#im grabbing you by the shirt collar No One is Banging Down Your Door Forcing You To Use These

[feralandnormal]

every post about tone indicators in the fuckin world: i cant use them and don't understand them so ita scary and bad :(

god i almost forgot they always always always end with some stone age guy like

'haha i saw /(two characters) and thought (other, vulgar acronym) hehe!!!'

like okay? You can't use Fire fox? that's sooo crazy and silly dude really

[belleta]

9:36pm

Includes: Switch!Bang Chan, switch reader, praise, slightly sensitive reader, fingering, slight bondage, edging, slight soft dom reader, music listening(headphones for best experience)

Straddling Chris’s lap, slightly aggressively kissing. Moving with one another in perfect sync. Swaying to a silent rhythm, grabbing desperately, but passionately. Every kiss, every touch, every pull on each's scalp was ethereal. Feeling each other on levels others wouldn’t understand. You ran your hands from his cheeks to his nape and raked my fingers up, through his strands. Tugging, causing him to moan quietly. Pulling you in for more, sliding his hands up and down your back, tangling with your soft locks. Rolling bodies like sea waves on shore, with no specific roles. Submission and dominance were not present. 

Feeling bored of the lounge, you pushed Chris back a little with a challenging kiss. Gripping the neck of his shirt, pulling him back towards the edge of the couch. After a few moments, you pushed him back to rest on the sofa. Tugged him forward while lightly pulling on his bottom lip, slightly baring your teeth with commanding eyes as you leaned back without him. He tried to follow but you swiftly pushed his chest back with a little force. He hit with a soft thud, mouth still agape, love and lust evidentially in his eyes. His arms raised to the head of the back pillow as you senually rose from my seat on his thighs. Chris’s eyes followed you, however his head didn’t. It stayed lowered even as you arose. Making him a hooded stare with his now swollen bottom lip, legs in a man spread. Giving him a lasting gaze as you slowly walked to our bedroom. He got up and followed. Just as he got to you, you quickly grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him close. Bringing your face close to his, mouth ajared. Moving your lips close, breath fluttering on your faces. As you brushed your noses against each other. Foreheads pressing, together lovingly. You pulled him with me into our bedroom. Pulling Chris in front of you. Moving your head up slightly to just miss his face with a breath, before softly pushing him down on the mattress. Getting in between his legs, moving your head all the way up to his face. Kissing him with such powerful emotion it could make you tear, but you held it in. Running your hands everywhere, all over his body. Making his skin needy for skin to skin contact. He started reaching for his hem, and you completed his action by pulling it up. He raised himself to sitting to let the shirt slide off. Cupping his face and kissing him passionately, which he returned. Lightly pushing him back on the bed. Placing one last kiss on his perfect now reddish lips, before sliding up to walk over to your shared closet. You quickly opened it to see the remotes for mood lights and surround sound. Turning the lights dimmer with a red tint, and playing your “Night Playlist”. You put the remotes down and grabbed a black with metal edges, medium sized chest that had a lock on it. The key was on top of it. Taking the key, put it in the lock and turned. It unlocked, opening to a bunch of toys and different restraints. You reached in to find the dark rope with silk restraints and leather cuffs. Finally grabbing a long black silk ribbon and closed the chest.                            (Listen to “Love is a Bitch” by Two Feet) Locking it and closing the closet doors, you turned back to see Chris lying back on the pillows of your shared bed looking tense. As you strode back over to him, you couldn’t tell if he was excited, afraid, or inpatient. Holding his hand and smiling down at him, he returned it relaxing a bit. You raised his hand and kissed his wrist, working your way to his shoulder and then his collar bone. Crawling on top of him, you sat just above his crotch and grinded on him. Kissing his neck and collarbones in all the right places or more of wrong places. His body started reacting, tingling with sexual frustration. You continued to kiss, lick and lightly bite his skin all over his favorite spots. His skin felt like it was on fire with desperation. Wanting something to push against his shorts. You were at his jawline, his breathing was irregular and he was letting out some involuntary whines as you would brush your hips at the top of his crotch but then move back up again. You started moving down again, sucking and playing with his nipples. Chris’s whines were breathy and now were slurred with soft moans. You started your way down again. Kissing his first rib moving towards the top of his abs. Kissing, lightly licking and nosing them. Breathing on his muscles as you reached his v-line. Paying even more attention to it then any other bit of him. Driving him absolutely crazy. You could hear him pulling on his cuffs. “Please….please…..please...baby.” He was now lifting his hip to your touch, whining for you to touch him there. “Please what baby?” You saw his hand try to reach my head to nudge your attention lower it was quickly stopped by his restrants, he let out a desperate whiny groan. You smiled, “Such a cute baby.” You stopped kissing and moved your head lower to hover above where he wanted it most. “P-please….”, You raised your hand in a scratching position and lightly glided your fingers on his clothed cock. “Please what, sweet baby?”. Waiting for his response as he raised his head up and down, shyly trying to fold the pillow around his face. “Please touch me”, he said quietly. You weren't accepting his request at that volume. “I’m sorry baby, but if you want something, you have to speak up.” You told him softly lacing with lust. “Please rub my cock”, he repeated louder. Now obliging with his words, moving your hand below it, putting pressure and rubbed it slowly once. He let out a choked moan. “Yes, yes….y-yes please...thank you baby”. He bucked his hips and met with my hand. You let it slide, he looked so beautiful. Flushed red, bottom lip sucked between his teeth, eyebrows furrowed in a needy way. Sweet, beautiful sounds escaped his mouth as he occasionally opened his mouth fully letting out even more sinful noises. The sight made you needy to get his basketball shorts out of the way, pulling at the band. He immediately responded and raised his hips. You pulled them off to meet a painful looking hard-on through his underwear. “Awww, does it hurt?......hmm?” You dirty talked him as he nodded, “Do you want me to stroke it until it explodes?” His ears and face darkened “Hmhm....”, he nodded. You started outlining and rubbing him through his black boxers. “Y-yes......p-lease, make my cock explode.” You chuckled darkly “Well you’re going to have to wait babyboy” Chris looked up confused. You swiftly flipped and roughly pulled down his underwear, making him squeal into the pillows. You then harshly pulled his hips in the air. His veiny cock didn’t even move away from his lower abdomen, it was so hard from being teased. The music around you making his body move unintentionally to the beat. You moved your eyes away from his length to his tight darker pink entrance. You brought your touch to your lips and rather lewdly suck on them. Making sure that Chris could hear you. You advanced them to his ass circling his tight rim with your wet index and middle finger. Desperate and impatient, Chris pushes back, forcing the wet digit inside him. You feel the stretch and moan with him as he fails his hands, not knowing where to put them. “Please move, g-god please fuck me please please.” He looked so beggerly spread out, his dark hair now a mess, thighs quivering. You began to slowly fuck him, trying to start a steady rhythm. You were growing impatient, wanting high whines, lewder noises. You pushed your finger around his walls as he sucked in a shuddery breath. One became three, filling him up as pushes back towards your digits, starting to bring vocals from deep in his throat as you thrust. Voice cracking, his walls clenching around you. You flip Chris over back on his back, his neglected cock dripping. Lifting his legs slightly you shove your fingers back into his greedy hole, deeper than before. Hitting his prostate dead on, his eyes rolled back, tongue lolling as he pants and moans. “F-fuck Don’t....fUck fuck im-” You grip his cock with your other hand, pumping at a relentlessly, hammering your fingers into his hole at the same pace. Chris’s knuckles are almost white due how hard he’s gripping at the sheets under him, his toes curling in the air, gasping for breath. “I-IM GONNA CUM FUCK FUCK F-UCK~”. You stopped, pulling out, growling. He cried out, losing his high. Getting up with the black silk and rope restraints you moved to the base of the bed, tying his legs down. You stand back to admire him, only to be awestruck. He looked unreal. All flushed, lust clouding his eyes, love bites painted across his milky skin, hole wet and cock red and throbbing. The lighting hitting him just right making him look sinfully angelic. You strode over to him, grabbing his left then right hand. Cuffing and loosely tying them to the headboard as he whined. The cuffs really completed the sight. You climbed back on the bed, briskly grabbing onto his length. His voice cracked as his eyes glossed over. “You look ethereal.” You said gazing at him. He whined out at both the praise and the feeling of you slowly jerking him off as you came closer to his face. He can’t help but thrust up into your hand, it just feels so good. He was aching to reach the previous pleasure he had received “Faster….please?” he moaned. “Anything for you, sweet baby. You’re so good for me, so polite,” you continue to shower him with praise, cooing, knowing how much he loves it, as you speed up your strokes. “B-baby” Chris shakily whimpers. His fists clenching and unclenching the sheets, legs trembling with every swipe of your thumb. His moans mixing with the melody, making the most beautiful music to your ears. Knowing your boyfriend's body all too well so you completely withdraw your hand. Dismissing his release once more. His head threw back in a lewd long wail. Your lips moved on his thigh, peppering light kisses on the abused skin. “I’m close..Fuck.. S-so close baby….PLEASE” he whimpers trying his hardest to not cum right then and there. You wait a little for his orgasm to fade away completely. “Such a good boy” you praised him, as he stopped whining.  (Listen to “It Won’t” by Sevyn Streeter ft. Chris Brown) “Baby”, you called, he raised his teary gaze. You lifted your hips, so that you were standing on your knees. You looked him in the eyes as you moved with the music playing all around you. Swaying and moving your hands all over your body, while you sensually remove your clothing in front of him. His eyes darkened despite his position tied to the bed and previous events done to him. Sliding up to him, removing your underwear lying next to him. You kiss him passionately, as he hungrily pushes back on your lips. You remove his cuffs and he grabs your waist, pulling you on top of him. He raised himself to sitting with you clung onto him. Your heat dragged down his cock, he groaned, you moaning. You kissed each other sensually with hunger. You move back, Chris not breaking the kiss. You removed his foot restraints. He immediately pulled you into his lap. Kissing with such passion it completely consumed the both of you. He pulled your hunches up closer to his abs, leaning back. The breathless whines coming out of your mouths as you lowered yourself down onto him. The sensation was absolutely intoxicating, filling your heads and blocking out any other thoughts. Everything fit perfectly, your hands locking around each together, his wrapping around you, while yours in his shadowy curls, lips enclasping, your connection. Sliding, clenching, holding both of you physically and spiritually. While your bodies entwined, pleasuring and loving each other. Your souls left and bounded as one, nurturing the other. Filling in what their other half lacks and they possess. Forming a perfect whole bond. The music consuming you, both swaying to the rhythm. The both of you let out sighs of pleasure, as you finally connect in the way you needed most. It was relaxed at first, but quickly sped up as you felt just how needy you really were. You held onto him, pressing your bodies together in a panting hug. Your skin on his, feeling each other. “Fuck… You feel so good.” He groaned. Chris’s hands reach out to touch any part of you he can. You bury your face in his neck, holding him tightly. Tears bead at the corner of your eyes from the sensation. Your happiness, the pleasure and love for him overflowing. “Fuck...fuck...fuck...fuck...” He murmurs incessantly, feeling his orgasm build again. “Please...let me cum… Fu...fuck please...” The breathless begging adds to your own arousal. “Cum for me, baby.” You whispered into his ear while pulling an arm out from under him. “Fuck... Don't stop. Please...don't fucking stop...” He says in between moans. As if you had any intention to. His nails dig into your back to keep you in place, while leaving scratches in their wake. His continuous begging echoed through your skull. “Fuck...” You groan while sitting back up. You slow your hips to an almost agonizing pace, just to hear him whine and beg even more.

“No...no...please...” His desperation makes your walls clench and pulsate around him. “Please...don't stop...” “Don't worry, I'm not.” He sped up, “F-faster please,” Chris pleaded, his voice close to breaking. You were happy to oblige, rolling your hips harder on his. He filled you up so perfectly, just like he always did, and you couldn’t help moaning out loud, the music blending your echoing voices. Chris’s breathless whimpers sounded in your ears and you returned the favor in his. Chris reached up to grip your waist. “God you feel so good around me bab-” he cut himself off with a whiny scream as you clenched around him. You couldn’t help it, hearing him say that made you swell up inside. Leaning back for a second, seeing him covered in a thin sheen of sweat and moaning in that fucking voice of his, it was almost too much for you. “Really?” you asked huffing, “Yes baby, you fit so perfectly around me and in my arms.” You slowed down your motions, and so did he. You stare into each other’s eyes, then you kissed him. Resuming both of your movements. You whispered in his ear “I love you Christopher”, You felt his cheek pressed against your shoulder, warming up as he mixed light giggles in his pants. “I love you more Y/N”, then he kissed you with so much love it could literally be felt in the air. You sped up, moving as fast as you could muster, while clenching as hard as you could. Chris cried out, squeezing his eyes shut, “fuck fuck fuck, please don’t stop, oh g-god.” “You gonna cum soon, baby boy?” you asked him, changing your technique. His voice got caught in his throat, he couldn’t speak, just nodded his head. You could feel him start to twitch inside of you, signaling that he was close. Frantically, Chris thrusted upwards to get more friction, hitting your g spot straight on. You moaned out loudly, letting your head fall on his shoulder as you trembled in pleasure. You rocked back and forth, holding onto Chris’s shoulders as he thrusted upwards over and over again, hitting you in all the right spots. You screamed out in pleasure, shaking, and Chris’s desperate sobs echoed in your ears. His hands came up to grab your hips and shoulder pushing and pulling you down in a harsh manner made you see stars. His hold would leave marks, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care anymore. “F-FUCK!” Chris screamed, “I‘m gonna c-cum!” he cried out. “I’m gonna cum, so ffucking ha-” His words cut as you felt him thrust into you, bucking his hips uncontrollably. That was all it took for you to clench violently and come apart squeezing him tightly against you, the force of your orgasm leaving you seeing white. Chris was right with you, shaking uncontrollably as he filled you up with his cum, voice cracking, letting out some of the most arousing high sounds you’ve heard. The two of your were left fucked out, intertwined in each other, not willing to let go. Both covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Chris slowly laid both of you back down, your legs shifting. He quickly moved you to his side, to make sure your connection didn’t break yet. “Can we stay like this?” he asked shyly, breathing into your hair. Taking in your unique sweet smell of fruits, flowers, cakes, and sweets. You turned your neck to him, smiling, pressing your lips against his nose softly. “Yes, we can. I don’t want to leave you anyways.” He smiled, his dimples showing, “I love you.” He nuzzled into your face. You mirrored and kissed his nose again, “I love you too.” You said bringing your hand up to cup and caress his cheek. Kissing his lips and parting, you tangled your fingers through his hair and as he rested his tired head, wrapping his arm around you. You let him stay there, pressing your lips to his forehead as “Get You” by Daniel Caesar played. You pulled out without waking your now sleeping boyfriend

“Good Night Baby”

[fiftyshadesgrl]

I hate fighting with henry, especially when its over the dumbest shit. I sit silently on the bed waiting for him to speak or at least move. Hes standing next to the bedroom door with his arms crossed across his chest.

Hes staring at me, trying to make me give in but this is something i simply will not do.

"Why dont you want to go to the party?" He finally asks after what seems like an hour of sitting in silence.

I roll my eyes at him, "really? You have to ask that?"

He nods and raises his eyebrows like he doesnt know why i dont want to go.

"Because its your fucking ex girlfriend. Its her party, shes doing this just to get under my skin." I raise my voice a little but still try to remain calm.

He chuckles, "baby, this is a promotional party for actors and actresses. I need to at least make an appearance because we are starring in a movie together."

I stand up, "oh so just because youre making a movie together that means you have to run to her when she calls!"

He walks towards me but i back up towards the bathroom. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "Im not running to her, this is nothing more than me being professional. It has nothing to do with her."

I try my hardest not to let the tears fall but they do. I turn and walk into the bathroom, closing the door with more force than i intended and locking it. The door knob started rattling as soon as i locked it, then henry started banging on the door.

"(Y/N), open the door." He said calmly.

I started running some bath water in the tub and added some bath oil, the water drowning out henrys voice for the moment. While the bath is filling up i strip down and climb in. Bringing my knees up to my chest my thoughts start running wild. Henry has had plenty enough time to go back to his ex but he hasnt. He has veen filming with her for a little over six months already and he still comes back to me.

Maybe im being childish and petty but i cant help it. I love henry and the last thing i want to do is lose him. I want to be selfish but i cant, i cant come between him and his work.

I pulled henrys tshirt on as i got out of the bath and towel dried my hair. I unlocked the bathroom door and saw henry standing at the window looking out. He looked over at me and his eyes raked up and down my body. I made my way over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Im sorry." We whisper at the same time. "Even though i want to keep you here all to myself, i cant be selfish. I know deeep down in my heart you would never betray my trust. That woman just drives me crazy, thinking about you and her being in the same room together makes me want to rip her hair out by the roots." I growl.

He chuckles, "i love it when you get all fight club. Turns me on." He winks at me.

I bite my bottom lip and run my fingers up abs and over his chest. I grab his shirt with both hands and rip it apart, buttons flying everywhere.

He growled and lifted me up by my ass. My hands gripped his shoulders as a gasp left my lips. I could feel how hard he was and i began grinding against him. He turned and pressed me up against the wall, his lips found my neck and began licking and sucking gently. I moaned when he nibbled on my collar bone, "henry...please."

I felt his hand gliding up my thigh until it rested on my hip. He pulled me closer and began rocking his hips against my core. My head fell back against the wall as i felt the oh so familiar knot in my stomach beginning to tighten.

"So wet for me baby. Should i make you cum like this?" Henry whispered in my ear.

I nodded but couldnt form words to reply to him. He started moving faster and soon i was releasing all the tension i had felt earlier.

"Holy fuck sweetheart. Youre soaking my jeans." He grunted, he pressed his hips into me and held me in place as he undone his belt and jeans. I heard them slump to a pile on the floor. I was still shaking from my release but he didnt give me a second to recover. He shoved himself into me all the way to the hilt. I screamed out in pleasure as his movements were hard and fast.

"Damn it baby, you drive me fucking crazy." His thrusts was hitting just the right spot as he whispered dirty things to me in my ear.

"This pussy is all mine. Only i can make you scream. Im gonna make you squirt all over me."

I clawed at his shoulders and fused my mouth to his. His tongue expertly moving with mine. I started sucking on his tongue and something inside him snapped.

He turned us quickly, throwing me onto the bed. He shed his remaining clothes quickly and then ripped his shirt off of me. He threw the rag that was his shirt i was wearing behind him. He then pulled me to the edge of the bed and placed my legs on his shoulders as he kneeled in front of me. He gave me a arrogant smirk before delving between my legs.

My back arched off the bed as he shoved three fingers into me. Curling them upwards to hit my gspot as his tongue done wicked things to my clit. "Henry....baby. im going to cum."

He started pounding his fingers into me, "come on baby. Cum for me, squirt for me." He said and thats all it took.

I could feel myself squirting as he pounded his fingers into me. He never let up. "Shit! Thats right baby i want every drop." He growled, my vision started to blur and i was shaking uncontrablly. He pulled his fingers out of me and i gasped trying to catch my breath, but he shoved his cock into me right after. Hard and fast, skin slapping against each other, our groans and moans filling the room.

"Im cumming!" He yelled but i hadnt stopped. The moment he slid back into me i continued to squirt. I felt him spill his seed into me and when he finally slumped down beside me, i was exhausted. I used the last bit of my strength to roll over and lay my head on his chest. His arm wrapped around me, it rested on my hip.

"Baby, youre shaking all over." He whispered. All i could manage was a nod. When our hearts had went back to beating normally and we could finally breathe enough to talk he looked down at me. "Our sheets are soaked, i dont think you have ever squirted that much."

I smiled and placed a kiss over his heart. "Only you can do that to me."

He pulled me to where i was laying on top of him. "Only me. No one else will ever do that to you." I kissed his lips and nodded.

"I will go to the party with you." I say against his lips. I felt his turn up into a smile and i couldnt resist kissing them again.

"You sure?"

I nodded "of course, if i get jealous at the party you can just whisk me somewhere and fuck it out of me." I use his trade mark and wink at him. He chuckles and lays his head back on the bed.

"Youre gonna be the death of me." He groaned as he rubbed his hand over his face.

[jessefandomunited]

Alternate Reality (Part3)

Spencer Reid X OC

I sprinted into the meeting room , horrified at the call I had gotten. When I woke up to an empty house I didn’t think anything of it , I thought Piper had just gone out for a walk or back to her house, but minuets later I got a call that changed everything. Now the talk me and Piper had had last night seemed like a prophecy, she was going to die, but I refused to let that happen. I’d do everything in my power to get her back though my brain had been malfunctioning ever since I got that call. I stumbled into the conference room and looked at the screen everyone else was looking at and saw Piper bound to a wooden beam in the center of this shack like room. “ what is this,” I said incredulously. “ I got this stream emailed to me,” when I went back I found that he had….beat her till she gave it up,” Garcia said holding back tears. “ Is all this live,” I asked feeling sick. She nodded , “ yeah… I believe so.” Suddenly Piper yelled, “ Hey if you guys are watching please please don’t let a certain genius watch, please.” My heart cracked as the man responded, “ oh is that him.” I felt faint and left the room. Derek followed me , “ Hey man this guys is a classic narcissist he’s just trying to get under her skin, we’re going to find her.” “ But what if we don’t ,” I said louder than I intended, “ what if she dies, what if I can’t save her!? What then?!” “ One thing at a time,” Derek said calmly, “ come on use that big brain of yours where is she being held.” I tried to think about the construction and how it compares to houses around the area but suddenly the only thing I was seeing was Piper strapped to that beam and all I could hear was her yelling for me to stop watching. I opened my eyes and shook my head, “i...i can’t think...all I can see is her...” Derek put a comforting hand on my shoulder and I was wondering if she had seen this exact scene played out with another girl. “ I GOT SOMETHING,” I heard Garcia yell.

…..

I tasted blood in my mouth and I wasn’t sure what it was from. He had been knocking me around a lot and I think he was beginning to get tired of my attitude. I kept trying to guess where we were and I was hoping they were picking up on things because I was starting to get a bit delirious. I was aching all over just like I am after a good fight so if anything this was just fueling my fire the second I got my watch back it was all over for this guy. The punches were fine, the cuts on my face and arms were awful but easy enough to dissociate from, but the shock collar, that was my least favorite thing . Its like my whole body was trying to get away from itself. He was taking a break and it looks like answering some comments on his stream. I looked at the state of myself, my shirt was stained with blood and which made it look more punk than it already did. My fishnets were torn in a few places, i’d probably have to tear it a lot more to even it up, my boots had blood on them and were scuffed a bit but otherwise not too bad. I didn’t even want to see how my face looked. I was curious at what he branded on me. He surprised me by getting up quickly and walking to the table. “ can we not do this I need to breath,” I said rolling my eyes, then I saw he had my necklace in his hand, “ what is this?” It was indestructible so I wasn’t worried about that but I needed to find a way for him to be compelled to put it on me. “ It’s nothing , just… throw it out he’d hate to see me wearing that in this state,” I stuttered then looked away quickly like I didn’t want him to hear that. He got that smug grin on his face and walked up to the camera . “ CUT IT OUT,” I yelled trying to add a hitch in my voice for good measure. “ look mr genius I have this little symbol of your love for eachother and just wait till you see her in it.” I shook my head , “ stop please no.” I pushed back and he forced it on, “ did I just find your breaking point?” “ No ,” I gasped, “ I found your weakness , FAIL SAVE TRANSPORT.” In an instant I was a few yards outside the building. I was going to go back like I promised but I had to get out of the ducktape. I felt my neck jolt and I fell back, the stupid collar was still activated. Luckily I was able to rip off the ducktape holding my arms and I quickly unlatched the collar , throwing it as far as I could . Then I ripped off the tape holding my legs and steamed, if he thinks i’m done with him he’s got another thing coming . I teleport back in to find the door wide open and him running around pressing the shock collar button I crouched in front of the screen and said, “ to all you sick bastards watching, this is what I call a fair fight , and to the BAU, i’m turning on his location get me the hell out of here.” I tapped a few buttons and stood up and yelled, “ HEY DUMB ASS, MISS ME,” He turned shocked to see me in his house I kicked the door shut and grabbed all his knives and hid them , a fair fight means no weapons.He started banging on the door wildly. “ Whos there,” I sang. “ I’M GONNA KILL YOU YOU LITTLE BITCH,” he snarled. “ sorry this little bitch is busy wrecking all your stuff.” I stepped back thought so he could come in. He kicked open the door and rushed at me with fire in his eyes. I ducked at the last moment and slashed my foot out to trip him. I was in so much pain but the adrenaline kept me fighting. I jumped on his back and grabbed his hair smashing his face into the floor with im sure surprising force to him. Then I kicked him in the side avoiding his hands that reached for me, “ no no no see It’s my turn now, and I don’t like hurting people but for scum like you I make an exception . In a burst of rage he grabbed my leg and yanked It out from under me. My head smacked against the floor again but my shoulder took the brunt of the blow. I sharply kicked at him with my free foot connecting with his nose again causing him to shriek. “Crying out already I just got started ,” I laughed , suddenly I heard the familiar ,” FBI GET DOWN!” I quickly looked over and unfortunately thats all he needed to grab me from behind, holding a knife to my neck, I must have missed one. I gasped, “ loosen up a bit man you’ve lost.”  “ Shut up,” he growled, “ Which one is your boyfriend?” “ Sir please put the knife down, we don’t need this stream learning about how weak you were when you were younger do we,” It was Emily talking. I opened my mouth to teleport but he pressed harder making my snap my mouth shut. “I want to talk to this girls boyfriend,” He growled. “ I don’t,” I started but he broke skin and a trickle of blood ran down my neck.  “ He’s not here,” Emily lied , I could see him outside arguing with Derek to let him go in. “ Is that him,” He asked me gently kissing my cheek. I gagged , “ no .” “ I don’t like lairs,” He concluded, “ bring him in in five seconds or i’ll cut her neck 5 4.”  “ REID,” Emily yelled . I watched as Spencer broke out in a run towards the shack. I suddenly felt self contentious which was so stupid at a time like this . “ There he is,” He chuckled darkly . “ Yes I am now put her down,” Spencer said calmly , “ what is one insignificant girl, you’ve killed how many?” He was playing into his narcissism good. “ did you hear that princess he called you insignificant, he doesn't love you anymore , how does that make you feel?” I suddenly was getting flashbacks of Spencer being forced to say he didn’t love Maeve and I choked out a sob, I hope this doesn’t end like that. “ she was impossible to train,” Spencer continued , “ it’s useless to try, you’ve trained better than her.” “ Damn right I did,” He said loosening the grip on the knife a bit, it was working. I knew what I needed to say to make him drop me but if I was wrong i’d probably die. “ Kill me,” I sobbed, “ he dosen’t love me I… I can’t live like this.” Spencer said nothing but his eyes grew wide and his gun hand wavered. The man laughed and pulled me close, “ I don’t think I will you’ll have to live with that the rest of your miserable life.” He threw me to the side and dropped the knife . I felt all the emotions that had been gathering the past however many days I was here  burst. I began sobbing as they drug him away. In a minuet I felt someone pick me up and yell, “ MEDIC, we need to get you to a hospital.” “ NO..no hospital I can’t I can’t please please don’t make me Spence please promise me,” I blubbered holding onto him for dear life. “ Okay,” Okay,” He said gently He held me close as I cried and drifted off to sleep.

[felix-loves-albert-and-ralb-blog]

Losing My Mind Part Eleven: Jack

all previous chapters are tagged under “losing my mind”

pairings: crack (jackcrutchie for all you nonbelievers), ralbert, spromeo, blush, newsbians, davey/happiness

friendships: crutchie and albert, specs and albert and crutchie, albert and les, specs and crutchie, mush and henry, race and crutchie, specs and katherine

warnings: all previous warnings, racism, violence, blood, self-hatred, burns, abuse, pretty boy used in a derogatory way, swearing, homophobia, panic attacks, a bunch of other horrible shit, uh albert low-key hates himself, ableism, lots of characters have depression, and quite a few have anxiety

editing: nope

pov: jack

You don’t know what happened, do you? Well I’m not surprised. Snyder won’t even let me tell the reader what’s going on! Wait, was I not supposed to say that? Probably not, but whatever.

You think I’m crazy now, don’t you?

You’re probably right.

Talking to myself in my head as if my life were a book that someone is reading.

Anyways, I remember waking up in the basement.

Race was still on the floor in the middle of the room.

When Race woke up I told him about my closet, but he didn’t say much to me.

And then Snyder came back.

“Tell me about the strike and I’ll let you go back upstairs.” He said.

I said no.

So did Race.

Snyder scowled and said he’d give us one more chance.

We refused.

So Snyder tied my wrists together and soaked Race.

I had to watch, helpless, as Snyder landed hit upon hit on my brother.

Race didn’t say anything, just let the hits come.

I tried to move across the room to help him, but my leg and restrained wrists prevented me from doing so.

I hated seeing him in pain like that.

But I think Snyder got bored with Race though, or even just frustrated, because soon he dragged Race away, out of the basement.

And then Snyder came back to deal with me.

My leg hurt a lot.

Snyder stomped on it, kept his boot pressed down on the surely splintered bone until I would say that one word.

I didn’t want to, I really didn’t.

But you don’t get it, I was weak, I was hurt.

“I can do worse.” Snyder growled.

“I ain’t gonna cave.” I said through gritted teeth.

“Or maybe I’ll just go through every one of your newsies until I get what I want. I’m sure that little boy can’t take as much pain as you can, Kelly.”

“No! Don’t!”

“Give me a reason.”

I didn’t have a choice.

“Davey!” I gasped. “He’s the brains!”

The pressure on my leg receded, and I regretted it.

I was put back in my closet and I was forced to listen to the conversation between Davey and Snyder.

Forced to listen as Davey took the beating I gave him.

I’m sick of being stuck.

Tied up in a closet while my brothers are suffering.

It’s been mostly quiet for today, but now I can hear yelling through the door, and I know that can’t be good for me.

“You can’t- you’re not- fine!”

There’s a crash and a swear, and I tense my shoulders, preparing for my closet to open and the next beating to begin.

And the door opens, and I am indeed greeted with a kick to my ribs, but instead of more hits I only get pulled up by my shirt collar and dragged out of the closet.

He can’t be taking me back to the basement, not this soon.

I told him Davey’s name, even if it was a day ago.

No, he’s not taking me to the basement, he just wants me at a better angle to put me in even worse pain.

And even worse pain I get.

I can feel blood dripping down from my nose, splattering across my shirt in shiny red drops, and Snyder’s fists feel like they’re made of fire.

He’s shouting at me, but it’s just the normal stuff I’m used to.

Useless, good for nothing, son of a bitch, bastard, disgusting, the list goes on and on.

I stay still and take the soaking, hoping that he just needs a punching bag to release his anger.

“You’re weak, Sullivan. Can’t even fight back anymore!” Snyder sneers.

“You’re an asshole.” I choke out through the blood.

“Pathetic. Fuckin’ pathetic.”

“At least I have the balls to fight for myself.”

“You’re not even fighting, Sullivan.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Can’t stand to live anything but your same old lie?”

“Let go of me and you’ll see.” I snarl.

“Fine.” Snyder shoots back.

I fall right on my ass, back still against the wall.

I don’t have enough strength in my leg to stand up.

I feel weak, stupid.

Snyder is laughing at me, he thinks this is hilarious.

“I think you need to learn to watch your mouth.”

His boot digs into my ribcage, and I grunt in pain.

Then he lifts me up my by shirt collar and drags me out of his office.

He must be taking me to the basement now, where else could he be taking me?

I’m scared.

I’m scared.

I’m scared I’m scared I’m scared I’m scared I’m scared I’m-

“Your fearless leader.”

I’m on the floor of a bunk room, my arms in front of me, trying to catch my fall, and leg sprawled out awkwardly behind me.

Snyder’s voice is dripping with sarcasm, and he’s addressing everyone in the room.

Which room am I in?

Three, with Ten Pin and Grates?

Eight, with Split and Rob?

I push myself up with my forearms and I lift my head to see.

It’s all of my boys.

Every single one of them.

Mush, Finch, Mike, Specs, Elmer, every single one.

I knew Crutchie was here, I knew Race was here, I could assume Albert was here from Snyder’s reference to him, I knew Davey was here because I heard him through the door, but I didn’t know they were all here.

All of my newsies, everyone I swore to protect, everyone that I promised would never be put in this hell.

I failed.

I’m seeing all of them right in front of me.

And they’re all seeing me.

Every broken part.

I think Snyder leaves, because suddenly people are surrounding me.

“Give ‘im some space!” Mush directs.

Davey is here, in front of me, so is Race.

“Where’s Crutchie?”

I shouldn’t have asked that, I really shouldn’t have, but I can’t bring myself to care at this point.

Specs is here now, acting as a temporary crutch for Crutchie.

Crutchie, the only person I want to see for the rest of my life.

“Charlie,” I breathe, not caring who’s around. “I-I’se sorry.” I swallow my original statement, replacing it with a trademark guilty Jack Kelly apology.

“Don’t apologize, ya idiot.” Crutchie says, his voice both hard and soft. Race doesn’t say anything, just reaches forward to untie my wrists.

“He got ya shoulder again.” Specs comments.

“Sure did.”

I don’t want to do this.

I don’t want to pretend everything is fine when it’s clearly not.

“I can set it.”

“Thanks.”

Specs gets me.

He doesn’t talk too much or take too long to say what he’s thinking.

He’s quick to get to the point.

I lay down on my back, and Specs takes my right arm in his hands.

“Mush, grab me a sheet or somethin’.” Specs asks.

Mush nods and steps away.

I draw in a tight gasp of pain as Specs applies pressure to my shoulder and it pops back into place.

Mush hands Specs a sheet, and Specs wraps it tightly around my shoulder.

“Just dislocated, but ya should be careful for a little while.” Specs says matter of factly.

“Can-what the hell can he want this time!”

Loud footsteps again, and it seems impossible that Snyder can be back again after an absence of no more than five minutes.

“Line up.” The order comes as soon as the door slams back open, and the boys surrounding me all scramble into place. Specs helps Crutchie stand, and Mush helps me.

“I ain’t got all day!” Snyder shouts, and we’re suddenly standing in a line, not single file, but spread out so we can all see him and he can see all of us.

Snyder paces back and forth in front of us, scowling at every boy he faces.

He eventually comes to a stop directly in front of Albert, whose eyes are alight with both fear and defiance.

“You. Pretty Boy.”

I clench my fists, ready to do whatever it takes to keep my little brother from getting hurt, but Mush’s hand is clenched firmly on my shoulder, he knows what I’m about to do.

He knows how stupid it is, and I know it too, but I can’t let him take Albert.

“Don’t.” Mush whispers under his breath.

I grit my teeth and let Mush hold me back.

For now.

“What?” Albert asks the man facing him, his tone snarky. “Ow, fuck!”

Snyder has a fistful of Albert’s hair, nearly yanking it from his skull.

“Sir.” Snyder says shortly.

Albert’s teeth are clenched in pain, and I can tell he’s trying to avoid meeting eye contact with Snyder.

“There’s no need to call me sir, Spider.” He chokes out, somehow managing to plaster a grin on his face.

Snyder growls in frustration and anger and throws Albert backwards. He lands on the floor on his back.

“Get up and follow me.” Snyder turns on his heel and stalks back to the door as Albert struggles to push himself up off the floor. Race rushes to help him, taking his hand and pulling him up.

“Please, don't go. Lemme-”

“No, Racer.”

“But I-”

Albert opens his mouth to say something else, but apparently thinks better of it and stops himself. He gently tugs his arm away from Race’s grasp, takes off his hat, and puts it on Race’s head. Then he walks across the room to where Snyder is waiting in the doorway.

“Good boy.” Snyder sneers approvingly.

“Fuck you!” Albert shouts, shoving him against the side of the doorway.

And then the door slams shut and the lock clicks back into place, Snyder and Albert on the other side.

The room is silent for a moment, but then it all shatters.

Race runs to the door, banging his fists against the wood and shouting for Albert. Tommy Boy is the one to go up to him and pull him away.

“They’se just gonna get mad, Racer.” He says.

“I don’t care!” Race screams, his voice higher than usual. “I can’t let ‘im-” Race’s voice breaks, and he stops fighting Tommy for a second.

“I can’t...” He whispers, falling completely into Tommy’s grasp, his body limp. “Please...”

I can’t handle this.

I can’t handle being back here, having to be a leader and a parent and strong and confident and everything in the world at once.

I’m in so much pain, more than I could’ve ever imagined, I want to scream and cry and end this miserable existence.

“I’m taking a nap.” I say, and Mush helps me hobble over to an empty bunk.

I collapse on the mattress and let much needed sleep overtake me.

it’s a mess now but i promise this fic will have a happy ending

TAG LIST @broadwaybooksandbagels @somekindaspacecadet @tea-and-theater @be-more-chill-evan-hansen @auspicioustarantula @dancingpenss @suddenly-im-respectable @have-we-got-news-for-you @spot-conlon-king-of-brooklyn @funnyihope @snakesarenonexistent @pansalexual @sunshine-e-cigarettes

[campcampistrash]

How Long It Takes To Make A Family

*walks in 15 minutes late with starbucks* whats up im here with a 10k fic and it’s full of crap who’s ready

Summary:  Five times Max told David to go away, and one time he asked him to stay. Alternatively: Max and David’s relationship throughout the years.

AO3 link

for the dadvid big bang event hosted by @dadvidappreciationweek

1.

Max’s parents first sent him to Camp Campbell when he was six, and the only reason they waited that long was because that was the youngest age the camp accepted.

During the school year, Max was cheerfully labelled as the “latchkey kid,” the only kid in his grade who carried around a house key clipped to his backpack because neither of his parents were home when he was and he had to unlock the door himself. Usually he was only alone for an hour or two; not long enough for any outsider to get the idea of neglect in their head.

Some days, his parents didn’t come home on time. Whenever that happened Max was forced to skip dinner and go to bed himself, and in the morning he’d get lectured on how he left all the lights in the house on and that he left the TV remote in the couch cushions and really, he’s already four five six years old, shouldn’t he have learned all this by now?

His parents didn’t work the weekends, but as distant as they were they might as well have.

Before most of his time was taken up by school Max was enrolled in daycare. He got dropped off at 6:30 AM and picked up at 8 PM; the first kid in and the last kid out. His parents hated the price. They’d jokingly talk about how they couldn’t wait for the day when he was old enough to take care of himself, about how annoying it was to wake up half-an-hour early just to drop him off, like he wasn’t even there. They never seemed to know that he was there, not unless he was getting blamed for something.

Six was the age where he was old enough to (supposedly) take care of himself for a couple hours at a time, but young enough to still be a worry for any longer than that. Summer vacation was awaited with dread at his household, where where his parents would have to pay for constant childcare.

Luckily, Camp Campbell was cheap, and Max would be out of the house entirely for two and a half months. It was, as far as they were concerned, the perfect option, and on the sheet where they were filling out his information they wrote “making friends” as the camp they wanted him in. They thought that he was shy, anti-social, and had difficulty connecting with people, because that’s how he always appeared to them.

Max had friends. It wasn’t hard for him to go up and start talking to people he didn’t know. His parents just had no idea who he was.

So the boy who first arrived at Camp Campbell was loud, social, and had the vague idea that he was never going to be the most important thing in his parents’ life, though he couldn’t voice that thought if asked.

He was also, objectively, an annoying little shit.

On the first day of camp, he arrived on the bus with all the other children. He was the youngest one there, unsurprisingly. What was supposed to happen after that was head to the dining hall for orientation, led by the two counselors.

Max didn’t even make it that far.

He looked around at the rundown buildings set in the middle of the woods, far from any real civilization and anyone he knew, and thought to himself, I don’t want to be here.

Without any hesitation, he broke away from the group and walked toward the lake he could see in the distance. He hadn’t ever seen one before; it’d be nice to mess around on the shore with no one bothering him.

Max took five steps before a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him in the air.

“Whoa there, partner! We’re not visiting the lake yet!” someone yelled at him. “We need to get through the or-i-en-tation first!”

They said the word orientation like Max wouldn’t know what it meant. He didn’t know what it meant, but he was offended nonetheless. So he shoved an elbow back as hard as he could and hit their face.

The person screamed and dropped Max. He landed on his hands and knees, scrambled up and tried to run, but his shirt collar was grabbed again, and he wasn’t stupid enough to try and choke himself to get away.

“Let me go!” he yelled, flailing his arms.

“No can do, kiddo, we gotta get to the dining hall pronto, and here at Camp Campbell we believe in the words no camper left behind.”

Max clenched his fists to his side and raised his head to see whatever overgrown chirpy squirrel caught him. It was a man with startlingly red hair and a smile about as bright and real as an LED light. Max immediately started to hate him.

“I don’t wanna go there,” he said. The man looked as remorseful as someone could while toting around a discount grin.

“Hey now,” he told Max apologetically, “later we’ll all get to go to the lake together! Think about how much funner it’s going to be with all your friends!”

Max crossed his arms and angrily mumbled, “They’re not my friends.”

“Well, they will be soon!”

And with that, Max was dragged to the dining hall to meet his doom.

—

His doom came in the name of David. He decided that he hated David more than anyone at the camp.

There was also another counselor named Gwen, but Max didn’t mind her so much. She seemed as irritated with David’s happy-go-lucky attitude as he was. She was cool.

The thing about David, though, was that he was fake; his cheerful, unrelenting demeanor, his excitement for literally every activity—it just couldn’t be real. Max refused to believe it. He was six, and while he knew that was plenty old enough, everyone always assumed that was “too young” for most anything, and yet despite him being “too young” he still knew that David’s attitude was—to put in words he would soon know—complete and utter bullshit.

So on that first day, as David was excitedly yelling at them all about how much fun they’re going to have and how they’re all such great friends already, Max swore to himself that he was going to make David crumble.

All he had to do was make as much a nuisance of himself as possible until David’s facade cracked, and everyone could see how fake he was. It was the perfect, foolproof plan, and Max was sure that it would work in the way it hadn’t with his parents.

(At home, he’d taken to acting out—throwing food, neglecting schoolwork, yelling at anyone and everything—and his parents only noticed long enough to send him to his room.

It would, he hoped, work better at camp.)

When the time came for Max to introduce himself in front of everyone, he simply crossed his arms and said, “No.”

The other kids in the room weren’t paying attention, having already introduced themselves, but Max didn’t care about them. He was staring directly at David to show that he meant war.

David took it in exactly the wrong way.

“Aw, are you too shy?” he cooed, clasping his hands together. “That’s perfectly fine! How about you come over here so you can whisper your name in my ear, and I can introduce you to everyone instead!”

Max gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and yelled, “No!”

David frowned in thought. It only took a moment for him to decide what the “real” problem was, because he soon brightened up again and said, “Oh, don’t worry, I know I look really tall but I’m not actually scary at all! I promise I don’t bite! But if you want to go to Gwen instead...”

Gwen slapped her face and groaned.

“Jesus, David,” she said, “he’s not scared, he’s just trying to be difficult.”

The camp man scrunched his eyebrows together, confused and not knowing how to handle the situation. Max felt vindicated. Clearly his plan was going to work easier than he thought.

“I... guess I can just get the attendance sheet?” David proposed. “He’s the last one to introduce! It shouldn’t be hard to find him on there.”

Max’s good mood dropped. He stared in betrayed shock as David procured a clipboard, skimming through the two pages until he found what he was looking for.

“Alright, everyone,” David said, “our last camper to be introduced today is...” He paused, waiting for something. “Iiiiiiiiiissssss...”

Gwen rolled her eyes and started doing a drumroll on her thigh.

“MAX! Say hi to Max, kids!”

The other kids, none of whom Max paid any attention to when they introduced themselves, didn’t react. They stared ahead in a bored daze, waiting for something interesting to happen. Max could relate.

He didn’t really have anything against these other people, he decided. Just David.

When they were being lead around the camp, Max pushed down the tents. David’s eye twitched, but he only said, “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.”

When they were doing their first camp activity, Max took the string they were using for friendship bracelets and cocooned someone in a coffin of thread. David got out a pair of scissors and complimented him on his quick learning.

When they were learning to pitch tents—none of the kids were happy with Max at that point, since it was his fault they had to learn in the first place—he managed to destroy three of them before David got the hint that the small child should probably not be trusted. David dug through the attic and procured two extra tents, one of them large enough to house four students instead of two. He made Max help him set them up, and stopped Max when he tried to sabotage them again, saying, “Oh, no, it goes like this, Max.”

And he did all that with a large, radiant smile. There was rarely a hint of frustration or impatience with Max. He didn’t even seem to know that Max was purposefully trying to mess everything up.

That revelation—that maybe David just needed to figure out that Max was being terrible on purpose—came to him on the third day, as Max was leaning over the side of a canoe, trying to get in the water. David had a strong grip on his shirt collar (his yellow shirt, the camp shirt he was forced to wear) so it wasn’t going well.

“Max,” David said patiently, “it’s canoe time, not swim time! Swim time isn’t until week two!”

Max glared at him. He was forced to be paired with one of the adults because he was the youngest- the other kids were lucky enough to get away with little to no supervision. And Gwen, luckiest of them all, got to chill on the beach with a pair of sunglasses and a trashy book.

David thought that Max was just a confused six-year-old. That was a problem.

Max leaned back into his seat, and David let go with a relieved sigh, thinking he got his point across. Instead, Max grabbed the sides of the canoe, and staring blankly at David, started rocking it, back and forth.

David gulped nervously and said, “Now, Max, I know this may seem fun, but it’s actually very dangerous because you might tip the boat over. So that means you should stop.”

Max doubled his efforts. He was willing to sacrifice himself if he could take David down with him.

“Ha, wow, okay, that’s exactly what you shouldn’t do, how about we just-”

And David grabbed him. Again. His plan was foiled.

He was set right in front of the man like one would set down a heavy bag of groceries- a little roughly and with much relief. Then came the lecture.

Max didn’t listen to any of it. He only fumed at lost opportunities. But when David made a particularly large gesture with his hands, setting him slightly off balance in his seat, Max realized he could do something else.

So with all his strength, he shoved David off of the canoe.

David toppled off with a yelp and landed in the water with a large splash, getting Max wet. He surfaced quickly and sputtered “MAX!” very indignantly.

Max, naturally, pointed a finger at him and started laughing. Loudly.

The canoeing lesson was cut short for the day. When David surfaced from the lake, he looked like a sad cat that got too curious about a bathtub and was inevitably disappointed. Gwen pulled him away from the group; Max was too far to hear what they said, but he was so satisfied with his results he didn’t care, even though it looked like a very heated conversation.

When they came to some sort of agreement—an agreement only on Gwen’s part, if the unsatisfied look on David’s face was any indication—she pushed him away and called for everyone to follow her back to the dining hall. Max moved to go with them, but was stopped by an arm across his chest.

He looked up, and there was David, in all his downtrodden waterlogged glory. He rolled his eyes. There was, inevitably, going to be some lecture on how to be the best camper, or canoe safety, or how he should talk about his homesickness instead of acting on it, or whatever.

“Max,” David said softly. He mentally prepared himself for the barrage of useless information he was going to get.

“It has come to my attention that. You, uh. Have been acting... a little out of hand.”

Yeah, Max thought bitterly, and he had to have Gwen point it out to him, since David was so determined to act all cheerful and pretend nothing bad was going on.

“So Gwen and I, together, in a conversation where we mutually agreed-” what was David even saying, seriously, “-decided that you are going to be heavily restricted in the activities you are allowed to participate in, and for the activities you are allowed to be involved in you will need either me or Gwen to partner up with you.”

Max stared at him blankly. He didn’t understand most of what David said, partially because he didn’t really know what “mutually agreed” or “restricted” meant, partially because David’s voice lost most emotion, as if he was just repeating what he was told to, like a robot.

“And,” David finished, “you won’t be allowed anywhere near the forest or the lake from now on. You’ll have to stay with the Quartermaster those days.”

Now that Max understood.

Tears pricked in his eyes and his face scrunched up, and he remembered the first day he was here, when he just wanted to go home and be alone, where he didn’t have to learn anything new with adults he had no idea what to do with, when he looked in the distance and saw the lake and wanted to sit by it and look at the water because he’d never done that before.

David put a hand on his shoulder- to comfort him, to lead him away, he didn’t know, but he shook it off and bolted down the beach, his face was wet and he was sad devastated angry that David would take this away from him. Max knew he deserved his punishment; he all but asked for it, really. But he assumed it would get him some half-hearted reprimand and a push to do more activities to avoid bothering the adults. Get sent to stay in his tent for a day, at worst.

Max stopped running when his legs got too wobbly, and he fell ungracefully on his butt. He panted and he felt kind of dizzy but at least he was sitting next to the lake looking at the sunset. Alone.

Just like he wanted.

They probably wouldn’t let him go back there again.

The sand shifted behind him. Max sniffled and roughly rubbed his sleeve against his face.

“Go away,” he said.

David ignored him and crouched. He put a hand on his shoulder. David always did that; Max wondered what he thought a stupid little shoulder pat was going to do. Comfort him? Get him to like him? Stupid.

“We need to go back with the others,” David said.

“Go away,” Max told him.

“I can’t leave you here alone, Max,” David said.

Max brought his knees to his chest and shoved his face in them. The hand started rubbing his back. It was like David was trying to bribe him with affection, or something. Stupid.

“Go away,” Max whispered, and he didn’t even know if David heard that time.

They stayed until the sun went down.

2.

Another summer, and Max is, for the third time in a row, sent to Camp Campbell to get out of his parents’ faces. He was becoming a sort of unwilling expert on the place.

He looked out the window of the bus with the affectation of a forty year old man getting sent to prison for the rest of his life and regretting the people he’s left behind and the actions he took to get there. What could he have done different, he wondered. He didn’t know.

The bus stopped, and the Quartermaster grunted something as he opened the door. Max was the first one off because he learned that sitting at the back of the bus only gets you the worst tent.

(Return campers were allowed to skip the orientation and go straight to settling in- so far, that was only Max and two other kids, and the two other kids tended to stick together and get the best tent for themselves. Max was determined to beat them that year.)

Among other things he learned was this:

-The food is not to be trusted, as with anything else the Quartermaster was involved in. -David and Gwen take turns checking in on the campers after the scheduled bedtime, and Gwen tends to try and finish it as fast as possible, which means that she’ll look at a pile of pillows under a blanket and think it’s a kid. Those were the best nights to sneak out. -The two other kids that returned to camp every year were named Meredith and Rajeev and they were pretty cool. Usually. Depending on the day. -Despite all common sense, David really was that fucking happy. All the time. Sometimes, his temper would get the best of him and he’d lash out, but overall he just smiled. And smiled.

It took two years for Max to realise that, no, it wasn’t some stupid, overblown act. No matter how hard he tried, there was no forcing David to shed his cheerful mask and show the world what kind of person he really was, because it wasn’t a mask. Sometimes he’d lose his temper, but he always bounced back quickly since apparently a positive attitude means so much to him.

So, because of that, Max had no idea what he was going to do that year.

The past years were dedicated to trying to get David to admit that he was a hack and he actually hated children. Now that he knows the truth, that there is no secret to reveal, what was the point anymore? Was it really worth it to make David’s life hell, if it would amount to nothing?

(That was another thing Max had learned at camp: Swear Words. Gwen never bothered to police her language around children, much to David’s consternation, and it didn’t take long for Max to have as much a mouth as her.)

Max speed walked towards the tent area. He’d have ran, but he knew for a fact that Meredith would refuse to act like she made any effort to do things, and Rajeev wouldn’t go on by himself. Getting the tent he wanted was a cinch.

He set his suitcase underneath the cot and grabbed the whiteboard on top, then wrote “MAX’S TENT- YOU FUCKERS BETTER LEAVE ME ALONE” and hung it outside. Meredith and Rajeev were just arriving, and when they saw him, they groaned.

“Dude,” Rajeev said.

“Whatever,” Meredith said, flipping her hair. It barely reached past her ears so it wasn’t particularly effective. “That tent is, like, old news anyway.”

“Last year you said that this was the best tent and everyone else was missing out,” Max told her.

“Pff,” said Meredith. “They’re all the same. It doesn’t even matter.”

“Okay, Meredith,” Max said.

“Actually,” she said, “I’m going by Mer now. It’s a nickname. Meredith is lame.”

“Mare?”

“No, Mer.”

“It won’t last,” Max predicted.

Meredith ignored him and went to the tent right next to his. Rajeev paused, waved at Max, and followed.

And with that, he would finally get peace and quiet for the next two hours it took for David to get through his in depth tour of the camp with the newbies. Ah, yes, he thought, the best time of the summer, nothing can make this go wrong, he can just lay down, relax, and-

“Max!” David yelled in the distance.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” Max said.

He turned around and sure enough, there was David, running toward him with a smile on his face. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Meredith and Rajeev exit their tent with a small whiteboard. The moment they saw David, they looked at each other and quietly went back inside, making the wise decision to hang up their sign later.

David slowed to a stop, panting, still wearing a huge grin.

“Glad I caught you, Max!” he said. “Come on, I left Gwen to handle things for the moment, but, well, she always skips the part about the forest ecosystem so-”

“Wait,” Max said, “you are not taking me back to the or-i-entation.”

David frowned and put his fists on his hips. “Well, I can’t leave you here.”

“Why not?” he asked. “You let me stay here last year. I already went through the whole welcome schtick.”

“Last year you ate all the candy you smuggled in at once and got sick,” David said.

Max crossed his arms. “I’m not that person anymore. I’ve grown. And wait- why aren’t you bringing Meredith and Rajeev too?”

From inside their tent, Meredith yelled, “It’s Mer now!”

“They’re twelve,” David answered. “I trust that they won’t immediately eat all of their illegally brought candy.”

“This is so unfair.”

David ignored him and, rightfully guessing that Max would never go with him willingly, picked him up and tucked him under his arm like a football. Max stubbornly kept his arms crossed.

He wondered how he ever assumed that there would be no reason to torture David. It’d clearly been too long since he last saw him.

For the next two hours, Max sat through pure agony. He had to listen to David talk about all the different kinds of trees at Camp Campbell, and how you shouldn’t go into the forest alone because there are bears, no this is not a joke there are literally bears please don’t go in there by yourself.

Stupid. Boring. Max would make him pay.

The next two weeks passed by predictably: Max did what he always did—that is, exist in apathy until he was forced to do a camp activity, which he would then attempt to ruin—and David did what he always did—try to act as if everything was fine and everyone was happy.

But one day, as Max was drinking his morning coffee, his routine was interrupted.

His arm was grabbed, he dropped his mug, and he opened his mouth to scream, until he heard David’s voice.

“Let’s go, Max!” he said. “Don’t want to be late for camp today!”

Max decided to scream twice as loud.

David winced and covered his ear with his free hand.

“Max, please-”

“Let go of me!” he yelled, scratching at David’s arm and trying to yank his own away. “I’m not going to learn about the environment! You can’t make me!”

“No, it’s-”

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!”

“Max-”

“You made me drop my coffee!”

“Max!”

Max stopped and looked up at David. He was frowning, rubbing his head, and he seemed very tired.

“It’s your camp activity day, Max,” David said. “Gwen is taking the others for a hike, and we are going to the dining hall.”

“Why?” Max asked suspiciously. “What’s my camp this year? ‘Meditation?’ ‘Pray the humanity away?’ ‘Mind control your child into being the perfect robot?’”

“Well, first off, I think you need to spend a little less time with Gwen. Second, you’ll find out when we get there.”

Max grumbled, but stopped resisting. He’d run if David let go of his arm, but generally, his camps tended to finish quickly, due to his parents writing literally whatever they wanted on the camp form. Last year he only had to balance a textbook on his head for five minutes.

It will be over with soon, Max reassured himself. And if it took too long, he’d find a way to get out of it.

They reached the dining hall, and David only paused long enough to shut the doors and lock them.

Shit, Max thought.

David sit him down at one of the tables and walked to the other side. From underneath the bench, he pulled out a backpack, unzipped it, and overturned the contents in front of them.

Out tumbled three skeins of yarn and two pairs of knitting needles.

Shit, Max thought.

“Knitting can be a bit difficult, so I’ll start off the row for you,” David said. “Then, once you get the hang of it, I’ll show you how to start new rows-”

“No,” Max said.

“It’s easy once you figure it out!” David pleaded- actually pleaded, with his palms together in front of his chest and eyes teary for effect. “Well,” he amended, “there’s always new techniques to learn, and knitting itself can be difficult to master, so I’m not sure if it can be called easy, but I promise you it’s fun!”

“No, listen,” Max said, “I don’t care how you paint it. I am not knitting. It’s- it’s stupid.”

“You call everything stupid,” David pointed out.

“That’s because everything is stupid and there’s no good in the world,” Max said.

“Max, please,” he said. “Just try it? For ten minutes, at the very least.”

Max hesitated, grumbled, stared at the table and kicked his feet and grudgingly said, “Fine.”

David beamed at him and picked up a pair of knitting needles. “First, you have to hold the needles like this,” he grabbed Max’s hands and closed them around the needles, adjusting until his grip was right, “and you take the yarn with your- are you right handed? Take it with your left hand, wrap it around like this-”

And he patiently walked Max through the process, and whenever Max lost his temper and tried throwing the needles he’d grab them out of his hands and wait until he was ready to start again. When Max was able to get a rhythm going—able to reach the end of the row and start a new one with relative ease, though it was a little slow going—David picked up his own knitting needles and started silently knitting along.

An hour and a half later, Max was jolted out of his reverie when the rest of the camp returned from their hike, a conglomeration of loud footsteps dampened by dirt and conversation and the clang of keychains on backpacks. He looked down at his hands, where the start of a scarf rested on the table. It was bunched up and there were some parts where he lost a stitch or held the yarn too loosely, but it was there.

“What?” he asked incredulously.

The noise from outside got louder, and Max realized that they were coming in for lunch. He threw his scarf at David with a panicked scream and scrambled off the bench to run for the cafeteria, where the Quartermaster was already setting out food. The door thumped as someone tried to open it, and Max abruptly remembered that David locked it when they came in.

“I’ll be there in a sec!” David yelled, stuffing all the knitting items back in the bag. The door continued to thump, and the people outside started yelling angrily. By the time it was opened and everyone started rushing in, Max was standing in line to get food, inspecting his fingernails, no funny business here, no siree.

“Ugh,” Rajeev said from behind him, “why’d you get to skip the hike? Gwen just kept on pointing out trees. She just pointed at them and said ‘and that’s a tree.’ I don’t think she knows anything about nature.”

“Did you want to learn about nature?”

“No, but that’s not the point.”

Max rolled his eyes as Rajeev complained about the quality of care they were given.

At least, he thought, he’d never have to knit again.

—

It was late, and Max couldn’t sleep, which was par for the course. Lucky for him, it was a Tuesday- Gwen was supposed to be the one checking to make sure the campers were sleeping.

So he took all his pillows, shoved them under his blanket, and walked off to the lake.

He always liked the lake. It was overgrown with algae so it had a green tinge and almost no fish, but the waves still lapped on the shore and against the dock and the sand was soft and warm. Max liked to lay down and stare at the sky, even though it was a pain to get the sand out of his hair later.

This far away from town, the stars were numerous and bright. Sometimes David tried to teach them about constellations; Max tried not to pay attention, but after a couple years, he knew how to pick out a few anyway.

The Big Dipper was easy. The Little Dipper was dimmer, but he could find it too. Leo looked more like a mouse than a lion. Cassiopeia was just a w. The North Star, Orion’s Belt—it was soothing to list them, and Max could feel himself nodding off, listening to the waves and digging his fingers into the sand-

A branch snapped.

Max darted up.

“Max?”

Emerging from the trees was David, who seemed to have made a habit of spontaneously appearing exactly when Max didn’t want him to.

“There you are,” he said, relieved. “I got worried when I couldn’t find you in your tent! Remember, Max, curfew is at nine- you can’t go wandering around this late.”

Max rolled his eyes and slumped back against the sand.

“Max?” David said, cautiously stepping closer. “Max, we need to get back to the tents.”

“Uuuuuuugggghh,” Max said. Above him, David stopped and placed his hands on his hips.

“Now, Max, I know that I cut you some slack every now and then, but I can’t just leave you here! So get up, get moving, and let’s go to bed!”

He groaned again but started to stand. Very slowly. David tapped his foot impatiently. Max moved slower.

Getting back to his tent was a hassle with his refusal to walk at a reasonable pace, but eventually they reached their destination, and they both stopped.

“You can go now,” Max said after waiting to see if David would leave on his own.

“Ah,” David responded. “Well, actually, before I leave-”

Max sighed. Loudly.

“Go away, David,” he said. “I don’t want you here. Leave me alone.”

David hesitated, but apparently came to a decision, saying a hasty, “Goodnight,” before skittering off to bed.

He unzipped the flap to his tent and walked inside. It was almost exactly how he left it, except for the blanket that was flipped down to reveal his fairly large pillow collection. Max returned them to their usual places in his bed, and crouched down to get his Gameboy Advance SP from its hiding place under the mattress, ready to hunker down for a sleepless night.

Instead, he encountered a bag.

Curiously, Max pulled it out. It wasn’t his, and he didn’t know how it got there. He unzipped it and peeked inside.

The first thing he saw was a shitty looking scarf.

It was bunched up too tight in some places, loose enough to see holes in others, made out of blue and purple yarn and still with knitting needles sticking out the end.

This was the scarf he was making earlier. David must have left it, along with all the other yarn.

Max picked it out and sat of his bed, telling himself that it was only because he had nothing else to do, he didn’t really want to knit, it was just better than playing that Spongebob game for the millionth time.

In the morning, David found him asleep, knitting needles still in hand.

3.

“This way’s the kitchen, over there’s the dining table—not enough space for a full on dining room, but you know what, with just the two of us that shouldn’t matter—down that hallway is the bathroom and office and upstairs-”

David continued yammering as he showed Max around, and Max heard none of it. He shifted the duffel bag higher up on his shoulder. The house smelled sterile; David probably wiped everything down for Max’s arrival.

They walked upstairs, Max running his hand over the railing, David talking about the fluting on the wood or something. There was a door at the end of the hallway. They stopped in front of it.

Max reached out for the doorknob, vaguely recognizing that it was supposed to be where he would sleep, when he caught the last of David’s speech.

“-and I’m sure you’ll be happy here!”

Max slammed the door in his face.

—

The last summer, he’d been sent to Camp Campbell as usual. It was, at the time, the best summer so far.

Nurf and Ered had both aged out by that point—he’d maybe kinda missed Ered a little, if only because she was the one constant at camp besides the adults, but it was a bit of a relief to not have to always watch his back on his designated bullying days. But, at twelve, he was the second oldest kid, and he had Neil and Nikki, and Preston and Harrison were still there, and there was a new kid named Audrey who was seven and thought Max was the coolest kid ever.

David and Gwen were, as always, counselors. He didn’t even mind; Max wouldn’t admit this to anyone but he kind of started to like them. Not hate them. He didn’t go out of his way to try and annoy them, at least, and as far as he was concerned they were a vast improvement to his own parents.

He actually looked forward to staying at Camp Campbell. It started to feel more like home than his actual house did.

Then the summer ended, and they had to go home.

As it happened every year, all the other kids got picked up first. David, used to this, invited Max inside the counselor’s cabin for a late lunch. They talked, got along, didn’t fight or get angry, Max might have smiled once- and even though he knew it was going to end soon he still couldn’t help but feel a little happy to be there.

But they sat, and waited, and it was only after the Quartermaster told them that he was leaving and they both needed to get a life that they might have thought something was wrong.

David called Max’s mom. Then he called Max’s dad. Then he called both of their workplaces, and after they both said that they were gone for the day he called their personal phones again.

No answer.

Max drank his hot chocolate silently.

Two weeks later, a few different conversations with the police, and an exchange of papers led him to his current predicament, which was that his parents were charged with child neglect and David offered to foster him.

For the time being.

That was the part that stuck in Max’s mind.

He wasn’t unhappy with how he lived before. Maybe when he was younger he wanted his parents’ attention, or love, whatever, but he knew how to take care of himself and he didn’t even care about them anymore. He started to care about school, he had friends, and every summer he went back to Camp Campbell, which wasn’t the worst place to be. He got used to being lonely when his parents left for days on end, got used to being hungry when they misjudged the amount of food he needed and had to deal with school lunches. It wasn’t a bad situation.

Max didn’t know what to expect from David.

He didn’t know what his room looked like, though he had been there for at least five minutes. He spent that time flopped face-first on his bed. The sheets smelled like flowers, and were about as soft.

When he felt like he could handle it, he pushed himself up.

The room was fairly small, with yellow walls and a large window opposite the door. There were curtains, but they were so thin and translucent that light shined through anyway, making the atmosphere needlessly cheery. Across from the bed sat a wood desk, complete with a lamp and a chair.

Max looked down. The bed sheets were floral. The carpet was a dark beige. His suitcase stood innocuously next to the door.

This was a guest room. Max couldn’t fathom changing it to something that was his.

“I can foster him for the time being,” he heard David say in his head.

This room would probably stay the guest room even after he left.

Max walked over to his suitcase and unzipped the front pocket to pull out his 3DS. He sat against the door, and lost three Pokemon battles before he realized that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate anytime soon.

He dropped his hands. His DS thumped softly on the carpet.

Why couldn’t his parents just have remembered him that one time?

He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think. His brain was swirling around the words for the time being, he was stuck in a guest room and his parents couldn’t even remember their child existed until it got them in jail.

Max put away his DS. From another pocket, he pulled out yarn and needles.

He’d gotten better at knitting over the years. It was calming and it took his mind off things enough for him to relax. He was in a sweater mood at the moment, even though it wouldn’t be cold enough to wear them for a while.

He knitted. His head grew hazy. The trick with sweaters is that you had to make them a bit larger than they had to be, since they shrank in the wash. Once he made socks for Audrey, the kid who kept following around last summer. She thought the size of the socks were ridiculous and laughed for an unnecessarily long time. He kind of missed her.

The yarn was a gradient green, going from light to dark to light again. Green was nice. Max liked the color green more than he used to.

There were still thoughts niggling on the back of his mind. They went away when he trashed the green yarn and went with blue.

Just blue, no purple. Purple probably wouldn’t have helped either.

A few hours passed, and Max jumped when the door thudded on his back.

“Dinner, Max,” David said after he finished knocking. Max didn’t move. Eventually, David left.

He silently put the yarn away, stood up, and opened the door. His bare feet were silent on the polished wood floor of the hallway, and he stayed close to the wall when going down the stairs in case one of them was prone to creaking. David was sitting at the kitchen table, quietly eating macaroni and cheese. Across from him was another bowl.

Max hesitated. His parents had rarely cooked dinner for him, especially since they realized that he learned how to cook himself. He couldn’t get used to this. He wasn’t going to be with David forever.

Yet he still walked over and sat in the chair. David seemed happy to see him.

This wasn’t going to last, Max had to remind himself.

David greeted him happily, asked how he was feeling, backtracked and started talking about trees when he realized that was a loaded question.

This wasn’t going to last.

When Max finished his macaroni, David asked if he wanted more.

It couldn’t last.

“So,” David said awkwardly once he refilled their bowls. “We actually have to talk about something.”

Max stabbed his noodles.

“When do you want to start school?” David asked.

Max aggressively chewed his food, not deigning him with an answer.

“You could start next week,” David said, “which, since it’s Friday, is pretty soon from now, but if you need more time to get used to-”

“Next week is fine,” Max said. It was the first thing he said all day.

“Alright, sounds good,” David said.

They finished their food. David put the dishes in the sink. Max stood to walk back to the guest room.

“Goodnight,” David said.

This would not last, Max told himself as he was falling asleep that night.

—

School was... fine.

It was a new school, so none of his friends were there, but the other kids were fine enough. He made acquaintances. The teacher never called on him to answer. Max wondered if David told her about his “situation.”

Every day, after school, David was home. He’d be playing guitar, or baking cookies, or watching TV, or reading- whatever it was, he’d stop and welcome Max home and ask him about his day. After a month, Max asked him if he had a job. David told him that he did, and he was lucky enough that it matched with Max’s school hours.

In November, Max went up to his room after school, ignoring David’s usual, “Hey Max! How was your day?” to collapse on his bed. The walls were still yellow, the floor was still beige, but the sheets were changed to Batman covers and there were a few posters taped tackily on the walls. His suitcase was under the bed, its contents unpacked.

It didn’t look too much like a guest bedroom anymore. He hadn’t even been there for three months. It should’ve scared him, how comfortable he’d gotten.

The other day, David said something with the words, “when you graduate high school.”  Max didn’t hear the rest of what he said; David thought he’d be there for years. Maybe he expected Max to move out after he graduated, but it kind of made him hope.

Maybe, Max told himself nearly three months after living there, this wasn’t as temporary as he thought.

The next day, he went to school. Some kids asked him if he wanted to play wall ball with them at recess. He said sure.

David got him a phone so he could text Neil and Nikki. The walls in his room were painted blue, almost the same shade as his old hoodie. Whenever he thought too much about his parents, he could pull out whatever knitting project he had on hand and work on it until David called him for dinner.

Maybe this could last, Max told himself.

One day, in December, Max came home from school. He threw his backpack on the couch and paused.

David hadn’t greeted him.

Max very carefully did not react. He walked to the kitchen, getting a glass of water when he saw that David wasn’t there. He looked in the office, pretending he lost a paper even when it was empty. There was no one in the bathroom.

He walked upstairs, and after seeing that David wasn’t there either, decided that he actually wanted to work on his homework instead of hanging out in the guest room and went back to where he left his backpack.

Apparently, David wasn’t home.

That was fine. This was fine. Max was used to arriving to an empty house. He shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t care.

He shouldn’t have gotten used to this, Max told himself, it was stupid to assume David would always be there.

“I can foster him for the time being,” he heard for the first time in a while. He tried to bury himself in math homework. David would usually help him if he had trouble.

This wouldn’t have been able to last, he told himself.

Max was in the middle of his english homework when he heard the door to the backyard open. David stepped inside, covered in dirt, and brightened with a grin when he saw Max sitting on the couch.

“Oh, hey Max!” he said. “I didn’t realize you were home! I guess I lost track of time- gardening can be so hypnotizing, you know? But hey, got all the winter plants taken care of! They’ll probably start sprouting soon enough, and man, I can’t wait for them to bloom-”

Max stood up without a word and walked away, leaving his things behind.

“Max?” David said worriedly, as if just now figuring out that something might have been wrong. “Are you alright? Did something happen at school today?”

Max stomped up the stairs. He slammed his door. David didn’t follow.

A couple hours later, halfway through a yellow scarf, there was a knock on the door.

“Dinner’s done,” David said.

Max didn’t answer. David knocked again.

“Are you coming?” he asked. Max stayed silent. David didn’t leave.

“Do you need to talk about something?” he said. “Remember, I’m here for-”

“Go away,” Max told him.

“If it’s something I did, then-”

“Go away!” he yelled.

For a moment, there was silence. Then footsteps going toward the stairs. Max picked up his knitting needles again.

He shouldn’t have gotten so comfortable, he told himself, he shouldn’t have been so stupid.

The yellow scarf, when he was done, was nearly as bad as his first.

4.

Max’s door opened, and in walked in David. Max screeched.

“Go away!” he yelled, scrambling off his bed to rush toward David.

“I just wanted to ask-”

“No!” Max tried shoving David out the door. At fourteen, he was nearly to David’s shoulder, though scrawnier than ever. David was probably letting himself get hustled out.

“Okay, Max, have fu-”

The door slammed in his face.

“You didn’t have to be that mean,” Nikki said. She coughed into her elbow. According to her, David’s house in general was better than most urban civilizations, but she still got a cold whenever she left her cabin in the woods, where she lived with her dad.

“Listen, Nikki,” Max said, “I am being very nice by letting you design me a- a goddamn fursona.” He said the words like a curse. “I am not letting Dad see what we’re doing in here.”

Nikki smirked evilly. Max eyed her.

“What?” he said suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Nikki sang, and went back to her sketchbook. She was drawing a very fluffy black cat wearing a blue hoodie. It was sitting next to an anxious owl and a wolf, which looked like it wanted to eat them both.

They were both silent.

“Okay, seriously, what?” Max asked. “What are you hiding? And fuck you no version of me is that fluffy.”

“Nothing,” Nikki insisted, drawing the cat fluffier just to spite him. “But, uh, if you could ask your dad if he could make cookies that’d be cool.” She drew out the word “dad” mockingly. Max made a face at her.

“David is not my dad,” he insisted.

“Alright,” Nikki said unconvincingly.

“He’s not.”

“Okay.”

“He’s stupid and I hate him.”

“If you say so.”

Max looked like he wanted to argue more, but gave up and went downstairs to tell David to make them cookies.

After he left, Nikki pulled out her phone and texted Neil to make fun of him for choosing to finish his science fair project instead of hanging out with them.

5.

As it turned out, graduating high school was a fairly boring affair.

Most of it was sitting. Underneath his robes Max wore a nice pair of slacks and a blue button up shirt, complete with a shiny pair of loafers that he would never wear again.

The senior president was taking her sweet time calling out names. A couple kids slowed down the affair by tripping on stage. He would’ve played games on his phone if David hadn’t taken it away before the ceremony started.

Finally, his row stood to go. They had to walk to the backstage area, and go through curtains that a teacher would hold open for each person. It was all very convoluted. Max just wanted to get it over with.

His name was called, the teacher opened the curtains for him, and she dropped them too early so his hat nearly fell off- luckily he had to use bobby pins to keep it on, so it was secure.

The moment he stepped on stage, he could hear a lot of shouting. His eyes followed the sound to the middle of the crowd, and there sat everyone he cared about.

Neil was conservative about his cheering, but he looked happy enough. He graduated the previous year so he had to travel from college to come to his graduation, and Max told him not to bother, but Neil just said, “Fuck you, you came to my graduation and now I have to return the favor.”

Beside him, Nikki was howling. Literally howling. She probably learned it from the wolves she managed to befriend (and he still didn’t know how the fuck she did that, though the same could be said for most of the things she did). She was jumping up and down and waving her arms wildly. The parents next to her looked fearful for their lives.

And, loudest of them all, David. He was screaming his heart out, saying things like “Max I’m so proud of you!” and “I’m so happy you made it this far!” There were tears on his face, and Gwen, standing beside him, seemed embarrassed on his behalf, but she still smiled and flashed Max a thumbs up.

Max smiled back and stepped forward to take his diploma.

—

Later the five of them were at a restaurant, talking and laughing, trading congratulations and wondering about the future.

David turned to him, said something, clapped him on the back, went back to conversing with Gwen.

It didn’t feel real.

How did Max get here?

He was in a four star restaurant with what was essentially his family, he didn’t imagine a black pit in his future, he could barely remember when he last felt lonely for a long period of time.

Max was happy, and so were the people around him. This was the life he couldn’t fathom when he was living with his parents.

His parents were out and about these days, he knew. Sometimes, Max was afraid that they’d show up on his doorstep, demanding he come back with them. That he had a responsibility to them. That he had to love them, just because they “raised” him, even though they never loved him the way he needed.

Max stabbed a green bean and shoved it in his mouth. He hated green beans. It was a good distraction.

“How come green beans come with every steak dinner?” Max wondered out loud.

“You’ve gotta have some vegetables,” Neil said.

“Mashed potatoes are vegetables!” Nikki told them.

“I’m not sure if mashed potatoes count,” David said.

“If schools can say that french fries are vegetables,” Gwen said, “then mashed potatoes are vegetables.”

Their conversation devolved into complaints about the American education system. Max’s mouth hurt. He was still smiling. He wished no one noticed.

Max had hope for the future, and he wasn’t afraid to keep holding on to it.

—

They finished dinner, and Max grabbed the graduation robe he slung over the chair and stood to leave. Nikki and Neil stood with him; the three of them planned to burn his robe and hat in a fire and then go to some party Max was invited to. Gwen and David stayed behind to pay the bill.

“Have fun, kids,” Gwen said.

“Yeah!” David yelled. “Have fun, don’t drink, don’t do drugs, drive save, please be home by ten-”

“David, Max just graduated, I think he’s responsible enough to have a sleepover,” Gwen said.

“I mean, sure, but I get kind of worried, you know?”

“Alright,” Max said, “I’m leaving, bye, have fun doing whatever it is you’re going to do-”

“We’re going to watch all the Shrek movies,” Gwen deadpanned.

“-and I did not need to know that ‘kay thanks see you later.”

While they were talking, Neil and Nikki went to stand by the door. Neil tapped his foot impatiently and pointedly gestured to his watch when Max looked over.

He gave one last wave and went to join them. Behind him he heard David yelp—presumably because Gwen elbowed him, as she was wont to do, though he couldn’t imagine what David did this time.

Max reached his friends. Together, they walked outside; it rained while they were in the restaurant, so the air was damp and it smelled like wet concrete. Hopefully the wood they were going to use to make a fire didn’t get too waterlogged.

Footsteps slapped behind them. Max turned around and there, unsurprisingly, was David.

For as long as he’d known him, David had a habit of running after him. It was weird. David always cared too much.

“Hey, Max,” David said, “before you leave, can we- uh, have a talk? Just you and me.”

Max paused, shrugged, and turned around to tell Nikki and Neil to wait for him in the car, only to see that they already left without him. Typical.

“Alright,” he said. “But soon we’re going to be ridiculously late instead of fashionably late, so make it quick.”

David fidgeted. He stuck his hands in his pockets, took them out, rested them on his hips before he rethought that and crossed his arms instead.

“You gonna talk anytime soon?” Max asked.

“Uh, yeah.” David cleared his throat. “Well, to start off, I just wanna tell you- you know I love you, right, Max? You’re- you’re family, to me. To Gwen too. And you always will be.”

Max’s eyes darted around, looking anywhere but David’s face. He settled them on the ground when it felt like moving them anymore would dislodge the tears.

“Yeah,” he said, voice rough. “I- yeah, I think I know. And- you’re, uh, you’re not half-bad, I guess.” He brought a fist up to his mouth and coughed. It didn’t help much.

David nodded affirmatively. “Right. Right. And I know you just graduated, and you’re already eighteen, but—I’ve been talking about this with Gwen, she says it’s a good idea—actually she said it would’ve been a good idea years ago, but I didn’t think you’d have been open to it then-”

“What are you saying, David?” Max asked.

“What I’m saying,” David said, “is that if you’d like, I would, uh- I want to adopt you. Officially.”

For a few seconds, Max didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. And when he opened his mouth to try and say something, all that came out was a croak.

Keeping his eyes from moving didn’t help in the end. Tears fell. He brought up an arm to roughly rub them away, and it caught on his nose too, covering his sleeve in snot. His dress shirt was probably ruined.

“I- I mean, it’s just an option,” David said nervously. “If you don’t like the idea, that’s- that’s fine, you’re family regardless, it’s your choi-”

“Shut up, David,” Max managed to say through the tears. “God, I’m just about to go to a party, why’d you have to bring this up now? Should’ve- should’ve waited until I got back home, when there weren’t other people around.” He sniffed.

“Sooooo,” David said, “is that a... yes? No?”

“You’re so fucking stupid,” Max said. “It’s a- okay, fine, I don’t care, adopt me or whatever, let’s just- talk about this later.”

“It sure looks like you care,” David pointed out.

“Go away, David,” Max said, without any real heat. “I’ll see you tomorrow. You can talk more about- about this then. Okay?”

David smiled. It was a bit different from his usual blinding grins, but no less brighter for it.

“Alright, Max.”

Max turned around and walked briskly to the car where his friends were waiting, ready to burn his graduation robes to make room for the future.

+1

David set the last of the boxes on the floor and wiped his hands on his pants.

“Well, I think that’s the last of them,” he said.

Max looked around at his college dorm room and nodded. It was fairly empty, but it wouldn’t be for long. He had a lot of shit to unpack. Hopefully his roommate wouldn’t mind.

Together, Max and David started the climb back down to the car.

“So,” David said, “what were you planning on majoring in? Do you have any plans for your career?”

A couple years ago, Max would’ve gotten broody and silent at questions like that, not being able to imagine a time where he’d actually go to college and have goals. He’d gotten better at that kind of thing, though.

“I don’t really have a specific major yet,” Max said, “but, uh, I actually kind of wanted to become a teacher.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs. David looked a bit surprised.

“Really?” he asked. “I didn’t think you’d like being around kids so much. You always acted more like Gwen whenever you came to help out at Camp Campbell.”

Max shrugged, put his hands in his jeans. “Yeah, well, I just kind of thought- when I was a kid, I wasn’t really subtle, you know? I mean. In retrospect, it was pretty obvious that my home life was kind of not great. And I was kinda thinking- I don’t hate kids, they can be pretty cool, and teachers are, like, taught signs of abuse in kids, but most of them don’t want to believe it actually happens so they either just don’t recognize it for what it is or they make rationalizations and the kid just keeps on living with their shitty family. So I thought- hey, I know what it can look like, I know how it can be—not for all of them, there’s different kinds of- you know—but.”

Max took a deep breath, not realizing until he stopped how much he needed air.

“Uh, yeah,” he said awkwardly. “That’s what I’m planning right now.”

David was smiling at him. He always smiled. For some reason, it wasn’t as annoying as it used to be, when he was six and miserable.

“Max,” David said. He hesitated, then grabbed Max in a full body hug.

“Max, I am so proud of you.”

It took barely a second for Max to return the hug. He pressed his face in David’s shoulder, not wanting to be seen crying. It was stupid for him to cry. David always said he was proud of Max, and he was pretty free with hugs, too. This shouldn’t have been any different.

But ever since David adopted him it felt like tears came easier. Max didn’t know if he cared much for that side effect.

Eventually, David let go, pretending not to notice Max vigorously wiping his face.

“Well,” he said, “guess I should probably leave you to unpack, huh? I’m sure if I stayed and hassled you any longer you’d just start telling me to go away.” David laughed like it was a joke.

“Uh, wait,” Max said. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, widened his stance like he was ready for a fight. In his mind, it kind of was.

“I know I never really, uh, say anything,” he said, “but I need to make sure- like, I know I usually come across as- not caring, or apathetic, or- hostile, but I-”

His eyes pricked. He was about to cry again. This just has to happen every time he tries to express any sort of strong positive emotion.

“I love you, and you’ve done so much for me, even when I hated you—or acted like I hated you, I don’t know—and you just. You mean a lot to me, Dad.”

In front of him, David was bawling. There would be no end to it for the next few hours, at least, but Max only had himself to blame.

He braced himself for one more comment.

“If you want,” he said, “you can stay for a bit longer, help me unpack my stuff. You don’t have to leave yet.”

Twelve years after they first met, David stepped forward to join Max.

[moonie-here]

Shaken to the Core-Chapter 1

Fandom: Thomas Sanders/Sander Sides

Summery: Logan and Roman make a mistake with deadly consequences. Can Patton right their wrong before Virgil is gone forever?

Warnings: Angst. Crying. Non-descriptive body horror. General sad feeling. Slight physical fighting.

Pairings: Platonic Moxiety

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13874427

{°°°}

The cracks first appeared he was alone.

Virgil was sitting on his bed drawing and listening to My Chemical Romance when he felt it.

It was as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to his ribs and mercilessly beating him with it. A scream of pain wracked it’s way up his throat, but was muffled by the sleeve of his hoodie as he threw his hand over his mouth.

Oh god oh god ohgodohgodohgod.

He crawled off of his bed over to the mirror on his wall, small sobs coming from his lips  even with his hand over his mouth as he worked his way over slowly to the mirror.

He took a minute to gain focus and work past the pain before yanking his hoodie off and lifting up his shirt.

When he saw what was there a much louder sob pushed from between his lips.

Cracks.

Starting at his left hip slowly working their way up his abdomen and onto his chest. Something that looked like oil and blood dripped slowly from the newly formed crevices in his skin. Bruises were forming around the edges in shades of black, blue and yellow.

He let his shirt slip from his fingers and sat back on his knees. He finally caught his own reflections eye in the mirror. His makeup was smeared down his red puffy cheeks and exposed the heavy, purple bags under his eyes. His hair was messy from where he had grabbed his head in a state of panic. He looked like shit. He felt like it too.

“So this is how I go huh?” He whispered to the empty room.

...

“Not surprised.”

{°°°}

He figured out pretty quickly what was happening. Patton would avoid eye contact, Roman didn't talk to him and Logan would freeze every time he entered the room.

They didn't tell him. He didn't expect them to. It was supposed to be a secret between the three of them anyway. Why make it awkward?

Oh hey, by the way, I totally know you got Thomas is to take anxiety medication. Yeah, also it's totally gonna kill me. Anyway how's your day been?

Not happening.

Whenever he felt the cracks worsen he simply shut himself in his bathroom for as long as it took for it to stop and to clean himself up. The blood-oil stuff was a mess to clean up so he stopped trying to clean the bathroom after every “attack”. It was gross but at this point he didn't care. He was dying after all.

This happened consistently for a week before it really got worse. The cracks spread rapidly and Virgil spent most of his time in his bathroom, which was now covered in a layer of black sludge. He left only if he knew nothing was going to happen, which was almost never at this point. And despite the fact that Pat had tried to talk to him consistently over the last two weeks he felt...so alone.

{°°°}

Patton missed Virgil. Ever since Logan came to him and Roman with the idea of medication he felt...iky. Roman had been on board right away but Patton wanted to ask Virgil about it and the others wouldn't let him.

He felt wrong. Virgil was his best friend and he hated lying. He had rarely seen Virgil since this entire thing started and when he did Virgil looked on the brink of death. It had been two weeks since they had they had a proper conversation and oh, he just wanted to hug his son right now. He wanted to help Virge with whatever was going on and see if the pills had done anything bad.

Patton was curled up in his bed debating on going to tell Virgil what was going on. He’d tried to check on the other side before but Virge had always turned him away saying “I’m fine,” or “I’m just tired.”

In fact Patton was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he only snapped out when a violent, hysterical scream pierced through the tense air of the mind scape.

He shot straight up, throwing his quilt and several stuffed animals off of his bed. He swung his door open and rushed into the hall looking around widely until another scream pierced it's way into his brain.

His stomach sank.

The scream came from Virgil’s room.

{°°°}

Virgil felt it coming. After about two weeks he could feel it before it hit, like someone would just start slowly squeezing his kidney until pain took over his entire body. The cracks almost covered his body now. Up to his collarbone, forearms and ankles.

This one was different though. He could tell. His stomach twisted differently and his hands shook more than usual. The throbbing all over his body was more intense as well.

This was gonna be the last one.He felt tears gather in the corner of his eyes as he walked shakily from the bathroom to the desk in his room. He didn't want to sit down but his legs were giving out.

He slumped into the chair and pulled out a new sheet of lined paper and his favorite pen. He couldn't figure out what to write to the others. He wanted to say goodbye but he wasn't good at all this mushy stuff.

Fuck it.

He poured out everything he was thinking onto the paper until he had to flip it over for more room. Halfway down the second side the pain hit full force.

He tried to push up to make it to the bathroom but ended up falling onto the the floor, chair toppling right alongside him.

The pain was so much at once. It tore through him. Literally. He couldn't breath, he could barely think. He wanted it to end.

Make it stop oh god oh god please helpme helpme helpme i should have told them i dont wanna die please stop it it hurts

Tears ran down his face as he curled into a ball. He clenched his jacket’s sleeves looking for some release but all he felt was his fingers cracking and slipping on the weird sludge that was now soaking the fabric. He felt a scream claw its way up his throat.

…

Hands.

Hands were on him. Pulling his own fingers from where he clenched the hoodie till it tore. Someone was crying and holding him. Pushing his bangs from his forehead, as he felt tears land on his face. The person was singing to him with shuddering breaths. He wish he knew who it was. He couldn't sort out any real thought and his body was thrashing out of his control, jerking violently in every direction.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear how much i’ll love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.

Patton?

Virgil open his mouth to talk, only to start hacking up black sludge. The taste of mud and iron worked its way up his throat and passed his lips. I can't breathe!

The coughing, pain and cracking went on for what felt like hours. The presence of two others appeared by his side only to be pushed back by what he assumed was Patton. It took all of his strength but he managed to pull his eyelids apart. He locked eyes with Pat.

“V-virgil? Kiddo-o you with-th me?”

“Virgil, what caused this?” Virgil’s eyes flickered towards the voice even when his body jerked away, curling further into Patton’s arms.

“Not now Logan.” He looked back at Patton who was glaring at who he gathered was the logical side. Patton looked…. Scary. His eyes were red and watery but looked as if they were shooting daggers to kill someone. His entire face a bright pink in the non-blushy way. Sadness? Anger? This wasn't Pat.

He coughed again and all attention was back on him. He whimpered “P-patn?”

“Im here kiddo. Im right here…”

“Hurts...make it stop?”

He felt fingers run through his hair. “Yeah I know kiddo. I’m not sure I can make it stop, but i'm damn well gonna try.”

“I-I think ima die?”

The hand froze and three people sucked in at the same time.

“No. You're not gonna die Virgil. You're my best friend and im not letting you die.”

“I can feel it… I don't wanna die Pat.” His fists worked their way into his polo. “Don't let me die.”

Tears. Everything was blurry as tears ushered down his cheeks making tracks through the black goop that strained his face. He let loose a few strangled gasps as he felt himself crumble.

“NO! COME ON VIRGIL PLEASE! I-I cant l-loose you…”

“M’sorry Pat….”

{°°°}

Patton’s arms were empty now. They had been for an hour. At least what he thought was an hour. He didn't know anymore. He didn't care. His best friend died in his arms and he did nothing but cry.

When Virgil passed it was messy. A mix of dust and black sludge were pooled around him staining everything it touched. The only thing left was Virgil’s hoodie, which Patton had clutched in his closed fists. Logan and Roman were still standing in the doorway where Patton had kept them. He still didn't let them close. When Patton finally moved from his kneeling position, two hours and thirty-seven minutes later, he fell onto the edge of Virgil’s bed smearing black onto the mussed up sheets.

Logan spoke, breaking the silence. “Patton. We... we should clean this up.”

Pat looked up at him from the hoodie in his grip. Mouth opening and closing a few times before he found his voice. “No.”

“Pat this is hard for all if us but surely we cant-” Roman was cut of when a fist connected with the side of his face.

“Patton!” Logan yelled as Princey fell to the floor with a thud.

“NO LOGAN…” He yelled spinning to face the logical trait, and grabbing by his collar. “MY BEST FRIEND JUST DIED IN MY ARMS AND YOU BOTH ACT LIKE IT’S NOTHING!” He spat it out as if it was the most disgusting thing ever to touch his tongue.

Tears threatened to spill from Patton's eyes as he stared Logan down.

“He’s gone…

And it’s because of his own family….”

Pat let go of his shirt, arms swinging to his sides. A sob broke through his lips as he sank to the floor once more, curling up into a tight ball. His whole body shook as he cried loudly into Virgil’s hoodie.

Roman looked on in disbelief. Patton hadn't cried like this ever...not even when Thomas got dumped.

Bile rose in his own throat as he looked over the moral side. He threw his hand over his mouth in order to keep it down. Tears spilled down his own cheeks as he looked up at Logan.

His eyes widened when he saw red blotchy cheeks and shaking shoulders.

“What did we do?” He heard Logan whisper.

“Oh god what did we do…?”

@pattson @anxious-ball-of-sunshine @my-happy-little-bean @ironwoman359 @mirror2thespirit @shadow-walker-1201 @thecrimsoncodex (suffer with me)

[kpopisthereasonihavenolife]

Captured

Ooooh, I like this AU.  Very interesting to think about and write for!  Thanks for the fun request, I hope it lives up to your expectations and was (at least some what) what you were looking for!! <3 I also didn’t know if I wanted to make this a multiple chapter thing, but in the end I just made it one long one-shot.  It’s lengthy, but do enjoy the long request!  I’m actually pretty happy with it turned out so I hope you are too!! 

P.S. I can’t name stories for shit. It may change, it may not, who knows. 

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

GOT7 ft. Monsta X

Jaebum/Reader AU

Genre: Drama, Lil Angst, Fluff and, Uh-oh, some cursing too (just saying)

Words: 8.4k (dear lord)

Kidnapped [captured]: verb: to take (someone) away illegally by force, typically to obtain a ransom.

“I’ve already told you Changkyun, I work today.”  You spoke into the your small cell phone as you pressed it to your cheek with your shoulder as your hands worked on gathering the rest of your things to put into your small plaid purse.

“That is no excuse.  You could always call in and actually come out with us today.  Nothing wrong with playing a little hookie you know.”  You rolled your eyes as your young friend spoke back into the other end of the cellular conversation.  

“No means no, Im Changkyun.”  You chuckled at the childish whine that you receive as a response.  See, today Changkyun wanted to take you out with the rest of his friends, whom you were also close to because today was a special day.  Today was your birthday.  You were turning 23 today and you were stuck working.  Where you may ask? Well, none other than a boring old bank.  

Honestly, you didn’t mind the work, but doing it day after day, just like with most jobs, it gets boring pretty fast.  Accounting and working with numbers was something you had a skill for, which is how you landed this job in the first place and you couldn’t really complain about the pay, but in all honesty you wish you could get out of work today.

You had finished stuffing your purse with your wallet, some over the counter pain medication for your inevitable headache later, a small bag of bobby pins and hair ties in case the bank decided that in the dead of summer A/C wasn’t a thing that was going to happen and finally a small package of hand tissues and bandages of both large, medium and small variety.  You never know when you might need them and you’d rather be safe than sorry later.  

“Listen,” you set your purse on your small table by your apartment door and walked back to your room to change into your work clothes. “I’m off tomorrow, so all that’s happening is us pushing off plans by a measly day.”  

“That doesn’t change the fact I wanted to do it today.”  

“Yeah?  Well if memory serves, you wanted to go out to a movie and then probably go all out at a buffet didn't you?  It’s always busy in both of those places on a Saturday.  Going tomorrow would be better, it’s most people’s lazy days before a new week.  It’ll work out.”  

“No. No, see, that’s just it.  Sunday is the lazy day.  It’s hard enough getting Hyungwon out of bed on a normal day.  You don’t realize how the chore drastically increases in difficulty on Sunday’s that when we have literally nothing to do.” 

“Oh, it can’t be that bad.”  

“Y/N, we draw straws to decide who’s going to wake him up.”  You suck in a breath between your teeth as you slip on a pair of black slacks that buckle around your waist and tuck your white, collared, button up shirt into them.

“Wow, that bad huh?”  

“Don’t leave us hanging Y/N!!!!”  You scoffed at his whine again.  You pushed your bangs out of your eyes and grabbed your black cropped blazer before you left your room, not yet putting it on.  You set it in a heep next to your purse as you pull you hair back and loop a hair tie around it, pulling it into a bun to keep the hair off your neck.

“I’m sorry, but I need to go.  I’ll listen to you complain later.  I’m going to be late if I keep talking to you.”  You heard him dramatically feign a wounded noise as he wept into the phone, as he tends to do when he finally realizes what he wants to do, isn’t going to happen.  

“Uugghhh, fine.  You’re so buying me food to make up for this later.”  You grabbed your phone with one of your hands and swapped ears for a moment, straightening your neck and relaxing your shoulder finally.  

“Yeah yeah, send your orders in later.  I’ll pick something up after work.  Ask the boys what they want to and I’ll buy for them too.”  You rolled your eyes as you heard your friend cheer.  Funny how you were buying people food on your birthday.  

“Thanks Y/N, you’re the best old person I know!”

“YAH!”  He laughed at your sound of annoyance.  You weren’t that much older than him.  He wasn’t so young compared to you anyways.  

“See you later then. Happy birthday.”  You smiled as you huffed out a breath through your nose.  

“Thanks Kyun.  Later.”  You pulled the phone away as you ended the call and dropped your phone in your purse. Grabbing it, your keys to your car and throwing your blazer over your arm, not going to put it on, you left your apartment, locked the door and sped down the halls to the elevator of the 3rd floor to the parking lot before you plopped in your car.  Tossing everything into the passenger seat, you inserted your keys and the car revived to life with the turn of your wrist and before you knew it you were on your way.  

As you drove, you heard on one of the new stations about another recent convenience store robbery.  This is the third one this week.  Either multiple groups are striking at once to confuse the authorities, or someone is just clever enough to do all three and not get caught with so much activity going on.  Honestly, you didn’t really find it too concerning or interesting.  

Robberies are pretty common, unfortunately, and so long as there were no injuries or deaths, you wouldn’t find the time to really worry.  Sure, it’d suck pretty hard for the people who have to deal with broken windows and doors and have to figure out how to replace what was stolen, not to mention the cash that was left in the register, but none of that was really your business.  Call yourself cold-hearted, but if you had nothing to do with it, you wouldn’t dwell to long on the problem.

So, when you pulled into the large, over cramped parking lot of your bank, into the space that is reserved for employees, specifically you, you never expected to have anything other than another boring day tick on by.  

You entered the building, now slipping on your blazer, politely greeting coworkers you met eye contact with as you glanced at the watch on the inside of your wrist.

9:56 AM.  Just barely made it before your 10 AM shift, but even barely is making it.  You’ll just blame it on the, probably still sulking, Changkyun as he sat bored at home.  You slid into your window as you hung your purse on the hook you had placed on the inside of your window, just out of sight.  You turned your computer on as you pulled your keyboard out and opened all your documents and programs before officially opening your window to help those in need of managing their money.

By the time 10:47 AM hit, you had only dealt with a whining middle aged woman who was acting like switching money from checking to savings was the end of the world, an elderly man who was wanted to withdraw money for his niece’s graduation and a mother with her teenage son who wanted to open an account of his own.  It wasn’t too much, but it already made you feel tired.  Your shift lasted until closing today, since you had to cram for the day off tomorrow, so for the next nearly 8 hours, you’d be stuck in this chair unless you had the chance to get up and pee.  

It was almost a quarter past 11 when you decided leave your window for a moment, placing a ‘Be right with you’ sign on the desktop so you could go grab a mug of coffee.  You had brought in one of your mugs when you found out there was a coffee pot in the back lounge and whether you were a coffee drinker or not, anyone would grit through the taste of it to make it through this dreadful shift.

On your way back to your window, you spotted someone in the lobby, a man to be precise.  He had a baseball cap on his head, black with no logo or anything, just plain with an long tail on the back of it to adjust the fit as it bumped against his back with each turn of his head and a black mask covering his nose and mouth.  It wasn’t uncommon for them after all, it was summer and the cap would shield their eyes and the mask would keep out dust and pollen; well to some extent.  He wore a grey tank top that hung loosely from his body under a gray cardigan and his black skinny jeans had the knees torn out.  His sense of fashion was pretty good, whoever he was, you had to admit, but he seemed off.  He just kept fiddling with his phone, looking at it every so often as if he was lost.

So, with coffee still in hand, your slightly heeled shoes stepped against the hard floors over to him to see if he needed any help with anything.  You walked up beside him and looked under the bill of his cap to try and make sure he knew you were going to address him.

“Excuse me, sir?”  He jumped a bit.  Now closer, you noticed the hair that peeked out from under his cap and down his sideburns were bleached.  His eyes appeared to be brown, but it was tough to make out under the shade of the cap’s bill, even in the lit up bank lobby, along with all the large windows around.  “Do you need help with anything?”

He shook his head and cleared his throat.  

“No, uh, I’m just waiting on a couple friends.”  You opened your mouth as you understood.  Maybe a friend of his is going to take out money to have a night out, or maybe they’d just chosen this spot as a meeting place.  Whatever, the reason, you obviously weren’t needed here.  

“Ah, I understand.  Sorry to disturb you.”  It was when you were ready to leave the man, that the wooden doors to the bank slammed open and multiple rounds of gunfire were shot off, leading the entire vicinity into a panic. You also felt panic well in your chest as you turned to see where the fires came from, but before you could get anywhere your legs were kicked out from under you, and you were forced to the grown.

You mug was dropped and shattered as the hot contents of caffeine was spilled next to you and the man you had just spoken to held your arms behind your back as your chest was pushed painfully onto the hard floors.  You felt your blazer being ripped off your form as the man above and behind you pried it off and placed it over the glass of the shattered mug to avoid him stepping on it and then to into the liquid were he would leave liquefied shoe prints that could dry and be used to track him later.  

Lifting your head, the best you could from your pinned state, you saw the visitors and innocent civilians on the ground as two different men went and bound their wrists with zip ties, just in case someone wanted to try and play hero and do something stupid.  Looking around more, there were 5 men in the room, with the man on your back in the mix, there were 6.  All dressed in seemingly normal clothes, but all shielded faces and caps hiding their hair.

Their guns didn’t seem to be anything too extreme like what you would see in a dramatic bank robbery movie.  There were no M-16s, no semi-automatic rifles, no machine guns, just simple pistols and a couple with shotguns.  However, you weren’t going to judge them, if it shot and the bullet hit the intended target, pretty much any gun will do the trick. You were pulled out of your though process as one of the other men shouted at the man on you back.

“What!”  He shouted back as you turned your head.  The man was standing by your window that was vacant, before moving inside and rummaging around on your computer. Luckily all the important information was locked via passwords that changed on a daily, but just as you were thinking it, you felt yourself being pulled backwards onto your knees then lifted harshly to your feet.  

With the man holding your arms behind you, he shoved you towards your window, then behind it and finally down into your chair before he gestured towards the screen.  You knew what he was implying, ‘get into the accounts and get the information we want.’  You caught the glint of the pistol of the man in the corner of your eye as he pulled it from his waistband at his back and you’d really not push your luck.  

Honestly, if you could, you’d deny any order given to you like a trouper if you were alone, but here there were too many people and you couldn’t make yourself the culprit as to why one or multiple of them could get hurt or even killed if you didn't listen.  So, with quaking fingers, you followed the orders of the second man who stood behind you, pointing out everything he wanted to see.  

Codes to safes, information to the accounts of the more fruitful names that were well known, the amount of money stored in the bank’s safe in the back of the store and surprisingly enough a map of the area.  You figured the map would be so they could completely finalize their escape route, what with the authorities on their way from someone cleverly acting on that panic button under their desk before being pried away from it when this all began.  

When all the information and codes you knew were out in the open to the criminals, the one who had you previously pinned on the floor, zip tied your hands together and also put another zip tie through the belt loop of your high-waist slacks and your hand zip tie and kept your hands in place in your lap.  Again, you could try your chances and run since you weren’t actually tied down to anything and no one was holding you, but you’d rather not chance a bullet to the back of your head acting like a panic stricken fawn.

While you sat put with the second man from before watching over you, he noticed a wire running behind your ear and down into your shirt.  What he was looking at was a communication wire used for your bank, since the building was large.  Not, wanting to chance the idea of someone hacking into it to try and give you a way out, he began working on removing it.  The sudden touch of him around your ear and then suddenly gripping your shirt only to unbutton it and remove the wire, startled you to the point, you jumped.  

Everything happened in one go.  Your body reacted to it being exposed to this strange criminal and in shock, your body jolted.  As it did so, the back of your head collided with the face of the man, and was enough of an impact to make his mask slip.  His back was to the mass of people, so your eyes were the only pair of eyes that saw how his mask fell from one of his ears and revealed his face.  You two stared at each other before he hurried, fixed his mask and got a call from the back that they were ready to bolt.

You let out a silent huff, ready for this all to be over, but oh no, the universe wasn’t done fucking over your day.  As the man’s face was covered back up and his cue to skedaddle was clear, you felt him harshly yank up on your bicep and drag you with him.  Next thing you knew, you were listening to 6 voices all shouting in your direction, or rather the strange man’s direction, and you were thrown into a van that was in a hidden alley away from the press and media covering the robbery.  

“The hell?!  Who’s this?!”  A deep voice asked as the one who had thrown you in, slammed the doors and the van began to move.  Your, still restrained, body rolled and moved to the sudden driving and moving as you looked back and forth.  The man whose face you saw, removed his mask again, now in a safer environment.  

“The damn woman saw my face.  I can’t just let that go!”  As two of them bickered, one looked at you as he reached to pull you forward a bit and just as he saw the fear and panic in your eyes, it all blanked out as your consciousness faded with a harsh force on the back of your neck.  Now, with your reality distorting and the sounds of tires screeching and men bickering you let a final thought cross your mind.

What a shitty birthday.

When your mind started to fuzzily return to normal, you couldn’t bring yourself to pry your eyes open, and the ringing in your ears finally cleared out for you to hear arguing.  Much like the arguing from before you lost track of everything.

“You stole a fucking woman!”  This voice didn’t sound like any of the ones you heard echoing in the bank before hand.  It sounded new, and almost like it held a sort of superiority, it was like the harsh voice of a leader.  “I stay behind to cover our tracks, so that you don’t get your asses caught, but now you decide to grab a fucking person and bring them back with you?!”  

“It was Bam who did it!  He just grabbed her and threw her in with us!”  That was the voice of the man who had you pinned in the very beginning of this shitty story.  

“Shut up Jackson, no one asked for your imput.  You would’ve done the same thing if she saw your face you know!”

“I wouldn’t have fucked up enough to let her see my face, so this wouldn’t even be happening!  You know, the whole purpose of a mask is to hide your face so it doesn’t get seen.”

“Both of you shut the hell up!  I don’t care who did what or why it happened, now I have to deal with this problem along side the issue of throwing the cops for another goose chase, so you goons don’t get us located.”  The voice of the assumed leader of your group of kidnappers sighed as there was silence.  Then he spoke up again.  

“Youngjae, work on the computers.  Track where the cops are and make sure they don't find a trail.  As the computer wizz, I’ll expect you not to screw up.”  

“Right on.”  You heard a pair of feet fade off as it was silent a bit longer and soon your body involuntarily twitched, and it didn’t go unnoticed.  Feeling someone come closer to your body, you decided it was now or never, as you slowly cracked your eyes open to come face to face to a man who was kneeled down to your level.  

“Oh, hey, she’s awake now.”  He didn’t look away from you, or really speak loud to really announce it, but it was heard anyway as the remaining sets of eyes were now on you and your groggy state.  The man staring at you looked over his shoulder for a moment before he stood and moved away from you.  He was taller than you expected, but that thought was short lived as a new face was now in your view.

A man that seemed to be no older than yourself was staring at you.  Hair cut short, but moved out of his eyes enough to revealed two moles over his left eye that one could almost mistake for a piercing on his eyelid.  His face was slim as it was emotionless, looking you over just as you were him.  Even in this situation, as much as you hated to admit it, he was handsome.  If your mind wasn’t so dazed, you probably would have sneered at the man, but all you could do is just stare at him.  

He grabbed your arms and pushed you from you lying position to one where you back was rested up against the back of the presumed couch you were on and your legs hung over the edge of the cushions, you hands still bound to your waist.  Your hair, that still remained tied just barely in the bun from, whenever it was since you hadn’t known how long you had been out, had strands of all sizes and lengths falling from it.  Strands fell over your forehead, the sides of your face, and around the nape of your neck.  Given any other situation than the one you found yourself in currently, it probably would have seemed fairly attractive.

The man hooked his finger under your chin, using his thumb just below your lips, to move your head around, looking at you.  You slightly smeared eyeliner combined with the heavy stress filled bags under your eyes did nothing to your appearance and your lips had become dry from the lack of running your tongue around them on occasion. You found a bit of strength in you to jerk your head away from his grasp, chin slipping from his fingers as you glared at him.  He looked at you, surprised for a moment before dropping his hand and smirking at you.

“Ah, I see you’re finally coming around then darling?” His voice was slick, but beneath the dark undertone it held, it was almost as attractive as he was.  

“What’s it to you?” You had sneered back through your teeth and furrowed brows.  You took the time the man in front of you took to stand up and then place himself next to you on the couch, to look around.  You found yourself in wide open, nearly empty concrete building.  Looking up, there appeared to be a second floor that was divided visible from the second, only a railing running around the rectangular perimeter of the second story floor to make sure no one walked right off.  It was like an abandoned warehouse, or old state penitentiary that you’d see online for ghost tours.

The windows, or rather lack-thereof, were very few, you could count only a few on one hand all on the top story.  You deemed that perhaps most of the building was underground.  Of course there were individual rooms on both floors, small trinkets scattered around here and there, a space used as a kitchen and a decent television. You wouldn’t call it a 5-star stay, but it’s enough for someone to definitely live there, and undetected to boot.  

“Well sweetheart,” you were brought back with the man next to you started speaking to you.  You turned to look at him as he spoke, but he just kept his head down as he rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes.  He was clearly still annoyed.  “Looks like you have two options.”  He held out the hand closest to you and held up two of his fingers.  

“One, you run and try to rat us out, meaning you get to be pressed under social media scrutiny after being ‘kidnapped’, questioned non-stop, have all attention on you and help get us arrested, by the time you show up we’ll be gone and you’ll be known as the woman who cried wolf.”  He lowered one finger, leaving you silently dreading knowing what the other option will be.  

“Or, you could stick around and pitch in.”  You’d be crazy to stick around, especially with this lunatic, but the first option didn’t sound any better.  You watched as he lowered his hand all together and gave you a moment to think it over.  One might thing a life of living as someone who claimed something true, but to the rest of the world it’s a giant lie would be better than dealing with a gang of thieves, but your mind was thinking the opposite.  

Call you crazy, but as shitty as this situation was, and how stressful it had been, a part of you wanted to keep living the life he may or may not seriously be offering you.  You’re day of working boring power shifts behind a window would disappear, but a new life of constant hiding and a hushed life would be at your fingertips.  However, you’d also lose your friends, you’d lose your best friend, Changkyun.  

There wasn’t an easy answer to this, but you were leaning towards the option of staying around, but…

“I’ll make my decision, under one condition.”  You spoke to the man next to you, making him open his eyes and glance at you.  “If I can make a call and call just one person, just to let them know I’m okay, I’ll stay.”  The man raised his brow.  That could be risky for someone in his position, so you added on to your condition.  “I’ll let you listen in, you’ll be right next to me as I talk so I won’t try anything funny.  Just one call, please.” You couldn’t live with yourself if you went the rest of your, perhaps shortened, life without at least talking to Kyun one more time.  

The man waiting a moment before he sighed and reached into pocket of his dark jeans and lazily pulled his phone from it.  

“Cut her ties,” he simply ordered on of the men around.  Not arguing with him, one man came and cut your zip tied hands as well as the zip on your slacks.  Looking at the eyes, it was the same man who had you pinned to the ground at the bank. You clicked your tongue and without thinking slammed the toes of your heels into his shin.  He hissed as he dropped his knife and glared are you.  

“That’s for pinning me down before.  Asshole.”  The man next to you laughed.

“Forgive Jackson, he was doing his job.”  You rubbed your, now free, wrists.    

“Yeah, well he’s heavy.  Not to mention just laying on your chest as a woman hurts like hell, not to mention having my boobs pushed on the hard floor with a man on my back.  Criminal or not, have some tact.”  You hissed.  Jackson opened his mouth to protest, but just sighed and shook his head.  He wasn’t even going to go there as you silently applauded his choice to just shut up.

“I think she’ll fit in just fine with that attitude.”  The man the ground on the opposite side of you looked up at you spoke with a smirk.  

“And you are?”  You rose your brow.  You’d might as well learn names at this point.  You’re too deep in now.  

“Yugyeom.” The man next to you who fiddled with his phone answered for him.  “The guy on the ground is Yugyeom.  Jackson your familiar with.  Bambam was the one whose mask you managed to screw up; and also the one who decided to bring you here.  Youngjae is up on the second floor in our tech room handling some business. Mark’s not here right now, you’ll have your introductions later.  Jinyoung is handling repairs for our firearms, so you’ll get acquainted with him later as well.”  

“Alright, and now who are you?”  He smirked as he held his phone by one of the corners and slung his wrist to offer the phone to you.  

“Jaebum.  JB is just fine.”  You rose your brow before you took the phone.  You sighed as you started the process of just accepting anything and everything from this point on.  “Now it’s your turn for your name, or if you want we can just continue with the pet names darling.”  You rolled your eyes in annoyance.  Were all criminals this way, or just this particular group?

“Y/N, a pleasure.”  You spoke with a huff.  

“I’m sure.”  You rolled your eyes again looked at his phone then up at your audience.  

“Alright, I know I agreed for someone to sit in on my conversation with one one call, but I don’t need the happy hungry bunch as an audience.”  JB chuckled as he rose from his place on the couch and grabbed your bicep, pulling you up.  

“Well go to the roof, better signal and no audience.  Happy?”  You just scoffed as he pulled you along with him, leaving the rest of the group to do their own thing and probably discuss your sudden membership.

On the roof, it was just turning dusk you had opened JB’s dial pad, noticing the date was the same as your birthday still on his lock screen, and entered in Changkyun’s number, happy that you took the time to memorize it.  As it rang and you placed it to your ear, you hoped he’d pick up an unknown number. Thankfully, he did.  

“Hello?��  

“Changkyun?”  You head the sound of scuffling on his end as you assumed he was lying down previously before bolting up.

“Holy shit, Y/N!  Where are you?  What happened?  Are you okay?!”  You chuckled lightly as his concern.  You’d be a bit frightened if he wasn’t a bit worried for you.  

“I’m okay, I promise.  A lot has happened since the incident at work.”  You sighed.  

“No shit Sherlock, I texted you and you never answered, next thing I know Hoseok is shoving a news article of a bank robbery at your work and you’re the one employee who went missing!  I’ve been going crazy here!”

“I’m sorry Kyun, I am.” You sighed again.  “I can’t tell you much, but I don’t think we’ll be able to celebrate my birthday today, or tomorrow, or really again.”  JB behind you picked up on your conversation a bit.

“The hell does that mean?”  

“Kyun, I’m not coming back home.  I can’t anymore.”

“You’re not making sense Y/N.”

“I know, I know I’m not..just,” you ran you hand over your face, “something happened and I can’t go back.  I don’t even know if I’ll get to talk to you again.” You felt yourself start to choke up slightly.  Telling your best friend goodbye hurt like hell.  

“No, what?  You can’t just decide that by yourself!”  

“You think I wanted to do this?  I have no choice Kyun!”  He sighed as he heard the slight crack in your voice.  

“Are you really going?”  You could only nod, but he could hear the movement of your head against the phone speaker.  “Is someone there with you?” You looked slightly behind you at JB who stood with his hands tucked into his pants pockets. 

“..Yeah.”  You spoke softly.  

“Alright, can I talk to them?”  You blinked confused at his request as you turned to JB and brought the phone away from your ear slightly.

“He.. he asked if he could talk to you?” He raised his brow slightly and dug out on of his hands, walking to you and slowly grabbing the phone from you.  He took a few steps away from you before he started speaking.

“You wanted me?”  JB’s voice was monotone as he heard Changkyun on the other side.

“I don’t know what you did to make her stay, but if she chose this on her own, you better make sure I don’t ever see her on the news being arrested or worse her body being carried away by a god damn stretcher, you hear me?” JB looked back to you, seeing how your arms crossed over your chest and you held your arms, shifting in your stance, clearly try to distract yourself from letting go of your best friend.  

“Of course.  I’ll keep her under my constant watch.”

“Oh, and you so owe her.  You and your friends happened to kidnap her on her birthday, jerks.”  JB scoffed lightly.  

“I’ll think of something.”  He looked at our briefly again as you were now fiddling with removing your shoes, sick and tired of the aching in your feet.  He whispered into the phone, while you were distracted.  “I’ll have her contact you in the future.  I’d feel pretty bad if I took everything from her away.  Just don’t give her, or us away, understood?”  

“Wow, that’s pretty sympathetic coming from the bad guy.”  

“We have a good points to.”  With that JB walked back to you as you had kicked off your second shoe and handed the phone back to you.  “Finish up quickly.  It’s getting dark.” You nodded as you took the phone back and continued with a short conversation with Kyun.  

“Just, promise me you’ll stay safe. I’ll really miss you Y/N.”  You smiled at his words.  

“I know, I will.  I’ll miss you too.  Don’t cause any trouble for the guys either.”

“I’m the youngest, I live to cause trouble.”  You chuckled at him.  “Hey Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Happy birthday.”  You felt your eyes sting as this would be the last time you would hear him say this to you.  You took a breath and looked at the darkening sky, keeping your tears in your eyes.

“Thank you Kyun. I guess, goodbye then.”  He cleared his throat on the other end of the phone as you started to hear the voices of the other guys.  

“Yeah. Later girl.”  The last thing you heard of him was someone asking who he was talking you, and him replying that it was ‘nothing important’ before the line went dead.  You pulled the phone from your ear and watched as the screen of the phone called showed the duration of the call before it returned to the standard keypad.  

Just like that, Changkyun was gone.  Your chest felt heavy as you felt something messing with your head.  You went to turn to see what it was, but were stopped when a pair of hands held it in place.

“Don’t move your head around.” JB then moved to mess with your hair.  “I’m taking your hair out.”  You stood there in silence as his hands wove through your messy hair and untangled it from the hair tie in the least painful way possible.  You felt your hair fall back, now loose, against your neck as you turned and handed him his phone back.  He took it, tucking it in his pocket.

He looked at the sadness in your eyes.  Clearing his throat he placed a hand on your head and ran his fingers through the thin strands of hair, snagging just a bit on the small tangles.  

“It’s late.  You need rest.” He moved his hands from your head to grip your hand and pull you inside after him.  You briefly ran into, and met with, Mark and Jinyoung the two who weren’t present earlier and watched as JB stopped by the tech room where Youngjae was sat with headphones on his head and computer monitors on every side of a large desk.  He offered you a friendly smile, still clearly busy where you just bowed politely back.  

After that, taking your hand again, JB lead you to a fairly decent sized room on the second floor before he shut the door behind him, dropped your hand and dug around in a closet for some clothes.  A large king bed sat against the rooms backwall in the center with a dresser under a window with a dark curtain covering it.  The room was void of anything really, just a standard room to sleep in.  

“Change into those.  We’ll focus on getting you actual woman’s clothes later.”  He had tossed an over large t-shirt to you with a loose pair of shorts to wear.  “I’ll offer you a hoodie if you want since you don’t have a change of bras to put a comfortable one on and I’m pegging you don’t want to go bra-less in this situation.” You were surprised he even thought about the annoyance that is the female chest, but took him up on the offer of a hoodie.  

“Grab your clothes and follow me.  You’ll probably want a shower too.”  You did as you were told and he led you to the bathroom down the walkway of the second story. “Just take your time. Since this place is basically off the map, we don’t pay any bills, but we still have connections to have working water and what not.”  He was setting up the shower for you as you stood there behind him.  He was awfully kind for someone who is supposedly the leader of a bunch of criminals.  

“Thank you.”  You thanked him as he looked over his shoulder.  

“It’s the least I can do.  We did ruin your birthday after all.”  You blinked at him them remembered Kyun had talked to him.  

“He told you, didn’t he?”  

“Of course he did.  He seemed like a good friend.”  You smiled sadly.

“He was the best.”  The past tense of your sentence almost made you flinch.  JB put his hand on your shoulder, ready to leave.  

“When your done, just head back to the room from before.  You can sleep there tonight.” You nodded at him.  

“Goodnight then.”  He nodded at you as he left.  You locked the door behind him, out of fear someone might just come bursting in and finally let yourself relax a bit.  It wasn’t until you were in the shoulder, you finally let yourself cry.  Unknowingly to you, JB stood at the door of the bathroom, arms crossed as he listened to your cries mix with the shower and soon walked off.  

Just like that, you started your life as a fellow second hand criminal, you called yourself.  You never really did any crimes, but you helped when Youngjae needed support with his tech, or when you could use your intelligence to help them in random things, you would.  You were almost acting as their moral support.  

Over the course of time you began close to every member there.  Jackson, whom you despised at first, soon became your best friend after one particularly large fight you two had that seemed to help you bond in a weird reversed kind of way. But, there was something you wanted to deny at first when you felt it in your chest, but the way your felt towards JB made your heart palpitate.

You first felt it when he surprised you with a phone that had been modified, courtesy of Youngjae, to be unable to be tracked. He gave it to you 2 months after you were brought by Bambam, and he deemed it a ‘late birthday present.”  You saw he added Changkyun’s number to it, under the name of ‘Kyun’, since JB didn’t actually know his name.  That’s just what he remembered you call him.  With that phone, you were able to text and call Kyun when you wanted, but of course you had to be careful with what you said at times, but it was like angels singing when you called him and heard him through the phone again.  

From then, it just started growing.  The feeling in your chest.  Part of you thought that maybe you could just be experiencing Stockholm Syndrome, and maybe that wasn’t too far off from home base, but you didn’t care if you were or not.  You weren’t trying to stay on their good side to stay alive, because you knew they wouldn't hurt you.  Sure you might have arguments, but the boys always leave or make sure you aren’t in arms length of them if they’re feeling angry enough to do anything.

The one time someone had accidentally cut your arm with a shard of a glass that he threw against, and smashed, on a wall near you, JB wanted to cut his arm by breaking a different glass directly on his arm, right on the same place you got cut. JB was a frightening leader, but more than that, he was honestly a good person.  He cared about things and people just like others did.  He even brought back a dog one day to give to Youngjae, who had been wanting a pet to liven things up a bit, as a surprise for his hard working tech expert.  

When you started sharing a bed with JB as well, since it was his room you were hogging the first week of your arrival, it wasn’t anything more than that.  Sharing a bed with a comrade, if you could call him that.  But soon, you wanted to be facing him when you slept.  You wanted to be pressed against his back or his chest and you’d flush when you caught yourself wanting to be held by him.  

So, for some reason, you decided to go to Bambam for help.  Why Bambam, you didn’t know, but you thought that if you went to Jackson for help, he’d just scream everything and make sure the whole world knew how you felt.  At least Bam could be a bit more dependable when asked.  It had been 8 months since you came to the base of the 7 boys, so if Bam wouldn’t be of help, there were always 5 move, with Jackson as dead last.  

As the two of you lounged on the room for privacy, Bam held a sucker in his mouth listening to you.  

“So,” he started, “in conclusion, you have the hots for JB?” You wanted to bash your face into the concrete floor as many times as possible until you passed out.

“Well, if you want to be blunt.”  You rolled your eyes as he gave you a smirk.  “Am I going to get an advice, or am I just going to get teased?  Because I will so leave and tell Jinyoung that you’d the one who wasted 4 magazines of perfectly good bullets just to shoot at a squirrel that was annoying you by throwing acorns at your window.” The Thai boy seemed to choke as he took the sucker out of his mouth and looked at you.

“You wouldn’t dare.”  You rose your brow in attack towards him.

“Try me.”  He ran his hand through his hair.  

“Okay, okay.  I’ll talk, but I get to tease a bit, deal?”  

“I’d expect no less.”  

“Alright, just let me think…” He closed his eyes and cupped his chin as he cross his legs and though.  His sucker moved from one cheek to the other as he tried to think of the best way to give you advice and not risk his neck at the thought of an angry Jinyoung wasting even more bullets trying to shoot him.  

“Well, I guess when it comes to JB, it’s best to be blunt?”  He was questioning himself, but he was trying.  “He’s blunt himself, and he’s also the most obvious person on the face of the planet, so he probably doesn’t even know.”  You nodded at that.  “He does seem to favor you over us, so I don’t think you confessing would go bad.  I think he’d be pretty glad actually.”  Now he lost you. 

“You think?  Honestly?  The leader JB accepting me, a backseat criminal, as a potential lover?”

“You wouldn’t think it, but you’ve help us a lot thanks to your brain.  Backseat or not.”  You shoved his shoulder a bit as he smiled.  “Seriously though, just tell him.  I’d go for tonight when everyone’s sleeping so no one interrupts you though.”  You nodded.  

“Yeah, I guess it’s worth a shot.”  You two stayed up there for a while longer just chatting as friends, and you teasing him about how you managed to make his mask slip that first day of everything. He still gives you shit for it, back then you were mad about it, but now you almost wanted to thank him that it happened because it lead you to meet all of them. But, that would just inflate his ego and we don’t need that.  

So, as the day continued and eventually started to dwindle, you found yourself changing into a large t-shirt of JB’s again with your shorts.  That hadn’t changed since day one, you always took more to the shirts of ones of the guys. Yugyeom’s were the most fun to wear, as he was a giant and walking around in his shirt was like a toddler wearing their dad’s shirt.  Not to mention if it was long sleeves sneaking up on someone and slapping them with the sleeves that went well past your hand was pretty entertaining.

You had just slipped the shirt over your body as the door creaked open and in stepped JB.  You hadn’t yet put your shorts on, but you were well past the point of being embarrassed around him, or anyone for that matter. You could probably comfortably walk around in shorts and a bra and not bat an eye at this point.

He strolled up beside where you stood, next to the closet, and began to grab his own change of clothes.  Or rather, a comfortable pair of sweats, as sleeping with a shirt wasn’t really necessary for him.  While the both of you changed in a comfortable silence, he started up a conversation.

“You were gone for a while this afternoon.  What were you up to?” He pull his shirt over his back and then freed his head, having the shirt rest on his biceps before letting it fall off his arms.  

“I was with Bam on the roof for a bit.  I wanted to talk to him about something.  He was surprisingly helpful.”

“Talk to him?  Something bugging you?”

“Eh, you could say that.”  There was a pause for a moment as he reached to grab a pair of sweats from the hanging cubbies in the closet.

“You could always come to me you know.”  You nodded.

“I know that, but I needed someone else’s opinion.”  You wouldn’t tell by the never changing look on his face, but that comment seemed to urk JB.

“I see.”  His comment let you know that he was curious as to what you needed help with, and you mind went back to Bam’s advice: be blunt.  You signed as you grabbed your shorts, stepped into them and slid them up our legs, letting them rest on your hips.  You casually tossed your clothes from the day into a bin separate from the one that help the clothes JB had yet to wash.

“Bam was helping me figure out the best way to tell I like you, is all it was.”  You head JB start coughing behind you and you just shrugged.  “He told me I should just be blunt, but I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”  You strolled over to the bed, sitting on the side of it as you grabbed your phone from your night stand on your side of the bed.  “I guess I could have just texted Kyun about it.  He’s surprisingly smart when it comes to things like this.”  

You lifted your eyes from your phone to see him pull the sweats over his hips and mess with the strings in the front of them, his back to you.  As always, you couldn’t read exactly how he felt in this particular situation. Thinking about anyone else in his situation ou just forced on him, you grabbed your phone and stood, stretching before turning towards the direction of the door.  

“Sorry for springing this on you.  I know your pretty busy running the rest of the boys and what not, so I’ll go bunk with Jackson tonight to give you a little space.”  With phone in hand, you strolled to the door and turned the knob, just barely opening the door before it was slammed shut.  From behind you, JB had pushed his palm against the door, shutting it before you would even peek out of it. Looking over your shoulder and following his arm to his shoulder and up his neck to his face, he just stared at you.  

“Jaebum?” You turned your body around to face him, as you back was pressed to your door and his free hand came to capture your chin in his fingers. He kept silent as he moved his fingers to rest on your neck.  It wasn’t at all threatening, he just let his fingers light hover around your neck, almost in an action of endearment. 

“Next time, come to me.”  He whispered a his breath, strongly scented of mint from his recent toothpaste, fanned over your face and he leaned closer to press his lips against yours. It took a moment for you to fully comprehend the situation at hand, but once your brain caught up, you found yourself relaxing into him.  The kiss didn’t last nearly as long as you had first hoped, but when he pulled away, he grabbed your wrist only to drag you back to the bed and have you climb in.

Placing your phone, you were surprised you hadn't dropped due to shock a moment again, back on your nightstand, you felt JB climb into the bed next to you as he did every night.  The new thing was him snaking his arms around your waist and extending the arm he lay on for you to use as a substitute for a pillow as you were now tucked into his bare chest.

“Uh, JB?”  He hushed you.  

“Go to sleep.  I’m tired.”  You chuckled at him.  He cracked open one of his eyes to stare at you.  

“What’s so funny?”  You shook your head.

“Nothing.  I’m just happy.”  You smiled up to him as he smiled back and placed a kiss on the crown of your head.  

“Good.  Now sleep.”  Like magic, the moment you closed your eyes, your consciousness faded and JB was able to admire your sleeping face. He hand the back of his hand over your cheek and brushed under your eyes with his fingers as you slept.  You face was so relaxed when sleeping, it seemed almost impossible for someone to seem so ethereal to him.  Soon after, he pulled you tighter to his chest, entangling your legs and drifting to sleep with you in his arms.  

The same way he had been wanting to hold you since your birthday.  

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

I spent all day working on this piece, so I’m going to post reactions tomorrow guys!  I have a few ready to go, so until tomorrow I hope you enjoyed reading this long ass story!  ^^”

[gravityfallsweirdgirl]

Doctor midnight- episode 1-john’s origin

Doctor midnight: I wasn't always like this, There was a time when I used to be happy, a time When I used to be normal When I used to had a family.

It happened three years ago when I finished high school I became an accountant at the bank, And the best thing about this job was every day Get to go home to see my beautiful wife Diana and our son Charlie, just when I thought my life couldn't get any better it took a turn for the worst. It started like any ordinary day, when I was being promoted to assistant manager, and I have been selected employee of the month. Just then I was being called in the office by my boss mr. Richard

John: did you call me mr. Richard

Richard: have a seat hunter

John: I pulled a chair and sat down

Richard: Hunter As you know you're the best accountant we have in Goldmen's Bank,

John: thank you sir { but he gave me a unpleasant look}

Richard: I have a Special job for you we're expecting a unwelcome visitor coming by and every week  he ask For a loan for cigarettes, alcohol, and expensive stuff that are cost more than the car you have and it has been out of control I mean look at his last income. I need you to tell him we're cutting him off and he needs to pay back. How would

John: okay but what's his, what Those he look like

Richard: he's name tony Antonio DiMaggio he looks like this [he hands me a picture of him

John: I nodded my head, I won't let you down sir ( I waited until 3:30 apparently he likes to be fashionably late he was taller and wider then anybody i ever seen he makes the security guards look weak. He had a black and red striped suit With a fedora and had a gold tooth and there was a scar over his eye, he smiled at he, it sent a cold chill down my spine and I felt sick. I seen men like him, he was the one of the kind that like to laugh at other people's pain, watching people suffer, he was a mobster he made his way to my desk, his smile was getting creepier by the minute. Mr. DiMaggio is an American-Italian mafia who can kill anyone with the snap of his fingers.

DiMaggio pulls out a cigar and Lights it up

DiMaggio: you know what I am here for

John: (He blows smoke in my face) cough, cough, yes I'm glad you're here cause we need to talk about your last income

DiMaggio raise his hand

DiMaggio: I Am need to ask for another loan, for I am what you call business man, I am Making a marketing product on selling exclusive gun. I am having them shipped from Russia as we speak these weapons are special they came from Tokyo

John: (I was confused)

DiMaggio: I am needing 1'000'000 dollars for bullets and gunpowder.

John: Sir with all due respect, a thousand dollars is a lot for gunpowder and bullets

DiMaggio: it's a special kind of gunpowder

He mushes his cigarette against my family photo

That's when it started I tried to tell him no in the kindness way as possible.

John: mr. DiMaggio as much as I love to help you, you're idea and product sounds dangerous and illegal, not to mention you owe this bank a lot of money( his face turned to a glare) I'm sorry sir but until you pay your debts we're cutting you off.

He gets off his chair and slams his fists on my desk.

DiMaggio: YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IM CAPABLE OF.

John: I'm sorry sir but you're debt is overdue You are paying for stuff that you don't need

He then grabs me by the collar of my shirt Pulls me closer to his face and whisperers

DiMaggio: Now hear this you either give me the money or I can make you pay

John: sir please I'm just doing my job, don't Make me call security.

DiMaggio: you don't know what I've done and what I can do

John: SECURITY

The guards grab him and force him to leave

DiMaggio: your gonna be sorry you rejected me

He screamed at me I then thought to myself was that a threat,  John: did he threaten me Mr. Richard grab my shoulder and told me not to let it worry me, but throughout the whole day me. DiMaggio's words repeated in my head over and over it became the time to punch out the clock, I wished everyone a good night and drove home.

I thought seeing my beloved family might get my mind off DiMaggio I couldn't be more than wrong

When I drove close to my house I see three cars parked in my street funny thing, one of the cars look exactly the one DiMaggio had, I then hear screaming it sounded like Diana I ran inside my house and I see DiMaggio with two men next to Him, two Holding my son and Diana I stepped inside more,Then I heard the door slam, I turned to see another guy in a gray suit. He then punches me I ended up on the floor with blood coming out of my mouth, pining me down I was struggling to move. DiMaggio walks slowly to me I felt my Heart racing as he lit another cigar, he puffs in my face

DiMaggio: I told you that you we're going to pay

He goes for his pocket and pulls out a gun and looks at my wife, walking towards her, my heart began to beat fast

John: DiMaggio wait let my family go, I the one you want, I can pay you back please just let my family go ( not listening to me he aims the gun at her I started to panic) DiMaggio (i scream) please my family means a lot to me I'm begging you please (I was begging for mercy on my family)

DiMaggio: I like you John you're just like me, I have a family to support too, you see life is like a game, if you go by the rules you win, but if you cheat (click bang) John: nooooooooo you lose

I watch in horror as my my Diana lay dead, I saw what he's done, I saw him shot my wife, I looked away crying, His men let me go, I ran and hold my wife In my arms

Diana: John

John: Yes Diana (crying)

She Pressing her Palm against my cheeks

Diana: save...... Charlie.......... ( she shut her eyes) I buried my head in her chest and told her to stay with me.

I hear DiMaggio and his men laughing at my pain and suffering

DiMaggio: well time for the jr here to say his prayers (click) {he aimed his pistol at Charlie}

I lifted my head up and stared angry at DiMaggio

I charge at him like a quarterback and slammed him away from my son, I  kick one goon in the shin and I punched the other in the chest

John: RUN CHARLIE

Charlie: but dad

John: RUN

I saw Charlie run to safety as I fought DiMaggio's men off but they we're to strong

DiMaggio:( he painful got off the ground) get him [he points at Where Charlie Once was]

John: NO

I tried to stop the man from going after my son but three other men grabbed me, the next thing I knew I hear a gunshots, I felt my heart stopping, knowing I lost my only son. While one man hold my hands back the other two started punching me on both sides for my cheeks, then my chin, then they started kicking my chest, I ended up with a split lips, broken ribs, a blackened eye, a broken nose, bruises every on my face and body. Just when I thought I had enough DiMaggio walks towards me Lifts my face with his cane

DiMaggio: let this be a reminder to you that when you mess with a mobster you get claws

John: that..... doesn't even make sense

I spit on his Face which only made things worst for me, he grabbed the back of my hair pulled my Face down to the floor painful

DiMaggio: It's too bad you Won't remember this lesson ( I open my eyes widened as he spit in my hair)

His men tied me to a chair and placed a bomb on the dining room table I watched all his men leave he stands there dropping his cigarette on the floor

DiMaggio: sorry it had to come to this but I did say you were going to pay

He smiles and closes the door luckily for me I grabbed a knife when his men weren't looking I had one minute to escape, the clock was ticking, I was rushing. I cut the rope as fast as I can, I was Finally free, I ran away from the bomb but I didn't have enough time to reach the door the bomb exploded, it didn't killed me and it sent me flying into the ground, I was Face splat on the grass,I looked up slowly and painfully and saw my house on fire, I then turned to see DiMaggio driving away. Angrily clutching my fists My life started turning downhill after that I ended up, I started walking in the woods.

The song as you are by the weekend plays It's just me and you

They couldn't see what I see in you

Yeah, 'cause I believe in you

You're the only one I choose

Even though you break my heart

Even though you break my heart, baby

I know what we are, our love's too young, oh baby

Even though you break my heart, my love

I'ma need you, I'ma need you, I'ma need you, yeah

Show me your broken heart and all your scars (oh yeah) (John starts walking in the woods)

Baby, I'll take, I'll take, I'll take, I'll take you as you are

I'll take you as you are, yeah

Show me your broken parts to know your flaws (oh yeah)

Baby, I'll take, I'll take, I'll take, I'll take you as you are

I'll take you as you are, yeah

The end of episode one

[mirajens]

boyfriend material

pairing: yukino/rogue/sting rating: t genre: humor found on ff.n and ao3 follow up to this

Which boyfriend do you take home to meet the parents when you have two?

"You what!"

Yukino almost winced at the twin exclamations of disbelief. Sting and Rogue stood before her wearing not much but the aggravation on their faces which would have been intimidating were she not accustomed to either state of undress or irritability. She twisted the hem of her dress and stared at the space where their shoulders touched. "It's not like I lied!" she said in her defense.

"You told your family," Rogue inhaled and held it until it swelled in his lungs. His face was still red. "That you have a boyfriend."

"Technically, I do." She replied, her voice small.

"Technically, you have two boyfriends." Sting pointed out. He looked less exasperated than their notoriously high blood pressure Rogue so it was him that Yukino looked to.

"Well, my family doesn't want to hear that. So they don't need to know." Conservative Catholic parents tended not to understand polyamory or any of its complex subcultures and what people did not understand, they vilified. Yukino would much rather avoid that. Nothing turned family gathering unpleasant faster than sex talk.

"Now you want one of us to go meet your parents?" Rogue's tart tone was back, just a little bit discomforting. "And just pretend the one who's not coming doesn't exist?"

Sting lit up like a bulb, his silly smile chasing warmth into Yukino's chest cavity. "I'm boyfriend material, right, Yukino? Straight girls ask me out all the time! I'll go with you. And besides," he snickered as his gaze slid towards Rogue. "Solano hates this guy."

At the reminder, Rogue colored and Yukino chuckled. "Supposing Sting does go with you, what does that make me? Chopped liver?"

"Very kind, considerate liver?" Yukino tried. Obviously things were not as grim as they initially seemed since Sting was smiling now. If it was two against one and the two happened to have the most adorable sets of puppy dog eyes, it probably wouldn't take much more.

"Nice try. I'll be going with you, Solano be damned. Sting doesn't make a very convincing straight person." Rogue slapped a hand on Sting's back. "No offense."

Yukino exhaled. It didn't matter much to her who came with her as long as one did. She never had any patience for her family's obsession about her love life since she couldn't imagine her father understanding how a sweet girl like her could have two boyfriends who were sort of full blown gay or how asexuality worked because "normal" girls her age answered to the call of lust. No, these things were best kept away from the Agria home. Yukino couldn't stand the idea of her family misunderstanding her sexuality and saying something that could hurt her. She was quite easily hurt, too.

"That works out. Sting might say something that would destroy all this effort." At Sting's sound of protest, Yukino grinned sheepishly. "No offense."

Sting huffed. "I don't think you guys understand this 'no offense' thing."

Yukino simpered, trying to be empathetic. "I am sorry we have to hide, but you know people don't really understand." And you know I really don't like explaining because I don't owe anyone an excuse for being myself.

The boys' features softened on queue. They had such fierce feelings for their girlfriend and hated seeing her so upset. "Now don't start acting like you're imposing on us. We love you." It was Rogue who spoke, and his easy confession which almost always never came so easy startled Yukino and Sting. Now it was them who shared expressions, both of their mouths forming a small O.

"He truly is boyfriend material," Sting remarked with an awed voice, so silly of him, just to thin out the air. It felt like a victory when Yukino smiled.

"We'll just have to make sure you don't grab my boob in front of my sister and you'll be good."

Rogue's neck went red. "How many times do I have to tell you it was an accident!"

So now, imagine the classic boyfriend-about-to-meet-the-family scenario straight out of every heterosexual romcom: Rogue in a dark dress shirt that Yukino had to properly iron for him, barely concealing his fidget and Yukino fussing with his collar beneath his outercoat since he somehow managed to rumple it during the fifty minute drive from their dorms.

"Stop, stop." Rogue hissed as his hands swat at Yukino's fingers buttoning up the shirt to the last suffocating button. "Chill out or this will be over before it begins."

Yukino clenched her hands into fists at her side. "That doesn't make me any less nervous, you know."

"Please, let's just get this over with. I'm already too hetlagged and its barely 12." Rogue began rapping the knuckles of his longest fingers on the door.

And of course it was Solano who answered. God was just a really funny dude that way.

The older Agria sister didn't even greet her beloved sister before aiming her biting look at Rogue. "I was hoping it was that blond one you hooked up with, sis."

Rogue almost scoffed and said 'fat chance' but he remained silent against the abuse. This was exactly why he was the better option than Sting. He had so much more self-control and a lesser likeliness to drag all the cats out of the bags. "It's nice to see you as well, Solano." He said back tartly. And since the farce wasn't progressing, he put a hand on Yukino's lower back to urge her forward.

Yukino grinned at her sister instead of saying anything and pushed inside. The door closed behind Rogue.

"Where are mom and dad?" Yukino asked as she removed her jacket.

"They're just about done cooking." Solano, in a rare show of propriety, reached out to take her sister's coat, then turned to Rogue and cocked a brow, as if waiting for his.

Always, always, always missing cues with his girlfriend's unnerving sister, Rogue jerkily shrugged out of his parka and handed it over with a low thanks. Solano wasn't an easily tempered creature and many times Rogue knew not if she was going to laugh at something he'd say or stick a fork in his neck for it. He'd always tread softly around her even before she'd witnessed the infamous moment that Rogue accidentally grabbed Yukino's breast. Sting had laughed at that but wasn't that easy for himꟷ Sting didn't have to do a safety sweep of his apartment every time he came home.

"Well, come on, lovebirds. Dinner shall be served."

Mother and Father Agria were all too pleased to meet the first ever boy that their baby brought home.

"We'd been worrying, you know," started Yukino's mother as she piled on marble potatoes, chicken and asparagus on Rogue's plate. Rogue balanced eye contact with too much at once: Yukino's father, Yukino's mother, the easily overflowing herbed gravy on his chicken, Solano's icy look and Yukino's uneasy one. "She never showed an interest in boys. We were starting to think she was, uh, one of those les-beans."

"Mom, honestly," Yukino just barely resisted rolling her eyes.

"And you're the first one she brought to meet us." Yukino's dad stated cheerfully with a raised glass. "Now, Solano has brought a lot of boyfriends home. And" he continued hastily, just before Solano could gripe, "There's nothing wrong with that, darling. You're a woman capable of making your own choices and I did like some of them. I just wish they'd stay around, you know? I really liked that Jellal fellow. The engineer, right?"

Solano scoffed. At twenty-five, she still managed to look like a sulky teenager as she stabbed at her carrots. "I told you, he wasn't my boyfriend. He was my lab partner and you just made him sit down for dinner. That's ways away from bringing someone home."

"I thought you two suited each other." The older man said with a sniff.

"Did you get that impression between the first and fiftieth time he mentioned his girlfriend? Dr Firecrotch with a PhD in Renaissance Warfare?"

"All right, you two, don't get snippy." Just like that, Mother Agria put the kibosh on a steadily rising tension. "We don't want to look bad in front of our guest."

"Don't worry about it, Mrs Agria." Rogue, in an effort to avoid more eye contact, stared intensely at the potato his dinner knife was splitting in half. Baby, he could hear Sting sneer in his mind. "Your home is lovely." That seemed like a nice, heterosexual thing to say. They said shit about lovely homes and good scotch and great gravy. Oh, he should comment on the gravy. "This gravy is great. It reminds me of what my mom used to make."

Yukino stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. Oh, right. He'd never met his mother. Rogue shrugged at her, as if by that action he could relay the panicked message of sorry im just trying to speak like a straight person!

To which Yukino's glare deepened. Well, stop it. You sound stupid, it seemed to say.

"Oh, thank you, sweet boy." Mrs Agria chirped, and to show her appreciation, dumped more food into Rogue's plate, much to his dread. He could never eat well in tense situations.

"Ah, mom, not so much. Rogue… takes medicine. He can't eat too much." Yukino finished lamely. It dawned on her how dangerous it was to say lies that have not been preplanned. Rogue's annoyed look confirmed her newfangled sentiments.

"Medicine for what?" Mr Agria said from the head of the table, in the tone of a man suspicious of drugs.

"Ah. Uhh…" Rogue could feel Solano's irritated stare despite not seeing her face. "I'm, uh, Midichloric?" Yeah, real nice, dumbass. Tell them you can Force control the cutlery next. "Uh, it's something or other in my blood. Kind of like anemia."

The Agrias looked confused and were all in telepathic agreement that any medical conditions were too delicate to be discussed in the dinner table. Yukino looked mortified.

They were all saved from furthering the conversation by loud banging against the front door.

"Yukino! I know you're in there! I've come to fight for your hand!"

Rogue began to choke on the bite of chicken that had lodged itself in his throat. Yukino's face made a play on several different emotions before settling on astonishment. The other Agrias exchanged what was not the first look of confusion tonight.

"What on earth?" Mr Agria began, before pounding on the door cut him off.

"YUKINO! It is I, Sting! Let me in and face the emotions I have for you!"

Mrs Agria looked apprehensive before deciding to open the door. Not long after, Sting came into view (not after a noisy detour into the kitchen he mistook for the dining room). He found his girlfriend slapping a hand on Rogue's back.

"Rogue, you bastard! Unhand my woman or you will have these fists!"

Teary-eyed from the near death experience a la chicken, Rogue aimed a bark-peeling glare at his boyfriend. "You stupid little-"

"What is going on here?" Mr Agria boomed from the head of the table, having had enough of the puzzled glances he exchanged with his wife and eldest.

"Hello, Agrias. I am Sting. Rightful lover of your fair Yukino." Despite the odd speech he seemed to adopt (and Yukino could only guess that while Rogue based his heterosexual persona from whatever CW Prep School Bullshit he saw on TV, Sting assumed his from period dramas), he sat down on the vacant chair beside Rogue, an innocuous look on him. "The feast looks amazing."

"Please, help yourself." Mrs Agria offered instead of the what is going on? that she wanted to say.

"Lover?" said Mr Agria this time.

"What the fuck?" said Solano. "You have two boyfriends, Yukino?"

"No!" Yukino shrieked, panicked at hearing the words she never wanted any of her family to utter.

"I'm the boyfriend!" Rogue said, exasperation clear on his face, all of it directed at Sting who had begun to help himself to the food.

"I've come to fight you for her. You don't deserve sweet Yukino." Sting countered.

"So you're two-timing them?" Solano said. "Way to go, sister. Who knew you had it in you?"

"No you don't get it-"

Mrs Agria looked pleased as she aimed a pointed look at her husband. "Oh, honey, and here we were all worried about Yukino never having a boyfriend. Now she has two."

Mr Agria nodded.

"There were a dozen men fighting for Yukino when we began. Rogue and I eliminated the competition. By combat." Sting volunteered. When Rogue and Yukino gave him exaggerated looks that angrily suggested he shut the fuck up, Sting sent them a subtle thumbs up.

"Oh, is that right?"

"Sting's joking, mom." Yukino cut in before Sting could say anything else. This was bad. This was so bad. They didn't plan all the lies out and one of them might say something incriminating. "I think we have to go now, mom, dad. Sorry. Rogue has to be home. Uh, for his medicine. You know, the mitochondria thing-"

"Midicloric," Rogue corrected, not helpfully, by the fed up look Yukino sent his way.

"Isn't that from Star W-" Sting began to say. Rogue slapped a hand over his mouth.

"We don't want to ruin lunch with my gruesome diagnosis, do we?" Rogue said before laughing a fake, strained laugh.

"Yes, so we really have to go." Yukino started to rise, pushing her chair back.

Sting licked at Rogue's palm before Rogue drew it away, disgusted. "But I haven't even started eating yet."

"We can have McDonald's on the way back to school." Rogue said through gritted teeth. He rose, same as Yukino, dragging Sting up by the collar of his shirt. "The food was really good, sir, ma'am. And it was nice to meet you."

"I'm sorry, mom, we'll come back some other time, when Rogue is well." Yukino already started inching towards the doorway, hoping Sting wouldn't say anything else and trying to tell both boys to move faster by telepathy.

"Nice meeting you, Agrias!" Sting called out before Rogue's hold on his shirt choked him and he was dragged out of the room.

The front door sounded and the remaining three occupants of the dining table listened to an inaudible but loud argument as Yukino, Sting and Rogue got into the car.

When the car sped away, Mr Agria finally piped up again. "What did the boy say he was sick with again?"

"It sounded serious," said Mrs Agria. "But anyway, I can't wait to tell Angela. She was always bragging about how many suitors her daughter has."

"Angela? From church?"

"And you gave me grief for dating around. Yukino has two boyfriends, dad."

"I said I didn't mind the quantity, just the quality."

"I can't believe you, Sting! That was the most irresponsible thing you've done to date." Yukino huffed hard enough to send her bangs flying. "Now my parents think I'm dating two men!"

"Well, you are!" Sting cried defensively. "At least they seemed excited."

From the passenger seat, Rogue shook his head. "That's not the point. You could have made things very bad for Yukino. We had a plan, Sting."

"Oh yeah? Did that plan include you being terminally ill with Jedi Powers?"

Rogue sputtered. "That was not my fault!"

"You could have come up with an actual disease, okay?" Yukino said.

"Oh, sure, I'll prepare a better list of serious ailments just in case you randomly decide to tell people that I have time-sensitive dosages."

"Meeting the parents seems like a lot of work." Sting remarked.

"Maybe we can scale back on the lies for Christmas," Yukino suggested.

"Maybe you can pretend to be single for Christmas," Rogue muttered. He could feel a headache throb behind his eyes.

[mrderwrtr]

A Hero Dead & Gone

     It was snowing again. An inch or more had fallen, covering the slush and ice the thaw from the last two days had left behind. He liked the snow. It made everything quite.

     Rush hour traffic was dying down.

     A pair of police cars blew through the intersection at the far end of the block, siren blaring, breaking the quiet. Red and blue lights glittered off the fresh blanket of snow.

     Alec Dorsey tapped another Newport out of the hard pack, pinched it between his chapped lips then tucked the pack back into the inside pocket of his baggy leather jacket. He watched the two patrol cars as they disappear into the lights of the downtown skyline.

     A cloud of smoke rose up around his head. He turned his attention from the street to the fluorescent bathed entrance to Ellis Memorial Veteran’s Hospital. He took another drag on the cigarette then pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes.

     He felt for the little green bottle in the right hand pocket of his jacket, found it then gave it a quick shake. There were less than a dozen pale blue football shaped pills left.

*****

     Snow flurries swirled around the scrap yard, whipped up by the frigid wind sweeping over the levee of the Little Cree River. A tall, wiry red-headed man dressed in a pair of Carhart overalls and a baggy black t-shirt made his way across the yard, a battered black cellphone pressed against his ear. He threw a half-hearted wave back at the heavy-set man in the shack by the scales.

     The rumble of a diesel engine caught his attention. He stopped and looked up to see a dirty white box truck roll through the gate by the office. His attention turned to the dock of the warehouse. He frowned as he pulled the phone away from his ear. “Dorsey…,” he shouted.

     The truck swerved around him, made an arch through the loading dock then came to an abrupt halt.

     The man shrugged.

     Alec sat back on the toilet of the Port-o-Let and stared at the powder blue, oval shaped pill in the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes as wind buffeted the outhouse. His heart was pounding. A film of sweat coated his forehead. He took a deep breath, quickly swallowed the pill then ran the back of his hand across his brow.

     After a moment, he forced himself to stand and pushed open the door. A rush of cold air swirled around him. He stumbled out into the scrap yard and saw a dirty white box truck backing into the dock.

     “Dorsey,” the red head shouted. Alec looked over at him. “Let’s go…,” he said and gestured to the truck.

Another gust of wind whipped through the dock. Alec pulled the collar of his jacket up around his ears and turned his back to the wind. He leapt up the cement stairs, grabbed one of the pallet jacks parked by the bay doors and hurried toward the truck.

     “Cesar,” he shouted. “What we got today?”

     The man shrugged out of his parka, tossed it onto a stack of plastic skids then looked back at him. “Shit,” he yelled back. He ran toward the edge of the dock as the truck smashed into the rubber bumpers.

     The passenger door of the truck swung open and a beefy blond haired man hopped out. Alec threw up his hand, waving him off. The man stared at him a moment, shook his head then turned and made his way around the front of the truck.

     Cesar knelt at the edge of the dock, unlatched the rear door of the truck and shoved it open. He stood, flipping the metal ramp on the edge of the dock with the toe of his boot. It landed with a thud against the floor of the truck

The sound of it banging against the roof of the truck echoed off the cinderblock walls. Alec felt his body shake. He stared at the truck. The sound echoed in his head. He took a quick step backward and stumbled over the steering wheels of the pallet jack.

     The back of the truck was filled with old kitchen appliances, broken furniture. Half a dozen battered cardboard boxes were filled with empty bottles, cans and bundled newspapers and magazines. Another pair of boxes held an assortment of computer parts. The load shifted, sliding forward and the headboard of a wrought iron daybed fell, bouncing over the shell of a refrigerator.

     “What are you staring at?” Cesar said then quickly turned and grabbed the handle of his hand truck. “Let’s go, bro’…it’s cold.”

     A tall, pale-skinned man with a stocky build in a dirty orange and black windbreaker and desert camouflage pants came out of the warehouse. “Hey, Dorsey…,” he said, slapping him on the shoulder.

     Alec jumped, startled and faced the man. “Jesus, Cody…,” he said and shrugged him off.

     “You got a cigarette?”

     He dug a pack of Newports out of the inside pocket of his coat along with a chrome Zippo. “You need to start buyin’ your own.”

     Cody chuckled. He glanced over at Cesar heading into the truck then pried one of the cigarettes out of the pack. “Fuck you,” he chuckled and lit the cigarette. His attention turned to a primer colored Chevy S-10 rolling past the loading dock. “Looks like your friend’s back.” He handed the pack and lighter back.

     “Fuck,” Alec hissed and shook his head. He caught Cesar as he came out of the truck with a box of computer parts. “You and Cody handle this ‘till I get back?”

     Cesar looked past him at the big red-headed man. “Come on, man,” he groaned, trying to keep his voice down. He shook his head angrily and pulled his load off the truck.

     “It’ll only take a minute.” He turned away from him and jumped off the side of the dock then headed for the scales.

     A thin, brown-skinned man in an ill-fitting green and white Philadelphia Eagles starter jacket and jeans slid out from behind the wheel of the Chevy. He smiled at Alec then raised his arms. “What up, Money?” he bellowed.

Alec grinned. He grabbed the man by his arm and pulled him into a shoulder hug. He glanced at the load of copper wire and car parts in the bed of the truck. “What ‘cha got there?”

     “It’s all good,” he said. He looked over at the shack beside the industrial sized scales then back at Alec. “Got it from that school demo ova’ on Broadway.”

     Alec threw a glance at the booth and exhaled through his pursed lips. “You get it legal?”

     “How you gonna ask me dat, Alex?”

     “Jay…,” he started and slowly made his way around the truck. “You know the deal. A guy nearly fried himself two weeks ago trying to steal this shit.”

     “It’s all clean,” Jay said. “Trust me.”

     Alec looked over the collection of scrap metal, copper wire and assorted car parts again. A metal box lay on its side in the corner of the truck under a coil of tangled cables and what looked like pieces of a carburetor. “What’s that?” he said, staring at the box.

     Jay looked into the truck. “Shit…,” he said and reached for the box.

     “Woah…,”Alec said and stiff armed him.

     “What?” He reached into the truck bed and pulled the box out by the handle. “It’s just my gear…forgot I put it in there.” He opened the driver’s door and tossed the box onto the seat.

     Alec closed his eyes a moment, took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “Pull…pull it up,” he said, then turned and started for the shack.

     “You alright, man?” Jay said as he watched him walk pass.

     He nodded then hurried over to the corrugated metal shed by the scales.

     Nicky Combes sat behind the cluttered metal desk refilling his coffee mug from a tall, bullet-shaped thermos. “It all on the level?” he said, not bothering to look up at Alec. He glanced out at the truck through the scuffed Plexi-Glass window and sipped his coffee.

     “He says it is,” he said and leaned against the doorway. “You give a good deal?”

     “It is,” he said and snorted. He gave him a sideways glance as he screwed the top back on the thermos. “And you believe him.”

     “Yeah, I trust him,” Alec said and stared at the ruddy faced man. “He said he got it legal.”

     Nicky swallowed another gulp of tepid coffee then looked up at him. “Where’s his paperwork?”

     “Come on,” Alec said and pushed away from the doorway. “Why you gotta….”

     “Alec…,” he said, cutting him off. He stood. The bulk of his six foot frame seemed to fill the room. “You’re a smart kid. You know half the scrappers come in here grabbed the shit while somebody’s back was turned.”

     “He says it’s clean, Nick,” Alec snapped. “He got it from a school demo.”

     “What school?”

     Alec turned and watched the skinny black man unload the truck.

     Nicky swallowed the last gulp of coffee then stepped around the desk. “Weigh him up and get ‘im the fuck outta here before Dennis sees ‘im,” he grumbled as he brushed passed him and walked out of the booth.

     “Where you goin’?”

     “To take a piss,” he shot back.

     Alec watched him amble out of the shack. A boy on a BMX bike pulled up behind the truck towing a make-shift trailer loaded with bags of empty cans.

     “Take care of that one too,” Nicky shouted

     He sighed angrily then grudgingly slid into the chair behind the desk.

*****

     Alec Dorsey took one last drag on his Newport then pitched the butt into the puddle of rain water collecting under the wheel of the silver and black Lincoln parked at the curb. His hands were shaking. He brushed rainwater off the shoulders of his windbreaker as he jogged down the redbrick steps and pulled open the mahogany door of the Red Bull Tavern.

     The late afternoon crowd was thinning out when he walked in. Half a dozen regulars sat at the bar while another dozen or so were scattered around the bar at the black lacquered tables. A heavy-set, gray haired man in a camouflage jacket and khakis sat on the edge of a stool at the end of the bar. He turned to see Alec walk through the door and his weathered face broke into a smile. He slid off the stool and snapped a salute.

     Alec let a crooked grin show on his face. He lazily made his way over to the bar.

     “How ya doin’, Specialist?” the big man said and laid his meaty hand on his shoulder.

     He nodded. “I’m alright,” he mumbled. He looked past the man at the curly haired blond woman behind the bar and nodded to her then found a seat at the water-scarred redwood counter.

     The big man sat beside him. He glanced down at his trembling hands then reached for his bottle of beer. “You sure you’re alright, son,” he said.

     Alec looked over at him then quickly curled his hands into fists. “Yeah…I’m fine, Russ.” He shrugged. “Went by mom’s this morning.”

     He turned up his bottle. “Yeah…,” he said and swallowed a gulp. “How’s she doin’?”

     Alec smirked. “She’s ok…Rob’s wife’s pregnant again.”

     “What can I get ya’?” the blond said and leaned against the counter.

     He looked up at her. “Hey, Katie,” he said. He threw a glance around the bar. “Can I get a beer?”

     “That depends,” she said flatly and tossed her hair back from her face.

     “Come on, Kate,” Russ grumbled.

     She turned her steel gray eyes toward him a moment then back at Alec. “You want something to eat with that?” she said and pushed away from the bar.

     “A burger…please,” he said. “And some onion rings.”

     Russ held up his empty bottle and waved it at her. He watched the woman turn to the cooler then looked over at Alec. “So Sarah’s pregnant again,” he said and chuckled. “What’s that three for him now?”

     “Yeah,” Alec yawned. He laid his hands flat on the counter. Katie set a frosted pilsner glass in front of him along with an aluminum bottle of Bud Light. He nodded his thanks. “Two boys plus this one…whatever it turns out to be.” He stared at the bottle a minute then picked it up and slowly started to fill the glass.

     The big man watched him a moment. Katie popped the top on a bottle of Sam Adams and slid it in front of him. “Good thing you ain’t got no kids,” he said and swallowed a gulp of beer.

     He glanced over at him as he sipped his beer. “What…why you say that?”

     Russ shook his head and glanced around the bar. “Nothin’,” he muttered and turned the bottle up again.

     “I wouldn’t make a good father?”

     “I didn’t say that.” A chubby brown-skinned woman in a tight black skirt and a tighter black t-shirt weaved between the tables carrying a tray of empty glasses. He followed her with his eyes as she made her way back to the bar.      

     “You’re a good kid, Alex.”

     “Just not good for kids.” He took another gulp of beer then set the glass down and drummed his fingers on the bar.

     Russ hissed. He looked over at Katie drawing a pint of Guinness from the tap, made a circle over Alec’s head then raised his index finger. “How’s that job workin’ out for ya?”

     Alec shrugged. “It’s….” He turned, startled as one of the chairs fell over. Russ followed his gaze. Two men, both dressed in shirt and tie, stood at a table by the windows laughing. One bent over to pick the chair up as the other slipped on his sportcoat. Alec let out a heavy sigh.

     “Well…,” the big man said, finishing off his beer. “I gotta get back across the street. He tapped Alec on the shoulder and turned away from the bar. “Next time you stop by your mama’s, tell her I said hey.”

     Katie looked the bar over. The lunch crowd had dwindled down to a handful of tables. She cleared the empty glasses from the bar and set them in the sink beneath the counter then made her way back down the bar to Alec.  

“Your burger’ll be up in a couple minutes,” she said and leaned against the counter.

     “Depends on what?” He gulped down the last of his beer and pushed the glass toward her.

     She stared at him. “You see your doctor today?”

     “Nope,” he said and swallowed a gulp.

     “Alec…,” she whined. She looked across the room at the two men heading for the bar.

     “It’s a waste of time,” he said. “Ain’t nothing Doctor Trudeau can do for me…besides….” He wrapped his hand around the glass and finished it off.

     Katie whipped her head around to look back at him. “Besides what?” She turned to the two men. The taller of the two handed her a black leatherette case, his credit card protruding from the top of it. She quickly swiped the card then handed it back. “Thanks, guys.”

     The taller one winked at her then turned and followed his partner to the door.

     “So why won’t you go to the doctor?”

     Alec ran the back of his hand across his mouth and looked up at her, a hint of anger in his eyes. “Can I get another one, please?” He quickly looked back at the door as it slammed closed. “I’m fine,” he said, turning back to her. He brought a tiny green bottle out of his pocket and shook it at her. “Long as I got these, I’ll be alright.” He tucked the bottle back into his pocket.

     “Alec…,” she whined. “Doctor Trudeau….”

     “What?”

     She shook her head then grabbed another bottle of Bud Light from the cooler. “Sooner or later you’re gonna need some help.” She turned to see Benita waving a check at her. She slid the bottle toward him then walked away.

Alec filled his glass then pushed the empty bottle aside.

*****

     A thin, dark haired woman in a grey turtle-neck sat behind the faux-stone and redwood desk. A thick paperback book with a bright, lime green cover was lodged between her long slender fingers. She looked up at the man stumbling through the automatic revolving door. He hesitantly made his way across the marble floor toward her.

“Hi…,” she said and set her book aside. She stood, smoothing the lines from her black pencil skirt.

     Alec Dorsey glanced over his shoulder at the door. “Hey…,” he whispered. “I…I’m…I…a friend of mine is here.” A nervous smile tugged at his lips. “I finally got up the nerve to see him.”

     “Name…?”

     “Alec,” he said then chuckled. “Oh, you mean his name…Brian…Brian Higgins.” He watched her turn to the computer beside the desk.

     She brought up the name then turned to face him and caught him staring at her ass. “Your friend is on the sixth floor,” she said and grabbed the stack of Post-It Notes beside the keyboard. She scribbled the room number on the note pad then peeled it off and handed it to him. “Room sixty-three twenty-four.” She pointed to the trio of elevators on the far side of the lobby.

     Alec stared at the note a moment then looked across the lobby at the elevators. His heart pounded against his chest.

     She gave him a puzzled look. “Is everything ok?”

     He looked back at her and nodded. “Yeah…thanks.” He took a deep breath then willed himself to move.

     She watched him walk away then slid back into her chair and picked up her book.

*****

     The snow the Channel 23 weatherman had predicted was falling as freezing rain. Alec Dorsey’s kale green overcoat was soaked. He threw a glance back at the glass and brass doors of the Holt Street Theater. The skinny, baby-faced security guard was already turning the key in the push-bar, locking the door. He pulled the collar of his coat up over his ears then sprinted for the bus stop at the corner opposite the theater.

     The fifteen minute trip downtown to pick up his check had turned into more than an hour. He stared down the darkening street as he paced the curb in front of the bus stop. It was too cold, he surmised, to chance walking home. The Clancy Street Bridge would be a sheet of ice soon. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and shuddered, cursing under his breath.

     It was another ten minutes before the dirty yellow and white PTA bus pulled up to the corner. The doors stuttered open and an elderly black woman slowly made her way down the steps. She opened her tattered purple umbrella, spraying Alec with rain water. He gave her a perfunctory smile then quickly stepped past her.

     A little more than a dozen passengers were scattered through the bus. He dropped his token into the fare box then started down the aisle. A woman in a white, fur trimmed parka sat on the aisle just past the handicapped seating. He stared at her a moment. The bus lurched to a start and he found himself stumbling toward her.

“Excuse me,” he said, sliding into the seat beside a heavy-set, dark skinned man.

The woman looked over at him and a smile curled the corner of her full pink lips. “Alec…?” she said surprised.

He looked back at her, turned in his seat to face her. “I thought that was you,” he said. He glanced back at the front of the bus, catching the eye of the bus driver through the rearview mirror. He turned back to the woman. “How you been?”

She nodded. “Ok.” Her smile widened as she stared at him. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“Yeah…,” he mumbled. “Didn’t really leave.”

“I thought you were off to art school…Pittsburgh, right?”

Alec lowered his head briefly then shrugged. “That didn’t work out too well.”

She glanced at the back of the bus. A group of teenagers were gathered in the rear corner talking loudly. She rolled her eyes then turned back to Alec. “So what have you been doin’ with yourself then?”

“Freelancing mostly,” he said with a smirk. “Doin’ some carpentry work over at the theater.” She gave him a quizzical look. “I know, it ain’t exactly sculpture, but it pays.” Again he shrugged and looked away.

“Well…,” she sighed and watched him shift uncomfortably in his seat. “I ain’t exactly Doctor Crawford yet either.”

Alec smiled. “But you will be,” he said. “You wanted to be a doctor since what, sixth grade.”

A chuckle bubbled up out of her throat.

The bus turned onto Upland Avenue, making its way toward Cornell Hills. The man sitting beside Alec signaled for his stop then gathered up his collection of grocery bags.

He stood as the man squeezed past him and headed for the front of the bus. He turned his attention back to the woman as he sat down. He stared at her a moment. “You and Brian still…?”

She gave him a surprised look and shook her head and turned her eyes to the window. The rain had turned to a slushy snow.

The crooked smile on his face faded. He watched as she fidgeted with the straps of her purse. She looked over at him as he settled back into his seat and their eyes met. “What’s he been up to?”

She quickly turned away again and stared at the back of the seat in front of her. “He was deployed a little bit over a month ago,” she said and glanced over at him.

Alec felt his face flush. “Oh, wow,” he sighed. “You heard from him since he left?”

She nodded. “He sounds like he’s doing ok.”

“Brian…,” he said and chuckled under his breath. “He always was a jarhead.”

She nodded and stared ahead as the bus made the turn onto Clancy Street, heading for the bridge.

“Shannon…,” he said. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” she said and reluctantly looked over at him. Their eyes met.

“You wanna…get a bite to eat sometime?”

She took a deep breath. “Alec….” The bus made a wide turn as it crossed the bridge. She slid forward in her seat. Alec lunged forward to catch her. His hand landed on her breast. She looked at him startled and braced herself against the seat in front of her.

“Sorry…sorry,” he said embarrassed.

Shannon shook her head. “It’s ok.” She stood. “This is my stop anyway.” She pulled the yellow cord above the handrail then started toward the front of the bus. She glanced back at him. “It was good to see you.”

Alec watched her hurry to the door. The bus came to a halt in front of Jackson Elementary School. She looked back at him again then hurried up the walkway to the school.

“Yeah…,” he said to himself. The door closed behind her and the bus bolted away from the curb and continued on its route.

*****

It was hot.

The M4 felt like it weighed a ton. A sinking feeling lingered in the pit of Alec Dorsey’s stomach as he followed the three strong convoy of Humvees through the cluttered, narrow streets. He threw a glance over his shoulder. The last thirty yards, give or take, were clear. As he swept the barrel of the gun across the street, he thought he saw a puff of dust lingering in the air behind an overturned bus.

“Sarge…,” he barked, staring down the site of the gun as the dust settled. “Looks like we got Hajis in the midst.”

The gunner atop the rear Humvee eyed the rooftops. “Roger that…,” he shouted back. The sound of gunfire cut him off. He whipped the .50 caliber machine gun toward the rooftop of the four story building to his right and fired back.

Alec raced toward the bus, firing in quick burst. Crumbling plaster rained down on the street. He made his way around the end of the bus as an explosion erupted on the third floor balcony. He spun around as chunks of hand carved wood and stone shattered behind him.

The torso of a young boy lay among the rubble.

The lead Humvee rolled through the next intersection. An RPG caught the tail end of the truck. It spun sideways. The rear axel buckled and it rolled onto its side, blocking the street.

The gunner atop the rear Humvee let loose another salvo of rounds from the .50 caliber tearing through the lower floors of the building.

Alec stared at the boy’s torso. A tattered khaki colored smock was wrapped around his slender frame, splattered with blood. In his left hand he held what was left of a smaller hand.

“Move it, soldier,” the gunner barked. His Humvee bolted forward, following the caravan.

He staggered across the road and pressed himself against the stucco façade of a storefront. His eyes slammed shut. Gunfire pelted the doorway spraying bits of ashwood and mortar across his face.

The second Humvee sped through the intersection, swerved right. The gunner swung the turret of his machine gun left, spraying gunfire across the street. Another RPG shot through the cloud of dust. It missed its mark and smashed into the front of a café on the corner.

Alec slowly opened his eyes. His chest was pounding. His head was pounding. He felt dizzy. The sound of gunfire filled his ears. He peered out of the doorway and saw flames racing up the front of the café.

He staggered out of the doorway. The overturned Humvee was less than a block away. He found his footing and hurried toward the corner. Cover fire screeched over his head. He turned left and fired at the barricade of cement blocks and burned-out cars at the far end of the street.

The third Humvee made a hard right onto the cross street, gunfire trailing behind it. The gunner slumped over the turret then slipped out of sight.

Alec broke into a sprint. He spun to his right firing blindly at the terraces above the downed Humvee. A bullet grazed his helmet. Gunfire ripped through the air as he dropped to the ground. He could see the rest of the unit scurrying from the second truck.

A stocky Hispanic man leapt out of the truck. He looked down at Alec struggling to his feet. His head tilted back as blood squirted from the gaping hole that had opened in his neck.

Alec stood. He whirled around and fired back at the makeshift barricade then scrambled toward him. “Brian…,” he shouted. Blood was pooling in his mouth. “Fuck…medic….”

His eyes fluttered.

“Brian….” Alec said. Gunfire pinged off the side of the truck. He raised his rifle. Through the scope he could see three figures in black moving over the concrete barricade. He squeezed the trigger.

*****

“You alright?” she said.

Alec looked up at the woman’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. She was naked except for a pair of powder blue panties. Her strawberry blond hair was pulled back from her round freckled face into a pair of pigtails. He closed the lid of the toilet then sat down. “I’m fine,” he exhaled.

Katie Lightcap leaned against the doorway and folded her arms across her pert breast. Her vanilla colored skin glowed in the early morning light. “A little morning sickness, then?”

“Funny,” he said and smirked. He reached behind him and flushed the toilet. “Must’ve been something I ate.”

She walked over to him and straddled his lap. “Is that a shot at my cooking?”

He chuckled, leaned forward and kissed her gently between her breasts. “Maybe it was something else I ate.” She gasped then drew back her hand to slap him. He caught her by her wrist and they stared at each other a moment. He let go of her arm and shoved her back against the wall. Her feet slid out from under her and she fell to the floor beside the tub.

“Fuck…,” Katie groaned.

Alec stood. “K….”

She scrambled away from him. “Jesus,” she said and stood then walked out of the room.

“Katie….” He let out an angry sigh then ran his hand over his nearly bald head. After a moment, he followed her into the bedroom.

She was sitting on at the foot of the double bed wriggling into a pair of faded black jeans. She sat up, stepped into a pair of crimson and black Bordello boots then stood. A black V-neck t-shirt lay on the bed beside her. She fastened her jeans then grabbed the shirt.

“I’m sorry,” he started.

She pulled on the shirt, glanced over at him then slowly walked across the room. “I gotta get going anyway,” she said.

“Ka….” He exhaled loudly and rubbed his eyes. “It was the dream.”

She grabbed her pack of Marlboro Lights from the nightstand. “What was it about this time?” She tapped one of the cigarettes out of the pack then reluctantly pushed it back in. She glanced over at him as she dropped the pack into her purse.

Alec shook his head. “Nothin’,” he mumbled. “Just a bad dream.”

“You’ve had these dreams every night I’ve been here,” she said and combed her hair with her fingers. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

He shook his head. “It was just a bad dream, Kate,” he said.

“Well…it didn’t feel like just a dream,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He stared across the room at her. “I…I didn’t mean to….”

She gave him a half-hearted nod then slung the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “I’ll see you later then.”

Alec watched her walk out of the room. He made his way over to the dresser. A green pill bottle lay on its side among the collection of crumpled lottery tickets, cologne samples and a chrome plated lighter. He opened the bottle and tapped a pair of oval shaped, pale blue pills into his palm.

He slumped to the bed as he swallowed the pills and stared up at the ceiling. His eyes were almost closed when the cellphone on the nightstand began playing Oye Como Va. He reached for it, saw the number scroll across the screen then tossed it aside. The song ended abruptly.

*****

“Katie know you’re here?” Benita said. She pulled one of the round cardboard coasters out of the caddy at the far end of the table, set it in front of him then followed it with a frosted pilsner glass.

He shook his head and glanced up at her. He took the bottle of Bud Light as she handed it to him and filled the glass. “She lookin’ for me?” He set the bottle aside.

She threw a glance around the bar. The evening crowd was starting to file in. She slid into the seat across from him. “What happened wit’ ya’ll?” she asked, lowering her voice.

“She didn’t tell you?” Alec said and swallowed a gulp of beer.

She quickly shook her head.

“Then I won’t either.”

Benita smirked. “You two get into a fight?” She looked over her shoulder at the tall, skinny man behind the bar and saw him talking to Russ and another man in a leather jacket and jeans. She turned back to Alec. “Come on…,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I saw the bruises on her neck.”

He set the glass down and stared at her.

“…or was that from something else?”

“Benita….”

“What?” She gave him a crooked grin and winked.

He picked up his drink. “There goes your tip,” he said and sipped his beer.

“Like you tip all that much.” She slowly pushed away from the table and stood. “If you hurt her, you know I’ll fuck you up.”

Alec rolled his eyes.

“You know I can.” She backed away from him then turned and headed for the bar.

Alec swallowed another mouthful of beer then set the glass down and pushed it away. A stocky man dressed in desert camouflage passed by him heading for the pool tables. He turned to follow him and he was gone. He shook his head then finished his beer.

After a moment he stood and dug the deer skin wallet out of his back pocket. He rifled through the wallet, found a ten and slid it under the glass then turned and made his way across the bar to the door.

*****

She was sitting on the stoop of the brownstone when he rounded the corner of Williams Street and Fifth Avenue. A bottle of Bud Light dangled between her legs from the tips of her fingers. Beside her sat two plastic grocery bags. He smiled then jogged across the street to meet her.

Katie took another sip of her beer then dropped the aluminum bottle into one of the bags. She looked to her left and saw Alec darting across the narrow street, a grin on his face. She brushed the flakes of snow from her hair then stood and started down the steps.

“Hey…,” he said then threw a quick glance over her shoulder at the bags. “You movin’ in?” He looked back at the corner as the number thirty bus rumbled through the intersection then tucked his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

She smirked. “Funny,” she said brushing her dirty blond hair from her face. “Where you been…I’ve been out here almost half an hour?”

Alec shook his head. “Had an errand to run.”

She stared back at him a moment, started to say something then sighed. “You alright?”

He gave her a curt nod then stepped past her. “What’s in the bags?”

“Dinner,” she said and followed him. “Thought you might be hungry.”

He fished his keys out of the pocket of his windbreaker then grabbed the bags from the stairs. The rattle of beer bottles caught his attention. “How long’d you say you were out here?” he chuckled and opened the door.

“Long enough,” Katie grumbled. She pulled open the glass door then followed him into the building. “Your neighbors are at it again.” She nodded toward the apartment at the far end of the hall.

Bass heavy rap music blared down the hall. Alec stared at the door then handed her the bags. “Take these upstairs,” he muttered. “I’ll….”

“No…Alec….” She jerked her head toward the stairs, her hair falling across her pale blue eyes. He let out an angry sigh then reluctantly followed her up the steps.

The apartment was dark except for the fluorescent light over the sink and the flickering glow of the television in the living room. He set the bags on the counter then tossed the empty beer bottles into the trash can. “So what’s the occasion?” He grabbed a bottle from the remnants of the six pack and headed for the living room.

She pushed her hair back from her face and took a pack of chicken out of the bag. “No reason,” she replied and set it in the sink. The tap sputtered as she turned on the cold water. “What was your errand?”

“I…,” he started then turned her attention back to the TV. “Nothing.” He flopped onto the couch and laid the remote on the coffee table. The second round of Jeopardy had started. A stoutly built dark-haired woman was trouncing her two male competitors. He laid his head back on the couch and pressed the cold bottle against his left temple.

A collection of mismatched steak knives lined the drawer to the right of the sink. She grabbed one, popped the plastic wrapping covering the chicken and peeled it away. “What was that?” She washed the wrapping under the tap then tossed it in the trash. A slight smile lit across her face. She turned the water down to a trickle then leaned against the doorway. “You go see your doctor?”

He looked back at her then quickly turned away.

The hint of a smile disappeared. “I’ll take that as a no,” she grumbled.

Alec stood and faced her. “Katie…,” he started. She turned away from him and walked back into the kitchen. “I….”

“Whatever,” she shot back. She shut the water off, grabbed a glass pie pan from the cabinet beneath the sink and emptied the last of flour from the tin on the counter into it then slammed the cabinet closed.

“Katie.”

She turned to face him. “What….” A sneer turned the corner of her mouth. “Oh…was that too loud for you?”

He stared back at her a moment. “Fuck you.”

“See, this is why you need to go see that doctor.”

“What,” he said. “Because of a little noise?” He watched her turn away from him then sat back down. He grabbed the remote, flipped through a half a dozen channels then tossed the remote aside angrily.

Katie brushed the back of her hand across her cheek. She found a half empty bottle of worcestershire sauce in the cabinet over the sink and slammed it on the counter. Tears slowly welled behind her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said and threw a quick glance back at him. “But, Alec, you need to talk to somebody.”

“Kate…,” he sighed.

“…and I can’t be that somebody anymore.”

He looked back at her then stood. She was leaning against the sink, her head down. He slowly walked toward her. “What?”

She turned to face him. “You need help, Alec.”

“You’re leaving me?”

She shook her head quickly. “No,” she said. “But I’m not gonna watch you do this to yourself.”

“Do what?”

[quillthewriter-blog]

No One Else

Bryer was sitting on the couch with his twin brother Brynden. Brynden was playing a video game while bryer read his favorite book. Their younger sister Juliet walked into the room wearing a knee length light blue dress with white polka dots. She walked over and sat beside bryer with a look of discontent.

“You ok sis?” Bryer asked her.

She pauses for a brief moment before answering him, “i’ll be okay….” she trails off into thought

“But are you okay right now?”

“More or less.”

“Juliet, you know that you can trust me.”

He puts down his book at takes her hand his other arm still wrapped around her shoulders.

“Well, maybe i don’t want you to know, ok?” she snaps at him angrily. She gets up and storms off upstairs to her room. She slams the bedroom door and checks to make sure that it’s locked. Then she goes over to her bed and sits down. Very carefully she moves her long red hair out of the way and looks at the scars and bruises on her shoulder. They match with a couple of bruises that trail her arms and back.

“When do i get to have a normal life? Something worthwhile and good.” she thought to herself. she pulled her hair back into a ponytail leaving nothing but her bangs hanging down across her face. A knock sounded at her door. She went to the door and opened it up just enough for him to see her face and not the scars on her shoulders. It was her older brother brynden.

“What do you want?” she asked him.

“Can i come in?”

“...No…”

“Why not?”

“...you just can’t, okay?” she began to sound a bit annoyed

“Is there a reason why you don’t want me or bryer to know?”

“...not really..” she lied. She wished that there wasn’t a reason, but there was. If she told her brothers, then he would hurt her again. She couldn’t go through that again. Juliet shut the door, but this time she forgot to lock it. She went over to her bed and layed down, eventually falling asleep.

She woke up the next morning to someone rubbing her shoulder. She turned around and there sat alex. A tall boy who was two years older than juliet. He had dark brown hair and bright green eyes like cold ice.

“Good morning babe.” he said to her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him. She got up so that she wouldn’t be so close to him anymore than she had to.

“You’re brothers let me in”

“Why would they do something like that?” she glared at him

“Because i’m your boyfriend? Do i really need a reason to be here?”

“Yes you do, and next time, it better be good reason.”

“Watch the way you talk to me, pet. You really should learn your place”

“Oh i should, should i? Yea, and your place is not in my bedroom. Or my house. Now leave.” she started to look visibly annoyed by alex. He walked up to her and grabbed her wrist, twisting it back a bit. It hurt and tears started form in her eyes.

“What was that, pet?” he glared at her in disgust of what she had said.

“I...im sorry.” she muttered. He let go of her and pushed her down.

“Good, because next time you decide to run your mouth i won't be so nice.” on that note he walked out of the room and left the house. Leaving juliet in tears. Her brother bryer heard heard her crying and entered the room. He knelt down on the floor beside her and took her hand.

“Did something happen….” He trailed off when he noticed the scars on her shoulder that were now visible because her hair was pulled back. “Juliet, who did this to you?” he looked visibly worried.

“....alex did.” she responded hesitantly. Her brothers expression changed from sympathetic to pure shock and hatred.

“And when did he do it?” her brother asked her.

“It been a constant thing for the past three years now.” she responded, “but... that's not all..” she pulled her sleeves up revealing the scars on her arms and then unzipped the back of her dress revealing the scars and cuts on her back.

“Juliet….why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, gently reaching out and tracing the scars and cuts with his finger. She flinched in pain and he pulled his hand away.

“He told me that if i told anyone that he would hurt me worse, but please don’t let him know i told you.”

“Why shouldn’t i?” he responded, “he abused you, i can have him arrested.”

“But he hasn’t done it anymore.” she lied. She knew that if word got out about this that alex would find someway to punish her for it, and that was what scared her the most.

“..ok” he brother replied hesitantly before standing up to leave, “if you need anything or if he ever does this again please promise me you’ll come to me or brynden.”

“..ok”

On that note, he left the room. Juliet sat there in pain, still holding onto her wrist. She wanted to scream, although it would do no good. So, instead she just cried. She would never get over this.

The next day, juliet was down stairs reading when there was a knock at the door. At first she was scared to answer it, but she hesitantly got up and went to open it. When she opened it, there stood Dylan White. He was about 5’11 and exactly one year older than juliet was. He had curly hair that was pitch black and bright water blue eyes.

“Hey, just the person i was hoping to run into.” he says, while smiling brightly at her.

“It’s nice to see you again dylan.” she lets him in the house and shuts the door. Dylan see’s one of the marks on her back when she walks back over to the couch.

“Juliet, come here for a sec.”

“Why?”

“Please?”

“Okay” she walks over to him.

“Now turn around” she does so hesitantly. Dylan moves her hair out of the way revealing the scars and bruises on her back.

“Can i touch them?”

“Sure” He traces the scars with his finger and she winces in pain.

“Who did this to you?” he asks her.

Juliet turns around to face him, “i can’t tell you” he pulls her closer to him, making their eyes meet.

“You need to tell me, so that i can protect you.”

“...Alex did”

“Did he do anything else?”

“N-no…” she lies

“I don’t believe you” juliet rolls her sleeves up and shows him the cuts and bruises on her arms. The door to her house swings open and alex strides in. He pushes dylan away from juliet and curses at him.

“Stay away from my girl you prick” he hisses, pushing dylan down. Juliet kneels down beside him and helps him up. She holds onto his arm and hides behind him.

“I thought i warned you a long time ago to stay away, she's mine.” Dylan punches alex in the mouth, making him stumble back.

“Don’t talk as if she is an object to own” Alex gets up, glares at dylan and leaves. Dylan turns to juliet and wraps his arms around her tightly. Juliet melts in the hug and felt safe in that moment. She hadn’t felt like that in 3 years. She wanted time to stop right there, she wanted to stay like this forever, but unfortunately time stops for no one. Not even the weak.

The next morning juliet got up and got ready for school. She took a quick shower and did her makeup. Dylan arrived at her house to pick her up. He was riding his red harley-davidson bike that he loved so much. She got on and they rode to school together. When they arrived juliet asked dylan if he would walk her to class because she didn’t wanna be alone if she ran into alex. Dylan said yes and they went to the art room (juliet's first period). When they get there he gives her a quick hug and leaves. She walks over to her desk and sits down. She takes out her sketchbook and starts to draw. She draws a picture of a field with only one tree, there is a full moon in the sky, she is under that tree with dylan. Her head is laid on his shoulder and they are looking at pictures in a book. Alex strides into the room with a smirk on his face. He goes over to juliet and sits down on her desk, knocking the drawing off of it. Alex picks up the drawing and frowns.

“Who is that?” he says, pointing to the drawing of her and dylan.

“It’s me and a friend.”

“On some sort of date, right?” juliet doesn’t answer him, she just looks down. “You, are mine. Got that pet?” he puts his hand under her chin and lifts her head up so that she is forced to look at him.

“Ok..im..s-sorry..” she says softly

“You’d better be.” he tears the drawing in half and juliet watching as her dream falls to the ground in two pieces. Tears form in her eyes as alex gets up and goes to his desk. His desk just happens to be right beside elle’s, the prettiest girl in school, and her fraternal twin daisy. Alex starts flirting with ellie and daisy gets up and walks over to juliet.

“Are you ok?” She asks her

“Im fine” juliet responds, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying. Daisy slips her a small piece of paper and goes back to her desk. Juliet opens up the paper and reads it to herself, “here is my number. I figured that you wouldn't wanna talk about what happened in class.”

Juliet must have read over the note at least 10 times with tears in her eyes.

Someone on the outside who knew nothing about her actually cared.

Dylan was sitting on his bed playing a video game when his mom came into his room.

“Dylan there is a boy here to see you. He said he knows you. His name is alex.”

“Send him in” dylan replies, putting away his game controler. A few minutes later alex strides into the room.

“Hello Dylan”

“What do you want?”

“I just wanna talk”

“Why”

“It's about juliet”

“What did you do alex?”

“Oh nothing she's just been heavily drugged and is currently passed at my place”

“Your sick”

“Maybe...but at least i know what im doing” a smile spreads across alex face and dylan grabs his keys and runs out of the room. Alex trails behind him. Dylan saw that his bike tires had been slashed.

“You won't get very far like that” alex says laughing. Dylan glares at him and starts running to alex house. He gets there about five minutes later. He runs inside and juliet is laid out on the couch unconscious. Dylan runs over to her and tears form in his eyes.

“Juliet please wake up, i need you. I can't do this without you. Please don't leave me, not yet.”

“She won't wake you fool” alex says as he enters the room. He walks over to juliet and touches two fingers to her wrist.

“No pulse” he lies. Dylan grabs alex by his shirt collar and punches him in the face making alex fall back.

“Your crazy. WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS!?” He yells at him. Alex doesn't answer, he just starts laughing. Dylan takes out his phone and calls the cops and juliet's brothers. Dylan had finally figured out what true pain was. And he didn't want it to become part of his life.

One week later juliet wakes up in the hospital. Dylan is holding her hand.

“So you're awake” he says giving her a kiss on the forehead.

“What happened?”

“Alex did some bad things to you, but me and your brothers brought you here”

“Is he gone”

“He won't ever hurt you again.”

It turned out that alex was put into a mental asylum. That monday, juliet walked to school with her new best friend daisy and her new boyfriend, dylan white.