#in case you’re curious the videos I’ve been watching are a series from Lost in Adaptation named “the Harrypotterathon”

[quibbs126]

Been seeing videos about Harry Potter recently, and a thought I remembered having some years ago was “what if Harry had a pet snake instead of Hedwig?”

I just thought it’d be interesting because he’s a Parselmouth, and thus can actually talk to the snake. Plus, wasn’t one of his first magical incidents him talking to a snake?

I don’t know if young wizards are allowed to have snakes as pets or not, but still, it could be interesting

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

Part Two. Jackbox Shenanigans

warnings: swearing word count: 2.6k (not including pictures) behind the screen (irl dream x reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist

Y/n flinched awake, startled by the sounds traveling from the kitchen. Once again, the frosty air pricked her skin, trying to convince her to not move, to stay in bed under the warm blankets. Despite the feeling pulling her into her bed, she rubbed her eyes and sat up, grabbing her phone from her nightstand. Texts from Karl flooded her screen and she replied as she took her comforter off her mattress and wrapped it around herself. She pattered to the source of the noise to find her roommate was making food.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Naomi asked, eyes wide with concern as she looked at Y/n. "I dropped a pan."

Y/n, who was observing the world through one squinted eye, shook her head and she sat at the counter in the kitchen. "No, I should be awake anyway."

"You're usually awake much earlier. Late night?"

Y/n nodded. "George streamed and we all talked for a little after."

"Oh, yeah, I watched his stream this morning..." she started, eyes focused on the food in front of her but Y/n still caught the mischievous glint in her roommate's eyes.

"Of course you did," Y/n laughed through a yawn. "That's your lover."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you gave me his number he would be."

"He doesn't give it to many people. I just barely got it and I've been friends with him for a year. I'm pretty sure Karl doesn't even have it."

Naomi groaned, though Y/n knew it was a joke... for the most part. She got another text from Karl, and consulted Naomi for a second opinion.

"Should I post this?" Y/n asked, lazily holding up her phone with a picture on the screen. Naomi squinted as she looked back over her shoulder. "Karl keeps yelling at me too."

"Yeah! That's a cute outfit. Make sure to credit Karl or he'll yell at you for that as well."

"No chance I'm doing that."

.

Incoming FaceTime... karol <3

Y/n hit accept and held the phone up to make a face at Karl. He mimicked the position. "Hello, sir."

"Hello, ma'am."

"What are you doing?" she asked him, walking to the bathroom to brush her teeth, her comforter dragging on the floor behind her as it continued to protect her from the cold.

Karl got distracted and started messing with something out of the camera view. "Um, trying to figure out what to do for my stream tonight. What about you?"

"I'm waiting for you to give me a fit check!" Y/n yelled. Karl quickly looked at the camera and smiled. He set his phone down on his desk and ran backward so his whole body was in frame. He posed awkwardly a few different ways before running back and resuming his position.

"Yes!" Y/n hyped with a mouthful of toothpaste. "Let's go, Karl! Karl with the old man sweater!!"

He giggled. "You're the one that told me to buy it."

"Because it's sick. Doesn't mean it didn't belong to an old man before you."

Karl pouted before his face lit up. "Guess what. I met a girl."

"Oh?" Y/n cooed. "Where? Do you have pictures? Is she cute?"

"She's Jimmy's new cameraman. Camerawoman. I don't have pictures, and yes. She's very cute." His cheeks turned red and Y/n smiled, flipping off the bathroom light and heading to her closet. She threw her comforter back on the bed and tried to pick out an outfit.

"Come on, bud, elaborate. What's her name? Have you asked her out yet?"

"You don’t get to know her name, I don’t want to jinx anything. Plus, you’ll just look ‘Mr Beast crew’ and find out anyway. Also, no, I haven’t. I'm pretty sure she thinks I hate her because I have not said a single word to her. I get so nervous when she's around I freeze up and just like... act weird. And then as soon as she's gone, Chris freaking roasts me so bad."

"Aw, I can teach you how to flirt if you want!"

"Yeah, okay," he scoffed, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"What's with the attitude? I'm great at flirting."

"No, you're not. I watched Gogy's stream last night."

"What does that have anything to do with anything?"

"I heard the way you spoke to Dream."

"What?!"

"You have zero game, Y/n. Absolutely none. Zilch, if you will."

"Yeah, because I wasn't flirting with him?"

"Not successfully, at least."

"Karl, what?" Y/n laughed but she was so confused. "No part of me was trying to flirt with anyone in that stream."

"Oh, come on," Karl groaned. "Don't do this again. Don't pretend to not like a guy and then cry to me when you're wack ass attempts don't win him over."

"Karl," Y/n started, looking directly at him. "I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about. I wasn't flirting with him. I do not like him."

"I'm just saying, you talk about him a lot. Like, you always panic when he interacts with your posts because you're scared he's going to DM you right after. And you gush about him a lot."

"I do not gush. I admire the hard work he puts into his videos but I talk the same about him as I do with George and Sapnap. The only difference is I'm friends with them and not Mr. Minecraft. He's intimidating, that doesn't mean I have a crush on him."

Karl stared for a moment, trying to read Y/n's expression to detect any lies. "You'd tell me if you did, right?"

"Karl, I tell you everything. I'd tell you if I murdered your family." They both laughed. "It's impossible to hide anything from you, you're my best friend."

"Okay, sweet, but please don't murder my family, just to be clear."

"I won't. I love your mom too much."

"Well, how was meeting Dream, then? Despite apparently not being in love with him?"

"It was cool. Terrifying because it felt very forced but the four of us hung out on the call after George ended his stream and he was much more relaxed."

"That's true. Aren't we all?"

"Not you! You're the exact same person on and off camera. Just a little ball of giggles."

Karl giggled which made them both laugh more. Suddenly, as if he completely forgot until that moment, Karl sat up quickly and yelled, "What am I going to do for the stream?"

Y/n shrugged. "See if anyone wants to play Jackbox. Chat always loves those and it's relatively easy to throw together last minute. You just need to find people that are free to play."

"Genius. Who should we invite?"

"We?"

"Yeah. It was your idea, you have to play."

"But, I've never played! And I barely know all your friends so I wouldn't get half the inside jokes. I'd be a boring addition."

"Please? They're your friends too! You just talked to Sapnap and George for four hours yesterday and George was the only one playing anything. That's friendship if I've ever seen it."

"But... others.... like literally everyone besides Sap and George...."

"Things like this are how you get to know them better. Besidessss, you're never boring."

"Fine, I'll play."

"YES!" he shouted. "Okay, who should we invite?"

**********

**********

Y/n huffed and scooted her chair closer to her desk. She pulled up Discord and hovered over the voice chat everyone was in. An overwhelming number of voices chaotically spoke over each other as soon as she joined.

"Oh no," she mumbled.

"AYYEE!!" a voice yelled, the green bubble lighting around Quackity's name confirming her suspicions.

"Aye," she said back less enthusiastic. "Hi everyone."

"She's here!" George cheered.

Y/n could hear Sapnap huff. "Finally. Geesh."

"This isn't even your stream, calm down." Y/n's eyes scanned the names on the left to read who else was involved in tonight's games. She had suggested a few people to Karl but wasn't sure about the final list. Besides the boys who had already greeted her were BadBoyHalo and Dream.

"Hello, Bugsy! It's nice to meet you! I'm BadBoyHalo."

Y/n smiled widely at his voice. "Hi, BadBoyHalo! Nice to meet you too."

Her eyes slowly traveled to the last name on the list, which had yet to greet her. She wasn't bitter, but she was curious why he hadn't said anything yet. The boys hyped up him talking about her so much but she had yet to feel that energy from him. She picked at the bottom of her hoodie, eyes darting between the names as they lit up when someone spoke.

"Is Dream still AFK?" Sapnap asked.

"I think so," Bad replied.

Maybe that's the only reason he hadn't said anything. Y/n felt stupid for thinking it had anything to do with her.

"He's probably coding something or something like that," George teased.

"Haha nerdy ass man," Quackity cackled.

"Language."

"Don't you also code shit, George?" Sapnap called out. "You're probably helping him test something after this, huh? As Quackity said, nerdy ass man."

"You know what, Sapnap? I'm not sure I like your attitude all that much."

Y/n smiled. Despite feeling nervous, she was already having fun just listening to everyone talk. The real nerves would kick in when they were live in front of tens of thousands of people and she would have to be funny.

A message popped up in the general chat, notifying everyone that Karl was joining the voice call soon so they shouldn't say anything bad.

"Everyone say something weird," Quackity directed.

Discord dinged and Karl's name joined the list on the side. "AAAHHHH-!" he started yelling over everyone to let them know he was here in case they were saying anything bad. With his luck, they were going to say stuff anyway to mess with him.

"So, yeah, that's how I lost my virginity," Quackity said as if he just finished a story.

"To a prostitute?" Sapnap added quickly. "Wow, I never thought you... oh Karl!"

"Language!" Bad gasped.

"What the..." Karl laughed loudly. "What did I just join?"

"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry," Quackity apologized, which was hard to make out since he was laughing so hard, surprised at what Sapnap added to his joke.

"Bad, you can't say language about a prostitute," Sapnap defended. "That's really rude of you. Maybe it's a little unconventional but they're just tryna make some money the best way they know how."

George laughed with Quackity as Bad sputtered. "I-I said language about what Quackity said!"

"What, virginity?" Karl asked innocently and Bad yelled again.

"Bad hates people who have had sex!" Y/n called, causing Quackity to laugh loudly.

"Bad! How could you?! That's so messed up!"

"Wait, guys, is everyone here?" Karl asked.

"Dream isn't. We don't know where he went."

Karl groaned and started typing something, presumably yelling at Dream to join.

"Let's goooo! We're popping off!" Quackity started saying, stalling. "We're popping off!" George joined him, becoming absolute fools to keep the chat entertained.

"Okay, he's here!" Karl said. "Everyone's here!"

"I'm here, I'm here, sorry. I was... yeah, sorry," Dream stuttered out.

"Welcome back, Dream!" Bad chirped.

"Hello!" he replied. Unexpectedly, his next greeting was directed at Y/n. "Hi, Bug."

Y/n instantly got shy for no discernable reason. She blamed it on his voice and its ability to manipulate emotions any way he wanted. That and she was getting attention from someone first. "Hi," she squeaked back, hoping the contrast of her icy hands would cool her face enough to focus on the game.

"Bugsy, you are adorable," Bad stated simply.

"Sapnap! What did you just send me?" George asked loudly, and just like that, the attention was off of her and she could breathe again.

"What?" Sapnap feigned innocence.

This was going to be a long game.

"Let's play!" Karl decided. "Should we warm up with some Quippy?"

Y/n focused intensely on her answers, silently hoping the others would find her funny.

"Oh my gosh," she mumbled as everyone else finished writing. "Y'all, I'm about to get Quiplashed so hard. Don't make fun of me."

"I seriously doubt it," Dream said. "You can't possibly be worse than George at this game."

"Shut up, we always-  it's like 3 am my time. I can't, like, think of things 'cause my brain isn't functioning."

"Yeah, that's why," Sapnap teased.

"Surreee," Dream said.

The first round wasn't too bad. Y/n was in 5th place but she got quite a few laughs so she didn't care too much about where she stood. She got a notification from Dream on Twitter as everyone laughed at one of Quackity's answers.

Y/n looked back at her screen and saw the new prompt and answers. She read them quickly as everyone was laughing and with a few seconds left to choose, voted for the one on the left. It was funnier anyway.

She loosened up substantially after another round, and she knew it was mostly because Dream had reached out to her. Something about him comforted her and made her feel safe, which warmed her heart.

"Bugsy! What the hell, that's so messed up. You're so messed up," Quackity yelled, laughing at the answer on the screen. They were playing Survive the Internet and her comment got taken way out of context, just as the game intended.

"Oh my gosh!" Karl cackled loudly. "Bugsy, I didn't know you felt that way. Oh my gosh? They're just kids?? Bugsy out the gang?"

Y/n hid her face in her hands and laughed. "Noooo!! Wait I never knew- I didn't know I was ever in the gang?"

"She really said, 'infant children? slaughter them all'," Sapnap joked.

"You know, I think you'd get along really well with Technoblade," Dream added. "Though his specialty is orphans, as it appears."

"No, no, no, whoever wrote that heading is SO messed up!" Y/n defended, rereading the heading that made her comment look bad. She knew it was a game but all the attention on her was making her embarrassed. "Who would think to put that?"

"Everyone cancel Busgy!" Karl yelled.

"Karl, no! You're supposed to be my best friend!"

"I don't know how I feel about my best friend killing children..."

"Karl!!"

"Nooo," Bad protested softly. "I like Bugsy. Don't cancel her."

"Everyone vote!"

The article with Y/n's name turned out to be Dream's. "Dream! What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled, causing him to wheeze loudly.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I wanted point."

The whole night ended up being like that. Y/n had a lot of fun and by the end, she felt a lot more comfortable with all of them. Quackity, Karl, and Sapnap were loud and very high energy while George and Bad were quieter. Dream was half and half, sometimes matching Quackity's volume and sometimes going a while without saying a word. Overall, Y/n had a lot of fun and hoped to let back in the gang in the future.

**********

PREVIOUS • NEXT

**********

A/N: WOOO PART TWOOO!! Hope you guys enjoyed this part! Also thank you so much for all the love on the first part!! I did not expect it to get as much attention as it did!!!!!

we clearly haven’t got to dream and yn being close yet bc they literally met the day before this but i added a small little dream/yn moment :] pls let me know how you liked this part!!!!!!!!!!!! 

taglist: OPEN (at the time) @hydrate-tion @loraleiix @tinaswagbd @charsdummb @smileyyuta @1ghoste1 @cerberus-hellhound @gaysludge @queestionmark @carnations-red @letsloveimagines @the-fictionwriters-hairdo @boiled-onionrings @a-cryptic @fee-btheweeb @letsloveimagines @erwinss @just-a-stan

[harryhandstan]

washed away in you

I don’t have much to say except I appreciate your patience with me as I worked on this piece! I apologize again for all the confusion with posting and deleting and now reposting. This is the third part to my Dad!Harry series. Once again you don’t have to read those to understand this one, but I’ve linked them below in case you would like to revisit them. :)

Thank you to @taintedwonder for reading over part of this for me!

word count: 4.2k

needles tw // (small mention towards the end)

I Want Your Belly (part one) | Wonderful and Warm (part two) | writing tag | masterlist

y’all have already been so good to me but as always likes, rbs, and comments are welcome!!

//

Of all the weeks to be put on bed rest, it had to be the week that Harry started filming for his new movie role.

Technically you were on modified bed rest, which meant resting as much as possible but still moving around as necessary, but the phrase terrified Harry enough that he was doing whatever he could to keep you still. It hadn’t been an easy task, you were in your 8th month of pregnancy, quickly approaching your due date, and there still seemed to be a mountain of important things to get done before your son’s arrival.

It had only been two days since you’d started having what you thought were contractions. It had forced you and Harry to realize just how unprepared the two of you were when you had to rush out of the house at 2 a.m. with nothing packed for what could possibly be the night of your child’s appearance into the world. Just the two of you with disheveled hair and rumpled pajamas under the harsh lighting of the ER exam room. 8 hours of tests and scans and a visit from your doctor later, you returned home to fall back in bed and catch up on the sleep you had missed.

“Listen you’re both new to all this..I get it. But you’re putting too much stress on your body and that’s what caused this tonight. I know it’s hard but, take a week, relax, bed rest as much as possible. I’ll see you in my office again in a few days just to make sure everything is progressing along like we want. If there’s still too much stress on the baby, we may have to push your due date up a little earlier. But we don’t want to do that if we can avoid it.”

Currently you were in the nursery, where most of the last minute things to do remained. You were standing at the changing table, folding a set of onesies to be put away. Harry had been urging you for the past 10 minutes to sit down.

“Harry, I have been in bed all night, or as much of it as your son allowed me to be without kicking me in the ribs or pressing on my bladder. I just wanna get these folded and put away and I’ll be done.”

“Well you can at least sit while y’doing them. Or, let me finish ‘em.” His hands fall on your shoulders, gently guiding you towards the rocking chair in the corner. You gesture for him to bring the basket closer, “And why is he only my son when he’s causing you trouble?”

“Maybe cause it was your birthday treat that got us into this mess. Or because he already likes to tease us so much. Besides, you can’t do them, I have a system.”

“Yeah, a birthday treat planned by you. And I know the system, you showed me two days ago.”

“You knew the system, we changed it.”

“We? I’ve barely been home how’ve we..”

“I may have called your Mum again.” You shrug, propping your feet up on the small ottoman positioned in front of the chair, “She and I agreed it’s better this way.”

“You didn’t think it was important to notify me of this system you and y’new bestie have thought up?” He’s turned to lean his back against the changing table, arms folded across his chest. As much as he wants to be upset, he’s over the moon that you and Anne have become so much closer over the past few months. Between his mom and yours, plus your sister and his, he was thrilled to see you had so much support for days when he couldn’t be there. Anne had offered to fly out to spend the week with you, as did your mom, but you put them both off, promising you would need them more the few weeks after the birth.

“Been a little busy growing a human here, Harry. May have slipped my mind. I would’ve gotten around to it eventually.”

“Right, you can just tell me where everything goes then.” He’s already worked his way through folding the last of the pile, smiling proudly at you as you lean your head back and close your eyes, sinking further into the chair.

“Socks in the second drawer to the left, hats in the middle. If the onesies are newborn sized, they go to the right. Anything bigger than that gets tucked in the baskets by size there in the middle shelf of the closet, if you can find room.”

Between the two of your families and your group of mutual friends, you’d been given 4 baby showers over the past few months, combining with the items you and Harry had supplied for yourselves. People had been more than generous in helping stock the nursery for your little one.

“All done. How ‘bout some breakfast now?”

“You don’t have time. You have to be on set in less than an hour. I’ll make myself something in a bit. I may go back to sleep for a while, just got up to see you off and wanted to put those things away.”

“Always have time for you, angel,” He offers his hand to help you lift yourself up, “Maybe a smoothie?”

“Alright, if I let you make me a smoothie, will you take yours to go? Don’t want you to be late because of me.”

“Deal. But only if you let me tuck you back into bed before I go.”

“Deal.” You lean up slightly to accept the sweet kiss he offers before shuffling off to the kitchen together.

//

“Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve decided. You’re not allowed to look.”

You knew he wasn’t listening, trying to maybe, but not really. He sits across the room at the desk in the corner of your bedroom, glasses perched on the end of his nose, guitar in his lap, journal open in front of him. He’s in writing mode, something that usually takes you at least 30 minutes to coax him from and convince him to come to bed. Not that you ever wanted to interrupt his process, but tonight you’re feeling anxious about your impending delivery, dread slowing working its way through your body. 

It had been only a few days since your follow up appointment with your doctor. She had deemed you fit to come off bed rest, but urged you to continue to try to keep your stress level to a minimum as much as possible. Easier said than done, but you were finding small ways to relax yourself when you could; meditation, music, reading. But tonight you just wanted Harry for reassurance.

In your nightly scroll through one of your recent favorite mom-to-be blogs, you had come across an article on the difficulty of delivery. You appreciated moms who were brave enough to share their stories online and this person in particular had included a video. Despite your anxiety, you clicked to watch, curiosity overriding any fear rising in your chest. 

When he finally puts away the guitar and the journal and sheds his soft purple robe to swim up the bed to settle next to you, he asks, “Were y’sayin’ something earlier, m’love? Got lost there for a bit, m’sorry.”

His writing sessions were normally done in his office or the studio, but the past few weeks he’d preferred to do them here. Liked the idea of you trying to softly hum along to a new tune he was working through, occasionally offering your opinions about what you liked or didn’t. It was rare that you disliked anything, but he liked that you didn’t shy away from being honest with him. His favorite though? The sight of you, an open book, hand always resting on the side of your belly while you read. It was just as much a comfort for him to be near you these days as it was for you.

“Yeah. I’ve decided. You’re not allowed to look when I deliver this baby.”

His head rests on your thigh, only the side of his face visible as he looks up at you, but it’s enough to see the disappointment flash before he composes himself, not wanting to upset you.

“Alright. What d’you mean by that? Like..you don’t want me in the room or..”

“No, no, I want you in the room, that was never a question. You’re just not allowed to look when I’m pushing. I watched a video and I’m traumatized and I just..”

He sits up quickly, “You watched a birthing video? Without me?”

“Yeah, earlier when you were zoned out. You’ve never seen one?”

“Never been curious enough to watch one ‘til now. Not ‘til I thought of you having our babe. Show me the one you watched?”

You’re hesitant. Truly you’re touched he’s so curious and wants to share this experience with you, but right now the thought of him seeing your body change like that is scary. He senses your unease, almost reads your mind; he knows you so well.

“Babe, s’your body. If you really don’t want me t’look, then I won’t. Just..at least show me what you watched so I can see for myself what it’s like, what you’ll go through. S’all m’askin’ for now.”

“Okay, fine,” You pat the bed next to you and he scurries up to sit, his head on your shoulder while you navigate through your browser history to find the video. You start it, but your eyes stay focused on his face.

“Y’not gonna watch it again with me?”

“No,” You drape your arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer so you can rest your head on top of his, “I’d rather watch your reactions this time around.”

You’re curious to see how he reacts to certain parts; his little gasps and winces as the video progresses. When it ends, you’re not surprised to see tears have fallen down his face and made a small wet spot on the front of his t-shirt.

“Harry, you’re not upset with me, are you?”

“‘Course not, meant what I said earlier. If you really don’t want me t’look, then I won’t..but I don’t want you to think I’ll look at you any differently after. You’re givin’ me one of the greatest gifts anyone ever has, if anything I love you more than I ever thought I could. And that’s only gonna grow once our boy’s here.”

You run your hands through his hair, not sure what to say. You’ve never had a love this big, one that envelops you so fully. The past few months have shown you just how deeply he cares for you, and just how much your own heart could stretch to fill with your overwhelming love for Harry and now the baby growing inside you.      

He doesn’t take offense to your silence, just stills your hand and brings it to his lips, kissing each of your fingertips. He slumps further down the bed, head level with your stomach. He pokes it softly through your shirt. He doesn’t even have to ask anymore, you know what he wants and you’re glad to give in to him. You scoot down to rest your head on your pillow, pulling your shirt up and tucking the fabric under your breasts.

Instantly his head rests on your tummy, a hand reaching around to lay there on the other side of it, wrapping himself around you. You reach over and turn the lamp on your bedside table off, sleep drifting it’s way through your body and mind. You let one hand fall to his back, the other one joining his arm to wrap protectively around your belly.

“Harry?”

“Hmm?” 

“You can look. If you want.”

“Y’don’t have to decide tonight. We still have a little time to plan.”

“No. I don’t want to take any of this experience from you. The whole thing’s just a bit scary though.”

“I know it is, m’terrified too. But everything’s gonna be alright. I’m gonna be there for every second of it.” 

“I know you are. You’re the only thing that’s kept me sane through all this. You’ve been so good to me, H. Putting up with all my mood swings and late night cravings and whatever I needed.” 

“I haven’t had to ‘put up’ with anything. Just want to make you and bub as happy as y’both already make me.�� He turns to kiss the side of your stomach before looking up at you, “Comfy? Am I squishin’ you?”

“No, it’s nice. Don’t see how you can be comfy though.” 

“I’ll move to my pillow in a bit. Just like being close to you and bub,” He yawns, “Goodnight, babe. Love you both so much.”

“We love you too, Harry. More than you’ll ever know.”

//  

Sleep had been pretty much non-existent in your third trimester. You were lucky if you got a few hours each night and cat naps throughout the day were rare. 

Tonight is no different. It’s 3 a.m and once you get up for your fifth trip to the bathroom, you know there’s no point in trying to get comfortable again. Harry will be up soon, and as much as he tries to stay quiet during his morning routine, he always found some way to unintentionally wake you. You couldn’t even sleep through his soft kisses to your forehead to say goodbye anymore.

Normally you take yourself down to the living room to find a mindless tv show or movie to carry you through your insomnia, but Harry also seemed to be infected with your curse of being a light sleeper these days. Most nights he would attempt to join you, sweet enough to not want you to be alone, stubborn enough to not listen each time you urged him to go back to bed. He always paid for it the day after though, dark circles under his eyes and nodding off to sleep throughout whatever he had scheduled. 

So in hopes that you wouldn’t wake him by leaving tonight, you reach for the remote to the bedroom tv, muting it so the noise won’t disturb him. You would almost be content enough to stare at him for the rest of the night. The sharp outline of his jaw, freckles scattered across his face that would rival the constellations in the sky, all softened by the moonlight illuminating his face perfectly. As much as you don’t want to wake him, you can’t help but reach out to run the back of your hand over the smooth skin of the man you admire so much. You adore the way even in his sleep he molds to your touch, soft snores and deep, even breaths never stopping as you move up to brush his curls away from his face. 

You almost make it through 20 minutes of a movie before his eyes flutter open. You know how much your false contractions from before weighed on him, alarm is quick to flood his face before he has a chance to take in his surroundings. 

You answer before he has a chance to let worry take over, “It’s alright. We’re okay. Just the usual..couldn’t sleep.”

He rubs his eyes to clear them, “What time s’it?”

“4:30.”

He squints slightly at the movie playing before chuckling, “How many times y’think you’ve watched this one? Know it’s been at least a dozen or so in the last month.”

“It’s my favorite. One of them, anyway. It’s always been soothing to me.”

“Bet you could quote the whole thing by now, even with it muted.”

You glance up at the tv and it only takes a second for you to pinpoint the exact part. You take his comment as a challenge, pushing yourself up out of your nest of pillows to rest your back against the headboard before quoting, “Faith is a bluebird you see from afar. It’s for real, and as sure as the first evening star. You can’t touch it, or buy it, or wrap it up tight. But it’s there just the same, making things turn out right.”

Your voice breaks as you say the last few words. Maybe it’s the combination of exhaustion and all the new fears and hormones running through your mind and body. Nostalgia of watching this when you were younger and now sharing it with your child when they are old enough touches your heart and you can’t stop the tears continuously streaming down your face.

“Baby,” He pushes himself up to rest next to you, tugging you until you're pressed close to his side, “Please don’t cry.”

“M’miserable, Harry. I’m as big as the moon and I can’t breathe and my feet always hurt and I’m just..ready for him to be here. Ready for him to be out so I can hold him and kiss him and put him in his own bed so I can rest in mine again.” 

You know you sound childish and whiny and somewhat ridiculous, but being so sleep deprived means all sense has left and so the words come spilling out, a jumbled mess you doubt he even understood.

“I know you are, love. Hate to see you so upset,” He kisses the top of your head, “Certainly as bright as the moon, but not as big. Your body’s as exactly as it should be. I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but that’s only cause you’re tired. He’ll be here soon and we’ll have so many people here to help, yeah?”

All you can do is nod, you know he’s right and you know once you have a nap things won’t feel so overwhelming. You pull yourself away from him to wipe your face on your t-shirt. A smile stretches across your lips as the thought enters your mind, “If I’m as bright as the moon, you’re as golden as the sun.”

“Yeah?” He’s blushing now, looking down at his hands before his eyes dart up to meet yours, “Guess that makes bub our little star, huh?”

You giggle before shrugging, “Guess so.”

“By the way,” His hand rests on your thigh, “We gonna keep calling him bub or we gonna pick a name?” 

“Bub’s cute. Bub Styles.” You wrinkle your nose at the thought, “I just want it to be perfect for him, you know? I feel like I need to see his face before I just blindly pick a name. We could definitely narrow down some options though and see which one suits him best.”

“We’ll think of something special, eh? Somethin’ just f’him.”

“Yeah, we will,” You suck in a sharp intake of breath at a particularly hard kick from within your stomach. Harry’s head snaps to look over your face before looking down to where your hand lays on your belly.

“What’s wrong?” His eyes are wide, on edge as he waits for your answer.

“It’s fine he’s just..ah, being a little rowdy this morning.” You take his hand from your thigh and press it to where the kicks were landing, “Right here. Think that’s his butt, his head’s down here, and..ah, his feet are right about here. Can you feel him?”

His palm lays flat across the front of your belly, “S’amazing, never gets old. Bet it feels so..weird to you though.”

“At first, yeah, but got used to it pretty quickly. It’s comforting now, like he’s saying hello or contributing to our conversations when we talk.”

He puts his mouth almost right against your tummy, so close his breath tickles and you feel the vibrations when he speaks, “Take it easy on mumma, little one. Just a bit longer, yeah? Can’t wait to see ya face. Bet y’so handsome like daddy, just gotta be a lil’ more patient like mummy, alright?” 

“Think maybe he’s ready for his pre-breakfast snack?”

“Dunno..I’ll ask him though,” He bends again, “That why y’bein’ such a brat to mum, huh? Woke her up early cause you were hungry? Alright, daddy’ll make your usual.”

He kisses your stomach, before straightening to where he’s level with your face, “That sound good?”

Your “usual” was a bowl of what had been your biggest craving throughout your pregnancy; fruit. On nights like this when sleeplessness couldn’t be defeated, the two of you normally gave in pretty quickly and had breakfast together. On days when you were able to sleep through Harry’s departure, you would always wake to the bowl already prepared and ready for you. Oftentimes there would be a quickly scribbled note with the words “Love, H” stuck to the top or the side of the bowl, like you didn’t already know who had left it for you.

“You’re spoiling him already, Harry.”

He smacks a quick kiss to your cheek, pulling back just a second before diving back in to peck another one on your other cheek, “Tryin’ to spoil you too, angel.”

//

Contractions, real ones you were sure this time, had started 30 minutes ago. As much as Harry wanted to rush you out of the house in your pajamas, you had insisted on at least 5 minutes to change and pull your hair into a quick ponytail before gathering your bag and dashing down the stairs.

Just as Harry’s hand lands on the doorknob, you tug on the sleeve of his jacket, “Harry, stop for a second.”

“Why? Are you having one now?”

“Kiss me.”

“What?”

“This is one of our last moments before we become parents. I want you to slow down, take a deep breath, and kiss me.”

“You’re impossible, you know that? Active labor and you stop me for a kiss.” He rolls his eyes but you can see his shoulders drop, relaxing just enough to press his lips firmly against yours. You reach your hand up and around to the back of his neck, deepening it for a moment before drawing back to scan his face.

“Better?” Your hand continues to work through his hair, happy to watch his face relax slightly at your touch.

“Much. How are you so calm?”

“I don’t know, really. I thought I would be scared, and I am but..I’m ready. So ready to meet him.”

“Me too. Let’s go.” His hand falls to the small of you back, leading you out the door and to the car.

Once you arrive at the hospital, he doesn’t leave your side, not even when the nurse suggests he do so while you get your epidural. She agrees to let him stay, but makes him sit in a chair in front of you and sternly tells him not to look.

He holds both of your hands, squeezing them tightly as an attempt to distract you. He knows how much you hate needles, how the thought of this procedure alone had scared you almost as much as the idea of labor. You release a deep sigh of relief when they announce it’s done, and he helps you settle back into bed, tucking the blanket around you.

“So proud of you, baby. You’re already doing amazing.” 

Things progress much faster than you ever thought they would, and it’s only three hours before you’re ready to push. Harry’s there for every second of it, hand behind your back and small encouragements in your ear when you think you can’t go any further. 

“M’tired, H.” The room is full of people, your doctor and a set of nurses, but his focus stays on you; simply existing together in that moment. Small pieces of hair have come loose from your ponytail, clinging to the sweat now covering your forehead. He sweeps them away before resting his hand on your shoulder.

“I know y’are, lovie, but you’re so so close. Doin’ so incredible,” His smile is so wide, beaming at you when he leans closer, “Y’look gorgeous too, never seen you look more stunning than now.”

That has a laugh bursting from you, still breathless when you reply,  “You’re such a bad liar.”

“M’serious! Know better than to lie to you.” He winks just before working his arm around behind your back again, giving you the motivation you needed to keep going.

It’s not long before you hear what you’re certain is one of the best sounds you’ll ever hear, the sweet sound of your baby boy’s cry as he enters the world.

//

An hour later, both of you are still in awe of your little one, sleeping peaceful now in their dad’s strong arms. Harry’s wedged himself next to you in the hospital bed, long legs stretched in front of him. He keeps looking between where your head is propped on his shoulder and the baby.

He breaks the silence first, “Definitely think he has your hair. S’nice and soft.”

“Think it’ll be darker like yours though. Maybe he’ll have your eyes.” You reach over to run your finger along your baby’s nose.

He looks between you and the baby again, a prideful smile brightening his face. He smushes his lips against your temple, and you close your eyes as the feeling of adoration combined with the  exhaustion of the day washes over you. 

You hear him whisper just as you’re drifting to sleep, “My moon and star, together at last.”

[jenonctcity]

No Nut November - Renjun

Huang Renjun – Smut, Crack, Fluff

Warnings: Explicit content, a lot of mentions of penis’s, female masturbation, male wet dreams.

Word Count: 2.4k

Summary: 00’s line take part in No Nut November.

The Rules of No Nut November:

You cannot have sex, masturbate, or nut in any way, shape, or form.

Watching pornography and having boners are allowed, but you can’t nut.

You are only allowed one wet dream. If you have more than one, then consider yourself out.

You do not have 3 strikes; you only have one shot at it. If you miss it, you’re out.

 If you have passed the month with a total of 0 nuts, you are a victor and you shall qualify for Destroy Dick December (Not Recommended).

Look man, just don’t nut in 30 days. 

Series

 You were horny. You couldn’t find any other words to describe the tingling sensitivity you felt within the confines of your panties. You needed Renjun, and you needed him now. He’d spent the day with Jaemin, Jeno, and Haechan doing god knows what, probably playing video games and eating till they felt sick. Now as he sat on the edge of his bed, scrolling through his YouTube feed absentmindedly you decided now was the perfect time to get some dick.

You had the whole thing planned out, you were gonna start by kissing his neck from behind, then you would rub his cock over his jeans to get him hard. You weren’t quite sure about the next step yet, you would either suck his dick down your throat till he had you gagging, or push him back onto the bed and sit on his face till your thighs were shaking and your eyes rolled into the back of your head. You figured you’d just decided which option to take in the moment. But the final step in your plan was riding him until he took you to cloud 9 and back. You snuck up behind him, the first step in your plan now underway.  

“Hey baby.” You purred in his ear, running your hands round his body to his chest and stroking it with lingering fingers.

“What’s up beautiful?” He didn’t take his eyes off of his phone, even when you started to press teasing kisses to the warm skin of his neck.

“I want you.” You got straight to the point, trailing a hand down to the slight bulge in his jeans. He was quick to grab your hand, pulling it away and turning his head to face you. You frowned at him, confused as to why he wasn’t jumping at the chance to fuck you when you were basically offering your pussy up to him on a silver platter.

“I can’t, sorry.” He shrugged, standing up from his spot on the bed and facing you as you knelt on the bed where he had previously been sitting. He’s never turned you down for sex before during your entire year long relationship, so this was completely baffling you.

“What do you mean you can’t?” You raised an eyebrow, tilting your head slightly almost like a curious puppy would when hearing something they haven’t heard before.

“The boys bet me that I couldn’t do no nut November, I said I could.” He shrugged like it was nothing. “If I last the entire month without orgasming once then they buy me a laptop. If I lose then I have to do anything they want for an entire day.” He chuckled at the look of anger on your face. “Sorry babe.” He cupped your cheeks and pressed a quick kiss to your pouted lips.

“I hate you. I can’t go a whole month without sex, you absolute fool!” You gave him a whack on the arm, your sexual frustration getting pent up and making you want to slap the shit out of him.

“You’ll live! It’s just a month and you can masturbate! You’ll be fine.” He sat beside you on the bed again, pulling you close with his arm around your shoulder. “Lets cuddle.” His grin was pissing you off even more.

“Pfft, lets cuddle, what a complete cum rag stupid idiot.” You mumbled, laying down on the bed with your back to him. He laughed when he heard your non-threatening mumbling. “I wanted my guts rearranged by dick but all I’m getting is a stupid cuddle.” You snuggled into the pillow, your scowl threatening to become permanent. He wrapped his arms around you and spooned you from behind.

“You’ll get over it. Don’t even think about rubbing your ass against my cock.” His lips felt were soft against the back of you neck, his breath cool against the warmth of your skin and sending a chilling shiver down your spine. You huffed and closed your eyes, hoping a nap would dull the horniness into nothing.

 Day 8:

It was a week later, day number 8 to be exact, when you decided you couldn’t last any longer. You needed Renjun’s dick. So, he was shocked to walk into his room and see you spread eagle on the bed, naked as the day you were born, rubbing your clit with two fingers and giving him a seductive look. You were even more shocked than him when he burst out into a fit of laughter. Your fingers stopping and mouth popping open to give him a gormless look.

“Why are you laughing?!” You closed your legs, sitting up on the bed and folding your arms over your chest, looking him straight in the eyes and trying to assert some dominance over him.

“You’re a funny girl.” He strode across the room, throwing himself onto the bed beside you and smiling widely at you making his eyes crinkle up.

“This isn’t funny. I need sex.” You looked down at where he laid next to you, glaring at him to show him how you didn’t find your needs funny. He just continued to smile at you, batting his eyelashes innocently as he looked your naked body up and down.

“Lay down.”

“Why?”

“Just lay down.” His voice held an authoritative tone that you knew to obey. You felt a light spark of hope flicker in the pit of your stomach as you laid down on the bed, opening your legs back up to give him access just in case he planned on needing it. “Be a good girl and you’ll get rewarded.” He smirked, sitting up on one of his arms to face you. He placed his other hand on your knee, very slowly and teasingly trailing it up your thigh, leaving a searing feeling behind from his touch. You watched his face as a substitute to watching his hand, his plump bottom lip trapped between his teeth as he concentrated on making you feel good.

“Please…” You figured if you begged he would be more likely to give you what you wanted.

“Such a brat.” His fingers ghosted over your slit, his touch light as it scaled up and down your wet folds. “Trying to seduce me when you know I’m not going to cave in.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against your, not wasting time to slip his tongue in the cavern of your mouth. With his tongue pressing to yours, he put pressure on your clit, rubbing it in circular motions and letting your moans slip into his mouth. “So, because you’ve been such a bad girl.” He removed his hand from you, smirking against your mouth before pecking your lips once more. “You don’t get anything.”

“RENJUN!!!”

 Day 13:

When Renjun opened his eyes in the morning, the first thing he saw was you grinning at him with a wide, shit eating smile. He furrowed his eyebrows, a yawn breaking from him as he wondered what you had to be so happy about that early in the morning.

“Good morning Mr Huang.” You greeted him, sitting up and stretching your back out.

“What did you do…?” He asked with suspicion in his tone, his voice coming out groggy and clad with remnants of sleep.

“Oh my sweet, sweet boyfriend, it’s not what I did.” You reached over and pulled back the duvet, revealing his naked body to the cool air of the morning floating through the cracked open window. “But what you did.” You used to your finger to point accusingly at the pool of dried cum on his toned stomach. His flaccid dick laying against his thigh. “I enjoyed every second of your wet dream. As did you I believe.” You had a face of a cat that had caught the mouse, your smugness building in your chest and making you let out an evil like laugh. Renjun sighed, rolling his eyes and relaxing back against his pillow. “Anyway, now you lost your bet, get that bad boy up again so I can ride you till I see stars.” You swung your leg over his thigh, mounting his hips and smiling cutely at him. You rubbed your hands over his chest and bit your bottom lip.

“Actually, it states in the rules that one wet dream is allowed. So, my bet is still on.” It was his turn to be smug now, his lips pulling into a sadistic yet sleepy smirk. Your face fell faster than a skydiver wearing a ton of bricks as you rolled off of Renjun, kicking your legs into the bunched-up duvet as you started to throw a mini tantrum.

“FUCK!”

 Day 25:

The stubbornness your boyfriend had shown over the past 25 days was actually rather impressive. You didn’t think he’d have lasted this long and you started to get prouder of him as the days went by, your mood doing a complete turn from when you were just constantly horny and angry. Those feelings fizzled out after you watched Renjun whine about being horny but being too persistent to give up on his bet. The poor man sat there with a raging stiffy in confines o his boxers, refusing to let you touch it and pretty much stamping his feet to the floor in need. After his boner had gone down without release, you stroked his head and gave him all the kisses he needed, telling him how pleased you were with his hard-headedness. You also apologised for trying to sabotage him in the early days. You were being strategic though, because you knew once the month was up he was going to give you some mind-blowing sex, and if he wasn’t still mad about you trying to destroy his no nut streak, then he would give you multiple orgasms. So yeah, your apologising was mostly to benefit yourself.

“What are you doing baby?” Renjun walked up behind you were you sat at the dining table of the dorm, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder.

“I’m just doing a written plan of all the sex positions we are going to try at approximately 12:01am on December the 1st.” You shone a bright grin at him, then rested your head against his. “Oh and I’ve drawn some diagrams too.” He squinted at your poorly drawn stick figures, trying to decipher who was who and what body part was doing what.

“What position is that?” He moved a hand from the warmth of your waist to point at one of your diagrams. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what position you’d drawn the stick figures in, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“It’s supposed to be doggy style but it looks more like I’m cleaning the floor and you’re just stood behind me…” You tilted your head too, trying to figure out yourself why you’d drawn it so badly.

“Why have I got three legs…?” You stilled at his question, letting out a soft laugh and rolling your eyes.

“That’s your penis, silly.”

“Why is it the same length as my leg?”

“Look it’s not an actual size diagram Renjun, enough of the questions alright?”

 Day 30:

Today is the day, well…technically tomorrow is the day, but that didn’t matter to you. Because in less than an ten minutes, the clock would tick over to 12:01am on December the 1st, and you’d finally get to feel the sweet feeling of a hard, dripping cock nestled tightly within the space of your wet walls.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about something before in my entire life.” You laid on Renjun’s bed, making sure his roommate was going to be out the entire night – yes you may have threatened Jeno but he’s easily forgiving. 

“I can tell.” He laughed, lying beside you on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“I can’t believe you lasted a whole month without an orgasm! Your balls must be blue as fuck.” You giggled, lacing your fingers through his own. His hand felt a little bit clammy in your dry, cool hand. The heat from his hand warming your palm up, the heat meandering up your arm to spread throughout your body.

“They’re about to get a lot bluer…” He mumbled as quietly as possible.

“What did you say?” You glanced at him, not hearing his words.

“Nothing my darling.” He faked a smile at you, bringing the back of your hand to his lips and softly laying a kiss to it. You’d set an alarm for the magic minute, jumping up when it rang out in the room.

“Finally!” You mounted Renjun, turning off the alarm and hurrying to pull your t-shirt over your head.

“Actually…I er…spoke to the boys and they said they’re give me 100,000KRW if I participated in Destroy Dick December…so I said yes…if I have sex with you now then I know I’ll cum more than once so it’s best if I just do it myself...” The nervousness in his voice made it crack, gulping as he watched you with cautious eyes. Your silence scared him, especially when your eye twitched and nails dug into his chest, a slight wince marring his features. Anger boiled through you, rising up like a thermometer about to reach its peak temperature. “I’m sorry! Don’t be mad…we can fuck tomorrow!”

“DON’T BE MAD?! ARE YOU FUCKING HAVING A LAUGH HUANG RENJUN?!” Your scolding shouts could be heard through the walls, Jeno sitting wide eyed in the living room as he couldn’t help but listen to the situation happening inside his shared bedroom with Renjun. “It’s not going to be December that destroys your dick. I’m going to destroy it if you don’t fuck me right now!” Jeno burst into fits of laughter, finding Renjun’s difficult situation to be hilarious.

“Poor guy…” Jeno mumbled, putting his airpods in to drown out any more uncomfortable sounds that might resound from the room.

No Nut November: Huang Renjun – Success.

(A/N: Hey! I hope you liked this, please leave me some feedback if you could! Also, which member would you like to see next for the NNN series? I was just going to do it in age order but if I get enough people wanting a certain member next then I’ll do it that way instead.)

[webslinger-holland]

The Hidden Hero | Peter Parker Series

Summary: In an alternative universe, Peter Parker has the biggest crush on the reader. Even though the reader doesn’t know his secret, the reader is obsessed with the webslinger. So Spiderman decides to show up at Liz’s Party to impress everyone, specifically the reader.

Warning: some spoilers

Pairing: Peter Parker (Spiderman) x reader

Type: The Hidden Hero Series

MASTERLIST

A/N: THIS IS A HEAVILY EDITED VERSION OF MY VERY FIRST FANFICTION. IT PROBABLY REALLY SUCKS SO I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THAT. BUT IT WAS MY FIRST ONE SO I WANTED TO POST IT.

The bright yellow buses were pulling up to the curb of the school grounds. The large crowd of high school students hustling and bustling down the corridors. The monotone buzz of several-hundred voices hummed like an orchestra throughout the hallways. 

The small group of gossiping girls were hanging around the lockers. They giggled amongst themselves. They always wore those mini skirts and tight shirts. The cliquey jocks were currently talking about the football game last night. They were wearing the exact same athletic jacket that they wore every single day. The parade of band geeks had just walked past them with their huge instrument cases. There were the aerospace tech kids who never did anything but make different robot models to battle between periods. 

The familiar squeaking sound of sneakers were catching against the newly waxed floors. The metal locker doors were slammed shut once the students had gathered their textbooks for that period. The bell was ringing loudly on the sidelines, signaling the start of classes for the day.

At the given moment, Peter Parker was maneuvering his way through the crowd of students with his best friend Ned Leeds. He was currently carrying his textbooks because he had lost his backpack yesterday. The two of them were making their way to their first class of the day.

Last night, Ned had caught Peter sneaking into his bedroom dressed as the Spiderman. He had seen him crawling on the ceiling! It was quite a shock to find out that his best friend was the webslinger that he had saw on youtube. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep his secret. And he had a million questions for him.

Throughout the whole day, Ned was asking questions about Peter’s alter-ego. He was able to come up with a handful of different questions in each class. Those questions mostly consisted of the range of the webslinger’s abilities, such as whether or not he could summon an army of spiders or how far he could shoot his webs. He was always given short or curt answers.

Near the end of the day, Peter and Ned were forced to go to gym class. They watched a short video that had Captain America talking about the fitness challenge. As if on cue, Ned asked his friend if he knew the infamous avenger. He said that he did and that he stole his shield.

Now the students were told to get into pairs of two. They would be doing sit-ups. They would alternate every few minutes between partners. At the moment, Ned was holding down Peter’s feet so he crank out those sit-ups. He actually found that they weren’t so hard to do anymore, now that he had this weird radioactive spider venom in his blood. 

“Can I be your guy in the chair?” Ned wondered spontaneously. 

“What?” Peter whispered. He had spoken in this low tone of voice so that nobody would be able to hear them. He didn’t quite understand his question.

“You know there is a guy with a headset telling the other guy where to go. Like if you were stuck in a burning building, I could tell you where to go because there would be screens around me. You know? I could swivel around them. And I could be your guy in the chair,” Ned explained.

“I don’t need a guy in the chair,” Peter insisted. He shook his head at the idea. He heard the gym teacher praising him on the sidelines, causing him to pause momentarily. He was quick to resume his sit-ups. 

In the background, Y/N had forced herself to walk into the gymnasium. She had immediately hurried towards the gym teacher to explain why she was late to class. She had been tutoring another student during the hour. She quickly handed him a slip of paper. He took one glance at him, nodding his head in confirmation. He told her that she could just sit on the bleachers for the rest of the class because it was almost over anyways.

Out of instinct, Peter had shifted into a sitting position and stopped doing his sit-ups. He could feel the little hairs on his arm raise. His spider senses were telling him that someone had just walked into the gym, but it wasn’t just anyone. It was his crush.

“She’s here, isn’t she?” Peter said. He didn’t seem to take his eyes away from his best friend in front of him. He waited for a response. His friend turned his head to look across the small stretch of the room, settling his gaze on the familiar looking student. He nodded his head.

“Yeah. How’d you know?” Ned questioned. He had furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He was slightly taken back by his comment.

“Spider senses,” Peter waved off. He had just briefly turned his head to look at her through the corner of his eye. He could barely see her talking with the gym teacher. He was quick to start doing his sit-ups again. “Can she see me? Do you know if she’s looking at me?” Peter whispered in question.

“Oh yeah,” Ned said with a firm nod of the head. He could see her heading towards the bleachers right behind them. He caught her turn her head slightly towards them. “She saw you,” Ned confirmed.

On the bleachers, Y/N had found herself settling down beside her small group of friends. They were currently playing the game called ‘fuck, marry, kill.’ They would list off three random names of celebrities or artists. Then they would have to decide who they would fuck, marry, and kill. They listed three of the avengers.

“You see for me it would be…fuck Thor...marry Iron Man...and kill Hulk,” Betty Brant concluded. Some of her friends had totally agreed with her lineup, but there were a few friends who would have made a completely different choice.

“What about the Spiderman?” Y/N wondered. She had lowered herself down onto the bleachers, looking at each of her friends with curious eyes. She could see her friend Liz Allen shrug her shoulders at the thought.

“It’s just Spiderman,” Liz claimed. She made a face of disgust. She must not have thought that he was that impressive or attractive.

“Did you guys see that big security cam on youtube? He fought off four guys!” Y/N exclaimed. She was now leaning forward in her place. She was quite eager to defend her opinion. She was practically praising him.

In the background, Peter and Ned had turned their heads to look towards the small group sitting on the bleachers. Neither one of them could believe the words they were hearing coming out of her mouth. They looked at each other in slight shock.

“Oh my gosh. She’s crushing on Spiderman,” Betty joked. Her face had twisted into this playful smirk. She leaned over to nudge her friend in the side.

“No way!” Liz laughed.

“Kinda,” Y/N shrugged. She had dropped her gaze to stare down at her hands in her lap. She tried to hide the bright blush creeping up onto her face. She smiled to herself.

“Ugh. Gross,” Betty scoffed. “He’s probably like thirty,” Betty claimed.

“You don’t even know what he looks like. What if he is like seriously burned?” Liz suggested. She had waved her hands in a dramatic manner. She was just trying to make a point.

“I wouldn’t care. I would still love him for the person he is on the inside,” Y/N said with a small smile on her face. “He’s a good man! And its obvious he really cares about this city. That is something I really admire about him,” Y/N confessed.

“Peter knows Spiderman!” Ned blurted out. He didn’t really know what came over him, but he couldn’t stop those words from coming out of his mouth. He could see that everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing upon hearing his comment.

In response, Peter’s mouth dropped open in absolute shock. He turned his head to look at his best friend with wide eyes. He was quick to scramble to his feet, shaking his head in denial.

“Uh, no. I don’t,” Peter said. He had taken a few steps forward in his place, standing in front of the small group of friends on the bleachers. He was trying to find the right words to explain himself. “No. I-I mean,” Peter stuttered. 

“They’re friends,” Ned added with a smile on his face. 

“Yeah. Like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends,” Flash teased. He had stopped climbing the rope in the background, landing on the floor with a thump. He started to walk towards his rival because he was very interested in this conversation.

“I-I’ve met him a couple times but its uh…through the Stark internship,” Peter clarified. He stumbled over his choice of words. He had lifted his hand to scratch the back of his head in a nervous manner. He nodded his head in confirmation. “Mhmm. Yeah. But I am not really suppose to talk about it,” Peter claimed.

“Well, that’s awesome,” Flash replied. His voice was laced with sarcasm. He had stopped in his place. He had turned his body towards the small group of friends sitting on the bleachers, gesturing to them with the small wave of the hand. “Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz’s party,” Flash said.

“Yeah, I am having people over tonight. You are more than welcome to come,” Liz said. She could feel the strong sense of embarrassment creeping through her body because she hadn't invited them to the party beforehand. She just felt like they were kinda losers so she didn’t want to invite them. But at least she was kind enough to invite them now.

“You’re having a party?” Ned wondered. He knew that this was the first time that he was hearing about this party. He could only wonder why he hadn’t already been invited to the party.

“W-Will you be there, Y/N?” Peter stuttered. She had lifted her head to look directly into his soft brown eyes. She had smiled shyly at him. She nodded her head in confirmation. He could feel his heart fluttering in the confines of his chest.

“Yeah! It’s gonna be dope. You should totally invite your personal friend Spiderman,” Flash said in a persistent tone of voice. He stood directly in front of his rival, staring him down. He was puffing out his chest to be more intimidating (and maybe a little taller than him).

“Flash,” Y/N warned. “Leave him alone.”

“Ah come on. He’ll be there,” Flash promised. He turned his head to look at her with this playful expression on his face. He winked at her. He smirked to himself in triumph. But he didn’t seem to catch the moment where she rolled her eyes at him.

The whole conversation would come to an abrupt end when the bell rang to dismiss the last class of the day. The students were quick to stand to their feet and make their way towards the door. Meanwhile, Peter had watched his crush stand to her feet. The two of them briefly met each other’s gaze for a split second. She sent him a small smile. She didn’t even know that his eyes were following her figure out of the gym.

“What are you doing?!?” Peter turned his attention back towards his best friend standing behind him. He had thrown his hands up in exaggeration. He just couldn't believe that his friend would do that to him.

“Helping you out. Did you not hear her? She has a crush on you!” Ned exclaimed. He could feel the smile growing at the corners of his lips. He watched his best friend open his mouth to say something against him, but nothing could come out. “You are an avenger! If any one of us has a chance with her, it’s you.” Ned confessed.

Previously, Peter had actually known her since grade school. The two of them had become pretty close friends. He had developed his first crush on her, but he was never able to gather enough courage to tell her. Now here she was, years later with a crush on his alter ego. It almost didn’t feel real to him.

That night, Aunt May had driven Peter and Ned to the house for the party. She parked the car in front of the house. For a brief second, Peter had said that this would be a mistake and that he wanted to just go home. His aunt said that she totally understood how he was feeling. She was eventually able to convince him to go to the party after all. 

The two teenage boys turned to look at the grand house in front of them. They had started walking up the sidewalk, heading towards the house. The two of them had passed by plenty of other students that went to their same high school. And they could hear the music blasting from inside the house.

“You have the suit, right?” Ned questioned. Very discreetly, Peter lifted up his flannel sleeve to show him the web shooters and red costume underneath his clothing. “This is going to change our lives!” Ned exclaimed.

The music was so loud that it would be hard to hear the person talking right beside them. The bass thumped in time with the boys’ heart beat as though they were one with the song. Over the roar of music, a distant hazy chatter could be heard throughout the entire house. The high school students could be found holding red solo cups with harmless non-alcoholic drinks.

Of course, Flash would be in charge of the music for the night. He had a pair of heavy headphones around his neck. He rubbed his hands against the two records at the station to create that iconic record scratch sound. He was just trying to look cool. 

“Okay. We are gonna have Spiderman swing in, say you guys are tight. And then I get a fist bump or one of those half bro hugs,” Ned said in a low tone of voice. He really had this whole thing planned out.

A familiar figure had found herself walking around the corner of the hallway. She had turned her head to look at the two teenage boys standing in the short distance. She was quick to make her way towards them, feeling a smile stretching across her face.

“Oh! Hey guys,” Y/N said. She waved at them. She had walked towards them until she was standing right in front of them. She quickly looked between the two of them with the softest and kindest look on her face.

“Hey Y/N,” Ned said with a silly grin on his face. He had forced himself to straighten his back in posture, standing at attention. He turned his head to look at his best friend through the corner of his eye. He nudged him in the side. 

“Hey Y/N,” Peter’s voice squeaked.

“I’m glad you guys came,” Y/N confessed. She was holding onto her own red solo cup in her hands. She lifted her other hand to gesture to the table behind her. “There is pizza and drinks so feel free to help yourself,” Y/N claimed.

“Wow! What a great party,” Peter had choked on his own words. He had turned his head to look at her with this sweet boyish grin on his face. He could feel his heart hammering on the inside of his chest. 

“Thanks. I barely did anything. It was all Liz,” Y/N insisted with the wave of the hand. She could hear someone calling her name in the background. She turned her head towards the sound of the voice, spotting one of her friends in the crowd. “Oh! I should go,” Y/N said. 

“Yeah,” Peter nodded his head. She found herself hurrying towards her small group of friends in the short distance. She had looked over the small stretch of her shoulder, waving goodbye to them. 

“Dude! What are you doing?” Ned wondered. “She’s here, spider it up!”

“No. No. No. I can’t. I cannot do this. Spiderman is not a party trick,” Peter said. He shook his head in denial. He quickly straightened his back in posture. He ran his hands over the invisible wrinkles in his shirt. He shrugged his shoulders to himself. “Look, I am just gonna…be myself,” Peter whispered.

“Peter,” Ned groaned. He had closed his eyes for a brief second. He shook his head at his friend’s comment. “No one wants that,” Ned said harshly.

“Dude,” Peter said hurtfully. He was quick to turn his body to walk away from his friend. He heard his name being called over the speakers in the room. He turned his head to look across the small stretch of the room, looking directly at his rival holding the microphone. 

“Penis Parker! What’s up? Where is your pal, Spiderman? Let me guess, in Canada with your imaginary girlfriend?” Flash teased him. He was only encouraged by the sound of laughter coming from the high school students in the room. “That’s not Spiderman. That’s just Ned in a red shirt,” Flash joked.

Somehow, through peer pressure, Peter found himself standing on the roof of the house. He had disregarded his regular clothing onto the top of the roof. He was now wearing his red and blue suit of his alter-ego. He knelt down on the rooftop and gazed down at the small house.

“Hey! What’s up? I am Spiderman,” Peter whispered to himself. He lifted his hands to the neckline of his white shirt. He pulled the shirt over his head. “Just thought I would swing by...say hello to my buddy Peter. Oh hey! What’s up, Ned? Where is Peter anyways?” Peter said to himself.

Now Peter could see his best friend standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. He felt bad that he had left him alone for a few minutes. However, there was still this part of Peter that did not want to make his presence known at the party. He just didn’t think that it was right. 

“I can’t do this.” Peter whispered. He shook his head at the crazy idea. He could see his crush walk across the small stretch of the room, stopping to stand beside his best friend. She had asked him a question, only receiving a small shrug of the shoulders in response. She sighed to herself in defeat. 

In that moment, Ned had yanked out his phone to dial his best friend’s number. He had turned his body so that his backside was facing the large crowd of students in the room. His best friend had answered his phone without hesitation.

“Peter! Where are you? She is asking for you,” Ned said desperately. He turned his head to look over the small stretch of his shoulder, spotting her familiar figure in the distance. He waited for some kind of response.

“I will be there in a second,” Peter concluded. He had this fluttery feeling in the confines of his chest, thumping against his chest in a violent manner. He didn’t know if he was nervous or excited. 

With great hesitation, Peter had pulled his mask over his head. He stood to his feet. He had jumped down to the ground, landing on his feet with a small thump. He had started walking towards the house, making his way through the heavy crowd of people. 

“Oh sorry,” Spiderman apologized. Every single person had turned their heads to look at the infamous superhero standing amongst them. The high schoolers’ mouths had dropped open in absolute disbelief. The webslinger was currently maneuvering his way through the crowd of students until he was finally inside the house. “Sorry, I just gotta…find my friend Peter,” Spiderman claimed.

“Spiderman?” He forced himself to turn around upon hearing the sound of that sweet voice. His robotic eyes had dilated subconsciously. His head moved up and down her body. His actions did not go unnoticed by her. “W-What are you doing here?” Y/N wondered. 

“Oh, you know. Peter called me and asked if I could show,” Spiderman claimed. He had lifted his hand to wave in dismissal (like it wasn’t a big deal).  

“No way,” Flash said. His voice was laced in the tone of disbelief. He pushed his way past the crowd. He had shifted to stand in the middle of the room, stopping in his place. He soon came face to face with the webslinger himself. “You’re really him? Are you really friends with Peter Parker?” 

In response, Spiderman had turned his head to look over his rival’s shoulder. His large robotic eyes had settled on that familiar figure standing behind his face. He found himself pushing right past him to approach her. He stood directly in front of her. “Hi,” he said awkwardly.

“Hi,” she smiled at him.

“What’s your name? Wait. No. Let me guess,” Spiderman teased. He had lifted his gloved hand towards the front of his face, tapping his chin in thought. He pointed his finger at her. He was able to ‘guess’ her name pretty easily.

“Y-Yeah!” Y/N exclaimed. She was more than surprised to hear that the webslinger actually knew her name. She could only feel her smile growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. “How did you know?” Y/N wondered.

“Peter talks a lot about you,” Spiderman explained. He was hoping that his other persona could score some points with her. He could only wonder if she would give his other self a chance.

“H-He does?” She gasped.

“Spiderman!” Ned shouted. He had found himself taking a few steps forward in his place, shifting through the heavy crowd of students. He just knew that every single person was looking at him. He smiled at his best friend. “Hi! It’s Ned. Remember me?” Ned said with a bright smile on his face.

“Yeah! I do. How are you doing?” Spiderman said enthusiastically. He did give him the fist bump that he so desperately asked for. Of course, Ned was trying to play it cool. But he could hardly contain himself knowing that he would be popular for the rest of his life.

"I am doing fine,” Ned said cooly. He had this smug look on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest. He was hoping to maintain that cool looking stance. “But I’ll let you get back to Y/N. She’s a big fan of you,” Ned observed.

“Really?” Spiderman teased her. He had turned his head to look back towards the smaller figure standing behind him. His robotic eyes had made it look like he was quirking an eyebrow at her in amusement. He could easily spot the bright blush flooding her cheeks. 

“Well, kinda,” she replied shyly. She didn’t mean to fiddle with her fingers nervously. She had dropped her gaze to stare down at the ground, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks. She shuffled on the heels of her feet in her stance. 

“Well, I should get going.” Spiderman didn’t want to prolong his stay at the party for his own sake. He placed his hands on his hips. He held that heroic stance for dramatic effect. “New York isn’t going to save itself,” Spiderman came up with a lame excuse. 

“Yeah,” she said quietly. She couldn’t help but dreamily admire him. She could only imagine that he was this incredibly handsome looking young man underneath the mask. She smiled at him.

“It was nice to finally meet you. Could you also tell Peter that Mr Stark needs him at the internship at four thirty tomorrow?” Spiderman had tried to make another excuse for her to talk to his other self tomorrow. “Can you do that for me?” Spiderman wondered.

She had nodded her head in confirmation. He did not hesitate to wink at her with those big robotic eyes, which only caused her heart to flutter in her chest. He used his web shooters to swing away from the party. He made his way back up to the rooftop to change back into his regular clothes. 

“I can’t believe he actually showed,” Flash said to her. He had turned his head to look in the general direction they had last seen the famous webslinger swing off to. He crossed his arms over his chest. He shook his head and scoffed to himself. 

“What’s the matter, Flash? Jealous of Peter or Spiderman?”

[gloster]

FAVORITE FANFICS OF 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE & HAPPY 2020 TO YOU ALL.

So this was a fun post I did last year, inspired by the dozens of Favorite Books of 2018 by the booktubers I followed and I thought to myself: why not do a little something something for the fanfics that stood out to me, stuck me with throughout the year. 

Last year I read insanely amazing reads, and if you’re interested to see what were my favorite fanfics of 2018, here’s the link: past favs

For this year, I read sooooooo many incredible fanfics that it was hard to narrow it down to just 10. And the funny thing is, a good portion were from the same author, so it was insanely hard picking the top one. 

I implore all of you reading and following me to try the tag-and please tag me. Always on the hunt for fanfic recs. I also am curious to hear the favorites from the following people: @kila09, @sebbies, @bookstakeyoutootherworlds, @scarlet47, @fleetofshippyships, @eyelashesandentropy, @tired-luxis, @dreamydrarry, @mothermalfoy, @profoundfelicity & @goldentruth813

Without any further ado, here are my top 10 favorite fanfics for 2019:

1). Soup-pocalypse and The Great Curry Cataclysm by SqaudOfCats/ @norelationtoatticus (drarry)

Summary: Eleven years after the war, Draco Malfoy leads a quiet, boring, and perfectly respectable life, thanks very much. Or, at least he does, until a sudden and very unexpected veela awakening causes him to throw soup all over Harry Potter in the middle of the Ministry cafeteria.

If the summary alone doesn’t get you to immediately click on the link and read, I don’t know what to say. But I can say this. SqaudofCats has become my new drarry favorite author period. I read all of her drarry stories, loved them all, and am hoping she does more. 

This story, in one word, was a GEM. A FUCKING GEM. It was so so so good.There were so many good elements: Veela Draco, Dad Harry raising Teddy, Draco learning how to cook, a strang but HILARIOUS courtship involving food that I didn’t realize how much I needed until this story. It was also a perfect blend of fluff with so many cute moments and angst, which thankfully didn’t involve the couple but had to do with Harry’s mental health and PTSD post-war. 

I read this story back in May and I still think about it. Have to stop myself from reading because I have so many fanfic tabs. But it is so good. It’s so addicting. Highly recommend. 

Honorable mentions from this writer:

*Gift for Draco

*Nearly Lost Things, Carefully Tended

2). Cinderfella by @goldentruth813 (sheith)

Summary: Takashi Shirogane is exactly the kind of man Keith likes; built like a brick house with a smile sweet enough to rot teeth and a heart of gold. Of course he’s also YouTube famous and worlds out of Keith’s league. The closest he can get to his pseudo-celebrity crush is when he watches Shiro’s videos from the safety of his bed. Or so he thinks.

This incredible bean of a human being, this incredible writer is the reason I was pulled into the sheith ship long before I finally got into the show-and then had me drag @kila09 into the incredible maddness that is Shiro and Keith and the crew....and the disappointing season 8 that I am still pissed about. But yes @goldentruth813 is the reason why I got pulled into this ship, and this fanfic is the story that sealed my love for sheith and made them my 3rd favorite ship of all time. 

This story is a fun, hilarious modern twist of Cinderella that obviously involves two guys, one is who a popular Youtuber and the other who is a hardcore super fan who meet in the most surprising circumstances and come back together in the most hilarious of ways. With our classic glass slipper being a beloved leather jacket. 

It’s so stinking cute. It’s so hilarious. And it’s so weird since, while I do appreciate the fairytale, Cinderella isn’t one of my favorites but I’m a sucker for a good retelling of it. And this was so good.

Honorable mention by this writer: 

*Safe Haven 

3). Burn the Witch by @lettersbyelise (drarry)

Summary:  When Harry Potter is sent in to investigate Draco Malfoy’s successful potions company, posing as Draco’s bodyguard, he doesn’t know the case will launch a series of events that will change his life — and Draco’s. A story about choices, scars, Chopin piano pieces, and finding all kinds of love in the most unexpected places.

Let’s be honest here. At this point, are we really surprise to see this story here , featured in a favorites/rec list? Are we honestly surprise? At this point, I feel every drarry-shipping reader has read it. Devoured it. And praised it. 

This story pretty much took over the drarry community the way Red, White & Royal Blue took over the book world. There wasn’t a day when I didn’t see Burn the Witch featured in a drarry fanfic recs post, saw posts praising it. Fanart of it, edits for it, and several mood-boards. It was THAT STORY. And I am proud to say it was worth THE HYPE. 

Because it’s so well-known, I’m not going into too much detail but I can say it involves Daddy Draco and Scorpius who is precious, Harry in an undercover mission, and has one of the BEST post-war, slow-burn to the point of excruciating drarry relationship I’ve read all year. READ IT. 

Honorable mention by this writer:

*Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar

*Love Me (Four Times)

4). Evitative by Vichan (drarry)

Summary: In the summer before his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry is drawn to a room in Grimmauld Place. Like the Gryffindor he is, he enters the room without fear. The room is a library, and Harry is surprised to find that he’s eager to learn.Then he gets the bad news: he’s been accidentally expelled from Hogwarts, and he needs to be sorted again. Everyone is confident that he’ll go straight back to Gryffindor, but with what he's been learning, Harry’s not so sure.

Out of all the stories I have in my list, this is the only one that is currently a WIP. I know some are hesitant with WIPs but this one is so worth it. Another hidden jewel found by chance. This story has to be one of the best slytherin-Harry ever and that shows the Slytherin House and the Slytherins in a positive light while still remaining true to their cunning ways. 

5). Up We Go by Oh_Hey_Tae (BTS: Taehyung x Jimin x Yoongi)

Summary: “If you’re a witch that works with plants, then why are all of yours dead? That can’t be good for business.”

The room dims again, and Jimin lifts a hand to flip off the ceiling. Taehyung knows he’s sad and that’s why the shop darkens and he shouldn’t find it funny—but he can’t help it. Because this is ridiculous. The good kind of ridiculous. The amazing kind.

(Or: Taehyung has a green thumb, Jimin runs a magical store, and Yoongi can kind of see dead people.)

Oh my goodness, where on earth do I even begin with this one? I am loss for words. It’s been months since I read it and I am still lost for words on how incredible it is. This story reads like a fairytale. Who am I kidding? This is a fairytale. A beautiful fairytale that is of loss, grief, friendship, family, love, and magic. And a beautiful fairytale that features a poly relationship

I was broken at the last word of the last chapter. Broken. Broken and put back together again.This story was so heartbreaking and heartwarming and I couldn’t think of anything else the whole damn week after I finished it. It was that good. 

Honorable mention by this writer:

* Tell Me Again

6). Silence by the Night by @parkkate (drarry)

Summary: After a spell goes horribly wrong, Harry has to deal with the loss of his eyesight. It’s such terrible timing, too, because how is he supposed to find out what Malfoy has been up to in the Room of Requirement? It’s not like he can ask the git, not only because it’s Malfoy, but also because the Slytherin has suddenly lost his voice. While they’re both trapped in the hospital wing, however, Harry discovers there’s so much he didn’t know about Malfoy, and it’s highly intriguing, but also a bit alarming. Where did all these confusing feelings come from all of a sudden? And what is Harry going to do about them?

See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil. That is the best way to sum up this story. The themes of it certainly tie with the story. This story....there is a certain chapter and @parkkate knows what I mean if she remembers my reviews that shattered me. That made me sit down with a gasp because the angst just cut through me in a way that no other drarry fanfic had do to me. @parkkate I hope you know what I mean. 

Funny thing is about this fanfic is that it took my lazy butt forever to read it, like months after it was done. And mind you, I’ve seen so much praise and incredible fanart for this fanfic as well. So yeah, I was cursing myself for not getting to it sooner. And it was so so so so damn good that I literally said to @parkkate THIS IS CANON. This is canon. This happened 6th year after the bathroom scene and no one can tell otherwise. 

7). You only Live Once by @dreaming-fireflies (viktuuri/victuuri)

Summary: It's when the man is soaring in mid-air under the full moon that Victor gets a good look at him: he's Japanese, with black hair slicked back in a styled look, and a lithe body covered in tight, tight, leather under a navy blue coat.

And when the man lands on the ground again, Victor sees the final piece that captures his heart absolutely and thoroughly – a pair of brilliant, golden eyes.

Victuuri supernatural AU in which Victor is a Western demon hunter and Yuuri is a Japanese half-youkai exterminator.A cross-cultural romantic comedy/drama, with Japanese mythology, shounen action, and slice of life elements.

Literally the summary itself said everything you needed to know, everything that should AND MUST intrigue you enough into reading, that I don’t know if I really have anything to add. But I’ll try to add some of my own input. 

Like the summary said, this is a Supernatural-au YOI story, infused with Japanese mythology. Two different shows that shouldn’t work together but somehow did, creating such a fantastic read. I loved it. From beginning to end. I even knew first chapter it was going to be an ultimate favorite of mine. This fanfic just reminded me of my great love for Vikor and Yuuri-and my need for a fucking season two. As well as reminded of the glorious prime days of Supernatural, which in my opinion were seasons 4 & 5. There was action, there was angst, there was mutual and insane pining from both sides, and so many incredible moments to put into words. Seriously, what more could you want?

@dreaming-fireflies, you seriously did the damn thing with this story. 

Honorable mentions by this writer: 

*Entwining Fates 

*Zanka

8). your sharp and glorious thorn by @arahir (sheith) 

Summary: To end the war they inherited, Keith marries the King he lead an army against.

“You know, we met once,” the king continues, voice closer, and Keith almost turns. They met many times on the field—but then the king clarifies with a single word. “Before.”

Before he was a king. Maybe before he was a general. Keith has traced his rise like the growth of a seed he planted in clay and never expected to see again for how poorly he sowed it. None of this would have been possible without Keith—not the war, not a line soldier's battlefield promotion, not the end of it all, tied up so neatly by all Keith’s best mistakes. Not the killing, either. The king is right about that much, at least.

This is an arranged-marriage AU story, a trope I don’t love too much unless it’s really well done, and had very strong Game of Thrones vibes. And please note when I said Game of Thrones, I mean Game of Thrones back in its incredible prime, not the shitty season 8 we all agree was a nightmare never to be thought of again. But yes, this story was so good. Arranged marriage, enemies-to-lovers, slowburn. Please read. 

9). Your Constellation Prize by rosegardenlake aka @whoalookingcooljoker (sheith)

Summary: Akira is Hollywood's biggest celebrity. He sings, he acts, he models, he does it all and he does it perfectly. That's what Shiro thinks at least, but what would he know? He's just a tired office worker whose dreams fell through years ago. ...But when he sees Akira, oh god, when he sees him - Shiro's world fills with light again.

When Shiro lands an interview to be an assistant at Akira's company, he has a hard time believing it's reality. Though Akira's rarely around, meeting everyone is like a dream. Especially meeting Keith, Akira's shy sweet dorky cousin (OR IS HE?!)

I didn’t realize how much I would liked-love in fact-or needed a celebrity-AU until I read this story.  And that’s about all I will say since I feel anything else will probably make things spoilery. But I will this say: these two can be such idiots, but they’re our lovable idiots and they’re so sweet, so soft. Also that this story definitely well-portrayed the dark side of fame.

10). That Old Black Magic by @bixgirl1 (drarry)

Summary: Centuries ago, marriage contracts were the norm — ready-made alliances between families, expected and complied with, without complaint. But norms have a way of changing, and when a long-dormant contract flares to life, Harry has to navigate an unexpected splintering of the path he'd thought would be easy after the war... with Draco Malfoy.

Least but certainly not least: an incredible, incredible drarry story done by the impeccable @bixgirl1. 

I know I said that I’m not the biggest fan of the arranged marriage trope since I’ve been let down by so stories that started out promising but disappointed in the end. However, there are a few authors who I can always count on to make this trope into a great story. Such as @beatitudinembty, and also @bixgirl1. 

This being is pretty much....I wanna say Sarah J Maas, one of my fav authors, in the drarry community. Everyone knows her. Everyone loves her. Everything she writes always turns into gold, and this latest story by hers was no except. Arranged marriage brings Harry and Draco together in the most infuriating, excruciating, incredibly-done slowburn. 

Honorable mentions that I seriously wanted to add to the list but this post is already lengthy. All amazing, all greats reads by various writers y’all should check out:

*Moon-Eyed by @l0vegl0wsinthedark (Veela Draco, werewolf Harry, done by another star in the drarry community 

*Expectant by @l0vegl0wsinthedark (drarry mpreg with Veela-Draco & werewolf-Harry)

*Where There is Tea by @bafflinghaze (drarry + bookstore+ tea=goodness)

*The Rules of Matchbreaking @nerdherderette ( drarry: match-maker Draco, oblivious Harry, what more could you want?)

* Come For Me by Frayach (drarry; STEAMY STEAMY smut and disabled rep)

*I Want Your Touch (And I Want Your Love) by @awjiminie (yoonmin with bad boy Jimin, good boy yoongi. What more could you want?)

*Seasons of Love by mucha (BTS; Jimin x Tae x Yoongi; incredibly well-done poly relationship)

Lovely people, that concludes my favorites of 2019. So many fantastic fanfics that I could spend hours gushing over them. To the writers who created these incredible stories. I applaud you. I thank you for creating and sharing these wonderful stories. Anyone interested in doing the tag, please do. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, GUYS. 

[birdlord]

Everything I Watched in 2020

We’ll start with movies. The number in parentheses is the year of release, asterisks denote a re-watch, and titles in bold are my favourite watches of the year. Here’s 2019’s list. 

01 Little Women (19)

02 The Post (17) 

03 Molly’s Game (17)

04 * Doctor No (62)

05 Groundhog Day (93)

06 *Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (86)

07 Knives Out (19) My last theatre experience (sob)

08 Professor Marston and his Wonder Women (17)

09 Les Miserables (98)

10 Midsommar (19) I’m not sure how *good* it is, but it does stick in the ol’ brain

11 *Manhattan Murder Mystery (93)

12 Marriage Story (19)

13 Kramer vs Kramer (79)

14 Jojo Rabbit (19)

15 J’ai perdu mon corps (19) a cute animated film about a hand detached from its body!

16 1917 (19)

17 Married to the Mob (88)

18 Klaus (19)

19 Portrait of a Lady on Fire (19) If Little Women made me want to wear a scarf criss-crossed around my torso, this one made me want to wear a cloak

20 The Last Black Man in San Francisco (19)

21 *Lawrence of Arabia (62)

22 Gone With the Wind (39)

23 Kiss Me Deadly (55)

24 Dredd (12)

25 Heartburn (86) heard a bunch about this one in the Blank Check series on Nora Ephron, sadly after I’d watched it

26 The Long Shot (19)

27 Out of Africa (85)

28 King Kong (46)

29 *Johnny Mnemonic (95)

30 Knocked Up (07)

31 Collateral (04)

32 Bird on a Wire (90)

33 The Black Dahlia (05)

34 Long Time Running (17)

35 *Magic Mike (12)

36 Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (07)

37 Cold War (18)

38 *Kramer Vs Kramer (79) yes I watched this a few months before! This was a pandemic friend group co-watch.

39 *Burn After Reading (08)

40 Last Holiday (50)

41 Fly Away Home (96)

42 *Moneyball (11) I’m sure I watch this every two years, at most??

43 Last Holiday (06) the Queen Latifah version of the 1950 movie above, lacking, of course, the brutal “poor people don’t deserve anything good” ending

44 *Safe (95)

45 Gimme Shelter (70)

46 The Daytrippers (96)

47 Experiment in Terror (62)

48 Tucker: The Man and His Dream (88)

49 My Brilliant Career (79) one of the salvations of 2020 was watching movies “with” friends. Our usual method was to video chat before the movie, sync our streaming services, and text-chat while the movie was on. 

50 Divorce Italian Style (61)

51 *Gosford Park (01) another classic comfort watch, fuck I love a G. Park

52 Hopscotch (80)

53 Brief Encounter (45)

54 Hud (63)

55 Ocean’s 8 (18)

56 *Beverly Hills Cop (84)

57 Blow the Man Down (19)

58 Constantine (05)

59 The Report (19) maddening!! How are people so consistently terrible to one another!

60 Everyday People (04)

61 Anatomy of a Murder (58)

62 Spiderman: Homecoming (17)

63 *To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (95) Of the 90s drag road movies, Priscilla is more visually striking, but this has its moments.

64 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (92)

65 *The Truman Show (98)

66 Mona Lisa (86)

67 The Blob (58)

68 The Guard (11)

69 *Waiting for Guffman (96) RIP Fred Willard

70 Rocketman (19)

71 Outside In (18)

72 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (08) how strange to see a movie that you have known the premise for, but no details of, for over a decade

73 *Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (91)

74 The Reader (08)

75 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (19) This was fine until it VERY MUCH WAS NOT FINE

76 The End of the Affair (99) you try to watch a fun little romp about infidelity during the Blitz, and Graham Greene can’t help but shoehorn in a friggin crisis of religious faith

77 Must Love Dogs (05) barely any dog content, where are the dogs at

78 The Rainmaker (97)

79 *Batman & Robin (97)

80 National Lampoon’s Vacation (83) Never seen any of the non-xmas Vacations, didn’t realize the children are totally different, not just actors but ages! Also, this one is blatantly racist!

81 *Mystic Pizza (88)

82 Funny Girl (68)

83 The Sons of Katie Elder (65)

84 *Knives Out (19) another re-watch within the same year!! How does this keep happening??

85 *Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (10) a real I-just-moved-away-from-Toronto nostalgia watch

86 Canadian Bacon (92) vividly recall this VHS at the video store, but I never saw it til 2020

87 *Blood Simple (85)

88 Brittany Runs a Marathon (19)

89 The Accidental Tourist (88)

90 August Osage County (13) MELO-DRAMA!!

91 Appaloosa (08)

92 The Firm (93) Feeling good about how many iconic 80s/90s video store stalwarts I watched in 2020

93 *Almost Famous (00)

94 Whisper of the Heart (95)

95 Da 5 Bloods (20)

96 Rain Man (88)

97 True Stories (86)

98 *Risky Business (83) It’s not about what you think it’s about! It never was!

99 *The Big Chill (83)

100 The Way We Were (73)

101 Safety Last (23) It’s getting so that I might have to add the first two digits to my dates...not that I watch THAT many movies from the 1920s...

102 Phantasm (79)

103 The Burrowers (08)

104 New Jack City (91)

105 The Vanishing (88)

106 Sisters (72)

107 Puberty Blues (81) Little Aussie cinema theme, here

108 Elevator to the Gallows (58)

109 Les Diaboliques (55)

110 House (77) haha WHAT no really W H A T

111 Death Line (72)

112 Cranes are Flying (57)

113 Holes (03)

114 *Lady Vengeance (05)

115 Long Weekend (78)

116 Body Double (84)

117 The Crazies (73) I love that Romero shows the utter confusion that would no doubt reign in the case of any kind of disaster. Things fall apart.

118 Waterlilies (07)

119 *You’re Next (11)

120 Event Horizon (97)

121 Venom (18) I liked it, guys, way more than most superhero fare. Has a real sense of place and the place ISN’T New York!

122 Under the Silver Lake (18) RIP Night Call

123 *Blade Runner (82)

124 *The Birds (62) interesting to see now that I’ve read the story it came from

125 *28 Days Later (02) hits REAL FUCKIN’ DIFFERENT in a pandemic

126 Life is Sweet (90)

127 *So I Married an Axe Murderer (93) find me a more 90s movie, I dare you (it’s not possible)

128 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (67)

129 The Pelican Brief (93) 90s thrillers continue!

130 Dick Johnston is Dead (20)

131 The Bridges of Madison County (95)

132 Earth Girls are Easy (88) Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum are so hot in this movie, no wonder they got married 

133 Better Watch Out (16)

134 Drowning Mona (00) trying for something like the Coen bros and not getting there

135 Au Revoir Les Enfants (87)

136 *Chasing Amy (97) Affleck is the least alluring movie lead...ever? I also think I gave Joey Lauren Adams’ character short shrift in my memory of the movie. It’s not good, but she’s more complicated than I recalled. 

137 Blackkklansman (18)

138 Being Frank (19)

139 Kiki’s Delivery Service (89)

140 Uncle Frank (20) why so many FRANKS

141 *National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (89) watching with pals (virtually) made it so much more fun than the usual yearly watch!

142 Half Baked (98) another, more secret Toronto nostalgia pic - RC Harris water filtration plant as a prison!

143 We’re the Millers (13)

144 All is Bright (13)

145 Defending Your Life (91)

146 Christmas Chronicles (18) I maintain that most new xmas movies are terrible, particularly now that Netflix churns them out like eggnog every year. 

147 Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse (18)

148 Reindeer Games (00) what did I say about Affleck??!? WHAT DID I SAY

149 Palm Springs (20)

150 Happiest Season (20)

151 *Metropolitan (90) it’s definitely a Christmas movie

152 Black Christmas (74)

THEATRE:HOME - 2:150 (thanks pandemic)

I usually separate out docs and fiction, but I watched almost no documentaries this year (with the exception of Dick Johnston). Reality is real enough. 

TV Series

01 - BoJack Horseman (final season) - Pretty damned poignant finish to the show, replete with actual consequences for our reformed bad boy protagonist (which is more than you can say for most antiheroes of Peak TV).

02 - *Hello Ladies - I enjoy the pure awkwardness of seeing Stephen Merchant try to perform being a Regular Person, but ultimately this show tips him too far towards a nasty, Ricky Gervais-lite sort of persona. Perhaps he was always best as a cameo appearance, or lip synching with wild eyes while Chrissy Teigen giggles?

03 - Olive Kittredge - a rough watch by times. I read the book as well, later in the year. Frances Mcdormand was the best, possibly the only, casting option for the flinty lead. One episode tips into thriller territory, which is a shock. 

04 - *The Wire S3, S4, S5 - lockdown culture! It was interesting to rewatch this, then a few months later go through an enormous, culture-level reappraisal of cop-centred narratives. 

05 - Forever - a Maya Rudolph/Fred Armisen joint that coasts on the charm of its leads. The premise is OK, but I wasn’t left wanting any more at the end. 

06 - *Catastrophe - a rewatch when my partner decided he wanted to see it, too!

07 - Red Oak - resolutely “OK” steaming dramedy, relied heavily on some pretty obvious cues to get across its 1980s setting. 

08 - Little Fires Everywhere - gulped this one down while in 14-day isolation, delicious! Every 90s suburban mom had that SUV, but not all of them had the requisite **secrets**

09 - The Great - fun historical comedy/drama! Costumes: lush. Actors: amusing. Race-blind casting: refreshing!

10 - The Crown S4 - this is the season everyone lost their everloving shit for, since it’s finally recent enough history that a fair chunk of the viewing audience is liable to recall it happening. 

11 - Ted Lasso - we resisted this one for a while (thought I did enjoy the ad campaign for NBC sports (!!) that it was based on). My view is that its best point was the comfort that the men on the show have (or develop, throughout the season) with the acknowledgement and sharing of their own feelings. Masculinity redux. 

12 - Moonbase 8 - Goodnatured in a way that makes you certain they will be crushed. 

13 - The Good Lord Bird - Ethan Hawke is really aging into the character actor we always hoped he would be! 

14 - Hollywood - frothy wish-fulfillment alternate history. I think the show would have been improved immeasurably by skipping the final episode.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

kiss me in the d-a-r-k .5.

wednesday

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4

Warnings: non/dub con sex (more oral)

This is dark!(dad)Steve and explicit. 18+ only.

Summary: The girls go to the beach but our reader cannot escape Steve for long.

Note: Second last part y’all. Steve gets a bit darker in this as both he and the reader grow more desperate. I hope you all enjoy this and I know you can’t wait for quote-on-quote grande finale. ;)

That being said, I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think!

...

You awoke in as much confusion as you'd drifted off in. Images of Steve floated in your dreams and the same tingle burned at your core. You tossed and turned until the sun forced you up. You heard the sound of a car engine and rubbed your eyes as you sat up. You stood and peered through the window. 

Kylie's Mercedes rolled to the end of the drive and you frowned. Where was she off too? Or maybe, hopefully, Steve had borrowed her car. You shrugged and shook the sleep from your head. You needed to shower. You should have the night before but you were overcome in your bliss. You felt dirty now. The sweat and cum stiff along the edges of your panties.

You dragged your feet into the bathroom and cranked on the shower. You undressed with a series of groans and stepped under the stream. The steam rose around you and eased your muscles, stiff from a night of overthinking and all-too-vivid dreams. You closed your eyes and let the water wash over you. It was almost cleansing.

You jumped when the shower door slid open and you pushed yourself against the tile with a yelp. You tried to shield yourself with your hands but it did little to hide your figure. Steve's eyes roved every inch and he smirked. 

"I was knocking," He said. He didn't look at your face. "Kylie just went to grab some milk."

"What are…" Your voice died as he licked his lips. "Get out!"

"I won't touch," His voice was dusky, "Can I...watch?"

Your lips trembled and you gave a long exhale. "You should go. She'll come back."

"We have twenty minutes, at least," He raised a brow and backed up. He sat on the toilet and his eyes clung to your figure. "Better get cleaned up fast."

"Steve," You hissed and reached for the faucet. 

He tilted his head tutted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Wait, I have something for you to watch first." He unlocked his phone and scrolled. "Can't have a house this big without security." 

He held up his screen and you squinted. It was you, stripping down to get in the hot tub. The footage played through and soon his lips were on yours. Without dialogue, it looked different. Almost as if you had tempted him.

"It would be a shame for Kylie to cut your visit short but she can be rather melodramatic," He lowered his phone away and shrugged. "Now, go on."

You shivered and turned back to the shower head. You tried to ignore his presence as you reached for your soap and loufa. He wasn't there. Just hurry up and wash. But you could feel his stare. Hear his subtle breaths. 

You scrubbed your hairand peeked over at him as you turned to rinse the soap. He held up his phone and you covered yourself once more. "What the fuck?"

"Ah come on, just a little something to remember you by," He smirked. "I'll miss you when you go. What is it, two days left?"

You shook your head in disgust and turned to quickly rid your hair of the lather. You grabbed the towel and wrapped it around your body. You stepped out and pushed aside his phone. "There. Now get out."

He stood and made sure to brush his front against you. Again his arousal was obvious. "Kylie should be back with that milk soon," He said, "Should I make some coffee?" 

You didn’t answer. You just watched him leave, sure you were still dreaming. You looked around as if the world would dissolve around you but it was all too real.

-

You dressed carefully. You took your time. You dreaded another run in with Steve. It had already gone way too far. That night in the gym...you should’ve never followed him to the hot tub. That had been your first mistake. That had been his invitation and now there was no rescinding it. Yet, you were a guest in his home but he was the one intruding on you.

You listened closely as you descended the stairs. You didn’t hear anything, not until you were halfway to the kitchen door. You paused and thought of running up the stairs. You could hide until Kylie returned. She was your only shield from him.

Yet you couldn’t be sure that your avoidance would not instigate him. One wrong move and he would bring up the video on his phone. Or, one of them. You cringed as you recalled his cell phone held up, its lens recording your every move.

I'll show you even more. His promise bounced around your head. Maybe it was best to leave early, but what would you tell Kylie? Maybe she wouldn’t care so much...but he would. And he’d still have those videos. You couldn’t face your sophomore year without your bestie.

Two more days. That was all. Bide your time and you'd be on your way home. 

You jumped as Steve appeared in the kitchen door. It was too late to turn back now. He smiled and tucked his phone away. You couldn't help but stare at the red case as it disappeared in his pocket. What had he been doing? Or rather, looking at?

"You take cream in your coffee?" He turned his body as he leaned against the door frame and waved you inside. "Unless you wanna wait til Kylie returns."

"I'll just take it black," You said and hesitantly stepped into the kitchen. 

He followed closely and you could feel his gaze on your ass. His fingers confirmed it as they squeezed. A gentle pinch as your paths diverged around the island. You flinched and retreated.

"Do you really think Kylie would believe you?" You asked as you watched him pull out a dainty pink mug. 

"Do you think she'd believe you?" He returned as he poured the coffee. He turned and neared the other side of the counter. "I mean...you're not that innocent."

You stared at him as he slid the mug across to you. You took it and frowned. "Why--"

"Because I want you," He didn't wait for the questions. He gripped the edge of the island and wiggled his hips. You could imagine his erection hidden by the marble top. "I've never had a virgin. As old as I am."

"So it's all just a middle-aged crisis? A check off your bucket list?" You asked.

"More than that," He smirked. "It's that little flowered swimsuit. The bikini was cute but…" He inhaled. "How another man hasn't already had a go is beyond me."

You sipped your coffee. You didn't know what to say. You were embarrassed. Nervous. Afraid.

"You didn't act like you hated," He slowly rounded the island. "In fact, I'd say you needed it. You need me." You set down the cup and took a step back for each of his. "You need someone to teach you. To show you how fucking sexy you are."

You gulped and nearly tripped over your own feet. He lunged forward and kept you from falling. He pulled you close and pressed himself to you. He rocked his hips so you felt his desire.

"I want to fuck you on this counter," He ran his hand over the island as his other gripped your arm. "But...there's still a few things I need to teach you first."

"Steve, I--" The front door opened and suddenly you were free. Steve was quick to move away. You held onto the counter as you tried to clear your head.

The door closed and Kylie's footsteps preceded her. Steve opened the fridge and searched inside. "Finally," He said coolly, "Was starting to think you got lost."

"They were out of soy milk," She replied and she planted the carton on the counter, "Had to go to the other store."

"Well, thank you," He turned to set a handful of fruit on the counter. "Coffee's ready."

"Awesome," She skirted around you and opened the cupboard. "All the better because we've got a lot to do." 

You turned to her with a curious hmm.

"We're going to the beach!" She sang as she poured her coffee. "Jenny and Dani will be here soon." She paused and turned to Steve as he loaded the blender, "Daddy…"

He sighed. He looked at her knowingly. "What do you want?"

"Can we borrow the rover?" She folded her hands together in a plea. 

"Well…" He looked over her shoulder at you, "It might be worth it for a day to myself." He placed the lid on the blender. "Fine. But leave the Mercedes keys...just in case."

"Thank you!" She grabbed her coffee and added a drop of milk. 

"Any scratches and your paying for the buff," He warned and hit the button. The kitchen filled with the same violent buzz that had taken over your mind.

-

It was a relief to be out of the house but the inevitability of your return loomed in the back of your mind. The sun was dulled by the shadow of dread across your vision. The sand was hot beneath your beach towel and the sound of waves lulled your mind. Even so, you couldn't help but think of Steve. The look in his eyes when he had said ‘I want you.’

It wasn't a general statement. He wanted you. Not just a virgin, the innocent friend of his daughter. The trope found in the pages of your sister's favourite novellas. He was set on you and he would find a way to have you.

"...right?" Kylie elbowed you and shook you from the trance beneath your round sunglasses. You looked to her and set down the book you weren't really reading. "Hey, I was talking to you."

"Sorry, I was...reading," You lied and sat up. "What's up?"

"I was just saying that next year I gotta get you laid," She trilled, "Loosen you up a bit."

You swallowed and crossed your arms over your knees. "I can handle myself." You assured her.

"Oh yeah? What's it gonna be? Another twenty years?"

"Shut up," Jenny tossed sand at Kylie, "Give her a break. We didn't all pop our cherries at fourteen just to spite our dads."

"You would if you had my dad," Kylie scowled, "It wasn't just him. It was...everything."

"Like mother, like daughter," Danielle muttered.

"Shut the fuck up, Dani," She grabbed her own handful of sand and threw it at her mouthy friend.

"Hey, hey," You touched Kylie's arm. You rarely saw her so angry. It had happened so fast you were almost frightened. "I'll give you one night, okay? I'll go to one of your parties. That's all."

"Face it," She fell back on her towel, "You wanna get some. That little nun act must get real boring."

"You know what, I kinda like the convent lifestyle," You kidded and reclined. You rolled onto your stomach and stretched. "It's quiet."

You hid your face as you leaned your forehead on your bent arms. Her laughter filled your ears and you tried not to think of Steve. Of what he wanted. Of what he would do. You had heard that it hurt, but you weren't so worried about the pain.

-

Kylie had a burn along her nose and cheeks and Dani had drained her secret flask of vodka. Her and Jenny argued for fifteen minutes about the lack of sharing. They finally quit as you piled into the car. You drove on the way back. The other three girls were sleepy from the day in the sun. You were too but sleep wasn't high on your list of priorities.

Once you reached the main strip, Kylie roused herself enough to give you directions. Jenny's house was the first stop, Danielle’s the second. The same suburban castles as their friend. The whole town was the pillar of white collar America.

You idled at the corner just before Kylie's house. She didn't notice as your fingers tapped the steering wheel and you stared at the familiar gate just down the lane. You hit the gas and pulled onto the long drive. Kylie yawned and opened her eyes as she sat up.

"Jeez, I'm exhausted," She said as you killed the engine. "Would you be mad if I zonked out now?"

"It's barely nine," You chided. You tried to sound like you were kidding but you really didn't want to be left alone. Not here.

"I'm sorry. I--" She yawned again. "I should have put my umbrella up sooner."

"And I'm the square," You joked as you followed her to the trunk and helped unload the cooler. You hooked your bag over your shoulder and lifted it between you.

"Now you know how it feels," She chuckled. "I'll get up early tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine," You grumbled as you followed her to the kitchen. You set the cooler down by the counter.

"I'll take care of that in the morning," She shrugged and dragged her feet back out the door. 

You were a step behind her as she climbed the stairs. Your skin was on fire as you listened for any sign of life. Flinched at every shadow. Steve was here somewhere. She patted your shoulder as she grumbled a good night and you parted to your respective rooms; impossibly far from one another.

You looked back as the door closed behind her and you sighed. You grabbed your handle and turned. It didn't budge. You jiggled it and tried again. You shook the door and cursed under your breath. Another trap.

The realization wasn't soon enough. You hadn't heard his door, you only felt the weight of his gaze. You turned to Steve as he leaned on his elbow against the doorframe and smirked.

"Need help?"

"No," You grabbed the door handle and pushed down with all your force. It didn't move. "I can…"

"It does that," He pushed himself from the wooden frame and neared. "You just need to know the trick." His hand closed over yours before you let go of the handle. He wiggled it and suddenly it released. "It jams every now and then."

He didn't release you. His breath washed over your head and you looked up at him meekly. "Kylie--"

"Was barely awake when she stumbled through her door," He said, "And if she wakes, you think she's going to come knocking on your door...or mine."

"Please, just...haven't you done enough?" You asked.

"Have I?" His other hand grazed your thigh. "It's one thing to be touched by a man but another to touch a man…"

He drew your hand away from the handle. He walked backwards as he tugged you with him. You tried to yank your hand free but his grip was strong; his hand almost twice the size of yours. 

"With these," He took your other hand and rubbed the back with his thumb, "You can drive a man crazy."

"Steve…" You pulled and he did the same; so hard that you collided with him, your arms caught between your bodies.

"Shhh," He led you through his doorway, "I know you're a smart girl...such a quick learner."

"I…" Your voice quivered as he spun with you in his arms and released you. The door shut with a click as you kept yourself from tripping. You looked up as he turned the lock. He grabbed the bag from your shoulder and plopped it behind him.

"You don't have to be afraid," He cooed as he neared, "I want it to be special for you...but tonight isn't the night."

"What are you--" He turned you by your shoulders and you looked around the room. His large bed was awash in scarlet light, thin scarves slung over the lamps.

"Tell me, have you ever touched a man before?" He took your hand and urged you forward. "Have you even seen…"

"N-no," He jolted you forward as you tried to resist. "I...no, please."

"We can take it slow. We have taken it slow, haven't we?" He brought you to the end of the bed. Again he turned you and pushed on your shoulders until you sat. "I've been gentle, haven't I?"

You lowered your head. He had been. You couldn't deny that; couldn't deny the feelings he had inspired in you. You couldn’t ignore the heat that was once again licking at your flesh.

"Sweetie," He purred as he cupped your face in his hands, "It's okay to enjoy yourself. Sex is not a sin. The human body...is beautiful." He brushed his thumb over your cheekbone, "Your body is beautiful."

You lowered your lashes shyly and he bent to kiss you. His lips met yours hungrily and his hands drifted down your neck and along your chest. He felt your tits through your tee and bathing suit beneath. Your nipples hard against his palms.

"Just relax," He whispered as he pulled away. He stood and ran a hand along the front of his jeans. "Take off your shirt, sweetie."

His eyes were intent on you. You pouted but your voice was but a wisp in your chest. You reached down and slowly pulled up the hem of your tee. His pupils grew as you stripped yourself of the pale yellow cotton to reveal the same floral bathing suit you'd worn on your first day there.

"Mmm, I like that one," You glanced down. You could see your nipples poking through the fabric. The pale pink patterns did nothing to hide your own arousal. "And your shorts."

"I…" You breathed and he pressed a single finger to your lips. He dropped his hand as you stood. You rolled your shorts down and he rubbed the crotch of his jeans. "Sit."

You obeyed a little too quick. You bounced from the force of your descent and he chuckled. He grabbed his belt buckle and swiftly undid it. You bit down as he unhooked the button of his fly and looked at you as he slid down the zipper.

He shoved his pants down just to his thighs. He tucked his fingers in the elastic of his brief. He pulled them down his pelvis and carefully past his erection. You gasped as he revealed his thick cock and your heart beat wildly. He rolled his briefs down to the top of his jeans.

He grabbed the base of his cock. "It's not so bad, is it?" He said, "You like it, don't you?" He stroked himself and shuddered. "Just like that."

He let go and inched forward. He reached down and took your hand from beside your leg. He wrapped your fingers around his cock and closed his hands over them. He led your grip up and down his length. The skin was smooth and the veins pulsed against your palm.

"Mmmm," He repeated the motion, "Yeah." You bit your lip and he released you after the third stroke. "Keep going, sweetie." You did it again and again and he leaned into your touch, his hands on his hips. "Ah, baby, you're a natural." He let his head fall back and ran his fingers through his golden hair. 

"Firmer," You tightened your grip, your eyes on your hand. "Faster. Yeah...oh god." His breath picked up as you continued. You could feel the wetness along your bathing suit. "Okay."

He stopped your hand with his and gently pulled it away. He stepped even closer. "Now," He took his cock in his other hand. "Try it with your mouth."

"What?" You blinked at him. "I…"

"Take it slow, use your tongue first," He coaxed as he spread his hand over the side of your head. "It's a lot, don't take it all at once."

You gaped at him and he urged you to the edge of the bed. He came closer still and pressed the head of his cock to your lips. You flicked your tongue out across his tip and he sighed. 

"More," He rasped. 

You licked him shyly, a swirl around the head of his cock. He exhaled sharply and you dragged your tongue down his length as you leaned forward. You went back to his tip and repeated the motion. He tasted salty.

"Just like that, baby. Make sure your ready for it," He cradled your head as you licked him up and down once more. "Use your hand."

You gripped him and started to stroke him as you used your tongue. His hand slid around the back of your head and he pushed himself to your lips. "A little at a time, sweetie."

You gulped and clamped your lips shut. You looked up at him as he pushed harder. 

"Open up that pretty little mouth," His voice was stern. "You can do it, sweetie."

You parted your lips and closed your eyes. He pushed his head inside and you stretched your mouth around him. You kept your hand on him and stopped as he prodded at your throat. He guided you back with his grasp on your head and shoved himself back in. You couldn't take all of him.

"Use your tongue," He directed, "Mmm, yeah, keep those lips tight. Yeah, like that." He hummed as he hit the back of your throat again. "Don't be afraid to get messy." 

You felt the spit spreading along his shaft and against your hand as you moved it in time with his mouth. You did you best to breathe past his girth.

"You're doing good, sweetie," He pet your head as he cooed, "Oh, yeah, so good."

He groaned and gripped the sides of your head as he moved you faster and faster. Your eyes rolled back as tears pricked and you gulped back the saliva pooling in your mouth.

"Can I cum on your tits, baby?" He grunted.

He pulled out suddenly. You could barely react as he grabbed the front of your bath suit and ripped it down. He stroked his cock as he wrapped his hand around the back of your neck and forced you close. He hissed as a warmth spurted onto your chest and between your tits. 

"Fuckkkk," The drawn out moan surrounded you and he slowed his hand as he let go of you. He leaned back on his heels and sighed. "Ah, that was so good, sweetie."

He flinched as he released his cock. He eased himself back into his briefs and carefully pulled up his jeans. He smirked down at you and you looked at the cum dripping down your tits.

"Even more beautiful than before, sweetie," He pulled the straps of your bathing suit up your arms and covered his cum. "Tomorrow," He bent and kissed your forehead, "We'll finish our little lessons."

-

tags to be added in reblog

[ineverhaveanynormalfans]

Undisclosed

Fandom: Criminal Minds Warnings: Canon rewrite Pairing/s: Emily Prentiss x Original Character Authors Note:

A slight rewrite and coda to Season 11 Episode 19 Tribute. Emily enlists the help of the BAU in tracking a serial killer who is mimicking famous murders across the globe. However, the recent addition of two new rings on Emily's left hand has her old team questioning when she got married and to whom?

This is part one of a new series, a story that has been brewing in my mind for years with an original character. My Kinktober 2020 series was written with this character in mind as the reader insert but they don't have to be read that way by others.

Word Count: 1406

AO3

“I've always heard every ending is also a new beginning, we just don't know it at the time, I'd like to believe that's true.” Emily Prentiss.

Emily Prentiss awoke with a jolt and sat bolt upright in bed trying to catch her breath. The nightmare had become hauntingly familiar, a replaying of the night a young inspector had lost her life in an undercover role Emily had pushed her to take. ‘Baby? Same one again?’ Your warm hand rubbed small circles on her back as Emily nodded and buried her face in her hands, struggling to ground herself in the here and now and not in that night. A soft kiss to her exposed shoulder made her look around and into the concerned eyes of her partner. ‘I’m ok’ she lied ‘go back to sleep love.’ Getting up before this turned into another discussion of her coping methods Emily padded into the en-suite bathroom, closing the door firmly behind her. Sighing you vowed to keep a closer eye on her and rolled over, falling back to sleep before she emerged and crept back into your bed, another sleepless night ahead of her.

The case in New York came so suddenly that Emily barely had time to leave you a quick voicemail explaining that she’d be out of the country for a few days. Two hours into her flight and mid way through reviewing the case files for the millionth time her laptop pinged with your ringtone. Accepting the video call she sat back and grinned at your face filling her screen. ‘Hotch and the team are gonna meet me in New York, we’re just waiting for DOJ conformation that we can work together on this case.’ It was good to hear her focused, after Boston turned out to be a single victim and the unsubs trail went cold she’d seemed defeated, like she would never get as close as she had in London again. That had bumped the nightmares up a notch in frequency.

‘So what you’re saying is I should expect a virtual frisking from Penelope Garcia imminently.’ Emily laughed and nodded ‘If she hasn’t got a file on you already I’ll be surprised.’ ‘I’d be surprised if she finds enough to warrant a file, work has kept me pretty off the grid. Are you still determined to introduce me in person?’ ‘Yep.’ She confirmed, the pop in the p letting you know she wasn’t gonna abandon her planned big reveal of you just because she was heading to the States a few weeks ahead of schedule. You understood her reasons and you loved the idea too, but keeping anything a secret from one profiler was hard enough, an entire team and the information queen that was Penelope Garcia was something akin to a miracle if you managed it. ‘Keep me updated yeah? And be safe love. No more close calls, please?’ She assured you the BAU had her back and that she would text you. Getting up from your office chair you sighed and went to make your third cup of tea of the day, hoping the team was as good in reality as they were in Emily’s stories.

The crime scene could have been reproduced from forensic photography of the Son of Sams murders and Emily was already scanning the alley for signs of a second victim as she exited the SUV. She was therefore totally blindsided by Rossi when he pulled her up on not talking much on the ride over and her mind jumped straight to the teams recent loss. Morgan had been on her mind, he had only left a few weeks ago and she knew all about that and the feelings it evoked in the team. Chastising herself for not asking them sooner she explained her reasons for not bringing it up, the freshness of the loss seemed so obvious and raw. JJ’s response about taking it one day at a time brought back the guilt she had felt both times she had left the team that was more family than any blood relative. ‘Actually I was trying to give you a hard time about this.’ Rossi lifted Emily’s own left hand up, nodding to the rings that had only resided there a few weeks. Before Emily could do more than stutter and blush the NYPD detectives were approaching them and all focus went back to profiling the scene.

Between the nightmare she had on the plane and the obvious personal nature of the case none of the BAU questioned Emily on the ring again until they arrived back at Quantico. Having successfully surprised Garcia and broken out the bottle of tequila she’d lost in a bet with Morgan it was quickly decided that a family dinner was in order and Penelope demanded to be filled in on this mystery spouse of Emily’s. You had been spot on Emily thought, she hadn’t been able to find much on you, only a name, Dr O. Ryan. ‘That’s not even a full name, do you know how frustrating that is for someone like me to not even be able to find the name of the guy you’ve married without telling us?’ Penelope lovingly chastised her as they took their seats around the round table in the colourful Mexican restaurant. ‘Oooh, a doctor!’ JJ teased, grinning at Emily over the menu. JJ was the only one who knew anything more about you, Emily having spilled all when she rushed to save JJ from a torturer. You’d not even been engaged at that point, the rings had made her do a double take too. ‘How come you didn’t tell us you were getting married?’ Hotch asked, the smile he had from congratulating her still on his face. She was all set to answer them, to give up on her plan of surprising them all with a visit when her phone buzzed in her pocket and took her attention from the table of curious eyes.

‘Find Your Friends has you at this Mexican restaurant and I really hope it’s accurate cos I’m outside :) x’ Emily read and reread the text and laughed disbelievingly. ‘You’re all gonna get your answers don’t worry’ she placated the table as she stood to walk out and get you. Her smile made the cost of the last minute flight worth every penny and you hugged her close, relieved to feel the tension she’d been carrying since Louise’s death had lessened considerably. ‘Ready to meet my family?’ She asked softly against your ear and you squeezed her affectionately before pulling back. ‘Absolutely, lead the way love.’ Emily leaned in and kissed you, her excitement palpable and together you both walked inside.

The plan was exquisite in its simplicity really. You walked in holding hands and watched as the faces of the profilers changed when they twigged. Spencer was first, his face lighting up as he waved a greeting across the table to you. JJ was beaming, you’d spoken to her plenty of times via video calls so it was no surprise that she was first up to hug you and give her congratulations. Tara and Hotch weren’t far behind her, and Rossi was hugging Emily when Penelope arrived in front of you, arms outstretched, and drew you into a huge hug. ‘Oh my gosh hi, hello, wow look at you you’re gorgeous, Emily your wife is gorgeous!’ Emily laughed along with you and Penelope dove straight into questions, pulling up a chair beside her own for you. ‘Tell me everything, how did you meet, who proposed, what was the wedding like, ‘ Rossi had to speak loudly to be heard over the happy chatter and rush of questions. ‘How about a name first, so we can toast the happy couple?’ ‘Olivia.’ Emily said proudly and you beamed up at your lovely wife. ‘Well then, could you all raise your margaritas to the wonderful Emily Prentiss and her beautiful wife Dr Olivia?’ He paused and looked at you both questioningly. ‘Prentiss.’ You answered, and took Emily’s hand in your own as a margarita arrived at the table for you. ‘Molte bueno, to Emily and Olivia Prentiss, may your marriage bring you many years of solace and joy.’ Glasses raised and clinked all around the table as the BAU toasted to the addition of a new family member and you took the brief moment while they all clinked to steal a quick kiss with your new wife. From what Em had told you you’d be far too busy fielding questions from Penelope to get another chance for a long long while.

[mwolf0epsilon]

I was asking what you think Henry's fate is. Is it a time loop? Is it just a reel playing? Is all of it just a dream on his or Joey Drew's death bed? But you pose an interesting question too, do all the games connect in some way even if BATDR is not gonna be a direct continuation?

I’ve pondered on the nature of the world of Bendy and the Ink Machine for a while now and, after a little bit of digging around, reading theories that people have had, watching theory videos and a few playthroughs, I’ve come to a few conclusions over Henry’s fate and the meaning behind the ambiguous ending we got.

This idea is, as such, a mixture of Game Theory’s Revised BATIM Ending Theory plus expectations for BATDR, SuperHorrorBro’s ideas for who BATDR’s Big Bad might actually be, as well as several other ideas that have consistently popped up through out the Fandom’s existence.

Buckle up, this might get long as heck.

---

     To start this off, I’m gonna need to clarify that the Cycle (which is the dimension the first game takes place in, although the origins of this particular world are still debatable as real or fiction within the canon itself) functions in a way that seems to rely heavily on ideas and impossible physics. Not only that, but those who exist within this plane will follow a mixture of Real World and Cartoon World laws, so while death exists in the Cycle it isn’t permanent and things that could usually obliterate you in one go (like massive falls, a hit with an axe, or getting bashed by an out of control fairground attraction) aren’t an instant threat to your overall health. It also appears that people within the Cycle aren’t immediatly aware that they’re following cartoon logic, as Henry (who is supposedly human) doesn’t seem to react all that much to some of the most life threatening moments he faces in the Studio. This in itself already shows something is off about the whole situation Bendy’s original creator has gotten himself mixed up with.

Another thing I need to point out is that the Toonification process doesn’t seem to be reliant of the Cycle itself, and instead happened in the Real World as the events in “Dreams Come True”, and Thomas Connor’s and Joey Drew’s Audio Log on the Ink Demon imply. This, to me, seems to point towards the Cycle having been made some point during Joey’s Toonification experiments as maybe somewhere to hide his twisted creations, so it might be the Ink Machine has the capacity to not only bring things to “life” but to also create other dimensions from templates. Where these dimensions are kept is up to debate, but I assume Joey keeps the Cycle withing the Ink Machine itself. Either way, what I mean to say with these two little notes is that, while Henry appears to be in a fake version of the Studio that doesn’t mean the story of the game is just that, a story. I think everything IS real. But more on that in a bit...

Lets get started with the actual questions you asked:

--Is it a time loop?-- 

Yes, positively. The Tool clarifies this as soon as we get it. In fact, the iteration of the loop we’re doing as Henry is the 415th, and the following we do with the Tool unlocked is the 416th, meaning Henry (and by extention the other Studio Prisoners) have been at this for quite some time even if we weren’t aware at first. To the point where Henry began trying to establish contact with himself.

--Is it just a reel playing?-- 

Also yes. The Cycle as I’ve pointed out before, operates on Cartoon Logic. As such it can be compared to an endlessly looping reel of unfinished film. This is made more apparent by the reel Henry uses to “beat” the Ink Demon. “The End” is something of a curiosity as it is a contradiction in of itself. Not so much a final dot to close off an act as an infinity mark. It’s existence within the Cyle is also curious, as it seems unlikely Joey would have physically made a reel to stop the Ink Demon, so it brings the question of whether or not Mr. Drew can alter the Cycle externally (something that’s already hinted at due to the storyboards you can find on his desk at Joey’s apartment).

This to me indicates the Cycle can be altered (which Henry does whenever he tries to communicate, and by Allison Angel discovering the messages), but that bigger changes need to be done from the Real World.

--Is all of it just a dream on Henry’s or Joey Drew's death bed?--

No, I don’t think it’s a dream or just a story Joey is telling a child. I think the happenings of the game are actually happening, but that perhaps “The End” is a series of blank reels Joey feeds into the Ink Machine and that get filled out by Henry’s actions, and that Joey then watches them and recounts the tales to who I can only assume might likely be Henry’s and Linda’s daughter (as Joey pointed out Henry settled down while he did not, and it’s never mentioned if he has siblings).

With these questions out of the way, here’s what I believe happened to Henry and the implications of the game’s ending where Joey’s “niece” requests another story... The fact of the matter is that Henry is dead.

Why do I believe this? It’s like Matpat pointed out in his Revised Theory video (I know, y’all gonna get on my case because “Game Theory is cringy ew”, but seriously have a look yourself instead of going off in my askbox). It all has to do with small details that seem insignificant or just asthetic choices, but that can actually have a lot more hold on the plot.

Two of these details are:

The 5 coffins at the Studio and letters in Joey’s appartment.

The newspaper clipping Joey keeps in the Ink Machine room at the appartment, which was specifically picked and curated to appear in the game despite the player never going into the room to see it up close.

There’s a number of characters you learn about in the game and (by extention) the novel, and quite a few are dead (Such as Buddy’s friends Jacob and Dot who were murdered by an insane Sammy), but surprisingly only 5 have physical coffins at the Studio ingame.

And what do I mean by physical coffins? Well, there’s a 6th unofficial one, that’s what... And where can we find it?

Henry’s cell in chapter 5. He drew it himself even.

This doesn’t confirm anything of course, it could just be that Henry is into dramatics, but then we get to the newspaper clipping that Joey picked out specifically and kept in a room only he likely enters:

“Local Artist Pushed Himself Too Hard, Found Dead at Desk”

And what did Joey say about Henry pushing him to do the right thing? That he should have pushed a little harder... Like somehow Henry is at fault for Joey’s bad choices. Like Henry deserves what comes next... It almost feels like someone dishing out a speech before an execution, justifying why they’re getting killed. It’s a scene that made me inexplicably nervous until I looked into things.

Why bring up the coffins and letters to prove this, you may ask? Well, another thing Matpat points out is that the people who have coffins are people who were put through the Ink Machine, dying in the process and returning as Ink Monstrosities/Imperfect Toons, while people who got a letter from Joey and that replied to him were never lured back to him.

Wally Franks, for example, is living in Florida so he couldn’t make it to New York to fall into Mr. Drew’s trap. Allison and Thomas Connors are also out of the way so they merely exchange formaleties through correspondance (which implies Joey “made up” with them at some point to try to lure them back and has kept the charade up for a while).

So anyway, people who have coffins in the Studio are not only confirmed dead but also became monsters.

Norman became the Projectionist

Grant likely became either the Piper, Fisher, or Striker

Bertrum became the monstrous Carnival Ride

Lacie likely became either the Piper, Fisher or Striker

Susie became the Imperfect Alice Angel

You’re likely asking about Allison Angel and Tom Boris now, to which I raise you another Matpat pointer from the video above: Allison Angel states that she and Tom would dissolve if they were in contact with pools of ink.

Why is this relevant? Well, it means their bodies are made entirely of ink unlike, for example, Norman who is the sculking Projectionist. Why Norman? Well, he wades through a pool of Ink in level 14 and doesn’t dissolve. Heck, he chases Henry through the pool of ink without any trouble whatsoever in catching up. Why is he different from Allison and Tom? Because he has a soul stabilizing his grotesquely altered body.

Creatures that were once human and were transformed don’t just dissolve into ink. Their bodies remain intact after death until they eventually return to the inky abyss (potentially from being ripped apart) or until they’re revived by a Bendy Statue (Like Sammy, as implied by a clever easter egg near the fountain with the respawning Swollen Searcher).

In fact, now that I think about it, out of all the hostile creatures you encounter, Sammy, Susie, Norman, Bertrum and the Butcher Gang are some of the more stable bodied creatures within the Cycle, requiring a lot more hits to die than Searchers and Lost Ones, although Susie does die from a single stab (though the blow itself WAS pretty devastating in itself).

After pondering on this little idea I realized that the presence of Allison Angel and Tom Boris were entirely fabricated at that point. One of many alterations created by Joey to guide Henry through the last leg of his journey towards “The End”, very likely modelled after the real Allison and Thomas who he viewed as hostile, thus portrayed them as initially aggressive towards Henry. I mean, after so many unsuccefful attempts to make creatures entirely of ink (like the Ink Demon), it’s not too farfetched to say Joey eventually got the hang of it. The Mini Ink machines do it flawlessly and even help Henry, so who’s to say Joey didn’t perfect it within the Cycle to create beings not quite as strong as the Ink Demon, but strong enough to kill corrupt humans?

Again why is any of this relevant to how I think Henry’s dead? Simple. People who replied to Joey lived. Henry didn’t reply, instead he was lured in.

      I believe that the Ink Machine’s disastrous results in the Real World made Joey realize that making a person into a Toon through passing them through the machine with a template wasn’t gonna cut it to fix the grand mess he’d made out of the Ink Demon. But, I also think he realized passing them through the Ink Machine while living was also the issue. The ink corrupted their souls, left them vulnerable to becoming Imperfect beings like Susie. Having them ingest the ink prior to going through was also not gonna cut it, as it’s connection to the Ink Demon gradually destroyed Sammy’s already frail sanity and changed him into an abomination (that had a pretty strong will for possibly three deaths before he finally lost himself completely and became a soulless Searcher). This left one final method to experiment with on the one person he thought responsible to clean his fuck-ups: Joey had to kill Henry prior to putting him through the machine.

     In “Dreams Come True”, Buddy reveals that upon becoming Boris, his body was discarded. A byproduct of his soul enfusing with the ink and rejecting his human flesh. It might be possible that Joey was quick enough in killing Henry in an inconspicuous manner and then putting his body through the machine that Henry’s soul was pulled into the Cycle flawlessly while his body was spat back out for Joey to later deal with (Putting him behind his work desk as if he’d simply died of exhaustion, neatly hiding his crime behind the “suffering of a tortured artist”). This would explain why Henry lacks a shadow or reflection. He’s a ghost. A ghost that’s slowly realizing how hopeless his situation is. What a great pal Joey Drew turned out to be...

     Moving on to the ending of the game itself, there’s some very dark implications that come with Henry being dead. For one, Joey Drew doesn’t have a family, yet he’s recounting Henry’s plight to a little girl who affectionately calls him “Uncle Joey”. We know Henry pursued a family over a busy career, so it’s heavily implied that during the 414 attempts of trying to find a way out of the Studio, Henry’s wife has been grieving him, going so far as to leave their daughter with Joey as she tries to provide for the both of them.

Joey being the pathological liar that he is, would likely graciously look afer his old friend’s daughter and maybe offer “emotional support” to a distraught Linda, cementing his innocense, all the while bragging to the child about what really happened to her father without her knowing. That is a pretty twisted theory and I honestly like the idea due to how horrific it is.

But where does BATDR come into play here?

Well, it’s been confirmed to not be a prequel nor a sequel. Matpat suggested it might either be an Alternate Universe or a Side Story. I believe the latter is more likely, thanks to SuperHorrorBro theorizing that the people behind Gent might be the Big Bad/cause of that particular game’s misfortunes. A Side Story about the Ink Machine being recreated and templates re-used to create a familiar yet brand new nightmare.

I believe BATIM and BATDR are a vicious cycle of madness happening at the same time. The same task repeated by people who expect different results. Only with Joey Drew it was an animation studio, with GENT it might be on a larger scale...But who knows?

There will be returning characters, so maybe BATDR will shed new light upon the Ink Machine and the Cycle’s true nature.

[shreddedparchment]

The Brightest Star Pt.03

Starshine Eclipsed

05/22/2019

Pairing: Thor x Reader          Word Count: 9,658

Masterpost          Warnings: light smut, dirty talk, jealousy, language, fluff

A/N: I have never struggled so much to get a chapter just right. I rewrote a portion of this chapter three times and finally found happiness in what I wrote. I hope you like it! I know this one isn’t as popular as my other stories but I LOVE this story personally. If you happen to reblog, thanks so much for helping me spread my work! xoxo

What to do? What to do?

Thor feels trapped. No, not trapped. Uneasy. His mind is racing. His heart is aching. And for all it’s furious thoughts, racing by faster than light, he still doesn’t know how to react to what he’s been shown.

Tony sits watching him. Thor can sense his eyes. The sharp yet quiet gaze of his earthly friend.

His eyes watch Thor as he crosses in front of the desk from one side of the office to the other. Thor has been pacing since he saw your tragedy. Made larger by the death of your mother and stepfather.

“Why did you show me that-that horror?” Thor growls, vicious regret in his tone even though he has nothing to regret. He didn’t do anything. Yet, he was alive. When you were four and your mother put you in that abominable casket.

He wishes he’d been there even if that makes no sense. He had not even known you existed all those years ago.

“Maybe I should have let her tell you?” Tony offers, knowing full well that you would have never volunteered the information unless you were forced.

Maybe if you and Thor got serious enough you might have eventually told him.

Thor stops to stare at Tony, glaring at him but then his electric blues dim, the spark of his anger fading, as he realizes that his friend was right to have shown him.

“No.” Thor relents. “No, she would not have told me, I don’t think.”

“I don’t know her really well, but I know enough about her personality to know that she’s shut herself in. For a while she tried to get out there. Join the world. Probably what she's doing again with those two clowns you’ve seen her with.” Tony pushes away from the desk and moves around it to pull out the left side drawer. He reaches in and pulls out a small black square.

“I went to school with Henry. We weren’t the greatest of friends, but we kept in touch. He was a good man. His wife…” Tony sighs and holds the picture out to Thor who stops his pacing finally, his nails digging hard into his palms as he keeps them fisted.

He moves towards Tony and reaches for the frame, bright red welts in the heel of his hand as he takes it. He looks at it and his heart goes into arrest.

There, smiling shyly at him from between a man with an honorable disposition and the horrible woman that Thor had seen in the video, is you.

You’re wearing a dress similar to the yellow of the one you wore in the video. Sunflower bright with pretty white lace around the collar and sleeves. You’re small. Smaller than you had been in the video. You can’t be more than two and a half? Maybe three?

His eyes sting.

“She was so small.” Thor laments. The wretched darkness of your skin charring, cracking like glass, and then exploding outwardly plays itself over and over in his mind.

“I was out of town when it happened. Young. Too busy with the rest of the world to care about what happened to anyone but myself. I was still—I lost my parents really young. Nowhere near as young as Y/N, but I spiraled.

“When I heard about what happened to her, I hesitated. I let it sit for a long time. I’ve known her since she was born. Cute kid but I had no time for cute kids back then.

“When I finally looked into what happened that night, no one was willing to help me figure it out, so I went on a hunting spree. When Hydra hacked into the Surestar systems and found this video, they saved in on a mainframe at one of their bases. I stole it from there. Kept it outta Fury’s hands. Just in case.”

“You were researching to see what had been done to her?” Thor asks, intrigued but not surprised that eventually Tony reached out to help Y/N. Thor understands that his friend holds the innocent in high regard, but he also cares very much for his friends and family.

“Not until I got this video. I was just trying to find out what happened in the lab. When I saw what they did to her, I began to wonder what secret project Carne had been working on and since she was up and about I found myself stupidly curious about what they’d done to her.”

Thor runs a large thumb across the curve of your tiny face before passing the picture back to Tony.

He takes it and Tony stares at it.

“And what did you discover?” Thor wonders, splaying both hands on the edge of Tony's desk, waiting for his answer.

“I’ve got the gist of what Henry was hoping to happen. Sometimes asteroids, small pieces, and meteors fall onto Earth. He wanted to catch them before they entered the atmosphere to see if the radiation could be transformed into energy. It was a silly idea. The amount of radiation on the rocks was too weak to do anything. You’d get more power from a potato.”

Thor's brow furrows, confused by the thought of powering anything with the lumpy vegetable. “Potato?”

Tony waves the question off, shaking his head.

“Yeah so, he turned to the Earth itself. He sought out different craters of impact, searching for…” Tony reaches up to run his right hand through his already unkempt hair. He drops the picture in his left and shoves that hand into his pocket, his eyes heavy and his expression sour. “…I don’t know, some miracle rock. He finally gave up and turned back to the resources we had right here but then there was an asteroid. A big one.”

“And it fell to Earth?” Thor wonders, brow creased and voice calmer.

“A piece of it did. The majority of the asteroid went around the Earth, did a loop in orbit and just flew on by but it knocked into a satellite. It got really close. Gave the space nerds a real scare for a while. Jane would have probably been dancing for joy.” Tony gives him a teasing smirk but Thor frowns.

His mind is on you. What does Jane have to do with this?

Tony waits for some type of response. When he doesn’t get one his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline and he pulls a packet of gum from his pocket. He pops a piece then holds out the squares to Thor.

“Gum?” He asks.

Thor shakes his head.

“Anyway,” Tony sighs and pockets his gum. “A piece broke off of the asteroid and for a long while everyone thought the rock was just that. Normal asteroid. Nothing special. Slightly higher than normal energy signal but otherwise nothing to cause alarm or incite interest.

“Of course, Henry being who he was, he didn’t give up until he'd tested the hell outta that rock.” Tony moves around the desk and Thor follows him with quizzical eyes.

“How do you know that if you said you were otherwise occupied in selfish exploits?” The insult is veiled though honestly also almost non-existent. It's only an insult if you don’t know Thor. Tony sees it for what it is. Curiosity.

“It was all in the reports I stole. What wasn't in the reports was what Henry found in those samples he had or what he was planning to do with what he found. I’ve been searching for years but the only clue to what happened to Y/N died with Carne and Henry. She may not even know herself what happened.

“I wish she'd just let me run some tests. I know I could figure it out and help her maybe? Not that she needs my help. She seems to have this whole reclusive heiress gig worked out. And now she's got the God of Thunder on her trail? She could be doing worse. She text back yet?”

Tony stops by the door to face Thor, both hands in his pockets now.

Thor's heart pounds, remembering the stupid text he’d sent. An unimpressive hello.

He clicks the button that Nat had shown him to bring the screen to life but the small bar at the top indicates no received messages.

“No.” Thor replies with a pout.

“She's a busy woman, despite all the stalking you did, if you didn’t know who she really was then I’m sure you only saw her when she was blowing off some steam. Give her some time.” Tony offers, hoping his words will give Thor a bit of relief.

“Right.” Thor nods but looks down at his phone again.

“Bed time. Pepper’s waiting. See you in the morning.” Tony turns to leave.

“Stark,” Thor calls out and he waits for Tony to turn. “Can I keep that picture?”

Thor's not looking at Tony. He’s staring at your family portrait where you're still shy but clearly happy without the weight of the world on your shoulders yet.

“Sure. And F.R.I.D.A.Y. send Thor a copy of the video we saw tonight.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Thor is already reaching for the picture but stops at Tony's words to look at him. “Maybe you might see something I’ve missed? Night.”

Thor can’t sleep. In fact, he's spent the night pacing the length of his bedroom. The sun is just cresting across the horizon painting the sky a brilliant orange, carnation pink, and sunflower yellow when his phone finally dings.

Never in his life has an innocuous series of chirps and digital beeps made his heart leap quite so fast into overdrive.

He dives for his phone, slamming his hand hard against the fancy white bedside table where his phone has been charging.

“Ow.” He mutters, shaking his left hand as he falls sideways onto the plush of his bed. “Damn.”

He reaches over and grabs his phone with his other hand as he continues to shake his throbbing fingers.

He eyes the table suspiciously. What the hell is that thing made of?

He clicks the screen and shoots to his feet when he sees your name on the screen, the preview of the message is simple. Just like his own message.

Starshine: Hi. Who is this? With a smiley face on the end.

Thor revels for a moment on the small image after your response. He'll have to figure out how to add those later. For now, heart pounding, he unlocks the phone completely and opens his messages to reply.

Thor: Good morning! It is I, Thor. Son of Odin. I’m sorry if I woke you last night from-

“No. Something cooler, Thor.” He grumbles at himself, fingers trembling excitedly over the small keyboard.

Thor: Oh, hey. It's Thor. Forgot I sent this message. I was just getting up. Almost didn’t even hear the tex-

“No!” He gripes, then growls and erases the message.

Thor: Hello, my gem. It is I. Your God of Thunder. How are you this morni-

Thor chuckles darkly, his jaw tight as he jams his thumb onto the backspace button. The screen flickers.

“Gently.” He reminds himself. Nat had warned him these devices tended to he very fragile and that if he broke the screen he'd be doomed to replace it with his own money.

With a defeated sigh, his thumbs fly across the phone, pressing the digital buttons with a deep apprehension. Is it too late to just give up?

Thor: It's Thor. Sorry I sent the message so late.

With nervous guts, twisting and coiling, Thor stares at the unimpressive message and waits with bated breath. What if you don’t reply right away?

He's saved the waiting however, as the phone vibrates too loudly in his hot hand and the dings of his alert make him jump.

Starshine: Thor! I’m so happy to hear from you so soon. I woke up this morning sure that I’d dreamt up the whole morning yesterday.

The soothing wave of relief melts the tension holding Thor's shoulders stiff and he throws himself back onto the bed. He taps his feet happily, still pressed to the floor over the edge of his mattress.

He replies quickly. Now that he knows you’re happy to hear from him, he has no reason to not reply fast, right?

Thor: There were moments when I too thought it was a dream. This is my new phone number. Be sure to save it. I hope you slept well?

He continues to hold the phone over his face with his left while he drops his right arm, hand splayed out over the ultra smooth silk silver sheets. The material is cool having sat all night without his heat to warm it.

Smiling like a fool, he waits patiently impatient for your reply.

Starshine: I slept very well. Thanks. And you?

“Fuck.” Thor breathes, nearly silent. Cursing is reserved for only the most severe of stressful situations and realizing too late that you'd reciprocate the polite inquiry of sleeping well, he now has to either lie to you about not having slept because he was waiting for your reply and watching that video of you over and over, or just tell you.

Both options are not ideal. Will he seem strange to you for it?

Thor: If I’m honest, I did not sleep.

He waits, knowing what you'll ask.

Starshine: Oh. I’m sorry. Were you working? With the Avengers? Feel free not to tell me of it's like confidential or something.

Thor smiles despite the raging yellow belly of fear he's fighting.

Thor: No. Nothing like that. My mind was simply preoccupied. I had a lot to think about.

Starshine: Was I a part of that “lot to think about" at all?

Uh oh. Nervous flutters are raging in Thor's belly and he can’t remember the last time someone made him feel like this. Like a boy with a crush. If he tells you he loves you, will you shun him?

Thor: You might have popped in there once or twice. Or three or seventy times.

Starshine: I was waiting all day for you to call or text. Is that weird?

Thor: No! It's not weird. I have been eager to see you again.

Starshine: Really? Me?

Gods, you are perfection. How do you not know it? Then again, if he hadn’t been looking at you right when your eyes shined with that intoxicating enthusiasm, he might not know either. Blind fool! He'd almost missed it.

Thor: Yes. When can I see you again?

Looking cool be damned. He wants to see you.

Starshine: Is this morning too soon? I’ll be at the café in about an hour. I just need to get dressed.

DONK, DONK, DONK!

Three startling knocks surprise Thor and his hands slip. The phone falls onto his face painfully crushing his nose. The corner poking his left eye.

“Ow!”

“Thor? You up?” The Captain's voice is even, strong, and very awake for the time.

Thor sits up, rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand, grabbing the phone in his right.

“Yes.” He booms, irritated slightly but only because his face hurts and also, he's pretty sure he knows why Steve is here.

“Can I come in?” Steve asks.

“Of course.” Thor grumbles.

The door opens and just as he suspects, Steve walks in wearing his suit. His Captain suit.

“Hey, we uh—isn’t that what you had on yesterday?” Steve asks.

Without his cowl, his blonde hair falls annoyingly perfect across his forehead. Has Steve always been that good looking? Thor frowns.

“Yes.” He replies curtly.

“Oh.” Steve continues. “Well, we got a mission. Can you meet us in Latvia?”

Thor sighs, looks down at your message, then nods as he meets Steve's storm blue eyes once more.

“Of course. I will follow shortly.”

“Great.” Steve smiles, and Thor narrows his eyes at the blonde beefcake. That is what they’re called right? Good looking men with wide builds and sturdy legs?

Thor swears he heard Natasha use it for Bucky once or twice. Under her breath of course. Never loudly enough for Bucky to hear.

As he leaves, Thor wonders if you’ve seen Steve up close. What if you secretly like Steve? He'll wait a long time before he introduces you to the team.

He'll make sure you’re absolutely in love with him before he does.

With the door shut, Thor looks down at his phone and sighs heavily with disappointment.

Thor: It seems that I am needed with the team. I’m very sorry to say I will not be able to go to the café this morning.

Starshine: Oh…okay. I mean, the world needs you right?

Thor: It would seem so. Forgive me.

Starshine: Thor, there's nothing to forgive! You have a job to do. An important one. I can see you later. Right?

Thor: Nothing would give me more pleasure.

Starshine: Great! So, how about this? When you’re done saving the world, call me?

There's a moment of pause while Thor reads your message, then his heart is twisting in a strange excruciatingly pleasant way as another message comes through.

Starshine: I wanna hear your voice.

Thor: The very moment I am back, I will call you. Wait for me.

He has to be dreaming. This can’t be real.

Starshine: I’ll wait days if I have to.

Thor's heart nearly bursts through his chest. Days be damned! He will be back before the day is out.

He gets to his feet, shoves the phone into his pocket then holds out his hand as he struts towards the large almost wall of windows. He carefully pushes the door aside as Stormbreaker lands in his hand.

The small balcony is only large enough for one chair and a spot for him to stand comfortably.

In one fluid motion he throws his arm with Stormbreaker up at the sky. It crackles and booms as he's engulfed by blinding light shifting him into full black armor, his red cape billowing in the wind as Stormbreaker pulls him up into the sky to catch up with the jet.

You’ve never really liked anyone before. Not seriously.

There was Seth of course but it had only been a crush. Maybe this thing with Thor is just a crush too?

It doesn’t feel like a crush though.

It’s stupid. You feel stupid for getting like this over a guy—no, Thor’s not just a guy but still—when you’ve only spoken to him once. Twice if you include the texts.

There’s a knock on your door. You jump. Startled out of the silence and deep thought you’ve fallen into.

“Y/N?” You know that voice but you’re not in the mood to hear it.

You can hear the soft whish of your dark wooden door, but you don’t dare look back. You remain seated where you are, at the foot of your bed on the soft gray padded bench, silver hoop legs resting on the edge of your royal plum carpet. You keep your eyes focused on the horizon. Deep blue as the evening shifts into night. There are no stars. You wish you could see the stars.

“Hey.” He says, smooth as silk, elongating the word like he’s talking to a toddler throwing a tantrum. Or like he's done something wrong.

You say nothing. Why should you? No one wants to hear you talk. No one wants to see you. Why is he here? Your phone sits beside you, screen still lit with the keyboard on full display while message after unanswered message fills the rest.

Jeremy sits beside you. He keeps the phone between you, stares at it for a second, then lifts it up to read it. He scrolls through the messages. You watch his reflection, too embarrassed and ashamed to look at his face. He's all casual today. A gray baseball tee with ocean blue sleeves. Jeans. Sneakers.

Jeremy knows you better than anyone else on this planet. Your old caretaker, your father’s most trusted employee, had been the other. Papa Roman, you’d called him. He’d been a sweet older man with dark graying hair, a tall build with arms and a chest that had hinted at a life lived healthily.

However, even exercise hadn’t kept away his heart attack and he’d passed two years after he’d hired Jeremy to watch you when he couldn’t.

Only Jeremy knows, like Papa Roman had, about what you’re truly capable of. You want to keep it that way.

Despair isn’t something you’re familiar with. You know loneliness well. You know desire and you know what it feels like to wish you had parents.

Agony?

This deep pit of pure pain that you find yourself in doesn’t feel right or good or even worth it for the time you spent knowing Thor.

“Still no reply?” Jeremy wonders, still scrolling through text after text. They’re all variations of the same message.

You: Did I do something wrong? Why haven’t you called? Are you okay?

Answering Jeremy’s question isn’t important.

He sighs, then scoots closer and drops your phone onto the edge of the carpet between your feet where it falls and rattles against the umber hardwood floors of your bedroom.

The screen is off so at least you don’t have to stare at your inability to take a hint.

“Maybe this is for the best, kid? I mean, he’s a hero, right? Wouldn’t he have tried to get you to step up?” Jeremy wonders, eyes scanning the scant, yet modern decor of your bedroom.

You don’t need much in this space even though it's large. The city skyline makes it feel full.

The doorway that Jeremy had wandered in through is to the right of your bed. It's wide, tall, and in a small squared alcove that keeps it in darkness. Overhead a single row of small round circle lights embedded into your tall dark ceiling cast a soft glow of yellow light down into the room.

It’s dim. With three walls—though really, it’s more like sections since the walls are really just one large curving flow of windows, separated by two large cylindrical columns—all made of floor to ceiling windows, you have no need for extensive lighting. You keep a lamp by your bed, just in case.

To the right of your doorway is a small sitting area. A gray modern couch, angular and sharp in its lines but soft and plush to sit on. Comfortable. With large comfy pillows and a pink throw blanket for when you get cold which is almost never.

Against the right wall of windows is a matching backless settee with white and pink pillows to match the blanket. At the center of these two seats is a large square coffee table where you’ve left your laptop, a book, and a glass of sipped water.

It’s probably stale by now.

The edges of the table are slightly more interesting as on it is a long bar of what appears to be glass with a slightly larger bit of glass towards the center, like a fin at the center of the line’s back. There’s a dim purple glow coming from the glass and several icons on the left and right side of the center, larger part of the glass bar.

To the left of your doorway, almost as soon as you come in is a small black bedside table. Modern design, shining and elegant. Then your bed, pressed against the only solid wall of your bedroom is a patted gray headboard and a low platform bed with dark gray sheets.

There’s a bit of empty space between your bed and the next doorway—your bathroom—and past that is a sturdy glass doorway that leads to a sizable balcony that wraps around a portion of your room.

The balcony is decorated. You like being outdoors and there are several seats, plants and pretty lights in minimalistic modern lanterns carefully staged to give you the sense of a small outdoor garden.

You’d spent a meticulous amount of time picking each and every flower; Peach azaleas, multicolored snapdragons, burgundy calla lilies, chamomile, pale blue chrysanthemums, orange ice geraniums, aromatic lavender, majestic midnight morning glories, pure white petunias, sunshine orange dahlias, and blush pink foxgloves. You’d made yourself a veritable Eden.

There are lots of dark corners to hide between the seats and large potted plants. You should have hidden from Jeremy out there.

“You not talking to me too, now?” Jeremy probes, nudging you with his shoulder.

You reach out with your toes and nudge your phone, pushing it so that it slides across the smooth wooden floor.

“Come on, Y/N. I know you got your hopes up about this guy, but you can’t shut down like this.” Jeremy sighs heavily, reaching over to take hold of your hand.

“I know.” You admit, hating the insecurities you’ve been wallowing in. “He was just so…I mean, eventually he might have understood me. You know? More than most people can. He was…I though he was different.”

Isn’t it human to feel things? You are human still. Just because you burn hot and because you’re like Thor, different, it doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to feel rejected if you’ve been rejected. “And…nine days? Without so much as a word? He promised he’d call and—never mind. Maybe I just read too much into it? Like always.”

“Y/N, you’re going to find the right guy someday. Or girl, if that’s what you want. And they're going to love every part of you. Even the bits you can’t help.” Jeremy gives your hand a squeeze and you nod.

Appeasing him might be the best way to get yourself to be alone again.

“But you can’t go skipping your meetings. I know this sucks, Y/N, but you have responsibilities. Starlux Café needs your attention.”

“Is something wrong with it?” You twist your head to look at him, worry creasing the space between your eyes as your mind finally makes room for something other than the intoxicating warmth of Thor.

Starlux Café has been your one and only true investment since inheriting your dad’s company. In a sense, the chain of cafes is your baby.

“No. Nothing’s wrong with it, but you need to be present, Y/N. This is your responsibility. You can’t just shirk it because you got dumped.” His words are harsh. They hit you sharply, making you flinch and turn away from him again.

“I’d have to have been dating him to get dumped. He didn’t even see fit to have a real first date with me.”

“Well, there you go. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your ass back to work.” Jeremy insists ruthlessly.

You turn a scandalized look on him only to find him grinning at you, his chiseled chin all covered in fuzzy five o’clock shadow and his round framed glasses slipping down along his straight nose.

You return his smile for all of one second because you know that he’s only trying to distract you from the pit in your stomach.

As your smile disappears, you turn towards the starless night sky, so easily visible through the wall of windows before you.

You’re filled with a strange sense of yearning and you’re not sure if it’s for the stars or for Thor, but it hurts.

With a fluttering hand you reach up to stroke the shard of gleaming black stone dangling around your neck. It's hung on a delicate silver chain.

The stone itself has got several facets and your finger searches for the front most one until it finds the slightly larger inward curve where the tip of your thumb finds the almost glass-like feel of the garnet colored gem shard within.

Jeremy’s hand finds yours again. He slips his fingers between it and the stone to pull you away from the nervous habit until his palm is pressed flush to yours. His skin feels cool against your own fevered temperature.

“You’ve been stressing.” He realizes.

Duh! How else are you supposed to feel when the possible man of your dreams sends you some flirty texts and then doesn’t call you like he promised he would?

Leisurely he slides his hand along your palm then stops when his middle finger finds its center. He traces slow tantalizing circles, your core twitching in response to the familiar indicator of what's to come.

You know what he’s going to do before he does it and you meet his dark stoic gaze. You don’t resist him as he stands, turns to you, then places his right knee to your left on the soft cushion of the bench.

He leans down towards you, bringing his handsome face mere inches from yours while he wraps his left arm around your lower back.

He lifts you up, arching your back so you're chest to chest then leads you back onto the end of the bed.

Your body sinks pressed against the mattress as Jeremy crawls over you. He hikes you up until you’re laying with your head on your pillow.

With his eyes boring into yours until he can no longer meet them, he presses a slow open mouthed kiss to your throat.

You sigh, your core constricting once more, but he gets up before you have the chance to enjoy the touch. His biceps bulge and twitch with the movement as he stands beside your bed.

He removes his glasses first, dropping them onto your bedside table before he reaches up behind his head to grip the neck of his navy and gray baseball tee and peel it away.

His body is ridiculous. You know he’s a bit of a fitness nut. He doesn’t eat things that are bad for his body which weirds you out. How do you say no to such good foods? In these moments you appreciate his dedication though, however irritating it might make him when he argues with you about what you should eat for lunch.

He kicks off his sneakers then unbuttons his jeans and lets them fall to the floor before stepping out of them, leaving him in a pair of tight lime green briefs with a dark gray waistband.

The sturdy fabric does little to his the rock hard bulge of his cock. Once more, your core clenches, eager to be filled.

You smile at him, amused as he climbs back over you then with skillful hands, begins to undo the large silver buttons of your long knee-length black skirt.

He starts at the bottom and slowly works his way up. Your heart pounding with every flick of his fingers.

“What are you smiling about, kid?” He asks, blinking slowly as his hands work their way up your legs. He doesn’t smile, but rather gives you a nice steady gaze. It’s so clear, the mischievous glint of his dark eyes.

Jeremy sees you for who you are. Emotionally stunted. Insecure. Afraid. Powerful. A bit of a sap. And lonely. Mostly lonely. He knows your good and your bad.

“Nice undies.” You tease and he drags his bottom lip between the edge of his teeth. He slips his hand into the open slit of your skirt. Up, up, up until he reaches beneath you towards your bottom.

He gives it a pinch. Hard.

You jump. “Ow! Jerk.”

“Don’t make fun of my underwear then.” He laughs, then grabs the waistband of your underwear to drag them down. Yours aren’t so impressive either. Just a pair of teal boy shorts.

You lift your legs as he pulls them away, slipping them off then tosses them to join his pile of clothes.

“You want me to make you feel better? Feel good?” He asks, his voice low and husky. You know that tone so well now.

You nod, slowly. Completely at his mercy in this moment, under his unwavering control. You take his lead here. In your bed. In every place he’s ever shown you the wonders of what you’d known nearly nothing about. He’s always been in control of you here.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Jeremy?” You’re too scared to look at him. He’s sitting across from you in your living room, the TV on the segmented wall to your left mounted over the unlit fireplace is playing some old movie you’re too distracted to pay attention to.

Your mind is reeling from the sight you’d stumbled upon earlier today. You hadn’t been expecting it but seeing that couple in the bathroom of your building, making those noises and saying those things when they thought no one was listening…well, it got you curious.

Your cheeks burn as you wait for him to look at you and respond. He’s busy with his paperwork. He’s so focused. So invested in your affairs. He’s been there for everything.

Over the last year, after Papa Roman had gone, he grew more determined. Devoted. Jeremy’s been with you through thick and thin.

He helped you fight for dominance in your company. To preserve your dad’s original vision and keep the jerks on the board at bay and he'd helped you cope with the loss of Papa Roman and the stresses of living life as you and your strangeness.

Will asking him this be weird? You have no one else.

No one.

“Jeremy?” You repeat meekly.

“Hm?” He mumbles, leaning far over the wooden coffee table to reach a paper with too many numbers.

“What-what is sex like?” You blink, cheeks burning, ears molten, neck on fire. You keep your eyes on his extended hand. His fingers curved around the slip of paper, now frozen.

Should you look at him? No. You can’t.

“What?” His voice isn’t outraged like you’d suspected it might be. It’s not even uncomfortable. Surprised maybe?

You chance a look and find him watching you with his brow furrowed. Dark brown eyes searching your expression for a giveaway that maybe this might be a joke?

He won’t find it.

“What’s sex like?” You swallow hard. Now that you’ve met his eyes, you can’t tear them away. Is he ashamed for you? Are you embarrassing yourself for asking him this?

Of course, you are! You know why you’ve never been able to do it. For one, you’re so withdrawn that you haven’t really connected with anyone meaningfully to want to do that. You also haven’t let yourself even think about kissing or doing anything that might bring about a reaction.

You’re dangerous. You know this. Papa Roman had the scorch scars to prove it.

“You haven’t-?”

You shake your head, wildly from side to side. Answering his question but also chasing away the stupidity if what you just asked.

“I-I’ve read about it but…” You stop, voice trailing off into silence as your energy shifts nervously.

You’re not blind. You know how hot Jeremy is and that's not helping your bashfulness.

“Why are you asking, Y/N?” He demands sternly.

“I heard a couple. The bathroom in my office was being repaired, so I went to use the one in the hallway but when I went in there was someone m-moaning and I could hear them. I saw two pairs of feet…with my condition, doing anything like that has never been an option for me. I’ve made sure to keep people at a distance for exactly that reason. I could hurt them.”

Could you be more embarrassed? Probably not. Jeremy’s face isn’t betraying whatever he’s thinking either. He’s so stoic. Thinking hard, clearly, but unaffected by your words. Maybe he doesn’t care?

You’re so used to him being here, around you, helping you, that you realize you might very well have been mistaking his dedication to his job as concern for you. Not everyone can actually care like Papa Roman—and you would never have dared ask him something like this. Papa Roman would have freaked out with worry.

Because he’s taking so long to respond, you look away from him and watch the sunlight dance along the floor. The walls behind the two of you are pure glass curve with stark white metal support beams. They allow the light of the early afternoon to filter in.

Living at the peak of your building has its perks. With so much reinforced glass, you have no need for lights during the day.

Five minutes have passed.

That’s a long time for silence. You’ve never tried to deliberately sit and wait five minutes to pass in complete silence and you realize now how terribly stressful silence can be.

Your eyes wander down to your feet and you curl in on yourself, retreating from the needless question you should never have asked.

“Never mind. I-I’m sorry I asked, I was just curious. I didn’t mean to-Ah!” Strong arms suddenly yank you to your feet.

Your shout of surprise doesn’t startle Jeremy.

In fact, he doesn’t seem phased at all.

He drags you away from your sofa and pulls you towards the kitchen open modern kitchen on the other side of your TV mounted wall.

He pulls you past it and your heart thumps heavily as you realize that the only place to go from here is your room.

Giving his arm a firm tug, you plant your bare feet on the cool and gleaming concrete floor.

“Where are we going?” You ask, terrified.

No. That can’t be what he’s doing. It’s impossible. It’s unethical. He’s your assistant! He’s paid to help you…out…?

“I’m gonna show you what sex is like, but only if you want me to.” He explains, watching your face with sudden trepidation. There’s a subtle downward curve to his lips almost as if he’s afraid you may tell him no.

“But my condition will prob-”

“I know very well what your condition is. Do you want my help, or not?” He asks, stepping closer to you.

You’re suddenly very aware of his substantial size. He’s muscular and tall. Well above average.

“I could hurt you.” You worry, voice rising in octave towards the end.

“Is that a ‘no’?”

“No.” You whisper, and he takes that as a yes.

Closing the distance between you he sweeps your legs out from underneath you with one arm and catches your back with his other one then proceeds to strut towards your bedroom.

“Jeremy…?” You begin, worried about what this might mean for your working relationship.

You can’t afford to lose Jeremy. He’s your life support! He helps you with business and now it seems he’s going to help you with your personal life even more than he already does?

“This doesn’t mean anything, Y/N. I can give you this and I hope maybe it’ll make your life a little easier.” He explains as he pushes your door open with his foot.

“But…you don’t have to, Jer. This isn’t what-I’m not expecting anything like this. It’s not your job.” You blather.

“Taking care of you is my job. And we can’t expose your condition to some outsider.” He drops in height, still holding you tight as he lowers you onto the bed. “Can you imagine the paperwork I'll have to fill out if you hurt some random dude?”

You consider it. There will be liability waivers and NDAs. Insurance and it really would be a big headache.

“Tell me to stop and I will.” He whispers.

You consider it. You almost open your mouth and tell him that you can’t do this. It isn’t right. It’s not fair to have him do this for you. Maybe sex just isn’t something you’ll ever get to have?

Cool skin burns a trail from your right ankle, slowly up along your calf, knee, and along the soft outer flesh of your thigh. You gasp, tingling strangely where you’ve never tingled before. You feel slick and strange as your core moistens.

This you’ve felt before but never like this. Never this strongly.

“Tell me to stop.” Jeremy whispers, lowering himself closer. He’s only a few inches away from your face.

“No.” You relent, giving in to the intoxicating sensations your body is getting from the strange ice-fire of his touch.

It scalds you and Jeremy stares into your eyes, reaffirming without words that this is duty not passion, before he seals his lips to yours drawing out your ragged breath.

~~~~~~~~~~

“How?” He asks, grinning at the way you melt to his instruction.

He’s always been bossy, giving you tips and pointers and detailed direction. Lately he's become more demanding vocally. Asking and urging you to tell him the things you want and like. Clearly wanting you to take charge of your sexuality.

It’s sweet, in a weird sort of way.

He wants you strong. He wants you to grow.

“My fingers?” He asks, holding up his hand for you to see.

You shake your head, despite what you know he can d with those fingers.

“A toy?” He offers, giving your bedside table a glance.

You shake your head.

“You want me to rub you?”

You shake your head, tempting as having his hands on your body might be.

“You want me to eat you up, Y/N?”

A strange thrill passes through you and you nod.

“Then tell me.” He orders and you bite your bottom lip. You’re not sure about this talking in bed thing. It’s great hearing him say these things to you but you’ll probably sound stupid saying it yourself. “Come on, Y/N. Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

“Jer, please.” You beg, he knows what you want! Why does he need to hear you say it?

“You gonna burn me if I don’t do it? Come on, kid, tell me what you want. You want me to eat your pussy?” He speaks slowly, deeply, his tone tantalizing. Your body is on fire.

He smiles, feeling the rise of heat underneath your skin.

“Come on, kid, tell me.” He whispers, teasing you this time, playfully.

“E-eat my p-p-pussy?” You tell him, your confidence waning as soon as you begin to speak the words.

“Gotta do better than that, chipmunk.” You hate that nickname. And he only uses it in bed. Bastard.

Your anger is momentary because his hand is sliding up along the inner flesh of your thigh. Your mouth pops open, your breathing heavier as the tips of his fingers slide along your wet slit.

“I wanna do it, chipmunk. You just gotta tell me.”

“Ugh, I hate you.” You growl at him, falling back completely as you wiggle against his hand.

His fingers disappear and you whine in protest. You curve to your left, staring down at him where he’s still grinning like the teasing shit that he knows he is.

You growl in frustration, then drop your defense as you plead, “Please, Jer, eat my pussy? Please?”

He smiles, wide.

“’Atta girl.” Pearly whites shining in the dim light of your room. He shifts on the bed, hooks his hands behind your knees before yanking you down a bit and then spreads your legs as he disappears into the half open fold of your skirt.

So much had gone wrong on mission. Although it could have been worse. At least the rest of the team was safe.

“It’s gonna be good to be home.” Tony confesses keeping up with Thor's flight speed easily.

Thor can understand Stark’s desire to get back. He’s got Pepper. Probably worried out of her mind.

“It is indeed my friend.” Thor agrees, eager to get home to shower and change and-

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

They all come in at once, distracting Thor from his train of thought as he finally lands on the section of balcony outside his room.

“What the hell is that?” Tony wonders distracted by the strange noise too. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.? Incoming missile?”

Thor has to agree. It sounds oddly like Stark’s suit alerting him to danger.

Thor turns around to look up at the sky where Stark has stopped to float in mid-air, thrusters hissing blue fire. He looks behind Tony, searching for the threat but he sees nothing.

“Wasn’t me.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. says.

“What then? Flying ice cream truck?” Tony asks sarcastically.

Ding.

One more comes through and he’s not sure if it’s because he’s finally home, back on Earth, so close to his room, or because he can see your glittering, twisted building in the distance but Thor remembers his phone.

“Oh, no.” His heart drops.

“What?!” Tony asks, on alert. He flings himself around, scanning the skies, arms raised and ready to fight.

“I forgot.” Thor gasps and he scrambles to retrieve the phone from his hidden pocket.

“Forgot?” Tony’s confused. As he flies lower to level out with Thor, he suddenly starts to laugh.

“It's not funny.” Thor growls at him but Tony is incorrigible.

He shakes his head, making the Iron Man look displeased but Thor knows that Stark is really grinning underneath that helmet.

“Please tell me you didn’t make plans with her or that you at least called her before we flew out after that maniac spaceship. It’s been almost ten days.”

As if Thor needs Stark to tell him!

He’d completely been wrapped up in the fight that he’d given chase without thinking twice about what he was leaving behind.

Forget you?

Yes, okay! He forgot you. But it was only because—oh what does it matter?!

Thor is so busy punching the side button of his phone that he’s not listening to anything Stark is saying.

Tony nods, and when Thor focuses on what he's saying, he's mid-sentence. “-good thing I designed them with that extra long battery life. Maybe I should work in a really strong signal booster? Hope you didn’t screw the pooch too badly.”

Thor does too, but he’s distracted and he doesn’t notice when Tony flies off to his own floor.

As he scrolls, Thor's eyes read faster than they’ve ever read before.

Starshine: Thor?

Starshine: Are you okay?

Starshine: You never called. I just hope you’re okay.

Starshine: I saw the news. You went off-world?

Starshine: When you get back, coffee’s on me, okay?

Starshine: There’s this new movie playing and it reminded me of you. I mean, the guy in it is tall and blonde and kinda looks like a Viking so…yeah.

Starshine: I have another book for you to read, if you want. I’ll show you when you get back.

Starshine: Is it weird to text you when things make me think of you? I feel like I’m texting you too much.

Starahine: Good morning! I had a dream that I was floating in a sea of stars last night. It was beautiful.

Starshine: You’ll have to tell me what it’s like in space. To be surrounded by all those stars? It must be breathtaking.

Starshine: Have you ever been to Pluto? They say it isn’t a planet anymore. Poor Pluto, right?

Starshine: What about Mars? Are there really aliens there?

Starshine: Wait. Aren’t you an alien, technically?

Starshine: There’s this joke I heard and it’s so silly and stupid. I’ll have to tell you when you get back.

Starshine: I’m being weird, right? It’s been days and I’m still texting you like some psycho stalker.

Starshine: I was determined to go all day without texting you but they put whip cream in my coffee and I thought of you.

Starshine: I hope you’re safe. You’ve been gone four days now. You’re coming back right?

Starshine: What kind of music do you like? Here on Earth? Have you discovered anything particular?

Starshine: I’ll make some suggestions if you want. If you don’t know where to start.

Starshine: I really am starting to feel like meeting you was a dream. A really good dream.

Starshine: OMG! You’re back! I can’t wait to see you.

“O-M-G?” Thor wonders what that might mean. And back?

He sneaks a look at the date of the message but it's five days ago.

Starshine: I’m sorry I’ve been texting so much. I was just worried.

Starshine: Am I bugging you? I’m sorry. You’re probably tired. I’ll leave you be.

Starshine: Thor? I know I should stop texting you, but I just want to know that you got back okay. They said in the news you got back yesterday but you haven’t been by the café. Did you still want to meet up?

Starshine: Did I do something wrong? Is it all the texts? The calls? I just…I don’t understand.

Starshine: Thor?

Starshine: Can we just forget all of my craziness? I’ll stop texting, I promise. Just send me a simple, ‘ok’ and I’ll know that you got back safe and I won’t bug you anymore.

Starshine: What did I do? Do you know? About my company? Who I am? Is that it? I didn’t mean to lie to you. I just…people find out what I do for a living and they react. They don’t treat me the same anymore.

Starshine: I get it. You’re upset maybe? I’ll wait at the café for you. All day if I have to. Just give me a chance to explain myself. Please? I promise if you don’t want to talk to me after I’ve said my piece, I’ll leave you alone.

Starshine: I know that if you didn’t come you probably want nothing to do with me. I’m sorry I’ve bugged you so much and I’ll stop texting you now. It was nice to meet you. Again, I’m sorry. Really sorry.

And one final text message that came in yesterday.

Starshine: Thor?

Thor scrolls all the way back to the top again and then all the way back down as if a new message will appear. One for today. There has to be one for today. And you’ve been begging him to reply!

Is there any way to feel more awful about the way your excitement seems to have died, even via text? He hadn’t meant to forget. It just…what news reports?

Thor storms his way into his room but opts to forget the shower in favor of finding out what the hell it is you were talking about.

It’s also so late that you have to be asleep. He can call you tomorrow to avoid waking you. He places Stormbreaker by his door as he leaves.

The kitchen is packed. Tony and Pepper stand behind the counter—Tony’s hand moving from side to side along the small of Pepper’s back—while Steve, Sam, Wanda, and Vision lounge by the dining table. Nat turns towards him as he marches in, perched on Bucky’s lap.

Guess things went well for them?

Bucky shifts his metal arm around her waist as Nat twists to turn and look at Thor.

“Hey Romeo, go see your girl yet?” She playfully queries, sending a painful spike through Thor’s chest.

The sudden shift of expression on each of his friend’s faces tell him that his own is probably somber. Steve is the one to step forward, looking more concerned than anyone else.

“Yeah, did you read all those messages?” Stark asks making Thor frown more deeply.

“Y/N said something about new stories in her messages. She said that Stark and I returned five days ago when we clearly did not.” Thor ponders, confused and worried.

“Oh, that.” Nat begins but she turns her gaze on Steve.

“We fed the news to the larger stations so that our enemies wouldn’t know that two of our strongest members were off-world. It keeps the riffraff at bay. Why? Did it cause a problem?” Steve wonders, his storm blue eyes genuinely concerned.

Thor looks down at his phone, sighing in defeat. “Y/N…she thinks we’ve been back for four days and that I have not been returning her texts because she did not tell me about her wealth. I just got the messages now.”

“I’m so sorry, Thor. I-” But what can Steve say? It’s not like he did it with the intent of hurting you. He was being practical about the threats that Earth faces on a daily basis.

“No.” Thor cuts him off, his worry increasing as he thinks over what you might be feeling this very moment.

He would never not respond to you. Surely it had been clear how much you were of interest to him, right? The looks he gave you, the few words of clear affection that he said to you, they were enough to keep the darker thoughts at bay, were they not? “No. I should have called her before we left.”

“Well, you said she’s nice right? Sweet?” Sam wonders, moving to lean against the back of a chair. “I’m sure she’ll understand. Just tell her it’s Steve’s fault.”

“Way to go, Steve. Smoothest cat with the ladies. Even the ones in your periphery.” Bucky chortles, shaking his head.

Steve tilts his head to one side, sorry for his part in whatever trouble might come from this misunderstanding.

“Right…I’m-I’m sure she’ll understand.” Thor nods, forcing his lips into a small smile that does not meet his eyes. “Excuse me. I’m going to shower.”

“Sorry, buddy!” Steve calls out after him, but Thor is at a loss. Every step that he takes back to his room fills him with more dread.

He wants you. He wants you so badly that he can taste the sweet scent of you even though he hasn’t seen you in days. He wants to shower you with affection and love and maybe he’s jumping the gun, but love is most certainly what this is, right?

He wouldn’t feel like dying this way if it wasn’t love.

No. He can’t wait.

He can’t leave you wondering.

If it were him and you’d disappeared for days on end and never replied to one of his messages he’d have already been scouring the globe for you.

He’d be out of his mind with worry and self-doubt and that is not acceptable. He can’t be one of the reasons you feel that way.

Thor turns, shifting towards his balcony and holding out his hand. Stormbreaker flies into it. Once he’s outside again, he thrusts the hammer upwards and Thor is pulled from the spot.

He flies with purpose, wasting no time getting to your building. He rounds the top, spotting a smaller balcony with lots of flowers blooming despite the cold of the growing winter. The air nips and bites at his skin but he shifts his weight and flies straight for that balcony.

He lands as quietly as he can, hoping not to wake you if you have managed to get some sleep.

He can see the soft glow of light and he follows it.

“Do you feel better now?” Another voice asks. A male voice.

Probably just your assistant. It’s not weird that he’s here at this time of night. He works for you. Thor’s mind is quick to reason.

“A little.” Your sweet voice mumbles.

“Oh, jeez, thanks.”

You laugh. Easy and smooth and rich. He wants you.

Thor’s heart breaks. That beautiful laugh! He has to see you.

Very slowly he sidles along the large countless potted plants. He shifts between two long cushioned blue seats and peeks into the room you’re in between two large bushels of some peach colored flower.

The anger that courses through Thor is like a stranger. Once felt but long since forgotten. He remembers this feeling. This cutting emotion that poisons his heart to clench painfully. The sharp sting that falls along his spine drives his hand into a hard fist around his axe. His hand sparks and burns, saturating the air with the smell of ozone.

There you are, looking beautiful…and naked. Your bare back exposed for him and your assistant to see. You’ve got the sheets of your bed positioned carefully so that your breasts are not exposed but you are naked.

The man with you is also naked but Thor tries not to look at him for fear of marching inside to tear out his ribcage and pull it through his chest.

You’re smiling. Up at him. That man.

“Sorry. I’ve just…You did make me feel much better. Where did you learn to do that with your tongue?”

Thor can’t listen to this much longer.

“I have my sources.” The man teases.

Thor tears his eyes away from you, looking down at his feet in favor of the shattering image of you beaming, shining like gossamer moonlight and naked with another man.

However, you’re not his. Why should he feel like this? Possessive to the point of wanting to tear that man limb from limb?

Thor knows he has no right.

“Do you have to go home?” Your smooth voice asks.

It’s quieter, more intimate and that draws Thor’s eyes up once more. He's imagine you speaking to him softly like that. Wanting and filled with desire.

The man is hovering over you, pushing you back to lay against your pillows. He settles between your legs. His hand traces the exposed flesh of your ankle all the way up to the base of your knee.

He pushes against it, spreading you wide as he ruts against you once.

No! Despite the shattering image, Thor can appreciate your perfection.

You’re a goddess, dewy skin and sparkling eyes. They dance with starshine again but Thor hates that it’s your assistant giving you that sparkle.

“Do you want me to go home?”

“Not really. I-I want you to make me feel even better.” You whisper, waning confidence.

“Oh, chipmunk, all you gotta do is ask and I will give you whatever you want.”

Thor can’t listen. He turns to move away but he’s not fast enough. Before he can thrust Stormbreaker back towards the sky to get away, you moan loudly as the man with you probably presses himself against you again.

Your lilting voice confident and breathy says, “Fuck me, Jer. I really want you to fuck me.”

The sky cracks open, spilling waves of searing lightning around the apex of your building. As he disappears into the starless black trying to leave the horrid image of you in the arms of another man, ice-cold rain showers down to a deafening chorus of thunder.

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[luci-in-trenchcoats]

A Place To Call Home: Home

Summary: The reader stops by her parents place unannounced looking for a few things and delivers some news that will change their family forever...

Masterlist

Pairing: Jensen x foster daughter!reader

Word Count: 7,500ish

Warnings: language

A/N #1: Takes place ~4 months after The Video & The House timestamp... 

A/N #2: Oh, I’ve gotten so much joy from writing this series and watching these characters and relationships blossom into so much more. I plan for this to be the final timestamp for this series. Thank you for all the support this one has been shown and enjoy!...

“Hi dad,” you said, walking straight into their house, heading for the basement stairs. “You still got all the old kid clothes from when the other guys were little, right?”

“Yes,” he said, hopping up from his seat and following you down the hall and the stairs. “Y/N.”

“I need the clothes and some toys,” you said, already flipping on the light and walking the shelves. “Maybe some other stuff. I might stop back later tonight.”

“You guys babysitting for a friend or something?” he asked. You paused, his brow furrowing. “Talk to me, tall munchkin. What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story,” you said, finding two boxes with baby clothes and grabbing them, your dad taking one from your arms as you headed upstairs.

“Y/N,” he said, following you out to your car where you shoved them in your backseat. “Y/N. Slow down.”

“Dad, it is a really, really long story,” you said.

“I got all the time in the world,” he said. You leaned your head back and closed your eyes, opening them to see a whole lot of concern in his. “Kiddo.”

“...Short version? About three months ago TJ and I were out for dinner downtown. We were walking back to our car and we cut through an alley cause it was pouring rain out and we were trying to get back to the garage we parked in faster. We found a kid, this baby. It was crying pretty quiet in this cardboard box by the dumpster. It was a newborn, like, brand new newborn. We got her someplace safe and even shorter story, as of about ten minutes ago, we’re her foster parents,” you said.

He stared at you, blinking slowly, lips moving a few times but nothing came out.

“She’s going to be over in like an hour and I want to have the house ready as much as possible,” you said. “Dad, can I go?”

“You’re a foster parent?” he asked quietly.

“It’s like I said, long story. Just can I have the stuff and go for right now?” you asked. He nodded, shutting the backdoor for you. “Thanks.”

You weren’t expecting him to get in the passenger seat but maybe he simply wanted to help move the boxes for you. You were in your driveway in under a minute, setting the boxes down inside when you caught sight of TJ putting together a portable crib.

“You guys are fosters?” said your dad again as you started to unpack a few things.

“Yup,” said TJ, groaning at the crib. “I hate this thing.”

“Turn the piece the other way,” said your dad. TJ did and it popped into place, TJ giving him a grateful look as he worked on the other side. “Fosters?”

“Is there an echo? Yes,” you said, separating out the clothes.

“You’re barely 25. You’re a foster parent? Both of you?” he asked. You lifted your head up, staring him down.

“Dad. I never understood, not all the way, how you could have loved me unconditionally right away. I just...I didn’t think I would ever understand that. I know you said you always knew but I always thought you were being nice because how could you really love someone right away like that? Then we met Allie three months ago. Immediately, I understood. The second we found out she was going into foster care, we signed up. We don’t know why we love her so much and it frankly scares the shit out of me and him over there but we love that kid. There is some kind of connection to her. I don’t care if we’re only 25. We’re old enough and we’ll give her a safe place to grow up in,” you said.

“Oh God. You want to adopt her, don’t you?” he said, his face blank as he looked between the two of you.

“Yeah, I do,” you said.

“Me too,” said TJ, working on the last piece of the crib.

“Like I said...we love her,” you said.

“Okay. Okay,” said your dad, a gentle smile on his face. “Mom and I will help you. Give me a second, lot to take in at once.”

“Well when you stop freaking out, we need to start baby proofing pronto,” you said, taking out some clothes and tossing them in a pile for the wash.

“Uh, sure, I’m on it,” he said, taking off when you pointed him upstairs. He was nearly all the way up when he came back down and gave you a big hug.

“Dad,” you groaned.

“You understand,” he said. You nodded, a soft smile crossing his face. “It’s really scary, huh?”

“Yeah,” you said, returning it as TJ finished up. “You don’t love me any different than if I was your own kid.”

“You are my own kid,” he said, forcing himself away. “Okay, I’m on picking up anything bad. Call your mom, she’s out at the store with the other guys right now. She can grab instant formula. How old’s Allie again?”

“About three months. She’s a little small…” you trailed off, looking to TJ.

“Someone tried to throw her away after she was born. She had a rough first few days,” said TJ. Your dad froze for a moment, your own face scrunching up. “Yeah. We don’t get it either.”

“Well it sounds like she’ll do just fine with you two around,” he said. “Give me a shout if you need me to do something else.”

“Alright,” you said, spinning around the kitchen. “House is good and clothes are clean and food is here and crib done and we got tons of diapers and we’re gonna need a crash course on diaper changes but I think we have everything to survive tonight. I think.”

“You sound like a true mom,” said your mom with a small laugh, JJ watching the other guys back at home. You could feel your heart pounding in your chest when the doorbell rang, TJ grabbing your hand as he pulled you over and opened the door.

“Hi guys,” said Cole, holding a baby carrier in one hand, a curious little Allie tucked inside, black tuft of hair like TJ’s jutting out from under her pink hat.

“Cole?” you said. “I thought Allie’s case worker was-”

“Hey kid. You think when I heard my old foster was a parent I was letting that one slip past me?” he said, stepping inside, carefully setting down the carrier and giving you a hug. “Allie, this is Y/N and her husband, TJ. Me and Y/N go way back to when she was just ten years old. It took awhile but I finally got her hooked up with an awesome family. I think you cutie patootie are gonna hit the jackpot with just your second home you lucky girl.”

“How is she?” you asked.

“Good. She’s you know, got that classic sass this family thrives off of so she’ll fit in just fine,” he said.

“Can I…” asked TJ, almost reaching down for her but pausing, Cole chuckling to himself.

“Yeah. I got to take the carrier back anyways,” said Cole. TJ bent down and carefully picked her up, Allie laying her head on his shoulder and shutting her eyes. “We had a long drive over. I think she likes you TJ.”

“Hi Allie,” he said softly, one of her hands fisting in his shirt. “You look so good and healthy now, baby girl.”

He started to walk around with her, lost in his own little world as you watched with Cole.

“Always knew that kid would be a good dad,” said your own, he and your mom stepping around the corner.

“Jensen, Danneel. It’s been a while. Bet you didn’t think you’d be grandparents so soon, huh?” teased Cole.

“I’m not even fifty,” said your dad, running his hand through his hair with a laugh. “Must run in the family or something.”

“Yes, it does,” said Cole, turning back to you. “Alright, so the process is going to be a little bit different than when you were a kid Y/N. Different hoops to jump through.”

“We don’t care,” you said with a nod.

“Fostering is one thing, adoption is another,” he said.

“I understand that. But I am going to be that little girl’s mother. I don’t care how hard it is,” you said.

“I know. I got to say it to all my first time fosters looking to adopt, just something I do,” he said.

“He did it to us too,” said your mom.

“I will be checking in on you guys on a regular schedule. I’ll be doing unannounced visits. They may be frequent, they may not be. My best interest is that of the child. I know you want this. I know you’ve grown quite a bit since the last time we saw one another. I have no doubts that you and TJ will love Allie like she’s your own. It’s just the process we have to go through. I’m not going to freak out on you if you’re not perfect parents. They don’t exist, trust me. Even these two over here. A safe and loving home is what I expect and I am confident you could do that in your sleep. Okay?” asked Cole.

“Okay,” you said.

“TJ?” he asked.

“Okay,” he said, carrying Allie over, handing her to you.

“Hey,” said your dad, giving Allie a tiny wave as you held her. She giggled, smiling at him. “I’m your grandpa, Jensen, and you are adorable. But you can call me Jay.”

“You got some time to figure out the name, grandpa,” said your mom, Allie booping her nose when she leaned in. “She’s got hair just like TJ and look at those eyes. You got eyes like your new mama.”

“Her name...how do you name a baby when something like that happens?” asked your dad when Allie turned her attention back to TJ and smiled at him.

“Ask these two, they were calling her baby Allie when the paramedics got there. The name stuck apparently,” said Cole.

“Allie?” asked your dad, you mom breaking out into a quiet giggle.

“Allie. They found her in an alley, Jens. Allie,” she said.

“Thank god she wasn’t found at a 7/11,” he said. You laughed, Allie trying to mimic the sound, big eyes staring up at you. “Oh, she is smitten with you.”

“She’s not the only one.”

Two Months Later

“Y/N?” your dad yawned on the other end of the line. It was three in the morning and you knew you shouldn’t have called but you were sleep deprived and TJ wasn’t home and you just needed some help. “Kiddo?”

“Can you please come over?” you breathed out.

“I’ll be right there. Is Allie okay? You okay?” he asked, the sound of a door opening in the background.

“Yeah,” you whispered, Allie screaming her head off again straight in your other ear. “Please.”

“Alright. I’m in the garage. I’ll be there in just a minute,” he said.

About sixty seconds later, you heard him pull in and walk through the front door in a t shirt and boxers. You were sitting on the couch, Allie still shouting, your dad frowning when he saw you.

“She won’t stop. I don’t know...TJ always knows and he’s away at that work conference…” you said, tears prickling in the corners of your eyes. “I’m just so tired.”

“When’s the last time you slept?” he asked, picking Allie up and bouncing her on his hip lightly as he started to walk around.

“I don’t know,” you said, rubbing your wet face. “Tuesday?”

“Go to bed,” he said. “Now.”

“No, no. I just-”

“I wasn’t asking. Go to bed. You’re crying and upset because you’re exhausted. I got Allie,” he said.

“Why won’t she stop?” you said as you stood up, holding out your arms for her.

“Hey, tall munchkin,” he said, getting you to pause for a moment. “I know you’re scared something’s wrong. I know. She’s being cranky right now is all. I guarantee she misses her daddy and that’s what it is. Daddy hasn’t been gone this long before.”

“How do I make it stop then?” you mumbled.

“You go sleep. I got her,” he said, booping her nose as she continued to shout. “Come on Allie. Let’s go take mommy’s car for a drive. I bet you love getting middle of the night car rides. All you lil guys do.”

“Dad, I can-”

“Bed. Please. Turn off your alarm. I’m staying over tonight and you’re not going to work tomorrow,” he said. “Boss man said it’s okay.”

“What if Cole drops by tomorrow...I can’t...I-”

“Honey,” he said, Allie red in the face at this point. “Nobody does it alone if they don’t have to and you don’t have to. You got a whole family behind you. TJ being gone this week, we should have offered in advance.”

“I would have said I was fine,” you said.

“I know,” he said with a smile. “Please go rest, Y/N. Please.”

You nodded and gave Allie a kiss goodnight when she took a moment to get more air back in her lungs to keep shouting. It got quiet as he took her outside and you heard your car start up. You wear barely in bed with the covers over you before you passed out.

You wearily woke up around noon, not remembering the last time you had slept that long. It was before Allie came along for sure. You stretched as you sat up, finding some clothes that smelled cleaned and tossed them on. Downstairs you found your favorite lunch sandwich from the place near the brewery in the fridge, a plate of cookies on the counter along with a bottle of wine and a note on top.

Allie’s ours for the day. You can swing by our place at six for dinner but until then, take some time for you, kiddo.

“I owe you guys one,” you said, scratching your head.

“Hey,” you said, walking into the house just before six, Arrow running around the corner holding up a finger to her lips. She pointed at the couch and you looked over the edge, your dad fast asleep with Allie passed out on his chest.

“Those two have been playing and playing all day,” said your mom from the kitchen.

“Thanks for watching her today,” you said.

“I helped!” said Arrow. “I even changed her diaper.”

“Thanks sis,” you said. “You’re a good Aunt.”

“I’m ten,” she deadpanned.

“Still Allie’s Aunt,” you teased. “So what’s for dinner?”

“Barbecue and mac & cheese,” said Arrow.

“Sounds perfect,” you said, taking a seat at the kitchen counter. Arrow took off when she heard Zeppelin call for her, your mom shrugging at his obliviousness to the pair sleeping nearby.

“Eh, Allie’s a deep sleeper. She tuckered your dad right out. He didn’t sleep much last night,” she said.

“I didn’t mean to ruin his sleep too,” you said, resting your head in your hand, propping your elbow against the counter. She smiled, leaning over the edge. “I know. You didn’t mean it like that.”

“Some nights...they just scream and shout and you want to help ‘em but you don’t know what to do. Some nights, you just gotta let ‘em get it out of their system,” she said.

“Dad said she missed TJ probably. That didn’t even cross my mind,” you said.

“Because you were too tired to realize you miss him yourself,” she said.

“Yeah. She’s a daddy’s girl. She always calms down for him,” you said.

“Sounds like someone else,” she said.

“I know. JJ’s such a daddy’s girl,” you said with a smirk.

“Well yes but I meant you, silly,” she said.

“Me? I am not a daddy’s girl. Have you met me?” you said with a laugh.

“He’s still wrapped around your finger,” she said.

“No he’s not,” you said.

“It’s not a bad thing, your dad being one of your best friends,” she said with a smile. “It’s got it’s perks for sure.”

“...I think I scared him last night,” you said. “Calling like that.”

“You should have seen him with JJ. She was four months old, he’d just gotten a red eye home from work. 16 hour day, hadn’t slept the night before because of some neighbor dog sitting the chihuahua from Hell he called it. He’d been awake like...over forty hours at that point. I had the flu so I couldn’t handle JJ and she just went off just as he was going to bed. That was not a good night for him or anyone really. So we left her in her crib after the usual stuff and she eventually stopped and she just wanted attention we figured out. She was learning to test mom and dad out,” she said.

“So babies are cute little evil pooping machines?” you asked.

“Yup,” she said.

“She’s pretty cute though,” you said.

“Yeah she is.”

You heard your dad stir, an adorable giggle coming from over there as he sat up.

“They awaken,” said your mom. “Want me to order the food?”

“Yes please,” he yawned, standing up and carrying over Allie, letting her sit on his lap when he sat down beside you. “You look better.”

“You got me cookies,” you said. “And wine.”

“You can have that later,” he teased, Allie looking up at him. “You gonna behave yourself tonight little missy and let your mommy get some sleep? She misses TJ too ya know. Don’t see her crying about it.”

“It’s okay to miss your dad,” you said, tilting your head at them both. “You still don’t look like a grandpa.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he laughed, handing over Allie to you.

“Hi sweetums,” you said, Allie smiling and reaching for you, pulling your thumb to her mouth to suck on.

“You got a paci around here somewhere,” said your mom, spinning around and grabbing one off the counter while she was on hold, handing it over along with a towel.

“Thanks,” you said, trading off with Allie, a little look of contentment on her face. You cleaned yourself off, Allie playing with it for a moment. “Dad.”

“You’re a good mom, kiddo,” he said.

“I was just...do you think we’re too young?” you asked.

“No. Being a good parent has nothing to do with age. You would know that,” he said. “Got a call from Cole earlier actually. They’re moving on to the interviewing family stage. They’re gonna come talk to all of us. Adoption shouldn’t be too too long now.”

“I don’t feel like I know what I’m doing,” you said.

“You never really will,” he said. “Fake it til you make it.”

“I didn’t want to be a mom so soon you know,” you said.

“Maybe not but you want to be her mom and that’s what matters,” he said.

“When does the wisdom part come?” you joked.

“Eventually,” he said. “You’ll have the hang of it by the time this one is in need of some advice.”

“Thanks for taking her last night,” you said.

“S’no problem. I know how to deal with an upset little Ackles girl,” he teased. “Hanover girl I should say.”

“You just wanted time with grandpa,” you said.

“I am too young to be grandpa,” he said, tickling one of Allie’s feet as she played with them. “Next time, just call before we get to the breaking point, okay kiddo?”

“Yeah, cause that’s totally me,” you said.

“Well it’s hard to be perfect like your old man,” he said, your mom whacking his arm as she walked by. “Hey, so I picked up a new job.”

“What’s it about?” you asked.

“It’s a rom com,” he said.

“You’re gonna be in a rom com?” you teased. “Oh, that is great. Oh, that is-“

“It’s a horror movie,” said your mom, whacking him again. “Oh my...still on hold.”

“Don’t spoil it for her!” he said.

“Let me guess, you’re the bad guy,” you said.

“No...maybe...act surprised anyways,” he said. “And I really am doing a rom com!”

“Since when?” said your mom, starting to laugh when she took off and started ordering.

“You’re doing a rom com? Wow,” you teased. “Allie, maybe you can watch that one with me.”

“Jared’s gonna do it with me. We get to film right here in Austin. Should be a lot of fun,” he said.

“Well that’s good. So is it really a rom com?” you asked.

“More rom drama? It’s a story, about a guy,” he said. “He’s a dad. Single dad. Meets a girl and all that.”

“Sounds sweet,” you said.

“It’ll be fun. Looking for a set designer if you’re interested again,” he said.

“I would. But the brewery keeps me busy enough along with this gal,” you said.

“I figured as much,” he said, Allie playing with one of his fingers. “I know. You’re adorable, aren’t you?”

“Cole said we can rename her if we want once the adoption is getting final. TJ and I were thinking of middle names,” you said.

“Well you got the Allie Hanover part figured out,” he said.

“TJ thought something with a J. She could maybe go by AJ sometimes too,” you said.

“Well there’s lots of pretty J names to pick from,” he said.

“We were thinking Jay,” you said. “After you. I know JJ has it too but...we liked the sound of it.”

“I think that’s pretty...and means more to me than you realize,” he said, taking Allie’s feet in his hands and giving them a light squeeze. “I guess that cements it now kid. You’re stuck with us crazies for life.”

“I don’t think she minds,” you said.

“I certainly hope not,” said TJ. You spun around in your chair with a smile, TJ a little tired looking under his baseball hat as he snuck in through the back door. “Surprise!”

“You’re not supposed to be home until tomorrow!” you said, standing up and getting a hug and kiss, TJ taking Allie from you and giving her a big hug as well.

“Well I was planning on surprising you and then your parents told me there’d be free barbecue for dinner so naturally I rushed back as fast as I could. I heard my baby girl missed me last night,” he said, Allie trying to give him a kiss. “I love you too.”

“Now she’s an angel,” you said, as you sat back down leaning back in your chair.

“Oh she’s always an angel,” said TJ, bending down to give you a better kiss. “You doing okay today?”

“Yeah,” you hummed, TJ rubbing a hand over your head. “Needed a little help was all. Missed you.”

“Missed you too, dork,” he said, kissing the top of your head. “Mind if I run home to shower quick before dinner? I can grab the food along the way.”

“No, no. You take your shower and come back. I got the food,” said your dad. “Enjoy your girls.”

“Thanks,” said TJ. “I’ll be back in ten.”

“Okay. See you soon, TJ.”

Two Years Later

You giggled as you took a photo of TJ passed out on the couch, Allie taking up the other half and using his legs as a pillow. Little two month old Colin was fast asleep on TJ’s chest and your parents one year old dog, Toby, found a space near TJ’s head to get in on the cuddle with. You picked Colin up after a moment and put him in his portable crib beside them, giving your boy a kiss before wandering outside to your parents backyard where they were having a fire with your siblings.

“We thought you might have fallen in,” teased your dad.

“Just checking on the sleepy crew. They all seem pretty content,” you said, plopping down in your chair between the twins. Zeppelin started talking about school again, your dad smirking when Kylie came up in the conversation. It was clear it was his first crush but your dad didn’t say anything aside maybe he could drop him and Kylie off to go see a movie sometime. You smiled, JJ adamantly refusing that she liked anyone when pressed. You knew there was a boy, a certain Padalecki boy, that she liked. You’d only caught them out on their first date and all.

God, she was terrified you and TJ would tell on her and Tom. You promised to keep it a secret for now, knowing neither of your parents would have a problem with it, knowing that there’d been a running joke for years now about which kids were going to end up together.

“What about you Arrow? You caught the love bug yet or you still my precious baby girl?” asked your dad.

“You’ve met the boys in our grade. Not exactly prime material to work with there,” she said. You had to stifle a laugh, somehow amazed at the range of maturity she had despite being barely twelve.

“Oh, I know who Ro likes,” said Zeppelin with a smirk. “Or used to.”

“You would never betray twin code,” she scoffed. “You like being alive too much.”

“He’s your older brother. He just likes to mess with you,” you said. “Zeppelin knows which sibling to really fear.”

“TJ?” he laughed. You narrowed your eyes, Zeppelin shrugging. “Technically, he’s our brother.”

“TJ’s been around forever,” said Arrow. You looked over at your mom who was whispering something to your dad, the both of them staring at you when it finally clicked.

“Is it really? Today?” you asked.

“It only took you long enough to figure it out!” said your dad, your mom giggling beside him. “Nice to know how much it means to her.”

“What?” asked the twins, JJ tilting her head.

“I know you’re in on it. You three are horrible liars,” you said, the twins breaking out into smiles before they reached under their chairs and pulled out two presents.

“Happy ten years with us, kiddo,” said your dad.

“Flew by to be honest,” you said, getting handed three more presents. You leaned back in your chair, looking at the fire. “I still think about that day I came here sometimes. Zeppelin gave me his doggie.”

You ruffled his hair, Zeppelin shy for a moment.

“Arrow and JJ have me those obnoxious pink pajamas,” you said, both of them shaking their heads. “And you guys have me a home.”

“Well we didn’t get you a home this time. Open it up,” said your dad. “In order.”

“In order huh,” you said, finding the first one with a label on it in the dim light. You peeled off the wrapping paper, finding a baseball tee inside. “For that family baseball game coming up I assume?”

“Mhm. Keep going,” he said. The second present had a pair of flannel pajama pants, the third a cozy looking sweatshirt.

The fourth made you pause. You pulled out a sketchbook, not one you would buy in a normal store. It was meant for architecture design, room by room sketches.

You set the book down, going to the last item. A pair of keys.

“You bought a house,” you said.

“All the Ackles pitched in. It’s going to be a vacation house for everyone to use, pass down through the years. It needs a whole renovation done though. We thought maybe our resident architects would like to design it for the family,” said your dad.

“Yeah, we’d love to. We’re gonna want input from everybody,” you said, giving your pile of goodies a smile. “Still got me a home this time.”

“Almost like we planned it all out or something,” said your mom.

“I can’t believe I let myself be adopted by you two,” you laughed.

“It’s kind of funny,” said JJ, looking at the fire. “How stuff works out.”

“You having a moment?” said your dad, leaning forward in his seat. “I got ten years of experience in this just so you know.”

“How did you not run away from these losers?” she joked, quickly wincing. “Sorry.”

“S’okay. I came back,” you said.

“You ran away? said Zeppelin. “Yeah, right.”

“She did! She was a little popsicle when I found her. Froze my own ass off that night looking for her,” said your dad.

“Language,” said your mom.

“Oh they’re twelve. We said thirteen. Close enough,” he said.

“Alright but no repeating anything out of your degenerate of a father’s mouth,” she said.

“Thank you. As I was saying, that sucked and she didn’t do it again. Well, I caught her in the driveway once but it was May at least that time and she’d had a rough day,” he said.

“Why would you ever want to run away?” asked Zeppelin.

“Because I was scared, of a lot,” you said. “I said some pretty horrible things back then.”

“I don’t really remember it that way,” said your mom.

“I remember watching Zepp and he smacked his head on the floor,” you said.

“Is that why you’re so ugly?” asked Arrow with such a straight face, your dad burst out laughing.

“Oh, I miss when they were little but look at the little sarcastic monsters we created,” he said.

“Your father is so proud,” said your mom, shaking her head. “Zeppelin, you were fine. Not sure we ever even told you about that.”

“I guess I just don’t get why though. Not in a bad way, just ya know?” said Zepp.

“Hey. Y/N don’t have to tell us anything she doesn’t want to,” said JJ.

“Says the one who gets to know stuff,” he said.

“I know the same as you guys,” she said.

“Guys,” you said, your three younger siblings turning to you. “Do you guys remember when I told you how we found Allie?”

“Yeah,” said JJ.

“For about seven years, that’s what my life felt like. Like someone left me alone to get by. Except it was worse than that. If you are afraid for seven years, it takes time to learn not to be afraid. I’ve spent the past ten doing that. Ten years ago, I honestly believed every one of you was better off without me. Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t. I just know I can’t ever explain it and I know you guys wonder what bad stuff happened to me in foster care but it doesn’t matter. You know what did happen to me in foster care? I found two dorky little sisters and a dorky little brother and two dorks for parents and even Icarus and now Toby and I got grandma and grandpa and grandma and grandpa again and our Aunts and Uncles and cousins and the Pads and a whole lot more people. I was alone. Then I wasn’t. I had nobody and then I got adopted. I found a family in foster care. That’s what happened,” you said.

“Yeah but what happened?” asked Arrow. You shook your head and laughed, your dad shrugging.

“You’re supposed to be all emotional and moved and all that now, Arrow. The point your sister is making-“

“You get to know, dad,” said JJ.

“Well what do you want to know?” you asked.

“I just wanted to know if you were, you know, happy,” she said. “Before us.”

“There were moments,” you said with a smile. “My first boyfriend made me happy. Doing well in school made me happy. I used to draw a lot. I got pretty good. Cole was always very kind to me. He used to take me out for fun days, get me out of my houses whenever he knew I was getting in a funk.”

“I don’t remember Cole doing that,” said your mom.

“Well after a few months here, he mentioned it, like we would after he did a normal check in and...we both decided I didn’t need ‘em anymore,” you said.

“I still can’t believe you ever thought Cole wouldn’t think you and TJ should have Allie,” she said.

“He’s seen me at my worst,” you said.

“And he’s seen how far you’ve come,” said your dad. “We don’t worry about this one running away anymore.”

“You guys are alright,” you said, stretching out your arms. “Hey, I think we should make some smores.”

“Do we have stuff?” asked your mom.

“I do at my house,” you said.

“Sounds like we’re about to have some smores in about ten minutes,” said your dad, hopping up from his seat. “We’ll be right back.”

You followed around the yard and out to the street, walking quietly on the December night.

“Here,” he said, shrugging out of his jacket, putting it on you. “Not as warm away from the fire.”

“Thanks,” you said, feeling like you were swimming in it. You got halfway to the corner before you stopped and looked over at him, his pace stilling. You gave him a hug, taking a deep breath. “Thanks, dad.”

“No. Thank you, tall munchkin,” he said, squishing you too tight for a moment. “I love you so much.”

“You have equally sappy moments like this with the other guys, right?” you asked.

“Yeah. Even TJ,” he said. “Even Arrow is getting into it. The boy she likes is apparently dating Sarah Jenkins and Sarah was mean to Arrow in History right in front of him and he didn’t say anything. She felt so bad.”

“She didn’t tell me,” you said.

“Eh, she’s still in that phase of not wanting to deal with that stuff yet which is fine with me. I’m sure she’ll be just like JJ and Zepp, running to you, you giving us the pertinent information,” he said.

“I do not,” you laughed. “I ain’t snitching unless I think I need to which I don’t.”

“JJ and Tom are so dating aren’t they,” he said with a big smile.

“They are best friends...who happen to enjoy kissing each other. Trust me, those two are miles and miles away from even figuring out what second base is,” you said.

“Because that’s an image I want of those two in my head,” he said, shaking his own.

“I literally have two kids. One of which came out of me. I would hope you know how babies are made,” you said.

“Nope. The stork dropped off Colin. Positive on that,” he said.

“You’re such a loser,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“I learned it from you,” he said, bumping your shoulder as you started to walk again. “But yes, all three are starting to grow up, starting to have those conversations with us.”

“What about TJ? I know you two do your guy stuff and have little man dates,” you said, getting a light ruffle of your hair for that.

“The boy wants to give you the world. He is smitten and then some. I understand that feeling. Sometimes I just remind him though to let you take care of him too. He’s a pretty special guy after all,” he said.

“Yes, he is,” you said, rounding the corner, slowing your pace some. “I still don’t know why he likes me.”

“He sees what we all wish you could see all the time,” he said. “I know that’s not how your head works though. But we’ll keep reminding you how great you are.”

“Really?” you scoffed. “I’m not anything special.”

“What?” he asked, voice smaller than you were used to hearing, making your head whip around. “You are great. I know you don’t think you are all the time but you do most of the time, don’t you?”

“I don’t think I’m great,” you laughed.

“Well, that’s because you’re humble. But…” he trailed off.

“Most of the time, I’m happy,” you said. “I promise.”

“Good,” he said.

“Dad,” you said, slowing your pace even further. “Not to get morbid…”

“Continue,” he chuckled.

“TJ and I, with Colin being born now...we’re going to change our will, if something ever happens to us,” you said.

“We will take care of them both,” he said. “You never have to ask that.”

“I know. I have a slightly different one to ask though. If for some reason, we’re gone and you guys are gone and...and everybody’s gone...and...we just don’t want the kids to get separated from their family, or each other,” you said.

“You want to do what we did with you,” he said with a smile. “And what we recently did with JJ.”

“Anything happens to all of us and she was old enough, I mean she’s 15 already, do you think she’d be okay with taking them in?” you asked.

“She loves her little niece and nephew. I am fully confident she’d be okay with it,” he said. “I know it sucks to have to think about this stuff but we’ll always make sure Allie and Colin stay with us.”

“If something happened-”

“If something happened on what would be the worst day of my life, those two are taken care of,” he said. “I promise.”

“Well, I’m not planning on dying anytime soon,” you said with a smile.

“Good. You’re not allowed to go first. Kids don’t go before the parents. It’s one of the rules,” he said.

“Like you got to stick around until 102?” you teased.

“I’m keeping up my end of it so far,” he said. “You keep up yours, deal?”

“Deal,” you said, jumping left into the road when you saw something crawling on the ground.

“Oh my…” he said, bending down and picking you up, a smile on your face at how strong and fit he still was for being fifty. “Did I not just say you can’t die? Like, don’t go jumping straight into the road.”

“First off, our neighborhood is quiet. Second, that is a big ass spider,” you said. He spun around, spotting the black ball move around.

“That’s just a squirrel,” he said, leaning in closer. It crawled further out so the street light caught it. He took off with you down the block. “Not a squirrel, not a squirrel.”

“Told you!” you laughed, getting a ride all the way to your house. He set you down inside, smiling when he saw a new batch of pictures of Allie and Colin together on the fridge.

“Hey kiddo?” he asked as you gathered up the stuff and tossed it in a bag.

“Yeah?” you asked, tying it up and switching off the kitchen light.

“You guys want to crash at our place tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you said. “They’re all passed out anyways. If you don’t mind.”

“We never will,” he said. You headed outside and locked up, back to walking along the street, avoiding where you’d seen the spider and curving around the bend back to the house. “So, any big plans for your birthday next week? Somebody turns 27.”

“No. Mom said she was planning it all, just something small at home like normal,” you said.

“Reach in your left pocket,” he said. You shoved your hand in his jacket, pulling out an envelope. You stilled when you got to a street light and flipped it over.

Ten Years

“What’s this?” you asked, holding it up.

“You didn’t think I just wrote a letter the day you came here and the day you were adopted and the day you were married and the day Allie was adopted and the day you had Colin and...honestly you should not be surprised at my letters anymore, kiddo,” he teased.

“How many more are there?” you asked, carefully feeling the envelope, a few sheets of something handwritten inside you could tell.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he asked.

“I don’t need a letter to know I love you,” you said.

“Well I’m sorry but I got a whole lot of letters written up to hand out someday,” he said.

“Dad. When did you write this?” you asked. He shrugged. “Dad.”

“Day after you got adopted,” he said.

“You’re not allowed to be this sappy,” you said, running your hands over your face, pulling them away with a smile. You put the envelope back in your jean pocket and gave back the jacket when you were nearly there. “Come on, let’s go do smores old man.”

“Night,” yawned your dad, locking up after everyone went in for the night. Allie had woken up and settled herself at the other end of the couch more comfortably, TJ in a different position now. They both had blankets so you figured to leave them be, Colin still happily asleep beside them. You had your letter in hand as you headed for your old room, your dad checking the locks around the house, following you to the garage door, quickly walking past the open door of your room to head for bed.

“Dad?” you said. He hummed as he walked back into the doorframe, giving you a sleepy smile. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” he said.

“Check your right pocket,” you said. He tilted his head and reached his hand in his jacket pocket, pulling out a light blue envelope.

“Dad,” he read. “What’s this?”

“It’s your letter, silly,” you said. “I know what today is, dad. Mom found hers this morning.”

“Found what?” he asked, flipping it over, smirking at it as he saw what was written on the back. “You always write me sappy letters so I thought I’d write you one because today is the tenth year of you being my dad. Fair warning, you’re gonna cry cause this is so cute. Thank you for not giving up on me in the same spot you’re standing in ten years ago when I told you to. I can never repay you and mom for all you did. I love you.”

He pursed his lips and cleared his throat, lifting his head up with a smile.

“You never have to, kiddo. Never,” he said.

“I know. But I thought I’d tell you anyways,” you said. “The letter is so much worse by the way. Ugly tears kind of stuff.”

“You don’t hurt so much anymore, right?” he breathed out, nodding his head. “Right?”

“Yeah,” you said. “So much better than ten years ago. Ten years from now, I bet I’ll be even better.”

“Good,” he said, nodding his head. “Good. Let’s do this again in ten years?”

“Okay,” you said. “All the way to a hundred and two.”

“Stop making me cry or I’ll ground you,” he said, wiping his face with the back of his hand as he nodded.

“You can’t ground me,” you said, stepping over and giving him a hug.

“I could try,” he said, kissing the top of your head. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Night, dad. Thank you. For everything.”

A/N: Check out the Christmas Vacation timestamp here!

[oh-so-scenarios]

Tell me...Say It [4]

Word Count: 4.5K

Genre/Warning: Angst, **mentions of death, fluff, Yoongi x  Female Reader, CEO AU, Pianist AU

A/N: Please excuse the errors, there are quite a bit.

⇾ Updates on Sundays 

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♫

I sit in the leather couch that was set in the middle of our big living room. My eyes were trained on the 13-inch MacBook air that rested on my lap. I was focused enough to barely tune out Da-hee’s loud voice. Barely.

“Y/N! Why do I feel like you’re not listening?” She accuses. I sigh and look up at her from under my eyelashes. I look back down at my laptop screen, typing up the reply to an email from an old high school friend.

“It’s because I’m not listening.” I finally reply resuming my typing. I can’t help but smirk at the groan of irritation that leaves her lips.

“Y/n, seriously, that was so embarrassing!”

My brows furrow at her words, “What was embarrassing about it? And since when do you care about what Mina thinks?”

She shakes her head, “Not Mina! Yoongi! The guy that was sitting at the piano.”

I nod my head slowly feeling like I should have known better. Da-Hee was basically drooling when I dragged her out of the music school. Though the ride home was filled with her bursts of anger, she mumbled the man’s name to herself a few times.

Yoongi….Yoongi. Where have I seen him before? I stop my typing, anxiously searching my mind to match his face to another memory. I have totally seen him before. You don’t forget a handsome face like his.

I start typing again, only for an image to appear in my mind. I gasp out loud, my hand coming up to my mouth out at the realization.

“What?” Da-hee hisses, “Did the whole incident replay in your head? Do you finally understand how crazy you looked?”

“No,” I dismiss her statement, “I remember where I’ve seen that man, Yoongi, from.”

Da-hee demeanor changes. She raises her nose up at me and crosses her arms.

“You’ve met him before?” She seems curious for my answer, watching my reaction intently.

“Yes,” I almost laugh, “Remember that blind date you had me go to?”

Da-hee groans and throws her head back. She puts her hand on her face before running her fingers through her tangled and frizz bed hair. I was wondering why she woke up so early today. Was it just to yell about me about the incident from 3 days ago? She’s been doing it every day since, but must she start from the morning?

She stands in front of me in a long and large black tee shirt. The letters “FG” pasted on it in big white font. Her morning slippers on her feet while she stomped them around out of frustration.

“That was him?” She cries, “Really? Y/n don’t mess with me! I’m not in the mood this morning!”

I lean back at her words, “Yet you’re in the mood to bother me? I am not lying. It was him! I told you he was cute didn’t I?”

“Damn,” She mutters under breath, “I didn’t know he was that cute.”

I look away from her emotional break down to open a new tab in my internet browser. I decided to find some videos on youtube to watch. I’m thinking that Da-hee will make an overdramatic exit out of the room like always, but she remains in her spot.

“Y/n, we’re still discussing this.” She informs me.

“There is nothing to discuss. You don’t need me, you can still make costumes for their play. It has nothing to do with me.”

“But imagine if I told them I convinced you to work with them! That would put me in a good spot with Yoongi.”

I scoff at her argument, “You want me to do this so you can get a guy to like you? Why don’t you try winning him over with your personality? Or your looks like you usually do?” I raise an eyebrow at her.

Her argument isn’t strong at all, and the pestering she’s doing won’t help her case. Before she could speak anymore, I cut off her words.

“Da-hee, you already know I don’t play piano anymore. I don’t compose anymore, period. What made you think I would let them use my work, let alone work with them?”

“But you love music! You love the piano, and you’re amazing at playing. You have to start back up eventually.”

“Says who?” I snap harshly.

“So you’re never going to play the piano again?” Da-hee sounds surprised. Didn’t she know that was always the plan? What was she thinking?

“Yes,” I answer simply.

An exhausted sigh leaves her lips, “Y/n...everyone knows you were born to play the piano! You know that! Are you telling me you don’t miss it?”

“I’m telling you that I am not going to help with that play.” I corrected.

“Jeez, when will you move on?” She whispers to herself. I find myself slamming my laptop shut, glaring at her with wild eyes.

“My parents died, Da-hee. You don’t get to speak to me like that.” The words leave my mouth like they were poison. Da-hee stares back at me with sad eyes.

“I know that Y/n...but damn, you’re still living aren’t? Well...just barely living.” She turns around and stalks out the room, her slippers squeaking against the wooden floor. I am left alone with my thoughts and the silence.

It almost feels like the silence is a hard hit in the face after Da-hee’s words. Just barely living. Why is that statement causing such a heaviness in my chest? I stare blankly at the space that Da-hee once stood in. My mind moves back to my 16-year-old self, the painful memories forcing their way into my mind space.

“Y/n, are you ready?” Mina said as she smiled at me. Her hands rested on her pregnant belly and I couldn’t help but smile back nervously.

I stood backstage at the Piano Composing Championship. This was a big deal, or at least that’s what everyone says. All these competitions were nothing to me. As long as I got to plan my music, and have it meet people’s ears... I didn’t complain. I looked towards the grand stage where a young boy sat at the black grand piano.

He was younger than me, yet he played beautiful, his piece showing the freshness of being young. It was clear in the way his fingers bounced off the keys and dancing gracefully.

I exhaled and leaned forward enough to see the front row of the audience where two seats remained empty. I stared in disappointment, expecting to see my parents there.

I turned away from the stage to look at Mina. She looked back at me expectantly, “What’s up darling?”

I stretch my hand out, “Can I have my phone, please? I would like to call my parents.”

Without any protests, Mina hands me my phone after digging it out of her purse. She was holding it for me, seeing as my plain red dress had no pockets. I am thankful to my parents who always drive crazy distances for my performances.

After moving to South Korea because of my father’s military duties, I wasn’t expecting to meet Miss Mina who further helped me grow my piano skills. Since I was younger I showed an interest in music and instruments. My mother would often take me to the community center and let me play on the grand piano that sat in the lobby. It was decoration, however, no one ever complained when they saw a young me playing.

Once we got the news that we were moving to South Korea, my mother moved quickly to find my a teacher, which is how I met Miss Mina...it has been years now and we have come far. Here I am at the Championship of this huge competition. There are contestants from all over the world, of all ages and I am one of them.

Music has always been second nature for me. Since I can remember, I have always had music playing in my head. Whether I was doing school work, sleeping, or just sitting with my thoughts. I always had music playing in the background of my mind. Sometimes creating my own pieces in my head, waiting to write it down to play.

Is this why they were calling me a genius? I can’t be sure.

My parents were my number one fans, always doing their best to be at my performances and competitions. The championship was far from home, requiring quite a drive. Despite the snow falling outside, they promised to be at the championship. That’s why it’s odd to see their seats empty.

I dialed their numbers and waited as the phone rang and rang before going to voicemail.

“Hey dad, I’m going up next and I saw that you’re not here yet. It’s okay if you can’t make it. Miss Mina will record it! See you soon!”

That day was the last time I heard music in the background of my thoughts. After that day it’s like the lights cut off and the piano grew out of tune. The music that played in my head was sad, out of tune pieces that sounded of death and agony.

I never touched another piano. I had the grand piano bought for me and customized for me by my parents moved out of the house. I have no idea what happened to it and I don’t care. I won the championship, but what was the title and trophy worth at that point? The snow was too heavy, causing my parents to get into a car accident, leaving me alone in this world.

What is the point of music now? Stupid piano. Stupid competition. Stupid music teacher. Stupid me. Stupid, stupid, stupid me.

Mr. & Mrs. Kim didn’t let me be alone for long, opening their home to me without hesitation. I was no longer alone, surrounded by people who love and care about me.  The pain never fully goes away. I have my bad days, and I have my good days. The people around me always tell me that the music would come back. The lovely melodies what always circled my mind would return as things get better.

And have they? I don’t know because I’ve never tried to pursue music again.

I didn’t realize I was crying until I heard Mrs. Kim’s soft voice.

“Oh, Y/n.” She calls gently. I snap out of my trance, my gaze moving to meet her eyes. My tears blurred my vision so I couldn’t see her clearly, but the sad look in her eyes was apparent.

I force a smile on my eyes, quickly ducking my head to wipe my tears.

“Sorry.” I croak, “I just got lost in my thoughts.”

“Oh darling, don’t apologize.” She coos almost running towards me. She moves my laptop to the side and sits beside me. She hugs me my from the side while I lay my head on her shoulder sniffling.

“You haven’t had a moment like this in a while...is everything okay?” She asks after some heavy moments of silence.

“Yeah,” I say, “I was asked to help with the music for a musical.”

Mrs. Kim didn’t reply right away, she thinks for some time. She wants to approach this topic carefully.

“Okay...and how do you feel about that?”

I shrug, “I can’t do it.”

“Can’t or won’t?” When I don’t reply, Mrs. Kim sighs and continues to speak.

“Y/n, have you ever thought that the reason you still feel so...empty is because you never went back to music?”

“I don’t think that’s it…” I reply softly.

“Darling, I am worried about you. These days it’s like watching a lifeless being go about a routine. Work, eat, sleep and repeat. It’s concerning. Maybe getting that music back is what you need to do to complete your grieving.” She says honestly.

I can’t help but roll my eyes at her words. Mrs. Kim removes her hands from around me to put them up.

“I am just saying what I think,” She reminds me, “I think...I think this could be good. Don’t you?”

“No,” I answer plainly still sniffling.

Her shoulders fall in disappointment, “Well...I can’t force you, darling. I can only tell you what I think.”

“Thank you for the advice, Mrs. Kim.” I smile weakly, trying to prove myself in better condition.

“I’m always here Y/n, so If you ever need anything, tell me.” She places a hand on my head in an act of affection before standing up and walking out the living room.

I let myself fall back into the couch. This is how I am spending my day off? Sulking? Being sad for myself? If Mina had destroyed my work like I asked, this wouldn’t have happened.

I closed my eyes and eventually fall asleep.

Yoongi parks his car in the half-empty parking garage, before placing his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. He stares out at the parking garage contemplating his options. His fingers begin to drum his steering wheel as he works his nerves up.

“Yoongi.” The voice beside him snaps Yoongi out his train of thought. He groans and closes his eyes. The peace and silence he had only lasted for a moment.

He forgot that Taehyung sat beside him in his car. Taehyung unlike Yoongi, was ready to put the plan in action. Taehyung didn’t want to think about it too much or else he would second guess himself. He is the one who suggested such an idea, but they were becoming desperate.

It’s been 5 days since the incident at Mina’s music school. The sheet music has not been destroyed but has been moved to Yoongi’s office at the company building. It all remains in the cardboard box it was found in. He can’t throw it away, he can’t.

So here he is, sitting in the parking lot of the hospital Y/n works at.

After doing some research Yoongi was able to find videos of Y/n at competitions and performances. All he can say is...amazing. He couldn’t find any articles or information on her reason for stopping and he was curious about her.

Though she stormed in angry, her beauty didn’t go unnoticed. He had his mind wrapped around her and her music for the last few days. It didn’t take him very long to realize that the woman who walked into his blind date with scrubs on was Y/n.

He smiled to himself just thinking about how she strolled in with such a relaxed attitude. Scrubs, slip-resistant shoes, and a tired look on her face. She walked right in and apologized on behalf of Da-hee, clearly tired from a day of work.

Yet at that moment, he remembers thinking, what a beauty. A beautiful who creates such beautiful music. The creative block he has been in for the last few months is on the brink of a breakthrough but...he needs her to get past this. He just knows it.

That is why he agreed to Taehyung’s idiotic plan. Taehyung suggested just talking to her calmly while she is on break. Jimin told them that he usually takes his break the same time she does.

“Hyung, come on. Let’s just go, say our say and leave it.” Taehyung opens the car door and steps out before Yoongi can say anything. Yoongi turns off the engine following suit. He walks behind Taehyung, his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. He’s wearing the suit he entered the office with this morning.

They entered the hospital, and make their way to the floor Jimin told them Y/n is usually in. As they stand in the elevator Yoongi keeps his eyes on the floor.

“What do you think she’ll say?” Taehyung asks curiously.

Yoongi looks at his friend’s eager expression, “You want my honest opinion?”

Taehyung nods.

The doors of the elevator open and Yoongi pushes himself off the way he was leaning on.

“I think she’ll tell us to fuck off.” He states as he steps out the elevator. He didn’t see Taehyung’s downcast expression, but he was expecting just that. She seems very straight to the point. She won’t entertain something she won’t do. He can tell this just from their two interactions.

Yoongi walks up to the first desk he sees, Taehyung trailing behind him. He ignores the small gasp on the woman’s lips as her eyes twinkle at the two men’s appearance. The nurse smiles at Yoongi and bats her eyelashes.

“Hello sir, how may I help you?” She speaks softly. Yoongi’s eyes look around the hospital floor before answering.

“Is Y/n around?” Yoongi says looking at the nurse at the desk. Her brows furrow a bit.

“Y/n?” She repeats. She turns around to ask the other nurse where Y/n is but doesn’t get a chance.

“What about me?” Y/n calls out as she walks around the corner. Her feet halt when she lays eyes on Yoongi and Jimin.

“Ugh.” She groans and rolls her eyes, “Why are you two here?”

“Y/n, hi,” Yoongi says nervously. Taehyung seems to notice his friend’s slightly flustered state but decides not to speak just yet.

“We’re sorry to bother you...we just wanted to speak to you again, under calmer terms,” Yoongi explains.

Y/n looks at Taehyung who flashes her a small smile. She looks back at Yoongi, not hiding the way her eyes moved down to his feet and back up to him. The two men sit in that strained silence, ignoring the other doctors and nurses that buzzed around them.

Y/n huffs and turns around to head to the elevator. She doesn’t say a word as she steps in the elevator. She doesn’t say anything when the two men also stepping into the same elevator they just walked out of. The silver elevator doors begin to close and Y/n takes out her phone from the pocket of her scrub shirt.

Taehyung leans over to peak at her phone, “What are you doing?” Taehyung asked curiously.

Y/n keeps her eyes forward when she answers, “Getting ready to call the police once we step off this elevator.”

Yoongi almost laughs at her reply. She’s funny.

“Wait, Y/n! Let’s not be hasty! We’re not stalking you or anything, we just wanted to speak to you.” Taehyung explains.

“Yeah right. Let me guess, Dr. Park told you when I go on break? You’re lucky I don’t have my pepper spray on me.” She hisses at Taehyung. The elevator doors open to bring them to the first floor of the hospital.

“Where are you headed for lunch?” Yoongi asks, “I can give you a ride.”

“It’s just the sandwich shop across the street, there is no need.” Y/n denies his offer. Yoongi just nods, keeping up to walk beside her. Taehyung is walking on her other side, strolling like they’re two friends going for lunch. Y/n stays quiet all the way up to the door of the sandwich shop.

Taehyung opens the door for her and steps in not before uttering a little, “Thank you.”

She orders her food while the two men sit at a table near a window. She denied their offer to pay so while Y/n was ordering, they came up with a game plan.

“So we just tell her everything honestly. Tell her that we’ll pay her, she’ll be credited..or won’t if she doesn’t want to be. Just don’t ask her why she stopped playing.” Yoongi says to Taehyung. Taehyung nods, agreeing with the plan.

It’s not long before Y/n sits down with her sandwich but doesn’t make a move to eat. She leans back in her chair with an irked look on her face.

“Well, speak.”

“Oh-” Taehyung started, “So I want to start by saying, it was never our intention to use your music without asking. We found your music by mistake as well. Yoongi played it and it felt like my heart was soaring. The pieces were beautiful. So I am working on a musical, which if successful, could bring in a lot of money and help propel many careers.”

Y/n’s face didn’t change much. She sits and listens to Taehyung speaking.

“We don’t want to keep bothering Y/n, but we do want you to know that your music is beautiful. I want your music to be part of the musical. I actually want your music for the whole musical. Yoongi wants to work with you, and Jimin is eager to write lyrics. Our intentions are not ill, Y/n. We want to work with you and collaborate with you.” Taehyung wraps up his words.

Y/n looks over to Yoongi, “What do you have to say?”

“I agree with everything Taehyung said. I want to work with you to make this musical something great.”

“Mhh.” That is all that Y/n says.

“W-we are going to be at Mina’s Music school on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Please think about it Y/n?” Taehyung adds. Y/n doesn’t respond but lets the men know she is done with the conversation when she leans forward and grabs her sandwich to eat.

“Thank you so much for at least hearing us out,” Yoongi says as the men stand out of their chairs. Y/n nods, the irritated look on her face not changing at all.

Y/n sat in her car staring at the music school. The lights were on, but the parking lot was almost empty. There were one or two cars parked on the further end of the parking lot. She sits there staring at the building. She drove herself here, but she’s not sure why. She doesn’t think it was the words of the two men from 3 days ago.

Maybe it’s Mrs. Kim’s words from almost a week ago that brought her, but she knows that it couldn’t have been her own mind that brought her here. The three men, Yoongi, Jimin, and Taehyung weren’t present yet. She knew that because she doesn’t see Dr. Park’s fancy white Hyundai.

Her heart is beating against her rib cage and her nerves have her stomach twisting uncomfortably. Her shaky hands sat in her lap, while the cold of the outdoors began to leak into her car, seeing as she turned the engine off.

She opens the door and takes a step out. She closes the car door and slowly makes her way to the school. Deciding to come on her day off was the right choice. If she made her way here after work, she would convince her tired self to turn around.

Just like before, she strolls down the hallway passing many classrooms with grand pianos. She doesn’t make it to the room she stormed into last time because something stops her in her tracks. A cracked down that showed a preview of a room that doesn’t look used.

She stops walking, pushing the door wider to find something that was covered with a big grey sheet. The sun was setting and the few rays that shined through the opened window exposed the dust floating in the room. Also scared to step into the room, Y/n looks around the room.

Unlike the other practice rooms, there were no posters, no stands or even sheet music left behind. She steps closer into the room, realizing that it was a piano covered in a big grey sheet. She stops walking again, leaving her in the space between the door and the covered piano.

Y/n had thoughts of turning around, not knowing what led her to this room when a voice spoke causing her jump.

“Of course this is where you find yourself.”

Y/n spins around to find Mina leaning against the door frame. She has a small smile on her face, her bob pulled into a ponytail while her bangs rest on her forehead.

“I-I was just leaving.” Y/n defends ready to leave.

As if she didn’t hear Y/n, Mina continues to speak, “It’s almost like your soul knew where it was and led you here.”

Y/n’s brows furrow at her words, a bit confused by what she meant. She wordlessly walks into the room. Y/n steps out of her way, watching as she bends down, grabbing the bottom of the grey sheet.

She walks to the opposite side of the room, slowly uncovering the piano. Dust was flying in the air caused Y/n to cough a bit. Y/n was ready to complain when her eyes landed on the black 2000 Yamaha C-1 grand piano.

Her eyes widen and her body freezes. Mina watches as Y/n approached the familiar piano on shaky legs. At that moment Mina felt like she was looking at the 16-year old Y/n.

Y/n blinked back tears as she stood in front of the piano. Her piano...the piano her parents worked hard to buy her. So this is where it’s been. She reached out a shaky hand and slowly placed it on the fallboard. She slowly pulls up the fallboard revealing the white and black keys. She sits on the bench trying to collect her swarming thoughts.

Y/n slowly lets her fingers graze the keys, not pressing down to emit any noise. She looks up from the keys at the wooden music rack. Her eyes settle on the words professionally printed on the music rack.

To our lovely daughter, Y/n.

Y/n has her fingers touch the golden text, inhaling deeply as the huge weight that has been sitting on her chest all these years seems to disappear.

When she exhales it comes out as a choked sob, tears streaming down her face. Sobs begin to leave her lips, sounding throughout the room. She brings her hands to her chest and hunches over the piano letting the tears run down her cheeks and off the tip of her nose, dripping onto the keys.

Her whole body shook as she cried.

Mina who also has tears running down her cheeks slowly back out the room and begins closing the door just in time for the 3 men walking down the hallway to catch a glimpse of Y/n.

Mina closes the door, meeting the 3 pairs of curious eyes. Mina’s own face flushed with red eyes yet beaming with a big smile.

“Don’t worry about her,” She almost whispers, “She’ll be fine. Just leave her be.” With those words, she walks back down the hallway to her office.

Yoongi, Jimin, and Taehyung all stand out the door for a moment, the sound of sobs leaking through the dense wooden door. They don’t stand out there for long, heading towards their regular meet up room with Yoongi’s piano.

Y/n can’t be sure how long she sat there emptying out all these feelings. She can’t be sure where she has been keeping all this...hurt for so long but it felt like a purge of baggage.

Once her crying stopped, she leaned her head on the fallboard of the grand piano. Her eyes were closed as she worked on catching her breath. She was so exhausted, she debated falling asleep on the floor. She stayed in that position, now sitting in the dark because the sun had set and the lights weren’t turned on in the room.

As she sat there listening to her own breathing a beautiful melody began to fill her...ears? Y/n’s eyes snapped open. No, this music was not being played away and she definitely hadn’t heard this anywhere before.

She slowly sat up, staring at the dimly lit white keys of her piano. The moon gave enough light for her to barely make them out.

The music...the continuous melodies in her head.

It’s back.

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

S.T. REWRITE - S2:E1; Chapter One, MADMAX - [Pt. 2]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

As the town preps for Halloween, a high-scoring rival shakes things up at the arcade. Will begins seeing strange visions as the anniversary of his disappearance creeps up.

||Reader's POV||

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword."

"Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys."

"Down! Down! Down!"

"I'm going! I'm going!"

The cartoon woman on the screen exclaimed as the game picked up speed. All of surrounded Dustin, cheering him on as he played.

"I'm going! I'm going! I'm going!"

The boys yelled over one another as I stood on my toes to try and get a better look at the screen.

"Okay. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" Dustin bellowed as he slammed his hands on the buttons, but then the disappointing sounds from the machine indicated he had lost.

Dustin began taking out his anger on the machine, kicking as he screamed profusely at it.

Meanwhile, the screen returned to the original title screen, inviting its next player. Lucas began to goat at Dustin.

"You're not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day. But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine."

"Whatever. I'm still top on Centipede and Dig Dug."

"You sure about that?"

We all turned our heads to see one of the younger employees, Keith. He was standing there with a bag of cheese puffs and an awkward smirk.

Dustin's face dropped as he asked the question we all seemed to know the answer to.

"Sure about what?"

Keith only smiled and took a large rather obnoxious bite out of a cheese puff.

Dustin broke out into a panicked sprint and we all quickly followed suit, curious to see the outcome.

"Move! Move! No, no, no, no, no. Hey, no! No! No!"

We all zeroed in on the Dig Dug screen where sure enough, Dustin held second place to someone named MADMAX who held an insanely good score.

"751,300 points!" Will exclaimed, turning and sharing a disbelieving look with one another.

It was then that Mike chimed in. "That's impossible."

"Wow, you really have your work cut out for you." I said, with a hint of a smile on my face as I patted my brother's back.

He only ripped his shoulder away from me, clearly annoyed and turned to Keith.

"Who is Mad Max?"

"Better than you."

"Is it you?" Will asked.

Keith scoffed. "You know I despise Dig Dug."

"Then who is it?"

"Yeah, spill it Keith."

"You want information, then I need something in return," he smirked and looked at Mike.

It took me a second to realize what was being implied. When it hit me, I fought the urge to through up in my mouth.

"Gross!"

"No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her"

"Mike, come on. Just get him the date."

"I'm not prostituting my sister!"

"But it's for a good cause."

"Oh, so what? Does this mean you're gonna have Dustin pimp me out whenever you need a favor?"

"Well, I mean,"

"Lucas!" My voice starts to reach higher octaves and I feel Will's hand grab my own.

I give his hand a light squeeze, silently thanking him and my attention was brought back to the conversation when Dustin spoke up.

"No, don't get him the date. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family." Thrown off by the sudden direction that conversation headed, I sighed, releasing Will's hand and running both hands through my hair.

"Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious you pubescent wastoid." Keith threw back.

"Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go out on a date with you. You make, like, what? $2.50 an hour?"

"Nice perm."

"Gonna make fun of my hair?"

I sighed, knowing we were gonna be here a while.

Suddenly, a voice caught my attention.

"Hey. Hey, guys, do you see the..." I frowned when I saw he was standing over by the front door, looking around the arcade curiously.

"Yeah?" I asked walking forward.

But he only looked right through me. I could tell he was now on edge.

"Will?"

Suddenly, he let out a frightened gasp and whipped around to face the door. My stomach dropped.

"Will? Hey, come on." My breathing began to pick up, I risked a glance at the boys but they were too distracted in their argument and it was far too loud. 

That's when Will began to walk outside. Not wanting to lose him or let him get hurt I quickly followed him.

"Will, hey, it's me, come on." He stopped when he reached the edge of the sidewalk and he stood still, rooted in place. He looked to the sky in terror. I looked over my shoulder only to see nothing but the stars, and I looked back to him. He was still frozen.

I shakily brought my hands up to his shoulders. "Will!"

He gasped and I could tell he was back. Without even thinking, I engulfed him in a hug, and he shakily returned it. I pulled back to look at him and I touched his cheek. "Are you okay?"

His eyes lingered on me and he nodded his head. I was now very aware of the fact that my hand was still on his cheek and I quickly pulled away, a little flustered. There was a moment of silence and then I looked back up at him, knowing on some level what it was about.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He looked away for a moment, before shaking his head.

"I'm fine. I'd rather not, at least not right now."

I smiled reassuringly. "That's completely okay. I get it." I glanced down at his hand before taking it in my own and together we headed back into the arcade.

+++

"That's what's I've been saying! I'm telling you, she may be a teacher, but that doesn't give her any right to treat kids like that!"

"Yes, exactly! Thank you! Hey so do you Haney plans for Halloween?"

Emma was a great friend I had made in the dirty trenches of math class where a solid bond was formed. The two of us were currently walking down the hallway, discussing the horrors that was last class.

"I do actually, yeah me and the guys are going together.  They're gonna be the Ghostbusters and I..." I trailed off when I saw Will up ahead.

He was standing at his locker, looking around rather disturbed with something in his hands.

Hesitating to take my eyes off of him I reluctantly looked to Emma. "Hey, can we talk later? I'm sorry, it's just, I think I need to check on him,"

"Oh yeah, no problem. I'll see you later!"

I threw her a grateful smile as she walked away and then I hurried over to Will.

"Will! Hey, everything okay?"

His head whipped around to face me and he seemed a bit startled to see me. I gently put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance and that seemed to calm his nerves.

"Oh, um, yeah I'm okay." He quickly folded up a small piece of paper that didn't go unnoticed.

"You sure?" He nodded his head and smiled warmly at me causing my stomach to do little flips.

"So, what's that?"

"It's nothing," he said and I raised my eyebrows, not quite believing him. "really. 

I'm okay."

"Okay, well in that case, should we head to science?" I smiled and held ou.t my hand shyly and he gladly took it.

+++

"Meet the human brain," Mr. Clarke said, placing the model before us.

"I know. I know, it doesn't look like much.  A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution.  All working as one,"

I was hanging onto every word, fascinated much like my other friends. I looked to Will excitedly but he didn't even seem to be paying attention. Something was definitely bothering him. My face fell when I saw this, unintentionally tuning oh Mr. Clarke as well in the process.

I turned the boy and was about to say something when the abrupt sound of the classroom door closing grabbed my attention. Everyone seemed to look to the front when the principles walked in with a girl our age.

She had fiery red hair and freckles all over her face. She wore jeans and a red sweatshirt. I felt kinda bad for her though, she seemed uncomfortable being the center of attention which Mr. Clarke inevitably put her under the spotlight.

"Ah, this must be our new student."

"Indeed it is.  All yours" with that, the principal left, leaving the awkward introduction of the new student.

She attempted to rush to find seat but Mr. Clarke stopped her. "All right. Hold up. You don't away that easy. Come on up. Don't be shy."

She didn't attempt to hide her eye roll as she backed up to face the class.

"Dustin, drum roll."

Without skipping a beat, my brother began drumming his palms on his desk and 

Mr. Clarke began the introduction.

"Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine."

The girl shifted uncomfortably before mumbling. "It's Max."

"Sorry?" He asked.

"Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max." We all looked to each other, thinking the same thing.

"Mad Max." Lucas whispered.

"Well, all aboard Max."

I couldn't fight the smile growing on my face and like the boys, we all couldn't help but watch as she took a seat at the back of the class.

She leaned back and crossed her arms, obviously still uncomfortable from the sudden spotlight. She frowned when she saw all the guys staring at her and turned to Dustin and Lucas and a loose chuckled escaped me. They were practically drooling.

I looked to her once more and she met eye. I made sure send her a small welcoming smile, not wanting to make her more uncomfortable than she already was.

+++

We all stood in the small baseball dugout, watching, well the boys were anyway, Max. She was riding her skateboard all around the campus and we were debating whether or not she could be Mad Max. I had settled on the bench in the dugout, not feeling comfortable to be standing around watching someone.

"There's no way that's Mad Max," Mike stated matter of factly.

"Yeah, girls don't play video games," Will said, catching me by surprise.

I crossed my arms and looked at him. "What's that?"

He seemed to notice his mistake and shuffled uncomfortably.  "Except you, I mean. You're cool," I only raised my eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, you know what I mean though, right?" I laughed, having already forgiven him, but enjoying being able to mess with him.

Dustin brought his fist up to his mouth and spoke through pretend coughs. 

"Whipped."

Will turned to him and whacked his arm and I only giggled.

"Ok, but seriously, regardless you can't get 750,000 on Dig Dug. It's Max impossible," Mike said, still focused on the conversation.

"But her name is Max," Lucas argued.

"So what?"

"So, how many Maxes do you know?"

"I don't know."

"Zero, that's how many,"

Dustin the spoke up. "Yeah, and she shows up to school the day after someone with her name beat our top score,"

"Here's a crazy idea, why don't you ask her?" I chimed, looking up at the boys.

"No, no way! She'll be weirded out,"

"Oh, and stalking the poor girl is doing you everybody so many favors,"

"My point is, I don't even think it's necessary. She gotta be Mad Max, she's gotta be,"

"Plus, she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome," Dustin argued, much to the dismay of Mike.

"Awesome? You haven't even spoken a word to her!"

"I don't have to, I mean look at her. Shit, I've lost the target."

"There," Will said, and we all followed his gaze to the back entrance of the school.

She stood at the top of the steps, and before going inside she dropped a crumpled up piece of paper into the trash.

The boys, looked to each other, silently communicating before simultaneously running towards the trash can much to my dismay.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," I mumble, begrudgingly walking after them.

Sure enough, they began digging through the trash can and by the time I reached them they grabbed the piece of paper.

"Seriously, guys this is a new low," I snatched the piece of paper from them. "It's just garbage,"

"Well, if it's just garbage, then open it," Lucas retorted.

I sighed, looking them in the eye while unfolding it.  "Fine, but only to show how ridiculous you are being, I mean come-" I stopped short when I read the words, a loud belly laugh erupting from me.

"What? Let me see!"

"What?"

"Give it!"

Your laughter died into giggles as you watched their faces fall as they read the words,

"Stop spying on me CREEPS"

They sighed and looked up at me as I stifled my giggles with a hand against my mouth. My hand dropped my side and I sighed, before smirking.

"I like her."

"Well, shit," Dustin sighs.

I feel a pit forming in my stomach when I hear one of the teachers speak. "William Byers, your mother's here," we all turned to face him, and I could immediately feel the anxiety radiating off of him.

I grabbed his hand in mine and I gave it a reassuring squeeze and he squeezed my hand lightly in return as he looked at me.

He was doing it again. He was shutting himself down again.

He gave me a weak smile and without another word, he followed the teacher into the school to get his stuff.

Without even a second thought I walked quickly around the building and the others followed. I peeked around the corner and watched as he walked slowly to the car where his mother was waiting for him greeting him with a smile and a wave.

"You guys think he's okay?" Dustin asked.

"He's always weird when he has to go in,"

"I don't know. He's quiet today," Mike said worriedly.

"He hasn't been himself lately. I ran into him in the hallway and he was acting all weird and secretive."

"Well, you're basically his girlfriend. Has he shared anything with you lately, I mean he tells you everything,"

My face fell and I looked to my feet in sadness before looking back up and watching as he reluctantly got in the car. "That's just it. He hasn't said a word. I think something is really bothering him,"

"And, for the first time, I feel like," I sighed. "I can't help him."

+++

Tag List: @fuckwaad @aimee-lucass @iblesstherainsdown-in-africa@miscellaneoustoasts

DM me if you want to be added!

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Worst of 2019 (So Far)

And now we get to the opposite of yesterday’s post: the worst of what we’ve seen so far. Time to give them a proper thrashing before they (hopefully) fade into obscurity. Disappointingly, there's a general lack of films that were bad but in an interesting way. Mostly, it’s either been the same sorta dreck we usually get with a couple of unusually offensive stories and a couple of soul-crushingly bad superhero flicks. Curious? Read on.

10. Serenity

I like to save my #10 spot on the “Worst of” list for a movie that has a chance of becoming a favorite among those who love bad movies. Serenity is competently enough made that it does not belong in the same category as The Identical or Runaway. It’s another kind of bad movie, the kind that baffles anyone who sees it and who will have film historians scratching their heads in the future. It’s not quite on the same level as 2017’s “The Book of Henry” but close. Top-notch actors at the top of their career in a story so poorly conceived it would’ve been brilliant if it weren’t awful and utterly absurd.

The revelation that everything we've been seeing is actually part of a video game programmed by an angry teen who hates his abusive father, and that his actions are tied to those of Matthew McConaughey's character is the kind of nutty decision someone at some point should've questioned. My advice? Surprise some unsuspecting friends with it. Periodically pause the movie so they can write down how they think it'll all fit together and then watch their faces as they're proved wrong.

9. After

I’m not going to remember After down the line so this is my opportunity to give it another flogging. I can’t believe fan-fictions of real people is a real thing and that one of them was deemed legitimate and popular enough to be turned into a movie. It plays out like the clone of a clone of a clone of Twilight. At least that movie had danger in the form of vampires and werewolves. This has nothing to offer except embarrassing drama and a prepubescent’s idea of what romance and love look like. I saw it in the theater with a friend and thank goodness she was there; it made what would've been a chore... slightly more bearable.

8. Dumbo

I’ve already gone on about how I feel about Disney’s string of live-action remakes. For the most part, they fail to validate their own existences; they’re just copies of the original but with “real” actors dancing around animated backgrounds, objects and locations instead of everything being traditionally animated. Dumbo isn’t like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. It does try new things. It diverges from the source material significantly in the worst way. The titular character winds up playing second banana to a bunch of circus performers no one cares about and in the end didn’t contain an inkling of the emotion the 1941 version did.

7. Dark Phoenix

This one’s a triple-whammy. Not only was it a deeply disappointing way for Fox’s X-Men series to end, it retreaded old material in a way that was worse than X-Men 3: The Last Stand AND it was a box office bomb. By the time the story finally comes alive… it’s just about over. The whole thing feels like a mistake, bringing in aliens and asking us to invest in characters we just haven’t had enough time to fall in love with. Makes me wonder what the future of the characters is going to be like. Yes there are a number of heroes and heroines we haven’t yet seen, but are people going to care, even when the brand gets a new coat of paint from Marvel Studios?

6. Men in Black: International

Was anyone asking for the Men in Black series to return? Maybe if they'd had a dynamite story this could’ve overcome the public’s general disinterest, but this was an extremely generic plot you could figure out easily minutes in and lost touch with what endeared us to the first. Even with the combined forces of Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth failed, it to generate many laughs. Worse, to make sure I got any references or Easter egg it might drop, I re-watched all of the previous Men in Black movies, including the horrific Men in Black 2.

5. Replicas

This movie goes about itself in such a convoluted way. First, Keanu Reeves plays a scientist working for a company that wants to transplant the mind of dead soldiers into androids. Then, his family is killed in a car crash, prompting him to use the mind transfer tech to put their memories into new clone bodies of themselves. Problem is, he only has the means to clone three out of four family members. This means he has to erase all memories of his youngest daughter from the others’ brains. Following me so far? Good because it keeps going from there. Actually, that’s just the start of it. It’s a classic case of TMSGO - too much sh*t goin’ on. Even with all that, it STILLL managed to have gaping plot holes. No surprise it came and went as quietly as possible.

4. Hellboy

This one hurt. I wanted to see a superhero horror film badly. The early interviews I read about them wanting to adapt Mike Mignola’s books more closely than the Del Toro films got me excited. I was a little apprehensive when the trailers showed some goofy stuff but I figured these were included to draw people in. I should've listened to that sinking feeling. The actual film is awful, one giant mistake after another. Without a doubt, this featured the year’s worst special effects and even this I could've forgiven but the would-be humorous tone was badly misjudged and the story bloated with way too many elements that might've worked... if we weren't also trying to tell the character's origin at the same time. Hellboy ends with a teaser promising more and there’s no way we would’ve seen a sequel even if this had made money at the box office. Cool demons though, for what it’s worth.

3. Shaft

Looking back, I’m struggling to think of anything worth seeing in Shaft. I hated the film’s approach at comedy, particularly when it reverted Samuel L. Jackson’s John Shaft into the kind of man who proudly doesn’t understand modern sensibilities and spews out one homophobic joke after another. The plot was uninspired and uninteresting - not to mention generic - and none of it felt like it belonged on the big screen. On the upside, it prompted me to view the original trilogy with Richard Roundtree and those were enjoyable.

2. Simmba

Simmba is unlikely to be on the “Worst of 2019” list next January. It probably won’t be at the #2 spot. The film mixes two wildly different tones but not well. It begins as a romantic crime comedy, a dated one, sure. Simmba staging a phoney crime in order for the woman he’s attracted to to call him for help and then use the call as an excuse to stay with her through the night is creepy but I guess it might’ve passed like 20 years ago in North America. What makes this a bad film is the way it then introduces a character’s gang rape and murder as a way to prompt the anti-hero onto a righteous path. From there, it turns into this vigilante revenge film that has disturbing implications. You probably haven’t heard of it before now, much less seen it. I don’t recommend you check it out.

Runner Ups:

Aladdin

A controversial choice, as many casual filmgoers seem to have fallen madly in love with it (similar to the way they ate up 2017’s Beauty and the Beast) but honestly, what does this film do better than 1992’s Aladdin? Add an unmemorable song for Princess Jasmine to sing? Reduce the number of talking animals in order to give us more… nothing? Pile on the CGI to the point you wonder why it was made with live-actors in the first place? Like the innumerable direct-to-video sequels of classic films who've been all but forgotten, I tell you this Arabbian adventure won't endure.

Tolkien

So much potential squandered on a boring story. It didn’t take an astute viewer to recognize the film was crippled by the studio failing to obtain the rights to Tolkien’s actual work. I get the feeling we'll see another shot at a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien in a couple of years and this will be the Christopher Robin to the much superior Goodbye Christopher Robin.

The Hustle

It’s an unfunny comedy, what more is there to say? Rebel Wilson makes yet another bad career choice playing the same character she always plays. I only realized it was a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels while writing my review, which is unfortunate. Hopefully I can expunge this film from my memory soon enough and forget anything it might’ve spoiled about the original Bedtime Story or the 1988 remake.

1. Unplanned

The numerous instances of technical incompetence - mostly coming from the performers who are given lackluster material - would be enough to condemn Unplanned to this list. What made me hate the film is the way it blatantly lies and attempts to manipulate the audience into further entrenching themselves in a certain point of view through cheap, manipulative means. I can respect that genuine passion was poured into the project but the way it goes about it is shameful. Do not go see it, even if you're curious.

Yuck. That last one really left a bad taste in my mouth so I'm going to talk about a movie I did enjoy and am enthusiastic to direct you towards Alita: Battle Angel. Rosa Salazar as the titular Alita impressed me and I really dug the action scenes. I'll also right a wrong from last year by reminding you to find and watch Paddington and Paddington 2, both movies I should've put on my "Best of" lists the years they came out. I don't know what I was thinking but I keep coming back to these in my head. They're excellent for kids and adults.

And with that said, the list is over. Back to our regularly-scheduled film reviews until something big comes up. Thoughts or comments on the list are welcome and I hope you enjoyed reading.

[awfully-sadistic]

3-Thing Series: #1

I’m still classifying these as “on the spot” but they’re based off 10 prompts with three things. I don’t know. Wtfever. 

Prompt:

1) a chipped teacup, a crumpled note, a stormy night.

The terrible combination of thunder and lightning may frighten some with weak constitutions and even weaker nerves, but Dot Dreadful was not pulling up to the almost crumbling mansion as her disabled alter. It was an adventure even getting here watching the dance between claps and streaks under her windshield that Misi might not have made the drive, much less attempt to knock on the front door as soon as sie arrived. Sometimes, being the face for your own company had its ups and downs. However, being the only employee available to deliver a product to a new client seemed like a downer but Dot liked meeting her clients sometimes. At least, that was the attitude she kept in mind as she got out of her SUV and ducked the pouring rain and intimidating gales threatening to lift her off her heels and carry her away. To anyone that might have been watching, Dot was just a blur as she hurried to find shelter under the stone archway that covered the landing. It seemed sort of cliché that she would be summoned to an eerie castle amongst the stormy night.

It was even more cliché staring at a gargoyle doorknocker. The object was heavy in Dot’s hand making it feel authentic. She knocked once. Then, twice. There wasn’t a need for the third time. As soon as she aimed to knock again, the front doors swung open. She wasn’t amused to see that no one was inside waiting for her. But a nice butler would have helped. She’d even take a grouchy one as long as there had been someone there.

Emptiness peered back at her as she looked out into the foyer. Even with her enhanced senses, the darkness was murky at best and she wanted to avoid looking around too much in case she saw something that freaked her out. She had a bad feeling about going inside as it should have been. She stilled and looked around outside, taking nervous glances to her right and then to her left. Was this even the right address? Shit, she had left the note in her passenger cupholder, crumpled, because she was positive she had memorized the address. She knew she had the address; her memory and her pride in her memory prevented her from being wrong.

She was supposed to pick up a wrong package from this address. There had been an easy transition on the phone when she spoke to…whoever the fuck she spoke to. So, why weren’t they here waiting for her? Did the open doors mean for her to just mosey on in? Dot wasn’t an impatient person, but she didn’t like standing outside the front of someone’s house in the middle of a storm. She could handle herself, she was a big girl but why the fuck didn’t she think to bring someone, anyone, along?

Most of her deliveries or pick- ups didn’t go like this, that’s why.

“Hello?” Dot called out sounding as nonchalant as she could. She had an overactive imagination and a seemingly empty mansion on a dark and stormy night called back to all the scary stories and video games in her memory banks that had them playing out like a movie. She didn’t need the shake in her thoughts transferring out into her voice. “I’m from Death, Wrath, and Beyond.”

Instead of a reply, Dot got an answer in the form of a light turning on somewhere down a hall. She expected someone to be coming because that’s what it seemed like; another light turned on ahead of it, and then another… and then another until it stopped at the foyer landing. She took a step back because it appeared as if the lights followed an invisible person who was supposed to be standing in front of her now.

She knew her clients were mostly supernatural. After all, who else could cater to them? Dot prided herself on being a jack-of-all-trades in getting her clients everything from human parts (legally and sometimes illegally obtained) to simple, human enjoyments such as DVDs and accompanying popcorn and candy selections. Further, certain supernatural clients can’t go out in the real world without being persecuted due to their appearance or being an endangerment to humans. Sometimes, clients tried turning over a new leaf on swearing off humans but miss the man-made attractions and indulgences and sometimes clients just liked their privacy. This must be one of those recluse clients of hers.

Dot wasn’t spooked too often but the environment didn’t help. “May I come in?” she asked, sounding pleasant despite wanting to turn back around and drive home. She wasn’t certain if she was talking to a ghost but by now, something would have appeared in front of her.

“Please.” The voice was surprisingly gentle, quiet. Perhaps not to startle her by its suddenness. Yet it surprised her when what she heard and what she saw was further inside the mansion, standing just above her shrouded in darkness and shadows. It was trying very hard to hide, even Dot’s enhanced eyesight couldn’t penetrate the cover.

It must be a part of the client’s defenses, Dot idly thought as she took a step inside, craning her head back to get a better look at the client. He used the staircase as a means to keep the guest to his house comfortable by standing up there, but it just made Dot that much more curious about him. Against the railing, trying as much as it could to not be imposing, still, it stood tall and hunched over as to not hit the ceiling because she had to guess, if it straightened, he would have surely gone through it. She almost gasped at how huge he was from what little she could make out; his shadow looked to be about three Patriarchs wide.

But that was bad manners. She didn’t come here to gape.

Her client, from what she could gather, was a he and was draped in a cloak that covered his entire body wrapped tightly around himself. He walked along with her, slowly matching her footfalls from his place above her and it surprised her that she couldn’t hear a sound. His footsteps should have been heavy but, he wasn’t.

“I’ve come for your return,” she finally said, her voice as brisk as the business she wanted to wrap up, “and I’m incredibly sorry about the mix-up.”

“Are you the woman with whom I spoke on the phone?” he asked, his voice spoken as smooth as velvet and as deep and dark as he looked. It was pleasant, Dot decided. It pulled a smile on her lips and she nodded despite not knowing if he could make the gesture out from his perch behind the staircase railing.

“Yes, I’m Dot Dreadful.” There was a clatter or what was closer to a heavy thud that shook Dot enough to look around and wonder where the sound came from. It just didn’t occur to her it might have came from her client. “What was that?”

There was a pause and Dot didn’t think her host had heard her. But he surprised her when he finally spoke to admit, “…My feet.”

Dot’s eyebrow sprang up and she knew she looked perplexed; she just hoped the darkness covered up her expression. “Uh?”

“The package,” he changed the subject. “I’ve put it in the sitting room just beyond the lights. They should show you the way.”

Dot didn’t ask why he didn’t show her himself, but she shrugged and started to follow the path of lights she watched turn on one by one. The home was well-kept despite being drowned in darkness. The lights from the wall fixtures gave off enough to give her an idea of where she was going but if she strayed from the path, she was sure she’d get lost. The place seemed that vast. She finally walked into a sitting area aptly named considering there wasn’t a place you couldn’t rest your ass. But it didn’t seem overly crowded; it just seemed, unused. The package, a small cardboard box, was sitting on a table next to some decorative china; a plate, a fork, and a chipped teacup. Dot picked up the package and turned around. She was startled as her eyes landed on a huge, imposing shadow standing right above her.

It took her a few seconds to register that the host had followed her from his path upstairs. How odd was it that the entire second story followed the first floor? Was it even stranger to her that she didn’t hear him approach her at all? She swallowed thickly, watching the unmoving shadow head-on. She was at a vantage where she could see him just a tiny bit better but without the use of lights and that strange shroud of dark gloom he held around himself like a security blanket, it was hard to see any features at all. He really was just a mass of blackness. A huge, lurking shadow.

“May I ask what was wrong with the product?” she asked, trying to sound casual and not at all creeped out.

“It was the wrong DVD.” He admitted in a semi-contemplative tone.

The answer was so simple, Dot stood there in a stupor for about a minute.

“I apologize for the mix-up,” she was able to recover with a slight smile. “If I could ask, what DVD were you expecting? I’ll just go out and get it and come right back, you don’t have to wait until tomorrow.”

“It’s storming.”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right. It has been really bad today.” Dot said, taking a glance around the room. It had momentarily lapsed her mind considering this encounter. She was looking for a window, but all the curtains were drawn. She turned to face her host again, giving him a smile. She hoped the gesture wasn’t wasted considering she wasn’t sure if she was smiling at him or his back or what.

“That’s alright, though. It was our mix-up. It shouldn’t be a big deal. I’ll just leave and come back really quick.”

“I must insist you stay until the storm clears up,” her host suggested. He didn’t sound threatening, more nervous if anything. She was touched that he’d even offer.

“Thanks, but I’m sure it’s no big deal. I drove out here—”

“It was storming that bad on the road?”

Dot hesitated. The way he asked made her feel sheepish on replying, sort of like, she should not have been on the road because she should have taken into consideration her own safety. But perhaps she was reading too much into it; meeting new clients was nice and everything until she had to have conversations. Reading a person’s tone was… tough. There were way too many ways to interpret a client’s words.

“Uh, yeah.” She answered with a slight laugh. “I think the weather reports say it’ll be storming all week. Something about monsoon season—”

“Then I must definitely insist you stay until the sky is clear again,” her host interjected. It drew Dot into a silence before she cleared her throat.

“Ex…Excuse me?” she wasn’t sure she heard right, but she thought she’d ask anyway. “Until the sky is clear? The reports say it won’t be for another week, I can’t stay here for a week.”

There was another thud, the same she had heard out in the landing. She looked around. The sound didn’t just happen once, like before. It was shaking the light fixtures overhead and some of the paintings on the wall rattled as their frames tapped against it. Another thud. And another. It was in succession to footsteps and by the time Dot realized, her gaze shot to the overhead stair banister, but the shadowy figure was no longer there.

The thuds she was hearing were footsteps, she was certain now. She was used to heavy footsteps, but these were “rattle everything, the house is going to collapse” heavy. Dot didn’t think there was anything to compare them to, perhaps the closest thing being a Patriarch’s footsteps—when they were angry.

By the time Dot’s thought process went to RUN OUT OF THE HOUSE, it was too late. Her only exit was barred by the entirety of the being’s figure. She couldn’t see past it, hell, she couldn’t see most anything around it. The only thing she could do it take a frightened step backwards, body in the beginning stages of fight or flight—

“Don’t be frightened,” her oh-so gracious host tried to reason. Dot almost scoffed but the soothing tone in his voice did sound sincere. She was weary but that didn’t mean she was letting her guard down at all. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“It’s just a storm,” she replied. “If you’re that worried, I’d just call my fiancé to come get me.”

One of them, she figured. It wouldn’t take an entire army and that’s what it would be if she spilled the beans about being held against her will in some weirdo’s house. She was in the middle of reaching for her phone when he spoke again.

“You… have a special someone?” he asked, and Dot’s hands paused. He sounded… hurt. He tried to make it sound like he wasn’t interested but there was definite interest there and disappointment. “Of course you do,” he amended. “someone as beautiful as you must have someone who adores you.”

Dot didn’t try to flush under the compliment. She couldn’t even see this weirdo’s face or any other feature about him, but his voice was making up for it. The forlorn way he spoke made it obvious there was stock in how he felt about relationships. Perhaps even about love. It made her curious about what type of, er, client, he was.

“Yes, I do…” Dot admitted. Did he want to talk about that? What the hell did he want? “They’ll worry if I’m not back…” she pushed. Perhaps that would appeal to a reasonable side if he were trying to hold her hostage.

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” he said, seemingly understanding her point. “I am just worried.”

“…About what? The storm?”

“About you.”

Dot laughed, “Why? You…. don’t know me.”

“You sounded so nice over the phone.”

She laughed again, feeling something like pity. “I mean, I’m not…a mean person.”

She remained silent and tried to take a good look at her client. He was still filling up the doorway, making it impossible for anything to get past. The shadowy being that he was seemed eerily still as if he were watching her back. It made Dot feel self-conscious. What was he thinking? Besides about her safety. What did he want? She couldn’t give him anything. The only conclusion she could come to was that he seemed lonely. Dot was an empathetic person but that extended to Family. Her clients got only preferential treatment above strangers but that’s about where the line was drawn. It was ridiculous that her heart was reaching out for this lonely… shadow thing. But then again, none of her clients ever pulled anything like this with her before.

There was always a detached transaction when dealing with her customers. If she thought about it, this was the first time she was having any sort of “heart-to-heart” with a client. If this even counted.

“You do seem like a good person,” he admitted, breaking her thoughts.

Dot laughed. He really didn’t know her. “Honey, I’m just working.”

“But you offered to exchange my DVD for my right one, right away.”

Dot’s mouth pursed together. Okay, so she didn’t have to do that but that was just good business sense, especially when her company err’d in the first place. She didn’t want to argue that, so she tried changing gears. “Okay, but I do need to get home before my loved ones start to worry about me. Especially in this storm.”

If the shadow-thing had a face, she was sure he was concentrating. The silence that followed his words made it seem like he was a careful person; he was someone that thought before speaking.

“Why would they let you go out in the storm in the first place?”

“Ah, that would be my stubborn ass.” She grinned. “I could have left this up to someone else, but there was no one in the office to pick up the order and it would have been done tomorrow. I told you over the phone, it’d be done today. So…” Dot’s arms came up as if presenting herself, “Ta-dah! I’m here.”

Dot could have sworn the thing smiled at her.

“You are nice.”

“Nice and dumb kind of run a fine line,” Dot joked.

The room grew five degrees colder, she could swear. She looked around for the source of the draft, not yet understanding it was coming from in front of her.

“Do you insult yourself a lot?” he asked, quietly. Darkly.

Dot stopped looking around, yet her hands rubbed her arms as she nodded, “Not… seriously, though. I do need to stop, I know. It’s just a habit.”

“A bad habit. Someone who cares for you should teach you better.”

Dot bristled under the tone; as if he knew anything about her and her loved ones. “Alright, look, it’s time for me to leave—”

“I don’t think you should.”

Dot’s jaw almost dropped, “…That’s not up to you.”

“You are a guest in my house.”

“…And I want to leave.”

In the first time since stepping into the mansion, Dot felt uncomfortable. She supposed it should have been when the front door swung open by itself. Or even before, when it started storming. Or even before that, when she answered the phone. She started to look for another exit. It was her luck that the room she was trapped in had only one exit and the thing, whatever it was, had been blocking it from the beginning. Perhaps even planned on her coming into this room.

“I didn’t plan this,” he said, seemingly reading her thoughts. His tone turned thoughtful as he added, “It’s all over your face. I had planned on having this be an easy transaction. You were supposed to come and go. But I see now, this is just like how the stories say. You were fated here, just like the movie.”

“What… are you talking about?” Dot was almost afraid to ask. She didn’t want to know but it just came tumbling out of her mouth. Perhaps something would start making sense if he explained.

The shadow which had seemed to be so still before started to shift. It was a slow transition at first. He began to take a shape, a monstrous shape, full of jagged points and rough edges, red eyes that stared into the very depths of your soul. Tearing sounds followed by sharp white teeth in a gaping maw that promised the sweet release of death from the horror that rooted you to your spot and glinting nails that formed claws that could easily reach into your chest and pull your heart out from inside, still beating yet as red and pristine as the fullest rose in bloom. There was something so vaguely familiar about it, Dot couldn’t place a finger on why until he uttered a phrase that only she could hear that it came together. He was starting to take a shape, a form, and it was all unraveling, unveiling, before her eyes. Like in the scene where Beauty sets her eyes upon the Beast for the first time as he steps into the light and understanding that she gave herself up to this, to become his prisoner, her host was stepping closer and the thud she realized having been his footsteps were oddly silent now.

Her eyes sliced to the ground to see that he hovered just barely, nails from his monstrous clawed feet skimming above the polished floors. That’s why he was able to not make a sound as he moved above her.

“…What are you?” she asked, kicking herself because why the fuck did she want to know? Yet she couldn’t help but ask.

It was her regret when he honestly answered in a way that alerted her that her gracious host was some poor deluded being living in a fantasy world that could never be his reality unless he made it. And he intended on making it.

“Yours.”