#i just had my doubts and suspicions and i am glad i bailed like that bc now that woman is listed as his partner when you search him up

[gojoest]

not to be tmi about it, but once upon a time life presented me the opportunity to have a fiery romance with my favorite journalist with whom i have a 25 yr age gap and who is a dilf

[superwholock-marvel-images]

Through time and space 15

The look Katie gives you when you show up on the doorstep of the motel room, was so worth showing up unannounced.

“That look is so worth coming around unannounced.” You say with a grin. Katie punches you on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m going to need that later.” Your sister rolls her eyes and allows you in.

“Sam and Dean are at a bar, getting drunk with someone named Gordon.” Katie explains. “Ellen told Sam and me not to interfere with this guy’s hunt, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“Who’s Ellen?”

“One of Dad’s contacts, she owns a bar called the Roadhouse. We met her last hunt.”

“Oh that makes sense.”

“So what have you been doing?” You plop down on one of the beds with a sigh.

“You know how John and I joke that Sherlock doesn’t have any emotions?”

“Yeah… what brings this up?”

“Cybermen.” Katie rolls her hand asking you to elaborate. “Cybermen are these creatures that used to be human, but they got turned into a machine… with all emotions removed.” You then tell your sister everything that happened this last time you traveled with the Doctor. You leave out the part of the Cyberman’s sensors saying you weren’t human.

You then say you're going to get into the shower. When you turn off the water you can hear Katie talking to some.

“No particular reason.” Your sister says as you get dressed then walk out of the bathroom towel drying your hair. You notice your brothers before they notice you.

“Glad that I decided to change in the bathroom. That would’ve been awkward.” You comment your brothers look at you in surprise.

“When did you get here?” Dean asks.

“About an hour and a half to two hours ago.”

“Yet no one told us?”

“I didn’t even tell Katie that I was coming.”

“Come ‘ere you.” Dean says, walking over to you and pulling you into a hug. Which you gladly return. He releases you from his hug and looks at Katie. “Have you seen Gordon anywhere, Katie?”

“I didn’t realize I was his babysitter, and I haven’t seen him since I left the bar.” Katie replies with a shrug.

“You think he went after them?” Sam ask your eldest brother.

“Probably.” Dean replies.

“Dean, we have to stop him.”

“Really, Sam? Because I say we lend a hand.”

“Just give me the benefit of the doubt, would you? You owe me that.”

“Yeah, we’ll see. I’ll drive. Give me the keys.”

Sam points to the table. The keys aren’t there. “Do you girls have my keys?”

“No.” You and Katie reply in unison.

“He snaked the keys.” Sam says with a tone of annoyance.

Dean has to hotwire his car which he is less than happy about. Everyone piles in after Sam traces the route on the map with his finger. When you guys get to the farmhouse you see this man torturing a woman. She looks familiar- you then remember why.

You ran into her on one of the many adventures you had with the Doctor.

“Sam, Dean, and Katie. Come on in.” The man says with a sinister grin. He then notices you. “Who are you?” Your not sure if he’s flirting or what.

“Someone you don’t want to mess with. What are you doing?” You reply.

“Just poisoning Lenore here with some dead man’s blood. She’s going to tell us where all her little friends are, aren’t you? Wanna help?”

“Hell to the no. I’m not stabbing someone who saved my life in the back.” Technically, that’s a lie- in reality she only gave you directions.

Gordon stops what he’s doing and stalks over to you, murder in his eyes. Thankfully Dean steps in.

“That vampire that killed your sister deserved to die, but this one…” Your brother says. Gordon bitterly laughs.

“Killed my sister? That filthy fang didn’t kill my sister. It turned her. It made her one of them. So I hunted her down, and I killed her myself.” He says.

“You did what?”

“It wasn’t my sister anymore, it wasn’t human. I didn’t blink. And neither would you.” Dean bites the inside of his lip.

“So you knew all along, then? You knew about the vampires, you knew they weren’t killing anyone. You knew about the cattle. And you just didn’t care.” Sam points out.

“Care about what? A nest of vampires suddenly acting nice? Taking a little time out from sucking innocent people? And we’re supposed to buy that? Trust me. Doesn’t change what they are. And I can prove it.” Gordon roughly grabs your arm and cuts you. He then holds a knife to your throat and forces you to move over to Lenore. All three of your older siblings pull out their guns and point them at Gordon.

“Let her go. Now!” Katie snaps.

“Relax. If I wanted to kill her she’d already be on the floor. Just making a little point.” Gordon says. He holds the cut on your arm over Lenore, so the blood drips on her face. She hisses, fangs extending, but she doesn’t attack- she fights the urge instead.

“No. No.” Lenore says.

“You hear her, Gordon?” Sam asks, as you push the knife away from your throat, and shove Gordon away from you. Your brother then walks over to you and Lenore. “We’re done here.”

“Sam, get her out of here.” Dean says. Sam gently picks up the injured vampire and carries her outside. You follow your brother holding your injured arm close to your body. Sam gently sets Lenore down before looking towards you.

“What did you mean she saved your life?” He asks as he looks at your arm.

“I lied about that… in reality, she just gave me directions.” You reply. “But what sounds better; I’m not going to kill someone who gave me directions, or I’m not stabbing someone who saved my life in the back?”

“You have a point. I doubt you’re going to need stitches.”

“That’s a relief. I really don’t want my arm to look like Frankenstein’s.” Sam chuckles as the dawn breaks. Katie walks outside and over to you and your brother.

“Dean is currently kicking Gordon’s ass.”

🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝

The next few hunts are spirits- Sam breaks his arm on one of the hunts and your first impression of Jo and Ellen isn’t the best but your siblings seem to trust them.

During a game of poker Dean gets some extra money and he splurges a little and gets two rooms. Turns out getting two rooms was a good idea because the boys get hauled off to the local police department under the suspicion of murder- if you and Katie were in the room it would be suspicion of murder AND kidnapping.

“Now what?” You ask when you read Sam’s text. Sam says this is a 5-O situation but you and Katie can’t bail unless the two of you want to tip off the police.

“Sam’s record’s relatively clean, unlike Dean’s.” Katie replies. You roll your hand asking her to elaborate. “Dean got on the FBI’s most wanted list because a shape shiftier took his face and tortured a few people.”

“And where was I when this happened?”

“Either with the Doctor or helping Sherlock with a case.”

“That makes so much more sense now.” After a while, Sam shows up.

“I’ll explain everything later.” Your brother says as someone knocks on the door. The person at the door is one of the cops that arrested your brothers. The cop explains the situation that she’s in- and she needs help. “These showed up after you saw it?” Sam asks the cop looking at her wrists.

“Yeah, I guess.” The cop replies.

“All right. You’re going to have to tell us exactly what you saw.”

“You know, I must be losing my mind. You’re a fugitive, and you two are housing a fugitive. I should be arresting all three you.”

“All right. Well, you know what? You can arrest us later, all right? After you live through this. But right now you’ve gotta talk to us. Okay?” The cop nods. “Okay, great. Now, this spirit. What did it look like?”

The cop explains before the four of you are headed to Ashland street. Apparently, the spirit isn’t vengeful, just one that foretells death.

When the four of you get to where Dean is you resist the urge to hug your eldest brother, at least for the moment. When the death omen is gone, then you hug your brother. When Dean finds out his car is impounded you get an idea. You pull out your phone and dial Lestrade’s number. “Whoa take a breather, Greg, I was going to ask you for a favor but it appears you need a favor from me more than the other way around.” You say when Lestrade answers the phone. “My brother got his car impounded… pretty much… seriously? I owe you one Greg thanks.” You say before handing the cop your phone. She and Greg talks for a few minutes before she hangs up and hands you back your phone. She then says that she’ll release Dean’s car in three days.

“You literally called Scotland Yard?” Sam asks.

“Hey, I could’ve called the British government.” You reply, your siblings laugh.

🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝

“Are you kidding me… another hellhound case?” You ask when you find out that the next hunt is a hellhound.

“I doubt that this one is going have a drug that makes people hallucinate.” Sam points out.

“Don’t remind me of that Sammy.” Sam arches an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. “At least this hound is a demon’s pet, not a wild one.”

“What makes that a good thing?” Katie asks.

“It means that this one isn’t going to rip just anyone to shreds. This one has a purpose.” Your siblings look at you blankly. You dig out your dad’s journal and open it to the hellhound page. No one’s removed the bookmark since Baskerville. You then gently throw the journal onto the table. “There are two types of hellhounds- domestic and feral. The one in Baskerville was feral, the one here is domestic… am I the only one who read dad’s notes about hellhounds?” None of your siblings answers. “Why am I not surprised.”

You and Dean go to Lloyd’s bar to go talk to a certain crossroads. You linger in the background as your brother sweet talks the demon. “You better not have made a goddamned deal Dean.” You mutter when you see your brother and the demon liplock. As soon the demon is gone you walk over to Dean and punch his arm.

“Ow, what was that for?” Your brother asks.

“Did you make a damn deal?” You ask. “How long she give you- ten years.” Dean chuckles and ruffles your hair.

“Take a look.” He says gesturing upwards. You notice the trap. “And for the record, I bargained her freedom for my wish.”

“You dog!” You say with a laugh. “I literally thought you made a damn deal… you okay Dean?”

“Dad made a deal, for me… originally his deal was going to involve you but you woke up before he struck the deal.” Dean replies. “It’s my fault he’s dead (nickname).” You look at your brother right in the eyes.

“Dean, his death isn’t your fault.” Dean stays quiet. You place a hand on his arm. “Besides, what if you woke up before I did… dad would’ve sold his soul for me instead. Family would go to hell and back for each other.” Dean doesn’t say anything just pulls you into a hug. The two of you stay like that until Dean remembers that Katie and Sam are more than likely wondering what the hell is taking you two so long.

------

@haletotheking22

@the-third-winchester-warrior

@flannels-and-rocksalt

@always-keep-writing-spn

@winchesters-favorite-girl

@caroldanversinatardis

@spnnolifegirl

@thewinsisterchronicles

@simply-wins-little-sis

@moose-and-sqruille-lover

@platonic-plots

[cowboy-canoodler]

A High Note of Love: Part 5

( Idk why I’m still writing this, not many people read it but w/e. I really like this chapter, but I’m also a whore for Sean so whatever lmao. I also do not do well with the other women in the camp, i have no idea how to write most of the men either but hey ho whatever!)

Master list :http://cowboy-canoodler.tumblr.com/post/183094165570/a-high-note-of-love-master-list

Sean, and Arthur were about to ride you to their camp to introduce you to the rest of the gang. Your heart was beating rapidly inside your chest, if they didn’t like you what would you do? Arthur was loyal, you knew that, and you didn’t want to force this choice on him, mainly because you knew that he wouldn’t choose you.

Your clothes now resembled someone of the higher society, but not high enough that the gang would be repulsed by you. You chose a deep emerald green gown, with gold lace accents along the collar, cuffs, and along your bustle, a small bonnet with Lillies adorned your head. You held a small suitcase full of day clothes and some make up to touch up later on, you had a feeling that you wouldn’t be riding back home tonight. A last look in the mirror and you were satisfied with you final outfit, you turned to leave your room and show yourself to Arthur. He was stood with his back at the bar, smoking a cigarette, you could see specks of mud on the back of his neck, some blood too.

“Those are bad for your health you know” You commented making your way towards him.

“Says who?” Arthur turned around with a smirk on his face, but his mouth fell agape when he saw you, “Hot damn”

“What?” You panicked, “Do I look okay?” You started looking down and around your outfit in a panic.

“No no! You- You look beautiful (Y/N)” Arthur looked lost for words, his eyes bore a hole into your outfit, almost as if he hadn’t seen one quite like it.

“Oh” Your head snapped up to meet his gaze with a blush dusting your cheeks, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear you replied, “Th-Thank you Arthur”. A smile crept its way into your face and you tucked a piece of hair behind your ear, “We shouldn’t keep Sean waiting”

“I guess you’re right, don’t know how happy I am that he’s comin’ on our ride, but it is what it is I s’pose” Arthur placed a hand on your shoulder and started leading you out of the door of the bar and there was a delicate touch to his hand as if he were handling something precious.

Sean was restless on his horse looking around at the people scattered on the streets, “finally” he looked over at you and Arthur, who had removed his hand from you as soon as he saw Sean, “thought you were gonna bail on me!”

“Did enough bailin’ for you when we saved your damn ass from hangin’” Arthur chuckled helping you onto his horse, you were settled and Arthur hoisted him self in front of you and sat down, somehow slotting in front of you perfectly and you wrapped your arms around his stomach for balance. That’s what you told yourself anyway, but you enjoyed the feeling of him being close to you again. The only time you two had been as close as this was weeks ago when you shared a bed, neither you nor Arthur had tried to initiate sex again after that. IT somehow didn’t feel right, like you would ruin what was blooming.

“God Arthur! you speak of that all the time but it was years ago!” Sean lightly kicked his horse to start your journey.

“It was last week!” Arthur shouted back, their personalities were so different from each other and yet they worked so well joking around and making you giggle.

“You sure? Feels like years ago when I’m with such delightful comp’ny, say Miss (Y/N)?” Sean looked back at you with a grin on his face.

“Yes Master MacGuire?” You lifted a brow to the ginger lad, a curious tone to your voice, “How can one such as I help you?”

“What part of Great Britain are you from?” Sean suddenly got very serious, not forgetting this man was Irish and probably hated the English for all they had done against the Irish.

“Lesnewth, Cornwall. Though I no longer consider myself English, if my mother saw me today she’d refer to me as a-” You shrivelled your face up, as if eating a lemon, and spoke in an over exaggerated posh accent referring to your mother, “A dirty Yankee, you’re a disgrace upon the name of (Y/LN) and should be whipped!” All three of you left out a laugh at your impression of your mother, “Not a delightful woman to speak to my mother, unless you’re Queen Victoria of course!”

“She sure sounds like it!” Arthur was still chuckling at your impression earlier, you could feel his stomach muscles working with each breath.

“Lisnewth? I ain’t never heard of that, but Cornwall? Now you’re talkin! I’m gonna guess you’re family’s in Tin mining then?” A couple of men on horses passed giving you and Arthur a dirty look.

“My my Master MacGuire! How ever did you guess?” You were genuinely surprised that Sean knew of the Tin mining in Cornwall, then again Tin mining is the only thing to come out of Cornwall. “You guessed right though, my family used to own a small Tin mine, then the prices shot up and we became rich. Funny how it happens to the un-expecting, and the un-deserving” The last part you mumbled under your breath but you’re sure Arthur heard, you could feel his shoulders tighten in response.

“You don’t need to tell him (Y/N), he’ll only get attached to ya, and then you gotta talk to him everyday!” Was Arthur joking? This was a rare sight indeed, you could feel that he was relaxed around you, or maybe it was Sean, it would make sense for Arthur to be relaxed around someone he considers his family.

“What if I want to speak to Master MacGuire everyday?” You teased Arthur, pinching at his stomach a little.

“Exactly! What if she wants to speak to me? I’m handsome, charming-” Sean puffed out his chest as he started listing his good qualities.

“Loud, cocky, prone to shoot before thinkin’“ Arthur cut in and listed Seans seemingly bad qualities.

“Oh, trying to turn her against me are you Arthur? Well how about we let the lady decide?” Sean looked directly at you and you stared to burn up.

“Oh! Well- I- Uh- I don’t really know you yet Master MacGuire, but I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better” You smiled back. Arthur snapped his reins and demanded his horse move faster, trying to get you away from Sean no doubt.

“Arthur!” Sean shouted but you were well ahead of him.

“Arthur? What are you doing?” You asked, tugging your arms at his torso.

“I don’t like you talking to him”

“Is this jealousy Arthur? Get a grip!” You snapped at him, why did you snap at him? Part of you was happy he was jealous, but you also felt conflicted. You should be able to freely speak to men or women without repercussions, and you especially felt hatred towards the fact you were being told what you can and can’t do. “I can get to know whomever I want” You lightly hit your head on Arthurs back to give him a nudge.

Arthur pulled on the reins and slowed down to a trot, “I know, I know. I don’t wanna control you (Y/N), I just. Nevermind, we’re close to the camp now” Arthur looked back and saw Sean catching up to you both.

“The hell Arthur?” Seans hair was dishevelled and he was out of breath.

“I wanted her for myself for a bit, got a problem?” Arthur teased Sean again, but his comment did bring a little happiness to you. “Besides, I had no idea what y’all were talkin’ bout. Tin, Cornwall, Liscewth or whatever” Sean and Arthur carried on their bickering but you were looking out over the forest.

You could see the glow of fires in the distance, the sun had started to set and a warm glow enveloped the forest around you. Highlights of deer in the trees, the flowers on the ground, and leaves in the trees. The evening was beautiful and you were so glad you could be here to enjoy it.

“Who’s that?” A Voice shouted from the trees, it came from a big man with a black beard and rotund belly. He carried a rifle in his hands, cocked and ready to fire.

“Sean and Arthur ya dumbass!” Arthur shouted back.

“Who’s that?” The man nodded towards you, a furrowed brow and pressed lips on his face.

“She’s a friend, put your damn gun away. Don’t point it at a a lady”

“Pleasure to meet you sir” You offered a warm smile, this was the second member of the gang you were meeting and you wanted to make a good first impression.

“You sure we can trust her?”  An air of suspicion was suddenly around you, it was like nothing you’d ever felt before.

“Bill shut yer damn mouth, if I thought we couldn’t trust her do you think I would have brought her here?” Arthur rolled his eyes and dismissively waved his hand at Bill.

“Well I suppose so, but I got my eye on you Missy!” You were slightly taken aback by Bills forwardness, you stared Bill in the eyes as you and Arthur made your way past on the horse.

“I look forward to getting to know you in the future Master Bill” Did you? Part of you knew that the suspicion would never fade away, maybe he was like this with everyone, nevertheless you needed Arthurs family to like you.

You, Sean, and Arthur came up to the hitching posts and Arthur dismounted, with very heavy feet. You swung your right leg over the horse and slid your way off as gracefully as you could a slight lighter than Arthur. Sean gave you a wink and walked his way into the camp, waving at fellow gang members along the way. There were tents, carts, and tables set up with people jostling about, drinking and having fun.

“Is there a party or something?” You asked, walking your way alongside Arthur.

“Naw. No party. Jus’ glad to be alive I s’pose” Arthur looked handsome in the evening light, the orange shades of the sun lit up the highlights of his face, His broad nose, stubbled jaw, eyebrows, eyes, hat, everything about him. He was just a very handsome man in general. He soon looked down and caught you staring, “Somethin’ wrong?” His brow raised and his eyes widened.

“No not at all” Your breath hitched as you looked into his eyes, “Just admiring the view. The evening sun lights up your features perfectly Arthur” A warm breeze passed and the smell of smoke from the fires wafted by, you could hear singing and laughing from the camp members.

“Not much of a view if ya tell me” Arthur looked away, you had thought your compliment had made him smile but now only furrowed bros and a scowl remained, you brought a hand to Arthurs cheek and turned him to face you again.

“It’s one hell of a view Arthur” You smiled again, and so did Arthur this time.

“Hey (Y/N)!” Sean shouted as he ran up to you and Arthur, “I told some o’ the members about ya! Don’t be embarrassed to meet them!”

“Thank you Master-”

“Please call me Sean, I beg ya”

“Thank you, Sean” Sean winked once more and ran back off into the camp towards a woman with blonde shoulder length hair, in tight curls, a whiskey bottle grasped firmly in her hand. “Well, who should I meet now?” you didn’t want Arthur to know you were nervous but you were certain he had already noticed.

“Come one, I’ll let ya see Hosea” Arthur placed a guiding hand on you once more and brought you to a table with an older man sat at it writing in a book. He was well dressed, and well kept, silver hair slicked to one side, years tugging at his skin

“Are we interrupting?” Arthur asked sitting him self down.

“Not at all Arthur I-” Hosea looked up and caught your eyes, “Oh pardon me I didn’t realise I was in the company of a lady” He stood up and extended an hand, “Hosea Matthews”

You took his hand and gave it a light shake “(Y/FN) (Y/LN), nice to meet you” Hosea gestured for you to sit down and you complied.

“You’re English?”Hosea asked, his eyes piercing into yours, he was workign you out without uttering a word about it, you nodded in response, “Ah, been in America long?”

“A couple of years now, but it feels like I’ve always lived here” Arthur stood up and walked over to a couple of crates by a wagon, he pulled out three bottles of beer and made his way back over.

“America can be like that, Arthur how did you and Miss (Y/LN) meet?” Hosea looked over at Arthur and grabbed one of the beers.

“Oh, I was scopin’ a target in Saint Denis, he went into a saloon, I went in, and (Y/N) was singing that night. Jus’ so happened to listen in” Arthur popped off the bottle caps and handed a beer to you, which you gratuitously accepted.

“My dear girl, you’re a singer?” Hosea raised his eyebrows and you started to feel embarrassed.

“Yes, It’s nothing big I just sing a couple of nights a week. I’m not all that good that I deserve praise or attention!” You were waving your hands about trying to sound humble.

“Not all that good?” Arthur scoffed and took a swig of his drink, “Hosea she has a voice like an angel” His comment made you blush deeply, a light chuckle escaping from your lips.

“Arthur doesn’t give compliments like this lightly, so I’m compelled to believe him” Hosea took another swig of his drink, he was very slender and kept his appearance up.

“I must thank you then Arthur” you gave Arthur a slight judge with your elbow, an embarrassment taking over you, it was a nice thought that Arthur kept compliments like this for people who really deserve it, not like then men who throw them around to manipulate you into getting into their bed for the night.

“S’no problem, I’m only tellin’ the truth” Arthur looked over at Hosea who had returned to writing in his book, you couldn’t quite tell what he was writing but it looked like a map of sorts with arrows and directions. Arthur caught you staring and promptly stood up, “we’ll leave ya be Hosea, you got work to do I see” Arthur offered a hand out to you which you accepted, and you stood up grabbing s hold of your drink in your other hand.

“No problem Arthur” Hosea look up to you, “pleasure to meet you Miss (Y/LN).”

“And you too Mister Matthews” you gave a small curtsy and followed Arthur who had begun walking towards the campfire, towards a man with black hair, a poncho, hat, and a guitar, and another with shoulder length brown hair, a beer, and a gaunt expression.

“This here is Javier Escuella and Kieran O’Driscoll” Arthur extended a hand out towards the two men who had been sitting in silence prior to your introduction. They both looked up towards Arthur and yourself.

“I ain’t an O’Driscoll sir!” Kieran promptly responded before seeing you, “Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t see you there” he stood up and offered a hand of greeting towards you, “I’m Kieran, n-not with the O’Driscoll part Ma’am, my last name’s Duffy” His expression was soft, not battle hardened like the rest of the gang you had seen, a small lanky sort of boy who’s hair fell in front of his face.

“Calm down, I was jus’ jokin’ around” Arthur diffused, setting himself down next to Javier who gave him a quizzical look. You bowed your head towards Kieran and took his hand giving him a reassuring smile. Javier look up at you and gave you a small nod, “this here’s Javier”

“A pleasure to meet you both, I’m (Y/N) (Y/LN)” you kept your voice soft as you introduced yourself, Arthur was sat in the floor next to Javier and you sat on a log next to Keiran, Javier went back to looking at his guitar and the air went dead, not at all like how it was with Hosea. “Do you play Mister Escuella?” You asked after taking a sip of your beer.

“Si, one of the things that keeps camp home. It’s nice to meet you Senorita” The guitar was beautiful, and very well kept, no signs of wear on the strings, carved intricacies were all over it, and Javier hands were always soft when handling the wood. 

“(Y/N) here is a singer in Saint Denis-” Arthur looked over at you, his eyes sparkling in the firelight, a warm glow to his face, God he was even more handsome right now. Your heart was about to beat out of your chest as you met his gaze, you saw his mouth moving but didn’t hear a word as you stared at him. (Y/N)?  (Y/N)? You there?” Arthur waved a hand infront of your face and you blinked in response.

“Huh?” you shook your head and saw Javier, Kieran, and Arthur were staring at you, “Yeah?”

“You zoned out there, thought we lost ya” Arthur and Javier chuckled, Kieran sat quiet.

“Oh goodness I’m sorry, I daydreamed for a second there. My apologies” You shook your hands in front of you, slightly flustered by your air headed session.

“As Arthur was saying, you’re a singer in Saint Denis?” Javier placed his guitar down gently and reached for a bottle that sat next to him.

“Yes! It’s how Arthur and I met” You regaled the story once again to Javier and Kieran, the Mexican was cool an collected, he held himself with pride and was always the first to laugh at Arthur telling a joke, Kieran on the other hand was quieter so as not to disturb anyone with his presence, he almost breathed in a silent way to make sure no one could know he was nearby.

“Would you want to sing something for the camp tonight? They get restless when drunk, restless and loud. I’d love to have a trained singer for once and not whatever these guys call singing” Javier chuckled as Arthur rolled his eyes.

“Why, Mister Escuella. I would love to” Your face brightened immensely, a smile wide across your cheeks, this would be the best situation to introduce yourself to the gang members and show them what you could do. What if they think you’re showing off? They’ll think you’re above them. They’ll hate you.

Arthur stared at you in awe, his mouth turning to a small smile, pride filling his eyes when he looked at this amazing woman so giddy, so ready to show yourself to his family. “You’ll do great (Y/N)” He gave you a reassuring look as you stood up to follow Javier.

“It was lovely meeting you Kieran” You gave Kieran a smile, looking him directly in the eyes to show him you meant it.

“Oh, th-thank you Miss (Y/LN)” He looked surprised, maybe he thought you’d forget about him like everyone seemingly does.

As you followed Javier and Arthur to the main fire where Sean ,Hosea, and other gang members had convened you swallowed hard. 

Please god let them like me.

[writefasttalkevenfaster]

Congrats on 1k!!!! You deserve it because you are truly a gifted writer! Could I request a hc on how Barba would feel as his wife being the defense attorney that is on the same case as him. Would it affect how he argues the case?

Omg you are so sweet! Thank you so much!!

Disclaimer: This would never happen, since one of them would have to recuse themselves from the case, since it’s a HUGE conflict of interest, but let’s bend the rules of the realities of the American legal systems a bit why don’t we ;).

Rafael Barba was used to squaring off against the usual attorneys, the usual victims of his legal prowess and wit, so to speak. 

There was Rita Calhoun, who he did miss working with when she was on their side, but it made all the more thrilling when he could one up her. Especially when he got to rub it in over drinks. 

There was Buchanan, who he utterly despised the presence of, as the man knew every dirty defense attorney trick in the book, and then some. 

And then there was you, a general nuisance with cheap paperwork tricks that kept him digging, and brilliant defenses that always had him considering deals, and sometimes taking them. The defense attorney that always managed to poke holes in his case: and then in his defenses, making it past to his heart. 

He did marry you after all. 

But there came the day he was kept waiting and waiting for Rita Calhoun to arrive, as you sat in the gallery, waiting for this arraignment to be over, so the two of you could grab lunch. 

“Judge, the People are not opposed to a continuance, we all have lives that we would like to return to,” As he spared another apologetic glance at you, catching the Judge’s attention. 

“Don’t you work at the same firm as Rita, Mrs. Barba?” And your attention snapped from Rafael to the Judge. “Could you handle this arraignment?” 

Rafael looked helplessly on, as you tried to keep an ounce of decorum, “Judge, wouldn’t that be inappropriate, considering-” But the Judge waved you off, explaining that it would be a greater injustice for this man’s trial to be rescheduled a fourth time, then it would for you to service as his arraignment lawyer. 

And it seemed he left you no choice, as Rafael shrugged, his attention snapping to the front, as he lost the demeanor of a caring husband, and assumed his prosecutorial stance. You were not his wife at this moment, but his adversary. “How does the defendant plead?” You whispered with your client for a few seconds, before clearing your throat. 

“Not guilty, Your Honor,” You answered. 

“People on bail?” And Rafael shifted his gears into action. 

“People request remand, Your Honor, the defendant is a flight risk, he was caught by detectives boarding a plane to Azerbaijan, a country not currently cooperating with U.S. extradition, he has connections both in and out of the country, and no real connections to the community.” Rafael replied, his prepared speech rolling off the tongue just as he had prepared this morning. He would get remand no problem. Or so he thought, until he saw a small smile curling on your lips. 

“Your Honors, my client was caught boarding a plane to Azerbaijan for a business trip, not to escape the country. He had no idea he was under suspicion for his wife’s murder and rape, as the detectives gave him no indication of any sort. And as for connections to the community, how about his daughter, who is right now in custody, but patiently waiting for her dad to be bailed out? To ask that this man be given remand would be a disservice to justice, especially after his hearing has been rescheduled how many times now, on top of having ill-prepared attorney now?” You crossed your arms. “Ordering remand on top of these circumstances would be a greater miscarriage of justice than if we rescheduled this arraignment another two times.” 

And the Judge considered your argument, “I agree, your client must surrender his passport, and wear an ankle bracelet, confined within his home. He also has to cough up $50,000 for bail. Court is adjourned.” 

And Rafael stood there, jaw hanging on the ground, as you shook hands with a man whose case you had been familiar with all of two minutes. 

And though court was adjourned, your time facing off with him in the courtroom sure wasn’t. 

As when you returned home from your firm, you had some news: they wanted you to stay on the case, as your now client, did not trust anyone else at your firm, much less any other attorney. 

Great, Rafael thought, holding his head, He would get to relive his early days of getting his ass handed to him by you. 

Noticing his pouting, you chuckled, “I’m starting to think half the reason you married me was so I couldn’t be on the other side of aisle.” Your arms looped around his neck, as his hung around your waist, pulling you taut against his body. 

He placed a sweet kiss on your lips, a wicked smirk pulling at his lips. “Half? More like the entire reason.” 

And with that Rafael had to start the case from scratch, b/c he knew you of all people weren’t going to give him an easy time. 

You had been working day and night on the case, leaving some morning before 6 AM and returning well after 5 PM. 

And it didn’t help that most days, you came home with a grin on your face, which unnerved him more than many of clients ever could.

He needed some more evidence and he needed it yesterday.

The trial started off with opening statements, and he did his usual spiel as always, but when it was your turn to get up, he quickly realized that this was not going to be difficult as he thought: it was much, much worse. 

But he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Within your opening statement, you had changed more than half the jury’s minds. 

Calling witnesses was no better, as you managed to tear apart their backgrounds from mouth to anus, and by the end, he wasn’t sure how much of a case they had. 

He had managed to bring it back with Carisi’s testimony along with the physical evidence, but you managed to sneak reasonable doubt into every other element in the crime, including the Prentice’s numerous affairs, business scandals, and overall dislikable demeanor. 

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, everything Mr. Barba said is true: Mr. Prentice is a scoundrel, a crook, and a cheat, but he is not a rapist not is he a murderer. Most of us handle our relationships as we do our business. There is a fine line, between personal and public,” You spared a glance at your husband, who simply rose an eyebrow, as he scrawled notes on his legal pad. “And that line should never be breached, but today it was, in the name of justice. But there would be no greater injustice than to place this man in jail. Mr. Prentice had no apparent reason to murder or rape his wife; they were going to counseling, she had no idea that her husband was cheating, in his business or in their marriage, so why kill her? Mr. Barba presented all this supposed evidence and framed around her husband, but what really differentiates this man’s picture from any other? Motive. And that’s the one thing Mr. Barba doesn’t seem to have an explanation for. If the frames are all the same, then the crime always fits. And though everything Mr. Barba said is true, but if we charge Mr. Prentice with this crime, then what could stop the state from charging you, or you, or you?” You stopped in from the jury foreman, turning on your heel to face them. “Nothing. Nothing at all.” 

And the verdict came around soon enough, three days spent inside, only to pop out and say they were deadlocked. And then finally, the call came. 

He watched as you entered the court, striding in with heels clicking against the marble floor. As you stood, you laid a comforting hand on your client’s shoulder, whispering some reassuring words in his ear. And he couldn’t help but smile. 

He remembered when he asked you why you had become a defense attorney, instead of a prosecutor, and you had paused, as he saw the façade and barriers melt away to real emotion, as you glanced up from your drink, and said: “No man, woman, or even child, wakes up one day and wants to commit murder. They are driven to it, by circumstances, mental illness, or abuse. And I believe they deserve a fair shake in court, the state already has so much power, and it won’t have me as a public servant, but as a worthy adversary.” 

And as the Judge told you to rise with the verdict, he saw you rise with your client, bearing the burden of the verdict together. “Madam Forewoman, what say you?” And she paused, looking up as she read from the note card. 

“We, the jury find the defendant…” And Rafael knew whatever the verdict, he would be content, because you were his adversary.

And he was so glad that he was worthy of being your husband. 

[canaryatlaw]

OKAY. so my entire day post is going to be put under a cut because the entire thing is WAY TMI, but there’s way too much shit that happened that I need to process and I already gave the sanitized language version of it on twitter but I can’t fully process it without getting into details. you have been warned- WAY TMI. 

okay, so. backstory, I woke up on Tuesday with stomach pain and ended up spending most of the day on the toilet. By the time I finished (like 7 hours later- yeah it was BAD) I noticed there was something weird going on down there, but I wasn’t really paying attention. Wednesday morning I was having a lot of pain and it occurred to me that maybe because of Tuesday I had a hemorrhoid (it only gets worse from here, so if that makes you squirm you should bail out now), but like, idk because I’ve never had one before and idk what they look like, so I googled it and shit and did their home remedy stuff, sitting on a ice pack helped, I did a “sitz bath” (which is basically sitting in four inches lukewarm water for 15 minutes), aloe vera, and really nothing helped. Woke up this morning and it was still bad. I showered because the warm water did help a bit, but I was getting suspicious at this point that something else was going on here, so I asked my mom to look at it and she was like WOW OKAY WE��RE GOING TO THE DOCTOR. And here lies the problem of trying to diagnose and treat your injuries off google, because I wouldn’t have known that other than my suspicions that hey there’s this giant bulge in my ass crack and it probably shouldn’t be there. my primary care couldn’t fit me in today but they recommended we go to the walk in clinic, so we do that and the doctor takes one look at that and is like “yeah this looks like a rectal prolapse and a hemorrhoid and you need to go to the ER right away” OH JOY. so if you’re not up on your scientific vocabulary, a rectal prolapse is basically when part of your digestive tract comes outside of your body and usually requires surgery to fix. wonder-fucking-ful. Thankfully we’re close to the local hospital that’s like, the number one trauma center on LI (it’s like two miles from my house so that’s always been convenient) so we go there and the urgent care people gave us a letter to give the triage people, but we still ended up waiting in the hallway for like an hour and a half, during which I was in pure misery, but the male nurse who drew my blood was sweet though and slightly flirty but in a nice and not a creepy way so there’s that at least. he left the needle in my arm because it sounded like I’d be needing it at some point. So eventually we get called, and taken into a section called the clinical decisions unit, where I guess is where they figure out if you need surgery or not. So I get in there and someone comes to look and is like OH YEAH LEMME GO GET THE DOCTOR because everyone seemed to agree this was high key bad, so they got doctors, and more doctors, they even took pictures and sent them to the head guy of the department, but the consensus was oh yeah, this needs surgery to fix. and at this point I’m just like fine, just get it done. they did give me some pain medication around 3 or so, which ended up by 5 mg of morphine, which took pretty much all my pain away and I only felt slightly woozy lol but that perked me up significantly and I was actually like talking and stuff instead of lying there looking like death. there was a bit of a wait for the OR so we had to chill for a while, then eventually I get brought in there and the surgeon comes and like, I had been thinking all day about watching The Resident and just how ridiculously easy it is for them to just straight up kill patients in routine surgeries and they have the one chief of surgery who’s got a hand tremor and is just like slicing organs open, and then in comes this guy who’s like the #1 in the department and has gray hair and I’m just like FUCK MY LIFE I hope I survive this lol (I know the show isn’t very realistic when it comes to that subject). So we’re getting ready, their general idea is that they’re just gonna cut the damn thing off because it looked infected and shit, so they go to check and the doctor is like “oh, uh, it’s gone” and I was like......”really? are you sure????” cuz apparently it slipped back in because that’s a thing that can happen, but they were like well we should still probably go ahead with the surgery because the hemorrhoid is still there and could pop back out, so we go for it, they decided to not do general anesthesia but do sedation, whatever the difference between those two is, so I was out anyway and I woke up after and they were like “yeah so turns out it wasn’t a hemorrhoid and he didn’t have to do any cutting or stitching” and I was like “....so then what did he do?” haha and I’m still not 100% sure about that one really, but they were more than happy to send me home which I was very thankful for because I did not want to spend part of my spring break in the hospital. so they got me out of there pretty quickly with a giant bandage on my butt that I’m not sure is serving any purpose at all really, but they told me to leave it on there until I shit again so I guess that’s what I’ll do. We got home, my mom went to pick up the percocet they called into the pharmacy for me but they were closed, a little while after my dad and my brother got home, my dad was speaking at this big thing tonight that he’s trying to launch at churches across the island about understanding the opioid epidemic and how to prevent it, and he said not quite as many people showed up as he would’ve liked but it was still good so that was good to hear. As far as how all this craziness started, I’ve in the past had episodes of like scathing stomach pain that make me feel like I have to go to the bathroom, but I usually end up cowering in pain on the toilet with nothing coming, until eventually something will give and it’ll all just pour out as liquid (again, I told you this is TMI) and like, it used to happen a lot more frequently when I wasn’t eating much and my regularity was thrown way off schedule (like once a week) but I don’t do that anymore and I take a fiber supplement every day because I’m on a high dose iron supplement thanks to me being super anemic, so it’s usually not an issue, it happened the night of my sister’s sweet 16 at the end of October but I think it’s only happened maybe once in the four months between then and now? And I did bring it up at my last gastroenterologist appointment but he didn't seem to think much of it and said it was probably just another muscle spasm (because he had just said my chest pain issues were probably caused by a muscle spasm). The doctor from the hospital tonight apparently recommended I get a colonoscopy done at some point to make sure everything is alright and in place, but idk if I’m gonna do that because I have a pretty good idea of just how this happened, plus I have a lot of like, traumatic memories about that stuff from when I was little and they thought I had Crohn’s disease (when it was actually just nightly cramps for an entire year before my period showed up) and being subjected to a bunch of really invasive stuff that I was not at all comfortable with so that’s not exactly gonna be on the top of my to do list. Other than that they said not to strain when going to the bathroom and eat a lot of fibre, so I’m gonna try harder to eat actual fiber and not just the shit in caplets, and try to make that work out better. and yeah, that is about it, after all that I chatted with friends for a bit then started getting ready for bed with this absurdly large bandage on my butt 😂 We’re supposed to go out to dinner to this super schmancy place (because my parents have a gift card to it) tomorrow to celebrate my brother and I’s birthdays (his was today but because of all the crazy we’re gonna celebrate this weekend) so hopefully that will work out. And oh yeah, since I turn 26 in 11 days, if this happened 11 days from now I would’ve totally FUCKED because I would’ve had no health insurance thanks to getting kicked off my parents plan at 26!!! Lovely *sigh*. And as much as it does suck to get sick on vacation, I am at least glad I was with my family and not in Chicago where I had nobody except like, Jess (and no offense to her in the slightest, because I’m sure she would’ve been great, but with this kind of thing a mom is just better suited for it), and that sounds kinda miserable. Okay, that’s the end for real now, I took my pills a while ago and now my eyes really want to shut and I’m going to listen to them. If you made it all the way through, thank you for suffering through all that TMI to find out how I’m actually doing, though I kinda doubt many of you will actually reach this far, lol, but I cannot blame you for that. Goodnight my dear friends. I hope your Thursday was a hell of a lot better than mine.

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

NOTE:  I hope you guys are still enjoying! Haven't had many reviews but I'm guessing that's mostly because of this fandom being a lot smaller now than when the movie/comic came out.

Knives was the first to react, and the most strongly. She scooted back a full foot, then forward again to grasp at my stony arm where it rested on the table. I could still see and hear everything, but couldn't move, couldn't react to any of it. What was this?

"Omigosh KIM! What happened? Oh no, her skin is all grey!"

"That's because she's stone," Stephen sighed patiently, gesturing for Steph to exit the booth so he could get up. "Hang on, I think I have a bottle of Soft left in the car."

Steph goggled at him as he started walking out of the restaurant. "Wait… you have a car?!"

Knives and Steph didn't say much while he was gone. Just kept looking at me worriedly. How could I blame them? This was really fucking weird, and my life had been pretty weird all around up until that point. Knives was more aware of it than I was, even. One thing bothered me, though…

He said 'again.'

Why didn't I remember this happening before? You'd think turning to stone would stick out in one's memory, but I literally couldn't remember. Lots of weird shit, but not becoming a statue in the middle of a restaurant. And I couldn't begin to suspect why… except that I had been feeling pretty isolated and wanted to close myself off from what we were discussing before that point. Maybe that had something to do with it. But I doubted I would get any solid answers, since life doesn't come with an instruction manual.

Maybe it's a previously-owned game.

Stephen got back, and he had a little alabaster bottle that looked like it belonged in a museum in his hand. Without even waiting for anyone to react, he pulled out the stopper and poured what felt like warm water over my head. After a few seconds, the stone encasing me began to crack and crumble, and then shattered, leaving me free to move.

"Oh thank GOD," was the first thing I gasped out before I rubbed my jaw, which was the only part of my body that continued to feel stiff for some reason. I noticed Steph picking up one of the rock flecks that had broken off when the potion cured my condition.

"Ewwww."

Knives leaned a little closer and stroked my cheek, which gave me a weird flutter in the pit of my stomach. "Ooh, and now your skin is so soft… OH! Is that why they call the potion that?"

"Yeah, but only because anything is softer than she was a minute ago," Stephen grunted. I noticed the bottle had vanished into thin air once its contents were drained. "God, you're lucky I still had some left over from the last time…"

"Yeah… about that," I started. "What are you talking about?"

He snapped his fingers. "Right, you were passed out when it happened. This was at that Christmas party, the year before we met Knives?"

"Oh yeah…" Some weird sense of deja vu was creeping up my spine as he started talking about it. "That was a weird night. In fact, I could swear… I didn't wake up for a couple days…"

"You were still getting used to hanging around Scott again. Because of the history. Anyway, I could tell you weren't totally fine with him hanging around, but didn't fully get why since we didn't know each other very well yet. Anyway… eventually, the Christmas party at Comeau's house was where shit really hit the fan.

"So much eggnog was in your system, and you were jealous that Scott was hitting on Julie — or maybe just annoyed," he conceded when I glared daggers at him. "I don't fucking know. But yeah, I could tell you were really upset, and Scott asked you some question about how many Eiffel Towers it would take to reach the moon, and you just let him have it. Right there, in the middle of the party, you started tearing him apart about everything he was constantly fucking up or doing that got on your nerves. Never made it about the breakup, but you were really laying into him and you didn't care who heard you. He kind of shrugged it off, because he was already two gee-and-tees in and didn't have the headspace to understand the points you were trying to make, and that only pissed you off worse. So you bailed. An hour later, I went upstairs to check on you… and found a Kim statue lying in one of the beds."

"Damn," Steph breathed with wide eyes.

I had a sneaking suspicion why that had happened. Both times. But hell no was I ever going to admit it to either of them. "Alright, so I was a statue. How'd you get these bottles of stuff?"

"Soft. It was Scott, actually; he was useless until the next morning, but when Julie straight-up accused him of being to blame he stepped up. Like he does when he has no choice but to step up. I won't get into the whole thing, but he basically was told by a talking owl that he had to place six crystals in a statue and go inside the temple next to it to defeat Negascott and his pet pig, or something. Anyway, the pig had a bunch of bottles of Soft. If he didn't lose them in the move, I think Scott might still have one of them, too."

The table was pretty much speechless. I mean, what do you say to that? After a minute or two, I finally managed to say, "Has… this ever happened again? Am I a perpetual gorgon-victim, or what?"

"Nah, just twice."

"Oh. Well… that's something."

"What does it feel like?" Knives asked, eyes completely round.

"Um, weird. I don't really know how to describe it; just couldn't move." The way they were all staring at me set my newly-freed skin crawling, so I stood up from the booth. "Listen, I think I'm gonna take off. It's been weird, as usual."

"Wait! I can come with!" But I shook my head. "I can't come with?"

Swallowing down a sarcastic comment, I managed to simply say, "Later." Then I was off into the night.

                                                          ~ o ~

Whatever was going through my head, I didn't try any harder to get into contact with Knives. Still. But my conscience didn't yell at me too badly for ditching her, since at least I didn't start telling her to stop hanging around me all the time, or demand to know why she would want to in the first place. I kept it to a single word to mark my departure and bailed.

A couple days later, the stray showed up during my work shift. The minute I saw her, I felt regret about Sneaky Dee's but didn't bring it up. And neither did she.

"So my dad gave me this movie," she began as she pulled a DVD out of her red-and-blue-striped purse, as if we had been talking all day and she only left to get the movie and come back. "It's supposed to be some epic story of samurai and all this stuff… I dunno. Anyway, I figured you didn't seem to hate the Shaolin movie, so we could try this? If you wanna."

With a slight shrug of my shoulder, I nodded at the player under the counter. But the minute she was bent over it with her back turned, I let myself smile. Maybe I hadn't messed up everything, after all.

A little while after it started, I grew some goddamn balls and said, "Hey… sorry about the other night."

"Hmm?"

"You know. Ditching you and the Stephs."

"Oh," she laughed with a grin. "The Stephs." What a loser. "And it's fine. You just went through being a statue, so I think it's normal to feel weird." We could have left it at that, except she added in a whisper, "I'm just glad you're alright."

Now I had to say more. The part of me that hated confronting feelings was hoping to get out of it with the apology and go back to the movie, but my conscience was being a noisy bitch. "No, it's not 'fine'." That got her attention more than anything. She turned more fully on the counter and cocked her head to one side. Waiting for me to continue. I scratched the back of my head. "Uh… I'm… Stop looking at me, okay?!"

"Sorry!" she breathed, turning away again.

"Okay. So the thing is… I think you know by now that I tend to be an asshole. And don't try to tell me I'm not," I headed her off when she took a breath. "But it's just… how I react to things. I don't even know why you like hanging out with me in the first place, really; I'm so… toxic."

"I don't think 'toxic' is fair," she said with a pout. "But, um, you seem to have something else to say?"

"No, that was it." Even though it wasn't. Not really. But the last part took care of most of it.

"Well, I like hanging out with you. The way you look at stuff can be pretty funny sometimes, and other times you're just super smart. Or not smart, but… wise."

"I'm wise? What are you talking about?"

Picking at the hem of her boot, Knives thought over her words for a moment as the subtitles flashed past in front of some black-and-white Asian dudes with serious expressions. "Like, you understand the world or something. In ways I don't yet."

What Steph had been telling me about Knives needing a 'role model' came back to me, full force. But I also thought that wasn't completely fair; Knives might have been a little naïve, a little pie-eyed and puppyish, but she wasn't an actual child. We were having a serious conversation and she was totally holding her own. Maybe none of us had given her enough credit. Especially not me.

"I don't understand shit," I told her softly. "Except that… for whatever 'only Chaus understand' reason you have, you seem to not hate me. And I want you to know… uh…" My shoulders rose and fell. "Ditto."

Her smile turned wider, and I had to look away completely and stay looking away. My cheeks were getting hot again, even though I knew — knew that I was just trying to tell her she was my friend. Despite how it felt. Despite how much I liked seeing that her face lit up when I said that.

"Kim?"

"What?"

"You're not an asshole." We both laughed a little, her more than me, and she reached down to squeeze my forearm. Then turned back to the TV.

However, after that point, I had a lot of trouble focusing on the movie. My brain was preoccupied with how she had touched me, both emotionally and physically. This one little knife that cut through my defenses so easily I might as well have been a pat of butter.

                                                           To Be Continued…

[aliaisreal]

Seventh Kiss: On the lips/The afternoon when the impossible happened.

Created: March 6, 2017

Edited: April 27, 2017

Note: Seventh Part/ Ending. Fun fact: This is probably the longest with 11k characters and 2k words… Shocker, right? After 9k+ words, 53k+ characters, 36 pages on word, I am glad to say that this series will officially end here. Thank you for your patience in reading this (I don’t even know who’s gonna read this so either way, thanks!) Oh and don’t make Elijah read this. He might puke his guts out.

Prompt: Seventh Kiss: On the lips/The afternoon when the impossible happened.

**

‘Where are they?’ Elijah peered over the empty corridor, watching keenly for his friends to show up. He couldn’t have mistaken the corridor his friends always walk on since it is the one that led towards their different dorm, it is their main crossroad.

After a few more gruesome minutes, he finally spotted Aila and Harli animatedly arguing about something. He waited as they neared the closet, grabbing the opportunity by yanking both of them inside.

“What the-?” Harli mumbled as they immediately looked for their captor only to sigh in relief when they saw the culprit. The relief was soon then turned into annoyance when they realized they were stuffed inside of a closet.

“What on earth are you doing, Elijah?” Aila hissed. “If this is some payback from that last time-” Aila stopped when she realized she was being ignored, huffing while she watched him go back to his stealth mode, finding Mon, Roger, and Ria chatting about something.

Quickly, he managed to grab Mon’s wrist and pulled her towards the closet; Roger, being near to Mon, acted impulsively as he seized her wrist, doing nothing of help, while Ria did the same thing, ending up by being dragged inside the closet.

“Sectum-”

“Mon, it’s me!” Elijah quickly said before he got hit by a slicing spell.

Mon’s eyebrows furrowed as she glanced around, only to see Aila huffing in annoyance while Harli was glaring at Elijah.

Roger scratched his head in confusion while Ria raised her eyebrow dangerously.

“Start talking, shorty.” Ria shot up, taking out her wand in the process, threatening Elijah. “Why the random kidnapping or I swear to Morgan that I will literally shred you to pieces.”

“Right,” Mon sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to calm herself. “What she said, Lychee. Start explaining.”

“I need your help,” Elijah vaguely answered to which earned him death glares that had him shrinking on the spot if it weren’t for the fact that they were all squeezed inside the closet.

“That’s not an explanation,” Ria said, violet sparks are emitting out of her wand to which Mon held her hand to prevent the Ravenclaw from producing bloodshed. “If you needed our help so badly, why go the trouble of kidnapping instead of asking us like normal person?”

“Everywhere I go, she’s always there.” Elijah said, ruffling his hair in frustration causing his friends to share a look with each other, Harli being a Legilimens, was the only one who had understood what he is saying. “It’s as if the creeper knows where I am.” He continued, clearing the confusion.

“Hold up,” Aila interrupted suddenly. “You dragged us here because you didn’t want for Cindy to find you?”

“Well, he’s got many reasons to avoid Cindy,” Roger piped up. “I mean, whenever he’s with us, she’s like popping out of nowhere like a mushroom.”

Elijah watched as his friends easily fell into a conversation about him and Cindy, talking as if he wasn’t even present. (Sometimes, he does wonder if pureblooded families do this- gossip about other wizarding families- they doesn’t have a big gap with the muggles if that’s the case.)

“Guys,” he called their attention. “I’m right here, I can hear your conversations thank you very much. Stop believing rumors, Ria, I didn’t have sex with Cindy in some bathroom.”

They all stopped and reverted their attention to him.

“Well?” Harli asked. “Are you gonna tell us why you decided to stuff us in this small closet or do you want me to tell them about your dilemma about Cindy?”

Elijah almost wanted to hit his head on the wall. Why does he keep on forgetting that Harli can read his mind?

“What is it this time?” Aila groaned. “Did he just seriously dragged us here to talk about how he finally have this and I quote, weird feeling he can’t describe? Or is he here to talk about the kisses exchanged between them which will ultimately lead to an emotion opening up ceremony? Because if it does, you should’ve told us. We would have gotten the pillows and built the forts, complete with complimentary drink from Harli’s family vineyard.” Aila said sarcastically complete with a roll of the eyes.

Everyone stared at her, four pairs of eyes had the look of awestruck while the last pair of eyes had the look of inquisition.

“What?”

“How’d you know that?”

“She’s an empath, Elijah.” Mon explained. “The Leighton clan had that notable skill paired with Occlumency. They are a talented pureblooded family that you don’t wanna mess with unless you’re powerful yourself.” She said. “You didn’t know?”

Elijah shook his head. “I thought only Harli’s the talented one.”

Roger feigned hurt as he placed a hand on his chest. “You wound us, Elijah. Mon’s a metamorphmagus, I’m an Occlumens, and well, Harli’s Legilimens.”

Elijah groaned. “How come you guys get the good stuff?”

Ria patted his back sympathetically. “Oh the perks of being a pureblood, eh?”

Elijah turned to her. “So you don’t know what I’m about to tell you?” he asked, hopeful, earning a flick of her finger to his forehead.

“Ow,”

“Are you dumb? You and Cindy shared five kisses already and you had the guts to ask me that I don’t know what you’re up to?”

The Gryffindor crinkled his nose in annoyance as he muttered something under his breath.

“Speak up, shorty. We can’t hear you.”

“I said, it was six okay?”

His friends glanced at each other, sharing the same confusion on their faces.

Six kisses? 

“Oh that can’t be.” Aila spoke up, breaking the silence. “I know that your first kiss was in the library-”

“-your second was in the Great Hall-” Ria added.

“-third is in the kitchens-”

“-fourth- hold on.” Harli stopped himself as he looked at Elijah in disbelief. “Your second kiss was in the infirmary?” he asked for confirmation to which he just groaned at.

“Can you stop reading my mind?”

“Must be true then,” Ria mumbled. “But-” realization dawned on her face. “We were at McGonagall’s office.” She stated to which he nodded at.

Roger held up his hand in confusion. “Okay, so you guys shared six kisses- none of which on the lips, I might add- what do you want us to do? Eliminate her for you since she tainted your innocence?”

Elijah furrowed his eyebrows. “What, no!” he exclaimed which earned looks of suspicion from his comrades.

Aila smiled slyly. “My, my… look at you. Ever since I introduced her to you, you were all like ew-get-away-from-me-creeper and now here you are, given with the opportunity to ditch her for good and your reaction suggests otherwise.”

“That’s it?” Ria asked incredulously. “You could have just dragged Aila into this, she might’ve figured out your problem-”

“-which one?” Roger muttered. “Guy’s have a ton of problems.” He said, earning snickers from the rest of the group.

“Aw come on,”

They all sobered up as Ria placed an arm around his shoulder. “You know, the mere fact that you went all through the trouble of kidnapping all of us just to talk about your dilemma with Cindy is a proof enough.”

“Proof of what?”

The rest of them groaned as Aila proceeded to leave the room, heaving out a heavy sigh.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” The Gryffindor called after her.

“I’m getting claustrophobic. Figure out your own problem!” she called back, her robes swishing as she briskly walk.

He stared at his friends in disbelief as one by one, his friends proceeded on leaving him all on his own, not without a hard pat on his back (Mon and Ria made sure they paid him back for ruining their afternoon.), Harli being last.

“We all have a bet going on and I hate to be disqualified if I were to help you.” He stated, getting ready to run for his life for the information he is giving the troubled boy. “If it really bothers you so much, look for Cindy and tell her what your issue is. Maybe she’ll be able to help you.”

And with that, his so called friend left him alone in a dusty closet.

Elijah scoffed. And you call yourselves my friends?

**

“You seemed to have a lot on your mind,”

Elijah jumped slightly, turning around only to see Cindy grinning at him. When she saw the seriousness on her face, her grin faltered. “Is something bothering you?” she asked. “Oh wait, I know. It’s my presence, isn’t it? Alright, I can take a hint.” She assumed as she acted on leaving but was stopped when he reached to grab her hand.

“Wait,” Elijah mumbled. “I just really need to ask someone a question, and since my friends bailed on me, maybe you can answer it.”

Cindy raised an eyebrow. (Huh, that’s a first,) “Really? You don’t have other friends aside from them?”

He hesitated for a bit. “Well, there some chaps I’m acquainted with but I doubt they’ll be able to answer it so… just indulge me, will ya?”

Cindy studied him for a bit, he’s been acting stranger these past week and she may have blamed it with the exams and the end of the term perhaps but this is way strange even from him.

“Alright, shoot.” she finally answered.

“Why do I feel this way when I’m around you?” he asked, making Cindy’s stomach drop. “Why is it that you’re the only one who makes me wanna pull my hair out, and be confused all at the same time? I mean, my friends do it all the time but they never made my heart racing at the mention of you. They never made me feel this way. I couldn’t explain it and I was hoping-”

His rant was interrupted by Cindy fisting the collar of his uniform, pulling him closer, leaving no place for space in between as she gently placed her lips onto his.

After a few minutes, he decided to throw caution to the wind and kissed her back, deepening it, confirming what she had assumed from his mini rant.

She pulled back, panting for the lack of oxygen. “Wow, I knew you liked me but not to that extent.”

“Oh shut up,” Elijah never felt this peaceful before. Nor did he feel content.

“Have I answered your question?” Cindy sobered up, biting her lip nervously. After all, Elijah is an unpredictable-predictable person.

He looked thoughtful. “Hmm, I suppose yes but could you indulge me with one last?”

Cindy looked at the great clock. She’s supposed to leave that afternoon since the term had just ended.

“Let’s hear it,”

Elijah paused. After another heartbeat, he uttered the question he never would’ve thought asked.

“Will you go out with me?”

**

“You all know what you’re gonna do this summer…” Aila sang gleefully, giving Roger a high five as the five of them reached platform nine and three quarters. 

Elijah had gone ahead the moment he saw his sister, leaving the five of them on their own.

They had a bet going around about where Elijah would confess. After all, they are all smarter and more insightful. They knew better than to bet about whether Elijah will confess or not so they settled on the locations instead.

Mon and Harli had bet on the library, Ria had bet on Great Hall, while Roger and Aila guessed on the Courtyard.

Their usual wager includes five galleons and a sacrifice of summer break, doing whatever the winner wants. And since Roger and Aila won the bet, the three groaned as they imagined doing ridiculous tasks. Oh well. At least Elijah had managed to work out everything in the end then everything else doesn’t matter anymore.