#i just wanted some goddamn deodorant why do i need to phone a friend to get it

[dumdumsun]

Forever and Never

A/N: A long one because it was a fun one. My absolute favorite chapter!

Warnings: mentions of marijuana, rape, blood and violence

Word Count: 6135

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Six: The Breakfast Club

“What are you thinking about?”

“H-Huh? What do you mean?”

“You’re smiling for the first time today. What are you thinking about?”

“...Stan.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apparently, I had slept through all of my alarms because when I awoke the next day, it was almost nine. Cursing aloud, I sprang out of bed and zoomed to my closet, ripping out any clothes I could find. Not having time to pull together something totally retro as per usual, I threw on a maroon hoodie, wedged into blue skinny jeans, and slipped on my white sneakers. I applied deodorant and stuck a piece of gum into my mouth before slinging my backpack on. The school was a fifteen-minute walk from my house. I was going to be so fucking late. I was skipping every other step on my way downstairs when I heard a voice call out to me.

“Whoa, you’re still here?”

On my right was Jacob, sitting in the living room and watching television. He stood from the couch and slowly approached me with a smirk. “What are you doing here still?”

“What are you doing here still?”

“I don’t have classes today, Bug,” He lightly teased before gently pushing me towards the door. “Let’s go before you miss anymore school. Hopefully, you don’t get detention.”

“I won’t, Jake.”

I did. As soon as I opened the door to my English class, all eyes were on me like a newcoming circus act. Ms Anderson’s eyes cut to me the second I stepped in and before I knew it, she was stomping towards me, gently ushering me out of the room with her. When we were alone, she crossed her arms and stared down at me. I felt like a child getting scolded for breaking an expensive vase or something. “(Y/N), this is your fourth tardy this month.”

“I know…”

“Is there something we need to talk about?”

There are so many things I need to talk about.

“No… I just… um… I-It’s been a rough few days…”

“Well, I would let this slide, but I’ve already broken the rules twice for you. I’m sorry, dear, but I’m going to have to give you detention. Okay?”

Dammit, Jake… “Okay, fine. Can I just go back to class now?” I sighed. My teacher nodded and opened the door for me. Stepping inside, I was met with the smiles of Dina, Stan and Ricky all directed towards me. I returned the smiles towards my two friends before taking my seat beside Dina. Throughout class, two eyes bore into the back of my head, and I tried my best not to turn and look at who they belonged to. He was catching on. On my way to choir, I heard Ricky calling out to me. He was pushing and shoving past students until he was by my side.

“Babe, what’s been going on with you?” He gently nudged me, but my eyes stayed trained forward. “Oh, so the silent treatment… Are you gonna tell me what I did or am I gonna have to figure it out?” Silence. “Right, okay. I get it. Hey, listen, when you’re out of your bitchy mood, make sure to come talk to me.” And with that, he turned and walked in the opposite direction. Letting out a breath, I slowed my pace along with the beat of my heart. I never wanted anyone to dictate the way I felt, the way my anxiety sky-rocketed when they were around. But it seemed I was letting Ricky do everything to me.

When lunchtime rolled around, I wanted nothing more than to eat my first meal of the day. All throughout English and choir, my stomach had been curling into itself and I felt stupid for not at least grabbing a granola bar before I left home. After grabbing my food, I joined Stan at a near-vacant lunch table. He had been mindlessly picking at his lunch when I sat across from him. “Good afternoon, beautiful.” I whispered. Hearing my voice, he didn’t need to look up.

“Hey, (Y/N)...”

“(Y/N)? Whoa, what’s wrong?”

“Uh, it’s just Syd. She won’t talk to me…”

A pang of jealousy went through my heart. Knowing we’d never talk about our kiss the other night didn’t prevent my wave of disappointment whenever he mentioned Sydney. I mean, how do you even kiss a girl and then talk about a totally different one days later? As much as I love Stan, he could be an idiot sometimes…

I hadn’t even noticed I was spacing out until his voice spoke loud enough for me to snap back into reality. He had been staring at me with raised brows, an expectant look on his face. “O-Oh, sorry… Uh, do you wanna hang out later? Like, when we get home?” I calmly asked, my eyes flickering to the fading bruise decorating his eye. He shifted in his seat and returned back to his lunch.

“Um… I’ll see.” He mumbled, my throat constricting at his words.

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

Whitaker watched me like a hawk as I turned into the girls’ restroom.

“Don’t think I don’t know that trick, (Y/L/N)! You better get to the gymnasium as soon as you’re done!”

“Yes, sir.” I mumbled and closed the door behind me. To be honest, I didn’t think he knew that trick and was absolutely planning on spending the entirety of my detention in the restroom. Letting out a sigh, I leaned against the wall and texted Jacob.

Me: I got detention. Pick me up at 7 please?

Jake: Haha! I’ll be there, don’t worry

Jake: And don’t try hiding out in the bathrooms. Whitaker knows that trick

Me: Noted

Pocketing my phone, I pushed the door open and trudged to the gym. Even with the doors closed, I could hear Whitaker screaming at whoever else was inside. With a small groan, I lazily used my body to open one of the doors, the principal’s voice quieting as the screech of the hinges echoed throughout the room.

“Ms (Y/L/N), I would have thought that after getting detention for tardiness, you’d learn to be more punctual. Take a seat!” Whitaker boomed. Rolling my eyes, I moved over to the bleachers, surprised to see Sydney, Stan, Brad, Dina and… Jenny Tuffield.

I could be irritated with people all I wanted, but I never completely ignored or even spat insults or such at them, unless they truly did something to hurt me or the ones I care about. Hence the reason I ignore Ricky. But Jenny brought out a side of me I really despised. It was a side of myself that thought of the worst things to say and spewed them out without hesitation, resulting in a back-and-forth war between the two of us. It usually ended with death threats and flipping the birds to each other, but we’ve never physically fought. That could change one day, who knows? I could feel her sickening smirk as I passed her to sit in front of Stan, who looked bewildered to see that I was here with him in detention. I patted his knee before turning back to Whitaker, who had been waiting for me to do as I was told. Satisfied, he continued on.

“Now that you all are here,” He cut me a look. “I want you to take the next few hours and think about your mistakes. And carve out in your mind a plan for change. Determine how to improve yourselves. Define what the word ‘respect’ means to you.”

Get a job, dude…

“Now you can start by respecting this beautiful gymnasium. Between now and seven p.m., you’re gonna scrape up every goddamn piece of gum from the bleachers,” He stepped forward and slammed a box down in front of us, no doubt full of the tools needed for our manual labor. The six of us all rolled our eyes as Whitaker stepped back again. “Get started.”

“Uh, Mr Whitaker, sir,” I heard Stan from behind me. “Um… Will there be a break for snacks or dinner?”

Silence was his answer. Whitaker stared at Stan as if he’d just asked him to lick his shoes before exiting the gym. From behind me, I felt him lean forward towards Sydney, picking up on their very quiet and very short exchange.

“Hey, I’m really sorry-”

“No. I’m not talking to you, okay?”

Reaching over, I tugged on Stan’s jacket sleeve, the boy shuffling so that our faces were right beside each other. “What are you doing in here?”

“I called File a motherfucker.”

“You- What?”

“Okay,” Dina’s voice interrupted us, causing everyone to turn to her as she stood from her spot beside Brad. “I know none of us wanna be here right now, but I was thinking, if we divide and conquer the bleachers, maybe we could be done before seven and Whitaker will let us out early, so…” Her suggestion earned a smile from her boyfriend and a sarcastic remark from Jenny, who I nearly forgot even existed. She clapped her hands, everyone turning to her.

“Go team!” She mimicked your everyday cheerleader as Dina sat back down, a look of irritation on her face.

“I’m not a cheerleader.”

“Maybe you should be.”

“Maybe you should be in prison.”

“Ooh. That’s my wet dream…” She drawled out, running her tongue over her top teeth. I rolled my eyes and turned my head away.

“I don’t know, guys,” Stan spoke up. “This gum has been here for decades. I don’t think Whitaker actually checks. It’s just a social experiment, like a simulation.”

“Oh. Well, someone’s been smoking their supply.” Brad quipped. I narrowed my eyes and was about to give a sly remark when Jenny interrupted.

“You know what?” She whipped her body around to face us all, that wicked smile stretched across her face. “I have an idea. Why don’t we play Fuck, Marry, Kill?”

I couldn’t help myself. “What are you, thirteen?” I snarled. Our fellow delinquents stared between us with unease. “You say it like we’re about to huff some fucking gasoline. Are you supposed to be some kind of badass?”

Her eyes slid over to me, her grin widening. “Awe, Zip, I haven’t spoken to you in so long, I thought you died…”

“I wish you died…”

“So, who goes first?” Her head snapped towards everyone else, her finger moving towards each person in the room. “Eenie… meenie… miney… Brad.” She whispered out. Brad looked towards his girlfriend.

“Guess if I had to-”

“No. Not another word.” Dina shook her head.

“Oh, what about you, Miss Goody-Goody? Or are you too afraid to play?” Jenny gave a fake pout.

“Why would I be afraid?”

“Cool then. Fuck, Marry, Kill. Stanley Barber… Mr Whitaker… and… Syd.”

“Well, clearly, I’m killing Whitaker.”

“So are you gonna fuck Syd or marry her?”

Dina exhaled through her nose before looking to her right, eyes locking with Sydney. “Total life goal to marry your best friend, if Syd’ll have me.” She softly spoke, bringing a small smile to my face at their soft exchange. Of course, though, Jenny had to ruin it.

“Oh, so then it’s you and Stan in an all-day bone sesh. Ugh, you little slut.”

So over the sound of her fucking voice, I threw my head back in annoyance. “Jesus Christ, Jenny, you are so fucking boring!”

“No need to tell him about it,” She laughed tauntingly. “I’m guessing you wanna go next, since you got my attention. Or are you saving all of the sex and marriage for your little boyfriend?”

“Oh, bite me.”

“Ooh, where?”

Snapping, I slapped my hand down on the space beside me, my gaze set and locked on her. “No one gives a shit about you, Jenny!”

“And people care about you, Zip?! Where’s your fucking dad?!”

Fire in my eyes, I lunged towards her, but felt hands grabbing onto my shoulders and sitting me back down. The hands soothingly rubbed my arms as Jenny cackled. “Come on, (Y/N), it’s just all fun here… Now, for you, your very own Ricky Berry… Stan… and Dina.”

Scratching my cheek, I rolled my eyes so far back, I could feel them do a three-sixty rotation. “Fucking hell, you never give up. Fine, I’d marry Dina, fuck Stan, kill Ricky.”

Jenny lowly whistled as the hands on my arms slowly slid away. “But Zip, I thought you two were in love,” Her grin was something of evil as her brows bounced. “You guys had so much fun, fucking at his party. Oh! Or is it because you were drunk off your ass and he wasn’t?”

“Jenny, shut the fuck up-”

“No consent whatsoever… Boyfriend of the year…”

Having Jenny see me break down in front of everyone was not a moment in time I’d ever want to experience. She already got what she wanted, a reaction from me. She didn’t need a bonus. So, standing to my feet, I darted to the locker room, trying my best to block out Jenny’s laughing. I couldn’t help the tears that cascaded down my cheeks as I stood in front of one of the mirrors, hastily wiping them away.

Why are you letting her get to you? Why are you letting Ricky get to you? He can’t hurt you anymore, stop crying about it!

The creaking of the door sent my body into a stiffened, frozen state. That was, until I heard his voice, “Hey, lovely…” Turning my head to Stan, I sighed out.

“Hey, beautiful…” I sniffled as he made his way over to me. We stood in a comfortable silence, Stan understanding that I needed a moment to compose myself. “S-Sorry about that. You know I just fucking hate her guts-”

“No, I get it. We all hate her guts.” He cracked a smile. I quietly chuckled and stuffed my hands into my hoodie pockets. “Do you wanna talk about it, (Y/N)?”

“Not really… I don’t wanna think about it right now…”

“I know, but, like, it’s good to talk to someone about… you know, traumatic things that happen so it doesn’t bottle up-”

“Yeah, I know, Stan, I just can’t- I can’t think about it right now. We can do it, like, later… Not at school.”

He slowly nodded. “Totally. I understand. So… you ready to head back out? We’re not actually scraping gum. So we can just sit and talk.”

“I’d love to just sit and talk with you.”

Ten minutes later, everyone was spread out, Syd more than anyone. I had no idea where she’d gone, but apparently she stormed out shortly after I did. I guess Jenny knew how to get under everyone’s skin that day. Said girl was sitting against a brick wall away from the bleachers, where the other two pairs of us were. Brad and Dina were hugged up on each other, whispering into each other’s ears and quietly laughing. Stan and I were on the edge of the bleachers, the boy stretched across the one on the first level, and I on the second. As he fiddled with his rubix cube, my index finger reached out and gently traced his facial features. I started off with his brow, careful of his wound on the edge. It was clearing up and that caused a smile to appear on my face. Next, I let my fingertip brush across his lashes and he furrowed his brows, trying to focus on his cube. My finger then glided down the bridge of his nose. I quietly laughed when his eyes comically crossed to look at my finger. With a giggle, Stan jutted his chin upwards to gently kiss my fingertip. “Stop distracting me.”

My hand lazily dropped to his hair as I whispered out an apology. Not too long afterwards, I heard a voice quietly call out Stan’s name, but he was too fixated on his toy. My eyes looked to Sydney, who was standing in the doorway, desperately trying to get the boy’s attention. When she called out to him again, he actually looked at her. Looking between the two of us, she frantically motioned for Stan to come outside. When he only raised a brow, she did it again. Letting out a sigh, he wordlessly handed me his cube before sitting up and following Syd out of the gym, closing the door behind him to allow them privacy. Puffing out a sigh, I began playing with the multicolored cube in my hands. I never was very good with rubix cubes, my patience always ran too thin to finish them. That time didn’t seem to be an exception, either, because minutes in, I set it down and rested my head down to hopefully sleep off the rest of detention.

As I began to doze off, I heard the double doors screech upon Sydney’s arrival. She anxiously walked past me over towards the other side of the gym, where Dina and Brad had moved to suck face. I heard her call out to her friend a few times before she loudly spoke, “Look, Dina, I need a tampon right now.”

“Just dig in my bag.”

“I… I do need you, but for… but for something else.” She stuttered out. And with that, the two exited the gym. Suspicious about what my friends were plotting without me, I slowly sat up from my lying position and sat normally on the bleacher, waiting for one of them to come back. Hearing footsteps approach me, I knew it either had to be Brad or Jenny, and I was praying to the stars it was the former. As unusual as it sounded. The bleacher moaned under Brad’s weight as he sat beside me.

“Hey, Zip,” He greeted with a smile. I side-eyed him for a second before turning my gaze to my shoes. Scoffing, he shifted his legs. “You’re ignoring me now? Oh, come on. We’re friends, Zip. Good friends.”

“We are not friends, Bradley,” I almost laughed. “You’re friends with Ricky and I want nothing to do with him, so… I guess you know where the two of us stand.”

“Okay, well… Regardless, as Ricky’s best friend, I can say for him that what he did was fucked up. Right?”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“Right! But listen, we all make mistakes, Zip. Ricky really loves you, you know that, right? He would never do anything to hurt you.”

I was silent for a bit, only to prevent myself from decking Brad in the nose. “Well, he clearly didn’t love me enough. Not enough to respect my right to consent-”

“Zip-”

“And you know what, Brad?” I slowly stood to my feet. “I’ve had enough of you defending everything he does! You can tell Ricky to get lost and leave me the hell alone!”

Before he could utter another word, I marched straight through the double doors. Three figures stood ahead, and I was more than ready to push past them, but I recognized each of them. Halting in my tracks, I saw Dina, Syd and Stan all nervously staring at me. Confused, I put my weight on both my feet. “Uh… what’s going on?”

Dina was the first to answer. “We… need your help distracting the janitor to get his keys.”

“W-What? Why?”

“Well, Stan and Syd hooked up in the library and got it on camera-”

“You guys hooked up again?” I turned to my best friend, who quickly turned to Sydney. She frowned and stood up straighter.

“You told her?”

“S-She’s my best friend! She tells me when she has sex!”

Widening my eyes, I let out a scoff. “I had sex, I don’t have sex.”

“Well, whatever, can you do it?” Sydney changed the subject. I looked between the three in confusion.

“Okay, but why me?”

“Because you have boobs. Like, a nice size.”

“Uh-”

“And,” Dina cut in. “Because you’re a great actress. The best out of all of us.”

My lips quirked up into a small smile, Dina satisfied that she boosted my confidence enough for me to accept. Lucky for them, my locker was just across from the gym, so I unlocked it and pulled out a spare tee. ‘Can’t seduce anyone wearing that’, Dina told me.

Shortly after, Stan and I were in a corner as I changed my top. He was nervously staring down at his shoes as I pulled my hoodie off. “I didn’t want you to be the distraction. Are you sure you’ll be okay doing this?”

“I’m not seducing him, Stan,” I chucked my hoodie towards him. He looked up to catch it, but as soon as his eyes raked over my almost bare chest, they darted downwards again. “That’s just a back-up plan.”

“O-Oh, okay…” He nodded as I pulled my shirt on.

Minutes later, I entered the classroom Carl the Janitor had been cleaning. He looked up at me and nodded. “Hey, (Y/N).”

“Hi, Carl. Listen. So, I kinda snuck out of rehearsal earlier and I need to get back into the auditorium. But guess what? The door’s locked. I really don’t want Ms Turner to find me out. Do you think you could help me? Please?” I tapped my fingertips together as he sighed.

“You know I can get in trouble doing that…”

“I-I know, but it would mean so much to me. I promise I won’t get you caught.”

“Well, what about the back entrance? She never locks those doors.”

He was right. Clearing my throat, I looked to the side. “W-Well, she did today…”

His eyes narrowed in suspicion for what felt like forever before relenting, handing his ring of keys over. “Okay, just get them back to me in twenty minutes.”

“You’re the best, thank you.” I grinned and stepped out of the room. Swinging around the corner, I found Dina and Syd waiting for me. Upon my arrival, they both grinned. “Nothing wrong with asking politely, ladies. We got less than twenty.” I cheekily smiled, handing the keys over to Sydney. Dina chuckled and crossed her arms as I took my hoodie from Syd and pulled it back on.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“The plan is quite simple.” Stan’s voice appeared as he approached us, two microwavable burritos in his hands.

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“First, we distract Whitaker with burritos. I’m gonna put these in the microwave and blast these bad boys up on high, and then…”

The explosion muffled by the closed door was enough to get Mr Whitaker rushing out of the teachers’ lounge. “What the hell- What the hell is goin’ on down there?! Jesus!”

“...Whitaker will hear it and come runnin’. When he takes off from the teachers’ lounge, the coast’ll be clear straight through to the principal’s office, and then we make our move.”

As the principal moved past the closet we were all hiding in, Stan slowly opened the door, giving the four of us the chance to run out. As Dina and I silently followed Whitaker, Stan and Syd headed towards his office, keys in the latter’s hands.

“Syd, you’re the key man… Key lady.”

“Wait, why am I the key lady?”

“Because you’re… good with your hands.”

“Ew.”

“Dina and (Y/N), you two are lookout. You keep eyes on Whitaker.”

I crouched down and peeked around the corner as Dina did the same right above me. Whitaker had just opened the door to the microwave, the smoke engulfing him as he coughed and fanned it away.

“The burrito bomb should keep him busy for awhile.”

The two of us watched in amusement as he grabbed the fire extinguisher from the fire emergency supplies and sprayed it into the closet.

“That man cannot resist a fire extinguisher, which will give us the time we need to get in. Burrito bombs are disgusting. Last time I set one off, my whole house smelled like bean farts.”

“True story.”

“Gross.”

Sooner than we expected, Whitaker took off from the crime scene in a hurried pace. Dina and I quickly rushed towards our friends, the girl waving her arms in the air as I readied the door to the closet for us.

“Anything goes wrong, lookout crew, you signal us… and everyone take cover.”

Once Stan and Syd noticed Dina, they scurried off down the hall to hide. I pulled Dina into the closet with me and silently closed the door as we crouched down.

“That is literally the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s fair. It’s totally fair. Can you think of a better one?”

…

“Our best hiding spot’s probably behind the trophy case. And we wait…”

A collective sigh of relief filled the closet as the savior ringing echoed through the halls.

“...for the smoke alarm. Which will buy us more time. Which we will need, because there are a shit-ton of keys. Like a metric shit-ton, it’s ridiculous.”

After our principal took off away from his office again, the closet door slowly creaked open as Dina and I watched Syd and Stan successfully enter the principal’s office.

“Once we’re in, we head straight for the security system in the closet. And that’s it!”

The smoke alarm cut off its insistent ringing within seconds. My heart thumped in my throat as Whitaker’s form stormed down the hallway, towards his office in angry strides. Thankfully, Syd and Stan ducked down before he caught sight of them. As soon as he passed us, I gently nudged Dina out of the closet. “Go create some big distraction that’ll lure him away,” I whispered under my breath. “I’ll keep him from the door.” I stood up straight as Dina nodded and silently hurried down the opposite end of the hall.

“Whatever you do, do not panic. Do not bail… or we are screwed.”

Whitaker was seconds from the door and I had yet to come up with a way to get him distracted again.

“Okay, but what happens if your plan goes to shit?”

Finding the key on his ring, he began jiggling it into the lock.

“It won’t.”

I stepped out of the closet, breathing labored in panic.

“But what if it does?”

When the lock sounded, I let out an ear-splitting scream that had Whitaker jumping three feet in the air. When his gaze settled on me, he marched my way, steam practically shooting from his ears. “(Y/L/N), what the hell is the matter with you?!”

“U-Uh- Uh, something happened down that way!” I blurted out, pointing down in Dina’s direction. His head followed my finger before it snapped back to me.

“Well?! What ha-”

A crash sounded.

“Improvise.”

The poor man shook his head in exhaustion. “I’m too goddamn old for this shit…” He whined before taking off down the hall, away from his office. Once the coast was clear, Syd and Stan peeked up, watching as I gave them a thumbs-up. They gratefully smiled my way before standing and finishing the job.

“And if all goes well, as it should, we grab the footage, our sexcapade remains private, and nobody gets expelled.”

My shoulders sagged as Sydney walked out of the office with Stan behind her, holding up the flashdrive in her hand.

“Let’s hope this shit works.”

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

It totally worked. After our brilliant scheme, the four of us sat in front of the lockers to rest, my form sandwiched between Stan and Dina. He kissed the flashdrive and let out a breath. “Oh, I thought we were screwed…”

“We were screwed, but holy shit, we did it.” Dina quietly laughed along with the rest of us.

“Thank you guys,” Sydney smiled, the three of us turning to her. “Seriously.” She chuckled as I reached my hand over to Stan’s pocket. Catching onto what I was doing, he fished his case out himself.

“Wonderful idea, Nugget,” He pecked the back of my hand with his lips before I could move it away and slid a joint from his case. “Any takers?”

“You’re not serious.” Dina frowned as Stan took out his lighter. He nodded to her with furrowed brows.

“He is.” I grinned fondly at my best friend as he lit up the end of his joint and inhaled the smoke before handing it over to me. I happily accepted it and took a hit as Dina glanced around us, hoping no adults were around to witness the scandalous act. She choked out a laugh when Sydney accepted the joint from me.

“Since when do you smoke weed?”

Sydney slyly smiled and stretched the smoke over to her, my own hand taking it to give her better access. “Oh, come on, Dina. Everyone’s doing it. Don’t you wanna be cool like us?” We all giggled and watched as Dina hesitantly took a hit from the joint. Her own snorting encouraged our laughter to increase, the four of us blissfully unaware of what lay ahead of us just in the locker room down the hall.

We sat in that hallway for the next half hour, talking about everything and nothing as our time of release approached closer. When the joint was finished, we entered the gym to enjoy our fading highs in peace. Dina headed over to the bleachers, and Stan and I sat on the bench beside the locker room, as Sydney headed inside to use the bathroom. The two of us sat in a comfortable silence as he shifted the colorful columns of his cube. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, and soon after, I felt his head rest against mine. “So… are you gonna need a ride home?” He whispered.

“No. Jake is picking me up.”

“That’s good, that’s good. Um… now do you wanna talk about how you’re doing? I know that, like, we’re still in school and we’re not entirely alone, but I just wanted to see how you were after you had to-”

“I’m doing better,” I interrupted his rambling. “Thank you.”

His hands froze their fiddling before one shyly crept close to mine. I felt his fingers graze my thigh as he interlocked our fingers in a tight hold. “Of course, Nugget.” He muttered right as Dina walked to the door to the locker room, giving me a smirk before walking inside. Stan then held up his rubix cube and chuckled. “Wanna try and solve it together?”

“Oh, my god, yes.” I laughed. And with that, we were using our free hands to turn and shift the cube around, hushed laughter filling the gymnasium as we told each other ‘no, not that way’, ‘turn the blue one’, and ‘yeah, yeah, that one’ for the next minute and a half of peace. Once our time was up, the door to the locker room slammed open and a teary-eyed Dina stormed out, a frantic Brad behind her.

“Babe, wait, please. Syd’s lying, I swear to god! Please! She’s lying!” As Dina walked out of the gym, Whitaker walked in, watching her go. “You’re not seriously breaking up with me right now!”

“Hey! Which one of you punks eats burritos?” Our principal shouted, Stan and I stifling our laughter in each other’s hair and shoulder. “Alright, I don’t know what the hell went on tonight, but I wanna see everyone in my office first thing in the morning!” He gave us one last look before exiting again. As soon as he was gone, Brad turned to Syd with a clenched jaw.

“I offered you a truce, and you fucked it up. This is on you. You remember that.” He pointed at her before angrily stomping out. Stan and I detangled ourselves from each other as Jenny walked out of the locker room with crossed arms.

“Ah, another day in paradise,” She looked between the three of us as her smile faded. “So, you guys wanna get wasted?”

I scoffed. “Fuck off, Jenny.”

Waving Stan and Syd goodbye minutes later, I joined Jacob in his car. He smiled over at me as I clipped my seatbelt on over myself. “So? How boring was it?”

“Oh, a total fucking snoozefest.” I rolled my eyes, my cousin chuckling and pulling off towards our home. Halfway through the car ride, I heard him turn down his music and sigh.

“Bug, what’s going on with you?”

“Huh?” I turned to him with raised brows.

“You’re… You’re different. You’re quiet, you skip dinner sometimes, you’re sleeping in. You never do that, especially the quiet part. Jesus, you’re so loud-”

“Okay, asshole, I get it!” I laughed quietly before going completely silent again. Not realizing I proved his point, I jumped when he poked my arm.

“See? Something’s wrong with you. What is it? Is it Ricky?”

“I-” I don’t know why I wanted to keep the whole situation a secret. Things like this needed to come into light and Ricky deserved to be exposed. Sensing my hesitancy, Jacob nodded.

“There we go. What did he do this time? Did he forget an anniversary? No? Did he… cheat?” Silence. “Did he do worse?” My eyes darted away. “(Y/N), did he do worse…?”

“I don’t know if I should say, Jake-”

“You absolutely should say it, (Y/N). Did he hit you?”

“No.”

“No? Did he… you know, touch you?” His tone softened as tears welled up in my eyes. “Bug, what happened…?”

“H-He raped me…” I cried and covered my face. “I got drunk on his birthday and he took advantage of it. A-And then he lied and said we were both drunk. B-But everyone else said he wasn’t even drunk.”

A beat of silence passed before the roar of the engine slid in pitch. I looked up at the houses and street signs that flew past us in a blur. “J-Jake, what are you doing?!”

“We’re gonna pay Ricky a visit.”

Before I knew it, we were in front of Ricky’s house. Jacob silently released himself from his restraint and exited the car. I sunk down in my own seat as I watched Ricky walk out of his home and towards his car. Upon seeing Jacob, he happily waved, but his smile vanished when Jacob decked him in the face so hard he fell to the ground. My breathing sped up as I jumped out of the car, speeding over to the two. “Jake! Stop!” I screamed as he straddled Ricky, landing punch after punch on his face. Ricky cried out and tried to push him off, but it was no use. Jacob was so much stronger than him. I knew pulling on him and screaming at him would do nothing, so I looked up and turned all around, watching as some neighbors peeked out their windows and front doors to watch the scene unfold. When I heard a crunch, I whipped back towards them and almost hurled at the bloodied mess that was Ricky’s face. “Jake, come on!” I screamed and pulled him off.

Stumbling to his feet, Jacob grabbed Ricky by his collar and lifted him close. “I don’t ever wanna see you near her. I don’t wanna hear that you spoke to her, I don’t even wanna know that you looked at her,” He growled, Ricky frantically nodding. “Don’t ever associate yourself with my sister ever again or I will make sure your eyes are swollen shut next time. Got it? Got it?!”

“Yes.” Ricky wheezed out before he was dropped to the ground.

“We’re going home, Jake! Jake, let’s fucking go home!” I screamed and ran to his car, getting in the driver seat. Chest heaving, he strode back over to the car and got in the passenger seat, sighing heavily as I drove away, leaving behind a groaning Ricky. I hadn’t even noticed his bloodied and bruised knuckles until I parked the car. Like a worried mother, I helped him out and over to the front porch.

“Hey, lovely!” I heard Stan call out. Looking up, I saw that he and Syd were just about to enter his house. “Do you wanna-”

I fished out my keys and hurriedly unlocked the door, pushing my cousin inside and shutting the door behind us. After ordering him into the bathroom, I found some bandages and hydrogen peroxide and joined him inside. The next few minutes were spent in silence, save for the soft hisses that escaped him when I dabbed the chemical onto his cuts. As I wrapped his hands, I felt his eyes on me. “(Y/N)?”

“Yes?”

“If he tries anything ever again, tell me immediately.”

“I know.”

“I’m serious,” He ducked his head down to meet my eyes, his own shining with unshed tears. “I promise you, he won’t lay a finger on you as long as I’m around.”

Setting down the blood-covered cotton ball, I nodded and allowed my lip to quiver.

“I know.”

—————————————

Taglist: @nate-isnt-great @sapphicsyn @stqnley @lonely-kermit @a-t-h-r-e-e-n-a @moatsnow

[vancilocs]

Lyssa and izkiel and yeri and heskel?

the wifi here is so bad i actually have to share data from my goddamn phone am i living in the stone age or what

1. What drew your character to their LI and vice versa?

Izkiel seemed like a genuine and nice guy, somewhat goofy but always polite. Handsome, too

They always had shared interests and when they grew up they stopped pretending they disliked each other, Yeri liked how mild-mannered Heskel was and Heskel liked how calm Yeri could also be when she stopped pretending

2. What was the first moment that they knew they were in love with their LI?

Probably Izkiel showing up to the hospital when Lyssa wasn't feeling well and trying to cheer her up

They were pretty young and Yeri had hurt herself, skinned her knee or something, and while her parents just told her to get over it Heskel put a lil bandage on it. A bit of a tough situation for Yeri to realize her feelings when they weren't even friends yet

3. When they are having a fight, what is it about and how do they deal with it?

They barely ever fight, usually it's because Izkiel doesn't realize how tired Lyssa is and is on some nonsense. She just needs to say she's worn out and he'll stop, so no big conflicts, he just apologizes

Fighting for them is potentially lethal because the first things they learned about each other is how to enrage them, but that also means they know exactly why the other one is pissed and know how to calm it down. Sometimes it even annoys Yeri how well Heskel pinpoints what's pissing her off and fixes it before she gets the chance to complain

4. Their favorite physical feature on each other?

Jawline, chest, hands, eyes for Lyssa

Lips, hair, eyes, general size and massles for Heskel, nose, eyes, lil pointy ears and size for Yeri

5. How do they comfort each other when they are sad?

Snuggle, offer distraction with snacks and/or movies, tell dumb stories, help with chores

Bring food, toss some furs on, cuddle, talk about it

6. Who is the big spoon?

They switch, sometimes a man wants to be held against smth so soft

Yeri

7. Favorite date activity?

Go have a few drinks, go have dinner, or then stay home and watch movies and snack

Go on walks, make dinner and have Yeri eat it, go hunt when both are in equal strength (so half-moon)

8. What are their most prominent memories of each other?

Lyssa still thinks about how Izkiel had his legs broken to replace them and laughs about it

They've known each other for so long so they have a lot, one was when Yeri found tadpoles as a kid and decided to be nice about it so they could look at them together

9. How open are they with their feelings?

Fairly, you'll know they're a couple

Yeri is far more open, as much as Heskel allows

10. Do they have pet names for each other?

Lyssa says Kel, and then just general pet names

Heskel still calls Yeri Jerk and she calls him Pipsqueak (affectionate)

11. Do they have any inside jokes?

Some tasteful ones about Lyssa's heart

A lot. From their whole lives

12. Do they have similar goals? If they clash, how do they deal?

Lyssa would like for Izkiel to have a less dangerous profession so they both could lead calmer lives, but well, it's what he does best I guess

They both want a baby or two but the logistics clash so they're just in the planning stage

13. How do they react at being away from each other?

They do okay, shoot a text every now and then and ask if the other ate anything today

Heskel tunnels into a blanket pile and sulks there after a certain point, Yeri does fine for a time but when the separation anxiety hits she gets a bit destructive. Give her a stick to chew on

14. Is their anything they associate with each other?

Deodorant and moisturizer smells, the feel of Izkiel's skin, sharp teeth, tall.

Persistent wet dog smell vs. persistent stench of blood, fur, leather, gentle hands in Yeri's hair and the feel of that hair, teeth, bones

15. Does their view of themselves differ from their partner’s view?

Not much, Izkiel does make Lyssa feel sexy so that's fun. Also reminds her not to work so hard sometimes, she's ill

Yeri thinks she's a super badass who will beat anything and anyone and kick everyone's ass, and yeah she is that but to Heskel she's also a big mushy lapdog who goes limp when he scritches behind her ear just right. He also has never considered himself as "sexy" but she's never seen anyone to rival his absolute beauty

16. Jealous at all?

If Izkiel keeps hiring escorts to sit on his lap while he plays cards, yes

Nope

17. Their ways of expressing their love.

Giving time to another and being aware of how the other's doing, giving a helping hand when needed, showing affection

Giving both time and space, listening and communicating, having each others' backs, outright showing love

18. Is their any way they disappoint each other?

Not much, Lyssa knows that Izkiel tries to keep the cactus alive and she can't blame him for that

Not really

19. Describe how they communicate

Just talk, Lyssa needs to be straightforward or it will fly over Izkiel's head

They talk, they've honed their skills to perfection with that

20. Did either person change at all, to be with their partner?

Izkiel did get his shit somewhat together, but that's just mainly with Lyssa's encouragement, not that she demanded it to date him

No, they grew into what was needed all on their own

[aghasexxy]

Roll The Dice Pt. 2 | Jackson Wang

Pairing: Reader x Jackson

Words: 1962

Genre: Smut

Warnings: Dirty Talk/ ORAL PLAY/ Rough and Passionate

Summary: it’s been a few weeks since you and Jackson had a rather interesting time back at his condo in Seoul. Now you guys are together again and you want to ask him about that night. He gives you the answer you never thought you’d hear and an experience you never knew you needed until now.

I lodge my spoon back into my almost empty jar of Nutella and sigh loudly. My home is empty and too big to watch Train To Busan by myself. I have a list of people I could call to come and enjoy the movie with me, but there’s only one person on my mind: Jackson. Ever since that night in Seoul, I haven’t been able to see him the same. The morning after that whole thing, it surprisingly wasn’t awkward between us. Not in the slightest. I’m a firm believer in the fact that it was most likely because of how tipsey we both were when we got to the condo, especially me. The things he did to me that night, or lack thereof, have been stuck on a constant loop for way too long and I can’t take it anymore. Sure, I genuinely want to hang out with him, but I also want to see if that was just a drunken experience or something else.

I pick up my phone and flip through until I find his name. I click the FaceTime button and wait until I see his face. After about three rings, his handsome chiseled face pops up on the screen. His hair was swept back and his eyes were covered by yellow framed sunglasses. I study his face and notice how apparent the stubble on his face is. Goddamn, my best friend is so handsome. “Yo Y/N! What’s up girl?” I clear my throat. “I’m bored and alone at home and I wanna watch Train To Busan. Can you come over?” He grins and nods his head. “Be there in 10. I’ll bring drinks and food as well cause I haven’t eaten and you probably haven’t had any real food.” I scoff and roll my eyes. “Ummm,” I flash the almost empty jar of Nutella proudly for him to see. “Excuse you, we have company and she can hear you.” He rolls his eyes. “Peanut butter will forever reign supreme but go off I guess. See you in 10.” And before I can protest against his obnoxious claim, he hangs up.

I stare at my screen, realizing what I just did. For the first time ever, I jump up and dash to the restroom to freshen up. I put on perfume, shave my legs and pits, Hell I even put on deodorant. I do all of this when I’m going out for a date, not if I’m just having company over, let alone Jackson. Am I trying to impress him? What the hell am I even doing? I grab a black crop top and throw it on with some grey sweat shorts. I scoff at myself and shake my head. I’ve known Jackson my entire life and not once did I have to go over and above to make myself presentable to him. But this time around, things are different. The tension in the air, when it’s just us two, is different.

My doorbell rings right at the 10 minute mark and I almost shit myself. I internally scold myself. ‘Girl chill out! What is wrong with you?? It’s literally just Jackson! Be cool.” I take in a breath and twist my doorknob. There, standing in the doorway with Cucina red wine, a box of pizza, and an endless supply of Tim Tams, is Jackson. He’s wearing black from head to toe. From his black suede shoes and leather jacket to the worn v-neck T-shirt on his toned chest, he just looks like he’s here to cause trouble. And I’m okay with that. “Uh,” he interrupts my staring and I snap out of it. “Oh uh yeah come in.” He scrunches his eyebrows and proceeds to walk past me. “Okay you’re acting weird as hell but I’m hungry and I wanna see this movie so we shall discuss that later.” He shoves a slice of pizza into his mouth and jumps onto my couch. “Bring your ass over here. I’m ready to watch zombies.” His voice sends shivers throughout my entire body but I clear my throat, grab the wine, and sit down. On the opposite side of the couch. I mentally scold myself again. I’m trying so hard to not be weird that I end up being fucking weird. I turn towards Jackson and see him looking at me, scrunched eyebrows and that playboy grin I’ve come to know and love.

“There’s something you wanna talk about. But you don’t want to talk about it either. I can tell.” I sigh and throw my head back. “Yeah,” I whine and take a swig of the Cucina. “What’s going on,” I hear him say and the next thing I know he’s right next to me with his arm draped over the back of the couch. He stares intently at me, waiting to hear what I have to say. His cologne and overall being hit me like a truck and I choke on my words for a second. “Y/N,” he says softly. ‘Oh god Jackson don’t say my name like that! Don’t make this any harder than it already is!” I inhale, exhale, then turn to face him. I could feel my nerves start to rise and I couldn’t even look him in the face. Holy fuck, why am I getting so damn nervous?? This is Jackson I’m talking to. We literally use to play in the mud in our diapers as toddlers and now I’m sitting here trying to muster up the courage to say that I see him as more than my best friend. “Okay,” I say out loud as I clap my hands together. I look at him and see him resting his head on his hand as he stares at me with the dreamiest eyes. “You’re so cute when you get nervous,” he says softly. Again, not helping. “Listen Jackson,” my thumbs start to twiddle as I try to find my words. “What happened in Seoul?” His eyes widen slightly but his pose stays the same. “Elaborate.” I inhale. “When we played that dice game. At the condo,” he inches closer to me. “Mhmm.” I intertwine my fingers together. “Do you remember that?,” I ask timidly. “Mhmm,” he says again, his eyes never leaving my face. I rub my temples and eyes trying to get my thoughts together. “I just-,” “Y/N you haven’t looked me in the eye once since you started this whole rant,” he inches even closer and I feel the air between us disappearing more. “Look at me please,” he places his hand under my chin gently, lifting it so that our eyes meet. In all the years I’ve known him, he’d always had this hard exterior that was close to impossible to break around other people. He kept it cool but not too cool to the point where he’d be seen as a pushover. But, when it came to me, he was always so sweet and loving and gentle. From the way he spoke to even the way he touched me. And I would melt every time. “Now continue,” he says softly. “I, um,” I clear my throat. How do I even say this? “When you, um, did what you did,” he pushes my hair behind my ear as I struggle to speak. “Was it because you and I were drunk or is there something else I should know about?” I wanna shrink or turn invisible so bad but I’m here now and can’t run away from how I’m feeling no matter how hard I try. He sighs and smirks. “Yeah,” he looks down and shakes his head. “That was a very interesting and revealing night Y/N,” his eyes shoot back up to me and I shudder. He runs his fingers gently over my thigh, the ticklish sensation sending chills all over my body. He starts to speak again. “You ever just want someone so fucking much,” my eyes grow wide as he makes circles on my thigh lightly. “that when you see them after wanting them for so long, all lines blur and you just...do something about it,” he stops his hand and looks at me. I feel my face burning and I know my cheeks are red as beets. “Y/N I’ve known you my entire life. You have confided in me for absolutely everything,” he strokes my face and jaw gently as he keeps his eyes locked onto mine. “I know everything about you. From your favorite food to when your time of the month is,” I see him shudder a bit and I giggle. “I also know everything you want and need when it comes to intimacy,” his hand comes down to the side of my neck. He strokes it gently and I giggle again. “Jackson you know I’m ticklish,” I say between giggles. He nods. “I know,” he comes in closer and I see his head dip to the side. “Where are y-” I feel his breath on my neck and I gasp. He speaks softly. “Which is why I also know,” he gives my neck a quick peck and my hand shoots up to grip his arm. His lips trace my earlobe and I shudder at the feeling of his warm breath. “You love neck kisses,” I feel his strong arm wrap around my waist

“because not only is it ticklish, but that's also how a guy can start to get you going,” he shrugs. “Or at least that’s what you’ve told me. Let’s see if it’s true princess,” and with that, his lips attach to my neck, causing me to yelp and start giggling again. Before I can ask him what the hell he was doing, my mind zeros in on the feeling of his lips on my neck and I try to steady my breathing. Fuck this feels so good. I’m at a complete loss for words. Never did I imagine, in a million years, that my best friend would be pleasuring me in my living room. He’s slow and gentle and damn he smells amazing. “Jackson…,” his grip tightens and his lips work harder on my neck. I moan slightly and he stops for a moment. “There it is,” he whispers as his hand travels down to my chest. “There’s that beautiful sound I miss so much.” He looks down at my chest and his hand rests on my boob. “You know what else I know Y/N?,” he says in a low tone. I get shy again. “W-what?” “That your nipples and breasts are very, very sensitive.” His hand rests on the bottom rim of my shirt. “May I?” He looks up at me for approval before he moves further. I nod. “I trust you,” I whisper.

He takes his hand and goes under my shirt. He starts to massage my breast slowly. My eyes are transfixed on his hand massaging me and I am loving what I’m seeing. I gasp when I feel his lips on my neck again. I close my eyes and let him do what he wants. He’s right, he’s the only guy I’ve confided in about all the things that turn me off and all the things that get me riled up. I whimper softly as my nipples begin to get hard. I feel his lips curve into a grin. I feel his index and thumb grip my nipple and begin to pinch and twist. I bite my lip and moan again. “J-Jackson...fuck.” He stops and looks at me. Our eyes lock on each other as we both try to catch our breath. I don’t know what comes over me

but I kiss him.

[sweetdejun]

convenience store worker!au for seungyoun based on this picture

seungyoun is one of the many students who’re in dire need of money and are looking for a job. in his case, he was seeking one that worked with his hectic schedule

being a music comp major took up a lot of his time during his normal weeks and he also lived on campus so most, if not all of his time was spent within the boundaries of the college campus

so when he saw a flyer on the bulletin board of his dorm floor asking for a part-time worker at the convenience store just next to the campus library, he knew he had to apply for it.

and long story short, that’s how seungyoun became the convenience store employee taking the night shift on the weekends

and he started working towards the end of the semester which, when he told his friends,,, they’re reactions were quite different than what he expected.

seungwoo looked at him like he had a third eye. “I don’t understand why you all are making a big deal,” seungyoun told the guys before chomping down on a french fry

“seungyoun, within the next three weeks the semester will be over,” wooseok explained, and seungyoun huffed, “what’s the problem? they said they’ll need me throughout winter break too”

seungwoo sighed, “dude, finals weeks. you know how crowded the convenience store will get once students realize that it’s the only place open for 24 hours? when will you be able to take care of your own finals, then?”

yohan nodded, “you need to do well in your finals in order to pass, my dude” and proceeded to steal a french fry from seungyoun’s plate.

seungyoun didn’t think about that: of course, he had finals, too. he pulled out his phone to check his schedule and smack in the middle of finals week he had one in-class final, and it was in his worst subject, statistics.

“damn it,” he started and looked back at the guys. “all my finals are comp pieces that are due before the finals weeks, but I have one final during that time period and it’s stats.”

seungwoo sighed, “I think you should reconsider the job, dude,” before packing up his things and heading to his next class. slowly each of his friends offered a similar remark before they left individually, leaving him with his thoughts and the last few bits of his french fries.

so when the next weekend rolls around, seungyoun comes to the decision: he’s going to tell his boss he’s quitting by the end of this weekend because he needs to focus on this goddamn stats class.

he walks into the convenience store, on time for his friday night shift and goes through his usual routine: clocks in, puts on his uniform and starts to put things back that students will pick up and misplace in the wrong aisles. 

he goes back to the register and changes the music playing through the intercoms, which occasionally he’ll do some nights; usually, the workers who have their shift before his play some good music but on the nights he arrives and the music is ass, he has the urge to change it right away. 

surprisingly, the store isn’t as busy as seungwoo and wooseok exaggerated for it to be. after whistling along to the music, and organizing some things here and there, seungyoun begins to grow increasingly bored. so far only three people came to purchase things: a young student bought some hot cheetos and a red bull, an older lady purchased some water bottles and a guy around his age bought a deodorant stick and iced coffee. 

he gets so bored that as he spins in his chair at the register, he pulls out his phone and opens the front camera. tilting his head, pouting his lip slightly, he presses the button and the camera clicks upon his action.

straightening his head, he smiles closed-mouthed and clicks another picture, then a few more in other weird ass poses (he’s alone who cares)

as he brings the phone down he hears someone clearing their throat and instantly freezes

a girl stood in front of him, items strategically balanced in her hands, along with her wallet clutched tightly between her thumb and index finger. seungyoun can feel the back of his neck heat up and he sheepishly mutters, “uh,, are you ready to check out?”

the poor boy can’t look the girl in the eye, and misses her teasing smile as she fondly gazes upon the boy. “yep,” and she places her things on the counter for him to scan. 

her gaze wanders off and he takes the time to quickly look up at the girl, and immediately feels his heart skip a beat. she’s beautiful, he thinks, and as soon as she senses the boy’s stare she turns her head back around and catches his gaze. how cute, she thinks and now seungyoun feels like an idiot

“your total is 17.07. cash or card?” he hesitantly looks back up, and relaxes a bit after seeing the girl smile. “card, and chill out,” her eyes go to his name tag-“seungyoun. it’s fine, everyone gets bored at work and does random shit. if you weren’t so cute, I wouldn’t hesitate to call you out, but you get a pass.”

hearing the compliment allows seungyoun to regain some of his momentarily lost confidence and he smiles. “well, I’m glad you think that, miss...” “y/n.” 

seungyoun had packed her bags and had returned her card back to her, with the receipt neatly folded on top of it, yet the conversation that started from moments before had yet to see an end, until a gruff voice of an old man was heard from behind y/n, snapping her out of the trance that was seungyoun’s chocolate eyes.

“excuse me young lady but if you’re done chit-chatting with your boyfriend, I need to buy something, so hurry up!” flustered, she scooted over to the side and seungyoun quickly checked the man’s things out before handing him the bag, and the old man yanked it out of his hands and muttered stuff as he pushed the door and left.

rose-colored cheeks caught seungyoun’s attention as he noticed y/n’s wavering eyes. “listen y/n, my shift ends at 6. do you maybe want to grab a coffee tomorrow morning?” “you mean later today?” she shows him the time on her phone, the three digits indicating the early hours of the morning. 

“sure, seungyoun, here,” she looked around before her eyes fell on her receipt and she picked up a pen sitting in the front pocket of his shirt and quickly scribbled down her number on it, before handing it back to him. 

she returned the pen and grabbed her things and she leaned her back against the door to push it outward, and the last thing seungyoun remembered her saying that night was a, “see you soon, seungyoun,” 

and that dulcet encounter ended when seungyoun felt a fluttery sensation in his stomach and he smiled wide, having trouble containing his excitement for the engagement that was to come in a few short hours.

[wroughtbetwixtfanfic]

Stamped Into Memory, Ch 5.

Fandom: The Society.

Summary: Campbell’s just trying to survive in the new world. He knows he can make it– it’s everyone else he’s worried about.

Rating: Mature.

Tags: Major Character Death, Canon Divergence, Mental Health Issues, Family Issues, Substance Abuse, Slow Burn, Dubcon Kissing, Romantic Friendship, Mild Sexual Content, Hurt/Comfort, Unhealthy Relationships, Canonical Character Death, Fix-It, implied animal death, the dog lives, Antisocial Personality Disorder, ASPD, Campbell has mild ASPD and is actively trying to not be awful

Word Count: 5835

Ch 1 || Ch 2 || CH3 || Ch 4 || AO3

The door was open when Campbell arrived home. He rushed in, adrenaline surging through him for a split second as he imagined all sorts of terrible things, but then he heard Elle's voice coming from the kitchen. Calm. Happy, even. Campbell slowed down, rounding the corner with curiosity instead of that ready-to-fight reaction.

Elle was sitting on the floor with the dog. Not just any dog, but that dog from the night Cassandra died. The dog looked at him with intense amber eyes as Elle ruffled his fur. "Let's get you all fixed up, okay?" "Hey," Campbell said as he came into the room. He tried to keep his tone casual, more for Elle's sake than the sake of the dog, but he couldn't help but stare back. "Who's this?" "Uhm, he's a stray. He showed up in our yard." "I've seen him around town." "Yeah, you mentioned hearing a dog that night, right?" "I did." Peeking up at him, Elle frowned. Campbell had tried hard to keep his expression blank, but either that had tipped her off, or he hadn't tried hard enough; she suddenly seemed nervous. "I don't think anybody's been looking after him. His paw is hurt. I was thinking, maybe..." She looked back at the dog. "I'm sorry, I know this is your house, and I should have asked before bringing him in." Campbell shook his head and went to the fridge to get some cold water. "No, it's okay. It's just strange he showed up here." "I can take him to someone else." "You don't have to do that, really." He knew how hard things had been on her lately, and that she still didn't have many people she was close to in town. The dog was just a dog, right? It's not like they were some omen of doom or anything. "Maybe it's good for you to have a friend around." "He seems like a really good dog. He's super sweet." "What are you gonna name him?" "He doesn't have a collar, but I mean, he kinda looks like a Charlie. Don't you think?" Elle leaned against Campbell as he came over and kissed her hair. "Is that silly?" "It's whatever you want. Hi, Charlie." He bent down and offered his hand to the dog. Charlie sniffed his fingers, then gave a tailwag. Campbell scritched the dog behind the ears, glancing at the dog's paw; it was bloodied, and definitely painful, like maybe another animal got a hold of it. Or, maybe, like Charlie had gotten tangled in something sharp. Poor thing. "Do you wanna be my dog?" Elle cooed at Charlie. "Let's get that paw fixed up." "Do you need help?" "Oh, maybe. I just wanted to wash him." The dog followed them upstairs and hopped into the tub, easy as pie. Campbell brought up the dishsoap and some towels; he'd have to go find Allie at dinner and see if she knew where they could get some pet supplies. Charlie held still while Elle washed him, and Campbell helped hold him still while Elle wrapped the dog's paw. "I've always wanted a dog," Elle sighed as she cooked some rice and frozen meat scraps to feed Charlie. The dog was laying at her feet. Cute. "Did you ever have any pets growing up?" Campbell winced at the memory of Oliver. "No. Sam had a bird, but I never had any pets of my own. Dogs are cool, though." "Mm. Looks like Charlie's being a good boy." "He is. I wonder where he came from, though. Cassandra told me everyone's pets were gone. It's kind of weird he's just... here." "Yeah, it is a little weird. Maybe someone will recognize him." "Maybe." Doubtfully. Campbell had never seen the dog before they'd arrived at West Ham 2.0, and when Campbell woke in the middle of the night, Charlie had his front paws on the windowsill. He was staring out the window and into the night, his body and tail stiff. A soft, low growl issues from his throat. When Campbell got up and went to the window, there was no one outside. No one that Campbell could see. A cold feeling went up Campbell's spine, and he never quite got back to sleep. His phone pinged softly around seven, a few hours after dawn. Elle was already gone for work, and Charlie was laying across his leg, grumbling as Campbell wiggled free. Campbell read the text on his phone over and over before getting up and throwing on pants. He tripped down the stairs and went into Harry's room, prodding him awake. "You need to get dressed." "Hnngh? Why?" "They're holding a meeting at the church. Greg Dewey was arrested for Cassandra's murder." Campbell felt the world spin slightly as Harry's expression immediately fell in shame. "You knew." "Since yesterday." "How did you know? How did Allie find out?" "Because he told me. Bragged about it." Harry sunk into his blankets as Campbell began to curse. "I went and told Kelly. She told Allie and the others." "And you didn't think I deserved to know this?" "Cam, I was worried that if I told you, you'd have gone and killed him yourself. I wanted to go to someone less homicidal." It was the truth. That didn't mean Campbell wanted to hear it. "Goddamn it." "Hey." Harry slipped out of bed and lightly curled his arms around Campbell as Campbell began to pace. "Hey. I'll go with you, okay? We'll meet Elle there. It's going to be okay." They shouldn't have been that close, but Campbell held still, slowing his breathing; Harry's scent, day old Axe deodorant and coffee, sapped away all the poison pooling on Campbell's tongue. This wasn't some threat he needed to attack. This was Harry. Fucked up Harry, who loved Campbell and was struggling with his own shit. Campbell sighed and pulled away, going back to his room to get ready. A quick text to Elle confirmed that she got the news, too, and would save them a seat. By the time they got there, though, the church was packed. Elle was sitting next to Helena. She gave Campbell a helpless look; Helena was talking to her about something, but there was definitely no room left anywhere else for three people. They were lucky enough to find a spot where he and Harry could sit together. Campbell put a hand lightly on Harry's hip, directing him to the small open spot; he quickly yanked his hand back when Harry shot him a questioning glance. Right. Little shit like that could start rumors. Not that anyone was looking at them. Allie stood at the front of the church, her face shuttered and her body drawn in on itself. Once it seemed like everyone was seated, she cleared her throat. A silence fell over the church. "Hey, everyone. I just... I'll keep it brief. I just wanna give you an update on everything. Uhm, everything that's happened." She glanced around the church, shifting her weight. Nervous. "There was an arrest this morning. Greg Dewey. We're keeping him in an undisclosed location for now, until we can figure out what happened, and if there was anyone else involved." The gathered mass erupted into chatter. Allie left the church fast, before Campbell could even try to speak to her. Not taking any questions, then. It wasn't any wonder. Even on her way out, people were clamoring for more information. Gossipers. Campbell rolled his eyes and went to find Elle; she headed back to work, and they headed back home to get ready for their own shifts. Grizz, luckily, managed to convince Luke and Clark to let Campbell into the store for dog food. It's not like anyone else was using it. Like Campbell had thought, the only dog in town was their strange new roommate. At least Charlie had stopped hovering at the window in the dead of night. It made it easier to live with him, and not suspect he was some sort of inter-dimensional being sent to destroy them all. Harry, on the other hand, was a wreck that night. After they'd come home from dinner and their work shift, when Elle was in the shower, he came begging for some of Campbell's stash. "I haven't asked you for anything in a long time," Harry reasoned. "Can't I just get something for tonight?" Campbell raised an eyebrow. "Because you've been trying to get clean, or because you've been working through your private hoard?" "You know I'm not clean. But I need something after all this shit with Dewey. Something stronger. I just... I just need to sleep." "You need to get off the drugs and onto something useful." "Look, we can have an intervention tomorrow, if that's what you want to do." "Ugh." Campbell went and fished out a decent sized does of a pill that would, or should, knock Harry out for a while. "Here. Go get some sleep." "Campbell, this is one pill. I might as well just go to the fucking pharmacy myself." Resting his chin on his hand, Campbell smiled the smile of a fox that had raided the henhouse. "I think you'll find the cupboards a little bare. Look. You need to sleep? This will help you sleep." "I know how much I need, this isn't enough." "It'll have to be." "Cam--" "We need to be smart," Campbell cut in. He could see that Harry was freaking out. He was starting to go into withdrawal, like Campbell knew he would, because the supplies wouldn't last forever no matter how careful people were. "Harry, you need to be smarter than this." Harry growled. "I'm not a fucking child." "Then don't act like one. This isn't going to fix what's going on up in your head, okay? Coke, all those painkillers, alcohol. It's a band aid. You need help." Taking the pill, Harry slumped his shoulders in defeat. "It's not like this is how I imagined my life going, you know. I was gonna do things. Be somebody." "Depression is a bitch." "I'm not depressed." Harry bit his lip when Campbell stared at him. "Well, I mean... I just assumed it was my own fault." "Because that's what all our champagne and caviar parents say to sweep shit under the rug, so they don't have to deal with it. Take your pill and go to bed. We'll figure something out in the morning." Harry hummed a little sound of agreement and shuffled off downstairs. Campbell flopped back on the bed, his head full of too many thoughts. How could he not have seen it in Dewey? Why did he do it? And now, he was back to worrying about Harry, along with everything else. How was he supposed to keep Harry from crashing? Elle came in soon after, with Charlie at her heels; she seemed distracted, but weren't they all? It had been a long, strange sort of day. Campbell was brushing his teeth while Elle tidied up her side of the bathroom. "Fuck, I can't believe that little shit had it in him. Can you? I mean I, I..." He trailed off for a moment and fluttered his hands in the air. It didn't make sense. "I didn't see it coming, out of all the people Harry had at that party." "Harry's party?" "Harry said some shit about Cassandra before prom at his party, and we gave a list of the suspects to Gordie, but nothing came of it until now." "Did he ever tell you what he said?" "I don't think he even knows what he said. Drunk fucking rambling. Maybe people will finally stop whispering and giving me those fucking 'you killed Cassandra' looks." "It's not like there's any evidence tying you to it now." Now. Campbell rinsed off his toothbrush and turned, trying to read the expression on Elle's face. She was brushing her hair and didn't seem aware of any sort of offense, but Campbell knew what he'd heard. "Do you still think I'm involved?" "No, of course not." "Are you sure?" "Why would I?" Elle looked over at him. "I just meant, in case anyone got suspicious. They can't possibly pin it on you." Campbell knew there was little point in pressing the matter. If Elle didn't believe him, why would she be sleeping with him? Or even living there still? At some point, paranoia was just that. Paranoia. He was just being jumpy because of the arrest. Once things were settled, maybe they could all just move on. But how would things even be settled? He went to sleep that night, imagining all the ways he would end that little bastard, if he could. Was Allie dreaming of the same things? The next morning, they all headed out to see the new work list. Elle, morning inventory check. Campbell, morning clean-up after breakfast. Harry, evening clean-up after dinner... again. They all sighed and headed out, Elle towards the stores and Campbell to the cafeteria, while Harry headed home. Campbell was used to working with Harry. If Harry was home alone, Campbell couldn't keep an eye on him-- not that Campbell ever stopped Harry from his bad habits, but Harry had been having a rougher time. What if he did something foolish, when no one was home to stop him? But Harry was alive when they got home that night, and the night after. The only ones who seemed to have done something foolish were Allie and her cronies; when everyone was called back to the church for Dewey's trial, the first thing Campbell noticed was that Dewey had been bruised up. Oh, that wouldn't go over well at all. Who had done it? Surely not Grizz. Probably not Luke. But Clark, who sat right behind Dewey and was practically breathing down his neck? Yeah, that guy was capable. Campbell wasn't upset. He was jealous. What he wouldn't give to be able to wrap his hands around that scrawny fucking neck and-- "Sorry I'm late," Harry mumbled as he slid into the booth behind Campbell and Elle. He leaned forward to whisper to them. "What's going on?" Elle shrugged. "You haven't missed much. We're just waiting for Allie." "Are you okay?" Campbell asked, turning to look at Harry. "Yeah, just a little slow this morning." Harry looked haggard, washed out, and his hands were shaking. But before Campbell could question him, a hush fell over the room. Allie was sitting at a table at the front of the room, and a group of people were sitting off to the side-- a jury, but who selected them? Through what process? Allie hadn't said anything about what was happening or how, not to him or anyone he knew. Gordie, of course, was on the prosecution's side. Helena was sitting next to Dewey. It all seemed so contrived. Like some sort of play. Either they had enough evidence or they didn't. Pretending to be a fair, balanced court was laughable. Courts weren't even fair and balanced in the real world, with trained adults. Allie offered a sort of smile, but it wasn't comforting in any way. "A week before my sister died, uhm, I was complaining about how wild it was that we had to take care of everything. You know, everything was our decision. And she was like, really? Alexander the Great conquered the whole world when he was our age." She sniffled. "Which was kind of annoying of her." Campbell couldn't help but sneer. Of course. Had to have one last dig, right? "Well," Allie continued, "we own it all now. The good and the bad." And that much was the truth. Campbell leaned back in the pew as Gordie presented his evidence-- the bullets they pulled from Cassandra's body, and the gun they had found in Dewey's possession. The gun used the same bullets. Helena threw some bullshit at Gordie-- oh, but could they be sure it was the same gun-- but Gordie held his ground. The jury passed the bullets around among them, murmuring things Campbell couldn't hear. "Another thing," Helena said as she went to sit back down. "Dewey has bruises all over him." Dewey whined before Allie could reply. "Yeah, they fucking beat me." The crowd began to buzz, and Allie raised her voice to drown them all out. "We had a problem guarding him. It won't happen again." "You arrest him, you beat him up." "It's not relevant." Helena raised her eyebrows. The noise of the crowd increased, becoming angry; Campbell could hear some teens whispering questioning remarks. Wrong move, Allie, and Helena could tell. "It's not relevant how the people in charge of this prosecution behaved?" "It was a mistake. It has nothing to do with whether he's guilty or not." Allie's tone went steely. "Move on." Glancing around the church, Helena shrugged. "We'd like to call Harry Bingham to the stand," she called out. Harry inhaled sharply behind Campbell, but stood and headed up to the front of the room without prompting. He'd barely sat down in the empty chair provided when Helena launched into him. "According to witnesses, you said that Dewey confessed to you. Can you clarify?" "We were at the coffee shop, on break." Harry glanced at Campbell, who tipped his chin up just a little. Say it. "We were just talking, talking shit. Whatever. And he basically just came out and said it, that he killed her." Dewey jumped up from his chair. "You fucking asshole!" Helena paused as Clark and Allie began to shout at Dewey, who was eventually subdued and put back in his chair. Frowning, she turned back to Harry. "You were saying?" Harry looked down at his hands. "He had this creepy smile, like he was proud of himself. He said that someone had to show her who was boss, and that whoever did it was a hero." "Is that when he confessed?" "Basically, yeah." "Basically?" Helena asked, crossing her arms. "Yeah." "Did he actually say he'd killed her? In those exact words?" "Not those exact words, but that's what he fucking meant." "Why? Why would he tell you? Why would he confess to you?" For a long time, Harry didn't respond. He opened his mouth and closed it again, biting his lip and blinking fast. He looked guilty. There was no way around that. "He thought it'd make me happy." "Happy?" "That Cassandra was dead." "Why would he think that?" "Because we were rivals in high school. And because I was talking shit about her," Harry admitted, causing a ripple of hushed conversation to rise among the jury. Allie looked furious. "I know it was a dick move, but I was drunk and pissed off because Kelly had dumped me. I didn't mean it." Helena gestured to Harry as she stepped closer to the jury. "Let's be clear about this. Harry Bingham confessed that he made disparaging remarks about Cassandra Pressman, and that night, she was dead." Harry stood up. "Don't put this on me! Look, he told me that he got me the peace and quiet that I wanted, and that he deserved a thank you. I might be a piece of shit, but he's the killer." "Did anyone else hear this?" "No, but--" Helena cut Harry off. "So, it's your word against his. Someone with no history of violence, against someone who hated her." Shrugging, she returned to her seat next to Dewey. "Maybe you put the gun in his house. Maybe you set him up." "That's not what happened." "Maybe you're lying." "Yeah, because I look so much better right now," Harry scoffed. "I didn't want to do this, you know. I didn't want to be here. I came here because I wanted to try and do the right thing." After a few more questions, Harry was dismissed; he darted back to his seat, and when Allie allowed everyone to leave, he was one of the first people out the door. The walk home was quiet. Elle kept glancing between them, and Campbell knew she had something on her mind, but he was too tired to ask. If she couldn't be bothered to just ask, well, that was her problem. Campbell was more worried about Harry, who was shaking by the time they got home; he didn't talk for a long time, and he silently left to go to work, but he curled up next to Campbell on the sofa that night while Elle was taking Charlie for a walk. "You know I didn't do anything, right?" Campbell pursed his lips. "I know you didn't do anything to Cassandra, but it's not me you have to convince. I don't see how they could suspect anyone but Dewey, considering they have the actual goddamn gun." "If they try and pin this on me..." "I won't let them. I promise." Harry burrowed his face into one of the sofa pillows. "This is all so fucked up." He dragged himself off the sofa and slugged his way towards his room. "I'm gonna clean the kitchen and go to bed. Maybe things will be less shit in the morning." It was unlikely. Campbell kept his opinion to himself, though, and went to help. They worked in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts; Harry wandered off to take a shower once they were almost done, and Campbell stayed to sweep the floors. He'd just finished when Elle and the dog came home. Elle wiped off Charlie's paws, taking her shoes off at the door. "Getting in some stress relief?" "Yeah. Kinda worried about Helena and her bullshit interrogation." "I mean, she's a nice person. I'm sure she's just doing her job." "Really doubt her job is trying to pawn a murder off on my best friend," Campbell muttered. "The jury better not fall for that shit. Harry doesn't even like guns." Elle busied herself with Charlie, eyebrows furrowed. "What do you think they're gonna do? Once they decide who did it?" "I don't know. Lock them up, I guess. Either that, or kill them." "I'm going to take a bath," Elle said suddenly. She  came over and gave Campbell a quick kiss on the cheek. "Is it okay if Charlie's on the bed?" Campbell ruffled the fur on the dog's head. "Sure. I don't care about a little dog fur." Nodding, Elle grabbed Charlie's collar and took him upstairs with her. Campbell sighed, going back to cleaning the spots Harry had missed. Helena was the last person he expected Elle to befriend; Helena was smart, but religious, conservative, and more than a little judgmental. It seemed an odd choice. She also pointedly went after Harry. Was there something going on with Elle and Harry that he'd missed? Of course, Campbell had never told Elle about the kiss, because it had been a one time thing and Harry knew better than to try again. Was it wrong? Probably, but Campbell didn't want to cause worry over nothing, though... Did she somehow know? Was that why she seemed unconcerned about Helena's behavior? Campbell looked up from scrubbing the sink as Charlie trotted down the stairs and stopped at the back door. "Hey, boy. What's up? Didn't you just go out?" Charlie let out a long, low whine, staring at the doorknob. Campbell shrugged and went to the door. Maybe the dog had tanked up on too much water, or something. He slipped on his shoes, opened the door, and stepped out onto the porch. Charlie stood at his side, looking out into the woods. Campbell tensed as Charlie let out a growl. "Charlie? What is it?" Campbell asked. The dog bristled. Something in the air felt wrong. Cold. "Charlie? Hey, let's go back inside." But Charlie surged forward, taking off before Campbell could grab his collar. The dog charged into the woods, barking and snarling. Campbell grabbed a flashlight off the kitchen counter and went after Charlie; he wasn't going to let the dog face whatever was out there on his own. Campbell heard barking, but he didn't see Charlie anywhere in the thick trees. Fuck. He tried to follow the sound. He didn't call out Charlie's name. The dog wasn't going to mind him, and it'd just announce his presence. For some reason, that seemed like a bad, bad idea. A yelp came from up ahead, close by, and the barking stopped. Campbell jogged a few paces and swung his light around, but there was nothing. Campbell put his hand down on a large rock as he caught his breath. He yanked his hand back as he felt something hot, wet; the flashlight revealed a thick red liquid, and a lot of it. Blood. Campbell felt his stomach heave, but he didn't have time to process what was happening. He heard a twig snap up ahead, and something moved in the beam of the flashlight. Campbell bolted back towards the house, running fast enough that his lungs and legs felt like they were on fire. He didn't stop until he was inside, and had the doors and windows locked. He rubbed his hands on his pants without thinking, then cursed. He couldn't tell Elle about finding blood. She would be devastated. And besides, maybe Charlie had caught a rabbit, and it was the damn dog he'd heard moving out there in the trees. Campbell figured they could wait a couple days. If Charlie didn't show back up, then he could tell Elle about the blood. At least it'd give Charlie a chance to show back up. Upstairs, he stripped out of his clothes and shoved them a ways under his bed. He'd deal with that later. Campbell put on new clothes, sucking in slow breaths and trying to stop himself from thinking about it all too much. He went back downstairs, peering out the windows. Nothing, dog or otherwise. He sighed and turned on the hot water, squeezing soap on his hands and scrubbing the little bit of dried blood left on them. As much as he tried to forget about it, he kept replaying that yelp in his mind, and the shadow that had darted in front of the flashlight. What could it have been? A coyote? Wolf? Bear? Elle came down the stairs a few minutes later, just as Campbell had finished getting the blood off of his hands. "Where's Charlie? I can't find him anywhere." "I don't know." Campbell met her gaze. God, she was already worried. He had to give her some sort of truth. "I took him out because he was crying at the door, and he just took off into the woods." "What happened?" "It looked like he spotted a rabbit or something." "I need to go--" Campbell grabbed Elle by the shoulders as she began to reach for her jacket. "Hey, no. It's super dark out there right now, and we won't be able to see snakes or anything. I'll put some food out, see if that'll work. If not, I'll go look for him in the morning. He won't go far." Elle looked out the window and frowned. "Yeah, I guess you're right." "I'm sorry." Campbell kissed her hair. "I know how much you love Charlie. I'll see if I can get some people to come out to the woods with me and help me look." Neither of them slept well that night. Elle tossed and turned, and Campbell kept waking up at every little creak and groan of the house. Not because he was afraid-- he wasn't scared, so much as hyperaware of the reality that there could be other people or animals out there that they hadn't seen before. And if it was a person, well, no one ever hides in the woods for a good reason. Charlie wasn't back by morning. There wasn't any sign of him. Harry, Sam, and Grizz all agreed to help him look for the dog, but after a couple hours of combing the woods and calling for him, there was nothing. Campbell couldn't even find the area where there had been blood. It was like it had never even happened. The search was cut even shorter by a text buzzing all their phones. Allie, summoning the town to the church. The jury had apparently reached it's verdict already. "We could keep looking after," Sam offered. "Or even put up posters around town. Someone must know where he is." Campbell sighed. "Yeah. Thanks." Sam rested a hand on Campbell's back, and Campbell let him. It was a heavy day for them both, and Allie. Sam hadn't really offered his opinion of Dewey and the accusations against him, but then whey got to the church, Campbell could see the smallest spark of hatred in Sam's eyes. Campbell gave Sam's shoulder a little squeeze of encouragement, before they separated and went to sit with their own groups. Harry and Elle were already sitting, and he squeezed into the aisle seat next to them just as Allie began to speak. "Do you have a verdict?" she asked the jury. One of the girls nodded. "You want to...?" The girl stood, clasping her hands tightly in front of her and looking down on the ground. Her voice trembled as she spoke. "Guilty. We find him guilty." A chorus of cheers went up through the church. Allie smiled, ever so briefly before she dropped the mask back down over her face. "Thank you to the jury for doing its job. Now it's up for me to decide his sentence." Allie stood. "It could take a while. Guards, will you take him back to his cell?" Clark grabbed Dewey, and they were dragging him off when Dewey began to shout. Allie held up her hand, stopping them. "Everyone, can you come back and sit? Dewey has something to say." Dewey was brought back, and he faced his audience. For a moment, he didn't say anything, but then he spat on the floor and grinned. "Cassandra was a fucking bitch. So is her sister and her black boyfriend that makes all the rules." People began to shout him down, but Dewey just yelled back louder. "So are all the women here. Fucking bitches who won't give us the time of day, who think we owe them everything? I killed Cassandra for everyone because she had it coming." Campbell began to stand. "Piece of fucking--" Harry grabbed Campbell's waist and tugged him back down, whispering. "Don't. Not like this." He glared at Dewey. "Even if the little fuckstain deserves it." Dewey must have heard, somehow, because his gaze landed directly on Harry. "On the night of prom, we were all at Harry's house, and he said he wished she was dead." "Fuck you!" Harry growled as the crowd turned to stare at them. "I told you all I said things I didn't mean. I was drunk, I barely remember what I said." Laughing, Dewey pointed at Harry. "You know what you did. Everyone there knows what you said." His grin sharpened as he turned his finger to Campbell. "And Campbell helped me plan it. He was there, he planned the whole thing." "What?" Campbell felt his blood drain from his face. He planned the whole thing. Surely no one would believe Dewey? But everyone was giving him that terrible look, that one that said I knew it. Campbell stood and this time, Harry didn't try to stop him when he began to move towards Dewey. "He's a fucking liar, and a murderer. I don't have to sit here and take this." Allie barked out an order. "Get back to your seat." Grizz stepped between him and the scumbag, his voice low. "Don't, Campbell." "Get the fuck out of my way." "Stand. Down." Campbell wanted to punch Grizz, but he kept his hands at his side, curled into fists but still. "Allie," he called out as he looked to his cousin. She knew how close they'd been. She must have known. "You know I didn't do it. I wouldn't have." "What do you want us to do?" Clark asked, suddenly behind Campbell. Allie looked Campbell up and down, her face completely blank. Empty. Campbell could read just about any face, but not this time. Her tone was just as distant. "Arrest him." Campbell gaped at Allie as the crowd erupted into jeers and hollered insults. They'd had their difference, but throwing him to the wolves? "You can't be serious." Allie just stared him down, silent as the guard grabbed him and began hauling him out of the church. He could hear Harry's voice in the crowd, protesting, and caught a brief glimpse of Elle-- pale, shocked-- before Allie's cronies dragged him out the doors. Campbell struggled at first, mostly from instinct, but then Grizz grasped his shoulder and leaned closer. "Settle down. We'll figure this out." And Campbell grit his teeth, forcing himself to relax. Grizz snapped something at Jason and Clark, who each had one of Campbell's arms; they eased their grip and stopped, giving Campbell time to get his feet under him and walk instead of being keelhauled like a traitorous sailor at sea. They headed towards a black SUV, and Jason shoved Campbell in the back between him and Grizz. Clark and Luke took the front seat. "I didn't do it," Campbell said to Grizz. "The little dickweed is setting me up." Grizz shook his head. "I know, but this is how it has to be until we can figure out what's going on. Just take it easy. Once we talk to Allie, we can get this cleared up." "She hates me, and you know it." "Yeah, but I don't. Sam doesn't. We can make a case." Campbell leaned his head back against the seat. Fuck. He took long, slow breaths as they drove to Allie's house; he didn't understand why they weren't using the cells in the police station on the outside of town, where the cop car they used for Fugitive came from, but he wouldn't ask. Best to not give them ideas. He didn't even complain when they tossed him in the upstairs bedroom, handcuffing him to the radiator. Patience, Cassandra's voice murmured in his mind. Patience. Grizz, more than anything, looked disturbed. He ran his hand through his hair and looked around the room, as if the answer would be there somewhere. "If you need anything, I'll be in the hall outside, okay?" "Yeah, whatever." The door clicked shut as Grizz left, and Campbell closed his eyes. He was innocent. There was no evidence tying him to anything. He'd had Cassandra's blood on his clothes from checking her pulse, but Elle had gotten rid of those. No one had seen him. He didn't have any guns of any sort, his prints weren't on anything. Campbell was many things, but he wasn't a murderer, and surely Allie would come to her senses and realize that. All he had to do was wait.

[is-this-a-skam-account]

Shelter Chapter 3 by Shawnie1718 ao3

When Lucas next regains full consciousness, his heat is over. It’s a Sunday, so thankfully he doesn’t have to worry about forcing himself out of bed right away to make it to classes. He does, however, get out of bed to wake up his muscles. He cringes when he feels how stiff they are, and decides to take a shower; hoping that it could help him relax. Lucas doesn’t know how long, exactly, he’d been in the shower until he hears Mika banging at the door. Lucas turns off the water, half hazardously drying off his hair before tying the towel around his waist. He takes one last glance in the mirror, thankful that his skin is starting to return to its normal color, before opening the door.

Mika’s stood there, scowling at him. Lucas rolls his eyes. If any other Alpha were to give him that same look, Lucas is pretty sure he would be pissing himself. But it’s Mika, he doesn’t mean any harm. “You were in there for thirty-goddamn-minutes.”

Lucas shrugged, “sorry not sorry. There’s still hot water, so don’t get your panties in a knot” He said and begins to brush past Mika. “Also, my heat is finally over, so where did you put my suppressants?” Lucas asks as he walks down the hall back to his room. Mika has a tendency to hide Lucas’s suppressants whenever he’s in heat. That’s because Mika thinks that if Lucas can’t find them, he won’t take them. It’s never worked, of course. And now it’s just an irritating habit Mika has.

Mika naturally doesn’t respond and instead walks into the bathroom, closing the door rather aggressively. Damn Alphas, Lucas thinks and throws his towel on the bed. Oh yeah, the bed. He still has to change his sheets and run the dirtied ones down to the laundromat ASAP. He sighs and collapses into his desk chair. That’s a job for another day.

As of right now, Lucas decides to picks

up his phone. No new notifications from Eliott, which leaves Lucas’s chest feeling cold but he chooses not to read too much into that. Instead he sees he has tons of missed messages from Le Gang groupchat. He skims them, slowly coming to the realization that they were planing at hanging at Yann’s tonight. His parents are out of town. They also have a short conversation about possibly going to a party, but Lucas isn’t really sure if he feels up to it. He decides not to say anything, but maybe text Yann later.

Lucas places his phone back on the desk and massages his temples. He feels bad that he hasn’t told his friends about his sexuality or second gender. The suppressants and the fact that he appears more beta-like has always been a safety net for him. But taking that net away, and making the jump is terrifying. Because there’s no going back. He can’t say “no, guys, don’t worry I was kidding. It was a lie.” But then, maybe it won’t be so bad. Mika didn’t have a bad reaction to Lucas being gay and an Omega, he did have a bad reaction to the suppressants, but Lucas guessed that would be the reaction of most people. It was a little harder with Manon, because she had suddenly entered his life as a new flat mate who he knew from school but never really talked to. Mika had made them sit down and talk about it. It was a must, in his eyes. There wouldn’t be any hiding it if Manon was going to be staying with them long term, was Mika’s argument. Lucas supposes he was right. So Lucas told Manon everything. And when he was done she told him she was there for him. That she would help him come off of his suppressants if or whenever Lucas decided he was ready. And Lucas cried.

A couple years into taking the suppressants, Lucas looked up studies done on them. They came up relatively neutral, saying that they were looked down upon in society but the scientists haven’t found anything that would cause people any long term harm. Overdosing on them is obviously an issue, but that is never a concern for Lucas. He’s also seen articles about how it’s dangerous when Betas take them, which is because the suppressants literally are Beta hormones. But Lucas doesn’t really believe it’s that much of a problem because why would Betas take them anyway?

When Lucas makes the decision to finally eat some food (after nearly a week of pushing away any food that was offered to him) he walks out to the living room area to find Manon sitting there, chowing down on some chips.

She nods in his direction, a curt greeting followed. She places down the chip bowl and pats the empty space beside her. Lucas takes the invitation.

“What are watching?” He asks as he grabs the chip bowl off the coffee table.

She hums and reaches over to grab a chip, “some crime show, I don’t know I wasn’t really paying attention,” she confesses. “How’d it go?”

“How’d what go?”

“Your heat,” Manon says bluntly.

When Lucas and Manon first started getting to know each other, a statement like that would have caused Lucas to either choke on the chip he was chewing or purposefully shove another chip down his throat. But now, he feels a little more comfortable. More open, at least in their own space. “It was easy, nothing abnormal.”

Manon pauses, “you know, you always say your heats are ‘easy.’ Mine tend to be rather rough especially when it comes to the need for...physical contact.” She mumbles the last part, “do you think that maybe your suppressants are still affecting you a little whenever you’re in heat?”

Lucas sends her a side eye and she sighs in aggravation, “like...maybe they’re still running in your system whenever you go in heat? So you don’t get the full grunt of it? Is that at all a possibility?”

Lucas shrugs; suddenly feeling a loss of appetite he places his chip back in the bowl. “I don’t know. But I mean, would that really affect it that much?”

Manon shifts so she faces him, “well, an Omega needs to have their heats, it’s-it’s a part of our bodily functions. Stopping your heats is the same as stopping breathing. So...it’s a possibility that lessening the affects of your heats could be the same as only being able to breathe with one lung? Yeah, it still works, but it’s not as effective..?”

Lucas suddenly finds this conversation very uninteresting. “Listen, Manon, I don’t know if I really want to talk about this right now.”

He can smell Manon’s scent become more bitter, almost like it was choking him. “Of course,” she said, she sounded more hurt than angry, “just, Lucas, know that you can talk to me whenever. I never meant to hurt you.” With that, she turns and walks into her room.

An hour or so passes before Lucas moves from the couch, he’s managed to get through three sandwiches in that time. He debates between going to his room or checking in on Manon. The Manon choice wins.

He knocks on her door once, twice. “Manon?”

He hears a thud and the sound of papers falling before the door opens. Manon has her hair tied up, eyes dreary and tired. “What time is it?” She asks with a yawn.

“Oh, shoot, did I wake you?”

She shrugs, “it’s fine I probably should’ve gotten up soon anyway. What’s up?”

Lucas follows Manon inside, and slowly clicks the door closed behind him. “Well, you and Mika are the only ones who really know about my...sexuality.” Manon nods, a smile flitting across her lips. “Well, recently, there was this guy who reached out to me...” Lucas briefly glanced up from his phone where he was pulling up Eliott’s profile. Manon was sat there, biting her bottom lip and smiling in anticipation. “Stop looking at me like that!”

Manon laughed, “sorry. And?”

“Well, we’ve actually hit it off quite well and in about two weeks I’m supposed to meet him here, in Paris.”

“Oh my God, Lucas! That’s amazing!” Manon squealed and pulled at Lucas’s arm to make him sit on the bed with her. “What’s his name? What’s he like? Is he cute? What’s his favorite color?” She asks the last one jokingly, or...did she say it jokingly? Lucas can’t tell anymore.

“Well, his name is Eliott, he’s nice from what I can tell. I personally think he is...dashing,” Lucas tries and fails to hide the blush on his face. “And his favorite color I don’t know just yet.”

“Okay, well, Instagram?”

Lucas nods and hands his phone to Manon, “that’s actually how-“ He was cut off by a sharp gasp from Manon.

“Lucas!” She exclaims, “this is you!”

Lucas shoots her a questioned look before stealing the phone away from her. His heart stops, or speeds up, he can’t tell which because holy crap. That’s him. Eliott drew him. He tagged him. Like, a real friggin drawing.

Lucas can’t breathe.

“Holy shit.” He manages.

“I need every detail, ASAP!”

Lucas flusters for a couple more seconds before giving Manon a brief rundown. She laser-focuses on every word coming out of Lucas’s mouth. After he’s finished she asks him, “did you think of him during your heat?”

Lucas blushes and takes a long breath in, “yeah. Well...yeah. Only him, actually.”

Manon beams. Before Lucas can say anything she tackles him in a hug, “oh my god when you get back from your hang out I expect every detail. Every. Detail.” She proceeds to glare at him until Lucas’s phone bings with a message.

He opens it up. It’s from Yann.

Yann: you coming to my place for the pregame?

Lucas groans internally. He doesn’t feel like going out tonight, but with the past week being in his heat and spending no time with the guys, it would be awkward if he didn’t go.

Lucas: yeah, just about ready.

“I have to go,” Lucas says once he tucks his phone back into his hoodie pocket. Manon nods, escorting him out of her room. She blows him a kiss goodbye as he walks down the hallway, and he winks at her in response. Manon laughs before closing her door.

Lucas changes relatively quickly, throwing on clothes that he had kept away from him while in heat so they wouldn’t come out smelling like Omega. He downs a suppressant and puts on his normal Beta deodorant before heading out the door.

He spends the entire bus ride over to Yann’s staring at the picture on Eliott’s Instagram. Tens of thousands of people have liked it by now, and Lucas worries that maybe one of his friends would see and wonder why he’s on some models Instagram. But then, maybe they would just assume Eliott was a fan? Lucas scrolls down to read some of the comments. The majority of the comments at the beginning are applauding Eliott for his nice drawing, but as he scrolls further down, the comments are overwhelmingly either tagging Lucas or asking Eliott why he drew him. Lucas blushes and scrolls away.

He hovers over his messages; should he send Eliott something? A thank you? At least some type of recognition?

@lucallemant: I see you’re going for realism now?

He pockets his phone as soon as he sends the message. He glances around at the nearly vacant train. Lucas knows that the person sitting ten feet away from him has no clue what Lucas has just done. The other train attendees do not know that Lucas has chosen to flirt with and message a male Alpha who has flirted and messaged Lucas as well. But for some reason, he feels like the walls of the bus are closing in on him. Like all the people are staring at him. He has to get off.

Lucas nearly flies out the doors when the bus stops. He feels like he can actually breathe again. His hands stop shaking when he feels a buzz in his pocket. It’s a message from Eliott. Lucas sighs, his breathing steadies. He takes a second before opening the message, realizing that he probably had such a strong reaction because he was in public now. This was the closest he has been in a while to actually showing who he is in public. He wasn’t in the safety of his room. He wasn’t protected by any walls. So without realizing it, Lucas forced himself to take a rather large step.

@srodulv: I hoped you would see it.

@srodulv: I wasn’t sure if I should post it or not, since I feel like it doesn’t really capture your beauty that well ;)

Lucas rolled his eyes at the response.

@lucallament: are you kidding?! It’s amazing! I want it framed.

@lucallament: and how could I not see it? I would have to be blind.

Okay, Lucas really needs to figure out where he is, which means putting that conversation on hold. So, he puts his phone on silent and walks towards the nearest map. Luckily he got off at the right stop, and it’s only a two minute walk to Yann’s place from here.

When Lucas lets himself into Yann’s apartment he can already smell the alcohol and weed. Basile meets him the doorway, his breath reeking of beer. “Ah it’s Lucas! I love Lucas!” He yells ecstatically.

Lucas laughs, “had a little too much to drink there, Baz?” He throws his shoes in the closet with his coat.

Baz giggles, “nah, I don’t think I’ve had enough. Come,” he says and slings an arm around Lucas’s shoulders guiding him to the kitchen.

Arthur is stood in the kitchen, mumbling about something as he runs his glasses under water. “Arthur, Lucas is here!” Baz announces proudly. This guy is going to have the worst hangover tomorrow.

Arthur looks over his shoulder, “Lucas, hey!” He stops the water and places his glasses back on his face. “Yann got hummus on my glasses!”

Lucas laughs, “speaking of which, where is Yann?”

“In here!” A voice, Yann’s most likely, yells from the living room.

Lucas glances at Arthur and Basile, who seem to have made their own conversation, before disappearing from the kitchen. He spots Yann at the couch, fiddling with the remote control like his life depended on it, however when Yann sees Lucas enter he immediately pauses the game. He motions to the chair next to him and Lucas takes the invitation.

“What’s up, man?” Yann asks and offers Lucas a sip of his beer, but he declines. He doesn’t like to drink that much with his suppressants.

“Nothing much. Sorry I haven’t been around much this past week, family stuff...” Yann shakes his head, making Lucas trail off.

“Listen, Lucas. I know there is something going on with you. And not just family stuff. I’ve actually known for a while, but I haven’t pushed you. And I don’t know if it’s the alcohol or the weed making me say this,” he pauses, “but I need you to talk to me. I used to tell you everything, yet you’ve always been a closed book. I’m here whenever you’re ready. But for right now, how about we go drink our body weight?” He finished and offers his hand.

Lucas was somewhat startled at first, it seemed to him that it came out of the blue. But perhaps to Yann he’s been sitting on this for so long that he simply had to say it, and perhaps it was the beer and weed that made him suddenly blurt it out. Either way, Lucas was somewhat glad he put it into words. Lucas knows his friend worries about him, and Lucas also knows that Yann shouldn’t always be the one to reach out to him. Lucas wasn’t sure what to say, so he took Yann’s hand.

The walk to Emma’s house was a long one. Mainly filled with Baz yelling about having to get laid and Arthur shushing him every five seconds. Lucas stayed beside Yann for the majority of the time. It was comforting to smell the common scent of his friend. He was one of the two Alphas Lucas trusted. Yann and Mika. But maybe that list will stretch to three in the next few weeks...

When Emma’s house came into view, they saw neon lights streaming through the windows and the loud music was making the walls vibrate. They walked in relatively unnoticed. Arthur and Lucas beelined for the kitchen. Lucas grabbed one of those red cups you always see in movies and filled it with some of the punch sitting out. He normally pretends to nurse this one drink throughout the entire night. Sometimes he’ll claim he forgot the cup somewhere or finished it off to go grab another one and pretend to drink that one instead, to make it seem less suspicious. Lucas thinks about hitting the dance floor, but quickly decides against it when he sees it’s mainly made up of couples making out. What if Eliott were the one pushing you against the wall and kissing you to the beat of the music? Lucas blushes into his drink.

He does venture out of the kitchen once to go say hi to Imane, his lab partner in Bio. He finds her sitting on the floor playing some type of beer pong game. She kisses his cheek in greeting and he takes his position standing behind her. Naturally she wins to the first match, and makes Lucas take her next round. He’s never played beer pong before in his life, and he is terrified.

He does rather well, considering. And once his match is up he makes his way back to the kitchen, saying a quick greeting to Emma on the way. When he finally is back in the little corner by the sink, the only person still there is Basile.

He begins to rant about how he was so close to hooking up with this one girl, but she just had to start vomiting. For some reason, Lucas doesn’t quite believe him. However, Basile is cut off when a Beta girl enters. She walks up to Lucas, running her hands down his chest and says, softly, “you looked cute concentrating on that game back there.”

Before Lucas can really react her lips are on his. He quickly glances at Basile who is standing there mouth slack. Lucas suddenly gets into the swing of things, make this a point, Lucas, make this a point that you can kiss girls. His hand sets down his red solo cup before massaging the back of her neck with one hand, the other trailing down to her waist.

He hates it. The beer on her tongue leaves a sour taste in his mouth. Her lips are too soft. She’s too docile. She finally pulls away, pushing a piece of paper into Lucas’s chest, “Chloe.” And walks off.

When he gets home that night, the sour taste of the girls lips still hangs in his mouth.

[tenaciousarcadeexpert]

Criminal Minds-The Good Ol Days

Tagging: @marvelfanlife, @itsmeedee, @cynbx, @jaqren, @gabriellewritermua, @princesswagger15, @screaminginbi, @tleighstone12, @cosmicmelaninflower

A collaboration fic with @princesswagger15​

Chapter 7-Hangover

 Elle was getting hammered, drinking tons of beer to the point that she was loosening herself at the party along with the others. She was partying so hard to the point that she ran out and puked on the nearest tree she could find. After pacing herself, she took the time to catch her breath as she tries to recover. She then got up and looked around to see her surroundings, with her vision all a blur. She saw several couples making out, a person smoking a cigarette. She shielded her eyes from the light and continued to look around and saw a couple arguing. Although her vision was still a haze, she could recognize from the sound of her voice that it was Meadows who was arguing with a man, whether it was a guest or a boyfriend, the sight of her slapping him when he tries to win her over prompted her to snicker.

“Poor girl.” She looked away, only to notice the young man leaving, where she sees a person in a coat walking past Meadows carrying a luggage. She then squint her eyes as she tries to get a better look at the person. Due to her hazy vision, she couldn’t get a exact look at the person, though judging by the coat, the type of suitcase and body language, she sensed that it wasn’t a student, possibly a teacher perhaps. The real question is why carry a suitcase this late at night, especially one that’s travel sized. Curious, she then decides to follow the person.

At the same some, Kate, was starting to feel a bit more relaxed as she briefly laughed and chatted with others. Although not as wasted and hungover as her friends, she started to feel a bit light-headed and decided to call it a night and leave the party when she sees Elle walking out, still feeling tipsy. Worried about her, she decides to follow her.   In the meantime, Elle continues to follow the person, still curious about the suitcase he or she is carrying. She continues to follow the person all the way to the teacher’s parking lot when she accidentally steps on a twig. Panicking, she hides behind a car as the person looks around. Just then, the person’s phone rang. Elle carefully tilt her head to the side as she tries to hear what the person is saying.

“Hello David? Yeah, I got everything. What do you want me to do with them? In the cabin? Okay, okay, I’ll be there.” The person then looked around to see no one else present in the parking lot before continuing. “No, I uh made sure that I wasn’t being followed. Okay, I’ll see you there.” The person hung up as they opened the back door of a gray Toyota camry car, placing the suitcase in and closing and getting inside. Elle cautiously stood up as the person drives away. As she slowly walks back, she suddenly felt a hand touching her shoulder.​

“What the-” She gasped and turned around to see Kate standing right behind her. “Jesus Christ Kate. What the hell?”

“What are you doing here?” She stammered, motioning her hand. “I-I was, I was just, I-” She sighs. “I-I thought I just saw something, so I guess I ended up here.”

Kate crossed her arms.“What did you see?” “A person in a gray coat carrying a large suitcase and I could’ve sworn I saw something peeking out of it. She was even calling someone named ‘David’”

She cupped her friend’s face. “Elle, you’re drunk, maybe you were just seeing things.” “No, no. I swear what I’m saying is true. A person was here and was calling someone, saying to meet at the ‘usual place’.” “My god Elle. Why were you even following the person? It could be a professor that was just going home.” “B-b-but I-” “Elle, just leave it. Now come on, we should get going. The party wiped me out.” Kate then grabs her hand, only for Elle to pull back before she could touch her wrist.

“You know what? Forget it.”

“Elle I-”

“I said forget it! Sorry to even bother telling you.” She turned her back away. “Besides, I’m drunk anyway.” She then walks away, feeling hurt. All Kate could do was look on, helplessly. She may be drunk, but she might have a point, if only she could’ve took the time to hear what she had to say.

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

 The next day, everyone were completely wiped out from the party. The building reeked of alcohol, cigarettes and vomit. Pieces of clothing were discarded everywhere on the floor, hanging on the ceiling and even on the bushes. The next morning was a mess and everyone would suffer the consequences of last night.

JJ woke up to the sounds of her alarm clock buzzing. All she could remember was walking back to the dorm, still drenched and collapsing onto the bed. The first thing she saw was Ashley hovering above her.

“JJ……..” Her voice echoed. She lift her eyes up as the sight of her roommate still swirls around her. Still, Ashley kept trying to wake her up.  

“Hmm…..” JJ said, still trying to adjust to the light.

“JJ…...JJ! Wake up!”

“HOLY SHIIT!” She jerked up the bed, starting Ashley. She then looked around to find herself back in her dorm and saw that her alarm clock was still ringing. She then turned her alarm clock off. “A-are you alright?”

“I-I don’t know….. I guess.” She catched her breath. “What happened? What time is it?”

“It’s uh……….. 11:35 am.”

“Wait what?” She then picked up her clock and looked at the time. “Crap!” She clutched her head. “Didn’t Hotch say that we were supposed to meet today?” “Yeah…….shit, I overslept.” She then smelled her clothes and hair. “And I smell like chlorine…….fuck.”

“Well, it’s almost noon and Hotch told us that we have to meet by twelve.”

“Damn, do you think I’ve got time for a shower?”

“I don’t know.” Ashley then leaned over to sniff her friend. “Ugh, you probably need to take a two hour shower.”

“Oh shit, I don’t have two hours, I have less than twenty minutes to get ready. What should I do?”

“Change bra, panties, shirt and pants. Put your hair in a ponytail.”

“What about the smell? Do you have any perfume?”

“Yea I should, just look on my table.” Ashley goes through her drawer, taking out bottle of lavender scented perfume. “How’s this?”

“Ooooo gimme.” JJ snatched the bottle from her hands as she frantically grabs random pieces of clothing. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome. Now hurry.”

“On it!”

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

A couple of hours ago, Matt was in a deep sleep, still enjoying that sweet and steamy night of passion he had with Kristy last night. He tossed and turned, recalling each moment of the hot sex. Just then, he suddenly woke up from his long and peaceful slumber to see Hotch staring down, smirking at him.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.”

“H-hi Hotch.” He rubbed his eyes.

“Had a nice rest?”

“Uhh yea I did.” Matt said as he covered himself as best as he could. Still, he couldn’t help but notice his roommate giving him a smug look. “Uh Hotch, why are you staring at me like that?” “Oh nothing, just hear you moan Kristy’s name in your sleep but you know, no big deal…” Hotch looked at Matt expectantly.

“W-wha wait what?” He stammered. “I was?”

Hotch nods. “Did you and Kristy…….you know what last night??”

Matt then looks away from Hotch, trying to get away from his searching gaze. “Uh…...I have no idea what you’re talking about-”

“Matt.......”

“Uh.......yea this isn't going to be easy to explain, is it?”

“HAHAHAHAHAH N O P E ! !”

“Yep, figured.” He then took a deep breath and sat upright on his bed. “Alright, it’s true, we fucked. In my car.”

Just then, Hotch cracked open a large smile and laughed. “Oh man, I knew it, I knew it!” “W-wait a second, you knew?” He scoffs. “I mean, I had a feeling you did, and it wasn’t just hearing you moan her name in your sleep.” Just then, Hotch stood up as he pulls out a pair of blue panties that was partially ripped. “I found this peeking out in your jacket pocket.” He then tossed them to Matt. “And I also saw a couple of hickeys on your neck. Seems like you two had a hell of a night.”

“In fairness, Kristy and I are in a relationship now. It’s not our fault that we decided to make it official by getting it on in my car.”

“Well, I hope you know that you need to hide that hickey before we go out today.”

“What? Cause I'll be teased at by the others? We were literally in our underwear before. I don't think there's anything more humiliating than that.”

“Hmm, all I can say is that with the moaning, the panties and hickeys, Kristy sure isn't disappointed is she?”

“No, she wasn't…” Matt said smirking and looking down at his hands.

“HAHAHA! NICE”

“Yes, she was…... she was rather........impressed.”

“Woow. I don’t know what to say, but damn Matt, you've got game.”

He chuckled. “Thanks.” He then got up from the bed and took off his pants. “Well... What about you Hotch? Have you and Hailey......?” He asked as he puts on a pair of jeans.

“I uhhhhhhhhhh...................................................................................no…we didn't.”

“WHHHAAAAAATTTT??!”

“Yea I know.”

“Why?!”

“I don’t know, I guess we weren't.............ready.”

“Oh okay.”

“Yea” Hotch croaked.

Matt then continues to find a shirt, but to no avail, given the hickeys on his neck. “Well.... Do you have any idea on how I can hide the hickey?”

“I don’t know, I don't have makeup.”

“Hmmm......Maybe we can ask Garcia?”

“Oh hohohohohohoho, you really want Garcia to know about that special little hickey you got on your neck because of you and Kristy fucking in a car yesterday?”

“I DONT SEE YOU GIVING ANY FUCKING IDEAS! HAHAH DO YOU WANNA HELP ME?”

Hotch scratched his head. “S-s-say you got bit by a mosquito?” He then shrugs his shoulders at Matt.

He sighs. “Oh Hotch. No offense but you're no help to me man!”

“Oh I'm sorry that I couldn't help you cause you let your girlfriend bite your neck like a bat!”

“At least I actually bang my girlfriend!”

“Well, at least I don't have to worry about hiding a goddamn hickey on my neck!”

“Gee, well could you at least just be my FRIEND AND HELP ME?!”

“How? I don't have anything else on me but the clothes I'm wearing.”

“Would white deodorant hide it?”

“Maybe but barely,” He then rubbed his chin as he tries to help his friend out. “Though I do have a turtleneck in my closet, but I-”

“PLEASE LET ME BORROW IT!!!”

“You sure? I don't even know what size you are. Who knows, you might be....."bigger" than me.”

“Let me try it on! Come on man, you know they’ll attack me once they see this.” Matt said as he pointed to his hickey.

“Uhhhhhhhhhh okay.” He then hands him the green turtleneck.

Matt then takes it and tries to pull it down around his body with no luck.

“Yeah no Matt, that won’t fit you.”

“No, no, no, no, I got this Hotch.”

Hotch then walk up to his roommate as he tries to help him out. “Just give it back! It wont fit!”

“No no, I can fit, I just need to keep pulling.”

“Matt give it back! I swear if you rip it-” Hotch was then interrupted by the sound of the sweater ripping.

“H-Hotch I-”

“MATT WHAT THE FUCK!”

“Okay, I'm sorry I really am, you were right, I should have listened to you but I didn't.”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” He screamed as he looked down on his beloved turtleneck sweater. “That was my favorite sweater. Why, why?”

“I’M SORRY. I truly am, I didn't mean to rip it. I'll buy you a new sweater, with my own money.” Matt reassured Hotch as he continues to mourn his ripped turtleneck.

“Matt...... my grandma made this for me!”

“Oh well.........shit. I’m so sorry.”

“Tell you what, don’t hide the hickey and let everyone make fun of you and we're even. Deal?”

“Okay fine.” He sighs as he puts on a random navy blue shirt.

“Lets go.” Hotch says as they both walk out the door.

Just as they leave, they saw Reid dragging his feet as he walks pass their dorm. As he walks past them, they noticed how he wasn’t walking but was limping instead. They couldn’t help but wonder what’s gotten into him.

“Uhh hey Spence.” Said Matt.

Reid slowly turned around. “Uh, hey guys. Didn’t see you there.”

“Nice walk- er limp you got going on.” Hotch said.

“Oh uhhhhhhh, I tripped on a loose pavement stone during the walk back. It still kinda hurts.” He grunts.

“Uh, you okay Reid?” “Uh yeah.” Reid waved his arm. “ Yeah, just feeling a bit tipsy, that’s all. I’m gonna head to my dorm and.” He then tries to away away, only to collapse and stumble to the floor.

“Reid! You okay?!” Matt said, leaning down to help Reid.

“I don’t know, maybe, maybe not.” He struggles to lift himself. “Ow, my knees.” “Alright, let’s get him up.” Hotch yells as he and Matt pull Reid up, carrying him into their dorm and placing him on Hotch’s bed.

“Thanks guys.”

“No problem.” Matt responds. “What happened to you?”

“What do you mean? I tripped on my way here.” “No no no no something happened to make you limp like that.”

Hotch then sat beside the skinny brunette. “Come on Reid, you can tell us what happened.”

“Uh……….” Reid hesitated.

Matt then closed the door. “Don’t worry, we won’t make you of or judge you Reid. We promise.”

“You sure about that. I don’t know if you guys can handle the truth.”

“Reid, we can handle anything you tell us, and it wont leave this room unless you want it to okay?” Hotch said.

“Okay.” Reid nods. “I think I can trust you guys.” He took a deep breath as he opens up. “About what I said earlier, that I tripped. That was a lie.” “We know.” “Anyway, the truth is….that I was walking back from the girl’s dormitory. After the party, Marissa and I headed to her dorm. We played video games, ate ice cream and we……..” He rubbed two of his fingers as he hesitated in finishing up his sentence.

“OOOOO I think I get it!” Matt shouted.

“Yeah, I lost my virginity and ahh-” He clutched the right side of his body. “I’m in so much pain right now.”

“That’s what it was like for me my first time. I was so happy, but soooooo sore.”

“Really? What was it like?”

“Well when I first woke up, everything was fine. But then I made the HUGE mistake and made a quick, sudden movement and for the next two days, I had to walk so slowly.”

“Wow, tha-” Just then, Reid looked across from Matt’s bed to see something small and blue. “Is that a-” “Yes Spence, that’s a woman’s panty on my bed.” He then pick it up and puts it in his closet while Hotch covers his mouth, trying not to laugh. “You’re not the only one that got some last night.”

“Cool. What about you Hotch-” “No, I didn’t get laid last night.” “Oh, okay.” He then picks up a small mirror as he pulls down the collar of his shirt, revealing multiple hickeys on his neck and collarbone.

“Woah.” Hotch and Matt looked on.

“Yeah, and that’s not all. These things are everywhere…..e v e r y w h e r e.”

“Damn Spencer.”

“Though, you’re not the only one.” Matt then pulled down the collar of his shirt, also revealing multiple hickeys on his neck and collarbone.

“Damn Matt, you got game.” Reid said, surprised.

“Yeah, I did.” He chuckled. “But look at you, you love marks yourself. You got some game too Reid.”

“Yeah, but what am I gonna do? I can barely walk, I lost a couple of buttons on my favorite shirt, and I don’t know how to conceal these little bites and scratches on my body. I look like i lost a fight with a paper and pen.”

Hotch and Matt looked at each other before turning their focus back on Reid. “Tell you what, if the guys ask, say you got beat up by a bear and barely escaped.” Matt said.

“Really Matt?” Hotch said, facepalming. “That’s the most unrealistic thing I have ever heard.”

“Well, do you have a better idea?”

“Say, ummm y-you fell down a rocky hill.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“You guys are worse than Derek and Luke. Maybe I’ll just let them tease me. This could be karma for accidentally letting you guys strip down in your underwear in front of the girls.”

“I mean if you really want to step into the lion’s den then okay.”

“Yeah, though I also would’ve suggest wearing my turtleneck, had someone not…..”

“I SAID I WAS SORRY!”

“Well it ain’t gonna bring my turtleneck back is it?!”

“.......No.” “Guys, guys, it’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve been through a lot worse than that. Hmmm…...maybe I could wear a scarf. Yeah that’s sounds nice.”

“Oh okay, cool.”

“So……….are we good?”

Both Matt and Hotch nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.” “Cool……….uh, you mind helping me to my dorm? So that I could change?” “Oh yeah, right.” The two then helped their friend up as they escort him to his dorm.

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

Elsewhere, Garcia tossed and turn, feeling a thick and lumpy blanket as she rubbed her eyes and woke up to find herself in a bed that clearly was not hers. “What the-” She lifted herself from the bed, looking around, seeing that she wasn’t in her dorm, but a guys dorm.

“Where am I?” She thought. As she looked around, she suddenly looked down and gasped when she finds herself in her bra and underwear.

“What the-why, why am I half naked? Where’s my dress? Where’s my dress?” She panicked, scrambling around as she looks for her dress till she found her dress folded neatly on the desk. “Got you!” Just then, she suddenly gasped as she heard the door open. “Oh no, oh no.” She panics and frantically struggles in putting her dress on, just when the door opens and closes. Garcia then screams and hides behind the other side of the bed. A few seconds later, she carefully peeks up as the first thing she saw was a couple of wet legs. She then scrolls up to see none other than Luke Alvez hovering above her, in nothing my a towel. 

“Uh I-I” Luke didn’t bother saying anything, other than picking up her discarded short-sleeved cardigan.

“T-thanks” She stammered as she takes the cardigan from his hand. She then awkwardly walks away, not saying any words. “Garcia?” “Yeah?” “We’re supposed to meet up today.” “M-meet?” “Hotch and the others. We’re supposed to meet up by the forest today.” “Oh yeah. I’ll be there.” “Garcia I-” Before he could say anything, she closed the door.  Just as she was walking away, she quietly mutters at herself, getting all flustered as she has no memory of what happened the night before, apart from blacking out. But whatever it was, it lead to Luke coming back in a towel. Thinking that they had a one night stand, she then gets all flustered thinking about it and Luke.

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

“Emily, Emily!” The mousy brunette woke up to see Tara on her bed. “What is it?” She rubbed her eyes. “It’s ten, and it’s Sunday, which means……” “Shit.” She clutched her head. “We’re supposed to meet up with Hotch and the gang today.” “I know…...we should probably get ready.” “Yes…….or……………….we can stay here for a few more minutes. It’s only ten, we still have time.” She cupped Tara’s face. She smiled back in return and kiss her. Seems like a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.

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

 By noon, everyone finally met, right near the entrance of the forest, though everyone were still hungover from yesterday. Garcia continues to keep her distance from Luke, Derek and Matt talking about their sexual conquests and the hickeys that they got from their girlfriends, Kate struggling to stay awake, Tara and Emily still being affectionate and teasing one another, Reid still sore from having sex with Marissa and trying to conceal his soreness but to no avail and Elle still thinking about what she saw last night. Hotch couldn’t help but look on dismay, seeing that everyone was a wreck, including himself. Just then, he noticed that the group is not complete.

“Wait a sec, where’s J-” “I’m here! I’m here!” JJ and Ashley ran up to them, touching their knees as they catch their breath. “Sorry we’re late.” “Jesus JJ. What the hell happen to both of you?” Kate asked.

“Long story, I overslept, but we’re here now. We’re here.” Hotch then sighs. “Okay. Now,  that we’re all here, I guess we should all get going. With the sun still up, we can still see the path on the way back as well as the shortcut the girls found the other day.. Hopefully, this won’t be an issue anymore. Any questions?” No one said anything. “Good, now let’s roll.” The rest of the gang nods in agreement as they walk through the entrance of the forest. Hopefully they don’t get lost this time.

[lucifear-o]

Help I Start School Tomorrow: A Check List

Do you need some sweet ass advice from somebody who’s spent no less than 18 years struggling through the muck of academia? Of course you do! Here’s a handy-ass dandy-ass guide to wtf should be going on in your pre-school prep!

Let’s get started~

1) What should I do with my day before I go back to the hell hole that is school?

I’m glad you asked! Do things that make the start of the semester feel like a fun and luxurious adventure awaits you! Especially for college and university people, the start of the semester loses pizzazz with age (and time).

Hype yourself up with some simple self care, these things don’t have to be expensive or cost anything at all if you can utilize what’s lying around in your kitchen, bathroom, neighbour’s house or wherever.

Wash your damn hair! Shower and take all the time you need, shave if you want to while you’re in there. The goal is to feel fresh and a lil less greasy the next morning.

Are you a lazy ass that doesn’t have time to moisturize? Me too! Get some Nivea in-shower lotion if you can, and before you towel dry douse yourself with baby oil gel (or literally just some olive oil or coconut oil- whatever you got lying around). Show yourself some love!!

Now is a great time to style your hair for tomorrow and protect it with a low pony or a night cap, btw

Do a face mask! Do a hair mask! Do a foot mask! Do whatever tf kind of mask you got handy! Use foods from your kitchen, or try Freeman masks they’re around 4$ each. Dollar store prices, department store quality.

Take an hour to fix your nails, toe nails, wax the stache or do any body maintenance you usually do. Pretend you’re going to a sick ass party and you’re grooming your meat vessel to perfection.

Lay out your sick outfit for tomorrow- pro tip: you want to be comfy and functional on buses/trains/on foot or however you commute. Think hard about the kind of weather you’ll be up against, and the general state of the terrain on your commute. Put your outfit on a hanger so it’s ready for tomorrow, even if you can’t do this every night during the school year it’ll get you in the right mental state to have your first day

Prep your meds! A big part of feeling good is taking our medications on time to reap their maximum benefits. Put them out on your kitchen counter if you think you’ll forget, go through your medicine cabinet: is there anything you need to remember to take with you to have during the day? Set alarms on your phone if (like me) you’ve got pills to take at different times of day- label them something that you’ll understand. (I use the names of the doctors that prescribed them so I know which pills are physical health and which are mental health).

Pack your lunch for tomorrow. Fruits and veggies bitch none of this “I’ll buy it when I get there” nonesense. Remember to stay hydrated! Bring some kind of receptacle to hold water/tea/coffee whatever. This is a solid habit to have year round, but remember the first couple school days can frazzle you pretty good and it’s good to have snacks on hand.

CLEAN YOUR GODDAMN ROOM. You’re gonna be shooketh in a bad way if you wake up on the first day of classes with a messy bathroom and shit strewn all over your sleeping space. Take all the time you need to put things lovingly away, if you’re feeling ambitious update your calendar and spray a little room spray or light a scented candle. Ooh la la

Do something fun. Do something distracting. Go out with a friend, read a book, take a couple hours of ‘me time’. You’ll be ready to die for it during the semester.

Feeling nervous? Call literally anybody you can stand to talk to for more than five minutes. Talk about dogs, talk about boats, ask them to guess how many jelly beans you’re holding right this second (sike b the answer is 0)- take a couple steps away from the whole school thing.

2) What the hell do I put in my backpack??

So this is where I fly into an unGodly rage. I’m so tired of seeing Instagram posts telling people their make up, perfume and breath mints are the most important of their school arsenal. What’s gonna save you when you bleed through your pants at school cause Aunt Flo decides to come chill on campus? Your perfume? Unlikely.

Here’s the real tea on what you should have in your bag, based on years of oopses, dire situations, and general mishap management.

A pencil case. Preferably full of writing implements. I can’t believe I have to tell people this but like......I do.....y’all childish

MEDICAL BAG: A small pouch is all you need! Tuck this away in your bag’s inside pocket, or in your purse, it could save not only your life but somebody else’s too. Get your prescriptions you need throughout the day like inhalers, anti anxiety meds, lactose intolerance pills, Imodium, symethicone etc.

Pack some ginger gravol (or regular drowsy gravol) for motion sickness or for when the flu season hits

Benadryl pills (and your epipen if you have one!) this is one of those things you should always have lying around at home and in your car

Alcohol swabs and band aids of your choice. Most pharmacies will sell 100 swabs for around 3$, look in dollar stores for discreet 1st aids packs and band aids. Stash them in your little pouch, it might not be you who falls down a flight of stairs and needs to bandage up their elbow- but at least you can help. (Based on a true story!!!!)

Panty liners/ tampons/ pads- this is another one of those things that others may benefit from

Get yourself a mini deodorant (3$ at Walmart) and wrap your hair ties around it. Double trouble, double storage capacity!

Tylenol/Advil, hunt around for little plastic pill holders like Pill Pals, they’re not usually more than 2 or 3 bucks and they hold A TON of pills

Vagina Bonus Round: do you take birth control? Have a tube of Canesten/Monistat/Vagisil or whatever for when the yeast season is upon us

Remember to carry your hospital card and/or medical insurance card on you at all times

Pharmacies will give face wipes individually wrapped for free. Usually brands like Cetaphil will dump them off as testers for customers- ask your local pharmacy cashier for stuff like mini hand creams, spf lip balms and face wipes. We’re happy to give them to you and you’ll get some real use out of them!

ASS WIPES. GET SOME. You can wipe down your bag with them, wipe down tables with them, flush them, and do all kinds of damage control. Trust.

Emergency money- the medical bag is a great place to hide emergency money (think bus fare, or 5$ for emergency food) because people are unlikely to rob what looks like a 1st aid kit

3. Friends come and go but portable chargers are forever- you can find cheap key chain ones at dollar stores. If you’re going to spring for one that lasts a few days on one charge I suggest the OKZU from Amazon. It’s HELLA SLIM and I can hold a charge for about 3 days before it reaches even 75% battery capacity. (It’s also the most budget friendly I’ve found to date about 14$ after shipping).

4. Remember make up, gum, little travel items and perfume can have a place in your bag but I would suggest transferring as much as you can into smaller and smaller containers. A whole bottle of perfume is a lot to carry around, imagine a water bottle bouncing around your bag- that’s the kind of space you’re using up. Be mindful of just how many books/ copy books/ textbooks you’ll be toting around and if it gets to be too much- get an actual tote!

5. A little clip on hand sanitizer never hurt anybody...also Kleenex I promise you’ll use it. (And if you don’t I’ll be there to borrow it lmao) ALLERGY SEASON BONUS ROUND: a small bottle of off brand artificial tears are great to stow in your glasses case for all those shitty October mornings where your eyes refuse to act like eyes and not the Sahara Desert 🐫 off brand artificial tears run for between 2-4$ at most Walmarts!

3) I’ve used my last 24 hours to get my shit together- but I have a horrible impending sense of doom! What should I do?

Ah anozzer day in bikini bottom, which means another day of crippling anxiety for 25% of adult Canadian students! (Wow that’s a lot of students!) Boy do I know how tough it is to be thrown back into the pressure cooker of life that we call school. Here are some tips from me to you that I hope help a little bit:

I believe in you! It’s not a tip, but I want you to know that I do. If you’re feeling unsure/ silly/ out of your element/ etc think about me wandering around just as confused as you are! And have a good laugh at my expense! Shoot me a DM, scroll around my nonesense blog- wow check me out I’m a real living person and I made this post for you- because why? I care about your well being! Sometimes it just helps to know that there’s somebody out there thinking about you and wishing for your safe return home at the end of the day~ for the start of your semester I’ll be that person. *smooch*

Arrive early! My therapist once told me that rolling out of bed five minutes before I have to be somewhere limits my chances of having a calm and meaningful experience where I’m going. I hate to admit it but she makes a good point. Wake up early and do something nice for you: have breakfast, just sit on your balcony and breathe some fresh air, pet your cat and gaze upon their stupid face. Take the time.

Arrive early BONUS TIP: get to where you’re going an hour early and just wander! Window shop, roam the building, learn where the fire exit is, sit outside on a bench and watch the students come in and out. The longer you chill at school the homier it’ll feel, and the more you feel at home somewhere the more you feel at ease. Strike up random convos with strangers if you’re feeling brave, or text an understanding friend to meet you there and roam alongside you.

Plan your day! Get an agenda if it’s in your means, or just scribble on some scrap paper. Make your grocery list, write your tasks of the day, your goals of the day, or even just a positive affirmation. Sometimes even when I know exactly what I’m doing that day, or have something trivial to do (like laundry) I’ll write down “do laundry” to feel like I have a clear path to follow.

Embrace your local accessibility Center and school councellor. Don’t live in fear of the resources your school provides. It seems scary/embarrassing/weird to have to have special accommodations to deal with your anxiety or depression but GIRL once you’re all set with the appropriate tools there’s truely nothing that can stop you. This was my experience anyway, but I strongly urge everybody I meet to take advantage of school services and wring them for all they’ve got. They’re there for you boo!

HOT TIP: feeling dizzy and overwhelmed on the bus? Look at the wall or something that isn’t moving. DONT LOOK OUT THE WINDOWS AS THIS MAKES DIZZINESS WORSE. Breathe in 2 beats and out 3 beats- this cuts your fight or flight. If you’re going to drink take small sips out of a straw or without moving your head. My GP gave me this advice and it’s saved my whole ass quite a few times.

Download free apps that are anti anxiety in the form of fun games. I’ve had positive results with Viridii (where you grow a little succulent garden) Tap Tap Fish (basically you’re a sentient coral that decorates the sea floor) and Polytap (you basically count the vertices of spinning polygons). A cursory google search will reveal more fun games for emergency anxiety relief! I also like to go on YouTube and search for positive affirmation anxiety videos, or storm/white noise/ ocean anti anxiety sounds the night before to get me in the right headspace to sleep!

So this has been your lightning round/ crash course for what to do the 24 hours before school! I hope you feel a little more prepared to take on the start of the semester!

A dios hoes!!

[song-fox]

Hope y'all don't mind if I just hop in here--

Roman is, very rightfully, really fucking confused. Did... did Mothman just appear in his bathroom and hand him back his hard drive? Or was that Remus? Or maybe Remus WAS Mothman and just handed him back his hard drive?

Barely even looking at his phone, he dials his friends and holds the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, guys... is Virgil okay? Yeah? ...I need you all to come over."

The gang is at his house within minutes and rushing out the car. Roman quickly ushers then inside and into the living room.

"...how did you guys get here so fast?" is his first question.

Logan shrugs. "You weren't screaming and singing into your phone like usual, so we all agreed that something was wrong."

In another time and place, Roman might have been offended, but right now he's a little too shaken up to say or feel much.

"Okay, so," he starts. "What I'm about to say is gonna be really weird, and I know you're not gonna believe me, but... I think... Remus might be Mothman?"

*

Holyfuckholyfuckholyfuckholyfuck--

As you might be able to tell, Remus is kinda freaking the fuck out.

He's currently wandering about in Mothman form, sulking in has local Walmart (because let's be real, Mothman casually walking around Walmart probably isn't the weirdest thing that the employees have see all day) and wondering if he'd be able to eat human food while in moth form. It's not like he's never tried it before, it's just that he's never unironically considered how raw burger meat would taste and whether or not it would harm him.

Once he's finally decided against it and instead just grabs the nearest thing to him- a bunch of cream cheese stuffed into a fake deodorant container, harmless pranks for all your friends, fun for all the family!- and haphazardly tosses some cash towards the nearest cashier, he opts to fly around for a bit to clear his head.

It's weird, yannow? Being Mothman. And eating cheap cream cheese from a deodorant container.

It's weird transforming at night and flying around and becoming a local legend. It's weird that there's practically a whole fandom around him for just existing. (It's also kinda weird how everyone in said fandom agrees that he's sexy as fuck, but he doesn't really mind that.)

It's weird how he's currently flying around and thinking about how he just exposed his secret. Would Roman tell on him? Nah, probably not. Even he's not that shallow.

But still. He can never be too sure.

And it's weird how he can just... do, all of this. Fly around. Become an internationally known cryptid. Have conspiracies surrounding him and his identity. Glide casually across the sky and into the forest, where most people claim to have seen him. How he's soaring down towards the earth and thERE'S A PERSON RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM HOLY SHIT ABOTABORTABORT--

He crashes into the person before he can fully register what's happening. Ah shit, did I kill him? God, he better not have a camera.

Remus quickly scrambles to his feet, all too aware of what happened last time when he couldn't get away soon enough. Ugh, there would be so many rumours surrounding this. Is Mothman secretly a malicious entity that wants mankind gone? Is he trying to kill people that get too close to his forest? Why is he specifically targeting Roman's friends... wait what?

As soon as he gets a closer look, his jaw drops.

The black and yellow beanie sitting atop a mop of dark hair.

The snake bite piercings under his open mouth.

The burn mark on his face from when he was little and thought it'd be a good idea to start playing with boiling water when his mommy wasn't looking.

The... white fluffy dog? (Patton's, probably. He always asked his friends to take care of his puppy when he wasn't around.)

"Oh... hey," Remus chuckles lightly, his wings twitching as he prepared to fly away. "Sorry for scaring ya, buddy."

But there's no use in hiding. They don't know each other that well, but goddamn does Janus have an amazing memory.

"...Remus?"

He smiles.

"Surprise?"

Janus inhales, his eyes wide.

"WHAT THE FU-"

@thatonelogansandersstan @everythingisstardust @midnightmagi @llamaly @just-an-anxious-mess

Au where Remus is Mothman. that’s it

[nanlicia]

Of Hats, Closets, and Safety Blankets

Read on AO3

Justin woke feeling lighter than air. The single window in the attic was cracked open and he could hear the sounds of the neighborhood going about their morning: soft bird songs, indistinct voices, and the sound of an ice cream truck’s tune a couple streets over.

What an easy, breezy, beautiful day.

He stretched languidly, enjoying that he didn’t even know the time of day. He’d just let himself sleep and then wake naturally. How quaint.

This weekend was gonna be like that - simple and unforced and fun. He, Holster and Lardo had agreed to go all out this weekend but to do it with like. Ease.

No one was gonna get wound up. No one was gonna stress out or keep schedules or argue when things didn’t go “right”, because there wasn’t gonna be a “right”. He’d even not made an Excel sheet for Keagster, he was that committed to going with the flow this weekend.

Things were starting to get down to the end of the year and they would be stressing over All That soon enough; they deserved some easy-going fun times.

That’s why he let himself squirm around in his bed for a bit that morning, legs tangling in his sheets and arms under his pillow, enjoying the feel of how cool everything was. He reveled in not having to be anywhere except comfy in his own bed.

After a bit he got out of bed, hopping down from his bunk, and then grabbing his phone from the charger to check the time. Twelve noon was not a bad time to be awake on a Saturday, he supposed.

He looked for some clothes, and put on his favorite pair of white jean shorts that hug his ass just right, and a tank top he was pretty sure originally belonged to Holster but which he’d had in his drawer since the last time they did laundry together.

(They threw their clothes in the machine together, so what? Bros mix their clothes and don’t cry over it, ok?)

He walked down the stairs from the attic and went into the bathroom for his morning routine. Washed his face, brushed his teeth, applied deodorant and some lotion and then thought about what cologne he’d use later tonight as he stared at himself in the mirror.

Checked his good side. Then the other good side. Justin smirked at himself in the mirror.

“This whooole thing,” he said, waving a hand around his face. “Good side.”

He winked at his reflection.

Just as he turned to exit the small bathroom he saw his favorite hat hanging from one of the towel hooks and grabbed it as he walked out.

This is gonna tie the outfit together, he thought. Then he rounded the corner, bumped right into someone and promptly dropped the hat.

“Shit, sorry-”

“Ahh, sorry!”

Justin took a step back and blinked several times.

No. Way.

Standing there right in front of him, sheepish grin on his face, was Alexei Mashkov.

Ahem.

Alexei Mashkov.  NHL pro athlete, Alexei “Tater” Mashkov. In all his glorious glorifying glory. Standing. Right in front of Justin. In his own Haus. Right there. Presently. At that exact same moment as Justin just so happened to be standing there. On the second floor landing. Eye contact abound. Standing in front of him. In his own Haus. Right there. Alexei Mashkov.

“Uhhhhhhh,” Justin said, eloquently. 

“I’m sorry,” Mashkov said. “I don’t see you there, ha.”

“Uhh,, yeah. Um, no yeah, I - I didn’t uh, I didn’t see, uh you either.”

Holy shit Justin is so smooth what the hell?

“Ha, is ok!” Mashkov said, and then he clapped a hand on Justin’s shoulder, what the hell?!

The sound Justin emitted was perhaps most likely known as a squeak. Maybe. 

“I’m looking for restroom?” Mashkov asked, sliding his hand down to Justin’s bicep and homygod Justin could’ve ascended right there on the second floor landing of his own Haus standing just outside the restroom with NHL pro athlete and gloriously attractive Alexei Mashkov’s large hands on him. 

“Uh, it’s um, it’s just,” Justin stuttered, pointing over his shoulder. 

Mashkov’s eyes shifted just over his shoulder and he nodded. 

“Right, great, perfect.”

Then he looked down at Justin and smiled, his fingers squeezing slightly where they were still gripping Justin’s bicep holy fuck. 

Justin laughed nervously, hoping he could put on a dazzling smile of his own but in reality he knew he probably was cringing so hardcore. But Mashkov didn’t seem bothered. Somehow he hadn’t made to go toward the restroom either, he just kinda. Stayed there. Smiling at Justin and holding onto his arm, maintaining eye contact. 

Justin could’ve stared into those eyes his entire goddamn life, they were so beautiful. 

“So… you live in house?” Mashkov asked. 

As Justin nodded yes he thought about how soft his voice was, and how sweet his eyes were, and how gentle his hold on his arm was. These were things he didn’t know about this man two minutes ago and these were things he got to know now because Alexei Mashkov was currently in physical contact with him and had been for more than 60 seconds and he was initiating a conversation with Justin and not removing his hand and Justin was gonna faint. 

“What your name?” Mashkov asked. 

“Justin!” Justin all but shouted, leaning into the other man as he started to smile even wider. “My name’s Justin.”

At least now he was speaking in full sentences. 

“Justin,” Mashkov repeated, eyes traveling over Justin’s face and then dipping lower for a moment before coming back up. “Is good name, for good man.”

“Haha, ah thanks,” Justin said, and he wasn’t sure exactly what that meant but he didn’t care because when Alexei had glanced down and then back up his cheeks had kinda flushed and it was both incredibly cute and entirely flattering. 

“I am Alexei-”

“Alexei Mashkov, yeah!” Justin interrupted. “I know, I’m a huge fan!”

Alexei’s smile seemed to tighten slightly and Justin instantly knew he’d said something wrong and wanted to sink into the floor. He was acting like such a fool, such a desperate fanboy hanging all over him and fumbling over his own words and getting in the other man’s way and keeping him from the damn restroom, how absolutely embarrassing!

“Uh, look, I’m so sorry,” Justin said, pulling away and backing toward the attic door. 

He tried not to think too much about the surprised and then concerned look on Alexei’s face as he did so. That was not disappointment flitting its way across the other man’s face, that was probably awkward shock at Justin’s sudden actions and damn but Justin couldn’t do a single thing right. 

“I won’t keep you, I’ll just go-”

“But wait-”

“No it’s ok, really, uh, go - go ahead and uh…” 

He backed into the door and reached behind himself to twist the doorknob and then shoved his whole body through the door and slammed it shut once on the other side. 

He stayed there standing in the dark stairwell for he didn’t know how long, breathing heavily and thinking back over what had just happened. How he’d stuttered and stood right in the middle of the hall way and just froze like a deer in headlights and let himself lean all into the other man’s personal space when he was just trying to find the damn bathroom?!

How. Mortifying. 

He ran up the stairs two at a time and threw himself into Holster’s bunk, burrowing himself in the five blankets that oaf kept on his bed and even pulling the pillows around himself. 

If he could surround himself with a bunch of these little barriers, he figured, and curl up tight as possible, maybe everything about what he had just done downstairs wouldn’t be able to find him up here or settle in his brain or play on repeat like some sort of sick bloopers reel for obnoxiously annoying moments in Justin’s life. 

Maybe. 

!.!.!.!

Alexei stared at the shut door for a moment, unsure if knocking on it might bring Justin back out or if he’d stay in there. Was it a closet? Was he really hiding in a closet in order to stay away from him? What had he even done to make him react like that suddenly?

Alexei wasn’t really sure but he did know that if someone no longer wanted to be around him then he wasn’t going to try to force him. 

He figured now was probably an alright time to return to B’s room. He had only begged the excuse of needing the restroom in order to give him and Zimmboni some privacy. It’d been long enough. 

As he turned around his foot kicked something and he looked down to see it was a white hat. Justin had it in his hands when he came out of the restroom. 

He picked it up and glanced back at the closet door, wondering if he should leave it where the other man could get it when he came out of there. But a selfish little voice in his head said that if he kept hold of it, then Justin would have to seek him out for it. Or at the very least it could be an easy conversation topic to let them speak again. 

Maybe once he came out and downstairs he’d see Alexei with it and approach him for it. Then Alexei could speak with him over drinks, maybe share some jam, maybe touch his arms again. They were really nice arms. Maybe later he could touch more than that. Ok, this was an excellent plan. 

He found Jack and B just about to exit the room when he walked back, and he let them guide him back downstairs, but not before he spared one final glance at the closet door in the corner. 

When they got down there more of the Samwell Hockey team had arrived, and he was introduced to everyone. They were all really fun, nice, interesting people and Alexei found himself enjoying every minute of time spent with Jack’s friends. 

He liked knowing that the man had a good family here, liked knowing that these people are where Jack came from and knowing that he could always return to them. It was a comforting thing for Alexei to witness. Such camaraderie and open affection, it was pleasant and no less than everything Jack deserved, because he’s a good guy. 

When Jack’s friend Lardo challenged him to a round of beer pong he hesitated at first, because he didn’t want to get too inebriated because if he showed back up in Providence drunk in the early afternoon on a Saturday during Playoffs season, well. He’d really be in some shit. 

But then Jack promised to get him home safe, and Holster promised it was just plain ol’ beer in the cups and nothing over 7% alcohol so he agreed to it. 

“You gonna play with that in your hands the whole time?” Lardo had asked, nodding at the hat which he was still carrying around. 

“Uh, no,” he replied, glancing around and seeing no sign of the beautiful Justin. Making a quick decision he put it on his head backwards, cracked his knuckles and nodded at Lardo from his place across the table from her. “Let’s start.”

“He means business,” Holster said, and Lardo just smiled and said “Good” before starting the game. 

Throughout the game Alexei kept glancing towards the stairs, towards the doors, towards the windows, towards anything where he saw even a little movement hoping it was Justin reemerging, but the other man never made a reappearance. 

If Alexei wanted to he could blame that on why he lost pong but in all honesty it didn’t matter. Lardo was a pong queen. 

“Pong legend!” Holster shouted, tipping his solo cup in her direction and toasting to her. 

Alexei smiled kindly at her as she leaned into his side and let him throw an arm around her shoulders. “Pong master,” he said. 

“Pong God,” she replied, smirking up at him. 

Alexei laughed and looked across at Holster who was equally amused. “Pong God!” they shouted, and Lardo laughed and pinched Alexei in the side as he crushed her into him. 

“I take picture with you!” he said, pulling away to look down at her. “Must proclaim your holiness for all world to see!”

“Haha, what?! No way!” she was laughing and shaking her head at him. “You’re gonna put me on your insta?”

“Hell yes!” he said, bringing the camera up on his phone and then handing it to Holster. “Be cameraman!”

Once the other man took the phone from him Alexei turned to Lardo and smiled. “How you want pose?”

She seemed to consider it for a moment, her mouth pursing as she shifted from foot to foot. “On your broad-ass shoulders,” she said finally, and Alexei could only laugh. 

“I put you on shoulders you hit head on ceiling! Here!” he bent down and scooped her up and she placed a hand behind his shoulders as he held her up. 

“Ok, Holster, picture time!”

When Alexei got his phone back he had about seven snapshots of the moment, and he could only smile at how great that was. Jack’s friends were just. So great. 

By the time they were packing the car up to leave Alexei was consigned to the fact he wasn’t going to see Justin again before they left. He still wasn’t sure what had went wrong, but he was sure that he couldn’t stop hoping to get another chance to speak to Justin and maybe it could go right that time. 

He acted quickly while in the kitchen, digging through drawers until he found what he was looking for, then right before he headed out with the last of the boxes of jars of jam, he found Holster and handed the hat to him. 

“Do me favor? Give this to Justin?”

“Sure thing,” Holster said, reaching out to take it from him. 

Alexei pulled it back, saying “Careful with it, ‘kay?”

“Uh, ok.”

After another moment of watching Holster he handed it over, ensuring the other man carefully took it from him and then cradled it against his stomach. 

“Thanks,” Alexei said, then he walked over to the kitchen to get the last couple of boxes and be on his way out of Samwell, silently hoping to himself that this wasn’t the last he’d see of the place. 

As he went to walk out with a box in his arms, he glanced at the stairs where Holster had just walked up and disappeared around the bend. 

There was definitely a chance this wouldn’t be the end of his time at Samwell. 

!.!.!.!.!

“Ransom?” 

Justin sighed deeply from his safety blanket cocoon on his best friend’s bed. 

“Holster, I already told you I’m not going back down there, I made a fool of myself enough.”

“Yeah, I know,” Holster said, and Justin felt the bed dip as he took a seat at the edge of the mattress. “He’s leaving anyway, so you can go down and eat something soon.”

Justin tried not to be upset at the news they were leaving, but really the entire thing made him upset. When Holster had come running up the stairs earlier to tell him Lardo was gonna challenge Alexei to a game of beer pong and Justin definitely wanted to come down and watch, Justin could only think about the myriad of ways he could embarrass himself. 

He wasn’t going to put himself or Alexei through that. Again. 

So he’d stayed in the attic, safely tucked away and not acting a fool downstairs. 

“Did uh, did Lards beat him at pong?” he asked.

Holster huffed. “Yeah, man, it was great. Then he picked her up and had me take a picture of them that he’s gonna post to Instagram tomorrow. Should’ve seen Lardo’s face bro, she was so excited.”

“Ha, lucky her.”

Don’t be bitter Justin, he tells himself. It doesn’t really work. 

“Yeah,” Holster says. “She was lucky. But uh. So were you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ransom you’re probably not gonna fuckin’ believe this. But he wore your hat.”

Justin let that sit for a second. A beat. A moment. 

“I…. I’m sorry,” he said, eyes narrowing as he stared at the red fuzzy blanket that was currently around him. “What did you just say?”

“Yeah man, he actually legitimately wore your hat. Like. In real life.”

Justin kicked and shoved and flailed until all the blankets that were once around him were off him completely. Holster had jumped back and off the bed, and when Justin emerged he was looking at him with his I’m Totally Judging You Right Now face. Justin couldn’t find it in him to care. 

“Repeat-” his gaze fell on the hat in Holster’s hand, his favorite hat, the one he’d had this morning when he’d run into Alexei and proceeded to be an absolute wreck, the one he’d dropped on the floor and never picked back up homygod…

“Holtzy if you’re fucking with me-”

“No, bro, no way! He totes wore it while playing pong man!”

Justin couldn’t take his eyes off the hat. Two minutes ago it was just a normal hat. His ordinary white hat, his favorite hat. Now? Now it was his favorite hat which Alexei Mashkov had worn??

“Gimme,” he said, making grabby hands at it. 

Holster chuckled, shaking his head as he stepped forward. “Ok, but careful with it, ‘kay?”

“What?”

“That’s what he said when he handed it to me. He said ‘Do me a favor and give this to Justin? Be careful with it, ‘kay.”

“OhmygodHolster gimme my fuckin hat ohmygodohmygodohmygod.”

Holster laughed as he handed it over, and Justin felt like he was gonna combust. 

Alexei had picked up his hat and proceeded to wear it, and then when asking that it be returned to him he asked that it be taken care of. Justin was literally going to faint, this man was too good to be true. Too kind and sweet and gentle and Justin need to stop thinking about when he’d had his hand on his arm because that was too good a memory but damn if Justin wasn’t somehow being blessed? Even as he was being cursed?

“I couldn’t speak to him because I’m a mess, but he still wore my hat I don’t get it but also I don’t even care I’m going to treasure this forever!”

Justin clutched the hat to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking back and forth. 

“Yeah, ok, I’m uh, I’m gonna give you two a moment,” Holster said, and he left the attic. 

“I cannot believe this,” Justin said, holding the hat in his lap and running his fingers over it reverently. 

It wasn’t any different than it had been earlier that morning. There wasn’t anything particularly new about it. All the same it was now something altogether more than ever before and Justin really planned on treasuring the hat forever. 

He let his fingers run over the bill of the hat, then along the seams as he turned it over in his hands. When he did he noticed a small piece of paper tucked under one of the excess flaps of fabric along the inner seam, and he carefully pulled it out and unfolded it. 

I hope you ok in closet. Call me if ever want company there. Or anywhere really. 

401-555-6234

-Alexei a.k.a. Tater!

What. 

What the fuck.

Justin stared at the little note and he wasn’t sure what the hell this meant but honestly?

Alexei Mashkov had given him his phone number. 

Alexei thought Justin was in the closet? He thought Justin had run away because of that? He still took the time to write a sweet note and offer comfort and also say hey hmu if you ever wanna chill?

Alexei Mashkov had given him his phone number??

Justin didn’t know what the hell to think or do, and he just sat there, staring at the paper, running his thumb over the word ‘Tater’ and committing the number to memory. 

The sounds of voices in the front yard carried through the open window and he heard Alexei say “Okay, bye Samwell!” and Lardo telling him to come back for a re-match. 

Justin let himself smile as he really let it sink in that that guy out there had given him his number. 

“Yeah! Um!!!” He shouted, feeling his face split into the widest smile and feeling himself start to become really excited at the possibilities this number provided. “B-bye Tater!!”