too deep and Alex will have to find a way to get the three of them down a tree without crying. 

“Dude, we can’t do a blood pact!”

“Why not?” Reggie asks, lips sliding down in a frown.

“Yeah, why not?” Luke echoes and he’s got half of something pulled out of his bag that Alex can’t identify. But it doesn’t look like a knife, so that’s a little reassuring.

“Because,” he starts slowly pointing first at Reggie, “You don't like the sight of blood for starters.”

Alex watches as Reggie’s mouth forms a small ‘o’, his head bobbing up and down as if he’d forgotten that fact, but Luke rolls his eyes and finally pulls his hand out of his bag and with it comes a carton of something.

“I know that, I didn’t mean a real blood pact,” he shakes his head and Alex blinks, thoroughly confused, “The blood bits’ not the important part, it’s just the whole y’know, promising we’ll always be friends. But we still need to do something kinda gross to make it meaningful, so I went and bought tomato juice. It’s why I was late.”

The grin is back on Reggie’s face and even Bobby is nodding along now. Alex looks from the cartoon in Luke's hands to his friends faces before blowing out a sigh because well. It wasn't the worst idea Luke had had and it would be nice. For them to make a pact, to always be friends. For nothing to change between them.

“How do we do this then?” He asks and it's worth it, giving in, to see the bright smile take over Lukes face as he launches into his plan.

Alex should have expected something to go wrong, it was sort of his job in the group. To worry. But he’d gotten so caught up in the moment, in the sentiments and little speeches Luke said they each had to make, that he forgot to worry about the next stage.

It almost happens in slow motion, Bobby reaches for the carton to take his drink at the same moment that Reggie tries to pass it to him and their hands sort of collide mid pass and suddenly the carton is tipping to the side and red liquid is cascading to the floor. All over their still scattered homework.

“Crap!” In his haste to try and stop the still spilled drink Reggie drops the thing entirely, sending even more of it pouring over the wood and creeping towards them. Luke makes a grab for the juice, trying to scoop it up in his hands and if Alex’s mind wasn’t halfway to panic, he’d have probably burst out laughing. On autopilot Alex’s hands reach up for the fanny pack across his chest, pulling the zipper and digging through for the new pack of tissues that he’d stuffed in there that morning. Almost like he knew something was going to happen.

All their homework is ruined – Alex can’t wait to explain this one to their teacher on Monday – and when they all climb down the tree an hour later they all watch as a trail of red slides down the bark. Despite the mess it had caused, Alex has to give it to Luke, the tomato juice really did look like blood. And he feels closer to his three best friends, which he guesses is worth using his whole supply of tissues.

two.

“Fuck!”

It’s not really the first thing Alex wants to hear as he steps into their rehearsal space. Aka Luke’s parent’s basement that they’d reluctantly agreed to let them use until Bobby’s parents agreed to let them clear out their garage. It was so annoying, waiting for their parents to agree to simple things.

His eyes glance around the mostly empty space, jumping from the fold up chairs and second hand amps and his drums and Reggie’s abandoned bass before landing on Bobby who’s kneeling on the ground near the back wall, guitar leaning against the chipped concrete.

“You okay?” Alex says and flinches when Bobby flinches, turning around quickly to look at him. Either Bobby was too wrapped up in whatever was wrong and hadn’t heard him or Alex had finally perfected walking silently and could start sneaking downstairs at night for a snack.

“I just–” he breathes out a sigh, gesturing helplessly at his guitar and for the first time Alex notices the missing string, “It snapped and I can’t get the new one on.”

“Oh,” that doesn’t really seem worth the tense set of Bobby’s shoulders or the slight shaking of his fingers as he tries to get the new string out of the packet. With a small frown Alex kneels down next to his friend and carefully takes the packet out of his hands. “Want some help?”

As soon as the strings are out of his hands Bobby seems to collapse a little, shoulder against the wall and head dropping with a soft thud, eyes following as he opens the pack. Of them all, Bobby is the most closed off about his feelings, which Alex supposes, isn’t actually that weird for a thirteen year old. But when Luke –- who’s never been able to keep emotions off his face or out of his songs -- and Reggie -- who is never shy about laying his head on your shoulder and telling you he’s sad -- are your friends, it gets a little weird. Even Alex knows he’s crap at hiding how he feels about stuff.

They're three open books with a locked vault.

Because Bobby has a special skill of hiding his feelings behind a mask of indifference and jokes that he’s never offered to teach them. Which is normally fine, but sometimes things leak through and one of them notices that somethings wrong, like right now. Alex has watched him restring his guitar without issue so many times before, never once have his fingers shook.

Chewing on his bottom lip, Alex tries to decide if he should push or just wait it out or ask when the others are around so he can’t avoid the question. His last option makes him frown, because he’d hate it if they did that to him. Put him on the spot about something. And what if there wasn’t even anything wrong and Alex was just overthinking it? Maybe Bobby was just tired, or this string was just particularly tricky?

“Dude, I can practically hear you thinking.” Bobby says, huffing out a shallow laugh and Alex’s eyes widen a little as he looks up in time to see him shuffle around so his back is against the wall, legs stretching out in front of him.

“Sorry,” Alex starts, hands freezing in the air.

“Nah it’s--” he shakes his head, one shoulder shrugging as he frowns at nothing, “It’s fine.”

Alex thinks that’s the end of it, that Bobby isn’t going to say anything else and he’ll just have to wait it out and pretend that something isn’t clearly wrong. Putting the string down he pulls his fanny pack around so he can reach the little pocket hidden on the back (he’s pretty sure you’re meant to keep money in it, but well, he rarely has more than a few dollars on him) and pulls out the little multi-tool that his dad had gotten him for Christmas. Something about ‘being a man now’ and how ‘you can help a cute girl out’. So far all he’d used it for was clipping strings and once to unscrew a vent when Luke accidentally pushed his notebook through.

“I think my parents are getting a divorce.”

That almost makes him choke on his own spit, head whipping around to look at Bobby and all thoughts of his dad leaving his head.

“What?” he doesn’t mean to say it so loud, but judging by the way Bobby winces he must have practically shouted it. “Sorry, I just--” he doesn’t know what to say, mouth opening wordlessly. None of them have the best home lives, all their relationships with their parents have their issues.

But Bobby’s have always been -- well not the most reliable, but most consistent. Together, but distant. Together, but not home each weekend. Together, but happy? Alex feels a little like his world view has been tilted. Because if anyone's parents should be getting a divorce, shouldn’t it be Reggie’s? He bites at his lip at the thought, instantly regretting it.

“Pretty sure my mom caught my dad sleeping with his secretary,” he says with a small frown, wiping his cheek across his shoulder and Alex drops the multi-tool on top of the string and shuffles his way across the floor until he’s sitting next to Bobby, backs against the wall. “Which is pretty fucking cliche of him. But yeah. I caught them fighting about it last night.”

Alex doesn’t know what to say or do. This isn’t exactly a conversation he’d come prepared for or thought he’d ever have to have. Alex was still trying to remember his new school schedule, he didn’t have the time to prepare for possible emotional family conversations. He wishes Luke was here, or Reggie, so he didn’t feel so much pressure to say the right thing.

“That sucks man,” he blows out a breath, drawing his knees up so he can rest his hands on his things, fingers tapping across his jeans. “You wanna stay at mine tonight? We can rent Back to the Future and eat my sisters stash of popcorn?”

“Can we get the second one too?” There’s a slight smile tugging at Bobby’s lips and Alex returns it, fingers stilling as he feels some of the tension in his shoulders release.

“Course man, can’t just watch the first.”

three.

There was an unspoken knowledge in their friend group.

Luke had a tendency to get into fights he couldn’t win.

Sure, they were almost always in deference of Reggie or Bobby or him, but Alex really wished he’d stop getting into them. Or would at least start to win. Honestly, you’d think by now that Luke would know how to throw a better punch, or least know how to dodge one.

It was a little embarrassing, the amount of fights that Luke had lost -- not that Luke saw it that way. Any fight that resulted in him sporting a black eye or split lip, not his friends, was a win to him. Which was a nice sentiment, but Alex was fairly sure that his idiotic heroics were going to give him a heart attack one day.

Luke’s constant scrapes were why Alex had started to carry around band-aids and disinfectant and bandages in the first place. All stored carefully in his fanny pack along with his inhaler and extra guitar picks and a granola bar for Reggie.

It was also why Alex wasn’t all that surprised when Luke found him after school, holding his wrist carefully against his chest with one hand and trying to wipe a dribble of blood off his lip on his shoulder. A split lip, a scrap across his cheek, and once he got a better look, Alex was pretty sure he’d find split knuckles too.

“Have you got a band-aid or something?” Luke’s words come out a little mumbled as he tries not to reopen the cut on his lip and Alex just raises an eyebrow at him. A band-aid? Really?

Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment Alex mentally counts to ten, reminds himself that his friend probably has a valid reason for looking like this.

Even though it’s only been twenty minutes since he last saw him. All he had to do was wait by their bikes while Alex went to talk to their history teacher about something. Twenty minutes alone and he’d found himself a fight.

“That’s –” he starts, then shakes his head, letting his shoulders drop as he breathes out a sigh and reopens his eyes, “Okay. Come on.”

Most of the school has cleared out as he leads them towards an empty bench, pushing Luke down onto it and pulling at the zip of his fanny pack to dig out the little homemade first aid kit he’d put together in a ziplock bag.

“Do I want to ask what happened?” He holds out a hand palm up for Luke to put his injured one in, biting his lip as he inspect the split skin and dried blood. It’s not as bad as he’d thought it would be, and it means Luke at least got one punch in this time.

“Some guys were laughing cause Bobby tripped getting on the bus and-” Luke hisses out a breath as Alex pours some water over his hand and starts gently dabbing at the cuts with a tissue, “Reggie dropped his bag when he tried to help him up. And I told ‘em it wasn’t funny and they said it was and I said it wasn’t and–- you get it.”

Luke shrugs up at him, starts trying to chew on his bottom lip before remembering it’s hurt and gives Alex a sheepish smile. Which is just annoying. Because Alex is the one trying to be annoyed here, trying to keep a stern look at his face even as locks of blonde hair fall in front of his eyes and he has to blow them away.

“You know you don’t have to start a fight every time someone’s mean to us, right?” He balls up the damp bloody tissue to put in the bin later and reaches for the cheap roll of bandages that he’d swiped from his mom's first aid kit at home. (All his medical knowledge comes from his mom, from watching her volunteer at church feats and garden parties as to who to go to when you got a little hurt. For someone with such a fully stocked box of medical tools, she sure did just pass out band-aids and suggest a glass of water a lot.)

“First, I didn’t actually start this fight. The one with the lip piercing threw the first punch,” Luke points his uninjured hand at him, like he’s just made a good argument before his lips pull down into a frown. “And I know I don’t have to. But I–- People are mean to you guys about stuff that doesn’t make sense. I don’t like that. Plus everyone knows that you guys would never do anything back, except maybe Bobby if it was really bad, and I just want them to know I think their assholes.”

It feels like there's more to it then that, Luke doesn't supply anymore insights into his thought process and Alex is too worried about their upcoming history text to push it today. 

"You’re so-” Alex starts but stops himself, rolling his eyes as he ties off the bandage and shakes his head at Luke. “That’s a really stupid reason to get in all these fights, you do know that right?”

“Yup!” He inspects his hand, the off-white bandage wrapping around his knuckles and flexes his fingers to test how tight it’s tied, then his eyes drift to the ziplock bag and the band-aids, “You got any of those cool glow in the dark ones?”

Alex opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again, but no words come out. It still surprises him, even after being friends for so long, how willing Luke is to get hurt for them. How he doesn’t seem to see any issue with it. He really hopes that one day he won’t feel the need to take a punch for any of them, that he won’t need to. But until then Alex supposes he doesn’t mind being a fourteen year old first responder. It’s kinda fun, sometimes. Like when he gets to dictate who gets which band-aid.

“You used the last glow in the dark one on Sunday. So you’re stuck with trucks.”

He’s still wearing the band-aid with little trucks on a dirt track across his cheek when he comes into school the next day and Alex really tries to stay annoyed at him. But it’s kinda hard when the only reason he’s got the cut is because he loves his friends. So Alex just rolls his eyes fondly and makes a mental note to ask his mom for glow in the dark band-aids when she next goes to the store.

four.

“You think Ron’s got the new Garth Brooks record?”

At least, that’s what Alex thinks Reggie asks, because it’s more like a mumbled group of sounds as the other boy stuffs a large forkful of pasta into his mouth. He glances at Luke, eyebrow raised to see if he’d understood the question right. And judging by the face Luke pulls, he thinks he did.

“I mean, probably. But we’ve been over this. No country in the van.”

Alex knows he’s trying to look stern and serious, Reggie knows it too. But Luke’s nose is scrunched up and his eyebrows are drawn together and his lower lip almost looks like it’s about to start quivering. Stern and serious isn’t the first thought that comes to mind. Cute, adorable, puppy like, sure. Stern or angry? Never.

“You’re just jealous,” Reggie starts, gulping as he swallows his mouthful and makes them both wait as he dramatically takes a sip of his soda too, “You wish you could do a country twang. It’s okay Luke-y, not everyone is musically gifted.”

He bites the end of his straw to keep from laughing at the look of annoyance that crosses Luke’s face, the desired reaction if Reggie’s widening grin is anything to go by.

“Dude you’ve done it now,” he mutters softly, but he can’t really find it in him to be too mad about the rant that Reggie has just triggered. Because it’s the first time in weeks that Reggie has smiled fully, and the bruise on his left cheekbone is now a faded purple and the arm he had been extra careful about touching is resting full length on the table as he taps the end of his fork on the wood.

Luke seems to know it too, if the gentle smile that briefly crosses his face when Reggie looks away for a moment is anything to go by. It had been to Luke's house that he’d run too, and Alex is honestly pretty proud of his friend for not leaping out his bedroom window to go fight Reggie’s dad the second he’d shown up. Alex was fairly confident that if Reggie asked to play nothing but country music for the next ten years Luke would agree if it meant they’d get to see his full blown smile without hints of sadness.

Sometimes, Alex wished he had half the confidence and determination that Luke had. Wished that when his fight or flight instincts were put to the test his reaction wasn’t flight. That he wasn’t always a little bit terrified of what would happen if he was honest with everyone, of what would happen if he threw a punch instead of trying to talk something out.

Probably just result in spending more money on band-aids and bandages.

Blinking the thoughts from his head, the blonde tunes back into the conversation. Pros and cons of having one country song on their demo.

“Come on! We’d all so rock a cowboy hat,” Reggie punctuated his point by stabbing his fork into the table, plastic progs snapping and flying into the air. “Fuck sake,” he mutters, a little mournfully as he pulls his arm back in to look at the one remaining bent prong and then down at his still half full container of pasta.

“I think the fork disagrees with the cowboy hats,” Luke grins, flicking one of the little plastic pieces at Reggie who just pouts for a moment longer.

And Alex can see where his brain goes, can practically track the thought process and the solution he comes up with as Reggie tosses his fork at Luke and starts to try and pick up the food with his fingers. But before he gets that far, Alex is pulling another fork out of his fanny pack, metal and wrapped in a napkin.

(Someone had once said to be prepared for all possible situations. Sixteen year old Alex had decided that meant he should start carrying extra cutlery around. Just in case. In case of what, he hadn’t known, but apparently it wasn’t a totally crazy idea, so screw you Bobby for laughing at it.)

“Here.”

Reggie accepts the fork, pout turning to a smile and sticking his tongue out at Luke who just rolls his eyes.

“Alex’ll do a country song with me, won’t you?” Both pairs of eyes are looking at him now and he doesn’t know if Reggie is being a 100% serious about a country song for their demo or wearing cowboy hats on stage, but he does know that either way it’ll make Luke do his cute angry face again and well. Alex can’t resist making him make that face.

“Oh yeah. We’d rock cowboy hats.”

five.

Being dead was -- not what Alex had expected. And it’s a little weird, because growing up he’d spent a lot of time thinking about what happened after you died. Where you went and what you could do and who would be there.

His parents were very insistent on ‘be a good person in life, don’t commit any sins and get into heaven’ so, when they’d died and ended up in a dark room, Alex had thought that was proof that being gay really was a sin and his parents had been right and now he’d dragged his best friends into hell with him. Luke might blame himself for them dying, and Reggie might blame himself for them being eternity linked, but Alex would always blame himself for that 25 year black room limbo.

Even if it wasn’t his fault. But he couldn’t convince the others that it wasn’t their fault, and they couldn’t convince him it wasn’t his fault and it was a loop they’d been stuck in for months now.

Julie called them all idiots for it. Fondly. With an eye roll. And a gentle smile when she’d pull them into a group hug.

Because they could do that now.

Hug her. So they did it a lot.

Group hugs and side hugs and high fives and piling onto her bed on a Sunday afternoon to watch one of the many Disney films they’d missed out on. They all latched onto her more than they already had.

Julie had pulled them out of the dark room -- hell -- and back into the light and then she’d saved them from zapping out of existence. Reggie might insist she was a witch and Luke would say a star, but Alex, who had a pretty rocky relationship with religion and God, was fairly confident in calling Julie an angel. (He was also willing to bet good money on in a fight, between a god, death and Julie, that Julie would win.)

And she didn’t seem to mind that they’d gotten a little...clingy over the last few months since the zapping had stopped. Which was nice, that they hadn’t annoyed her enough to send them packing yet. That she seemed just as attached to them as they were to her.

It’s with that thought in his mind that Alex knocks on her bedroom door. Julie loves them, Julie only invokes the boundaries rule when they snoop through her stuff, Julie isn’t about to tell them to leave because Alex is a little bored. At least he hopes she won’t.

“Come in.”

He almost misses her response, both because of his mildly spiralling thoughts and because her voice is soft, quite. Now his thoughts turn to worry as he pokes his head through the doors, eyes immediately landing on Julie tucked into her bed, surrounded by pillows and curtains closed. His brows pull together as he hesitantly steps through the door.

“Are you okay?” He asks, trying to keep his voice as low as hers had been. Slowly she lifts her head from the pillow, brushing curls out of her eyes as she looks at him with a small smile.

“Oh Alex, hey. I-- yeah, I’m fine. Just--” she trails off, blinks a little blearily at him and for the first time he realises that he’s woken her up. Shit. “Not feeling too great. Was trying to nap.”

“Shit, sorry, I’ll go. I didn’t know you weren’t well, I’ll um yeah. I’ll go.” He’s got half his leg through the door when she calls his name, a slight laugh in her voice and looks at her over his shoulder.

“It’s okay, you can stay. I wasn’t really getting much rest anyway.”

He opens his mouth to ask if she’s sure, but Julie’s already shuffling around in her bed, moving pillows and lifting the duvet for him to climb in next to her. Alex hesitates for a moment, bites his cheek before turning around fully and walking over, kicking his shoes off before sliding under the cover and making himself comfy.

“Why do you have so many pillows?” He asks, fluffing one up behind his head and moving another one to fill the space between the edge of the bed and the little side table.

“Don’t know,” she shrugs, and he knows she’s watching him with amusement when he repositions the pillow next to her head so it’s straight. He frowns a little at her answer because, well, that’s not really an answer. How does one person have like, ten pillows on their bed and not know why or how?

“That's not-- okay,” he sighs, letting it go, because now that he’s next her, Alex can see she’s shivering a little and her cheeks look flushed and on instinct he reaches out his hand to lay it against her forehead. She lets out a small hiss and Alex moves to move away when her hand comes up, warm fingers wrapping around his wrist to keep his hand in place.

“Stay there, your hands are cold, they feel nice.” And well, they might make fun of Luke for not being able to say no to Julie, but so far he hasn’t been able to do it yet either. So he keeps his hand on her forehead and moves his other to gently cup her chin and part of her cheek until he’s basically holding her head up in his hands, he watches as her eyes flutter shut.

“Have you taken anything?” He tries to keep his voice quiet, not wanting to disturb her too much but her eyes open and she shakes her head, blowing out a sigh as she moves herself out of his hold, head hitting one of her many pillows.

“All we have is cough syrup and dad’s out and I didn’t want to bother Victoria.”

So she’d taken herself to bed and tried to tackle whatever illness she had alone? Alex frowns at her, lets out a small tut as he pulls his fanny pack across his chest, unzips it and roots around for the ziplock bag of first aid things before pulling out a half used pack of paracetamol, leaving the bag on the bed. He’s dead, and so are his most clumsy friends, they don’t really need band-aids anymore.

There’s a bottle of water on the table next to him which Alex grabs, pops out two of the little white tablets and passes them both to Julie, who raises her eyebrows at him, but accepts.

“You know you’ve got three ghosts who would have happily gone to a store to get you something if you’d asked, right?” He’s sort of teasing, but sort of not as he watches her sink back against the pillows, water bottle still in her grasp. Turning her head a little, just enough so she can see him she shoots him a small smile.

“Didn’t want to bother you guys. You're my friends, not my personal shoppers and yesterday Luke had to go to the store because we forgot milk. Don’t won’t you thinking I’m just using you for your ghostly teleportation,” she says it like a joke, but there’s a sad sort of look in her eyes. The kind of look he used to see in Reggie’s back when they were kids and he thought they’d get annoyed with him. It had never even occurred to Alex that Julie might think they’d get fed up with her.

“Jules, you let us live in your garage. For free. The least we can do is the occasional magical shop,” he shuffles down in the bed until his head is resting on a pillow and they’re eye to eye, “And anyway, you could never bother us. We kinda owe our whole existence to you and you’re family and if you need help it’s a no questions asked type situation.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She looks at him for a moment, eyes searching his face for something before she lets out a breath, shoulders relaxing and then she’s shuffling across the bed to lay her head on his shoulder, hair tickling his cheek but he doesn’t mind. Alex brings one arm up around her back and pulls her closer, tugging the duvet up to cover them a little more. They lie in silence for a while, Alex idly drumming his fingers on her upper arm and Julie tracing the letters on his hoodie. He doesn’t mean to pop the little peaceful bubble they’ve created but a thought shoves its way to the forefront of his mind and his fingers still.

“Hey uh, so do you think paracetamol goes out of date? Because that one I gave you is at least twenty-six years old.”

+one

Maybe, if Alex hadn’t been so wrapped up in his own head and trying to work through all of the sudden changes in his life, he would have noticed sooner.

At least, that’s what he’s going to tell himself and anyone else who might ask. He had a lot going on. He couldn’t possibly notice everything. Even something as big as this.

So yeah, he was going to blame all the crazy shit in his life for his sudden obliviousness.

The skate park was mostly empty when he got there – he forgot how long it could take to get somewhere when you couldn’t just poof into existence wherever you wanted. Being dead might have been bad, but he really missed the teleporting powers – which made sense, because the sun was starting to set and the air was growing colder. But he could hear the sound of wheels on concrete in the distance and followed it.

For a while, Alex just watched. He had never really cared all that much about skateboarding before (and honestly, he didn’t care all that much about it now, but he did like a certain skater an awful lot), but he had to admit it was fascinating to watch. The coordination and the skill and the lack of fear about falling.

Alex had always been scared about falling, physically and mentally and in love.

About hitting the ground and getting hurt and not being able to get back up. And he had fallen a lot. Out of a treehouse and down stairs. Had been pushed down. On concrete and on grass. Had been hurt. Luke and Reggie had always been there to help him back up though.

It didn’t mean it didn’t still scare him shitless. Falling.

Because what if one day he fell and there was no one to help him back up? What if one day he fell and everyone around him decided he was too much effort to help back up? What if one day he fell and staying down just seemed like the better option?

It was supposed to be one of the perks of coming back as a ghost. Of knowing that if he fell he couldn’t physically get hurt, and that Luke and Reggie would be there because they were always there and he was dead, falling in love shouldn’t have been a worry.

Of course, then he’d gone and got knocked off his feet, stinging palms and phantom bruises and hair flipping as the rest of the street blurred and all he could see was Willie.

And suddenly he was falling. Physically and mentally and in love.

Which was pretty fucking crazy. Who fell in love at first sight anyway? That wasn’t supposed to be a real thing. It was supposed to be something you read about or saw in silly cheesy rom-coms or from songs that people in love wrote.

So he’d met Willie, had fallen face first onto the ground, literally, and into like and then into love and then into life again.

It was a lot.

It was too much.

Too much change and more change and changing back and unanswered questions.

Was it really so hard to send a couple of ghost handbooks down?

So Alex had gone for a walk, to clear his head, to sort through his thoughts, to get a grip on the feeling of falling. He’d ended up at the skate park without really meaning too, not that he’d had any real destination in mind.

Sitting on a bench, he pressed two fingers to the pulse point on his wrist, counting the beats –- it’s been a few weeks and he’s still not used to having a beating heart, is always a little worried it’s all some big trick and he’ll wake up one day back as a ghost -– as he watches Willie go down a ramp and flip his board mid air.

Still being able to see with Willie was one of the many unanswered questions that he had.

(Maybe he should start making a list. Not that he thought he’d ever get any answers for them, but it might be nice. To have a list of all the questions about his death and his after life and his re-life. He could call it Tales of BHD (before hot-dog death). Julie might have some comments.)

Deep down Alex knew he shouldn’t question it. They’d been given a second chance, it was a miracle and magic and amazing. But he’d never done very well with questions without answers. He wished he could accept it as easily as Luke and Reggie and Julie had. That it was love or a gift or will power. It didn’t seem very likely, but he wasn’t about to argue it.

They’d been dead. Now they weren’t. It was a miracle.

He might have thought so if he could still hug Willie. But it was like when they’d first met Julie, he reached out to touch his shoulder, his hand, and passed right through him. Alex now knows how Luke felt and kind of feels bad for ever teasing him about. A re-lifer being in love with a ghost is kinda painful. And yet, he can’t seem to stop himself from seeking Willie out. No one’s ever called Alex the smart one.

There’s a sudden crashing sound, wood hitting concrete and Willie letting out a string of curse words and Alex immediately zeros in on him. On the ground. Without really stopping to think about it Alex is up off the bench and running the short distance until he’s next to him by the time Willie has pushed himself up onto his knees.

“Shit are you okay?” He reaches out a hand, to touch his shoulder, to help him up, he doesn’t know. But stops himself short. Because he can’t touch him, and every time that his hand phases through they both look away sadly.

“I’m– yeah I’m good. Had worse spills,” there’s a toothy smile on his face as he says it, but Willie’s eyes have caught on Alex’s still outstretched hand, a sadness flashes across his eyes quickly before vanishing.

Alex just stands there a little awkwardly, stuffing his hands into his pockets, as he watches Willie stand up, wincing a little at some unknown injury – which okay, when he thinks back on it, that should have been his first sign.

“What ha–” Alex starts, but his eyes catch on Willie’s knees and the blood slowly spilling down his leg from a cut. “Shit you’re bleeding! You said you were fine!” He doesn’t mean to sound so accusational, but well, how can he help if no one tells him when they're hurt?

Willie looks at him in confusion before down at his legs, eyes widening at the blood and Alex starts to worry that the other boy might faint. Does he not like the sight of blood? Oh god, he should probably sit down before he gets more hurt.

“Sit down I should have something for it, hang on.” Without thinking, Alex puts his hand on Willie’s shoulder and guides him back down to the ground, to the lip off the end of one of the ramps and makes sure he’s sat before turning his attention to his fanny pack. His fingers catch on a drum stick, a lip balm, one of Julie’s scrunchies, his inhaler, but no ziplock bag of first aid. Shit. He’d left it in Julie’s room, months ago. Because he’d been dead. And hadn’t needed any of it. Fuck.

He looks back at Willie, mouth opening to tell him the bad news, but Willie is already looking at him with wide, scared eyes. He has one hand gripping the side of the ramp and his other is resting over his chest. Over his heart.

“Alex,” he starts and that’s when Alex realises that he doesn’t look scared. It's shock. There’s tears pooling in his eyes and, like a bus hitting him, Alex realises that his hand hadn’t phased through when he’d guided him to sit down.

“You– I– What?” Is all he gets out, which doesn’t make any sense but Willie seems to get it because he nods his head. And then Willie is standing up, hissing a little as he unbends his knee and dimly, Alex is aware that it’s started bleeding a little again, but all that is second to the feeling of Willie carefully, slowly, gently, reaching for his hand. And holding it. Fingers linking. Solid and real and warm. With his other hand Alex reaches for his neck, lays his fingers against soft skin and feels for a pulse. For the fluttering of a heartbeat and lets out a wet laugh when he finds it. He doesn’t know when he started crying, but it doesn’t matter.

Alex uses the hand that Willie is still holding to pull the other boy towards him, lets the fingers on his neck slip around until his arm is around his back, and is pulling him into a hug he’s been craving for a month.

“How?” It’s the first thing Willie says as he pulls away, not far, because Alex had let out a small whine as he’d tried to step away and wasn’t even ashamed of it.

“I have no idea,” he shrugs, because he doesn’t. He has no answers for any of this. But he’s willing to not question it, he decides, if he and the people he loves most in the world get a second chance at life. Together. “I’m starting to not question these things and just say thank you.”

Willie laughs then, a little watery, but still bright and kind and so full of life that no one would have ever known he’d been a ghost a short while ago.

“Fair enough,” they’re still stood close together, hands awkwardly intertwined between them and Alex’s fingers are tangled in his hair. But neither of them make any move to pull away. Willie pulls a face, lips twisting to the side and Alex raises an eyebrow at him, “Where the hell am I going to live now? Caleb already hated that I've been sleeping at the club, he's never gonna let me back in now."

Now it’s Alex’s turn to laugh, shaking his head a little at the question, because at least this one he has an answer too. He detangles his fingers from Willie’s hair carefully and takes a half step away, just enough for him to properly hold his hand, pulling him over to his abandoned skateboard.

“Well, lucky for you, I happen to know the coolest girl with the coolest dad who likes to take in stray used to be ghosts.”

Willie picks up his skateboard and when Alex starts to walk, pulls them to a stop, a worried little crease between his brows as he looks at him.

“Are you sure Julie will be cool with me crashing with you all? I don’t want to like, intrude or get in the way.”

“I’m pretty sure she’d re-kill me if I didn’t bring you home with me,” Alex shakes his head, a little fondly and with a little exasperation. But this time, when he starts to walk, pulling Willie along with him, his boyfriend doesn’t stop them. And if this is what unanswered questions gets him, well Alex will learn to live with them.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Episode 3

I just love their outfits here, and since I didn’t comment on that in the last episode, I wanted to say it here. I love the whole color palette they used for Lotus Pier. The donghua goes heavy on the purple and black, but I really love how they incorporate lavender and teal and other blues. It’s just very pretty and soft and relaxing. Such a nice place. I keep having a debate with myself about where I’d rather live. I think I’d be more comfortable in the Cloud Recesses, but I’d never be able to deal with all those rules!

Ah, yes, everyone’s favorite peacock. He played this part so perfectly: just this pillar of grace and poise, except when he’s around Jiang Yanli, and he just becomes butter hahaha. I like his son a lot better than him, but he and Wei Wuxian have some great scenes together, and it’s fun to see him grow alongside everyone else. He’s not just a mindless clan member who does everything he’s supposed to. He’ll stand up and fight for justice too.

It’s easy to forget (myself included in this) that Jiang Yanli is the oldest of the three of them, especially in this show. She’s so much smaller, so soft-spoken; she isn’t going to be the next leader, because that’s Jiang Cheng, being the male heir. But this is one of those scenes where she really is the big sister. Wei Wuxian is fighting with her fiancé’s retinue, Jiang Cheng is just trying to stay out of it and be polite, so she has to step in and put an end to it. I love when Jiang Yanli gets some screen time and lines, and isn’t serving soup. Don’t get me wrong—I like seeing her take care of them, but it’s more mothering than being a big sister. I think the moments when she’s standing up for her brothers and for herself are really special. You can’t blame Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian for loving their shijie so much.

Gotta love Wei Wuxian taking every opportunity to throw some shade at Jin Zixuan. I love all of it, and I eat it up—I am the target audience for snarky Wei Wuxian. And at this point, Jin Zixuan just ignores him—good on him. He keeps that up for all of a few days.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YOU FORGOT THE INVITATION!

Sorry, but the first time I watched this, I wondered why there was this big close-up of something with “Lan Clan of Gusu” written on it. I’m a dummy, okay?

Omg they translated ge-ge as “buddy.”

Okay, but here we go! Shut out of the Cloud Recesses. Also, where did they change? I kept thinking they changed at the tavern, but when they left, they were wearing their same Jiang Clan clothes. So, somewhere along the way, they put on their pretty white robes. I’ve got nothing else to say here, because we’re about to see another great entrance from Lan Wangji.

I love how his entrance is accompanied by the guqin. His presence is so ethereal, so otherworldly, yet he’s so grounded as a character. He turns everyone’s heads, including Wei Wuxian’s. I love that Wang Yibo is in reality shorter than Xiao Zhan, so they gave him platform boots to make them more even. But the height and stature gives the relationship a whole different dynamic.

Anyone who knows me knows I love my yaoi/BL. I could go on and on about my favorites, but I won’t do that here. There’s one thing I don’t like about it, and it’s that you can always tell who the top and bottom is just by how they look (sometimes artists subvert this, which I love!). The donghua for MDZS does this (I haven’t read the manhua, but I have seen some screenshots, and I think it also does)—Lan Wangji is so much bigger than Wei Wuxian. And while it’s aesthetically pleasing, it just bugs me, okay? I like the idea of Wangxian being roughly the same size and height—I don’t really know why, I just do. Also I definitely headcanon them both as switches at this point.

I don’t think Lan Wangji would have given Wei Wuxian the time of day if he hadn’t heard this. He’s already impressed that Wei Wuxian picked up on the weird stuff/wicked sorcery going on—he’s made a mental note of him. I’m sure he’s a little disappointed that Wei Wuxian immediately gets on his nerves, but he still pauses before leaving.

Lan Wangji is never going to be a fast friend—he’s not going to be anyone’s best friend right away. You need to gain his trust and that does not happen overnight. Though the setting is anything but realistic, their relationship and the steps it goes through are incredibly realistic. They grow together—they grow on each other (it’s not as if Wei Wuxian really cares about Lan Wangji at first either—think of how many times he calls him a fuddy-duddy. I think his main goal for quite some time is to get on Lan Wangji’s nerves and tease him. Wei Wuxian is used to charming his way in and out of things, but he can’t do that with Lan Wangji).

Yibo’s piercings! That’s it. That’s why I took this screenshot. But, weirdly, I always look at stuff like that.

He has such a swagger here, going up the steps, but I think it’s really just Xiao Zhan trying to climb the stairs without tripping on his costume. XD

It’s funny how surprised Wei Wuxian is to have the silencing spell used on him, even though he had been put under it earlier that day. Frankly, I don’t blame Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian hit him with a bit of a sucker punch there, implying that the girls only liked him for how he looks and that they’d be disappointed by his demeanor.

It’s such a popular trope (enemies to lovers), but I don’t think that makes it inherently bad or less effective as a storytelling device. On the contrary, when done well, it can make or break a story. As I said earlier, their relationship is very realistic, yet has enough fiction to make it fun. I watch these early scenes with a big old grin on my face, and I’ve seen this one probably around four times now, maybe more (I keep watching the Special Edition for all that wangxian goodness).

Okay, let’s watch as Wei Wuxian digs his hole deeper and deeper. The look on Lan Qiren’s face this entire time is priceless. Like, who is this miscreant who just barged in here, telling me how he is breaking all the rules and expecting me to feel bad for him? Meanwhile, Lan Xichen, with a smile: I won’t blame you for breaking the rules, but let my brother who hates you decided your punishment, okay? Thanks!

Peak comedy before it gets all serious again.

She’s so gorgeous!

But I’ll be frank with you all, I don’t like that they expanded Wen Qing’s role in this way. She was one of my favorites in the book, but shoehorning her and Wen Ning into the Cloud Recesses kind of drives me nuts. And then the stuff with Jiang Cheng, while kind of cute, just doesn’t really hit right with me, and I don’t think it was executed well at all after a certain point—but I’ll babble about that when the time comes. So, while I appreciate expanding female roles, I didn’t really care for this bit in the Cloud Recesses. I would have been fine with them adding scenes of what she was up to with the Wen Clan—that would have been really cool, actually, because we don’t get to see much of anything other than the Nightless City. And maybe I’m biased because I quite enjoyed the archery contest stuff in the book that they kind of piecemealed in the show.

It sounds like I’m just whining about this show, but I actually really enjoy it.

I like this moment between the twin jades. We don’t get a ton of these and this one is particularly quiet and peaceful. The contrast between them and Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian is so stark—the twin jades are so formal and a little stiff, while the twin prides are off the wall, hitting and teasing each other—but this doesn’t make either one less caring than the other. What’s obvious from this scene is how much both of them care about each other: Lan Wangji wants to do what he can to help, because he knows how much pressure is on Xichen, and Xichen is just worried about his younger brother. Even though you don’t find this out until later, you can tell that the two boys had to grow up very fast. Neither one had much of a childhood, and I think Lan Xichen does take on a bit of a father role to Lan Wangji as well.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 |

[tailorvizsla]

[Disclaimer: I was absolutely fucking wasted when I wrote this. I’ve cleaned up all the typos I could find, but “Drunk Tailor’s Thots” and the meme stay. Enjoy.]

Title: cracks in his armor Pairing: Daddy x Reader, your tongue x his hammer (and other places), your back x his work table lmaoooo [Sadet (OC) x f!Reader] Word Count: too many (~3k ish?) Rating: absolute filth like NC-21 or something like I’d probably throw myself off a cliff if anyone saw this shit irl Warnings: no use of a condom because tailor is a hoe like that just pretend it’s okay, the ol’ in an out, you lick his hammer, stuff, plot what plot this is straight up porn, inappropriate use of a hammer, he is big meat mando we are hiding all 7+ inches of tiingilar-fed Mandalorian sausage in various holes, we’re climbing the Matterhorn and sliding all the way down to base camp coochie first, we are fucking Sadet like it’s the Dicklympics and we’re going for gold in every category Author’s Notes: just pure unadulterated thirst because who doesn’t want to get bent over and absolutely destroyed by a dude with nice shoulders and a huge dick also we’re licking his hammer BUT pretend it’s CLEAN I ain’t got time to write in him cleaning it off, it’s clean, I promise. 

[I feel like I need to apologize to @magsgotswags​ for what I’ve done to her boy, but...that would be a huge fucking lie and I am not a liar. That being said...I’ll hose him off, put his hammer through the autoclave, and make sure he eats a well-balanced meal before I send him back. 🤣]

📚 My Master List 📚

You’re not sure how this even started but here you are, bent forward over Sadet’s work table with your pants down around your thighs and his cock buried in you to the hilt. He’s got one hand wrapped around the back of your neck, pressing your cheek into the soft, buttery wood underneath you. The other hand holds your wrists behind your back as he fucks into you, his fingers like iron bands as they dig into the delicate bones in your wrists. 

Sadet isn’t big into emotions, but you know for a fact there are at least two things he loves in life – his craft and his big beautiful beskar hammer. Hazily, you wonder if it was the fact that you had cornered him to ask what his line of work entailed that caught his laser-like attention and got you into this situation. A sharp thrust forces a half-sob from your throat as his cock finds the end of you, as if he can sense your distraction from the lesson at hand. He has this thing where he likes to lecture you and test you on what you’ve retained later. It’s not fair – you both know it – but you’re whimpering so much right now you can’t even protest his treatment of you.

Even if you could, you wouldn’t. As emotionally constipated as he is, this is still the best cock you’ve had in your life and you’ve made some headway with getting him to open up a bit. You are not fucking this up. Licking your lips, you let your eyes drift shut as he continues his merciless pace, hips smacking wetly into your ass. You’re virtually helpless to do anything but take his cock. Just the way you like it.

“ – utilizes seven basic techniques [1],” he’s saying, and you feel him look down at you as he squeezes his fingers around your wrists. “Can you name four of them and tell me what each one accomplishes?”

You manage to uncross your eyes as you open them.

“D-drawing,” you gasp out. “Len-lengthens th-the metal.”

“You like length, don’t you,” he murmurs. “Continue.”

A whine pours out of your mouth as he changes his angle just a bit, pressing his cock right into that sweet spot, the one that has you squirming and throbbing.

“B…bending…”

“Mm-hmm,” he responds. “Bent, just like you right now, hmm?”

“…heat,” you manage to get out. “Allows it to b-bend. Ductile. Malleable.”

“Just like the heat of my hands makes your legs spread wide open,” he murmurs. “Bend apart like red hot steel. You feel like it on the inside, too.”

Squirming, you let out a pathetic little mewl as he slows his pace, letting you feel every inch as he draws out until his cock threatens to fall out of you entirely.

“Come on, two more,” he says. “You can do it, little one.”

You wrack your mind, trying to remember what he had been saying earlier. The wretched man stops moving entirely, letting you feel every little twitch of his cock inside you. At least now, the only thing distracting you is the heavy weight of his hands on your body.

“Welding,” you blurt out. “Welding.”

He resumes thrusting slowly, the pressure around your wrists lightening ever so slightly. You don’t need to be prompted to explain it to him.

“Welding…joins two metals,” you stutter. “The same, sometimes dif-different metals.”

“I like joining,” he says, punctuating his sentence with a thrust that forces a noise between a grunt and a scream from between your lips. “Look at us, two different types of metal here. I’d say you were copper. Soft…conductive. All it takes is one little spark and you glow for me. Takes a lot to shatter you…but I think I can make it happen.”

You bite down on your lower lip. He’s broken you before, brought you to the edge until you sobbed for him, begged him for release, promised him the world just to let you finish. He’s a generous lover but when he focuses on the task at hand – whether finishing beskar’gam at the Forge or while fucking you to the brink of tears – there’s very little that will redirect his attention from his work.

“One more,” he coaxes. “You can do it.”

Your brain sputters to a halt. No matter how hard you try, you can’t remember the rest of them.

“Can’t remember?” he asks softly, voice faintly mocking. “I’m disappointed you weren’t paying attention.”

He releases your wrists and pulls out, leaving you feeling empty. Effortlessly, he lifts you up, maneuvering you onto your back in the center of the table. Before you can react he grabs either side of the front of your pants and pulls, neatly ripping the fabric apart. Fuck, yet one more thing you’ll need to worry about later. Sadet lets out a dark noise of delight at the sight of your well-fucked cunt, glistening wet and swollen.

“Hands under you,” he orders, and you slide your hands under your lower back, pinning yourself into place. If you obey, there is a chance he will take mercy on you, let you come and forgive you for not paying attention to his lesson. As his fingers dig into your thighs, you know there isn’t a chance he is going to let you off that easy. It was futile to hope otherwise.

“Blacksmithing utilizes seven basic techniques,” he starts. “You got a few of them. Drawing, bending, welding. There’s punching, which is used to create a decorative pattern or to add a hole.”

His fingers trail up your thighs as he holds your legs wide apart.

“Speaking of adding holes…I haven’t fucked your ass yet, have I?” he murmurs. You’re not able to hide your grimace and Sadet laughs at you. “If you’re ever in the mood, I’ll happily wreck your ass the same way I wreck your cunt, little one…now where was I?”

He pauses deliberately, reaching up. The man yanks your shirt open, sending buttons flying in every direction. Your bra follows but you don’t dare protest – he’ll just offer to buy another one for you. There is something about literally ripping the kute off you that turns him into an animal.

“Ah, yes,” he says. “You weren’t paying attention during my lesson. How to punish you…”

You whine and squirm, knowing what’s coming next. With one hand, he places his hammer on the table, all smooth beskar from the head all the way down to the metal shaft. Sadet lifts it and aims the handle right into your cunt, sliding it in slowly. It’s thick and cold and he only uses it on you when you’ve really pissed him off. You deserve it though – he’s given this lecture at least a dozen times, you should know the seven steps. It’s your own fault at this point.

He keeps a tight grip around the shaft to keep it from sliding too far in and hurting you. He’s fond of making you cry but not that way – he doesn’t want to hurt you, he only wants you to cry from pleasure. When you finally relax down onto the surface of the table, he starts to rock it in and out slowly. When you reach up and squeeze his forearm with your fingers, he knows he can use a little more force, and you return your hand under your back.

“There’s upsetting, which thickens metal on one dimension through shortening on another,” he says. “Then there’s also upsetting, which is what your refusal to pay attention does to me.” He sighs exaggeratedly. “You’re a mess in armor, but...a tolerable mess.”

You whine, pussy clenching around the ice cold intrusion inside you, heart racing at the sight of the smooth dark visor floating out of reach above you.

“Can you remember the last one?” he asks, his voice almost taunting. “You can do it.”

“F…finish…finishing,” you pant out, and he tilts his helmet down at you in a Mandalorian smile.

“Good girl,” he rumbles at you. “I may let you finish, little one, if you keep being good for me.”

He turns his attention to his hammer, watching the beskar disappears inside you, only to reappear moments later, wet and drenched in your slick. He stays there until the metal is warm from your cunt before he pulls it out. Lifting the edge of his helmet up, he brings the metal to his lips and the tip of his tongue darts out, lapping up a bit of your mess. You shudder in response.

 “Warm, sweet. Soft. Tastes good,” he says. “Tastes like you.”

He gently places the hammer down onto your torso, the heavy head on your belly and the smooth metal shaft pointing toward your face. Without waiting you open your mouth and close your eyes, stretching your lips around the smooth metal handle. It’s a bit awkward like this, bobbing your head while you clean the long streaks of slick off the beskar, but he loves it in a way he can’t really explain. 

Once he’s satisfied, he pulls the shaft out of your mouth with a wet pop. Then he deftly turns it around, holding the head just above your lips. Locking eyes with the horizontal bar of his visor, you let your tongue dart out, tracing along the gleaming metal surface. His other hand tightens at your waist.

“I have something else for your mouth, if you’d like,” he murmurs.

You nod once at him, and he offers his hand, pulling you up into a sitting position. Sadet helps you down and you lower yourself onto your knees as you take in the sight of his marvelous cock: thick, long, uncut, and curving slightly up and to the left. Parting your lips, you bob your head, taking him a little further each time. He doesn’t move as you take him in until he brushes up against the back of your throat.

One hand rises to cup his balls – heavy and covered in a fine thatch of curling hair – while the other rests on his thigh to brace yourself. Peeking up at him from under your lashes, you let him sit in your mouth, tasting yourself and the faint bitterness of his cum. Sadet rolls his hips, giving you a few moments to settle in before setting a brisk pace. His fingers dig into your scalp as he tugs on your hair, guiding you on his length, not speaking a word as he simply watches his cock disappear into your mouth.

You sort of give up on controlling the pace then and go slack in his grip, yielding to him entirely. Your jaw starts to ache rapidly, but you keep your eyes on his visor, knowing that your glazed over eyes drive him wild. You can taste hints of bitterness as his precum spreads across your tongue, his pace growing faster and rougher as he chases completion inside your hot, wet mouth. His other hand curls around the back of your head and you know he is getting close to the edge.

“Wanna hear you gag,” he whispers, and you squeeze his thigh it’s okay you tell him with your hand.

Your jaw burns now but you don’t want to tap out, you don’t want to stop, not while he’s so close. Your cunt clenches around nothing, painfully empty after his cock and hammer, aching desperately for him to finish inside you and coat your insides with his seed. As he hits the back of your throat, you gag a bit, and he groans in response. Tears stream down your cheeks as he continues. You can hear the harsh pants from his modulator and thank the gods you think to yourself – you’re not sure how much more your mouth can take right now.

Sadet pulls his cock free and strokes himself to completion on your face. Thick ropey splatters of cum coat your skin and fill your mouth, spilling down onto your breasts as he groans, a growling noise from deep in his chest. He holds you there, his body hunched forward as he pulses the last few drops onto your chest.

With his index finger, he wipes up a bit of cum clinging to the head of his cock. He tilts your head back and wipes It onto your lower lip. You dart your tongue out to lick up the mess, listening as his breath hitches. When he lets go of your hair, you sink onto the ground, body aching and trembling from exhaustion. As goosebumps prickle across your arms, you realize you’re also trembling from how cool it is over here in this corner. He brushes his thumb against your cheek.

“Stay there,” he says quietly and you nod. 

You’re not sure you’d be able to move even if you wanted to right now. As Sadet goes to the hook on the wall, you use the remains of your shirt to wipe the mess of your face. He takes down his luxuriously soft fur cape. Instead of wrapping it around you, he spreads it onto the ground next to the Forge and returns to your side. As you get to your feet, he wraps a calloused hand around your elbow and helps you up, guiding you over to his cape. Along the way, you shed the remains of your top and bra.

Sadet joins you on the cape, taking his helmet off last, and setting it down on the floor next to you. Dry heat pours out of the exchange vents, sending another prickle across your skin as he settles between your thighs. His eyes drift shut and you know he’s stopping to enjoy the heat. During the summer, he always pauses when taking that first step outdoors, taking just a moment to tilt his face toward the sun to bask in the harsh light. He opens his eyes and you smile up at him, squeezing your knees around his hips as he settles across your body. 

He guides himself inside, pushing in with short, gentle thrusts, sliding in until your bodies meet. Meeting your eyes, he starts a slow, deep pace, hitting every single one of the needy spots inside you that scream for friction. As you trail your hands up his arms and shoulders, fingers cataloguing the knots in his muscles, you sigh with pleasure. You luxuriate in the deliciously soft fur underneath you and the sweat-slick glide of his body above yours, his weight heavy and comforting at the same time. He takes it slow, trying to be considerate of you, considering everything he’s done to you in the past half-hour. 

Digging your nails into his back, you feel the thick corded muscle jumping under your fingers, sighing with pleasure. You can’t hold back your inhalation when his lips – soft and slightly chapped – meet your collar bone as he kisses you for the first time. He starts to pull away but you wrap your arms around his neck, pleading with him silently to keep going. And he does, pressing one light kiss to your shoulder after another, trailing his way to your neck. When he bites down, you moan wantonly, cunt and legs tightening around him. Your reaction seems to encourage him and he keeps going, each kiss sending a dizzying arc of pure lightning shooting through your entire body.

By the time he makes it to your jaw, you’re shaking, on the verge of coming, your head swimming dizzyingly from the sheer pleasure of his lips against your skin. His next kiss lands right next to your lips and you desperately want to turn your head to meet his lips but you know it’s not his thing so you let him decide what happens next. He hovers for just a moment as you watch him with half-closed eyes, your pupils surely blown wide open from arousal, and he leans in, his breath fanning across your cheeks. 

That’s enough to send you right over the edge and as your back arches, Sadet kisses you on the lips, swallowing your cry of pleasure. He thrusts a few more times, tongue tracing the seam of your lips before you remember to kiss him back. Your hand curls around the back of his head and pulls him in close as you deepen it, mouths open and his tongue hesitant against yours. He thrusts shallowly a few times before drawing to a halt, his lips never leaving yours as he continues the kiss.

He draws back after several more toe-curling kisses and you unlace your legs from around his waist, dropping your feet onto his calves. When he hisses and jerks forward, thrusting his half-hard cock into you, you give him an apologetic grin and remove your feet to the cape underneath your entwined bodies. When the two of you have regained your faculties, he pulls out, and sits back on his heels as you rest your hands on your belly.

He tilts his head slightly as he offers his hand. Once again, he pulls you up. You take in your ruined garments with a wry look on your face.

“I’m going to have to go back to my room in your clothes again,” you quip at him.

“Who said anything about you leaving?” he asks.

Your mouth drops open in a little ‘o’ of surprise, your eyes jumping up to meet his. After all this how can he still want more? He laughs at you as he picks up his helmet and hammer.

“I haven’t gotten to test your knowledge of different fuel sources yet,” he explains. “We have all night, sweet girl. There’s plenty of time for me to breed you.”

With that he marches you toward his sumptuous bedroom.

__________________________________________________________

[1] Traditional blacksmithing has seven basic techniques used, but can be divided into four rough categories: forging, welding, heat-treating, and finishing.

__________________________________________________________

Data:

Tailor: would 100% let Sadet smash

Kalni:

Figure 1: Meme showing the subject’s thoughts on Sadet the Armorer from the Samaki Tribe. The strong language in this image – “In conclusion, I’m a slut for Sadet” –  indicates the subject is willing and able to permit Smashing to occur.

Maggie: Yes

Kata: Yes

Izzy: Yes

-

Conclusions:

To come to an accurate conclusion, the experiment would need a bigger sample size. However, based on preliminary results, it can be concluded that Sadet is 100% Smashable.

-

Bibliography:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksmith#Smithing_process

-

The “You Enabled This” Tag List:

@hdlynn​ @magsgotswags​ @thecautiousengineer​ @maybege​ @nelba​

[littlemisslol-fic]

44 (Puppy love) and 20 (Breaking the rules) for Varian and Hugo? I just want dumb boys doing dumb things together,,,, UggHhHH

Hey anon!! Thanks for the ask! I merged both of these into one story, but it’s basically a full fledged oneshot by now so oops. Have some modern-day-au-varigo!!

44 (Puppy love) and 20 (Breaking the rules)

“We’re going to get into so much trouble…” 

Hugo looks at him like he’s lost his mind.

“What’s wrong, goggles?” The blond laughs, “Scared?”

Varian bristles at the taunt, scowling. He shifts awkwardly- his shoes scuff the dirt in a way that only accents how stressed out he feels. The forest around them sings with birdsong, the rustle of trees in the wind, and the gentle snip-snip of Hugo’s wire cutters. The moon shines down on them, full and bright, a hole punched in the middle of the sky surrounded with starry shrapnel. 

Varian’s hoodie- Hugo’s hoodie that he’d stolen, actually, not that he’d admit it- is soft and warm around him, the green fabric surrounding him like a hug. Hugo grins like an animal, and turns back to the fence in front of them. Varian watches with apprehension as Hugo snips away at it, chopping an ugly, but functional entrance.

“I’m not scared.” Varian finally mutters, shifting his weight again. The late August air is still warm, but starting to cool the closer they get to midnight. “I’m just… concerned.” 

“Sure, Var,” Hugo laughs, sticking out his tongue as he snips at the last of the fence. “Keep telling yourself that.” 

Varian scowls again, flushing. The woods around them are dark, but Varian isn’t concerned about that- he grew up here in the small town of Old Corona, after all, he knew these woods like the back of his hand- no, what scares him is the idea of getting caught. 

“Seriously, Hugo, if we get caught my dad’s gunna-”

“Flip out?” Hugo blows a lock of blond hair out of his face as he snips at the last of the wire. “Yeah, I know. That’s why we’re not going to get caught.”

Varian grits his teeth. Hugo, content with snipping the final chunk of fence, stands back up and shoves the wire cutters in his backpack. With a rough kick- Varian cringes at the noise, blue eyes scanning the treeline frantically- Hugo’s perfectly cut square goes flying away from the fence, leaving a doorway chopped out of the wire.

“See, easy.” Hugo grins. Varian scoffs, but when the blond offers him a hand he takes it. Hugo leads him through the hole in the fence and Varian follows with a grumble; as much as he’s bitching he’s curious about what exactly his boyfriend is up to. Hugo was nothing if not spontaneous, showing up at Varian’s house at nearly eleven at night and dragging him through the woods towards one of the only dangerous places in Old Corona.

The old fairgrounds, while only recently abandoned, had been locked tight for two years. Varian can’t help but look around in awe, seeing the way that the rusting metal and cracked concrete are slowly being overtaken by nature once again. It’s dark, the kind of inky black you can’t see inside the city, the kind that makes the milky way above so vibrant and bright in comparison- like a river of stars snaking across the night sky.

Varian can’t help but stop, just looking up and into the sky. Hugo pauses, grinning and letting him stare. Varian doesn’t get out much- not with his usual obligations as the mayor’s son- and these are the kinds of things he missed while growing up… the kind of things that Hugo is nothing but glad to show him.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Varian hears Hugo ask him. He nods, dumbstruck, but when he looks at his boyfriend- Hugo isn’t looking at the sky. He’s staring Varian dead in the eye. He feels his face grow hot- he must be a shocking colour of red by now- but Hugo doesn’t make mention of it. Instead he holds out an arm, an offering that Varian gladly takes. He worms his way into Hugo’s side, delighting as a strong arm wraps around his shoulders and pulls him close. 

The old fairgrounds are the kind of quiet that sinks deep in your chest. Not that they’re silent- Varian can hear the chirping of crickets and the creaky whine of metal swings as they pass a swing ride- a large tower with a round disk at the top, nearly a hundred swings hanging from rusty chains. When the wind blows they swing along in soft, meandering arcs. Out here, nearly in the country, the quiet is something that seems sacred. The kind of silence reserved for graveyards and churches, shrines and memorials. It feels immoral to break it, so they don’t.

Hugo leads Varian up to a large roller coaster, the wooden frame still nearly perfect. Varian looks at it with apprehension, digging the heels of his hightops into the cracked concrete as Hugo begins to tug him forward.

“We’re not going up there.” Varian declares, “I don’t have a deathwish, and neither did you last time I checked.” 

“Relax goggles.” Hugo grins, “I was up there earlier this afternoon, checked it myself. It’s sturdy. We gotta hurry though, or we’re going to miss it!”

Hugo spins on his heel and hops the metal turnstile, not looking back. Varian scowls, following despite himself. Hugo knows him too well- knows that Varian would follow him to the ends of the earth if Hugo asked it of him. They draw close to the base of the coaster, shuffling up on top of a series of boxes left behind by previous explorers- or maybe Hugo himself that afternoon, apparently. Varian can’t help but scowl… what did his boyfriend even get up to while Varian wasn’t keeping track of him? Risking life and limb to climb unstable ruins, apparently. 

Hugo begins to scale the main hill of the coaster, the path easy as on the left side is a set of metal stairs for maintenance. Varian follows, his hand firmly planted on the railing as they climb higher. 

“Are you just leading me up there to murder me?” Varian calls, shuddering as the wind picks up a little as they reach about halfway up. The hill’s nearly five stories high, easily the tallest attraction in the abandoned park. Varian can almost see the tops of the trees from here. 

“Why would I take you all the way up here?” Hugo asks, turning around and smirking at him. “If I wanted you dead I would have killed you on ground level.” 

“I… that’s not assuring!” Varian gripes, “If anything that makes this worse!” 

Hugo, the bastard, laughs.

“You don’t like bullshit.” Hugo says, and Varian can’t help but melt. Hugo turns around and keeps climbing, his boots making little thunk-thunks on the aging metal. Varian scrambles up after him, breathing in the wind as they finally reach the top. Hugo had been telling the truth, it seems, as there’s already a small setup at the very peak of the arch.

Two small camp chairs, a blue cooler in between, all precariously balanced on a small flat space at the very top. Varian assumes it was once for maintenance, like the stairs; a cluster of blankets hanging from two long flagpoles attached to the safety rails make a little roof, and when Hugo hits a little battery back a series of string lights flick on in a rainbow glow. Hugo crawls down into the little fort, looking back and smiling. Not his usual smirk, but an honest-to-god smile.

Varian can’t help but fall a little more in love. 

He crawls in after Hugo, laughing as they get tangled up for a second. For a second they become a flailing cluster of arms and legs, giggling like children as they trip over each other. Varian gets an elbow to the gut and grunts- Hugo’s arms are suddenly wrapping around his waist. 

“Sorry, sorry,” The blond snickers, “Didn’t account for your stupid legs-”

“What, you just want me to leave them behind next time?” Varian groans, resting up against Hugo’s side with a sigh. Hugo’s warm and solid as Varian leans into him- settles under Hugo’s arm like he belongs there, sinks into the heat of the other’s body, curls into the embrace like he was made for it.

Hugo’s chin settles on his head, and Varian smiles softly to himself. 

With Hugo’s back propped up against the pole, they both face out over the forest. In the distance, Old Corona glows with street lamps and houses and cars. Above them, the stars shine just as brightly, if not moreso. Varian smells pine and something distinctly Hugo- breathes it in and lets it settle deep in his chest like a balm. 

Hugo’s arms tighten around his waist, the two of them looking out towards the distant light of home. Varian feels at peace, the gentle waves of tranquil silence and soft lights from their little makeshift tent soothing the ails of day.

And then, just as Varian’s getting used to the relaxation-

Pop-pop, pop pop pop-pop-pop-

Fireworks scatter across the sky in a rainbow of light and colour, vivid oranges and blues and purples glowing across the inky sky like a scattering of magic. Varian’s eyes go wide, watching with a childlike glee as they fizzle and spark. Hugo’s hold on him gets a little closer as Varian shifts, as if the blond’s scared he’s going to pull away-

“Did you know about this?” Varian asks him, turning in his arms. He can see the reflection of colour in the lenses of Hugo’s glasses- and in the warm look in those green eyes.

“Sure I did.” Hugo says, “I know a guy who knew a guy.” 

Varian snorts, refusing to look away. Hugo’s trying to play this off- of course he is- but Varian knows that he’d probably been planning this for a while. He feels his heart start to thump at the thought, that Hugo had set all this up, had thought of doing all of this for Varian-

He grabs Hugo by the strings of his hoodie and pulls him into a kiss. Hugo smiles into it, leaning into it and pulling Varian close. They kiss for what feels like hours and seconds, Varian can’t tell, before they break. They both breathe a little heavily, gasping for air a mere few inches from another kiss.

“I love you, goggles.” Hugo whispers, like a prayer.

“I love you too,” Varian murmurs, lost to the moment. 

When they meet again, Varian can’t help but smile.  

[fletchphoenix]

Droplets On A Cyan Raincoat

Chapter 1 of my Little Nightmares AU is edited and done! :))))  I kinda wanted to write the first game and then do the second one, because i wanna play game 2 myself and grasp the story so for now have Varian travelling (aka the first 5 mins of the game oops-)  Hope you like it and have fun reading!!

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

Mesmerizing humming filled the vacuum, nothing but pitch black and a figure in the distance, only barely illuminated by the light. A lanky shadow stood hunched over as he, unknowingly, moved closer towards it, fuzzy outlines becoming far more clear the closer he got, and with it, the fear of who this was and why they were here filled his gut with dread. It twisted and pulled at his stomach, his eyes unblinking as they stared at the, now discernable, woman, standing well over six feet tall.

Raven locks, much like his, were tied into a neat bun on the top of her head, though part of it still cascaded down her back. A brown kimono covered her body that never seemed to end, no skin showing under the sea of brown, and it dragged along the floor at every slight movement. He couldn’t see her face yet - though he had a feeling he wouldn’t want to as the figure slowly turned her head to look at him. Incrementally, he saw one, then two soulless black eyes through the holes of the snow white Hol mask that she adorned on her face. The porcelain reflected the miniscule amount of light in the vacuum - light that shouldn’t have been there in the first place if this place were real. Still, the intense, pitch black eyes bore holes into him and his body shook in fear-

Droplets of water thudded on a cyan raincoat as Varian gasped, awakening from his dream-well, more so nightmare. A discarded leather suitcase, acting as his bed, was drenched with the liquid as well, though he didn’t care. Turning his head, he looked around at his surroundings, raven locks and a small cyan streak, much like his raincoat, peeking out and obscuring it slightly. He didn’t care enough to reach up and fix it, though. A sigh left his lips as he jumped down from the colossal item, his feet making contact with the waterlogged fabric on the ground, disturbing the water with every step he took with the little splashes trailing water up his cold legs and against the towering metal walls that surrounded him. Some were decorated in little cogs and pipes, presumably to change the pressure of something or the other, though he didn’t pay much attention as he kept on his trail. He turned to the right and kept walking.

Boxes sat pressed against the walls, some as big as him, as he moved down the small corridor. They loomed and stared at him, as well as some small, strange creatures with white cones on their head, though as he approved, they scurried away and hid from Varian. A little huff left his lips as the further he descended down the hall, the darker and, fortunately, less damp it got. Fishing into the pockets of the cyan raincoat, his hands wrapped around a cool, metallic square with little ridges engraved into the cartilage brass. He exposed it to the dank air around him and flicked open the lid, a small flame illuminating the corridor and allowing him more visibility. Twisting and turning his torso, pillars of metal on either side of him rose from the ground and connected to the ceiling above him, as well as the presence of more wheels and a lantern attached to the floor.

He examined the lantern, holding the flickering lighter out to it and lighting the wick. Various control panels came into view on the wall, though one mysterious one sat straight in front of him. Varian’s eyebrow quirked up at this, stepping forward and wrapping his hands around the handle and, with all his might, he pulled it up. The hatch unjammed from its position and rose up, the handle clanging against the steel walls of the corridor before sticking into place and showing a small crawl space. Crouching, the boy headed inside the claustrophobic area, flicking open his lighter and glancing around before continuing on his way down the, what he assumed was, a ventilation shaft as he jumped up little twists in the tunnel and over small grates, water dripping down onto the fabric covering his back but thankfully avoiding his lighter. A moment later, he jumped down from the vents, his fall broken by a box before he hit the now stone floor, still wet from the water that dripped down from above. He hadn’t seen rain in years - at least he hoped it was rain. 

In front of him sat a drop, his head hanging over to find no real end to the abyss at the bottom, a staircase conveniently providing him passage across. Jogging over, he climbed and ascended the metal staircase, the sight of massive chains that loomed above his head, barely covered by the ever-present fog, serving as a cruel reminder of just how small he was. Finally, he reached the top and flicked his lighter open once again, letting himself be warmed for a brief moment by the heat radiating from the flickering light. Another corridor awaited him, akin to the one from when he’d just woken up, with metal present on the walls as well as more boxes. A small room on his left revealed a tiny geisha doll, its details becoming less obscured as Varian stepped closer to it. With its black bun, brown kimono and white mask, it looked just like the woman in his dreams, though he pushed that thought away and threw the figurine as hard as he could against the wall, the porcelain shattering and small dust particles filled the room. Without a word, the boy turned on his heel and left, continuing his trek down the hallway. 

Only a few more steps lead him towards a wall sealed up with planks of rotting oak wood, though a gap in the bottom of the, admittedly useless, barricade allowed him to crouch and walk right into the room that awaited him. A leather couch, covered in tears and stains of...whatever that was, sat to his right on the oak planked floor, various buckets scattered around the room and, strangely enough, a few chairs attached to the ceiling, suspended by a few lengths of rope that hung down and caused them to sway slightly. Despite his paranoia, they looked secure enough, so he continued exploring the room, passing a bed with an iron frame, showing only a mattress and no pillows with another tiny doorway embedded into the wall and a small wooden dresser hosting a teacup. Varian wasted no time, climbing first onto a briefcase, then the bed, the springs of the mattress digging uncomfortably into his bare feet before finally climbing up into the crawl space. 

He dropped himself onto the mattress on the other side to see some legs, hanging down from the ceiling, a chair placed under them along with an envelope. Varian swallowed his bile, his eyes glancing away from the horrific sight as he walked past. His hands gripped onto the chair, pushing it towards the oak door at the other side of the room as he jumped, grabbing the handle and swinging it open. Letting himself drop, he ventured into the newest room, this one having wooden planks decorating the floor, though more rotten and decayed than the other as he flicked his lighter on and walked through, the shadows revealing turning cogs in the background, hidden by the darkness as Varian kept heading towards the other end of the room. At last, his feet hit stone and the lighter in his hand shone onto a refrigerator at his side, bloody handprints stretching across the door and over the handle. The boy reached up to swing the door open and stared at the desolate shelves, grey and a sufficient lack of well, anything, staring back at him much to his dismay.. Sucking in a breath, he ascended up the shelves, the lights blinking on and off as he rose to the top and strolled across a slanted wooden board and climbed up to a platform.

As his feet thudded across the floor, an inhumane scream sounded from above as a leech fell to the floor. It squirmed, though Varian picked up the pace, now in a jog as he jumped over a small gap between the platforms and safely onto another plank. He assumed it wouldn’t follow him, the creature lacking legs and therefore being unable to build any momentum to run and jump. It served as a relief then, as he heard a slimy thud behind him in the gap, flicking his lighter open and slowing his pace to walk once again across the wooden floor. More leeches fell from the ceiling, letting out their disgusting sounds as he ran towards the small light at the end of the tunnel, climbing onto a box and jumping. He hung on to the level before it succumbed to his weight, switching on and opening the shutter doors beside him. Exiting the room, he cleared the platform in front of it, jumping and landing successfully on the other side, the abyss from earlier providing some unknown stamina and strength he’d never had before. Sliding under the still opening doors on the other side, he entered yet another small room, the exit boarded up by planks. Gripping onto the planks at the bottom, he pulled and pulled, them eventually giving way and breaking from their place, Varian tumbling to the floor along with them. He dusted himself off and crouched, flicking his lighter on and sprinting through the room in front of him. 

Somewhere in the darkness, another little squeal came from one of the pyramid headed children from before (he wasn’t quite sure what to call them at this point in time, so he settled on the pyramid heads). Sprinting through the room, the wood creaked and moaned under his weight as he tried to search for the child. That should’ve been his warning, however, as the floor gave way and broke underneath him. He didn’t scream though as he fell, his cyan raincoat now blackened by the pool of ink he’d fallen into. Rising to his feet, he flicked on his lighter to illuminate the room….

...A room full of leeches. 

He suppressed a scream as he sprinted through the room, weaving in between the wriggling monsters as he maneuvered his way out of the room. He couldn’t let any of those things touch him. If they did then surely they’d kill him. Sprinting and sliding across the floor, his legs caught on the metal as it scratched and caused crimson to drip down them. A sharp inhale of pain fell out before he could stop it, the boy rising to his feet and rushing towards the left side of the room. He panted for breath, his hands and torso connecting with a large, wooden plank as it fell to the floor on the other side along with him. Letting himself breathe for a second, he rose to his feet and checked the lighter in his palm. Still works, he thought as the tiny flame appeared once more and he made his way, albeit slightly slower this time on account of the throbbing pain in his legs, over a bridge and jumped the gap in between two platforms. 

He seemed to be on a rooftop or at the minimum elevated walkway, the wood looking down on a few of the rooms he’d been in before. His hands shook as he climbed the ladder further, the fog making it almost impossible to see in front of him but alas he reached the top and steadied himself. For a moment, he allowed himself to take a seat on the platform, ripping a few pieces of fabric off from a curtain discarded on the floor and using them as a makeshift tourniquet. Settling against a metallic box, Varian let down the hood of his little cyan raincoat as the water droplets fell onto his hair and ran down his face, the sensation cooling and familiar as he drifted off into a sleep, dreaming of a family he had long since forgotten.

[marksongyeom]

Catch | Part 3

Pairing: Mark Tuan x Reader

Genre: College!AU, a pinch of angst, fluff

Word Count: ~3.5K

Summary: After things went south at the part, Mark apologizes and makes it up to with a date

Previous: Intro, Part 2

Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional (or even good) writer so sorry in advance for any grammar or spelling errors and mistakes. Also, I didn’t proof read it.

The weekend went by fast. I spent most of it hiding away in my dorm after what happened Friday night. I was still not only upset about he Mark situation, but even more confused then I was before the party. I’d finally come to terms with the fact that I had a minor crush on him, and talking to him that night only made me fall deeper down the rabbit hole. Then that girl showed up, and it felt like I got punched in the stomach.

I stood on Allie’s desk taping fairy lights along the top of the wall. “Maybe she was just some random girl who had a few too many,” Allie suggested.

I sighed. “I don’t know. She didn’t seem that drunk, and it seemed like she knew him pretty well.”

“Frat boys are nothing but trouble,” she said, frowning and shaking her head, her curly hair bouncing with the movement.

I sighed again. Thoughts of Friday night and Mark were swimming around in my head. I kept thinking about how his eyes would sparkle when he started talking about something he was passionate about, like his major or baseball. Or how he’d throw his head back when he laughed really hard. But then I kept thinking about how he’d held onto that girls waist, in a borderline protective manor. I needed to distract myself. 

I taped up the last part of the lights and hopped down from her desk. “Wanna go to the cafe and get dinner?” I asked. Allie’s eyes lit up and she nodded. Food would surely take my mind off things.

We slipped on our shoes and grabbed our things. Then, just as we opened the door to leave, we met a familiar person outside our door. Mark Tuan. His eyes were wide and his hand was raised, ready to knock on the door. Allie raised an eyebrow at him. “Um, can we help you?” she asked, clearly confused.

Mark’s eye’s met mine as he let his hand fall. I looked down. “I’m actually here to talk to (y/n),” he answered nervously. “But, I can go. You guys seem kinda busy.”

Allie glanced at me. My eyes were trained on Mark’s sneakers, and I was nervously wringing my hands. Things seemed to click in her head. “Oh - um - no, we aren’t. We were just headed to dinner,” Allie responded. She turned to me, her voice more gentle when she spoke. “I’ll wait for you downstairs, okay?” I nodded. Allie glanced at Mark and I before heading down stairs.

Things were silent between Mark and I, the air between us thick with tension. I hadn’t even thought about what I was going to say to him. I didn’t even know if I wanted to confront him. What would I confront him about? Not telling me about that girl prior? Playing with my feelings? I’d only had one actual conversation with him, and he isn’t obligated to tell me anything. Making any accusations certainly wouldn’t make the situation any better either.

Finally Mark spoke up. “I’m really sorry about Friday.” I looked up at him, finally meeting his eyes. His looked tired and his hair was messy, but not in a relax or effortless fashion. 

“It’s alright,” I hesitated, not totally convinced by my own words. By the look Mark gave me, I could tell he wasn’t either. I sighed. “Okay, so it’s not, and I’m actually really upset about even though it shouldn’t be. I barely know you so it’s not like it’s any of my business anyway.”

Mark smiled at me gently. “I want you to know me though,” he responded. “And I really want to know you.” 

My cheeks heated up, making him smile wider. I couldn’t help the smile that started to creep onto my face. “Even during a serious conversation, you still manage to flirt,” I teased, hitting his shoulder playfully. Mark laughed. It was that same high-pitched, honey sweet laugh that I heard of Friday. I could feel the tension beginning to dissipate. 

However, there was still one question that was keeping me from letting go and losing myself in all that was Mark Tuan. And It was absolutely none of my business. If he wanted to tell me, he’d tell me, and I knew i should respect that. But I couldn’t stop myself. “Who was that girl anyway?” I finally blurted out. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, thought.”

Mark sighed, running a hand through his hair. Despite being ridiculously messy, it looked soft. It was hard to keep myself from reaching out to touch it. “No, you deserve to know. Her name is Summer. We dated last school year. It ended really weird. We were still talking before this semester started. Nothing serious, but still talking.”

I my spirits fell a little bit. “Ah, I see,” I replied, desperately trying to hide any disappointment.

“But then I saw you with Jackson, and I was immediately interested,” he said with a smile.

I couldn’t help but smile back. “Really? Why?”

Mark shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned down a bit so his eyes were level with mine. “Because you’re really pretty and I wanted to find out who you were,” he answered, his voice soft. It reminded me of silk. “Jackson mentioned you - a lot actually - but what he didn’t tell me was that you’re stunning, in every way possible.”

He left me speechless. My cheeks were warm again and my stomach was swirling. “Mark,” was the only thing I could respond with.

Mark stepped closer to me, a warm smile on his face. “Let me take you out sometime. Like I said, I want to know you. I want to know the things that make you nerd out and the little things that annoy you. I want to know how you think and understand the inner working of your mind,” he said, the silkiness still present in his voice.

My head was spinning. My heart was pounding. My stomach was no longer swirling, but doing back flips and cartwheels. Nobody had ever made me feel this way before. Nobody had ever wanted to know me like how I wanted to know them.

Finally, I responded. “I’d like that a lot.”

Mark grinned like a kid in a candy store. I couldn’t help the little laugh that escaped. “Great! How does tomorrow at seven sound?”

I pretended to think for a second, humming to myself. I tilted my head slightly, the smile on my face getting bigger. “That sound great.”

Mark and I exchanged phone numbers before he walked me downstairs to where Allie was waiting. “You look awfully happy,” Allie commented as soon as Mark left. “Spill.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I’ll tell you after we eat. I have to tell Jackson and Amanda, too, or else they might kill me.”

*     *     *

“Well, what’d he say?” Jackson asked impatiently. Him, Allie, and Amanda were all grinning at me.

I tried to hold back a smile of my own. “He asked me on a date,” I answered, childlike giddiness in my voice.

Amanda and Allie squealed. Jackson started bouncing on my bed next to me. “I never thought he’d do it!” he exclaimed.

“Why not?” Amanda questioned.

Jackson leaned back against my wall, a goofy grin still adorning his face. “I don’t know if you noticed but Mark is pretty shy. Dude barely talked when I first met him.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just talk so much that he couldn’t get a word in?” I snickered.

Jackson bumped my shoulder with his. “NO,” he retorted. We all laughed.

Amanda smiled dreamily. “I love this for you,” she gushed. “Ya know, I heard he’s the dream boy of the baseball team. Apparently, all the girls drool over him.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Dude, if only you knew. Girls will watch us practice just to see him,” he grumbled. “When’s the date?”

“Tomorrow,” I replied.

Jackson gasps, causing Allie, Amanda, and I to look at him in confusion. “What are we doing then? We need to pick out what you’re going to wear!”

I sighed. He was such a drama queen sometimes. “Jackson, it’s not until tomorrow night.”

He shook his head and pushed himself off my bed. “Nonsense, (y/n). You should always be prepared, especially if things go horribly.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for boosting my confidence,” I muttered.

Amanda pointed at Jackson, nodding in agreement. “He’s not wrong thought. It’s important to be ready for anything. You never know when you may need to flex on a bitch.”

We all laughed again. Finally Allie spoke up. “I think it’d be fun. We could have a girls night and do face masks!”

Jackson made a noise of protest. “Hey, what about me?”

I laughed and climbed off my bed, pulling out my stash of face masks and miscellaneous skincare products. “Jackson, we’ve been over this before. You’re always included in girls night.” Jackson let out a pleased squeal, then proceeded to dig through my closet.

*     *     *

I stood in the mirror sending Jackson and Amanda pictures of my outfit for the evening. Somehow I knew they were going to demand to see it even though they’d already seen it last night. Jackson picked out jeans and a cute top for me, claiming Mark would more than likely take me someplace casual. And as always, he made sure I had a jacket. I used to take his all the time in high school until he started making me bring one everywhere, so it’d become a habit of his to make sure I had one.

I played with my hair in the mirror to distract myself from the anxiety that was building in my stomach while I waited for Mark. Jackson and Amanda were blowing up my phone with positive affirmations. They’d even gone as far as to create a whole group chat with the three of us just for this date.

Amanda: Make sure you take chapstick!! ;)

Jackson: H E Y

Jackson: Mark may be my homeboy and as much as I support this date, there will be NO KISSING, do you understand me young lady?

I snickered and typed back.

(y/n): Yes sir  :P

Jackson: Oh, (y/n), don’t forget you’re jacket!!!

Mark had finally texted me to say that he was here. I grabbed my bag and jacket, saying bye to Allie as I headed for the door. Right as I was about to leave, Amanda sent me one last text in our private thread.

Amanda: Hey, I know Jackson’s just looking out for you, but don’t take the jacket. Trust me. Have fun, love bug! Text us the details after!!

I stared at her message for a second before shrugging and tossing my jacket on my bed. I didn’t quite know what she was getting at, but something told me to just trust her. With that, I headed downstairs to meet Mark at the entrance of my dorm building.

He was waiting by the door for me when I got down stairs, leaning against the wall scrolling through his phone with one hand in his pocket. I felt my stomach flutter. Mark had this cool boy vibe about him. His messy hair, dark shirt, and black denim jacket only added to it. There was something mysterious about it, and that only attracted me to him more.

He looked up as I approached him, a smile spreading across his face once his eyes met mine. He pushed himself off the wall, taking a step forward to meet me. “Hey,” he breathed.

“Hi,” I replied softly.

“You look really pretty,” Mark said shyly, the tips of his ear turning red. 

I smiled, my cheeks flushed. “Thank you.”

“Ya know, it’s really cute when you blush at the things I say,” he chortled. 

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the heat crawling up the back of my neck and darkening the tint on my face. “Oh, let’s just go already,” I replied, unable to keep the small smile off my face.

“Yes ma’am!” Mark grabbed my hand and lead me out the door to his car. His hands were warm and soft, which was odd since he played baseball. But hey, who says athletes aren’t allowed to moisturize. Plus, I liked the feeling of his hand in mine. It was comforting.

Mark opened the passenger door for me before hopping into the drivers seat and taking off to where it was we were going.

*     *     *

I looked around in awe. Colorful lights flashed all around and laughter filled the air. Children were running ahead of their parents, high school students were grinning eagerly as they waited in line for rides, and workers watched in boredom as people tried to win the nearly impossible games. 

“I hope you like fairs,” Mark said as he rubbed the back of his neck shyly. “I didn’t think to ask before hand.”

I looked at him with a smile. “I’ve never actually been to a fair before.”

Mark’s shy demeanor was replaced with one of shock and excitement. “Wait, really?”

 I nodded in response.

Mark grinned and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the ticket booth. ���Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” Mark decided that we were going to get the full access wristbands, insisting that I needed to get the full experience. “What do you wanna do first?” he asked, looking at me.

I looked around at the brightly lit rides and booths. There were so many. And they were all so intriguing in some way. It was overwhelming honestly. “I don’t really know, there’s so many,” I answered, then I looked up at Mark. The way the light reflected off his skin was pretty. It was like he was standing in a room lit by neon pink and electric blue. 

Mark looked over at me. I felt my cheeks heat up, but I didn’t look away.. He’d caught me staring at him and there was no denying it. A large grin spread across his face. “(y/n), you’re supposed to be looking at what you wanna do, not me,” Mark teased. “Unless...”

“You are such a boy,” I sighed, my cheeks darkening and a content smile on my face. Mark laughed. It became more melodic every time I heard it. “Anyway, why don’t you show me you’re favorite things to do?”

Mark nodded, his eyes twinkling with childlike delight. “Sure, but you’re going to think I’m lame or cheesy.” Mark grasped my hand in his for the second time tonight, making my heart flutter a bit.

I raised my eyebrow at him. “Mark Tuan? The most popular bachelor of the baseball team? Lame? He could never,” I teased.

Mark snorted. “Looks can be deceiving then, can’t they?” He shot back, his lips curling into a smirk.

I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re trouble, Tuan.”

This made Mark grin. “Glad you caught on,” he replied, leaning into me a bit as we walked.

I shook my head, but I was grinning, too. “Why would, I think you’re lame?” I questioned, finally changing the topic back to what we were talking about before.

Mark shrugged. “I don’t really care for most of the rides here. I’m not a thrill junkie like Jackson and a lot of the other guys on the team,” Mark said. “I like people watching and the games, even though they’re impossible.”

I smiled. “That’s so wholesome.”

Mark looked at me and smiled back. We stopped in front of a game booth. A metal milk can sat in the middle of a table. I looked up at the sign above us. It read ‘Milk Toss’ in big, bold letters. “This,” Mark began,” is my favorite game.”

I looked at him. He beamed with childlike delight. “Isn’t this game one of the hardest?” I asked.

Mark nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been playing this game since I was a little kid. I would get so frustrated because I couldn’t win. Then, I started playing baseball in middle school.” Mark stepped forwards, showing the man working the game his wristband. The man gave him a bored smile before handing Mark three softballs. Mark held a ball out to me with a gentle smile,” Do you want to try?”

I hesitated, eyeing both Mark and the ball before talking it. “Okay, but you can’t make fun of how uncoordinated I am.”

Mark chuckled. “I promise I won’t make fun of you.”

Focusing on the entrance of the the milk jog, I tossed the ball. My eyes followed the sphere as it went through the air and bounced off of the rim of the milk jug. “I told you,” I sighed.

Mark smiled, reaching over to squeeze my hand. “It’s okay, it’s not you’re coordination.” Mark reassured. He turned his attention towards the jug. He took a second to focus before effortlessly tossing the softball into the metal can.

“How’d you do that?” I asked.

Mark grinned. “It’s all in the wrist.” As he tossed the last ball, making it in the jug again, he explained. “Aim for the back of the back of the rim, and give the ball some back spin. It slows the momentum of the ball down, so instead of bouncing off the can, it slides in the hole.”

“Nice job, kid,” the worker congratulated. “Choose anything you’d like from the top rack.”

Mark looked at me with a smile. “Take your pick.”

I blushed, turning my attention to all the fluffy stuffed animals that lined the top of the booth. It was the big prizes. They ranged from colorful alpacas to Pokemon stuffed animals. Out of the corner of my eye, at the very end, a cow caught my eye. I pointed to it. “The cow is really cute,” I said shyly.

The worker grabbed it off the wall and handed it to me. “Enjoy!” He winking at Mark before turning his attention to the next players.Mark’s face heated up a bit, but he grinned nonetheless.

Mark slipped his hand comfortable back into mine. “C’mon, there’s more for you to see!” I giggled and followed as Mark pulled me along and continued to show me his favorite rides and games.

The moon was high in the sky and families had made their way home by the time we decided to make our way to the most iconic fair and date activity before heading home - the ferris wheel. Mark and I squeezed into the passenger car. The wheel started moving and a cool breeze blew through, making me shiver. It was finally starting to feel like fall outside. Mark seemed to notice. “Cold?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, a bit.”

Mark took off his denim jacket, slipping it over my shoulder. So this is why Amanda didn’t want me to bring my jacket. I thanked him, pulling the jacket around me a bit tighter. It smelled like fresh linen and cologne.

As we got higher, I could see more of the fair below us. It looked even prettier from above. The lights twinkled and created a soft glow that cascaded over the entire area. “It looks so pretty from here,” I said softly.

“So do you.”

My cheeks heated up and I looked at Mark. He was looking at me, his brown eyes soft. They were easy to get lost in. The fair lights below created a soft aura around him, making him look almost angelic. I couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Would you be upset if I kissed you?” he asked in a tranquil voice.

“I’d be upset if you didn’t,” I answered, my voice just as soft as his, afraid to shatter the air between us.

Mark leaned into me, wasting no time pressing his soft lips against mine. I let myself melt into him, euphoria surging through me. His hand ran up my arm to the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. His mouth was warm against mine, but goosebumps still rose on my skin. Marked pulled away and I had to stop myself from whining. His forehead rested against mine, the previous rush of adrenaline making us smile like idiots. We stayed like this until our cart reached the bottom of the ferris wheel and it was time for us to exit. 

Mark took my hand, guiding me out of the seat and towards the exit. “Let’s get you home or else Jackson will flip on me for keeping you out so late.”

“Oh, don’t bother. He’s going to flip once he finds out we kissed,” I snickered.

Mark threw his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into me. “Don’t remind me,” he groaned. Mark kissed the top of my head and nuzzled his nose into my hair. “Full disclosure, kissing you is most definitely worth getting chewed out later.”

*     *     *

Tag List: @mara-twins​

Here’s part three! Thank you for all the patience, love, and support revolving around Catch! I really appreciate it! I probably won’t post part four next week, but something small instead since I have finals next week. Again, thank you! <3 Oh, and if you would like to be added to the tag list, feel free to ask :)

[maryqueenofmurder]

Bdoublo100 x Keralis

“-I think it would be a pretty good story if Bdubs fell somewhere else with water, and Keralis hadn’t been released from area 77.  Bdubs finds out that Keralis has been captured in some wacky way, and launches a one man mission to rescue him/joins th hippies.  Possibly both.”  -me

Speak and ye shall receive.

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

Bdoubleo100 fell.  Again.

But this time, he didn’t just hit the ground and go splat.  Instead, he landed in water.  Bubbles explodes around him as he sunk deeper.  The salty water stung his eyes, which he opened out of surprise.  Bdubs clamped his mouth shut, and swam desperately for the surface.

He popped up, taking huge, gasping breaths.  That was not an experience he was interested in repeating.  Which meant he’d have to find land.  Luckily,  he’d landed in a rather deep river.  Full of... bamboo?  Bdubs quit treading water, and splashed over to the other end of the river.  He climbed up the bank, with limbs that felt like lead, they were so heavy.

Bdubs paused at the top.  He stood in awe in front of the shopping district.  Of course, he didn’t know what it was.  Simply that it was full of amazing buildings.  Was that the Statue of Liberty?

Bdubs must have stood there, soaking wet and dripping on the ground, for a couple of minutes.  He didn’t get too cold though, the sun shone down.  It made him feel sleepy.  It was getting colder, though.  He was really tired after the whole falling and dying over and over thing.  His eyes started to flutter shut, and he swayed slightly.

Then Bdubs eyes snapped open.  He had heard the sound of rockets.  He whipped around to see whoever was flying -some guy in a red sweater- make a hard turn in his direction.  Bdubs closed his eyes and braced for impact, hoping it wouldn’t kill him or injure him too badly.  Red sweater man stopped just a few feet from were he was standing.  He could hear that much.

“Who are you?!”  Bdubs opened his eyes.  Red sweater man seemed pretty upset, and was practically seething.

“I’m Bdoubleo100!  But you can call me Bdubs.”  Bdubs told him, wondering why he was so mad.

“Well, why are you here?  Are you a new hermit?  Why didn’t anyone tell me this was happening?”  Red sweater man seemed calmer.  But more irritated.

“I don’t think they knew I was coming.  I didn’t.”  Bdubs answered truthfully.

“Ugh.  This is just like Keralis.  Why are random people showing up?  Probably aliens.  I can give you the rundown.”  Red sweater man continued to talk about how the hermits were family and stuff, but Bdubs basically tuned him out after Keralis.  He might’ve mentioned aliens as well.

Bdubs had a crush on Keralis, but they got separated before he could confess.  He thought he’d been over it, but clearly not.  Besides, Keralis was a good friend of his, he’d like to see him.  Maybe they could do something together.

“Did you say Keralis?”  Bdubs interrupted the guy.

“Uh, yeah, do you know him?”  Red sweater guy tilted his head.

“We’re pretty good friends.  Can you take me to him?”  Red sweater guy seemed to deflate when he said it.

“No.  He’s stuck in Area 77.  We overheard Doc talking about it.  That’s why I’m so upset.  You can’t just kidnap people, Doc!  We keep telling everybody what’s up, but nobody will listen.  They think we’re overreacting!”  Red sweater man seemed to be getting worked up.

“Area 77?!  Doc kidnapped Keralis?!  Aliens?!”  Bdubs said frantically.

“Area 77 is what basically amounts to a government facility.  They keep anything out of the ordinary in there.  Apparently Keralis came out of a portal, and they made him build something to prove he was the real Keralis.”  Red sweater man informed him.

“So, he’s NOT the real Keralis then?”  Now Bdubs was confused.

“Oh no, he was, but they decided to keep him anyway.  Probably because he was still an anomaly.  Maybe the aliens told them to do it.”  Red sweater man said.

“Aliens.”  Now Bdubs wasn’t even sure the guy wasn’t messing with him.

“Apparently, yeah.  Ren overheard them talking about it.”  Now red sweater man was mentioning more people.

“And no-one is doing ANYTHING about this.”  Bdubs was concerned.

“Nah.  They stole my time machine and kidnapped villager Grian as well, so I don’t know why nobody cares!  It’s just us hippies trying to save them.”  So red sweater guy had some investment in this whole thing as well.

“So the hippies are people who are against Area 77.  Like a protest?”  Bdubs inquired.  “Who are the hippies?”

“At the moment it’s just me, Ren, and Impulse.  We do more than protest against Area 77, but you’d need to join us to find out.”  Red sweater man winked.

“I might take you up on that offer.”  Bdubs winked back, and turned around.  He... had absolutely no idea where to go.  He turned to face the guy again.

“Where do I go now?”  Bdubs asked.

The man’s eyes narrowed.  “I can’t just let you go.”  Bdubs’s heartbeat picked up.

“What?”  He asked nervously.

“If the Area 77 guys Doc and Scar find you they’ll lock you up too.”  Red sweater man answered confidently.  Bdubs hadn’t thought of that.  He’d need to hide.

“So.  Why don’t you come with me, and I can make you a hippie?  There’s plenty of room nearby, and you can work with us underground.”  Red sweater man said charismatically.

“I don’t know...”  Bdubs answered.  He barely knew who the hippies were.

“You can help us rescue Keralis.”  There was a gleam in his eyes.  Most would call it mischevious, but it wasn’t.  It was determination.

“Okay.”  Bdubs took him up on his offer immediately.  If he was going to get Keralis, he’d need some help.

---------------------------Line Break Brought to You By Bubbles------------------------

“Ren, Impulse, this is Bdoubleo100.”  Grian pointed at each while he introduced Bdubs.  He’d called an emergency hippie meeting.

“And you brought him here why?  What we’re doing is top secret.  Then again, you hired me after a five minute interview.  But the stakes have been raised.”  Impulse seemed wary.

“Don’t be so hard on Grian, Impulse.  I’m more concerned as to why we weren’t informed there was a new hermit, and if we can trust him.”  Ren said cheerily.  Impulse nodded, though his gaze didn’t change from where it fell on Bdubs.  But Bdubs was too distracted to notice.

“Grian?”  He turned to look at red sw- Grian.  He never did tell me his name, did he?  Ren turned to Grian, and raised an eyebrow.  Grian looked rather sheepish.

“I may have forgotten to introduce myself.  And he’s like Keralis, so Xisuma didn’t know he was getting on.  I brought him here because we need to hide him so Doc and Scar can’t imprison him.  Also, he knew Keralis, so he wants to be a hippie and help us break into Area 77.”  Grian started off bashfully, but ended the same determined tone that had graced him earlier.

“So where do we hide him then?  The hole?  It can’t be ANYWHERE Doc or Scar could find him, so we can’t have him build an R.V..”  Impulse’s question was directed to Grian.  Then he spun over to Bdubs and started interrogating him.

“If you’re fine with an underground base you can dig a hole connected to ours, and you can stripmine down there.  We can get you most of what else you need.  With proper lighting you could start a tree farm, and pretty much any other kind of farm.”  Impulse had been getting more excited with everything he said, and frankly Bdubs was eager to hear what else he would say.

“We’ll show you around the place.  We usually meet up every night that there’s more than one of us here together to bond around the campfire.  Doc’d be suspicious if we stopped right away, so we can meet you down in the hole two times a week to start.  The second visit will be our weekly hippie meeting, where we talk about our progress on the whole Area 77 raid.”  Impulse finished his ramble.  Ren, Grian, and Bdubs all nodded in agreement.

“So will you show me this hole you keep talking about?”  Bdubs questioned.

A childish smile grew on Grian’s face.  They walked from where they were standing by the campfire to Ren’s R.V..  They all filed in, with Bdubs last.  Grian stood on top of the toilet.  Bdubs shot him a questioning glance.

Grian, gleefully, shouted, “Flush me, boys!” his smile growing ever wider.

Ren hit the button on the side of the toilet, and the toilet... disappeared.  No, that wasn’t right, it got pulled into the wall of the R.V..  Grian fell down a tunnel underneath the toilet.  The toilet then returned to its proper place.

Bdubs snorted.  Impulse gestured towards the toilet.  “Your turn.  May I have the honor of flushing you, Bdoubleo100?”  Impulse asked grandly.  Bdubs nodded in return.  Impulse hit the button, and Bdubs fell down, landing in water.

Deja Vu.  Bdubs had fallen into water earlier, and now his clothes were wet again.  He stepped into a giant hole.  The floor, walls, and ceiling was all dirt.  The ground was covered in grass, though.

“Wow.”  He stood there for a moment, stunned.

“Alright, follow me.”  Grian announced making the come-here gesture.  Ren and Impulse walked up behind Bdubs, Ren having been flushed by Impulse who then flushed himself afterwards.

“Here is the tunnel.  I’m digging it under Area 77, and when it’s far enough, we’ll break in.”  Grian broke some dirt, revealing a long, long tunnel.

“You can dig your hole over there.”  Grian patched up the hidden entrance, and gestures at the far side of the hole.

“We’ll fetch you stuff to start you off, like saplings.  If you need anything from the surface world, we go on trips at the end of every week to get supplies.  It happens after each hippie meeting.”  Grian handed him some wood, a bed, and a book to write necessary supplies on.  Bdubs thanked him, and started to brainstorm as to what to do.

---------------------------Line Break Brought to You By Area 77------------------------

The days passed quickly since then.

Bdubs mined and started farms and built.  He’d gotten diamond armor and tools.  But what he did most of all was dig.  The tunnel to Area 77 was lengthening fast.  It was already under the main hangar.  The next step would take a couple of days, but would be worth it.

The hippies would excavate several other tunnels, branching out from the main one.  This would allow for easy access to several different areas.  They would split up, Ren, Impulse, and Grian going to hangar 4.  Or wherever Grian’s time machine was.  They’d rescue villager Grian, and steal the time machine back.

Bdubs would head to Keralis’s cell.  He’d free him without setting off the alarm.  In case someone noticed Keralis dying over and over, he’d wait until Grian and the others had left in the time machine.

Finally, it was time.

All the countdowns had run out, and the R.V.s had all launched and flew.  The hippies all met up in the hole.  Grian handed Bdubs a player head and a specific set of clothes.  Bdubs changed into them, and they all started down the main tunnel.

Once they reached the end of the main tunnel, they split up.  Grian, Ren, and Impulse went down the tunnel that lead to the front hangar.  That’s where Keralis’s main base was.  Or at least, the place he spent the largest amount of time, and where he slept.

Bdubs counted the blocks as he walked.  He couldn’t get distracted, lest he mess this up.  And if he failed, if he got caught...  There wouldn’t be any second chances.  Not for him.  Bdubs stopped.  He’d reached the right block.

He broke the top block, which was eye level to him.  Then he crouched down and peered up, through the hole where the newly broken block used to be.  The gamble had paid off.  The camera in the hallway was right above his head and was aimed at the far wall for the moment.

This put Bdubs in the camera’s blind spot.  He took a deep, inaudible breath.  Then he slipped the player head over his own.  Doc’s player head, to be exact.  He was also wearing a set of clothes that looked like Doc’s.  Grian had made sure they fit Bdubs perfectly.

Though it wouldn’t hold up to close examination, hopefully no-one would realize he wasn’t Doc until it was too late.  It would also allow him to pass observers.  Impulse had taught him how to mimic Doc’s body language.  Bdubs was passable at it, at best.  Ren had tried to teach him how to talk like Doc, but he just sounded unintelligible and German.

Bdubs walked deeper into the tunnel, and started blocking it off.  That way, if Doc or Scar broke the wall to see were he came from, they’d just see dirt and stone.  Hopefully, that would keep them from digging too deep.

If they found the tunnel, they could suss out that it was the hippies who did it.  It would lead them right to the big hole.  And possibly to Bdubs’s base, as well.  They would find him, and Keralis as well, assuming Bdubs succeeded in rescuing him.  Then again, if he failed to save Keralis, then he probably already got caught.

The camera turned.  Bdubs walked into the hallway.  He patched the wall behind him up seamlessly.  He fiddled with his clothes slightly, then strode into the view of another camera.

Bdubs walked down the hallway with purposeful strides.  Inside, however, he was a nervous wreck.  It didn’t help that he was going to see Keralis again.

Bdubs slowed his steps, which had stared getting frantic.  He tried to calm down  He took even breathes.  Then he arrived at the main hangar.

Bdubs walked over to the ice, the only way to see the inside of Keralis’s cell.  There was a house inside.  It was beautiful, and modern style.  He shook himself out of his stupor, and tapped on the ice.  Keralis was probably sleeping, it was three in the morning after all.  Bdubs rapped his knuckles on the ice.  He knocked louder.

Keralis stumbled out of the house, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.  Keralis spotted Bdubs and sighed, clearly not recognizing him.  Bdubs took a piece of paper out of his pocket.  It said:

Hey Keralis,

I’m pretending to be Doc.  When it’s the right time, I’ll give you a bunch of ender pearls.  You’ll pearl into the ice wall and eventually glitch through.  I’ll take you somewhere that Area 77 can’t find us.  Get rid of the paper.

Bdubs put the paper into the dispenser and hit the lever.  The paper dispensed in Keralis’s cell.  Keralis picked it up dazedly, and read it.  He paused.  Then read it over again, and shot Bdubs a glance.  Read the paper again.  Really scrutinized Bdubs.

Bdubs fidgeted nervously and looked away, feeling flustered with the full weight of Keralis’s gaze on him.  Bdubs looked back at Keralis.  Keralis nodded slowly, and put the paper back in the dispenser, and gestured towards it.  Bdubs took the paper out of the dispenser, folded it up, and put it back in his pocket.

---------------------------Line Break Brought to You By Spies------------------------

Bdubs’s communicator crackled slightly.  “We’re about to use the time machine.”  Grian’s voice whispered over the comms.

“In position.”  Bdubs whispered back.

Bdubs waited a couple of seconds.  Then he walked over to the dispenser and inserted several stacks of ender pearls.  Then flicked the lever a couple of times.  Keralis picked them up, and pearled into the ice wall.

A huge amount of failures later, and many deaths, Keralis was out.

Bdubs grabbed Keralis’s upper arm gently, and led him to the hallway.  The camera was still pointing in the same direction.  Bdubs broke the two blocks in the camera’s blindspot, and the dirt behind him.

Bdubs stepped into the hole, pulling Keralis with him.  Bdubs blocked up the hole in Area 77′s wall.  He broke more dirt, filling the hole behind him and Keralis as they walked side by side.  When they got to the end of the dirt blockade and into the tunnel Keralis turned to Bdubs.

“Okay, it’s nice that you broke me out, but who are you?”  Keralis asked distrustfully.  In response Bdubs took off his mask.  Keralis’s eyes darted back and forth, his mouth falling open.  He mouths Bdubs’s name, and then-

oh

Keralis pulled his face away from Bdubs.  Then he shot him a shy smile.  Bdubs grabbed Keralis’s hand, lacing their fingers together.  Together they walked down the tunnel, back to the hole.

Their story isn’t over, far from it in fact.  Doc will discover that the time machine and Keralis are gone in a couple of hours.  Bdubs and Keralis will have to hide, have to learn to avoid detection, become ghost in so many different ways.

But right now, at this moment?  Bdubs and Keralis walk down the tunnel hand in hand, humming contentedly.  And they are happy.

The end.

[halfbloodglader]

Life In Reverse (Newt)

Newt x Reader - 2,260 words

Happy New Years!!!

Request; How about a Newt x reader where she sends a note in the box for anything to do with her past and since she and Ava used to be close they send up a journal with her name, most of the pages were ripped out by wicked because it gave away too much about the maze, but what they did keep was her pages about Newt and her crush on him. Newt gets upset because he thinks there might be a hint in it and he wants to check it out, he takes it one night to read..... what happens next is up to you! Thx!

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The box had shown up earlier this morning, just as it was supposed to. Instead of helping today like she normally would, Y/N hid behind the homestead and kept a close eye on the box. She was waiting until the last of supplies were being hauled up so she could set her plan into action. As she sat and waited, Y/N began to write a note. A hopeless one she assumed, but she figured there was nothing to loose.

All of this time in the Glade with no memories was driving her insane. Every night, she had dreams about her past which obviously meant she had memories locked away somewhere. The moment she woke up though, they all disappeared and there was no way to bring them back. Today, she was going to send a note alongside Alby’s to ask for some kind of information, anything.

As the last of the supplies were brought up, Y/N ran for the box. She watched as Alby dropped his paper down into it and then turned to walk away. Sprinting as fast as she could, the rumble of the box closing made her push harder. Almost there, she pulled out her note, flew past the box and dropped it in just before the doors closed.

“Y/N—“ Alby jumped sideways in surprise as Y/N sprinted past him. Seeing as it was Y/N, he shrugged it off and continued on his way.

The girl had been waiting a whole month. Today was the day she’d find out if the creators finally gave into her requests. Her attempt had probably been futile, but at least she could rest now knowing she’d tried if they didn’t send anything up.

Sure enough, they didn’t. Y/N was nearly done rummaging through all of the supplies and figured there was little hope to find anything meant for her.

“Strange seeing you here, love.” A familiar voice sounded over Y/N’s shoulder. She stood up and turned around to, surely enough, be faced with Newt. His hands were on his hips and he smiled with a tilt of the head.

Y/N raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

“If I recall correctly,” He bent down to open one of the boxes. “Last month, you hid over by the homestead instead of helping.”

The girl mumbled. “I had other things to do.”

Newt laughed. “I’m just teasing,” He stood up and handed the girl a bag of apples to be taken to Frypan. “I’ll take your word for it.”

With that, Y/N head off for the kitchen with the massive bag of apples and didn’t look back. She was a little disheartened by the fact the creators hadn’t sent anything back to her. Yet, at the same time, she wasn’t surprised by any means. Why would they send her anything? She was just another Glader.

The evening went by slow. Y/N had dinner with her friends, helped Newt in the gardens for a while after, sat around the fire with some of the builders and then wandered over to her hammock. Most of the boys were already asleep as she climbed in and she knew she’d be listening to their snores for a while to come. There was a million different thoughts rolling around in her head that would stop her from sleeping tonight.

Her mind froze. As she tried to lay down, something hard caught her off guard beneath her side. She reached down and to her surprise, pulled out an old looking leather bound book. For a moment she questioned if she’d climbed into the wrong hammock, but with chuck on her left and Newt on her right, there was no way she was in the wrong place. How the book got there, she had absolutely no idea. But, then again, it seemed anything could happen here in the Glade.

Opening up the book, she could hardly make out anything written on the pages. Carefully, she scanned around to see if anyone was awake. Assuming they were all as deep into sleep as they looked, Y/N leapt out of her hammock and ran straight for the deadheads.

In the maproom, she found some light and sat down. How this book had gotten here and why it was in her hammock, she had no clue. Part of her though, hoped it was from the creators. It could turn out it is just one of the boys journals that had been misplaced, but she prayed not.

On the first page, Y/N’s hopes were confirmed. A note from WICKED. It explained that they had received her request and only thought it was fair to give some sort of information. It explained what they could give was little, but it was still something. The note was signed off by an Ava Paige. A name that sparked some sort of familiarity in Y/N’s mind but not quite enough to remember anything real.

Most of the pages in the book were torn out. What was left to be read wasn’t very interesting. Some things about friends, how fast she’d gotten in the past few years. Of some significance though, were the pages about Newt.

Y/N felt embarrassment course through her when she read them. Apparently, Y/N’s former self had taken quite a liking to Newt. He was her best friend and the two did everything together. Hardly apart, they were inseparable. Apparently, she had never worked up the nerve to tell him how she felt, though. The way it was written, Y/N had herself truly convinced he’d never like her back.

The journal was filled with an old secret that Y/N didn’t find hard to discard. That was then, the past. Things were different now. They had all grown up and changed so much in the past few years that it didn’t matter anymore. Besides, she hadn’t felt that way yet about Newt since arriving in the Glade. Because of that, she tried to forget about it. It must have just been a point in time when she was younger and that was over now.

The next morning, Y/N in her half waken state slowly ate her breakfast. She had a lot on her mind, but that didn’t mix well with the little to no sleep. Even though she told herself she didn’t care and that it was all in the past, she couldn’t stop wondering about Newt. What was it about him then that made her feel that way and not now? Unless she did still feel the same way but was so focused on surviving here in the Glade she never thought about it.

“Morning,” A voice sounded as Y/N was drowning in her thoughts.

She looked up. Sure enough, and by the curse of the universe, it was Newt. “Uh—hi.”

Newt furrowed his brows. That wasn’t the usual good morning he got from the girl. “You alright?”

“Ah, yeah.” Y/N stretched her arms over her head. “Just a little tired.”

“Right,” Newt took a bite of his food. “Because you were out wandering around late.”

“You stalking me?” She questioned.

“No,” He scoffed in defence. “I couldn’t sleep. Kind of hard to not notice when someone jumps out of their hammock and sprints for the deadheads.”

“Oh yeah,” She muttered. “Sorry about that.” The girl began to feel nervous. Why? She had no clue. Picking up her plate she tried to retreat the situation.

“What were you doing anyways?” He asked out of curiosity.

Y/N paused and cursed herself. “Just reading something the creators sent up.”

She really hadn’t thought that one through.

“Was it useful? It could have a hint in it!” He shoved the rest of his food in his mouth and stood up to walk with the girl to the kitchen. “Mind if it take a read?”

“Maybe later,” Y/N cringed. “I’ll look through it first and let you know if there’s anything worth checking out.”

Newt shrugged. “I don’t sleep anyways, I may as well help you.”

“Naaah,” Y/N waved her hand in the air. “You’re already so busy.”

“Fine,” He agreed. “But let me know when you’re done. I’d like to know what they sent.”

“Yeah,” Y/N said as he walked out of earshot. She then let out a panicked breath and shook her head. “What kind of hell hole did I just dig myself into?”

All Y/N hoped was that Newt let the subject rest for the remainder of the day. She had to work in the gardens all day, everyday with him and hoped he wouldn’t use it to pry information out of her.

Luckily enough, he didn’t. What he did do though, was have a different plan. He worked everyone extra hard today, to the point he knew sleep was something they wouldn’t be able to hold off. Just as he had hoped, that was what happened. After dinner and the fire, everyone found their way to the hammocks and passed out, including Y/N.

Knowing the girl, Newt knew she wouldn’t be so bold as to bring that book the creators sent back to her hammock. She would have hid it somewhere last night. And knowing there was only one place she could have gone, Newt head off for the deadheads. He assumed she would have been in the maproom and there was plenty of places to stash something in there.

It took Newt a grand total of five minutes to find the book. Her thoughts must’ve been elsewhere last night because Newt knew she wasn’t one to hide things so haphazardly.

Sitting down, Newt prepared himself for anything. This book with most of its pages torn out could be a useless pile of garbage, or it could be their way out of the maze. He hoped there was at least something useful.

What he found, he certainly wasn’t expecting. Pages written about him, by Y/N, from before the maze. Back when they shared a bit of a different relationship than they do now. Back then, life played out in the reverse. Y/N was the one who was hiding a lot of things from Newt. As to if he felt the same way at that time, he wasn’t sure because he had no memories and there was no matching journal written by him to read. However, he could only assume that he felt the same way he does now.

Y/N woke up. She realized she’d fallen asleep. Panicked, she once again leapt out of the hammock and ran for the maproom. Lights were on inside and her heart nearly jumped out of her throat, but that didn’t stop her. Maybe it was just Minho working late. Deep inside though, she knew it was Newt.

The boy dropped the book in his hands and fell out of his chair the moment Y/N flung open the maproom door. She stood there, wide-eyed, fears confirmed. He’d read it. Newt was as equally frozen. He didn’t know what to say or do.

“So—“ Y/N fretted. “You read it?”

“Yeah.” He mumbled.

“Try not to think too much into it,” Y/N begged. “That was before the maze, I don’t remember any of it. You saw the creators sent it up, maybe they wrote it all too.”

“No, don’t think so.” Newt laughed lightly. “This is definitely your writing.” He picked up the book and pointed to the messy scribbles.

“Yeah, you’re right.” She sighed in defeat.

Unsure of what to do, Y/N just stood there. Why this was so hard, she wasn’t sure. Unless, deep down, she did feel for Newt and was so distracted here in the Glade she never knew it.

“Please don’t hate me now, I just—“

“I’m not here to ridicule you,” Newt said sternly. He handed Y/N back the book and his expression seemed to sadden. “I just—it’s odd things are the other way around now.”

Y/N tilted her head in question. “Other way around?”

Newt shifted his weight and it was obvious he was processing which words he wanted to choose out of the thousands he could. “It seemed like in here that you were the one who—for lack of a better term, liked me. Yet now, I’m the one who likes you but it feels…hopeless.”

His eyes lowered to the floor. A familiar look of pain that Y/N used to see back when they’d first arrived in the glade crossed his features.

“It’s like you don’t notice me. I mean, sure you’re kind and friendly and we talk a lot. But it feels like I’m always pining after someone who can’t even see me.” He admitted, lamenting.

Those words struck Y/N in the chest. It brought back memories, more so feelings, from before the maze when she’d been in the position he is now.

“I notice you, Newt. I do.” She admitted. “I’ve just never let myself think like that because I’m afraid. Scared of something happening…”

“Yeah, I know.” He agreed. “And I tried for a long time. But I can’t not like you, Y/N.”

He stared at her with an obvious hope. It was clear she felt the same way, she’d just ben stuffing it down for so long it was like the feelings didn’t exist at all. The past couple days, they’d been brought back to the surface.

Before she could respond, Newt had lunged forward and had her in his arms.

“No real hints about the maze in there,” Newt laughed into the girls hair. “Just something better.”

“Loads better,” Y/N also laughed in agreement.

“Because if I’m being honest, I can’t say I would have told you otherwise anytime soon.” He stepped back with his hands on the girls shoulders.

Y/N raised a brow. “You don’t think so?”

“Aye!” Newt scoffed. “You have no right to judge, it’s obvious you never said anything back then!”

“Okay, okay!” She knew he was right. Now at least, they both knew.