#i have two benny fanfictions i need to catch up on

[thebraxiatelcollection]

Finished reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and throughly enjoyed it, even if it got confusing at times.

Now thinking of downloading some fanfiction I'm behind on and reading it on my kindle.

[canadianfangirl-95]

A Bahamas Bet

Frankie Morales fanfiction x f! reader

Summary: Going on vacation to the Bahamas with your friends could only call for sun, fun and a sweet vacation hookup. Nothing could ruin your enjoyable time, not even your childhood friend’s obnoxious army buddy, Frankie Morales. Right?

Original characters- Wendy (Will), Blaire (Benny), Sofia (Santi)

Two-part series warnings and info: 18+ Minors DNI, enemies to lovers, one bed left at the inn trope, alternating povs, Frankie doesn’t have a child, brief mention of therapy, reader nickname Birdie, alcohol, smut, protected p in v, hat stays ON, oral f receiving, swearing

Part 2 Word Count: 8k

Part 2

Saturday

Head pounding, you pull your tired body up in the bed. Rubbing your hands on your face, you look over to the other side of the bed and notice it empty. You can’t hear anything either, until the hinge of the bathroom door creaks, and Frankie steps out, already dressed for the day in a fitted black t shirt and cargo shorts, his signature hat perched comfortably on his head.

He comes to a stop at the end of the bed and rests his hands on his hips, “Well, morning sleeping beauty.”

You grunt and grab his pillow from beside you before throwing it at him. He easily bats it out of the way and smiles. “Feeling fresh and ready to enjoy the day?” He asks with far more gusto than you would prefer given your state of unwell.

Peering at him through hooded eyes you reply, “Frankie just, leave me here to rot, go get brunch.” You say, as you rest your head back down on the pillow.

Grinning, he comments, “Alright well, I uh- left out some water and Advil for you there. Thought you might need it.” He shuffles on his feet, trying to play off the incredibly thoughtful act as a moment of complete nonchalance.

 Pulling the comforter down off your face, you look at him and then the nightstand, “Oh, thanks Frankie.”

He nods, “No problem I’m gonna, uh- I’m gonna go catch up with everyone.” he says, gesturing to the door, before fumbling around with his wallet and room key and heading out.

Once you’ve finally collected yourself enough to run your drained body through the shower and pull a brush through your hair, you make your way to the dining room with sunglasses adorned on your face. You were still working on getting back to yourself after the brutal hangover you’ve been feeling and did not want to risk running into Juan without covering up the grim bags under your eyes.

Bennys eyes brighten when you approach the full table and he gestures to you, “Oh, there she is our beautiful and not at all dead looking friend.”

They all clap along with him as you wave your hands, conceding to his comment.

“Still look better than you Miller.” You say, sitting down and beginning to eat your pile of breakfast food you’ve collected from the buffet.

Blaire offers you a sympathetic smile, “Oh don’t listen to him, just start thinking about seeing Juan later and I’m sure your energy will come right back.”

“Mm, you’re right. We’re going to the beach today, right? Maybe I’ll get a nap in while I’m there so I’m nice and refreshed.”

Wendy taps her hands on the table and straightens up in her seat, “Right, so once you’re all done, I think we can head there after we’re all changed. Maybe some beach volleyball if you’re all down?”

The group gives their approval for the days’ activities and departs once you are done eating to get ready for the hot Bahamas rays and stunning waters.

Th sun scorches your skin as you lay your towel down on a reclined chair on the beach next to the girls. You pull your bathing suit cover off, revealing your tiny black bikini that shows every bit of skin that you’re looking to show off this weekend. Grabbing your sunscreen, you sit down on the recliner and begin to apply it on yourself. You see Frankie standing just to the side, apparently looking out to the water’s horizon, however, if you could see under the mirrored sunglasses he has on, you’d be able to see that his eye line follows every movement of your hands as you apply the sunscreen to your smooth skin.

Rolling over onto your stomach you gesture to Frankie with the sunscreen, “Hey roomie, could you get my back and shoulders?”

He gulps and tries his best to feign annoyance. “I see what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing Frankie?” You say, mimicking your innocence of yesterday.

He huffs, “Fine, but you asked me, so it doesn’t count as anything.” He says, waving his hands casually before you.

You pop your eyebrows up and down and lay back down on the recliner.

Frankie sits on the side of the recliner and wishes to all that is good in this world that your ass didn’t have to look that good in your bikini. He squeezes the sunscreen into his hand and looks down at your nearly bare back. Taking a deep breath, he begins rubbing the lotion onto your back and shoulders, trying to be mindful of the top of your bikini bottoms.

You let out a quiet moan that could only be heard by him, “Seriously?” He asks in a sarcastic tone.

“Sorry, just feels so nice and relaxing.” You say, giggling to yourself.

He rolls his eyes and finishes rubbing the lotion on you, patting your shoulder when he’s done and standing up from the recliner with a grunt.

A while later you’re woken from your slumber with a smack on your ass, you turn swiftly to see Sofia hovering over you, “Hey bitch wake up it’s volleyball time.”

With a groan of sleepiness, you get up from your comfortable position and make your way to the volleyball court on the beach your friends are situated at.

The game is certainly waking you up and making you feel a little more energetic. Wendy suddenly taps your elbow and points over to the water, “Hey isn’t that, Juan?”

Your eyes snap over to where she is pointing, you pull your sunglasses up slightly to look more intently and sure enough see the same man you were flirting with last night. Today though he is shirtless with short swim trunks. His tan chest was chiseled, and his 6 pack was undeniably sexy. Biting your lip briefly you give Wendy an excited look before turning your attention back to the man by the shore.

Raising your hand to wave, you are just about to call out his name when suddenly a THUD- in the form the volleyball strikes you right in the head. You turn and look with a shocked expression on your face to see Santi standing on the opposite side of the net with his shoulders at his ears and a grimace on his face.

“Sorry!” he yells over to you, waving his hand as an apology.

You nod your head and look back to the shoreline, where Juans stunning physique has now disappeared from. Chewing the inside of your cheek you look around for a moment before returning your attention to the game.

The music in the resort nightclub is booming and the crowd is carrying on with the same energetic dancing as the previous nights.

You and Blaire are situated in the middle of the dance floor after a few too many drinks enjoying the night. Your eyes continue to scan the room for your mysterious love interest, though admittedly, dropping back to Frankie in the booth. His hair is especially curly this evening, poking out of his hat after spending the afternoon in the water. His cheeks are rosy from being in the sun today and his black t shirt was open on the top 3 buttons, exposing the small patch of chest hairs. You are dressed in a tight red dress that hugs each and every curve with black heels that have straps around your ankles, and a special pair of black lace panties for your potential suitor that night. If he ever shows up that is.

A hand finds its way to your waist, and you turn swiftly in it, placing your hands firmly on Juan’s chest as he looks down at you with a devious grin.

“Hey beautiful, sorry I took so long to get here. My buddy is pretty much blacked out in his room right now, so I had to make sure he was alright.” he says, inching closer to you and wrapping his arm around you.

Smiling back at him you fumble with the buttons on his shirt casually and look up to meet his gaze, “It’s okay, I’m just glad to see you here now.”

You look back over your shoulder to discover that Benny had seen Juan’s attendance and joined his girlfriend on the dance floor. Subjecting everyone to his terrible white boy dance moves.

You and Juan fall into a comfortable routine of grinding against each other and sneaking back to the bar for shots, as well as stealing heated kisses, all of which had your head spinning. He was a nice guy, for real he was, but you knew it was just a vacation fling. He didn’t give you those butterflies that you knew you were supposed to have.

Finally, feeling the effects of all the liquid you drank, you offer your apologies as you exit to seek the washroom. He leans in and tells you that he’ll be at the bar getting some more drinks.

Feeling so much lighter and not having to squeeze your thighs together any more due to the incessant need to pee, you return to the dance floor and peer over to the bar. However, Juan is nowhere to be seen. You look around and sneak a peak at the booth your friends are at, but still nothing. In a huff you walk over to the bar, just for your elbow to be tapped by Juan over to your side. Your smile spreads across your face until you notice his worried expression.

He leans in with his hands planted firmly in his pockets, “Hey, I uh- I’m gonna head back to my room.”

You perk up and run your hands on his chest, “Okay, that sounds good to me.”

Juan slightly recoils at your touch and pulls a half smile, “Oh, no just by myself. It was nice meeting you, but uh- I don’t think it’s gonna work out. Have a nice night though.”

Before you can pick your jaw up off the floor he has turned and is heading to the doors. Your head spins from the alcohol and the complete 180 degree change your date has just had. Turning on your heels you go over to the dance floor where the girls are all dancing to the Britney Spears throwback booming through the speakers.

“Hey, what happened to Juan?” Blaire asks.

You shrug, “I don’t know. I thought things were going great and then all of a sudden, he bailed on me. I don’t know what even happened.” Crossing your arms you think back to the conversations you had and look for any red flags you may have put forth.

Wendy bites her lip and looks up in thought, “I saw him talking to Frankie at the bar after you left to go to the washroom, maybe he would know?”

Your eyes narrow in suspicion, and you excuse yourself to go to the bar. As you squeeze through the crowd you see Frankie seated on a stool with his broad shoulder facing you, looking up at one of the TVs. You tap his shoulder, and he spins slowly in the stool to face you, his expression dropping slightly.

“Hey um- this is weird to ask but did Juan say anything to you when you were talking to him. Like about me? He just left in a hurry, and I don’t really know what I did wrong I guess.” You say with your arms crossed and shoulders hunched forward, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

Frankie swallows deeply and hums to himself, “Uh, nope he didn’t say anything about you.” Taking a drink from his beer, his eyes are somewhat sympathetic.

Biting your bottom lip you nod, “Oh okay, well worth a shot I guess.” You motion to turn but before you can Frankie interjects.

“It might’ve had something to do with what I said to him though.”

Your head whips back and eyes bulge, heat growing between your ears. “And what did you say to him?”

He smirks to himself and replies, “I told him that we were a couple, were looking for a third and that I was really excited to get to know him.” He chuckles and winks at you before bringing his beer back to his lips.

Head spinning, eyes burning you stutter out, “What, - what the fuck Frankie why would you say that?”

“Probably because his face was funny as hell when I told him, plus that guy was a total tool, you should be thanking me.” He responds with a smile.

Your emotions get the better of you and you shove him directly in the chest with both hands, “Dammit Frankie! He was not a tool he was a good guy. I can’t fucking believe you!” You turn on your heels and storm towards the exit.

Frankies eyes bug out and he quickly chugs his beer before slamming it down on the bar top to rush after you.

Your friends see the kerfuffle from their comfortable seats in the booth. All quietly wondering what was to come from this fight. Santi and Sofia give each other knowing looks before they all return to their evening.

All you could hear during your stampede to your room was the trailing footsteps of Frankie’s shoes and his meek calls for you to stop.

Finally getting to your room you slide the card in and heave the door open before whipping it hard to close. Frankie’s hand finds its way between the door and the latch to squeeze in and follow your step once more.

“Hey, come on are you seriously that mad?” he asks, with his arms spread and exasperation on his face.

You whip around to face him, placing your hands on your hips. “Yes, Frankie I am fucking mad. You had no right to do that. I don’t even understand why you would give a shit if I hooked up with him tonight.”

His face drops with his hands, “I don’t know, I just, fuck I don’t know Birdie.”

“Oh no, don’t even start with that Birdie shit. You have never once in your entire time knowing me used my real nickname so don’t start now.” You turn your attention to your suitcase and begin throwing items into it.

“What are you doing?” He asks, watching your fumbled state.

Not even looking over your shoulder you reply, “Getting the fuck out of this room. Have fun cuddling Santi tonight.”

Frankie steps inward and crowds you, “Come on don’t do that. Just talk to me, why are you leaving.”

You turn quickly in your spot, standing now just inches from him. Raising your head to speak directly into his face. “You wanna know why? Fine, you are the biggest narcissist I have ever met.” You begin, counting out on your fingers your reasons. “You ruined my date, and my vacation. And you’re too busy wallowing in your own self-pity to realize how your actions affect other people. Are those enough reasons to leave?”

He sucks his teeth and looks down at you, “Are there any reasons to stay?” he asks calmly.

“Hm, not that I can think of. Can you think of one?” You ask sarcastically, glaring at his deep brown eyes.

In an instant his mouth crashes into yours. Your eyes bulge as you take in the moment, before quickly falling victim and wrapping your arms around his neck. He grabs your hips and pulls them in closer to press against him. It’s all tongue and teeth as you devour each other next to the mini fridge of your hotel room. He slides his hand into your hair to pull your head back, granting him access to nip and suck at your neck as you moan and run your hands through the hair at the nap of his neck.

He turns you on your feet and backs you up until your knees hit the edge of the bed, before pushing you down flat on it. He leans down and grabs your heel to pull it up to his chest and begins pulling the straps off them, peppering kisses along your ankle. Moving to the other. His drunken hands fumble with the clasp, “Fuck sakes you had to choose the most complicated shoes.” He mumbles under his breath.

You roll your eyes, “Shut the fuck up and get down here.”

He eyes you with raised brows and pulls the shoe off your foot before taking his hat in his hand and pulling his shirt up and over his head, placing his trusted hat firmly back on his luscious curls. You bite your lip as you watch him unhook his belt and pull his shorts down, kicking off his shoes in the process.

You widen your legs for him, and he trails his hands up your thighs, sneaking them slightly under the hem of your dress. You rise up on the bed and pull the straps off your shoulders to begin shimmying the dress down your body. He rubs your legs as his eyes widen, watching your plump chest fall free from the fabric of the dress as you continue to scoot it further down your body. His hands raise to grab the material from you, and you lift your hips to allow him to pull it the rest of the way down your body, leaving you bare save for your lacey panties.

He runs a finger lightly over the fabric on your folds, “These were for him then?” he asks quietly.

You nod slowly, he grins and comments. “I guess his loss is my gain then.”

You inch up on the bed as he follows you closely, climbing over your body and launching down to capture your mouth with his teeth. Your hands explore every inch you can reach as you urge him forward. Hips bucking up to seek friction against his hardening length.

He breaks off and looks down between the two of you, “Needy huh?”

Shaking your head with frustration you pull at his curly locks, “Can you just fuck me already?”

His smirks and leans back on his haunches to grab your panties and pull them down your legs, before rolling onto his side and side his boxers down.

When he returns to his position you both drop your gazes. He licks his lips, looking down at your wet pussy, just dripping for him and your eyes pop at the sight of his cock. Long and girthy, a sensational feeling creeps up your spin as you admire his length.

He looks at you, “Did you happen to bring any-,”

“Oh, fuck, yeah just in my nightstand.” You say, pointing over to the table situated beside the bed.

He nods and reaches over to the nightstand to pull out and roll the condom firmly onto himself.

Widening your legs for him he leans back down to bring you into another kiss, reaching down between the two of you to guide his cock into your entrance. The first few pushes burn with the stretch, but it feels too good to slow down. He continues his pace until he bottoms out in you, both of you letting out an agonizing moan as you take in each other.

“You okay?” he asks.

Nodding you reply, “Yeah, yeah fuck, Frankie just move I need to feel you.” Your tone almost begging.

Frankie smiles and begins moving his hips back and forth against you, your eyes roll back at the feeling, and he leans down to capture your nipple in his mouth. Biting it tightly as he slams into you at a pace you haven’t experienced before.

He breaks away momentarily to mutter under his breath, “Can’t believe we’re doin’ this.”

Moans escaping your mouths as the top of his cock presses against your clit with each devastating roll of his hips. You bring him back up to your mouth to pull at his lips with your teeth as he continues to move into you. Deep breaths and the slapping of skin is all that can be heard as the two of you take in each other’s bodies. He lays flat on you, and you wrap your arms around his neck to squeeze as your walls clench around him, sending the most incredible waves up your body and causing your chest to arch into his. He hums at the feeling and then lets out an animalistic grunt as he presses forward one last time, filling the condom inside you.

He stills and rests his head against yours, both of you breathing deeply. “Fuck, what was, fuck was that?”

You giggle under your breath, “I don’t even know.”

Frankie drags his tired body off you and heads to the bathroom. You slide under the sheets and close your eyes, head still spinning from the alcohol and the intense orgasm you just had.

He comes back and lays down next to you resting his arm behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. “Do you uh- do you wanna talk about that or-,”

“No, no Frankie I just, mmm I need to sleep. I’m still too drunk.” You say rolling over on your side and snuggling next to him.

He grins to himself, looking down at your sleepy state, “Okay baby, get some sleep.”

Sunday

Eyes creeping open, you once again feel the weighted body of Frankie against your back and his arm slung over your side. Your annoyance ringing in your ears before the events of last night and your current state of undress crash into you like a freight train. You don’t move, don’t breathe too heavily, as if not engaging in the truth or awakening the world with your presence would somehow make what happened last night not real. Did you want it to be real? No, how could you possibly, he’s an ass, always has been. Last night was just a drunken mistake. Was it? It did feel amazing, and you could’ve stopped it any time, but you didn’t. Have you secretly been thinking about the possibilities since the beginning of this forsaken bet? All these questions swirling around your aching head makes your eyes squeeze shut again, desperately trying to drown out the light and the consequences of your actions.

As if feeling the tension literally emitting from your body, Frankie begins to roll over and move his arm off of you before waking himself. You hold still in the position you are in, pulling your covers close to your chin and hoping he might not see you.

He rubs his eyes and peers over at you, “Mornin’” he says with a groggy voice.

Slowly rolling over onto your other side with a shy smile you look at him with your head rested firmly on the pillow, “Hey.” You whisper.

Frankie rolls onto his side and places a warm hand on your arm that is holding the comforter tight to your neck. “You okay?”

Pulling your mouth into a thin line you nod, “Yeah, just uh, - don’t really know where to go from here. Or what it meant.”

“Yeah, that’s uh, I think a bigger conversation after some coffee.” He smiles, rubbing tiny circles in your arm with his thumb.

You nod and rise out of bed, both of you getting ready silently but politely. Holding the door to the bathroom open for each other, him handing you your sunscreen from the table when you were fumbling in your bag looking for it, you making the bed including his side.

The two of you walk beside each other down to the buffet for brunch, no words, just a comfortable silence. It doesn’t feel like even small talk would be safe until you have a chance to properly talk.

After collecting your much-needed coffee and food, you both sit down at the table with your friends and they all examine your faces, wondering where you stood after last night’s fight.

Wendy rubs your arm sympathetically, “Hey, how you doing? What happened last night?”

Frankie clears his throat to defend you before you interject, “I’m fine, last night was a total misunderstanding. Sorry if I worried you guys.” You say, offering a half-hearted smile.

Benny crosses his arms and leans back, “But like, what made you wanna go round for round with Fish here?”

Biting your bottom lip and looking at Frankie’s deep brown eyes, filled with concern you straighten up and reply, “I thought Frankie ruined my date when he talked to Juan, but I was wrong, he explained himself when we got back to the room and he was right, that guy wasn’t right for me. I didn’t need him, don’t need him.”

Frankie’s face pulls into a short smile, trying to stifle his apparent joy at your story.

Blaire smiles, “Well, I hope you two are still okay if we break off for our couples day today.”

Nodding you reply, “Oh of course, you guys go and enjoy your days. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Santi grins to himself and slaps his hands on his thighs as he rises up, “Alright well, if you’ll excuse us, I have a date with my lady and a waterfall.” He says, taking Sofia’s hand and helping her up before waving to the group and departing.

The other two couples stand as well and say their goodbyes, leaving you and Frankie staring down at your plates of food and steaming coffees.

You eat in silence, a million questions racing around your mind with each bite of your toast. Upon finishing your plate, you lean back in your chair to check your phone. Looking at your calendar you’re reminded of something you unfortunately forgot. “Hey, Frankie um, - I’m really sorry but I booked a massage for this morning since I knew they would all be busy. I can always cancel it if-,”

He waves his hands causally towards you, “No, no please go. We can catch up later.” he says, breathing deeply out of his nose.

You smile and nod before getting up and heading over to the spa. During your walk your feet feel like they’re floating and you’re still slightly dizzy from the events of the weekend.  Rounding the corner to the spa you look to your right and catch a sight of Juan standing near the checkout desk. He spots you and quickly turns on his feet to face another direction.

Pulling your lips tight to your teeth you huff out of your nose. Yep, that seems about right, you think to yourself. A relaxing massage is exactly what you need to hopefully shut your mind off for a while.

A while later you leave the spa with your body and mind more relaxed. Your hangover has disappeared, and your energy returned, ready to take on whatever the rest of the day called for. While still nervous, you didn’t know what Frankie would think about what happened last night. He has never once shown interest in you during these few years. Was it purely physical or was there more. If there was more, was there more on your side? How would your lives fit together you thought. He lived in the same city as you, had the same friend group as you, partook in the same activities on the weekend as you. Really, your life has been blended for years now. He has a good job and so do you, it seems like it could come together seamlessly. However, there’s still the nagging feeling that is crawling up your neck each time you consider a relationship with him. That feeling comes of course from the relentless taunting and bullying you’ve received from him. You’re tough in the skin and it never bothered you but is that still the type of person you would want to build a life with, having had such a bad foundation to form on.

As your mind drifts in and out of uncertainty, your eyes are unfocused as you turn a corner and come crashing into none other than Frankie Morales.

“Oh, shit sorry.” You exclaim, trying to steady your footing.

He grins down at you and grabs his hat to scratch his head, “Hey, that’s okay I um should’ve been watching where I was going. A little lost in thought I guess.”

You nod and clasp your hands firmly together in front of you, “Hm, yeah, me too I guess.”

Taking a deep breath, he asks casually, “How was your massage?”

“Good, good thanks for asking. Definitely relaxing.”

“That’s good.” He says, both of you drowning in the undeniable awkwardness of the moment.

Frankie clears his throat before asking, “Do you wanna, go for a walk? I saw a trail over at the end of the beach that looks nice.”

Accepting the time has finally come for your talk, you agree and begin the walk towards the beach.

Sun beating down and waves crashing in, the beach is filled with fun seekers and tanners. They all look to be having such an easy-going time compared to yourself whose stomach has not stopped twisting since your sandals hit the warm beach.

You and Frankie remain in your quiet state until he finally finds the trail head and starts down it. He looks beside himself at your flushed chest and chewed lip that you’ve been worrying since you left the spa. “I don’t, really know how to start this I guess.” He says, placing his hands in the pockets of his plaid shorts.

Grinning slightly, you look up at him, “Yeah me neither.”

“I guess, I should first just apologize for what happened with Juan last night. I really am sorry.” he says, looking around at the foliage of the trail.

“Oh right, uh thank you. I appreciate that.” You say before thinking further, “I guess my question from last night was never answered so -,” you trail off, hoping he understands where you’re coming from.

He nods, “Yeah, that I don’t entirely have an answer for I guess.” He scratches the thin patchy beard spread across his chin. “I guess I was just threatened by him and didn’t like the idea of you going home with him, or anyone else really.”

His admission came as a shock, still unclear as to why he had such feelings. “Why did that bother you? I mean, we go to bars together, we’ve both seen our fair shares of one-night stands. It didn’t seem to bother you before.”

“Yeah, I know. Um, just felt different I guess.” he says quietly.

“Different how?” You ask, crossing your arms and growing slightly frustrated.

Taking a deep breath, he pinches the ridge of his nose and thinks. “Sorry, I haven’t done this in a while.” He begins.

“Done what?”

He smiles softly, “Talked about, - talked about my feelings. For someone.”

You take a deep breath in your nose and twirl your thumbs together, still slowly making your way down the trail. “Is that what we’re doing here? Talking about our feelings for each other?”

Before he can reply he looks forward at the scenery the trail has led to. A cascading waterfall atop a simple flowing stream and wildflowers all about. A single two-person bench sits quaintly near the edge of the water.

You laugh to yourself looking around, “Huh, figures. The waterfall for lovers.”

He grins and then offers his hand to you; you look him in the eyes before taking it and allowing him to lead you to the bench.

Frankie sits and rests his elbows on his thighs, taking deep breaths and looking at the water toppling down the cliff side. He turns his head to look at you, “Ask me again.” he says.

You look at him confused, “Ask what again?”

He clears his throat, “Ask me again why I always treated you the way I did. Like you were annoying.”

Biting your lip, your voice comes out as quiet as a church mouse, “Why?”

Frankie’s breath comes out like it hurts, “Because, I thought if I pushed you away like that then it would be easier. I liked you as soon as I met you, but I just, I was a mess when I was discharged, and I didn’t want to burden you with all that. I wasn’t ready for whatever this could be. So, I thought if I didn’t get close to you then I wouldn’t have to worry about you developing feelings for me. Making you hate me seemed better than disappointing you.”

It was heart wrenching hearing Frankie speak so highly of you and so poorly of himself. Floods of emotions came, and you had to know more about what you were considering at this moment. “What about now? Are you ready now?”

“Now?” he began, “Now, I have a steady job and a therapist that helps me take care of my mind. I have friends who are all happy and have moved on from everything we went through in the service. Now, I’ve spent 72 hours with you and during that short time you managed to break through all the walls I had built and the cage I put myself in.”

You want to respond, want to apologize that you may have pushed him too far, especially with the bet, and that you could give him more space, but he continued before you could pull the strained voice from your throat.

“I think I am ready now. I think I’ve worked hard these last few years to become a man you deserve. I think you deserve the world, I really do, and while I can’t give you that, I’m hoping I may be enough.” His deep brown eyes well up with emotion and he tries not to look directly at you.

Your chest tightens and your breath stops. This isn’t the Frankie you knew, no, this is new. This Frankie is different. This Frankie doesn’t have sharp edges or a quick wit. This Frankie, this Frankie is one you could fall in love with.

“Frankie, I have been extremely surprised by you this weekend. I have yelled at you, laughed with you, and experienced things I didn’t think were possible. I’m gonna need some time to catch up, because up until a few days ago, I absolutely hated your guts.” You and he both laugh for a moment, and he takes your hands in his. “But, if you’ll allow me the time, I’d like to try to catch up to where you are, because I really like you and I want to see where this could go.”

His eyes lighten and his smile beams, “Shit really?”

Nodding you reply, “Yeah, I guess Fish and Birdie do kind of go together anyway.” You beam and he matches your expression.

Frankie wraps his arms around to bring you into a tight embrace and you stay there still, him holding you and you listening to his rapid heartbeat.

“You know, if I weren’t such a nice person, I might count you confessing your love for me as making a move.” You say giggling to yourself.

He lets out a chuckle, “I think I already lost the bet last night when I kissed you.”

“It’s okay, I won’t count that either. We can split the room, and you can just owe me like 50 dinner dates.” You say pulling yourself out of his arms to lean in and plant a loving kiss to his lips.

“Deal. Now that I’m sure the waterfall worked its magic, we should head back.” He says, taking your hand again and helping you off the bench.

Your mouth gaps, “Did you know this was down here?”

His face grows embarrassed, “Uhhh, yeah, I did. I figured I needed all the help I could get.”

You laugh together and take his hand in yours, traveling back down the path.

“You didn’t completely hate my guts, right?” he asks inquisitively.

Rolling your eyes you reply, “Oh big time. Couldn’t fucking stand you.”

Frankie’s mouth drops in fake offence. You continue, “But, I did think you were cute and may have daydreamed about you a little.”

He smiles and pulls you in to wrap his arm around your waist, “I’ll take it.”

Returning to your room you look at the bed, the scene of the crime. You still haven’t spoken about that part of the situation yet and just thinking about it makes your core ache for more.

Frankie spots your eyeline and follows it to the bed, both of you standing near the edge facing each other and holding hands. He looks back at you, “I didn’t know when would be a good time to talk about, that whole thing. It was a bit impulsive on my side and I’m sorry if it was too soon.”

You shake your head, “No, no it’s okay. It was definitely unexpected, but I don’t regret it at all.”

Nodding he bites his lip, “So uh, what the fuck was that all about then?” he asks, his tone changing to a humorous laugh.

You match his laugh, “Fuck I literally don’t even know. Was it as good for you as it was for me?”

“Pfft, fuck, it was incredible. I can’t wait to see how it feels when I’m not hammered and can actually take my time.” He says, smiling at you, the lines on his face shining brightly with his expression.

You both look over at the bed again, chewing the inside of your cheek, before looking back at each other.

Moving as one, you close together and bring your hands to his face and his on your waist. Encapsulating each other in a heated kiss. His tongue pushes against your lips, which you happily encourage with your own tongue. You quickly become impatient and begin pulling at each other’s clothing. Unbuttoning his shirt as fast as your fingers can manage while he pulls at your shorts and pushes them down your legs. Once you’ve sufficiently rid yourselves of your clothes, save for Frankies hat, he turns you and sits you down on the edge of the bed.

“I’m gonna take care you baby alright?” he says, kneeling down and kissing the inside of your thighs as you lower your body flat on the bed and spread your legs for him. He swiftly turns his hat backwards and hums as he swipes a finger through your slick folds, “I didn’t get a good look at you last night, you have the most perfect pussy I have ever seen.”

“Oh stop, you’re just saying that.” You say with a giggle.

“Does this make you feel like I’m lying?” he asks, before diving in like a man starved of food for weeks.

Your back arches immediately as he expertly takes you apart with his tongue. Bouncing around between your entrance and clit. Your moans permeate the room with each swipe. Before you can even realize what’s happening, the string in your core is snapping and your orgasm is rushing through you. Frankie can feel your pussy plump out for him, and he quickly slides two fingers into your entrance for you to clamp down on. The sudden intrusion descends you into another wave of your orgasm. Hands grasping desperately at the bed spread, breath deep, you finally come down from you transcendent high.

He licks one last agonizing stripe up our folds to your sensitive mound and begins to crawl up the bed to you. “Taste so sweet baby.” He says before latching his mouth to yours.

You take his face in your hands and taste your pleasure on his mouth and mustache. You scoot out from under him and urge him to lay down flat on the bed. “I wanna ride you baby.” You say breathlessly.

He bites his lip and moves on the bed, before he can lie down you reach down to his head and pluck his hat off, planting it on your own backwards. He growls at the sight and steals a passionate kiss before accepting his position as pillow princess.

You reach over to the nightstand and hand him a condom. He rolls it on, and you sit up on your knees over top of his hardening length. Taking him in your hand you swipe him through your dripping folds, before slowly lowering yourself down on him. Each inch sending pleasure through every nerve of your body.

“Fuck, baby, taking my cock so well look at you.” He says, grabbing your hips tightly, no doubt to leave bruises for him to kiss tomorrow.

Bottoming out you let out a primal moan and place your hands firmly on his chest. “Oh, you feel so good.”

“Yeah? Show me how good I feel inside you.” He says through gritted teeth, slowly rocking you on his thick cock.

You raise up and down on him and every time it feels better than the last. Over and over again until you’re both panting from pleasure and overwhelmed. He reaches up and presses his thumb to your clit, so you roll your shoulders back and place your hands behind you on the bed to expose more of yourself to him. Your breasts bouncing with every movement and your head rolling back as your break approaches.

He watches you intently, as if you were a masterpiece in a museum, “Wanna see you come on my cock baby. You look so good when you finish.”

A few more sharp circles of your clit with his thumb and you’re stuttering, “Fuck, Frankie I’m gonna-,” is all you can manage before you begin squeezing him within an inch of his life. He follows immediately after, rutting up into you while he moans from his own bliss.

After a minute of deep breathing and eyes trying to roll back to normal you finally climb off of him and toss his hat off your head. He kisses your cheek before heading to the bathroom to clean up.

He rolls back into the bed with you and pulls you close to rest on his chest, “Mmm, that was great.” He says kissing your head.

“I’m so tired after all that, wanna take a nap?”

“Sounds good to me.” He says.

Hours later you’re awoken by your phone ringing, just missing the call you roll over and peer at the screen. “Fuck.” You exclaim.

Frankie jolts awake and looks at you, your eyebrows furrowed reading your messages. “What’s wrong?”

“That was Sofia trying to call me, looks like she texted me too. They headed down to dinner a while ago.”

He chews his lip and eyes your still naked body, “Would I be a total dick if I said I just wanted to stay here for the rest of the night?”

Turning in the bed with a mischievous look you ask, “No, but whatever would we do with all that time?” with a wink.

“Oh, I can think of something.” He says, leaning over onto you and capturing you in a kiss.

You oblige but quickly push him off, “Can we get room service though, I’m starving.”

Nodding, he replies, “Sure, then I’ll only owe you 49 more dinners.”

Room service took about 45 minutes, which gave you sufficient enough time to fool around again. Now sitting together on the bed, wrapped in the hotel’s fluffy white robes you stuff your faces with pizza and chicken wings while chatting.

“Good thing you brought that box of condoms, huh? Would’ve had me sprinting to the hotel store at 1am last night in nothing but my boxers if you didn’t.” Frankie laughed.

You grin as you swallow another bite of pizza, “Hey I was planning on hooking up this weekend, didn’t know it was gonna be you but, oh well.”

“What size box did you get anyway?” he asks, reaching into the nightstand and pulling out the box. “34!” he exclaims, looking at you with wild eyes. “How much sex were you planning on having this weekend?” he asks, laughing.

You laugh and snatch the box out of his hand, “Hey, I wasn’t gonna use all of them, obviously.”

“I don’t know, sounds like you had some pretty big plans for this weekend.”

Biting your lip, you look him up and down, “No, but something big did come up.” You say with a wink.

He looks at you slightly confused but also amused.

You giggle, “Sorry, dick joke.”

“Oh!” He laughs, “Yeah, one of my more redeeming qualities that’s for sure.”

“I’d say you’re pretty much redeemed at this point.”

Smiling, he looks at you with those damn deep brown eyes that make your heart twist every time now, “I am sorry again about how things have been between us. I really regret hurting you like that.”

“Don’t worry about it, I think a part of me could tell there was more to it. Will and Benny always sang your praises and I trust them so, I figured you couldn’t be as much of a bad guy that you led on.” You reply, taking his hand in yours. “It’s actually kind of exciting now, I get to get to know you all over again. The real you, that is.”

Looking bashful he tucks his head down slightly, “Well, I’ve gotten to know you quite a bit, and I really like you.”

You lean in for a kiss, “Thanks Fish, I really like you too. Does this mean you’re gonna start calling me by my nickname now?”

He goes into a fake deep thought, “Hmmm, I don’t know.” You offer a pout and plump your lower lip out. “Alright, you win, Birdie.” He says with a wink.

Monday

“You ready?” Frankie asks, putting away the last of his things in his suitcase.

Looking around the hotel room you grew a sense of sadness, so much has happened this weekend in this room, and you are sad to see it go. You are worried, worried about how the real world would react to your relationship with Frankie. Praying it wouldn’t reject you like a bad piercing and instead you would be able to blend your lives together and continue how it’s been these last crazy 24 hours.

“Hey,” he says softly, rubbing a hand on your shoulder. “It’s gonna be alright. We’re gonna go home, and get back into our routines, and I’m gonna take you out on a date. Have a chance to treat you right.”

His touch warms you and his words make you swoon. He was so comforting, and so reassuring. The way his eyes twinkle when they look at you could only be described as magic.

Nodding along to his soothing words, you throw your backpack over your shoulders and grab your suitcase, sliding out the door behind him. Once in the hallway, Frankie offers you a caring smile and his hand, which you accept gladly.

Walking into the lobby hand in hand with Frankie Morales was not how you expected this vacation to end, and by the looks on your friends faces it’s not what they were expecting either.

“Well, what do we have here?” Will hums.

Benny whistles and the girls give their ouus and ahhhs.

“Alright calm down you animals.” Frankie says, to settle the crowd of looky loos.

Blaire smiles, “So this is why you two weren’t at dinner and drinks last night, huh?”

“Thought you were dead.” Sofia comments with a laugh.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” You say, steadying your suitcase on the white granite floor. Frankie squeezes your hand reassuringly.

Santi crosses his arms and grins brightly, “Well, I guess my plan worked after all.” he says, winking at Sofia who laughs and swats his arm playfully.

You look at him confused, “What plan?”

He smirks, “Oh, I booked you guys in the same room on purpose.”

Yours and Frankie’s mouths drop as the rest of the group share your shock. Various whats and Popes echoing out from you all.

Santi taps his hands up and down in the air, “Alright, alright calm down. I had to do something after the way I’ve been watching my best friend pine over this woman for the last few years. He wouldn’t make a move, so I just thought if I put them in the same room together for the weekend they’d be forced to-,”

“Fuck.” Benny interjected, giggling.

Sofia shakes her head, “Noo, talk. But I mean, we’re assuming you also….” She begins, giving you an inquisitive look.

You cross your arms and suck your teeth at the thought of your friends tricking you and Frankie, but ultimately nod your head slightly which earns a cheer from the group and causes Frankie to press his hand to his face in embarrassment.

Frankie pulls his hand off his face and points jokingly at Santi, “I’m gonna kick your ass, man. You could’ve told me.”

Santi shrugs, “It had to happen organically, love can’t be forced.” he says, wrapping his arm around Sofias’ waist.

Will leans into the group, “Hey Pope, did you hit Birdie with the volleyball on purpose on Saturday?”

You perk up immediately, snapping your fingers as you point at him. “Hey, yeah that was when I was trying to get Juan’s attention!”

Laughing, he replies, “Hey I was looking out for my boy. Didn’t want that guy messing anything up. I thought about trying to get rid of him that night too, but it seems Fish beat me to it.”

“Oh, you have no idea, that is a funny story for the shuttle ride.” You say, tapping Frankie’s elbow as he smiles at you.

Wendy claps her hands together, “Alright, now that we’ve got that all sorted, let’s head back to reality.”

Quiet groans erupt from the group as they collect their bags and head to the lobby doors. Frankie swiftly grabs your wrist before you can get too far and swings you back into his arms. Looking down at you he smiles, and you smile right back, before he leans down and kisses you tenderly, squeezing you tightly in his strong arms.

And there they were, those butterflies floating around in your stomach, just like you always knew you were supposed to feel when you were with the right guy, at the right time.

Part 1

@christinamadsen @fluffygoffpanda

[unkownknowledge]

Since I have yet to receive any request, I'm just gonna post fanfiction/headcanons for my current team

The team: Kaeya, Tartaglia, Bennett, and Diluc.

-the team formed because Aether had to hurry to Liyue, but only him and Fischl were really strong enough and could leave monstadt, so they had Diluc(as a favor for the darkknight hero quest) train Bennet so he could join them(with the plan to have Aether and Fischl go ahead).

-Kaeya joined in to annoy Diluc, and Bennett was to excited to have a real knight on the team for Diluc to say no.

-Tartaglia joined in because he was on some business, but decided to mess around for a bit, one encounter later and Bennett got Tartaglia on the team by using his puppy dog eyes to convince him(noone can say not to that face)

-Diluc and Kaeya both know Tartaglia is a fatui harbinger, but it's better to just let him have his fun and go than try and fight him and die, so they don't object when Bennet brings him to the winery for recruitment.

-Tartaglia is leaving for Liyue soon anyway, might as well have Bennett go with a harbinger rather than by himself.

-Diluc is not at all happy with the team, but he's a man of his word and he already agreed to this so he can't back out now.

-Kaeya is nervous of Tartaglia at first, but after them both sharing one brain cell to annoy Diluc he's quite happy about the current arrangement.

-Tartaglia is extremely happy about having some fun slaying monsters, but if he can annoy the darkknight hero AND get some strong comrades as well? He is absolutely estatic!

-Bennett often has to hold back his tears of joy, he's so happy to be in an adventure team, and with knights aswell!

-Bennett constantly calls the team "Benny's round table" because he is convinced that Tartaglia is a knight(Kaeya and Diluc did this to keep him from doing anything stupid out of a desire to be a hero, ie taking on a fatui harbinger), and he already knows Diluc is the darkknight hero because Kaeya being a jerk to Diluc.

-"Bennett, why do you call us your 'round table'?" "Because your all knights!" "But I'm not-" *cut to Diluc kicking down Kaeya's door*

-Diluc is the dad of the group, and he's starting to rethink his disdain of alchohol.

-Kaeya need to be reminded that, no, a wine cocktail is NOT the same as a grape salad. Nor is a grape salad a good breakfast anyway!

-he constantly asks Jean for help.

-"how the HELL do you deal with Kaeya all day!?" *jean slides Diluc an address to a cafe* "ask them for 'Jean's three bean soup', you'll need it."

-Diluc has to stop Tartaglia from bumrushing every enemy they see.

-"Childe no!" "But big monster!" "CHILDE-"

-Diluc has to rescue him because Tartaglia usually rushes ruin guards when he is severely hurt.

-and he has to do all this while training Bennett!

-one day Diluc brings Venti to the back of his bar and gets on his knees, "lord Barbados please give me patience." "You mean strength, right?" "Depends on whether or not you give bail money as well."

-Kaeya isn't all bad though, and Tartaglia treats his comrades well, so they both pitch in to train Bennett.

-Kaeya teaches Bennett fast movement and schemes, and if they can get a horse you bet your ass the cavalry captain is training him to be a cavalry master!

-meanwhile Tartaglia teaches Bennett combat strategies and how to deal with longer ranged targets, also teaches him financing because Bennett needs to learn how to manage his money.

-does not help that all three can't help but spoil the boy.

-Diluc teaches Bennett how to use his vision, how to fight certain enemies, and anything else he has from his time as the darkknight hero.

-Diluc is the embodiment of 'if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball, except for him it's: "if you can kill a Mitachurl you can kill a slime"

-many, many injuries are sustained until Kaeya points out that Bennett should be training to fight in a group.

-Bennett develops a crush on Diluc, it's inevitable. But I'll save those HCs for later.

-Kaeya and Diluc start showing signs of making up, but it takes a while.

-for now though, it's just a few small things here and there: Kaeya not insulting Diluc when he drinks grape juice, Diluc making Kaeya death afternoons and not purposely mess it up, Kaeya offering to help Diluc with his darkknight duties and Diluc not pushing him away.

-it will be a while, but their getting there.

-however: remember when I said Kaeya and Tartaglia share a brain cell?

-hoo boy.

-Diluc has to deal with Tartaglia's constant pranking, and thanks to Kaeya's scheming ability he can never see it coming.

-Diluc walks out a door? Bucket of water. Diluc goes to bed? Tartaglia uses his vision to make him wet himself. Diluc goes to the bathroom? Firecracker on the seat.

-Diluc cannot catch a break!

-despite being from different sides, Kaeya and Tartaglia become friends. Kaeya even learns his real name.

-might do some romantic HCs idk, but this is platonic.

-because they're friends, the pranks don't stop at Diluc: La Signora and Jean are about to feel the wrath of two tactical geniuses with the brains of 4 year olds.

-La Signiora's makeup gets replaced with the wrong colors and a mirror that shows it as right, so she ends up looking like a clown.

-Jean wakes up every day and has to deal with every wall in Monstadt graffitied on, and a Klee that has had four shots of espresso!

-Albedo likes it though, until he also has to deal with Klee.

-archons help them.

-and whatever is above them, please help scaramouche. He knows what he did to deserve this but, he's willing to repent if it saves him from this hell.

-as for Tartaglia and Bennett? Like brothers.

-Tartaglia has a soft spot for kids, and even though Bennett is sixteen he has the mind of a four year old.

-Tartaglia has considered adopting him.

-but Tartaglia also recognizes that Bennett wants to get stronger, and his brotherly love makes Tartaglia train Bennett until he DROPS.

-they spar all the time, Tartaglia even says they should stop when he beats Bennett, but Bennett keeps getting up and going at it again and again.

-Tartaglia might train Bennett till he drops, but Bennett keeps going until he is a bloody pulp, and then he gets up again.

-Tartaglia has never felt more pride in someone else before, he's going to cry!

-they're all one big happy adventure party.

[starlightsearches]

Writer Q & A

Thanks for the tag @daydreamsofren! This was fun 🥰

1) How many complete fics/one shots do you have that you have not published (yet)?

Zero. Unfortunately I am not very good at delayed gratification, and so I typically post stuff as soon as I've finished. When I first started writing Office Romance, I had at least two chapters done before I posted the next, and then I got behind and I haven't been able to catch up since. I'd love to be the kind of person that could let something finished sit in my drafts while I work on the next part, but it doesn't look like that's in the cards for me.

2) How many WIPS do you have right now?

Around 20 apparently.

3) Do you take writing requests or write original ideas, or both?

I do both! I typically prefer requests, since it's fun to take a prompt and put my own spin on it. Prompts are also more motivational—I work on ideas I come up with on my own much slower.

4) If you do take requests, how many do you currently have?

I currently have 11 right now! I like to have somewhere between 10-15 requests in my drafts so that I can jump around if needed.

5) How many fandoms do you write for?

I tend to focus on individual characters, so I don't know if I'd really call it writing for a "fandom." There are a handful I like to write, but mostly I get requests for Hux (which makes sense because he's my favorite.)

6) Are there any fandoms you wrote for in the past that you no longer write for? I

Nope.

8) Niche fandoms/characters you write for?

It's gotta be Hux. I love that greasy little man 🥺

9) Do you read fics as well as write them?

Yeah, although I go through more ups and downs with reading than I do with writing.

10) What is your favorite genre to write for?

Uhh, I love angst, and fluff and probably smut

11) What is your favorite trope (to read/write)?

Mutual pining, friends to lovers. I'm more comfortable writing the beginnings of a relationship rather than something in the middle.

12) What do you do to get motivated to write?

Read other fics, or daydream. I'll also read back through old comments or read my own stuff that I liked.

13) Is there a trope/genre you like to read, but not write?

Fake dating. I don't know if I could do it justice but it is one of my favorite tropes.

14) Any characters/fandoms you want to write for that are never requested?

Not never requested, but I do really like Frankie Morales and Benny Miller from Triple Frontier, and Laszlo Kreizler from The Alienist.

15) How long have you been writing fanfiction?

A little over two years. I started at the very beginning of 2020.

16) Did you read fan fiction before you started writing?

A really long time ago. I used to read Star Wars fics about Kylo and Hux when TFA came out, and then I stopped before writing my own.

17) Do you only post on Tumblr, or any other sites as well?

I post here and on AO3, but I started on AO3. I don't think I could handle wattpad 🙃

18) What do you personally consider the word counts of “Drabble”, “One shots” and “fics”?

Idk, mostly I just go by vibes. I really don't look at the word count of most of the stuff I write.

19) Which do you prefer to write more? HC, drabbles, oneshots/fics, multi chapter stories, other?

I like oneshots/fics the most. Anything that involves planning suddenly turns into 4D chess in my head and I have a way harder time finishing it.

20) Are there any stories you have discontinued? If so, why?

I don't know. It's hard to say that anything is discontinued because when I look back at what I've written I really like it. I'd say Indecent Arrangements, but I still think about it all the time, so maybe there will be a chapter update soon.

21) What is one of your main “pet-peeves” as a writer on Tumblr?

Uhh, I guess it's hard to tell why certain stories get less traction than others. I don't like how much time of day/the tag function/whatever else plays into whether or not my stuff gets noticed.

22) Do you write at a particular time of day?

I'm a much better writer at night, probably because I'm too tired to be mean to myself.

23) Do you listen to music, ambiance/noise, etc to write or do you need silence?

I have two playlists full of slow-ish music that I listen to while I write. One is called Rainy Days, and the other one is called It's Folkin' Fall, Babey!

24) Do you outline your fics at all before writing?

Only if they're complicated. Indecent Arrangements and The Runaway both have outlines, but none of the others.

25) Do you post your writing as soon as you finish it, or do you schedule it to come out at a specific time/day?

Once it's done, even if it's the middle of the night. I should probably hold back on stuff more so that I can make edits before I post it, but I'm too impatient 🙃

No-pressure tags: @generalthirst, @thembohux, @girl-next-door-writes, @jynzandtonic and anyone else who wants to participate!!

[fictionallemons]

My Supernatural Story

For years people told me I should watch Supernatural. "Oh, you like Sherlock and ship Johnlock, you would love Supernatural. Oh, you like writing fanfic, you should watch Supernatural." But I never did. I chalk it up to it starting the year I cut the cord on cable TV. By the time Supernatural started streaming it had been on so long I thought there was no way I could catch up.

Flash forward to 2019. I'm looking for something to watch when doing dishes and stuff because there's only so many time you can rewatch Murder, She Wrote (it's a lot, but there's still a limit). Another mom at the bus stop mentions Supernatural when I ask for show recommendations. "It's starting its last season. The first five seasons are the best, but it's still pretty good."

I look up how many seasons it's been by now and my jaw drops. Fifteen seasons? Jesus Christ. But the fact that it's officially ending give me motivation. Something about knowing exactly how many episodes I'm in for if I end up liking it makes me feel better about the whole thing. I'm also looking for a new fandom and I know there's an entire world of SPN fanfiction out there so if I end up liking the show, then I have a ton of fic open to me. I've been on Tumblr for a couple of years at this point, mostly for Sherlock, so I'm aware of this ship called Destiel, and I know it's pretty huge, so who knows, maybe I'll get into it.

I watch the first episode one sunny September afternoon before the kids get home from school. It's a little scary, a lot dark—I mean, the cinematography is like super dark, and I spend most of the episode wondering how I've gone this far in my life without knowing how fucking adorable Jensen Ackles's stupid face is. I came for the entry to the fanfiction, I stayed for Dean, not going to lie. Don't get me wrong, I like Sam, too, but even though in real life Jared Padalecki and I are the same age, when I start watching he's 22 and I'm 37, and I see him as a kid. Then I'm like—where's this Castiel character I've heard so much about? Quick Google later…he doesn't show up until the FOURTH SEASON? Are you serious? I have to watch three whole seasons before meeting the character I'm supposed to be shipping with my idiotic, adorable Dean?

Turns out I didn't mind waiting because I last all of three episodes before I break down and search the Dean/Sam tag on AO3. I learn the term Wincest. I cringe. Then I Google "starter Wincest recs." I'm in denial about this ship. I find Invisible Boy and other Weecest fics and think, gross. There's no way I can read about underage brothers. Blech. I start with Nyxocity. I don't want to read too far ahead of where I am in the show, so I start slow. But it's inexorable. Inevitable. The more I read, the more it all makes so much sense. What brother is going to literally sell his soul and damn himself to Hell to save his baby brother? Said brother is definitely in love with baby brother. Becoming Wincest trash is easy. And, shocker, my tolerance grows to a point where even Weecest doesn't bother me, as long as it's good. By the time the fabled Castiel shows up on the scene, I'm so deeply involved in Sam and Dean's love story that I kind of find Cas annoying. Handsome and charismatic, but annoying. Not to mention constantly fucking up.

And remember when I said I stayed with the show for Dean? True, I still spend a good portion of every show marveling over the way the camera adores Jensen's face, but Sam, strong, smart Sam grew on me so hard. (Soulless Sam rivals Dean on the hot scale any day imo.) He's another flavor of adorable.

So I make it to the end of Season Five. Swan Song, aka a Wincest love letter. I sob my way through it and think. Okay. I could stop now. I'd be okay to stop. But there were so many legendary episodes I had heard of and couldn't bring myself to watch out of order, like Baby and the Scooby Doo crossover. Not to mention my poor Sam is in hell…or is he?…and Dean and Lisa make me want to throw up in my mouth. And the fanfiction obsession's getting worse. At this point, I'm deeply into J2 fics as well (all the fun of Wincest without the pesky incest part), and reading the occasional Destiel fic even though it doesn't really do anything for me, but there are so many interesting characters that my favorite writers reference and I have no idea who they are: Charlie? Benny?  Rowena? Jack? I don't know who these people are, but I know I won't be complete until I find out. So I keep watching. And reading. And, yes, eventually writing my own Wincest and J2 fics, too.

By the time the show shuts down in March, I've watched probably half the episodes. By the time it comes back in October, I've caught up. I've watched every episode there is. Seven left. Seven episodes I'll have to actually wait a whole week in between to watch, like the old days.

I sob when Cas dies in Despair. The guy grew on me, even though I never could ship him and Dean canonically. The fact that the writers made canon that he was in love with Dean really changes the entire way I view the show now. Not in a bad way, just…the show really isn't about romance. It's about Sam and Dean and saving the world. So while I'm sad to lose Cas, I'm happy they're ending the show the way it started, with Dean and Sam and the Impala. I love how they dealt with Chuck and I cry when Jack fades away. I sob again when they pull a motherfucking montage on us at the end of 15x19. But I'm happy it's just the two of them again. (I am kind of disappointed that the series started with Sam as the emotional core, and then shifted to Dean, and never quite figured out how to shift back. Yes, Sam's awesome, and he's had some moments to shine, and he's saved Dean as many times as Dean's saved him. But has his arc really been as epic as Dean's turned out to be?)

And yet I'll be okay if they drive off into the sunset together, literally. Even if they die, if they die together and end up in their shared heaven, I'll be okay. I need my boys to be together, forever and always. I need them to have each other. I need them to have peace. I need them to choose each other, over and over again, always and forever. It sucks for everyone they've met and loved that all those people are basically collateral damage in the Sam and Dean Save the World Show, but oh well. That's the show. That's why I watched 327 episodes in 14 months. That's why I've worried about these boys since episode one. That's why I'm grateful I finally started watching. In Cas's words, the show changed me. Yes, I joined the fandom about fourteen years too late.

Better late than never.

My Wincest fics on AO3 My J2 fics on AO3 My bookmarks on AO3 in case you want recs

[transbibennyweir]

I love mbav so much it’s one of my favorite shows ever and I’m still so upset over the cliffhanger ending but on a side note Benny weir was definitely my number one favorite character but that might be due to the fact that I have a crush on him and in real life too anyway though I will say bethan is definitely my otp favorite pairing from the show as well and I was so upset they didn’t end together in the end but I was wondering if you would consider making Bethan fanfiction for this month?

duuude i feel the same way i love the show and even me who isn’t really into shipping can’t argue that those two had some real chemistry going on. that cliffhanger ending will always suck but at least we got fanfic to cope and pretend it didnt happen lol but yeah i’ve been writing two or three (really) short fics. the requests are mostly bethan so lucky you! i just put a new i did under the cut. its short and smiple and not too over the top shippy. its still good i think but the next bethan fic i want write to be super over the top shippy for fun with fluff (and angst with comfort ofc) (also this is on ao3)

The Valentine Dance at school was only a week away and Benny had the less than amazing plan to confess some long time dwelling feelings, and if he was lucky score a date to the dance. Although, he was lacking in any confidence seeing as he was never the best with plans and had the worst luck with... Well with everything if he was honest. Ethan was more the plan guy. Which was a total problem when Ethan is who the confession was for. Benny debated for half the school day if he should ask anyone for help, it became pretty obvious that they wouldn’t be that helpful. Rory can’t keep a secret to save his undead life, Erica isn’t much of the romantic type (ignoring that she wouldn’t want help at all in the first place), and Sarah... Actually Sarah might be the only one that would be any real help. That’s if she wanted to help. After what happened Freshman year with Ethan pinning for her and the eventual coming out from Sarah that she didn’t like guys it was sometimes amazing they could still be friends without one of them dying of awkwardness. If anything it was more awkward to ask for help from your current crush’s ex-crush, but Benny was out of options.

“Hey Sarah!” Benny greeted on his phone, his leg bouncing as he sat nervously on his bed. He had decided that he would try talk to her after school, partly hoping he would talk himself out of doing any of this. “I kinda need your help for something important. How quick do you think you could be at my place tonight? Sarah? Sarah!”

When there wasn’t a reply Benny repeated her name wondering what happened followed with a moment of silence and a sudden swiping sound of gusting wind through his phone then a whoosh out in front of his bedroom window. Vampire speed, always handy. “This quick enough for you?” Sarah giggled. Between last year to now Sarah was a lot more playful about her vampire-ness, much to the amusement of Benny.

“Knew I could count on you, Sar!” He grinned at her.

“As always. So, what’s this super important thing you needed my help in the middle of a school night?” She asked, jumping onto his bed with a weightless thump. “Is it a magic problem or just your special brand of weirdness for tonight?”

“Ha! Very funny. I mean it. It’s serious. There’s the dance coming up and I need your help scoring with-” Benny was cut off by Sarah abruptly standing up with a squeaked out “What!”

“Benny! I thought you said this was serious. I rushed over here for you thinking ugh-I can’t believe you! I am not helping you with ‘score’ with some random-”

“It’s Ethan.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah....”

“Benny, I am really sorry.”

There was an awkward silence that made Benny want rip his insides out which was a total confidence booster. “Nah, no, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have been so ‘Benny’ about it. My fault.” Benny’s voice sounded worn and hoarse. Sarah wrapped her arms around Benny to comfort him, sitting back on his bed they stayed quite, Benny taking steading breathes. “I know it’s been a summer since he got over you, but I dunno we’ve always been friends and really close. Confident Benny wants say there’s a chance he’s into me, but Nervous Benny says everything I think has been a sign is just me getting way too hopeful and I’m just,” Benny sighed leaning into Sarah’s hug. “Really tired dancing around how I feel all the time.”

“Awe, Benny,” Sarah settled into her place on the bed facing her favorite spell-caster. “Okay. I’ll help you. What’s the plan?” Benny sheepishly smiled and raised his shoulders.

“I was kinda hoping you could come up with something. I’m more of a plan follower than a plan maker. My ideas tend to lead to the actual problem that needs fixing.” He laughed nervously.

“I think I can come up with something. You still know that flower spell, right?” They grinned at each other.

“Of course.”

+++

The school dance was now only four days away and Sarah’s plan was simple and more importantly fool-proof. Which is what Benny was counting on.

“So, all you need to do is talk to him. Take him to the park. Whoa him with some magic, some flowers and then boom! Ask him to the dance. Simple and sups romantic.” Sarah said as they walked outside to see Ethan and their friends waiting for them in the school parking lot. “Think you can manage?”

Benny waved at them nervously. “I’m totally going mess this up.”

“Ben, it’s literally the most straightforward plan on the planet. There’s no way for you to mess it up. Just be your usual funny and charming self, it’s what he loves most about you.” Sarah smiled reassuring. Reaching their friends Benny tried not act anymore strange than his typical self, which was hard when Benny’s go to was being strange. It came with the magic powers and general teenage boy awkwardness. Erica was pushing Rory back onto the ground as he tried to float above her head saying there was something in her hair, there wasn’t, really he just wanted steal her hair pin that he was obsessed with.

“Come on, Erica!” Rory teased picking at the clip.

“Rory, if you don’t stop I’m going drive a stake through your un-dead heart!” She threatened as Ethan laughed before turning his attention to Benny and Sarah.

“Hey, Sarah, Ben.” He smiled sweetly, his eyes glancing at Benny with a sheepish blush. Although the boy in question was too busy freaking out internally to notice. “We still on for movie night?”

“Oh right!” Sarah said suddenly with a false quickness. “I totally forgot that’s tonight. Me and the vamps have some Vampire Council business and such. Y’know, vampires only. Heh.” She lied poorly but Ethan was just a little too slow to catch on.

“We do?” The two other vampires said holding off on their mini fight over a hair clip, Erica holding onto both Rory’s wrists in opposing directions. Erica watched the panic in Sarah and Benny’s eyes that said all she needed to know; ‘please just pay along’ written all over their faces. “Oooh. Yes-yeah. We do. Totally. No humans allowed or they will eat your face off. We’re doing a... vampire... ritual.... Yeah.”

“We do that? Awesome!” Rory said suddenly excited if not a little confused. “Why didn’t they tell me anything? Do you guys have their number or something because if so I feel it’s unfair that I don’t-”

“Rory, not right now.” Erica pulled her hair clip out of Rory’s hand, annoyed. “We should get going. Don’t want be late for the... ritual. Right, Sarah?”

“Right! Yeah, we really need get going. Super speed can only be so quick. Let’s go.” Sarah chuckled, pushing two of her friends away from Ethan and Benny. “We’ll see you later!” The three vamps speeded off, the other two waving them bye. The school parking lot was empty by then, Ethan’s full attention placed fully on Benny who felt the crushing weight of his friend’s eyes on him as he always did when they were alone. It was easy to play off any pining feelings when they hung out, their friendship had always been enough for Benny. Even when he had see Ethan longing after a different person, it was hard sometimes, but Benny could always push down any budding jealously or unsettling sadness. Ethan would always be his friend and now if he was lucky he could put boy in front of friend. The thought making his cheeks warm and his heart fast.

“Soo, movie night?” Ethan asked, they started their walk home only instead Benny had planned to take a subtle left turn towards the park the spell for appearing flowers repeating in his head.

“Actually I was thinking we could, uh, go for a walk... to the park?” Benny flinched with the odd expectation that his friend would suddenly reject him right there and then. “I have something I want show you, I dunno. Is that dumb? I feel dumb.”

“Benny. It’s cool. Come on, I kinda wanted tell you something anyways.” Ethan replied with a smile, his hand close to gracing against the taller boy’s. The near touch drawing them closer to each other, they’ve always gravitated towards one another with a strange pull that was always between them. Benny wondered if Ethan ever felt it, if he could ever see how Benny looked at him with such love and care. Maybe his seer powers let him see it more clearly than Benny felt it, lucky him Ethan still didn’t fully know how mind read yet.

The start of their walk was mostly silent, the longer the quite went for the more Benny’s internal freak out grew into full blown panic. He was seriously reconsidering saying anything at this point. Half way to the park and they hadn’t said a single word to each other, a first for their friendship. Ethan was biting his lower lip clearly lost in deep thought, Benny was too nervous to speak and break into whatever was going through the shorter boy’s head.

“Ben... Benny, heh, uh, I’ve been wanting to say this for awhile and I didn’t know how and I know you’re you know... You.” Ethan started. None of his words were comforting to Benny right now. “Wait-wait. That came out weird. I just wanted say when we came out to each other last summer. I know I acted really weird afterwards and it was totally uncool of me and I know I should’ve said sorry forever ago, but I’m real sorry, Ben. It was lame of me and I only acted like that because there some feelings I didn’t think I was ready to think about and now it’s like my brain is stuck thinking them but I don’t want things weird so, uh, am I making any sense?”

Benny didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, he went with the former and abruptly began to giggle in a almost soft of manic way. The sudden out bust of laugher worried Ethan. “Why are you laughing? Benny, I’m being serious. Come on, dude.”

“Sorry, dude. It’s just, you really scared me there for a second, E. I know it was a weird shift it’s totally fine. I was never mad.” Benny said, his laughter subsiding. Although he took note of the last bit, he didn’t want feel like he was reading too much into it but it couldn’t nothing, right?

They reached the park a few yards off where there was a bench was waiting for them. The lump in Benny’s throat was starting appear and it was getting too late for him to choke and bail on this whole thing. “Let’s go sit on the bench. It’s my turn to ramble and make barely any sense.”

“So nothing new.” Ethan teased. Ben wrapped his arm around Ethan’s neck and ruffled his hair.

“Yeah, yeah. Just sit down, okay?” Benny sat down with a nervous smile and his leg bouncing with a quick uneasy pace. “On the topic of us not being the straightest lightsabers in the bunch. Heh. There’s the dance coming up and I didn’t want go alone and there’s this person I wanted ask-”

“Really?” Ethan butted in with a sad look making something clink in Benny’s head. “That’s... great. What’s he like?”

“Oh you know, he’s really cool and mega smart and like, the biggest dork in the whole world.” Benny was grinning now, biting his lower lip to fight back his nervous joy. Maybe it was petty but if he was understanding right then making Ethan jealous for two minutes would make up for last year’s Sarah obsession.

“Oh. Uh. He sounds really cool. I’m glad you like him so much. So, what’s the plan to ask him out?” Ethan asked, his mood becoming more downcast suddenly. E, you pretty idiot. Well, just a bit of teasing fun wouldn’t hurt.

“Mhm. Yeah, he’s really great. I was thinking of asking him after school, y’know, surprise him with some flowers use a little magic to make sure their his favorite. Like this,” Benny made a quick glance to make sure no one was looking before making a bouquet of flowers appear. It had been the first simple trick that Benny had ever show Ethan. It started as a cheesy way to impress girls now it was becoming a cheesy way to impress his Ethan. The flowers matched the color scheme of Ethan’s favorite Star Wars character, right down to matching the center one with the character’s lightsaber.

Ethan stared at the flowers with a shy sadness. “Oh? Then what? Explain to him vampires are real next? I’m sure that one will go over real great, Bens.”

“Maybe. I think he’d be freaked out at first, probably less than he should be but grow to think it was way kick ass. I think he’d do pretty awesome fighting some bloodsuckers. Bet he looks really hot staking one out. The same way I think he looks really hot when he plays video games and starts losing and sits on my lap-which is totally cheating by the way, but I let it slide because again total cutie. I want ask him to the dance, maybe after we could sneak out and-”

“Jeez, Benny. Stop it, okay. I get it.” Ethan stood up from his seat, covering his ears. “You must really like him. What’s his name?”

“Oh, I dunno it’s something like Ian? Eric? Wait! No, I remember it’s Ethan Morgan the dumbest yet prettiest boy in town. Only second to yours truly.” Benny grinned gaining more of a cool confidence as he saw the way Ethan’s blush grew dark across his face.

“Oh.”

“Yeah ‘oh’ you dope! Who else could I have ever been talking about?! Han Solo?”

“First of all, I don’t know! And second, Han was totally gay for Luke but that’s for a different time.” Ethan said, glancing as an older couple walked past them.

“Wait, were you jealous? Like actually?”

“What! No way, I was not.” Ethan’s blush creeped up to his ears. “And anyways, it was totally not cool of you-”

“Then we’re even. Fair?” Benny leaned closer to Ethan, the flowers disappearing from between them. “Were the flowers too gay?”

Ethan leaned closer and bit his lip. “Bens, I don’t know how break this to you, but you’re like the gayest person in town.”

“Second to you.” He laughed before Ethan closed the gap between their lips catching him off guard. The small doubt that lingered in the back of his mind was put at ease as their lips fit together. “Sorry. I was really hoping I didn’t mess this up.” Benny tried not to giggle.

“Lucky you, your bad gay jokes and charm is what got me hooked on you in the first place.”

“Yeah, guess I am a catch. So... We’re on for the dance?”

“Yeah.” Ethan smiled holding Benny’s hands. “Yeah, Bens. We are.” They grinned at each other, hands clasped together and knees touching.

[squisherific]

Rain Drop Chapter 6

A/N: *yells echoingly into the void* Helloooo therrrre… Man has it been a very long time since I made a tumblr post, let alone wrote any fanfiction. To those who are unaware (which is probably everyone), I had begun a story many years ago about Juvia’s past. It was called Rain Drop, and it has 5 previous chapters up on fanfiction.net

I'm so sorry to those who had liked this story. I both can and can't believe it's been 4 years since I last updated it (and 2 years since I’ve written any fanfiction at all). To be perfectly honest, I didn't think I'd ever continue this story. But something struck me the other day. I reread this fic, and the kind reviews from readers, and I just got the itch to continue, because I really, really miss writing, and I especially missed writing about Gray and Juvia. I can't promise I'm going to end up finishing this, but this is a step in the right direction? This chapter is dedicated to everybody who's ever encouraged me to continue this fic, and to anyone still reading. If there are people still interested in this story, I can not thank you enough for your patience. This is for you. <3

Chapter 6 - A Breezy Visit

Gray felt abnormally aware of his right hand as he made his way through Magnolia, and towards the outskirts of the town. He normally didn't pay this much attention to any particular one of his appendages. He just let them do their thing, and trusted all was well. But on this particular day, his right hand was clutching onto the left hand of Juvia Lockser, and his previous faith in his hand's abilities had all but vanished, resulting in his acute awareness of every bead of sweat currently collecting between his and Juvia's linked palms. It didn't help that he felt like every person they passed on the way to their destination was taking note of their clasp-handed position, and grinning amusedly to themselves as the two mages hurried past.

Why did I grab her hand? I didn't need to do that. She could just follow me to Gildarts' house. I could let go, and carry on as if nothing happened. But would she get upset if I took my hand away? She is holding it pretty firmly, so it would probably be pretty awkward if I just stopped holding her hand back.

These were the thoughts that passed through Gray Fullbuster's mind as he decided he would continue to hold Juvia's hand, not because he enjoyed it - definitely not that- but because he wanted to be emotionally supportive towards his friend, who was going through a rough time right now. Yes, that's why he'd continue to allow his sweaty palm to press up against Juvia's soft grip. He was a very good friend, and that's all there was to it.

"Gray-sama?"

Juvia's voice interrupted Gray's internal dilemma.

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think it's possible Gildarts-san will know something about Juvia's parents?"

"It's worth a shot. That old guy loves to reminisce though, so if we're not careful he might go off on a tangent, and we'll be stuck there until nightfall."

"Juvia won't mind, especially if he did have the answers Juvia has been seeking! Juvia would gladly listen as long as it takes!" she said, excited at the possibility that Gildarts could provide a window into her past at last.

Gray seemed a lot less enthused at that prospect of being stuck in Gildarts' place for hours into the night. But, if it meant keeping Juvia out of harm's way, and preventing her from going off on a hunt for a possibly dangerous Jose Porla instead, he would gladly suffer through Gildarts taking a long, and winding trip down memory lane. He just hoped they weren't walking into a dead end, because Gray had no back up plan to distract Juvia from her desired mission. He had promised Master Makarov he'd keep her safe, and even without that promise, it was something he always strived to do anyway. He could not fail.

They'd reached the far edges of the town, and Gray steered them slightly passed an overgrown forested area, before entering a slight clearing with a cobbled path which led to the S-class mage’s humble cabin. They both took note of the tufts of smoke coming out of the stout chimney, signaling someone was definitely home. They smiled at each other, glad to not have traveled there in vain, and headed towards the door.

Gray knocked a few times and waited.

At first there was no answer, but then a sound of what must have been several pots and pans clattering to the floor reverberated through the open window, before the door burst open.

Standing in the doorway, looking happily expectant, was the auburn-haired, and battled-scarred S- class mage of Fairy Tail. However his expression seemed to falter, and twist into one of polite bemusement at his surprise guests' presence.

"Oh! I thought you two were Cana finally accepting her dad's invitation to a home cooked meal," he said, gesturing inside.

Gray and Juvia peered behind him as the mess that could only be classified as Gildarts' kitchen came into view. He had clearly been attempting to cook, the lit fire within his home waiting patiently for the pot, which he had filled with some mysterious gloopy substance, clearly the subject of Gildarts 'home cooked meal.'

"Nope, we haven't seen Cana today," Gray said, as Gildarts looked hopefully around them, as if Cana was about to pop out of a nearby bush at any moment, to finally fulfill her dad's wish for more bonding time. "It's just us here," Gray assured him.

Gildarts, shaking off his disappointment, finally looked back down at them, giving them both a once over, his eyes lingering on their clasped hands. He grinned.

"You two out on a date?" a playful twinkle in his eye as he observed their flustered reactions.

Gray finally did let go of Juvia's hand at this comment. "No," he said, a little too insistently.

Juvia looked crestfallen.

"Now, now, that's no way to treat a lady, Gray!" He chastised him lightly, as he smoothly brushed past Gray to usher Juvia inside. "Come in,, come in! It's Juvia, isn't it? You're good friends with Cana. I'm sure she won't be too upset if I treat you to a meal in her place. Don't be shy, there's plenty to share. Do you like wine, Juvia?"

Juvia was gently directed inside the warm cabin, a look of bewilderment coloring her features, while Gray had the door slammed in his face, leaving him standing alone outside.

That perverted old fart, Gray thought angrily. He lingered there annoyed for at least a couple of minutes, hoping one of the two would remember he was still there, before knocking on the closed door again, this time much more aggressively than when he had first arrived.

Gildarts reappeared. "Can I help you?" he asked, as if this were the first time he had met Gray, and as if Gray hadn't arrived with Juvia only a few minutes ago.

Speaking of Juvia, Gray could now see she was sitting down with a cup of tea in her hand, likely having refused the wine offer from Gildarts.

Gray ignored him, and irritatedly walked passed Gildarts into the house to join Juvia.

"How rude," Gildarts muttered none too silently to himself, as Gray pulled up a chair next to Juvia, sitting down, arms crossed and scowling.

Closing the door behind him, Gildarts sat down to join them. Apparently after he had guided Juvia inside, he had put the pot filled with the mysterious substance onto the fire, and it was now bubbling away behind them.

"So," Gildarts said after a moment. "What can I do for you. Want some love advice? I've got lots of tips," his eyebrows raised suggestively.

"Stop messing around!" Gray spat, his face reddening. "This is serious, old man! Juvia is here to ask you about her parents!"

"Her parents…" Gidarts said, sobering… He gave Juvia a thorough appraisal, and seemed to go into concentrated revelry. "Oh man, were there any blue-haired ladies…."

"NOT YOU," Gray said quickly.

Juvia blushed.

"Juvia is just trying to find information about her parents. She doesn't remember who they were. Gramps clearly seems to have known them, but he won't tell Juvia anything, so we were wondering if maybe you had met them before, and could tell her something about them, " Gray explained.

Gildarts relaxed, leaning back in his chair. "I was going to say, imagine having two daughters who both happened to end up in the same guild I was a part of. What would be the odds, right?" Gildarts laughed, but then got suddenly serious again, as his eyes fell back on Juvia. He studied her, as she looked back self-consciously.

"You know, come to think of it, you do remind me of someone," he said.

"Juvia does?" she asked, a pang of hope in her heart.

"Where are you from originally?"

"Juvia isn't sure. She was left in an orphanage in Hargeon. The most information the people running the orphanage could tell her, was that an old woman had dropped Juvia off there when Juvia was one-years old, but Juvia never did find the identity of the old woman. She doesn't know if she was a relation, or not."

Gildarts seemed to contemplate this information. "Your last name is Lockser?"

Juvia nodded.

"Hmmmm, well I can tell you I don't know anybody with that name. But you do bear a striking resemblance to an old friend of mine."

Gray didn't like the way Gildarts emphasized the word friend. "Who was this friend?"

"A former member of the magic council. She was a gorgeous girl, dark hair, piercing eyes, really feisty," he said, as his eyes glazed over, clearly having traveled back into some kind of indecent memory.

Gray and Juvia were discomfited.

"Oii! We're still here you know," Gray jolted him out of his reverie.

"Relax," he said, catching a look at their expressions. "It wasn't that type of relationship," he assured them, sighing in a good natured, but dejected sort of way. "Not for lack of trying, of course. She was my friend's girl."

"Your friend?"

"Benny. Benjamin 'Fluid' Dackser," he replied, as he grabbed the bottle of wine he had offered Juvia earlier, and took a sip.

"Fluid?"

"He was a water mage."

Juvia's eyes widened at this information.

"Water?!"

"Yeah. So that was his nickname. Ol' Benny Flu Dackser," a sad smile crossed Gildarts' face. "Man, he was such a pain in the ass," he chuckled. "It's pretty pointless crashing apart water, you know? It just comes right back together again."

"He could turn into water? Like Juvia does?!"

"Yup, it was his specialty. Not a good match for me, as he couldn't help to remind me every time we had a friendly fight. And we were both always trying to impress Sylvi. He won her in the end, that bastard. Ah, we were so young then. Not even twenty."

"Sylvi?" Gray asked.

"Sylvia Loten. A talented ice mage."

It was Gray's turn for his eyes to widen. "Ice?"

"Not on quite the same level as your old master Ur, I'm sure, but really talented all the same. I might not have been able to do much against Benny, but she was more than a match for him. It was great watching that cocky, lovestruck fool get beaten down by her. But she must have liked his persistent approach, because they ended up married."

"Benjamin-san and Sylvia-san…" Juvia mused to herself "did they have any children?"

"I lost touch with them both after they went into politics. They never joined a guild either, as far as I know. Like I said, Sylvi was a council member, and so was Benny - youngest council members ever at that point. It all happened while I was out on a major quest. By the time I came back, years had passed, and Benny and Sylvi had…" he trailed off somberly.

"They died?" Juvia concluded, her face stricken.

"Yeah."

"How?" Gray asked, almost afraid of the answer as he looked over at Juvia.

"Supposedly drowned," he said flatly.

"Drowned?! No way!"

Juvia agreed emphatically with Gray. "Benjamin-san was a water mage, how could he have drowned?"

"Just because you specialize in a type of magic doesn't mean you are immune to it's dangers," he explained, his mood had darkened considerably, the wine bottle's contents now severely depleted as he went on. "But again, that's just what I heard. Their bodies were found off the coast of Akane beach."

"Was the drowning an accident, or…" Gray trailed off.

"I don't know. But let's put it this way, I doubt they suffered a boating incident, and they couldn't save themselves. Doesn't make sense. Not for those two," Gildarts admitted.

"Terrible," was all Juvia could think to say as the three let a silence fall within the messy cabin, the only sound being the bubbling contents of the copper pot in the fireplace.

Juvia couldn't believe there had been another water mage. She'd never met anyone else who could use water magic other than herself. And she had been able to use it for as long as she could remember. It wasn't something she had studied to learn, which is usually the case for mages. People aren't born knowing magic. But for whatever reason, Juvia could instinctively control water, and as used to be the case, there were things she couldn't control about it as well - that constant rain that plagued her for so long. Water had literally been tied into her emotions - her very being - whether she liked it or not. It was a rare ability. A rare magic.

And yet this Benjamin Dackser was also a water mage. And he died. She couldn't imagine this skilled water mage, someone who could best Gildarts, could be drowned - and his talented ice mage wife as well. How? Why? Juvia had so many questions. The greatest of all being, could these two people have been her parents?

"Gildarts-san?" Juvia began, breaking the silence. "You said I remind you of Sylvia-san?"

"Yeah…" he said, studying her again, "the more I look at you, the more I think you look just like her. Same eyes, same pale skin, you even act a little like her. She was real regal, you know? You are very similar. Except for the hair. Her's was a very dark grey, almost black," he recalled, his voice a little slurred from the wine he had been using to dull the pain of his somber recollections.

"What color was this Benny guy's hair?" Gray asked.

Gildarts simply pointed to Juvia's hair in response.

Juvia's heart skipped a beat.

"You think they were Juvia's parents?" Gray came right out and asked what they were all currently wondering.

The question hung heavy in the air.

Juvia's fists clenched in anxiety.

Gildarts looked from Gray to Juvia, a pained expression on his face. He shook his head. "I never heard anything about them having a kid… but, there's a lot I don't know. I was gone for so long. I would think people who were on the council with them would know a lot more about anything like that. I knew them best when we were all still just a bunch of brats."

"How long were they on the council?"

"Not long. A few years, I think. And that was nearly 30 years ago now."

"Who do we know on the magic council who would talk to us?" Gray pondered. "None of them have ever exactly been the biggest fans of Fairy Tail. Plus, so many of them who might have been on the council with Benjamin and Sylvia are now…." Gray's thoughts wandered to the mass murder at the hands of the Tartarus members.

Another heavy silence fell.

"Yajima-san?" Juvia said tentatively, recalling the tiny man who ran the 8-island restaurant she once waitressed at with some of the other Fairy Tail ladies.

"Oh yeah, Gramp's friend. He's ancient, and he was on the council for ages," Gray recalled hopefully. "We could take a trip out to his restaurant in Hargeon and ask him if he knows anything more about these two."

"Let's do so," Juvia agree immediately, so grateful that Gray had suggested they go to Hargeon. This meant he intended to continue to accompany her on this quest of hers. Her heart was so burdened at the thought of possibly finding out who her parents were, only to be left with more devastating questions about their awful fate, and how she might tie into it. So, Gray's companionship served to lift that weight considerably.

"Thank you so much, Gildarts-san. You've been such a great help. Your information was truly invaluable," she said in earnest, getting up from her chair and heading towards the door. Gray followed closely behind.

"Wait! You sure you guys don't want to stay and eat? The stew is almost ready!" he pointed back towards the now overflowing muck bubbling out of his copper pot.

"That's very kind of you, Gildarts-san," Juvia eyed the stew in trepidation, "but we really have much to do if we are going to be leaving for Hargeon soon. But thank you for your hospitality, and the tea!" she added, leaving the warmly lit cabin behind her. The sun was setting as she stepped out into the clear air.

Gray was about to join her when Gildarts caught a hold of his arm and pulled him back.

"Hey!" Gray said, alarmed as Gildarts leaned close to him, his grip vice-like.

"Listen," Gildarts said, his tone uncharacteristically dire, "if Gramps didn't want to tell Juvia anything about her parents, then he likely had a damn good reason for it, and that reason was probably that he thinks there's danger involved. And if Gramps thinks looking for information on her parents is dangerous, then it probably is. I've only heard conspiracy theories about Benny and Sylvi's deaths, but if even one of them is true, Juvia could be headed into some serious trouble. I feel for her, I do. But if Benny and Sylvi were her parents, then there's nothing left to find."

Gray considered Gildarts words of warning. He looked towards Juvia, who was waiting patiently at the end of the cobbled path for him to join her. He again thought back to that night at the guild, and how hurt she was at never having known her family. "Juvia has a right to know the truth. If I can help her find at least that, then I'm going to do so," Gray said firmly. "And if there's danger, I'll protect her no matter what."

A/N: When rereading the previous chapters of this, I honestly didn't think I could continue the story no matter how much I wanted to. I genuinely didn't remember where I was going with the plot since it had been so long. But, thank goodness I had notes for future chapters saved. ;_; Otherwise this chapter would not exist right now. Anyway, if anyone is still reading, please do let me know with a review. But if everyone has abandoned this story, as I once did, then at least I can say I enjoyed writing this again. ^_^

[boompowkablam]

My Favorite Fics Rec List

Supernatural List

Defy Any and All Expectation    by @tenoko1

Chuck's newly released books tell of another war between Heaven and Hell. Team Free Will sets out to try to defy prophecy, only to realize there is a lot more at stake and amiss than the not-quite-accurate words of one Prophet of the Lord.

Along the way, Dean and Cas' relationship continues to evolve into something neither expected or were prepared for, all of their lives transforming in ways no one could have expected.

But with no shortage of cases, monsters, and mayhem, it's going to require the help of new friends and old enemies if they're to have a hope of saving the world one more time.

Alternate Season Six.

I have read this a thousand times it will always be my all time favorite story. Pairing Dean/Castiel, Sarah Blake/ Sam, Lisa Braeden/ Dean, Lucifer/Sam, Becky Rosen/Samandriel . Word:137,688

Ordained by @tenoko1

There’s one born to every generation. Joan of Arc was the first Ordained. The first of the archangel Michael's Chosen bloodline to protect humanity from Hell and monsters during a time when Earth faced unprecedented threat. Fast forward to present. Dean is the current Ordained, complete with costume change and masked allies. Mostly? They're like regular supernatural hunters who spend their nights going after whatever tries to munch on the student populace, and occasionally taking on petty crime to help out the cops. Okay, so maybe juggling double-lives, college, and romance is easier on TV, by a lot, but Dean's determined to have some semblance of a normal life while they can.

Then demons and angels start showing up and it’s up to the masked warriors to stop Hell from literally being unleashed on Earth. This was NOT part of the plan.

She is actually re-writing this story right now. It is going to be longer with more characters and i am so pumped! Pairing Dean/Castiel, Sarah Blake/ Sam, Charlie/Gilda , One sided Sam/Lucifer.  Word:46,182

The Fourth Wall Series By Entanglednow

It's all Sam's fault, really. It had just been research. Then it got way out of hand. Or, in which, fanfiction takes over their lives for better and for worse.

This has to be to me one of the funniest stories ever. I love it.Pairing Dean/Castiel, Sam/Lucifer

Due Cause by  FortinbrasFTW                                      

"This wasn't right. Things like this didn't happen to people. First days were full of training documents and get-to-know-you chats and friendly talks with pleasant secretaries, not super-lawyers in disguise with molesting eye contact assaulting you in elevators. This really really wasn't how this was supposed to go... Maybe it wasn't how it was going. Maybe none of it was really happening to him and in a few minutes they would leave the room and all of this would go away and he'd have his normal, average first day exactly the way he'd wanted it."Sam gets his first job at the law firm of his dreams, which just happens to be the workplace of his law-school idol, who in real life is a good deal more cynical and a great deal more creepy than he might have imagined. Also: Cas runs a snack cart. Also: Dean helps.

Its like the lawyer version of supernatural with less death and more coffee. Pairing Sam/Lucifer, Dean/Castiel, Lilith/Lucifer, Crowley/Gabriel Word:93,407

How I Spent My Summer Vacation (And Other Myths)  by @scarletjedi

For the summer after Junior year, Puck and Kurt are sent to Sioux Falls, Puck to his mother's cousin, Sheriff Mills, as punishment for his stint in Juvie in hopes that she will "set him straight," and Kurt to escape the Hockey Team's violence and to learn to Hunt like his mother from his Uncle Bobby. They meet at Singer Salvage, where they're both surprised, yet very pleased, to find a familiar face. A few days later a black impala drives up with two bloody Winchesters and an injured Angel. Then all Hell breaks loose....

This was a fun story to read and a good crossover.Glee/supernatural.Pairing Dean/Castiel, Sam/Gabriel, Kurt/Noah. Word:55,221

Hear Both Sides    by Meh_forget_it

When Sam went to Stanford, he expected to go to classes, probably get a job and possibly miss Dean and be lonely. He didn’t expect to meet Loki and Crowley.

At least he wasn’t lonely.

This is a monster of a fic but its awesome! If you get into it around bedtime don’t expect to sleep. Paring Gabe/Crowley/Sam. Word:118,022

Sleep With A Gun by HollowIsTheWorld

Castiel Novak has been hunting for four years. His little brother, Samandriel, has been with him for half that time. When a job causes them to cross paths with the infamous Winchester brothers and their pet vampire, Samandriel is wary of them and wants to skip town while they can. Castiel, on the other hand, isn’t sure he wants to write them off so quickly.

Samandriel is a sassy emo kid in this and it is my most favorite thing in the whole world. Paring Samandriel/Benny , Dean/Castiel , Gabriel/ Sam. Word:88,634

The Laundromat 'Verse by @ozonecologne

Dean runs a laundromat. The punk kids come to him for all their clothing repair needs.That includes their bad boy ringleader, Castiel. A collection of ficlets.

Ive read this through a couple times now and  i still  love it. Pairing Castiel/Dean. Word:57,557

Where Are We Going From Here  by River_of_Dreams

It starts with a nightmare and an unexpected compliment. It doesn't end there. Lucifer and Michael walk the Earth again, except that this time they don't have an Apocalypse to focus on. Idle hands are the Devil's workshop, they say. What happens when those idle hands belong to the Devil himself?

This ending up being another never sleep story. Like i didnt sleep till i was done reading. Paring Sam/Lucifer.  Word:112,633

How the Other Side Lives by @tenoko1

Maybe God doesn’t always answer prayers, and maybe the Apocalypse nearly happening without him stepping into stop it had been really bad, but it’s becoming clear that things always work out, even if they don’t work out the way you wanted or expected them to, they work out the way you NEEDED.

Tenoko1 has a way that she writes characters where you fall in love with them. I love Becky in this story.  Background pairing Dean/Castiel . Word:22,442

  How To Fall   By FortinbrasFTW

 '“I’ve been falling for some time, through darkness, and pain, and fire. And then I saw you, shining through the shadows, and I knew you would catch me one day. But you didn’t, I fell right past you, further than I ever imagined I could, and now I wonder if I’ve finally hit the ground.”'

When a spell goes wrong Sam ends up stranded in the north Canadian wilderness with nothing to do but bunker down and wait for rescue, which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the broken angel he's accidentally brought along for the ride.

This was so good. Pairing Sam/Lucifer. Word:41,425. Podfic by Shmaylor

An Exercise In 'Worthless'  By Beastofthesky

 "I mean, you’re–” He gestures at Cas, in his neat oxford shirt and nice pants. “–and I’m a high school dropout who tattoos for a living.”

Wherein Dean makes a hefty living as a tattoo artist who owns the space next to Gabriel's cafe. Sam attends the local university. When Gabe's cousin comes to live with him while starting grad school at Sam's university, Dean thinks for sure that all his negative karma's coming to bite him in the ass because Cas clearly has a thing for Sam. No one would ever choose him over Sam. That's just logic.

This is great you will get your dose of angst. I shouldnt say that i dont want to put you off its a good story. I might be over dramatic. Pairing: Castiel/Dean , Sam/Gabriel. Word:26,547.  Podfic by skyunicorn

Thats the list it was going to be longer but I got frustrated and kind of messed it up twice before I got it right.... I mean it might be right lol. If a link sends you to the wrong place please tell me because that was one of the problems I had. I’m not made for tumblr. Also check out the authors other works because they are all great these are just my favorite. Some of these also have podfics if thats something you are into. Oppisum does the podfic for due cause if you have trouble finding that one hit me up i did too.

[they-thember]

In Which Mr. Krupp’s Secret Superpowers Aren’t Quite So Secret

( @guiltyhipster and @thatanimationgirl because we’re writing and tagging friends!!) hey y’all remember when I said I wrote CU fanfiction like five months ago. uh. here it is!! I mostly wrote it as a self-indulgent thing because I had no clue there would actually like…be a fandom!! So it’s not my best work lol I just wanted to get my ideas out on paper. 

In this, our favorite terrible principal comes down with a cold, and it turns out that Captain Underpants’ powers begin to leak through while he’s in this miserable state…I am a sad writer’s soul and I would totally love comments if you wanted to give them but totally don’t feel obligated yo!! (ALSO I wrote this when I knew that Miss Anthrope would be Mr. Krupp’s love interest, but I DIDN’T know that she was the lunch lady now so like…she’s the secretary in this lmao)

George and Harold were terribly bright children who just happened to also be terribly, terribly naughty. They never caused any harm, of course, unless one would think that placing ketchup packets beneath toilet seats, replacing the American flag in their classroom with a pair of XXL underwear, and rearranging the letters on the lunchroom bulletin board so it would read “FRIDAY’S LUNCH WILL BE: SWEATY BRAS”, was harmful.

And Principal Krupp definitely considered all those things harmful….

And thus, George and Harold found themselves in detention quite frequently. You would think that he would show a little bit of gratitude to George and Harold for keeping his miserable life interesting. And also, of course, for continuously assisting Mr. Krupp in saving the world.

Though, they couldn’t exactly expect his thanks for that last bit. Mainly because Mr. Krupp didn’t know about it.

“Do you ever think that things might go a bit easier for us if we told Mr. Krupp that he’s Captain Underpants?” Harold asked one cloudy afternoon in after-school detention as he doodled in his sketch book, completely ignoring the pages of math homework in the corner of his desk.

George rose an eyebrow, not even looking up from the story ideas he was jotting down on the page where his English essay ought to be. “So he can expel us for hypnotizing him into believing he’s a superhero?”

“…Okay, yeah, not the best idea.”

“Not the best idea,” George agreed with a teasing grin, giving his best friend’s shoulder a harmless shove. “Besides, he’d use his powers to fly up to our treehouse and make sure we’re doing our homework.”

Harold couldn’t help a snort of laughter. “And he’d use his super strength to sit on us!”

“And use his super vision to peek into Miss Anthrope’s bedroom window!” George added, and the boys were soon giggling madly, hands clamped over their mouths.

“And he would use his authority as the principal to give you brats another two days of detention!”

Harold and George paled and slowly turned to find Mr. Krupp glowering at them from the detention room doorway, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl etched into his face (which was usually just as unpleasant to begin with). The boys shared a horrified look, wondering exactly how much of the conversation their principal had overheard. He couldn’t have heard them mentioning his status as Piqua, Ohio’s local superhero?

Clearly not. He would be far angrier than this. This here was Mr. Krupp’s usual ‘angry’ setting—perhaps the most overused emotion he had, but nevertheless, it was better than the blind rage that the boys knew would come about if he had overheard the beginning of that conversation.

Mr. Krupp stormed into the room, snatching up Harold’s sketch book before the fourth-grader could protect it. He grumbled to himself as he ripped out the newest page, and Harold clutched at the metaphorical rip in his own heart. “I suppose you boys are making your ridiculous comics rather than doing your homework?”

“Th-This is our homework!” George lied quickly before Mr. Krupp could reach for his own notebook of story ideas.

“Is it, now?” their principal snorted in disbelief. “For which class, then?”

“Art!” Harold exclaimed at the same time that George said “English!”

“Ha!” Mr. Krupp snickered, jabbing a finger in Harold’s horrified face. “Art! As if we would offer that here! You miserable little hobgoblins are creative enough as it is! Now, I’m going to take this sketch book of yours and lock it up in my desk until—”

“Benny?” came the nasally voice of the school secretary over the PA system in the classroom. “You’re still in Room 201, aren’t you?”

Mr. Krupp flushed and cleared his throat. “Yes, Miss Anthrope, and the brats in detention are, too!” he called up to the receiver.

“Oh! Well, excuse me, sir—” The way his obvious love interest called him ‘sir’ had George and Harold shuddering, their faces scrunched in disgust. “–But there’s a…bit of a situation.”

“Can’t it wait?” Mr. Krupp growled, still glaring daggers to George and Harold. 

“Well….you see, there’s a flaming giant robot from space heading for the school! It just ate the gym teacher!”

Mr. Krupp’s toupee nearly tumbled off his head as he scrambled out the classroom door. “WHAT!? His family will sue us for sure! We’ll never get those holiday bonuses!” And with that, he was gone, footsteps thundering down the hall as he rushed to avoid this lawsuit.

George and Harold exchanged a wary look before pouncing out of their chairs. “Oh no!” Harold cried, running faster than he ever had in gym class. The boys bolted down the hallway in search of their principal, knowing that the school–and perhaps the world–needed Captain Underpants far more than it did Mr. Krupp.  

“Here we go again!” George’s voice echoed down the hall, followed by an exclamation from their principal (“Hey! Just because the school is under attack doesn’t mean you get to leave detention, bubs!”) and a loud snap of Harold’s fingers.

~~

As far as adventures went….this one was a bit dull.

Captain Underpants was more than ready to take on the flaming robot from outer space, of course. Once Harold snapped his fingers, the sound turned Mr. Krupp into his cheery alter ego, as per usual, and the hero was flying out the door in seconds. Fortunately, the dark clouds rumbling overhead chose that time to unleash a downpour. The flaming robot, clearly, was not expecting rain in Earth’s forecast so soon after arriving to wreak havoc. It promptly collapsed, the flames extinguishing in seconds. Captain Underpants grinned victoriously, hands placed on his hips in triumph. This only lasted momentarily before the rain had the hero’s head completely soaked. Only a minor setback for most heroes, perhaps, but Captain Underpants was much like the damaged robot from space in that water was his only weakness. In seconds, Captain Underpants was Mr. Krupp once more. The school principal barely had time to blink in surprise at being up so high before he was, unfortunately, plummeting back to earth, screaming in horror all the while.

Even more unfortunate was the gym teacher hurrying out of the robot’s broken chest plate, obviously unharmed. George and Harold would have expressed more disappointment if they weren’t screaming and scrambling with their arms outstretched, more than prepared to try to save their principal. Despite their small size and naughty tendencies, George and Harold really were very warm-hearted children, if not a bit slow to realize that trying to catch the plummeting man would only result in massive injury for them.

Thankfully, Mr. Krupp landed in the massive oak tree outside of the school. George and Harold skid to a stop and sighed in relief while their principal screamed and swore from the branches of the tree that had him tangled. They could have just left– after all, he was still alive, wasn’t he?— but the fourth graders couldn’t bring themselves to do so.

“You alright, Mr. Krupp?” George called, hands cupped around his mouth.

“What would POSSIBLY make you think that I’m ALRIGHT!?” he growled from the tangle of tree branches. The principal was still in nothing but his underwear and cape, shivering irritably as the leaves did little in protecting him from the rain. “Now get back to detention, like I ORDERED YOU TO!”

“Fine…” Harold frowned, fists balled at his sides as he started back into the school with George. “You know, if he was nicer, I would probably tell him that he can just fly down. But he can figure out how to get down on his own…Maybe Miss Anthrope will have to call the fire department to get him down like a cat.”

“I sure feel bad for the firemen…” George shuddered. “Let’s just go home, since Mr. Krupp’s not here to make sure we stay in detention….”

Harold grinned and hurried down the hallway to their locker. “Yeah! My mom’s making grilled cheese. We can take them up to the treehouse and watch a movie!”

“But, wait!” George frowned. “Shouldn’t we do our homework first?”

The boys stared at each other before bursting into laughter. They grabbed their backpacks and umbrella before starting out the door. And with that, they forgot about their angry principal screaming from the top of the oak, and they forgot about the (unfortunately) alive gym teacher, and they forgot about the robot rusting in the rain. In fact, they didn’t think twice about their nearly-exciting adventure until the next day when they were walking to school.

“That’s….weird,” George noted with a cocked eyebrow as they walked past Mr. Krupp’s house. The irritable man had a strangely pleasant garden, and at the edge of the yard was his mailbox, bent awkwardly to one side.

“So, someone hit it with a bat. I’d probably do that, too, if he wouldn’t suspect us right away,” Harold shrugged, before quirking his head when he got a good look at Mr. Krupp’s front door. It was shut, but angled a bit oddly at the doorknob. Like somebody had yanked on the door to a dollhouse and it bent. “Maybe this was all…the storm?”

“There was only just a bit of rain yesterday….” George frowned. They reached the school, noting dozens of children playing on the massive empty corpse of the robot. Of course the school wouldn’t remove it. That cost money that could have been going to terrible field trips and massages for the teachers. 

The boys turned the corner, approaching the parking lot of their school. Thoughts of bent mailboxes and crooked doors fled their minds with ease as they hurried for the playground, only slowing when they saw Mr. Krupp emerge from his car. “Well, I guess he got down from that tree at some point….” Harold murmured to George.

“He looks kind of…awful,” George decided on after a moment, his brow knit with concern.

“Uh, yeah, and you say that as if he’s not awful every day of our lives.”

Mr. Krupp grumbled to himself as he rose from the driver’s seat of the car, stalling as he held onto the top of the door. His irritated expression softened, only for his brows to knit together a moment later. He rose a curled knuckle to his nose while the other hand began to close the car door. “GhiihhHHH–! ShHEEUUHH!!”

George and Harold were barely able to choke back twin screams when the car door seemed to be sucked into the side of the vehicle with the force of Mr. Krupp’s slam. It looked like another car had crashed into it, for how battered it was now. Meanwhile, the window of the neighboring car promptly cracked with a spiderweb break with Mr. Krupp’s fierce expulsion.

The principal blinked dazedly, not noticing the damage around him as his sights locked on George and Harold. His pudgy nose crinkled with a sniffle before he scowled. “And what do you think you two are staring at!?” he snarled, turning to storm into the school without a second glance.

“….George,” Harold croaked after a moment, staring at the aftermath before them. “Did you just see—”

“Yeah. Yeah, man, I saw it…” George murmured, swallowing as panic raced through his mind.

“Mr. Krupp–”

“Yeah.”

“He must have caught a—”

“Uh-huh.”

“And his powers–?”

“I know!”

“The door and the mailbox–?”

“Probably!”

“What can we–?”

“I don’t know!” George exclaimed, clutching his best friend by the shoulders. “I didn’t think he could use his powers when he’s not Captain Underpants! H-He doesn’t KNOW he has powers!”

“Well, I-I guess sneezing isn’t exactly something he can control….” Harold shrugged, running a hand nervously through his mess of blonde hair. “So his powers must not be controllable when he’s Mr. Krupp, either…”

George groaned and hurried for the school along with Harold. “So are we just going to be chasing him around like we were before he got powers? Make sure he doesn’t kill himself?”

“HihhHHH–!” they heard from down the empty hallway.

“Or anyone else,” Harold swallowed, skidding to a stop outside of the admissions office.

“IGGHSEEUUUHH!!”

Not hearing any alarming sounds following that sneeze, George and Harold peeked into the office. Miss Anthrope sat at her desk, fanning her face as Mr. Krupp trudged into his office. Her glasses were gone, and her hair resembled a mess of wind-blown leaves. “Gesundheit, Benny…” she said dazedly, blinking in surprise. “Wh-Why don’t I get you some tissues?”

“I’m fine…” Mr. Krupp grumbled as he thoroughly scrubbed the underside of his itching, reddening nose. His nostrils flared ticklishly, and George and Harold tensed in preparation. They watched cautiously as Mr. Krupp’s breath snagged unevenly, but the need to sneeze soon evaded him, and he released a shaky sigh. “Ughh…” he grumbled as he rubbed his nose once more, clearly not making the connection that the movement would just tickle him further. 

“It sounds like you have a cold! Maybe I ought to warm you up after school…”

George and Harold shuddered and slipped back out fully into the hallway. “I mean, at least it’s not earth-shattering every time…” George tried to lighten the situation.

“Uh, yeah, but it could also be WORSE than earth-shattering…” Harold noted.

George nodded as the first bell of the day rang. They boys hurried off to class, backpacks clutched in their hands. “We just have to keep an eye on him! That’ll be easy enough!”

It was far from easy, really.

~~

“Hey! Pay attention!” Melvin Sneedly hissed to George and Harold, giving the both of them a poke with his pencil.

“Melvin! Shut up!” Harold huffed, snatching the pencil from Melvin as he and George continued to peer into the hallway, eyes trained on the admissions office.

“This will be on a test!”

“Then you better pay attention!” George said with a roll of his eyes, and he and Harold immediately jumped when a booming sneeze from Mr. Krupp echoed down the hallway. The two boys tensed and listened. They waited a moment before sighing with relief. Maybe nothing happened?

An instant later, shouts were heard from the hall as the water fountain in the office had, mysteriously, been dislocated from the wall.

“You’re up to something…” their nerdy nemesis growled, adjusting his glasses in a menacing way that only Melvin could achieve.

“Melvin!” Miss Ribble hummed pleasantly, giving his desk a tap with her ruler. “Pay attention, dear, or you won’t get cookies after class!”

“But– they were–!” Melvin hurried to explain, jabbing his finger at George and Harold.

“He’s distracting us, Miss Ribble!” George said, blinking innocently up to their teacher.

“We’re just trying to concentrate,” Harold added, though he couldn’t exactly say what they were supposed to be concentrating on.

“They’re lying!” Melvin exclaimed shrilly, face going red with frustration as he clenched his tiny fists. “They weren’t paying attention. THEY were distracting ME!”

“Well! We can’t have George and Harold being a distraction, again, now can we?”

The best friends stiffened nervously while Melvin grinned ear to ear. The three of them turned to find Mr. Krupp glowering in the doorway, just as he had found George and Harold the day before. Their principal had dark rings beneath his eyes, and his reddened, cold-ridden nose just looked ready to wreak further havoc. “You two! In my office, now!” he barked hoarsely. 

George and Harold exchanged a fearful look. Normally they would be defending their stance in regards to Melvin being the jerk out of all of them, but the two friends seemed to have the same idea as they rose, following after Mr. Krupp. They ignored Melvin’s snickering, simply following silently behind their principal.

“Can’t seem to go a day without misbehaving, hmm?” Mr. Krupp grunted hoarsely before stopping in his tracks.

George and Harold bumped into his back, stumbling once they realized he wasn’t moving. Mr. Krupp brought his nose into the crook of his elbow, taking in a shuddering gasp of breath. “HIhh–!! HIhh–HIhhHHH….”

“Oh, no!” Harold squeaked, clutching George’s arm.

“Oh, no!” George gasped as well, though his eyes were trained on the ground.  Mr. Krupp slowly began to rise from the floor, unaware of his added height as he struggled with the impending sneeze. He floated steadily upward, chest shuddering with more and more hitching breaths as he went, hovering just as Captain Underpants might.

To make matters worse, the bell rang to dismiss the students to their next class.

At once, George and Harold grabbed the legs of Mr. Krupp’s pants and pulled. The man’s powers clearly were no match for the kids, as nothing happened other than Mr. Krupp’s trousers coming down with George and Harold’s pulling. The boys gasped and gave one more yank, this time to Mr. Krupp’s ankles.With that pull, they brought him back to the floor, sending him sprawling down and resulting in a slight tremor beneath their feet. As the students filtered out of their classrooms, they stopped to stare at their principal tumbling to the floor with his pants around his ankles, though thankfully, they didn’t seem to notice his previous floating.

And, as children do, they laughed.

“HuuRRGGSHEOOOHH!!” Mr. Krupp sneezed fiercely down towards his chest, hardly concerned with using his elbow again. His brow knit immediately after, upper lip pulling into a snarl with the need to sneeze again.  “HiiiHHH–!! GHIIsHhhhEEOOOHH!!”

George and Harold looked frantically around at their laughing classmates, trying to determine if anything super-powered and destructive had resulted from those two sneezes. Perhaps the floating itself had been the dose of energy allocated to those releases, as everything else around them seemed fine.

Then they saw Melvin. The genius had his eyes narrowed as he watched Harold and George. He had been the only one not laughing at Mr. Krupp’s pantless tumble. He looked suspicious with an eager tilt to his scowl, knowing that there was something afoot that he could expose.

George and Harold couldn’t think about Melvin right now. There were more important things at hand. 

Mr. Krupp rose slowly from the floor, however, his eyes filled to the brim with unbridled rage. He stared coldly at George and Harold as he silently pulled his trousers up, adjusting the belt. “My. Office,” he growled, sending the children in the hallway quiet with the eerie, tight fury in his voice. “Now.”

George and Harold forgot about watching him to be sure that he didn’t have to sneeze. They scrambled into the admissions office, and into Mr. Krupp’s from there, feeling like bugs being chased by a starved bird. They took their usual seats, eyes locked nervously on the “KNEEL HERE” sign on the front of the desk.

“We’re dead,” Harold croaked, seeing his tiny life flashing before his eyes. “He didn’t even yell! George, he’s REALLY mad! He’ll murder us!”

“I don’t think he feels well enough to murder us…” George tried to reason, but he was definitely terrified as well.

“Ohhh, you don’t look well, Benny….” Miss Anthrope said in a cooing voice once Mr. Krupp came back into the admissions office. “You should go home…”

While George and Harold gagged silently at the affection that the two nasty adults had for each other, they couldn’t help but silently beg Mr. Krupp to listen to the secretary. That would make their jobs so much easier if Mr. Krupp just wound up destroying his own house, where nobody could witness his super-powered sickness. Unless Miss Anthrope paid him a visit later. The boys both shuddered as they had this thought at the same time.

“I can’t go home, Edith….” Mr. Krupp murmured, rubbing irritably beneath his nose. His angry expression softened only slightly when she placed her hand on his forearm. “We have that damn assembly at 10…”

George and Harold didn’t even blink at hearing their principal swear. They both clutched their faces and stared at each other in horror, thinking about the entire school filing into the gym for the assembly. Everyone in the school staring at Mr. Krupp and his sickly, super-powered self.

“George,” Harold gasped, face drained of all color. “What are we supposed to do!?”

“I-I don’t know–But we have to do…something!” George shook his head, refusing to think of what would happen if the whole school paid witness to something similar to what happened in the hallway. Who wouldn’t be completely horrified at seeing their principal start to float, or break something with the force of his sneeze?

“How, though!?” Harold groaned, struggling to keep his voice low. “We can’t keep this up!”

“This is what we get for hypnotizing him! And now we’re the only ones who….” George trailed off before sighing deeply, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin. “…I was going to say, we’re the only ones who know about….his powers…but….”

Harold gulped and shook his head. “No.”

“Harold—”

“No! We’re not doing that!”

“We have to!” George said in a tight, shushing voice. “We need someone who knows how to…deal with this sort of thing.”

“But–! He’ll tell!”

“Not if we offer him something that he can’t refuse….” George said before sighing again, looking far more exhausted than a fourth-grader should. “….We have to ask Melvin for help.”

[lildashofsweetness]

A Kind Gesture - Benny x Reader

Author’s Note: I know it has been a very long time since I have written anything. The year has been long and difficult, and my inspiration severely lacked. I took advantage of it when it suddenly sprang forth and wrote this Benny fic for ya’ll. I have a lot of goodies coming up, so keep an eye out!

Summary: After a long hunt, the reader returns home to find her favorite vampire in bad shape.

Word Count: 3252. I’m not even sorry.

Warnings: Fluff. So much FLUFF. It’s so fluffy you are gonna die. (I hope not. Please don’t.)

Tagging: @rowdyhooliganism @kazchester-fanfiction @bkwrm523 @beriala @devsfan55 @vintagevalentinexx @witty-ass-username-here @oriona75 @kittenofdoomage @icecream-and-gadreel @sarkina @ariannalikescake

Sliding sluggishly in the driver’s seat, you dropped your head back against the headrest. You let out a quiet sigh and wiped the sweat from your forehead, staring lazily at the small farmhouse in front of you where you had just spent the entire afternoon in a stake out. When you had heard of suspicious monster activity two states away with the victims being left with their throats ripped open and their blood completely drained from their bodies, you immediately snagged the job. With monster activity being strangely scarce as of late, you didn’t expect the hunt to take more than a couple of days, and had your stuff packed and were on the road within an hour.

Much to your displeasure, your monster was a vampire and he proved to be a little difficult to track than you had anticipated, and required forty-eight hours of surveillance in the town where the report of deaths was coming from. You finally found your guy and followed him to his hideout a couple miles from the town, and waited for the perfect opportunity. The job itself was easy, over with the swift strike of your machete. The cleanup was the worst part but you managed to clean up the mess and burn the body in record time. Taking a moment to unwind from the excitement and allow your adrenaline to ease, you closed your eyes and took in a deep breath – only to be disturbed by the ringing of your cellphone.

You popped an eye open and glanced down at your phone, your lips curling into a smile when you saw who was calling. Eagerly, you picked up the phone and answered it, and you immediately heard a familiar Southern drawl. “Hey, shug.”

“Benny,” you murmured softly.

“Mm, isn’t that just the sweetest sound to grace my ears. I’m calling to check up on you. How’s the hunt going?”

“I just finished, actually. I’m about to head out.”

“Does this mean you will be back soon?” You didn’t miss the hint of hope in his tone. Not that you could blame him; you wanted nothing more than to be in his arms after a long hunt.

“I’m hoping. I should be back by ten tonight.”

“That’s a long drive, cher. Are you sure you don’t want to rest at a hotel?”

“I’ll be fine.” You shifted the phone to your other ear and fished out your keys from your pocket. “A little food and some coffee, and I will be good to go. I rather be home as soon as possible.”

You heard him hum on the other end. “

I have no complaints. What would I give right now to see that pretty face of yours. You be careful, you hear me? I don’t want to hear you fell asleep at the wheel and weaved off the road, and come drag your tired butt home.”

“I hear you,” you said with a grin, “I will be careful, I promise.”

“Alright, darlin’. I will see you when you get back.”

“I look forward to it,” you said softly, and hung up.

Suddenly rejuvenated, and eager to see your Cajun, you started the car and eased onto the road. A quick meal of a greasy burger and fries and a pit stop for coffee later, and you were on your way back to the bunker. Between driving, tirelessly tracking, and long endured interrogations that got you nowhere, you were ready to put the week and a half long hunt behind you. Exhausted and sore from the hours confined in your car scouting your target, you looked forward to sleep in your own bed and not some crappy motel mattress, wrapped in the arms of your boyfriend. The thought brought a smile to your face, and you ever so slightly pushed down on the accelerator just a tad.

It was nearing ten o’clock when you pulled up to the familiar sight of the bunker. Grabbing your bag, you made your way inside, the sweet sound of the bunker door loudly closing behind you a relief to your ears. You had ascended to the last step of the staircase when Sam and Dean emerged from the bunker, each pulling you in a bear hug. “Welcome back, kiddo,” Dean warmly greeted.

“We’re glad you’re back,” Sam said with a smile.

“And in one piece,” you added playfully, “That is an accomplishment in itself.” Dean laughed. “That’s a miracle for any hunter. So tell us, was it a vamp like we thought?”

“Yep,” you said, popping the ‘p’. “An amateur at the most but it made the job easier.”

“Well, that’s one monster that bites the dust.”

A rather large, and messy, pile on the library table caught your attention. You nodded at the mess, asking, “What’s going on there?”

Sam looked behind him before answering sheepishly. “Just typical lore stuff. Something to keep us busy during this hunting drought.”

Your eyebrows shot up in sincere shock. “Dean is reading?”

“Hey, I read,” the older brother defended, mocking offense.

“Dirty magazines do not count as reading.” You snickered as Dean grumbled, refusing to answer. “If you don’t mind I’m going to crash. I’m beat and I miss my bed.”

They nodded in understanding, sympathy shining in Sam’s eyes. “Of course,” he said, “We’ll catch up in the morning.”

“And then you can tell us all about your hunt,” Dean added.

“Sounds good to me,” you agreed.

Exchanging hugs one last time, you bid your goodnight and dragged yourself to your room. With a sigh of relief, you tossed your bag aside, not caring at the moment where it landed. The first thing you thought to do was to get comfortable. You thought back to your hunt and shivered. It was hardly a pleasantry for you to hunt vampires; all you could think about was your own vampire waiting for you to return, and slicing his own kinds head off made you queasy. In a way, it felt like you were doing that to him, and you couldn’t fathom anything like that happening to him. But, the boys had been occupied at the time with their own hunt, and it wasn’t wise for Benny to do it himself, and you had been on a long hunting break and were dying to hunt something. Thank goodness it was all over now.

A bouquet of red flowers laying on your bed caught your attention. As you approached, you found your favorite pajama set – a tank top and sleep shorts – folded neatly in the center, and right next to it were your favorite flowers: red roses. Your heart fluttered at the sight. Picking up the bouquet, you breathed in the sweet scene, a wide smile tugging at your lips. You knew exactly who these were from.

Benny, that romantic Cajun. It was almost a ritual to come back from a hunt and find flowers waiting for you. He never failed to greet you in a way that made you giddy with joy, despite your state of exhaustion. Tonight was no different.

At that moment, you felt a pair of brawny arms wrap around your waist, followed by a tender kiss on your temple. “Welcome home, darlin’.”

“Mm, Benny…” You sighed softly, turning your head to press a light kiss to his lips. He responded immediately, cupping the back of your head and deepened the kiss. The kiss was soft. There was no rush as he savored your touch, your absence having been hard on him just as it has been hard on you. Your lips moved together like a rhythmic dance, like you’ve been doing this your whole life, the sweet taste of your vampire overwhelming your senses, and you were certain him as well. Only when the need for air became great you pulled away.

Benny nuzzled your neck and pressed a kiss just below your ear, humming contently. “Now isn’t this a slice of heaven. I’ve missed you, cher.”

Laying the flowers back on the bed, you turned around in his arms, but stopped when you saw his face. He looked pale, the familiar light in his baby blue eyes you loved so much dim. So wrapped up in his embrace, you didn’t notice the slight tremble in his hands that laid sprawled on your back, but now you definitely noticed. Something was wrong. “Benny,” you began hesitantly, concern thick in your voice. “Are you okay?”

He frowned, his eyes crinkling. “Of course I am. Why do you ask?”

“You don’t exactly look like yourself.” You brought your hand up to his face as you tried to assess the problem, but nothing came to mind. You have never seen him like this before.

Benny chuckled and covered your hand with his large one, squeezing it gently. “There is no need to worry. I’m just a little peckish is all,” he reassured you, but as you felt the severe tremble of his fingers above your hand, you knew that wasn’t it.

You removed your hand from his face and directed him to the bed. “Sit down.” Amusement twinkled in his eyes. “Now darlin’, there is nothing wrong.” He complied nonetheless, and as he turned there was a slight stumble in his step. Had your hinter instincts not reacted and grabbed his arm, carefully guiding him to sit on the bed, he would have collapsed.

“Benny,” you breathed.

“I’m fine,” he grunted.

“I’m fine my butt,” was your sarcastic reply, light irritation in your tone. The moment he raised those eyes to your face, you felt your annoyance faded. Sighing, you knelt in front of him and took his hands in your own. “What’s going on, Benny?”

Benny’s lips twitched slightly. “Nothing gets passed you. Call me a fool for trying.” He sighed. “Alright, darlin’. I’ll talk. Promise you won’t get too mad at ol Benny?” 

You managed to smile. "It depends on what stupid thing you did this time."

"It's more of what I didn't do, I'm afraid.” At your confused look, he continued. "It would seem I ran out of my supply of good of AB a few days ago. My truck isn't working so I haven't been able to go on a supply run Dean's been working on it but I was hoping he would be done by the time the affects kicked in. I was wrong."

"Do the boys know about this?" You asked. Benny shook his head.

"No, and I'm not sure if I could have asked. Asking for donated blood isn’t exactly courteous."

"Oh, Benny." You pressed a kiss on the back of  his hands. "You should have said something."

Benny smiled a little. "Far be it from me to be a bother, darlin'. I'm not the one to readily ask for help."

"No. You wait until much later." You shook your head at him when he offered one of his charming smiles. Without another word, you stood up and retrieved your phone and car keys. Benny frowned as he watched.

"What are you doing?"

"As you tell me, I can't have you wasting away on me. I'm going to get my vampire some donated blood."

"Now, wait just a second--"

You covered his mouth with your fingers, silencing him. "You are possibly the most selfless and thoughtful man I have ever known, but you're too stubborn. You're hungry, Benny, and I'm not going to allow you to starve. You do so much for me, for us. Let me do this for you. Please."

Adoration sparkled in Benny’s eyes. He lifted your hand to his lips, pressing a tender kiss to your palm. “What did I do to deserve such a remarkable lady? If this is something you want to do, darlin’, then I won’t stop you. I can’t say I am completely opposed to it.”

“Good,” you murmured, a grin slowly coming to your lips “Because you don’t have a choice anyway.”

It was Benny’s turn to grin. Leaving a lingering kiss on his lips, you promised you would be back soon, and hurried out of the room. The trip had to be quick. If Benny was already suffering from hunger, then he really had gone some time without food. The thought worried you and you hastened your steps. You were approaching the staircase when you heard Dean calling for you. Turning, you saw him exiting the library, heavy confusion written on his face. “What’s going on? I thought you went to bed.”

“Plans have changed. I’m getting Benny some food supplies.”

The older Winchester frowned. “You mean donated blood?” You nodded. “He’s out?”

“He’s been out.” Dean’s demeanor changed from confusion to concern when the realization dawned on him. “Why didn’t he say anything?”

“Stubbornness, mostly. I think maybe he didn’t want to inconvenience you. He was hoping his truck would be fixed before going hungry.”

“Crap.” Dean sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “That truck has been one heck of a monster to fix. You go, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

You smiled gratefully. “Thanks Dean.”

The supply run took little time. It didn’t take you even thirty minutes before you were on the road again, the cooler sitting next to you in the passenger seat. You sent a quick text to Benny informing him you were on your way back and drove as fast as you could without going over the speed limit. As soon as you pulled up to the bunker you wasted no time grabbing your stuff and hurrying inside. “Benny?” you called as you ascended down the staircase. “Benny, I’m back.”

Your phone buzzed, alerting you had a text from the Cajun, letting you know he was in the kitchen. Quickly, you made your way to the bunker’s kitchen, and found him lazily lounging at the table, smirking when he saw you. “Well, aren’t you a sight, all disheveled and lookin’ sweet as honey.”

You refrained from rolling your eyes. On the inside, though, you couldn’t help but internally laugh at his trifles. “Really?”

Benny shrugged but the twinkle in his eyes said otherwise. “I only speak the truth, shug.” You shook your head at him and approached the table, placing the cooler down with a ‘thud’. His eyebrows rose in curiosity. “That sure sounded heavy. What did you do, rob the whole bank?”

You snorted. “Hah. Yeah, well…”

“Hold on a minute.” Benny frowned, leaning forward. “You didn’t…did you?” “Only a few.”

“How much is a few?”

You mumbled an incoherent answer. Benny cupped his ear. “What was that? I didn’t catch that.”

Instead of answering, you quietly opened the lid to the cooler and pushed it closer to him.

“You did what now?”

“It wasn’t as bad as last time, I swear.”

Benny chuckled. “Last time you got caught and had to play the insanity card.” You huffed, crossing your arms. “I think I did rather well.”

“You don’t have to tell me. I was there.” His playful demeanor changed, and he grew serious. “But really, don’t think I am ungrateful. I am one blessed man but five is a little…” He trailed off, unsure how to continue.

“That’s why I went to more than one bank.” 

Benny looked up, the twinkle returning to his eyes. Only this time pride reflected in those baby blue irises. “Did you really?” When you hummed in response, his smile grew. “That’s my girl.” Rising from his seat, he pulled you in a tight embrace. “Thank you,” he murmured, “This sure does mean a lot to me.”

“I wasn’t going to let you starve,” you mumbled in his chest. After a moment of taking advantage of basking in his warm embrace, you forced yourself pull away. “You should eat. I’m going to take a shower.” You knew your vampire all too well that drinking blood in front of you was still an uncertainty for him, and preferred to eat away from your eyes. 

Rather reluctantly, Benny slowly removed his arms from your waist. “I will join you in a moment,” he promised.

“Take your time,” you told him, and with a kiss to his cheek, you left the room. The shower was heavenly. There was nothing like warm water soothing away the sore aches in your body. After nearly two weeks od cold showers, hard mattresses, and frequently waking up in the middle of the night, it felt so good to feel warm water cascade down your body. After washing yourself thoroughly, you took the liberty to pamper yourself with your favorite scented lotion and threw on the pajamas that Benny had kindly set out for you. Satisfied and feeling a lot better, you emerged from the bathroom and into you your room in a billow of steam, smiling when you found Benny waiting for you. He drew you closer and pulled you in his warm embrace, wrapping his brawny arms around you tightly. You responded by wrapping her own arms around his back, burying your face in his chest. You breathed in his musky scent and sighed contently.

“Have I told you lately how amazing you are?”

“Mm, no. But I wouldn’t mind hearing it.”

His chest rumbled as he laughed. “You, darlin’, are one fine, strong, and determined woman. Why you care so much about an old vampire like me, I will never no, but I ain’t questioning it either.”

You lifted your head, looking up at him lovingly. “I couldn’t have you starving on me, not when I just got back,” you teased, “I love you, Benny. It’s why I did it. You don’t even have to ask. I’m not sure I could handle losing you or seeing you suffer.”

“Hey there now, I’m not going anywhere,” Benny soothed tenderly, “You will have to tie me up and carry me in a sack to leave you. This vampire isn’t leaving your side. And that’s a promise.”

“Good, because hunting vampires wrecks havoc on my nerves as it is. I keep thinking about you. I keep thinking about what if—“

Benny shushed you, running one hand down your back while the other stroked your hair. “That’s not going to happen. I have had my experience, and it’s no desire of mine to draw attention from hunters. What you’re doing is the right thing. You’re saving people, cher. That is what matters, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

“Really?” you whispered.

“Really.” Benny smiled down at you. “Now, I don’t want you worrying about any of that, because its just not going to happen. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that is going to take me away from you. You hear me?”

You nodded. “I hear you.” Bringing your hand to his cheek, you stroked his skin with your thumb, gazing deeply in his eyes. “I love you.”

Benny looked at you with so much love you felt as if your heart would burst from your chest. “I love you too, darlin’. My heart may not physically beat but it beats for you. Always.”

Unbidden tears welled in your eyes, touched by his words. You leaned forward, and Benny met you half-way, your lips pressing together in a slow, tender kiss, pouring all your love into it. Benny responded eagerly, cupping your chin and deepened the kiss. Not once as he lifted you into his arms and carried you to the bed did he dare to pull away, and in that moment you knew without a doubt, you were always home in the arms of Benny Lafitte.

[ty-r-bluent]

Catch a Flame

Chapter 1 

Dean Winchester had everything. A patient husband who stayed up far later than needed on nights that he worked late. His little brother was getting married. Co-workers who were practically family. A job that he loved even with the long hours and constant danger.

Then it was all taken away. The worst part about it, he doesn’t remember a damn thing.

Now he has to try and catch that same flame of his old life all over again. To catch a flame of the memories he doesn’t have.

Pairing: Dean x Cas

Characters: Sam, Jess, Bobby, Jody, Benny, Ash, Ellen, Jo, Garth, Cole, Alfie, Charlie, Adam, Lucifer, Crowley, Meg, Tessa, Gabriel, (and many many other characters)

Warnings are in the tags

Word count: 1,470 (ish)

A/N

I’m new at this posting on Tumblr, so bear with me everybody. This is already completely posted on Ao3 and Fanfiction. I just thought I’d add it here for your viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy

It was nearly two in the morning. But he couldn’t sleep. Dean’s eyes flashed from the ceiling to the walls. His arm tightened around the man who nuzzled into his chest. He had woken up half an hour ago. Something burning in the inside of his chest. Something that just wouldn’t settle down. The worst about it, this wasn’t the first time he ever felt something like this. Absentmindedly he felt the scar that ran over his arm from the last time this feeling came. The shadows of the dark room seemed to dance happily. As if they knew something more than he. This bad feeling was the start of a long string of bad events. Or at least one, really.

Alright, so last time he had this feeling he’d gotten nearly a month off of work due to injury. He shook his head and tried to sit up.

    A calm hand splayed over the middle of his chest. “You alright?”

    Dean successfully sat up as blue eyes pierced the darkness. “Yeah, bad dream.” His fingers brushed through his husband’s dark hair. “Go back to sleep baby,”

    “Where are you going?” Cas sat up as Dean got up.

    “Glass of water,” Dean looked back as Cas lay back down.

    “Just come back,”

    Cas didn’t see the smile that lit Dean’s face. “You know I will.”

Maybe the worst part about this feeling, aside from what would inevitably come with it, was that he never told anyone about it. He’d never warn Cas or even Sam. He didn’t need to worry them. They had enough to worry about to begin with. Dean sighed as he flipped the faucet on, filling the glass. He leaned against the counter as he took a sip. The pads of his finger running over the scar. Eyes looking out the kitchen window at the moonlit sky. Everything would be fine.

It had to.

…

Chomping down on his self-made breakfast sandwich, Dean watched as Cas fretted over his most current work.

    “Cas, baby, you’re gonna be late if you keep this up.” Dean had set his breakfast down and looped his arms around the professor.

    “And you’ll be late if you keep watching me!” Cas’s eyes widened at his sudden outburst. This new painting has had him riled up for days now. He was stressing about it way too much.

    “Hey, hey,” Dean whispered, rubbing Castiel’s arms. His lips ghosted over the other man’s neck. “We’re on the same team here.” A line both had thrown out in the midst of a fight, or beginning of one.

    Cas turned in Dean’s arms. “I’m sorry, Dean I’m-”

    Dean leaned down. His lips melted over Castiel's. “Hey Cas,”

    “Hhmm?” Cas’s eyes were closed, his hand had moved up, fingers brushing Dean’s cheek.

    “Shut up.”

    “Gladly,” Cas chuckled with a wild grin. He leaned in for several more kisses.

…

    “Well chief, I’d think you’d want to wash up before you ran around like one of Cas’s latest paintings.” Benny laughed as Dean walked into the firehouse.

    “The hell you talking about?” The Winchester’s brows furrowed.

    Benny snorted. “It’s all over your face, man. Cas marked you up real’ well.”

    Still confused Dean lifted his fingers to his face. There was a rough texture, and Dean groaned. He made a beeline for the bathroom. One look in the mirror revealed he had an array of blue shades and white on his faces. Mostly limited to the side that Cas’s hand had been running over.

    That little shit.

It wasn’t difficult to clean up, but he sent a teasing text to his husband anyway.

    ‘If you wanted to mark me so badly there are other ways’

The reply came in a matter of seconds.

    ‘I have full intention on taking that offer’

Dean couldn’t help the laugh as he went about the miscellaneous chores they had around the house. He preferred maintenance. Saving people, fixing things, his day job. He became entranced in the squad truck that had been giving squad 4 a hell of a time. Dean was seeming to be getting it all taken care of.

    He wiped his sweaty brow with a grease-covered hand. He tapped the front of the rig. “All right, start ‘er up Bobby.”

   The older mechanic did just that. The big rig coming to life without even so much as a sputter. With an approving nod, Bobby cut the engine and climbed out. Rufus, the fire Chief called on his friend to help out with the trucks when it wasn’t quite a one-man job. “Good work, boy.” He clapped Dean on the shoulder. It was getting on to be lunchtime.

    Then Dean’s phone started ringing. “Give me a sec Bobby.” The Winchester walked away, answering the phone. “Sammy,” he greeted with a smile.

    “Hey Dean, I was wondering if Bobby or Rufus won’t be a tight ass if you could swing by-”

    “I heard that!” Bobby grumbled. Rufus also mumbled out a “Hey!”

    Dean laughed. “Caught red-handed Sam.” Dean looked back at the chief with a questioning gaze.

    “This hard ass is alright with it. Just take a radio.” Rufus had heard it all too. Standing with his arms crossed before continuing on to whatever little mission he was on beforehand.

    “That hard ass is alright with it. Hey!” Dean yelped when he was suddenly smacked in the back of his head.

    “Should get Rufus to put you on mop duty.”

    “You wouldn’t have the heart old man.”

    “Keep that up and I won’t have second thoughts.” Bobby snarled jokingly.

    “I think the runt was needing a hand with equipment.” Dean waved off the had-been fireman.

    “Kid has a name Dean.” Bobby smacked the young man again. “Not everyone is as big or pigheaded as you. And you walked into that one.” With that Bobby went to make sure Alfie was getting along alright. For as much as he was around the house he was just as much of the team as any of them were.

    “Having fun there?” Sam questioned from the other end of the phone.

    “Just dying Sammy. Be there shortly.” With that, he put his phone away, before patting the side of truck 67. That was a hell of a good number. “C’mon boys, let's take a ride.”

    “You’re just itching to get out aren't you?” Charlie questioned as she poked her head out from inside the ambulance as Dean pulled himself up front. Benny was at the wheel. She and Jo were doing inventory.

    “Little brother calls, so I answer.” He pulls the door shut, but hangs his arm through the open window. “Try not to miss me.”

    Charlie laughs as she rolls her eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, Winchester.”

    Dean gives a cheeky two finger salute as Benny brings the ring to life and drives her forward.

Dean tugged the strap around him that held the radio, before adjusting his suspenders. Sam had wanted to meet him at the Roadhouse instead of his busy office. It happened to be the lunch hour anyway, so when Dean sat down there was a plate of fries that surrounded a cheeseburger. The only question he gave was an arched eyebrow. Sam’s leg was jittering under the table.

    “What’s up with you?” Dean questioned before taking a hefty bite from the seeming peace offering. For what, he was probably about to find out.

    And off to the races they went. “There's just something I couldn’t wait to tell you-”

    “Sam.” Dean interrupted. “That’s my knee.”

    Sam quickly straightened up, having shifted to swing his leg. “Sorry, sorry.” What had his panties in a twist?

    “Sammy if you stole my-”

    “No, Dean. I didn’t do that again.” The elder brother wanted to snort at the phrase. Again.

    “Then out with it.”

    “I was wanting to tell you and Cas at the same time, but I just had to get this out. Jess and I-”

    The conversation was interrupted once again, but this time from the radio that rested around Dean.

    “Shit,” the elder Winchester cursed. “Gotta cut this lunch date short baby brother.”

    “But Dean-”

    “Duty calls Sam.” With that Dean bolted through the door before Sam could even blink. Through the front windows he watched his older brother climb into the fire truck. Benny already had the lights going, and the moment Dean shut the door the sirens blared. Sam looked at the near half-eaten burger. With a sigh, he flagged Ellen over.

    “You didn’t get to tell him did you?” Ellen placed Dean’s food in a to-go box either of them might drop by the station.

    “Nope. Guess we’ll have to over the dinner Jess suggested.”

Little did he know that nearly an hour or so later he’d be getting one distressed phone call from Castiel.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12989775/chapters/29699784