#it did end up on someone's backyard. did not knock on the door as far as i know

[varjopeura]

.

[miguel-ohara-lover]

Kinktober day 9 - Dad’s best friend

Prompt list

CW: nsfw, fem!reader, unprotected, implied breeding kink, very little plot

Note: So sorry this is out late I’ve been with my grandma all day so it’s been heard to write. And as always, feel free to ask to be on a tag list

Your dad was having one of his usual summer barbecues with his friends in the backyard. You outgrew that fun years ago, and only visited for old times sake. And perhaps to see a familiar face…

The time of the barbecue you spent mostly in your room after greeting everyone and grabbing the food you wanted. You watched a nice tv show, eating whatever you had grabbed in your rush to leave. When a knock came at your door you groaned, silently wishing it wasn’t your dad and you could be left to your peace.

“What?” You groaned once more. The door swung open and your dad’s best friend, Miguel O’hara, was standing there. A blush immediately spread across your cheeks. You had known Miguel almost your entire life and damn he only got hotter with age.

“I just wanted to see you. It’s been awhile, since you moved away.” Miguel leaned against the door frame. “May I come in?” You nodded and he entered, shutting the door behind him. He noticed your blush quickly, and his lips formed a gentle smirk.

He made his way over and sat in the edge of the bed, asking you to tell him about yourself since it had been so long. You stuttered at first, then as you grew more comfortable the words just flowed. He listened intently, it felt great to just talk and catch up.

As you two talked, Miguel looked into your eyes with such interest, as if he were staring into your soul. Your pussy was soaking wet just sitting near him. Part of you felt Miguel knew that, and it excited you.

He reached out and rubbed your arm gently. “You’re so beautiful.” He spoke up, making you blush even more. “You’ve grown so much since last I saw you, and you’ve grown into quite the gorgeous young lady.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” You smile and leaned closer to him. He chuckled and followed your movement, leaning toward you as well. Silence filled the room once again, you two admiring each other’s faces. Miguel leaned in closer, until your lips met in a soft gentle kiss.

He placed a hand on the back of your head as you two make out. He somehow ended up on top of you, his strong arms on either side of your head. Your hips lifted up a little, pressing against the quite obvious bulge in his pants.

You reached down and tugged at his pants. This shouldn’t be a surprise, you two had shared glances and flirty looks since you turned 19, you were just waiting for this moment. Miguel helped you shove his pants down, and you finally got a look at what you desired most.

His cock was stiff and leaking already, he was so aroused by just the sight of you. He moved his hands down and reached them up your skirt, pulling the soft frantic of your panties. His fingers rubbed between your pussy lips before slipping inside you, drawing a gasp from your beautiful lips.

Miguel stretched you slowly, edging you right until the point of climax, teasing your clit recently. Then he pulled away, making you whine and try to pull him back. He just chuckled and spread your slick on his cock. He then lined up, pressing the tip to your hole.

You but your lip nervously, moaning as he pushed in, stretching you far more than his fingers did. Your arms wrapped around his shoulders as he moved slowly, letting you adjust. You both knew you needed to pick up the pace, someone would surely notice him missing. He was as gentle as he could be while thrusting inside your virgin cunt, covering your mouth with his big hand to quiet you.

His free hand moved down and spanked your ass gently, making you let out a tel that turned into another moan. “Try to be quiet, dear.” He whispered as his pace quickened. You moaned against his hand, trying so hard to stay silent but it’s so hard with how often he’s hitting that special spot. His hand moved from your ass to your pussy, rubbing your clit as he thrusted faster.

You cried out as he tortured your pussy so much, you had never felt so much stimulation before. He loved your noises and wished he could make you scream with pleasure, but he knew the consequences. His hips stuttered a bit as he felt his release grow closer, wish each thrust he was pulled towards the edge just a little more.

It wasn’t long before you came, pussy clenching around his cock as you let out a louder cry of a moan. He captured your lips in a kiss to silence you as he spilled inside your cunt, filling you up with his seed. It felt heavenly, and fuck you wanted to feel that all the time now. You knew instantly that would become a problem, constantly craving his dick. You’ll deal with it later, for now your thoughts were brought back to the present.

He continued to thrust as you both rode out your orgasms, and you whined feeling overstimulated as his thrusted never stopped. He did after just a bit more, really driving that cum deep into you, perhaps he wanted to breed you, who knows. You panted slightly as he pulled out, his cock shiny covered in your slick.

You grabbed some napkins you had brought in with your food and cleaned the two of you up half assed, feeling very lazy and tired now. He just chuckled and tried to help you. Once done he laid down next to you.

“Don’t you have to go back to the barbecue?” You looked at him, his face an inch from yours.

“Eh. They won’t miss me.” He smiled and leaned in for a kiss.

———

@6thhokageswife @zaunsin @famouscattale @m4dyy @thedevax @migueloharastruelove @queerponcho @lynnxnnyl

[volturiprincess]

Little Brother

Paul Lahote x fem reader

Summary: reader has a little brother who is a shifter Warnings: some angst, I think there were some curse words A/N: So this was a request, sorry it took a while to get this out but school comes first ☺️. if anyone has a request, don't hesitate to ask me, I am open in doing them. There will be a second A/N in the end. Word count: 2k+

Researching for colleges is such a pain in the ass, why am I doing this again? Oh yea I want to be a Doctor, more specifically a Physician. I have been in my room for over 3 hours already looking at different pamphlets of schools that have caught my eye. I have a little brother to take care of so I have been looking at schools near La Push but there are not a lot of schools that have the program I am interested in. And little old me decided to also graduate from High School one year early so that I could have a gap year to save up money and to visit different universities. I've been dragging my little brother with me to these college visits for the reason we are close and I don't like going alone on these visits. 

We are only 3 years apart but I still treat him like a small child, even if he is already slightly taller than me. I heard a sudden knock at my door and called out for them to come in. I sat up from the floor and saw my little brother walk in

“Hey Oli, what's up?”

“I just came to check on you, I haven't seen you in like days already and you missed dinner”

“Shoot, sorry, I didn't even know so much time has gone by, I been trying to narrow down my choices in colleges down to 5 but it has been a struggle but I did eat a sandwich earlier”

He nods 

“Why don't you take a break and we can go walk at La Push?”

My eyes widen at the mention of the beach

“Sounds like a plan bro, meet me outside in 10 minutes”

He rolled his eyes playfully but walked outside nevertheless. I stood off the ground and got somewhat ready, I just needed a sweater and shoes. I left my room and went outside where Oliver was waiting, we then started to walk to the beach, it was literally over the the treeline of where we live so it didn't take long. I have been coming to this beach since I was born, and when Oliver was born I made sure he came as frequently as I did or sometimes I would sneak at night just to come see the moon over the ocean. 

As we arrived at the beach I saw a group of boys and knew right away who they were, Sam Uley's pack. I went to school with them. I even had a class with some of the members but they always seem to annoy me with their loudness so I personally decided to stay away.

As we were walking Oliver asked me 

“Do you know those guys?”

“Yes I do, why do you ask?”

“Just asking, you always look at them like they killed your dog or something”

I laughed 

“Well there are just rowdy boys, and that annoys me you know?”

We kept on walking until someone shouted out “HEADS UP '', I grabbed Oliver instantly and pulled him down and saw a football flying over us. I stood up and walked over to the ball and looked at where it came from and I stiffen up when I saw it came from the pack, I grabbed the ball and threw it back to them immediately. I could hear one of the guys shout back “THANK YOU” which I just responded with a hand signal and walked off with Oliver.

“You know I'm surprised you didn't do sports in high or middle school, that was one heck of a throw, the distance you threw was easily a whole football field”

I rolled my eyes but wrapped an arm around his shoulders and ruffled his hair

“Oh yea? Easily a football field? You need to go touch the grass more often then, but I do got to agree it was a beautiful throw, an old friend of mine and I would practice throwing either a football or baseball in the backyard”

“I remember that, I preferred to sit at the porch and read a book while you two played”

“Such a bookworm, you know thats suppose to be me right, the amount of books I have read so far in the 17 years I have existed would blow your mind”

Chuckling he answered 

“I'll take your word on that”

—-------------------------------------------------------

Recently Oliver has been a bit distant with me, I thought at first it was just him being busy with school and his new job he told me he got recently but I hardly see him at the house anymore. I have approached him multiple times but his response is always “I'm just busy living my life”. He always says it in this tone that is just bland and he doesn't sound like himself. I know I've been busy with applying to colleges and stuff but he's been like this for a couple of months now. It also appears he's been getting into shape, not only has he gotten taller out of the blue but he has muscles now and on top of that he cut his beautiful thick locks. It makes me think that maybe there is a girl he likes and he wants to impress her or maybe there is something else. I wish he would come up to me but for now I am giving him his space and hoping he will come up to me when he is ready. 

I decided to go take a  walk at La Push beach to just clear my mind from the stress of life for a bit. It has been a while since I've been here and I kind wish Oliver was here with me. As I am walking on the sand, I see a group of boys all shirtless and with jorts on close by. I knew right away it was Sam Uley's pack but then I saw a familiar figure amongst them. My eyes widen and before I even think twice I shout out his name

“Oliver!”

I saw him turn his head to me slowly and his face reflects my current face. I felt slightly betrayed and went up to the group of boys and confronted my little brother.

“The hell are you doing with these guys Oliver, I told you to stay away from them”

Sam was the one who spoke up

“Miss why don't you relax and leave Oliver alone”

I snap my gaze to him 

“Excuse me? You don't get to tell me what to do when it comes to my little brother, that is between me and him. Sir”

Oliver spoke up still with that same monotone voice 

“Y/n just go home please, I will talk with you later”

I stared at him and then I saw something else I didn't notice earlier, a tattoo, the same tattoo that all of the other guys in this pack had. At that moment I had to bite my tongue so I didn't blow up on him in front of the guys so instead I nodded stiffly and walked away. So many thoughts started to flow through my mind; “why is he hanging out with older guys, more specifically why is he with those guys?” “Is that why he changed, so he could fit in with them or was he forced?” “What happened to that sweet boy who was scared of the lighting and would come to my room for comfort?”

I sat in the living room waiting for Oliver's arrival. I really wanted to blow up on him right there in front of the guys but why embarrass him like that, even if it was very tempting. I just realized I was addressed as “Miss”, I literally had a class with Sam and he sat right next to me and we were even partners once for a stupid math project. But what went totally over my head was a certain guy was watching intensely, he was looking at me like I was the only person alive. Before I could decipher this guy's name Oliver came into my view of sight.

I looked at him with narrowed eyes,

“So? Care to explain to me what I witnessed at the beach earlier? Or are you going to brush me off again like you have these past few months?

I saw for a moment he was hesitant but what he said next was expect

“You wouldn’t understand, they are helping me with stuff”

“Helping you with stuff? Like how to flirt with girls or how to be an idiot?”

“As I said you would not understand? How could you, you are only focusing on yourself and your future, I seen the pamphlets you been looking at, and they are all colleges far away from here”

I tried my best to be face to face with him but he is at this point he is a whole foot taller than me now

“For your information little brother, I have been looking at schools near here, why do you think it's been so hard for me to find the one, and for your information you think I am so self absorbed that I don't think about you? Why do you think you don't live with mom and dad? it's because they never paid attention to you or even cared to  raise you, it was all ME who raised you. I am trying to work towards a good career so that I could give you a better childhood that mom and dad failed to give you.”

I didn't even know a tear spilled from my eye but I quickly wiped it away and stood my ground, but for some reason he huffed and stormed out of the house without giving me a second glance or anything. I stared at the door for a while until I decided to just drop this for now. Teenagers really are something else, I really wish I did have someone to confide in when I face these problems with him but there is nobody. I decided to just make dinner and call it a night already, if he does not want to talk with me then so be it. 

—-----------------------

I was getting ready to go visit another college alone once again when I heard a knock at my front door. I went to it and did not expect to see Paul Lahote there. Secretly I thought he was pretty cute, even if he flirted with all the girls at school but I just admired him from a distance and in silence. 

He was the one to speak first 

“Can I have a quick word with you?”

“Yea sure, what's up?”

“It's about you brother”

My mood dropped at that moment

“What about him?”

“Are you familiar with the Quileute legends?”

I nodded with suspicion 

“Yes i'm aware of them, but they are just stories”

I saw that look of hesitation once again, it was the same face Oliver did when I confronted him at home after the beach incident.

“Well, to some people it is but they are real you see, and your brother happens to be a shifter along with me and the other guys”

My hand went straight to the dorm frame to steady myself and Paul instantly went to a concerned stance.

“Hey you good?”

“You-your telling me, that my little brother who is 14, is a shifter, that the stories I grew up listening to are true and he didn't even tell me?”

He gave me a sheepish look

“Well the thing is, he couldn't tell you, it's a secret that is between the pack, it's to protect each other and not to reveal others our existence, can you imagine if others found out about us, the panic everyone would go through?”

I nodded since he did made a valid point.

“Yes well you have a point, but why are you telling me then, why not Oliver or Sam for instance?”

He scratched the back of his neck and he avoided eye contact with me. It's strange to see him like this, all flustered and nervous when I knew him as some cocky and flirty guy from High School. 

“Well you see I um….. imprinted on you….”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion 

“Imprinted on me? What the hell is that? And why me to be exact?”

“Well you see it's an involuntary mechanism that us shifters go through when we find out soulmates, we have no choice in who we get to imprint on, it just you know.......happens”

At the mention of soulmates my eyes widened in shock, the guy who I secretly liked but annoyed me at the same time is supposedly my soulmate. I always thought soulmates was an interesting topic hence my obsession with Greek Mythology and the topic that Zeus splitted people's souls in half and it was mortal's mission to find their other half. I looked back into his eyes 

“Soulmates? That's insane”

He chuckled and teased in return

“Oh and not shifting to a big wolf is not insane, your brother definitely knew you would react like this”

“Well I have heard the legends for years, so it's not like `oh what the hell your mental” kind of situation, at least I knew some part of this, but soulmates? You got to admit that's something you don't hear everyday”

Rolling his eyes playfully he gave a me a smile that stopped my heart for a minute 

“Fair but you're not too creeped out by this or have questions or whatsoever?”

I chuckled at his rambling but asked him 

“Well now that you say that I think about 1 million questions came up, please don't tell me Oliver has found an imprint yet?”

“No he hasn't yet, he's still figuring this whole shifting and stuff”

I nodded along

“Good, Good, I don't think I would accept it right away thinking he found love so young, but I also wanted to thank you”

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion

“For what?”

“You and the other guys probably were a great help to him with all of this, even if I was completely clueless to all of this, he was for sure scared and confused with all of this, wasn't he?”

He nodded 

“Yea he was lucky me and Sam were close by, we heard a yell of pain and then a growl and well we knew what it was, we went up to him and calmed him down and then we explained everything to him”

When he said yell of pain, that hit me, as much as I might not tell Oliver directly that I love him, I do, I just show it a different way by being there and being his best friend. I looked up at Paul and hugged him tightly. I felt him stiffen from shock but eventually he wrapped his arms around me. He was so warm, even with the layers of clothing he had on, his heat was radiating through it to me. I felt him caressing the back of my head while I just had my cheek against his chest.

We pulled apart shortly after and I looking down mumbled 

“I'm sorry for calling you and your pack a cult and annoying behind your back”

I heard him chuckling loudly and I looked up at him with a surprised look

“No need to apologize sweetheart, we know we are annoying and I could never be mad at you”

I rolled my eyes playfully but let out a breath of relief

“Is Oliver with the other guys?”

He nods 

“I can take you to him, the cat is out of the bag already or this case the wolf is out of the bag”

I punched his arm playfully 

“Your such a nerd”

He did a fake pout but smiled while offering his arm for me to take. He guided me to his car and we drove off to who knows where. We eventually arrived at a cabin in the woods and I saw a bunch of shirtless guys running outside of the house towards us. I spotted Oliver and ran into his arms and pulled him into a deep hug. He returned the gesture immediately and I felt some small tears spill 

“I know everything, I'm sorry for blowing up on you”

He pulled away slightly to look at with slightly teary eyes

“It wasn't your fault y/n, it's mine, I just wished I could've told you about this but you know why I didn't, right?”

I nodded and wiped away his tears

“I'm just glad you didn’t have to deal with all of this alone” I turned to all of the guys “Thanks to all of you” they all nodded in a reassurance and some of them went back inside the house 

“So Paul also told you about him imprinting on you?”

I nodded 

“And he told me you have not found an imprint yet which is a relief, I don't think I would be ready to see you with someone yet, your just a little boy”

I ruffle his hair and he just chuckled slightly 

“Im 14, almost 15, and I'm taller than you also”

I huffed at his response

“Well i'm older and more mature than you”

Paul came up to us,

“She's got you there dude”

I looked at Paul who winked at me and Oliver just groaned in disgust

“Can you not be like that in front of me”

“Hey! since I know about all of this, you will see more of me and Paul together”

He scoffed but then smiled 

“Whatever, at least you won't be alone that often now”

Paul wrapped an arm around me and looked down on me 

“She will never be alone”

My heart skipped a beat at his response

A/N: My third one-shot DONE. Anyways I will get to that extended version of that Felix drabble/random idea/ im not sure what to call it, hopefully I will get it down in the next couple of days. Plus I will work on another moodboard since its been a while.

[echantedtoon]

Monster Bride Part 2 What Shall We Find?

(Just for context. After this there will one chapter and ending for each character except for the Hantengu boys which will end in a poly romance. If there's any suggestions for what you'd like to see them do feel free to leave them in the comments.)

You liked living alone.

No one to order you around. No one to say what you shouldn't and should do. No one scrutinizing yourself. It was a good life. Just you, nature, and the few farm animals you kept for company. It was a good life. Your parents were a bit concerned about you wanting to buy a house and  live alone but considering your circumstances they agreed and purchased a home from an old farmer as a new year's present a few years back. It wasn't too big. Just two rooms including the bathroom and just a small space in the back for a few animals. Just it was perfect in your eyes. And it was just outside of town. Close enough to visit whenever you wanted but far enough to give you complete privacy in the woods. Which was EXACTLY what you wanted.

Unfortunately your life wasn't meant very easy.

From the moment you were born it seemed your life was going to be a problem for you. Mostly because it was almost like you had a spell casted over you to just have the worst of luck with men. Oh no. They weren't repulsed by you. Quite the opposite actually.

THEY WOULDN'T LEAVE YOU ALONE!!

Your parents must've had at least two hundred offers from other parents to arrange a marriage between you and their sons.  Thank the gods above they were amazing and kind and always asked if you wanted any of the marriages. You refused so they refused. And you would still be bombarded with offers of other parents to boys just attempting to court you any chance they could get. It was one of the reasons why you chose to live all the way out here instead of in town where you'd just be bothered. Although men still occasionally showed up here. And sometimes an older man or woman would trying to talk you into marrying their sons. You always refused and made them leave no matter how polite, persistent, or rude they are. And boy. You've gotten a few rude guests you had to kick to the Kirb. But you also had the ones who couldn't take a hint like the one months ago. Stupid guy. He even tried to use that stupid tradition to get you to marry him.

For thousands of years, people married off their daughters and ladies desperately scrambled to find a husband obsessively in fear of a monster dragging them away from as the blood moon came every hundred years. WHICH WAS STUPID!! You've lived your ENTIRE LIFE playing in the woods and walking around and now living in the woods and not even ONCE did you ever see any ghoul, goblin, troll, fairy, ghost, or any other inhuman creature. They only existed in stories and the imagination of children. You hated that so many people were legitimately terrified of this. And you especially hated that someone tried to use that against you!  You wouldn't be scared into a loveless marriage that wouldn't be fair to yourself. Or the man to be honest. 

With a sigh you woke up that morning and did yours chores which wasn't a lot. Feeding the few animals you had and cleaning your house. Neither of which took very long because of how small your home was and then you started on the laundry. Again it wasn't much and you were just scrubbing a blanket in your home when there was a noise outside that made up you jump and whirl your head towards the back of your house. Your cow was mooing and thrashing about by the side of your house.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

You heard her knock and the kick the side of the house a few times making you drop the cloth and stand up as even MORE noises came from your backyard. Your chickens were going absolutely NUTS!! Clucking and calling a out making you run to the back door and throwing it open-

"AH!!"

Your arms threw up over your face and closing your eyes as a flurry of your hens jumped up and flew a out you in a panic. 

CRASH!! THUD!! RUSTLE!!

Your cow mooed louder and ran past you towards the well on the side of your house as a giant black blue went diving into a bush right by your hen house causing feathers to fly and more chickens to rum about in panic blocking your view of...of...Well  whatever it was. You blinked just seeing the bushes move and hearing whatever it was crashing through the woods away from you as quick as the wind. Leaving you standing there blinking with a few panicked chickens and your cow irritated and half hiding behind the well....

What in all the heavens just happened?!

The chickens were still running around as the last few crashing sounds made their way into the woods before it was silent all around. You stood there and just...blinked. What was that?! A bear? No, no. A bear was too big and bulky and couldn't run off THAT fast?! You looked around noticing that...no chickens were missing. All fifteen of your hens and one rooster was still around. Oh... Whatever it was you must've scared it off before it could make off with one of them. But what was it? Couldn't have been a fox. It was too big and it wasn't a red color...

"A wolf," you mumbled having finally deduced what it was before scowling. "It must've been a wolf!! A wolf was after my chickens!!" 

Scowling you marched on over to the bush where it disappeared through making your chickens scramble from your legs. Grabbing the bush branches, you pushed the thing apart roughly but saw... Nothing. The back of your hill sloped down a hill to where a lot of wild berry bushes and a few fruit trees were ending in a stream that came up to your shoulders almost with how deep it was. Another reason you chose to live here. Free food! You scowled looking around more but there was no signs of any creatures. No wolf either. Curses! It must've ran off before you could see it... You'd buy a trap in town. You were going to head there after you finished laundry anyways. Letting the bush go back the way it was before you angrily turned and stomped off back to the house.

"I'll be damned before I let a wolf make off with my animals. I'll put them all in the barn before I go but first I'm going to get the laundry done."

Unbeknownst to you, eyes opened up from the shadows and followed your form back to your home. You stopped in the doorway pausing... before turning around to fully face the backyard and the eyes widened.

Y O U  W E R E  T H E  M O S T  B E A U T I F U L  W O M A N  T H E   E Y E S' S  E V E R  S E E N.

A shiver went down your spine as you narrowed your eyes looking around.. before going back inside and continuing inside before closing the door behind you. Yeah. You'd finish up before you left for town and buy the BIGGEST trap they had. 

The eyes way he'd awestruck at the beautiful figure walking into the house and closing the door. A chicken wondered close to a different bush unknowing. A hand reached out. The chicken only gave out a muffled squeak before it was yanked into the woods never to be seen again.

You  finished hanging up the laundry inside and went back out to heard all your chickens back into the henhouse and locked up your still spooked cow safely in the small barn before you left for the town. You thought you heard a twig snapping in the woods behind you before you left down the road towards town but you were sure it was just the wind. You weren't as paranoid as the others in your town.  So you started down the forest path back to the nearest town. It was an hour's walk there and an hour walk back. A bit of a way to walk but you'd like to think it helped to discourage others from seeking you out most of the time. You started down the road..but kept looking over your shoulder thinking you heard someone...but nothing was ever there. You got the feeling something was watching you from your home and the feeling didn't go away until you couldn't see your house anymore. Then you felt more at ease. Probably was the wolf, or your paranoia that was thrown a bit since you weren't expecting it. However unbeknownst to you it was something much, much more supernatural than that.

The rest of the trip passed by without incident or without that sixth sense of something watching you. An hour later you arrived at the town. It looked as busy and crowded as you remembered and it was then you realized something. You might as well probably get your shopping done  since you were here. You'd be needing some more supplies. So off you went to the first spot which was a candle store, then a library, and a few more places. While at a certain book store however you again felt eyes on you, and this time you turned and found the source of them this time. Four men working on building the side of a new house were staring at you as you skimmed over some books near the doorway. Upon realizing that you saw them, two of them looked embarrassed and sent back to work quickly, one man smirked and winked at you, and another one politely smiled and waved. You frowned before quickly retreating into the store further.

Why did this happen EVERY TIME you went into town?!

You just wanted to get you some supplies and be on your way. On the way back through you stopped by the blacksmith. He sold hunters they needed from bows and arrows to knives to bear traps. You walked right in gaining a few looks from a few men in there looking over the knives and two of which were asking who was presumably the owner which one would be the best for deboning large fish. Amongst the swords and horse shoes, and other items you found the traps. Big ones. Obviously those were for hunting BIG game like bears. But there was others of a more reasonable si-You froze as someone leaned on the wall next to you. Arm above and out. A face smiling down at your head. You turned to see one of the hunters smiling down at you.

"Hello, Wood Dweller "

NOPE!!

You didn't even give him a chance to speak. You turned on your heels and RAN like the wolf itself was chasing you. NOPE NOPE NOPE!! NOT DEALING WITH THAT TODAY!! Besides you saw the prices written above the traps. Too expensive and you didn't have enough money. You'd have to use the old rope tied to the tree trick. Running down the street with basket in hand, you just happened to look up and noticed that the sun was setting. If you didn't want to walk alone in the dark, you'd better head home now. So that's exactly what you did. You veered quickly through the streets as people headed home quickly fearing the dark and so called 'monsters' that lurked in the dark. You didn't fear any fake monsters. You were more afraid of that wolf! But you needed to get back before your animals could be in danger again. So leaving the town behind you veered off the street and down the path leading you back home.

The light was quickly disappearing and you ran faster and faster down the road.  Shadows danced across the pathway before you as you went down the pathway. Trees blew creepily and creaked as if their branches were trying to reach out and grab you. To take you captive. It made a shiver run down your spine. You didn't reach your house until the last rays of light left the sky and plunged the world into total darkness. The moon high in the sky and crescent shaped like a sadistic grin. You ran right up to the front door, pulling it open but stopped and looked around you real quick. You saw nothing but the creaking wind and trees. You shivered again before you stepped inside and closed the door. Finally. You were safely home. With a sigh you leaned against the door for a long moment before reaching out to flip the lock. With the door safely locked you pushed yourself off the door smiling and carrying the large basket over to place it gently by your-....Wait a second. Blinking you turned to window and blinked. Your window's shutters were... Open? 

YOU DIDN'T LEAVE THOSE OPEN!!

You always closed your shutters before you left anywhere. Why were they open now? Especially when you KNEW you closed them before you left!! Stunned silence filled the dark house as you stared at it silently. Before slowly approaching it and looking out the window into the backyard. The moonlight hit everything in the yard. You saw nothing on the other side. Your brows furrowed. This was... strange. You remembered locking it shut before you left but you must've not locked it properly in your haste to get the trap. Which meant you had to go outside to close it again. ...your form slowly approached the back door and you grabbed a hold of the sliding door at the same time something was walking through the forest. Neither of you two noticed each other. However when you silently opened the door you froze when you heard it. The sounds of something coming from the other sides of the Bushes.

The SAME bushes the wolf disappeared into. But they sounded a bit farther away from the henhouse! That stupid wolf was back!!.. Your eyes flickered to the pitchfork by the he house. If you scared it away by threatening it then it would be unlikely to come back again. It worked once when a fox wouldn't stop trying to bother your hens. It should be work on a wolf too. And if comes down to a fight, you'd have a nice fur to sell in town tomorrow. Slowly you stepped out of the house and back towards the bush. Your bare feet touching the ground gently and quietly enough to not make yourself known. 

Step after step after step.

Quietly you stepped closer as and closer and CLOSER to the bush silently. Slowly behind the henhouse you went and stopped right in front of the bush. The wind blew swaying it's branches creepily and looked like thrashing arms. You grabbed a handful and silently and slowly pulled them back.

And you froze at what you saw-

[asshlyyyy]

Personal Nurse

Series Warnings: Language, drug abuse, mentions of abuse, mentions of drugs. Colonel not liking the reader, probably some medical terms are incorrect, mentions of Elvis' potential death, health terms, health issues, yelling, fighting. Spelling and grammatical errors are likely. Individual chapter warnings will appear as needed.

A/n: This is basically Just The Nurse Extended

Masterlist | Previous Part | Next Part

Chapter 3: Introductions

You got to Graceland more quickly than you wanted to. It didn’t take long for the fans to come into sight. There were… a lot. Sure you could probably count how many were actually there, but if you had to guess… around forty to fifty? Maybe even more. As soon as they saw the car they started to crowd it in hopes that Elvis would be in it. It was just you in the end.

“Well, here we are,” Dave spoke as he drove past the gates. You let out a breath and looked behind you as the gates closed behind you. No one has made it this far in. You felt like you were breaking some kind of law by just being here.

Dave soon put the car in park and got out to open your door. You sent him a small smile and got out. He then went to the trunk to gather your luggage. There’s no turning back now, Y/n. This is the end of the line. You were here, and you were just going to have to suffer.

“All right, here’s your things. Vernon will give you my number.” Dave smiled and handed you your bags.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where I should go, would you?” You asked hopefully as you grabbed your bags.

“I would not, just ring the doorbell and someone would help you.” He told you and got back into his car. He soon started to drive away and it just became even more apparent that you were now trapped.

You watched the black car make its way out past the gates and soon down the road. This was it… no turning back now. You let out another breath and made your way to the front door. You doubt many people knocked or rang the doorbell considering he was locked behind gates.

You made your way to the front door and raised your hand into a fist and knocked on the door. It took a few minutes for someone to answer the door, but soon someone did and they looked at you confused. You didn’t blame them, you would’ve been just as confused.

“Can I help you…?” She asked confused. She was rather young, with blonde hair and bright green eyes. She wore a soft white dress and matching white shoes. She had an apron around her waist and her hair up. By her appearance, you guessed she was one of the workers around here.

“Hi, I’m Y/n Y/l/n… I’m supposed to be meeting with Vernon Presley. Is he around here?” You asked gently. Her eyes widened a bit at your name, it was like something clicked inside her.

“Yes!  He’s around back. He mentioned we had someone coming around today. I can go ahead and take you to him.” She said with a light smile.

You nodded gently and returned her smile, “yes, that would be amazing.” She walked out of the house and pulled the door closed behind her.  She waved her hand for you to follow, and she started to lead the way.

“So, you’re the one taking our jobs huh?” She spoke.

“What-? No-no? At least I don’t think so… I was told not to tell anyone why I’m here.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she chuckled lightly, “Vernon described it as a vacation. I’m sure we’ll be back to working shortly.” She flattened out her skirt. You hummed softly in response and nodded.

The both of you followed along the asphalt ground until you were led into the backyard. There was a little building that could have been used for storage, but by the looks at it… and the fact that you were walking towards it… you guessed it was an office. Vernon’s office to be specific.

“Well, here we are. You can go ahead and knock on the door.” The lady said. You nodded softly and looked at her,

“Thank you for all your help.” She smiled at your thanks and nodded. She did a small bow and walked back off towards the house. You took a deep breath and once again, brought your hand into a fist and knocked against the door.

“Come in,” Vernon’s voice filled your ears. You opened the door and walked in. It was a small quint room that held just about three desks in it. So it was an office… Not just Vernon’s but an office for workers.  Vernon sat at the one that was off to the side.

“Hi, Vernon Presley? U’m Y/n, Daniel told you about me over the phone.” You said professionally, even though you were freaking out on the inside. You made your way over to him and held your hand out to him. Vernon stood up from his seated position. He took your hand in his and gave it a good shake.

“Yes, all good things I can reassure you. Please, have a swat,” he held his hand out to the seats posted in front of his desk. You nodded and placed your bags down before sitting down yourself.

“I have to be honest with you, Mr. Presley. This is going to be my first job, but I can reassure you that I will work my hardest.” You told him in all honestly. It was best to be honest upfront. That way it will ease the nerves a bit. At least you hoped it would.

“I have no doubt that you wouldn’t.” He smiled and dug through some of his files. “Daniel was very persistent over you. I asked for those who had experience and had positive… outcomes. He said that he had many, but believed you would be the best. I don’t doubt him for one second.”

“I’m just glad to be here to help and for such a great opportunity. I know some nurses wait years for a job this big. Especially in the firm we work in. To get one straight after graduating… I am truly thankful.” You told him. Vernon looked at you with a smile.

“Of course, now, I’m sure you’re well aware of who Elvis is. If you didn’t I would be quite shocked honestly.” He pulled out a file and slide it towards you. “This file contains his health records, what he’s currently dealing with… the medication he’s on. His so-called doctor of his… isn’t someone I trust. He seems to be doing so well until Colonel forced too many shows on him. Then he had Dr. Nick come in and give him medication to help him sleep,” Vernon started to explain.

You nodded to ensure him you were listening, and you picked the file up and opened it. You peered through the papers to get just a general gist. You knew you would do a deep dive later on when you had time, but for the time being, you just wanted the bare bones.

“He isn’t himself on stage anymore. He stands around slurring his words sometimes. He’ll just stand put for about thirty minutes… He isn’t okay, and I don’t want to see my son dying so young.”

“Yeah, it’s the drugs that Dr. Nick is giving him…” You mumbled softly. “How long would you say this has been going on?” You looked up at him to ask.

“Since he started touring around. So around 69…” He answered. If it’s only been roughly three years and the drugs are already affecting his body this badly… who knows how long he has until he crashes down. He could probably go on for a couple of more years sure… but with everything going on… he would die young.

“So roughly three years you would say?”

“For the most part yes, though it's about four at this point.” He replied. You nodded and closed up the file.

“I’ll look more into it when I have free time.” You told him.

“Great, so, a couple of things. Elvis can be a bit… hot-headed. He’s got some anger issues and he will try and push you away. Say that he doesn’t need your help. He is also going to try and fire you. He cannot do that, you are employed under me. I also give you permission to go against him. Yell at him… do what you please. I am giving you full permission to do what needs to be done to fix him.”

“Okay…”

“You’ll be by his side quite a bit. Especially when he’s out and touring. That is when Dr. Nick is around him the most. I'm sure you're wondering how long you'll be here, and I don't have an answer for that just yet. I don't want him to get back to good health just for Dr. Nick to bring him back down. I'll have to try and get rid of Dr. Nick. However, the main goal is to just bring him back on course."

"well from the drugs alone... depending on how he acts it may take a couple of weeks to months. We would have to get him on a healthy diet. Uh," You opened up back the file. "Once we get him off the drugs, and get him on a diet... get him to exercise... get him on some drops for his glaucoma, and then some medications to help with his blood pressure and everything else... This will take a couple of months." You gave him a very rough estimate. Of course, you had no idea how long this would take, it all depended on the person.

"Take as long as you need. I don't want anything rushed, I just need him back on track."

"Of course, I do hope to have him back on course in a healthy lifestyle."

"Great, now I'm sure Daniel told you that you'll be staying here. Obviously, you know if you have your bags," he chuckled lightly, "you'll be staying on the ground floor just past the kitchen. Once we're done here I'll show you around. You'll have free range around the whole house. Now, upstairs is a bit... my son only allows family and friends up there that he trusts... but of course, upstairs is where he holds his bottles... so..."

"Just go up to get rid of the pills, other than that stay downstairs."

"Correct. Now, when you two are both here... you don't have to be attached to his side. As long as he doesn't have any medication from Dr. Nick... you shouldn't have to baby him."

"Got it."

Vernon went over a few more things and answered your burning questions. He showed you over to your room and now you were alone. He left you to unpack and, once you were finished, he would show you around.

You sat down on the bed and let out a breath. Everything so far has been going well. It wasn't too scary, but you still haven't met the man himself. Vernon said he was currently at the studio and he didn't know when he would be back. I guess that was good... You still had some time to prepare before he showed up.

You rubbed your eyes and pushed yourself back up onto your feet after some time. You walked towards the window and peeled open the curtains, allowing the sunlight to shine in. The room was small and quint reminded you much of your own room back at home… but of course without the customization.

The bed was near the window with space in between the end of the bed, and then the dresser sat across from it. It held a vase full of flowers on it. Hydrangeas, in fact, it was a combination of green, purple, and white. An odd arrangement of colors, but nonetheless beautiful. There was a lamp posted up on the bedside table, and a closet towards the door.

You picked up your luggage and placed it on top of your bed. You would need to find a hiding space for your medical bag. Not to… assume that Elvis would dig into looking for it. You just had to be careful. You started to unpack your things and get the room together the best you could. You could be here for a year… or even longer at this point.

Once everything was put away you looked over at the clock/alarm that was next to the lamp. Just around noon. That means… you spent quite some time putting together your room and talking to Vernon. That was absolutely crazy. You made your way outside to the kitchen where he told you to meet him.

“Sorry, that took a while,” you apologized.

“Oh, don’t be sorry about it. It’s no issue.” He said as he stood up. You smiled softly and nodded. “Right, let me show you around then.” He said and did exactly just that. He showed you around the whole premises.

It wasn’t like a huge mansion where you could get lost. It was a decent size house where you wouldn’t get lost. The craziest part you thought was the basement. No words were shared, Vernon just explained and walked by. Someone had to knock some nonsense into his head because whoever thought drapes all over the place was okay… that is just a sin.

“Upstairs, on the left is Elvis’ room and his office. Down the hall, there is his daughters’ room.” Vernon explained as we ended it all up by the entrance. You nodded in return to give him the whole… I understand. You knew you wouldn’t be up there much, but you would have to get rid of those pesky pills.

“Got it.”

“Well, that should just about it. I left you my number in the file, along with some other contacts you might need.” Vernon said as he looked over at the clock, “Elvis should be coming home any time now.”

You nodded and peered out the window. You saw a Stutz Blackhawk II and figured that… that was indeed Elvis himself. You knew all about Elvis’ lavish cars. They were beautiful you had to give him that. This was the moment. You were about to meet the king himself.

Before you knew it, the front door opened and Elvis looked at his father. You could see him, but you don’t think he spotted you just yet. He pushed the rest of the way in and finally spotted you. he put a pause in his step and raised his eyebrow.

“Da fuck are you?” He asked confused. Well, that was definitely not the greeting you were expecting. You bit the inside of your mouth and took a deep breath.

“This is Y/n, your new personal nurse.” Vernon introduced you. You gave Elvis a gentle smile in hopes that would ease him. Of course, it didn’t, but it was the thought that counted.

“I don’ need a nurse.” Elvis shook his head. He closed the door with a bit of force and looked at his father.

“I’m worried Elvis. I mean look at you.” His father pointed out his obvious weight gain and his non-groomed state. You didn't wonder… did his sideburns tickle his ears? Did they make him uncomfortable? I mean… they basically grew near ears.

“There ain’ nothin’ wrong with me,” Elvis shook his head and look at you. He examined you from head to toe. You wore long demon jeans that flared at the bottom. A cheese t-shirt that your mother randomly picked you up one day. You had some hair elastics around your wrist, that you were currently nervously playing with. Frankly, you didn’t even look like a nurse right now.

“Son, just-“

“I don’ need no goddamn nurse.” Elvis shook his head and stormed past you. His shoulder hit yours as he stomped up the stairs. You were pushed back a little from the impact. He was a bit harsher than you imagined.

“I’m sorry about him. I’m sure with time he’ll learn to get along with you. Now, I got some things I have to do. Let me know if anything bad happens.” Vernon apologized as he picked up the last of his things.

“It’s okay, I promise. I’m used to men always being mad at me,” you chuckled lightly, “thank you again for the opportunity.”

“No, thank you,” he gave you a sincere smile. You nodded and watched as he left the house. You let out a breath and let the smile fade. You were really in it now… and it was just you and Elvis.

Mutual Taglist: @babyhoneypresley, @emmymaehereeeeee, @venus-haze, @austinstyles

[momoro1408]

ONE NIGHT

I saw them, making out and then leaving the car for the fancy hotel. well, that’s none of my business but I can't help, but let my attention fall on my sister and her boyfriend. Jungkook was his name, youngest of all the members of the deadliest mafia group.

2:07 am

“open the door”, said Jungkook on the call.

In a sleepy voice, “what”?

“Open the door Tahee”, he repeated.

“oh”, realizing it was Jungkook. “wait a second”, hastily waking up from my slumber I went to the hall to open the door. When I saw Jinhee in his arms sleeping and looking tired and messy, his smell reached to my nostrils as he passed through me. That “Dominant Man” perfume from the luxury brand “Dior” was his signature. Only he wore that perfume as there were very few samples and definitely, he had one how could any top-class brand could miss out on Jeon Jungkook. One of the top models and musicians in the world. Everyone knew BTS, “The global K-pop boyband” but nobody knew their other identity as the mafias of the underground world. Their expertise was in dealing with weapons and major businesses like ‘The Kim Corporation’ kept the economy under their control. ‘ARMY’ cheered for them and they have fans all around the world. Thousands and thousands of fan forums are open all over the internet, protecting BTS from any hate and keeping their other businesses under the cover.

How do I end up under them? Well, I worked for ‘Kim Corporation’ as a financial analyst but my younger sibling, ‘Jinhee’, started dating Jungkook. They had to make sure nobody knew about their relationship. I was told to work from home and as their affection grew they decided to move in together. Particularly, Jinhee to their mansion but as the favourite child my parents could not leave their beloved and spoiled daughter alone, so, I had to also move out with her, to take care of Jinhee.

So far everything’s fine. It is not good but not bad either. I have my own private room with a very luxurious bathroom. The room is thrice as big as my previous one with a huge canopy over the bed, Victorian-style window panes, and a walk-in closet that is only half full of my clothes. By the window, I have my desk which I’m sure is made of very expensive wood. In the bathroom, there is a huge bathtub with a glass window viewing the beautiful backyard and the mountains. The outside interior is even more glorious but I avoid going out as much as possible to avoid Jinhee except for eating and taking a stroll at night. It’s been almost a month since I became a resident here. Everyone does not engage in conversations with me other than a ‘hi’ and ‘hello’ except Jungkook and Taehyung, Who sometimes need my help regarding Jinhee and Tae, who help me occasionally with work.

9:40 AM

“Tahee, I need you downstairs to my office”, shouted Taehyung. “I don’t think she is awake, Jungkook forced her to wake up at 2 am to open the fucking door”, said Jimin, clearly annoyed with their love bird shit. “Seriously Jungkook, you need to fucking calm your ass down. Stop being harsh on Tahee, she has nothing to do with the accident.”, said Hoseok. Yoongi nodded in agreement. Jungkook clearly annoyed with all the nagging, “I called you all like seven times but none of you fuckers opened the door but Tahee did and regarding the accident, I’m not a child to whine about it just cause my girlfriend got hurt”.

“I need the documents for the dealings from her”, said Tae impatiently. “Why in the world would you keep that with Tahee?”, Namjoon said losing his temper over the chaos. “I needed her to make some adjustments regarding data. Her analyzing skills are on another level”, Tae remarked going upstairs to wake her up.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

“Tahee, you awake? “Shouted Tae from your bedroom door. You started waking up hearing someone calling your name. “who’s there? “, as you rushed to open the door.

[catswithroses]

The Pool and Sweaters

(TommyInnit x Fem!Reader)

Request? - No Proofread? - No Word Count? - 1,237 Character Count? - 6,636 Date? - 06/07/23 OR 07-06-23 Language? - English Character/Person? - TommyInnit Pairing? - x Fem!Reader Genre? - Fluff, fluff, and fluff. Warning(s)? - Fluff(?),third person (Use of [Name]), use of She/Her, May be off character. Beginning Notes - This was originally written for a friend who didn't care if it was super on character, so I didn't try to make it super on character.

================================================

It was a summer afternoon and the birds chirped as the clouds blocked portions of the sun. The air was crisp and so was the temperature inside of the one and only, TommyInnit's house. More of so, his personal home. Did anyone live with him? Why yes! His beautiful girlfriend, [Name], or otherwise [Nickname].

Now since it was the hottest day of the year so far, [Name] had sat on one of the thoughts lurking in her mind. She was contemplating whether or not going to the pool would be a good option. After around thirty minutes, she had decided to go in the pool in their backyard.

[Name] went up to her personal bedroom, which she had even though usually fell asleep in Tommy's room, and she grabbed a one piece swimsuit with long sleeves that she liked. After changing into the fabric, a sense of accomplishment washed over before she headed outside. She exited the house using the sliding door connected to the back porch.

The water gleamed in the blazing sun on that day. It was eerily still, the only thing making it waver was the wind that occasionally breezed by. [Name] entered the pool shortly after she had headed outside. The water rippled as she entered the clear mass of liquid. The pool was a wonder to be in on such a hot day. The large swimming space made it good for inviting larger groups of people every now and then.

[Name] swam for a while, around an hour or so before she decided to just sit on the cement pool ledge. She called some of her friends, joking about the heat from hell and overall just talking and having fun. The call was soon ended as [Name's] friend managed to burn pasta and it ended with a panicked friend and a laughing [Name].

A total of two hours passed while [Name] was outside, and despite the coolness of the pool, the overwhelming heat of the sun won in the end and rushed her inside. She also just headed inside to avoid sunburn. Nonetheless, she had practically sprinted inside while struggling to secure her towel around her dripping body.

She finally secured it after getting a drink of water, the towel beginning at the top of her torso, and falling just above her knees. She headed to her room and looked in her closet for her favorite sweater. To her disappointment, she found nothing. So she checked her hamper, also finding no sweater. She knew she hadn't thrown it in the wash so she had mentally questioned, 'Did Tom take it..?' but quickly shook the feeling knowing her clothes would look like a crop top on Tommy due to his height. She decided it would be best to just ask him none the less.

[Name] was unaware that Tommy was currently streaming though, so she had thought it was a good idea to visit his room. She put back some shirts and skirts on hangars in her closet that she took down in her search, and she exited her room.

She walked up to the wooden door that was the entrance to his room, and without knocking, entered Tommy's room. He just had seemed like he was focused on a game rather than doing a stream. Usually he was screaming, cussing at someone, or overall just being loud, so how could you have known you made chat freak out when you spoke?

"Tom, have you seen my favorite sweater?" [Name] asked, walking just barely out of camera view. Tommy turned his head almost immediately at the sound of his girlfriend's voice. He thought he muted up his microphone and looked at you as he slid his headphones around his neck.

"M' afraid not, Babe. Did you check your hamper? Or did you throw it in the wash?" Tommy asked and [Name] gave him one of those looks. The look that said, 'No I wouldn't be here if it was', but she had meant it in a loving way. She responded with her words though.

"I checked my closet, it wasn't there, and I would've remembered if I threw it in the wash. Did you throw it in the wash?" [Name] questioned towards Tommy, her voice just curious and not harsh. He shook his head in a simple 'no' motion.

"Here, Love, you can just take one of my until you find yours." He stand as he stood up and walked to his own closet. He glanced through it and grabbed his Sunday Club sweatshirt. He slid it off the hangar in one singular motion.

He then walked over to [Name] and handed it to her so she could change into it in her own room. He bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, off camera, and then spoke, more of so whispered, once again.

"I love you, just, so, so much. I have a surprise date for after the stream." Tommy whispers to you with a grin before quietly guiding [Name] to the door as a light blush and smile coats your face. Despite him guiding you out, before he closed the door just a glimpse of that grin. It resembled a child on Christmas morning.

He seemed excited for the date, as if he had something planned for [Name], which he technically did. But for now, she needn't focus on what Tommy had planned for later and instead had to get dressed. She went back to her room, everything but her hair and swimsuit dry.

[Name] grabbed the needed undergarments and then a pair of comfortable shorts and placed her shorts, Tommy's sweatshirt, and her bra on the bed. She slipped on her underwear, and shortly after, clasped on her bra. She then slid on the shorts and put on her sweatshirt. The sweatshirt smelled like Tommy, and to [Name], that was a comforting scent. She then threw her hair in a towel wrap, and got on her phone.

It was to pass time as she thought of this surprise date. Maybe the eagerness was getting to her and she realized he was streaming. That realization sunk in quickly and she she realized, based on the chat, that Tommy's mic wasn't muted. Tommy was just raving about [Name] though to chat.

"Yeah, she's just.. She's just-- Wow. I love her. I wanna marry her someday, maybe have kids." The mention of kids made [Name] smile but chat slowly began to transition the conversation back over to the game and what Tommy was doing.

[Name] sat there, watching Tommy's stream for around and hour or two before she closed the stream and just peacefully waited for Tommy to stop. Eventually, after another forty-five minutes, he ended his stream and come to his girlfriends bedroom. He opened the door with a smile and [Name] glanced up and smiled at Tommy.

Tommy walked over to her bed and just looked at her for a second as a malicious grin began to form on his face as he suddenly tackled [Name] in a hug. He held her in that hug, occasionally tickling her, for around five minutes.

He kissed her on the lips and it lasted for around a minute or so. It was a gentle and meaningful kissed. A kiss that showed just how much Tommy loved [Name]. He then spoke to [Name] with a grin.

"You ready for that date, Love?"

===========================================

Ending Notes - HOLYYY-- That took a while to write. This is first official story post, so I hoped that y'all found it enjoyable!! Part 2??

[syn4k]

Dusty coffin

In Stratos, death is a thing that doesn't have a lot of ritual around it. Due to Joel not really being able to die, y'know, being immortal and all, usually the residents of Stratos keep to their own customs or go somewhere else for services.

Most go to nearby Sanctuary, or hire the residents of the Goblands to give a hasty burial, but one family sent their eldest daughter all the way to the Ancient Capital, for they had heard of the tales of the man who knew his history books backwards and forwards and lived amongst the dead.

It was noon when Pix heard soft footsteps behind him, and turned around to see a young woman perhaps 20 years of age standing there awkwardly. He stood up and dusted his jeans off. "Hello," he said. "Is there something I can help you with?"

The woman opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, then looked at the crypt next to him. It was normal for visitors to drop by and ask questions about the crypt and the statue that towered above, but Pixl recognized the weight on her shoulders and the bags under her eyes.

"Ah," he said with a nod, understanding. "I can help with that, yes. Where do you live?"

"Stratos," the woman said. She kept her eyes on the ground. "We heard that you have some experience with- putting the dead to rest, burials and such."

Pix nodded. "It's not my usual line of work," he said slowly, "but I think I can work something out."

After he had excused himself to get a small bag from his crypt, the two walked back to Stratos together. It would have been faster to fly, but Pix preferred to go the way that his companion was obviously most familiar with.

As they walked, through small snippets of conversation he slowly figured out the nature of the family's situation: the woman's name was Minae, her family had resided in Stratos for a little over three years now, and her grandfather had passed only four days prior. The family did not know anyone who was experienced in this line of work, and they didn't know how to go about it themselves.

"That's fair," said Pix with a nod. "Death is a fragile subject, and even more difficult to work with."

Minae looked at him curiously. "You know a lot about death for someone who- forgive my assumption- does not look close to it at all."

Pix laughed at that. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he said. "I don't really like to share my age, because it's not a relevant topic most of the time, but trust me, I might be a smidge older than I look."

They walked through the streets of Lower Stratos and eventually ended up at a small but well-kept white stucco house near the far ends of the town. Minae knocked at the door and stepped back as an older woman with greying hair opened it, looked Pix up and down, and bowed as much as her back would allow, both hands pressed together.

"This is my mother," said Minae. "She doesn't speak much English," she added apologetically. "I can translate."

"It's not an issue," said Pix. "I only have one question to ask." Minae nodded. "Did your grandfather ever mention what he wished would be done with his body after his death?"

Minae exchanged a few words with her mother, who paused a bit before saying a couple words.

"She said he wants- wanted to be buried under a tree on the edge of the valley," she said, voice breaking a little. "It was his favorite spot to sit."

Minae's mother gestured them both inside. It was a small place but just as well-kept as the outside, and a man about the same age as the older woman sat in a rocking chair. He nodded at Pix, who nodded back.

Minae opened a door to the backyard and waved a small boy in. He was a bit too young to understand the gravity of what had happened, with his bright eyes and dirt smudged all over his knees, but he waved at Pix, who nodded back.

"Are you the death man?" he asked. He paused. "The man here for the death?"

"I am," said Pix.

"He's in this room," said the boy, pointing him down a hall. Minae followed, but the boy waved her off and said a couple words to her. She smiled at him. "He said I should probably take a break," she said. "He'll lead you from here."

"That's alright," said Pix, and the boy took his hand, leading him on towards the room at the end of the hall. He opened the door quietly.

"He sleeps," the boy said quietly, holding a finger to his lips. Pix nodded and walked in.

The room was small, but tidy and well-kept. A short dresser sat at one end, a decently-sized coffin in the other, and in the corner directly opposite the door there was a bed with the sheets covering the bed entirely. By the way the blankets lay, Pix could tell there was a body under it. The window was wide open, and a gentle breeze drifted in.

"His room," said the boy quietly. "Ba made him a death box." He pointed to the coffin. "Heavy. You probably cannot carry?"

Pix walked over to the coffin on the floor and knelt. It had obviously been constructed quickly, for the edges were unsanded and the wood was untreated, but vines and flowers were carved into the sides and along the edges of the top. Despite the hasty work, it was clearly made with care and made to last, and every joint fit together perfectly.

He lifted one edge experimentally to find that the coffin was lighter than he expected, but still had a decent heft to it. He nodded. "I will need some help carrying it."

The boy ran out, coming back in a short while later with Minae. "There's some people we know who agreed to carry the coffin," she said. "They can help."

"Thank goodness," muttered Pix, standing up. "I was beginning to worry I'd have to lift it myself."

Minae smiled briefly, then her face was back to its usual state. "Shall I get them?"

"In a minute," said Pix. "I'll need to get him in there." Minae nodded and backed out, closing the door behind her.

The man under the white sheet appeared to be in his late 70s or 80s, maybe even his 90s, and the sun-tanned wrinkles on his face and hands spoke of a long life spent in the sun. He looked very peaceful lying there on his back, and Pix hated to disturb him, but this had to be done.

It was an easier job than expected to get him into the coffin, and Pix tried his best to arrange him how he had been lying faceup on the bed. He stood up to close the coffin and noticed for the first time that the man's folded hands bore a simple gold wedding ring on one finger.

He had to pause a minute before closing the lid.

Walking outside, he nodded to Minae, who gestured for him to follow her outside. By now, the sun was high in the sky, and except for a couple dogs barking in the distance and boys shouting in the alleyway, the town was silent.

Minae led him to a nearby alleyway and waved a group of four over- all young men with broadset shoulders and strong builds, maybe loggers, maybe miners? They nodded at Pix, who inclined his head back.

"You came for the coffin?" one asked Minae. She nodded. "This the guy who's doing it?"

"I am," said Pix.

"His outfit looks like it should be in the grave itself," said another from the back. Minae winced and shot them what was surely a withering glare, but Pix just laughed. "That's fair," he said. "I do dress like an old man."

"Just dress like?" asked another boy skeptically.

"At least he knows how to joke," said the boy in the front. "So many deathkeepers are drier than the bones they put in the ground."

It was a struggle to get the coffin out of the house- none of the family was present for that except for Minae, whose eyes watered a little and who made no attempt to dry her tears. The boys all huffed as they got the coffin outside and into the nearby fields, towards a small collection of trees on the edge of the valley, including a towering oak flourishing green that Pix guessed was the tree mentioned earlier.

"There'll be another one of our guys here in a minute with a shovel," said one of the boys carrying the front of the coffin. "She has the dimensions already. She knows how far to dig and everything."

"That's good," said Pix.

"Yeah, wouldn't want any of the bits to be poking aboveground," said one of the boys in the back. Behind him, Minae sighed.

As it turned out, the girl with the shovel was already at the tree, with the same broadset shoulders and square jaw as the rest of the boys. She leaned against it, waving as they approached.

"Ello," she said gruffly. "You took too long. I already dug the hole." Indeed she had. A few feet in front of the tree was a rectangular hole of a good width and depth, and the boys all counted down together as they lifted it in, with Minae hovering nearby and the girl giving directions.

"You're the one they found, right?" she asked Pix, who nodded. "You get to cover it, then," she said, stepping aside.

Pix hesitated, and she continued. "It's a thing we do here where the person who touched the body last is the one to cover it up," she said. "They might not be satisfied anyways, and might rise in the night to be buried again properly, and nobody wants to go through all that again, especially since the person in question usually ends up breaking the coffin."

Pix nodded and grabbed the shovel, filling in the rest of the hole as he went. It was silent except for the gravelly rustle of the shovel in dirt, and incredibly warm, so that he had to wipe off his forehead three times before he was done.

"Thank you," said Minae.

"Of course," he said.

"We've already got a coin pouch ready," she said as the pallbearers and the burial girl walked off, one holding the shovel over their shoulder. "Fourty pieces, I think?"

"There's no need," said Pix, leaning against the tree. "I'm serious. You don't need to pay."

"But for the work you did," started Minae uncertainly.

"If there's a ceremony afterwards, I can handle with that too," said Pix. "No payment needed. The peace it gives both the dead and their families is payment enough."

"The ceremony is only for family, sorry," said Minae, shaking her head. "But unless you're absolutely sure-"

"I'm sure," said Pix. "No payment."

"I'll mention you in the ceremony later," said Minae, walking forwards and bowing her head. "Pix of the Ancient Capital, respecter of the dead."

"It is an honor," said Pixl solemnly.

Minae nodded, and as she turned around and ran to catch up with her friends, Pix knelt to bury a small copper coin with a candle etched on both sides a little ways under the ground. He'd forgotten to put it into the coffin, but this worked just as well. He stood and dusted off his hands.

As golden hour came, the gently striated rays of the sun alighted on a man with his simple purple wings taking to the sky.

[deafdogaitathrowaway]

Yo 👋 There weren't many INFO votes, but I figured I might as well make a post addressing a few points that came up.

First, yes, I did post this to both A Poll a Day and @am-i-the-asshole-official, about 1 week apart. Did not expect them to end up getting posted on the same day, but I noticed over the past few days that it was probably going to line up that way lol 🥴

Second, for anyone who didn't see this in the replies: I want to sincerely apologize for the small text. I used it to keep my asides a bit more aside, and make a long post a little less long, but I didn't think about how it would would be difficult for some to read, and honestly didn't realize (until reading the replies on another AITA post the other day) that it's no good for screen readers. That was plain ignorance on my part, I'm really sorry.

Third, I called LG a collie, but I think he is specifically a border collie (or maybe a mix), and a rather large one at that; he stands at about thigh-height next to FB. So, considering that combined with the deafness, I do understand why she struggles to handle him well. My issue is that she doesn't really seem to try, and if she isn't willing to try, then I don't think she should have taken in a dog with particular needs.

Regarding specific comments: • You should have recorded it and/or reported it to authorities. Yup, if I'd had my phone on me I would have tried to take a video. I know from previous experience that reporting animal abuse or neglect without video evidence is pointless, Bylaw Enforcement won't do anything and the SPCA/Humane Society both direct you back to Bylaw.

• There might not be any better way to keep the dog safe (e.g. from cars, etc.). This is fair...ish, because it definitely isn't clear in my post, but to BE clear, this happened at the far end of our backyard (where she takes the dogs to poop), which is behind our building, which is already well set back from the road. LG was nowhere near any cars, and there's a fence between our yard and the house next door's yard, so he and their dog couldn't have hurt each other either. I will say on FB's behalf that she acquired a sort of belt? harness? that she wears when she is walking LG - or GD's massive German Shepherd, K - near/across the road, so she can use her whole body to hold them back. Don't get me started on them keeping 2 large dogs in a 900 sq. ft. apartment though. I'm trying to mind my own business …

• GD "tattled" to your mom because you didn't answer the door when FB knocked. This is definitely fair. I also should have mentioned in the ask that GD wasn't around when this all went down; he only gets home from work shortly before my mom usually does. So I guess at the time, I was thinking he should have just come up to talk to me, since things had had time to cool off by then. But yeah, he probably did assume I wouldn't answer. I still say that answering FB's knock wouldn't have been wise; I feel I would have said something inadvisable.

• People are too focused on staying in their own lane / your mom's a coward. Mm, it's definitely seen as overstepping here to comment on how someone else handles their animals. It's not the first time I've been taken to task for it. ("Then you should have known what would happen" yes well as I said, I didn't think, I just wanted her to leave the dog alone.) As for my mom … she really hates conflict and typically prefers to stay silent rather than speak up, even on her own behalf. I'm really not like that, if anything I've been told I'm too opinionated. She and I grew up in different eras and environments, so I don't really hold it against her. Admittedly I was hurt that she wasn't more on my side, but she's my mom and I love her, so in the end, I just wanted to keep her from being stressed out.

• Report this to the landlord / you shouldn't get evicted over someone else abusing a dog. Our landlord is … how can I put this politely … kind of a tool. If I'm being generous I could say he is "hands off" when it comes to our building. If I'm being honest: he doesn't give a shit. My mom and I and our other neighbors and our past neighbors have all tried reporting stuff to him, he just … doesn't do anything. There would have been very little point, imo, in reporting this to him, especially as he's shown bias toward GD in the past (because GD mows the lawn approximately 2.67 times a year and Landlord uses that as an excuse not to hire anyone else to do yardwork so he can save a buck 🙃) As for getting evicted, honestly I don't think he could legally evict me over this one incident, but my mom is terrified of either of us getting on Landlord's bad side and being thrown out on the street.

• "You shouldn't have apologized, because now she definitely wont learn from her behavior" Mm … well, again, I wanted to keep the peace with my mom, and not turn this into a major incident, as much as I do care about the dog. Imo, FB wouldn't have learned a damn thing regardless. _____ That's all I have to say, I think. Thanks to everyone who voted and commented, I genuinely appreciate the perspective (yes even the YTA and ESH votes, y'all keeping me humble 👉👉). Hopefully nothing like this happens again but it's somewhat comforting to know that most people don't think I was out of line for speaking up, and that most would want to do something if it weren't for anxiety. To be honest, I have very severe anxiety myself, but I love animals with all my heart, and trying to help or protect them is one of the few things that can override anxiety for me. This was all very interesting! (And to anyone who glimpsed my real URL when I accidentally replied with it, pretend you saw nothing 😊) Okay bye 👻

AITA for "attacking" my neighbor's girlfriend? 🗣️🐶👻

Potentially relevant background: I (35F) live in a small apartment building with a very large shared back yard. My mom lives in the same building. We're both close with one of our neighbors and on pleasant terms with the other occupants, but we've also both had various problems with the guy who lives below my apartment ever since he arrived. Details aren't really relevant, he's just one of those people who have clearly never lived in an apartment building before. A couple months ago, his girlfriend moved in along with her young, very excitable, deaf collie. She has almost no control over this dog and can barely even walk him. In the past she used a regular collar for him, which meant she was pulling the dog back by the neck whenever she tried - not very successfully - to control him, but thankfully, she did recently start using a harness instead. (The other people in the building have commented on this as well, I swear I'm not nosy - or at least I'm not the only one who is.)

So anyway, a few weeks ago I was in the back room and when I looked out the window, I saw the girlfriend (FB, 30sF) in the yard with the dog (LG). He was being his usual hyperactive self, and she was as usual being pretty ineffective in handling him. I guess FB got tired of LG haring off away from her as she stood in one place, because she shortened the lead and started pulling him back to her side with a hard yank anytime he got more than a foot or so away from her. At some point, the people who live in the house next to our building must have let their dog out as well, because LG went absolutely nuts trying to get over to the fence and pulled FB a few steps forward with him. She hauled back on the lead with both hands, hard enough that LG yelped, which actually lifted him off his front paws with his back paws barely touching the ground, then shook him roughly and shouted angrily in his face (I could hear her even from inside, and while I couldn't understand her since she speaks in French to the dog, her tone was angry).

Without even thinking about it I immediately opened the door, took a single step onto the deck, and yelled "HEY, stop it!" at her. I wasn't yelling with aggression, I just had to raise my voice for her to hear me across the yard. FB dropped LG and looked up at me and she seemed confused, so I pointed at the dog and shook my head and said "Don't shake him like that, and don't yank him back like that, you're gonna hurt him!" She shook her head back at me and was like "What is 'yank', I don't know, I'm not hurting him." I mimed the way she'd pulled on his lead and said something like "Pulling on him like that and shaking him so hard could hurt him." She was like, "He is deaf, I have to pull him to make him understand." I said, "You don't need to pull him that hard!" FB goes, "Well, he pulls me?" I'm like, "Well, he's a dog? You're a human, you can do better?" Finally she just waved me off and walked back toward the front of the building, so I went back inside, annoyed. After a little bit, she stomped up the stairs, then knocked - as quiet as a mouse - on my door. I didn't bother answering because I didn't have anything else to say to her (or at least nothing polite).

Later that night, when my mom (64F) got home from work, FB's boyfriend (GD, 38M) was apparently waiting outside for her to report the incident. She came up to my place and asked me what happened, so I explained basically exactly as I did above. Mom tells me that GD told her I "attacked" his girlfriend and really upset her by implying she was hurting her dog. (Why he felt the need to like, tattle to my mother instead of talking to me personally, I do not know. It's fine, I totally love being treated like a wayward child.) I was like, "I didn't 'attack' her, I yelled one time and then spoke normally, from like 30 feet away. But I wasn't implying anything, I TOLD her that what she was doing could hurt the dog." Mom told me it wasn't my business to say anything to FB about how she treats her own dog. I said that if I see someone mistreating an animal I do consider it my business to step in. She told me I was rude and what I did was wrong, and then asked what I thought I was going to do if GD complained to the landlord and got me evicted. I was pretty irritated, but eventually - more to appease my mom than because I actually felt sorry - I wrote GD and FB an apology note "admitting" that I was "wrong" for letting my concern for an animal make me act without thinking and get involved in something that "wasn't my business".

Truth is, I still don't think I was wrong, and I would do it again. I think there must be better ways to discipline your deaf dog, and if you aren't willing to learn them then you shouldn't take in a deaf dog. (Also, if what she was doing was just out of trying to control him and not out of anger, why did she shout in his face like that? Girl he's deaf, he can't hear you???) But, after some reflection, I recognize that my already established dislike of these people may have colored my perspective somewhat. It's all over and done with now, but I just want a wider perspective.

Was I the asshole?

What are these acronyms?

[satelliteddie]

you can let it go (matilda) - s.h.

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader (ft. the kids!)

summary: steve struggles to acknowledge his found family when his biological family is so disjointed

content warnings: absent parental figures, suppressed trauma, shitty family lives, found family

word count: 4.7k

author’s notes: okay so hear me out, in this fic everyone is okay and S4 pt. 2 just did not happen the way it did….let them all be alive and healthy, okay???? also: steve finally has the cry of the century…. But he's earned it.

You were riding your bike to the sound of "It's No Big Deal"

And you're trying to lift off the ground on those old two wheels

Nothing about the way that you were treated ever seemed especially alarming 'til now

So you tie up your hair and you smile like it's no big deal

Even if you paid him, Steve would still not be able to tell you who taught him how to ride a bike. He was pretty sure it was his mother… He thinks so. Although it could have been some distant relative at a family party years ago; however, the last time the Harrington’s had one of those Steve was under the age of ten. So remembering who taught him how to ride a bicycle was a long gone memory. As Max glides by on her small skateboard, Steve wonders who taught her how to skate. Did they make her wear a helmet? Did she have someone to hold her up? Did she ever fall so hard the wind got knocked out of her? Max dips into the Harrington’s drained pool and attempts some trick Steve can never remember the name of. He holds his breath the entire time Max is on the board, worried about every turn she takes. Steve shakes his head at the sound of your voice from the back door, “C’mon all of you! Inside! I’m starting the movie with or without you!”

Steve stands from the lounge chair near the edge of the empty pool, his eyes still lingering on Max. She kicks up the end of her skateboard and catches Steve’s eyes, “you okay?” Steve offers Max a small smile and nod which Max in no way believes, but she continues into the house pulling Lucas and Eleven with her. Dustin, Mike and Will are not far behind, arguing over whether or not Eddie would let Will into Hellfire next week (Dustin swears he would, but Mike isn’t convinced….Steve knows Dustin’s right, but keeps that to himself). Steve watches all of them pile into his house with you ruffling their hair as they pass you. You turn your head to him, tilting it as you watch Steve. He still stands next to the lounge chair, just staring off into the house. You step outside and shut the door behind you, quickly you walk across the backyard to meet Steve by the pool. When you approach, his eyes flick back to meet you as he blinks away his thoughts.

“What’s on your mind, baby?” Your hand rubs his forearms that remain at his side.

“I- uh, nothing. Nothing. I’m fine,” Steve shakes his head, his words jumbled in a laugh. “I’m fine.” He brings his arms up to wrap them around your shoulders, pulling you to his chest. Steve rests his chin on the top of your head momentarily before he turns his face down to press a kiss to your hair.

“You don’t have to be fine all the time, Steve.” You mumble into his chest, but Steve doesn’t respond, he only holds you tighter. You inhale his scent, rubbing your hands up and down his back. His muscles release their tension under your touch, and Steve wishes he could stay here forever. “Steve,” you pull your head back to look directly at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“It’s no big deal, honest.” He pulls his right hand to place it between you, his pinky lifted in the air. “I promise.”

You shake your head at him, giggles leaving your lips. You loop your hand around to meet your pinky with his. Steve links your fingers together and brings the jointed hands to his mouth. He presses several kisses on the back of your hand, flashing a smile in your direction. It’s not a Steve smile that you’re used to; it’s a forced smile to try to comfort you. It doesn’t reach his eyes, light up his whole face, or even create a dimple in his cheek. It’s just a fake smile to try to get you to stop worrying about him…which worries you even more.

“C’mon,” Steve releases your pinky and brushes your hair behind your ear. “The kids are waiting.”

You can let it go

You can throw a party full of everyone you know

And not invite your family, 'cause they never showed you love

You don't have to be sorry for leaving and growing up

The living room is covered with empty chip bags, crushed soda cans, and extremely sleepy preteens. Dustin, Mike, Will and Lucas have taken the floor, spreading their limbs across two open sleeping bags and countless blankets. Max and El lay on opposite ends of the couch, their legs tossed over each other. Steve watched over them all with kind eyes, his mind racing with more ideas on how to make them comfortable at his house. He leans his head against the recliner, watching as you open one last blanket and lay it over Eleven. The kids slowly fell asleep at different times during the movie, all of them completely exhausted from school and fighting monsters constantly…but here? Here they’re safe, comfortable, and happy. Steve makes sure of it. After setting the blanket down, you carefully step around Dustin on the floor to reach Steve. You lean down and place a kiss on his forehead, “let’s go to bed”. Steve glances around to take another headcount of the little ones. Henderson, Sinclair, Wheeler, Byers, El, and Max. “They’re all here,” you smile down at him. You squat down to meet his eyes, “they’re safe. We’re still going to be here, but you deserve to sleep in your bed. Not in a chair.” Steve reluctantly nods, knowing you’re right and stands up from the recliner quietly. He steps over all of the kids and counts them all once more before following you upstairs.

[Steve], you talk of the pain like it's all alright

But I know that you feel like a piece of you's dead inside

You showed me a power that is strong enough to bring sun to the darkest days

It's none of my business, but it's just been on my mind

Steve leans against the sink as he brushes his teeth, watching you intently through the mirror. You comb your hair with your fingers, humming along to the theme song from the movie you just watched. Standing here, in his shirt, Steve feels his heart swell watching you do the most normal things. He’s so head over heels in love with you that anything and everything you do is the most interesting thing he’s seen all day. You feel his stare and you look up at him through the bathroom mirror. You offer him a small smile, which he returns (the toothbrush still hanging from his mouth). Steve leans down, turning the water back on to rinse his mouth and toss the toothbrush aside. You step forward, wrapping your arms around his waist, pressing your cheek to his bicep. You turn to kiss his arm, looking at him again in the mirror, but he’s already looking down at you. “I love you,” Steve mumbles, his eyes scanning over every feature on your face. You tilt your chin up to him as he leans down to kiss your mouth. Steve sighs in the kiss, relief and love literally pouring out of him. You pull away from his mouth with a smile that consumes your features, “I love you more”. He still only offers you a sweet (but forced) smile. Running a hand down his arm, you link your hand with Steve’s and pull him out of the bathroom and to his bedroom.

The bedside lamp is the only light on in the room, the small light barely illuminating the walls. Steve shuffles around to his side of the bed, pulling his shirt over his head and leaving it somewhere on the carpet. You crawl under the covers on your side just as Steve does the same on his. You open your arms, inviting Steve into them and he wastes no time to press his body to yours. You lay on your back, left arm tucked under Steve’s body as his chest is pressed to yours. Your right hand runs over his shoulder blades and down his back, humming peacefully. Steve is still admiring you as he rests his chin on your ribs, but you can tell his mind isn’t here. You move your hand from his back and trace your fingers over his cheeks to rest your hand on his jaw. “Steve,” you whisper, moving your thumb over his skin. He blinks and averts his attention back to you. “Where’d you just go?”

“Nowhere,” he glances down. “I’m here with you.”

“No you’re not. You’ve been lost all night,” you frown at him. “Did something happen?” You ask, still moving your thumb across his jaw.

“No, no,” his worry comes across in his words. “I just, I was thinking about my parents tonight.”

“Did they call?” You ask and Steve sarcastically laughs at your innocence.

“No baby,” he takes his left hand to smooth out the frown lines between your eyebrows. “They never call.”

“I’m sorry,” you trace his jaw into his hairline, massaging his neck gently.

“It’s not your fault. Hell, if I didn’t have you I don’t know what I’d do,” Steve confesses. “They’re just so,” he groans. “They’re so shitty. I nearly died, several times, last year and they didn’t even notice.” His eyes are glossy, but he shakes his head trying to suppress the tears. Steve moves his face away from yours again, because he’s positive if he looks at you again he’ll break. Steve lays his head down, resting his cheek on your chest; you keep your hands tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck. Releasing a deep sigh, you lean up just enough to kiss Steve’s forehead. He glances up at you through his thick eyelashes, his hazel eyes watery. “Steve, you deserve better than them. I’m so sorry,” you whisper against his skin.

You can let it go

You can throw a party full of everyone you know

And not invite your family, 'cause they never showed you love

You don't have to be sorry for leaving and growing up

Your words hang in the air for just a second before you hear Steve sniffle against your chest. Turning your head you try to look directly at him, but he hides his face even further into you. You feel your shirt slowly getting wetter as if raindrops had splashed onto it. “Steve,” you try to move his face away so you can see him. “Baby?”

“I’m so— fuck. I’m so sorry,” Steve sits up and off of you quickly. Steve clumsily moves himself to lean against the headboard; he wipes his hands over his face trying to hide his tears from you. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t get them to stop falling. “You shouldn’t have to see me like this,” he hiccups in between rubbing his eyes. You pull yourself up and reach out to pull his hands away from his face. The tears still run down his face, his cheeks are flushed and his chest is tense. You swipe your thumbs under his eyes gently, catching any more tears; keeping your hands on his cheeks, you tilt his face up so he looks directly at you. “You don’t have to be sorry. Don’t ever apologize,” you whisper. “I’m here, Steve. Stop trying to hold onto all of it. You can let it go.”

This breaks him. Steve’s head swirls from your words and the floodgates open before he’s even given them permission. A sob wrecks its way out of his chest, Steve bends his neck curling into himself as he cries. You wrap your arms around his arm, resting a soft cheek on his shoulder. Steve has no control of his emotions anymore, he’s lost all awareness of how to stop his tears. He wants to scream and curse at the top of his lungs, not just about his parents… but about everything. His mind is one big mess and it has been for years. Steve worries he’s scaring you, but when he blinks away his tears just for a moment he’s relieved. You’re still curled up next to him, arms linked as you press kisses to his shoulder repeatedly. He hears you murmur: “it’s okay” and “I’ve got you” in between kisses. Steve runs his hands over his face once more before holding onto your head. His fingers smooth out your hair at the crown of your head. You tilt your chin up to him as you climb in front of him. Steve immediately pulls you into his chest, needing nothing more than to hold you. You wrap your arms around his torso as he slides down onto his pillow. Both of your limbs have tangled in one another as you lay on the bed. Silent tears still flow down Steve’s cheeks, splashing onto the sheets. No words are exchanged between the two of you, but it’s all that Steve needs. An occasional sob builds up in his chest every few minutes and you let him release it without judgment. You stroke your hand over his chest pressing kisses to any part of him that you can. Steve pulls in a deep breath and tries to level out his breathing, but fails. You frown as you watch his face crumble again under his emotions. Steve turns away from you, giving you his back trying to hide himself again. He’s beyond embarrassed that he’s fallen apart like this in front of you. Steve doesn’t even cry when he’s alone, but he’s just too exhausted to hold it in anymore. Steve has always had a rough home life with his parents, tonight was just the final straw that broke him. Seeing the kids in his house and caring for them so much makes him wonder how his parents could be so clueless. His parents always treated him as another one of their responsibilities on a check list, never a living breathing son who just wanted their affection. “Steve,” you place a soft hand on his back. Your fingers hold his shoulder as you turn him to face you. Again, you find yourself wiping away his tears as he cries. You run your fingers through his hair and place his head on your chest; Steve grips your shirt desperate to get his sobs to stop coming. “I got you,” you hold him as close to you as you possibly can.

You can see the world, following the seasons

Anywhere you go, you don't need a reason

Cause they never showed you love

You don't have to be sorry for doing it on your own

Steve’s cries have subsided, but he still clings to you like you’re the only thing keeping him here– which Steve is convinced you might be. Steve lifts his head from your shirt, now saturated in his tears, and he nuzzles his face into your neck. “Thank you,” Steve whispers against your skin. You brush your hand over the back of his head. Steve lifts his face again, his eyes flicking down to your lips momentarily before he leans down. His soft mouth melts into yours effortlessly. His skin and lips are sticky from dried tears; his mouth tastes like mint as he sucks your bottom lip. Steve releases it carefully before he places one more kiss on your mouth. He trails his lips over your face which causes you to giggle as his stubble ghosts your skin. Steve cocks his head at you with a raised eyebrow. “It tickles,” you grin, your fingers scratching over his slight facial hair. Steve smiles slightly, kissing the inside of your palm near his cheeks. He sighs and leans down again, “thank you for being here.”

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be,” you tell him. Every fiber of your being means every word.

“Nowhere else?” Steve tilts his head in disbelief. “You wouldn’t rather be in, I don’t know Europe? Australia? California?”

“Are you going to be with me?” You ask, your fingers finding their place in his hair again.

“Of course,” Steve smiles. This time it’s almost a classic Steve smile; the creases in his cheeks appear and his eyes crinkle slightly, but it’s not a full Steve-smile yet.

“Then it doesn’t matter where we are. As long as you’re with me,” you brush a stray curl away from his forehead. “We can see the world.”

“Yeah?” Steve’s eyes scan your features. He needs this to be true.

“Yeah,” you trace shapes onto the skin of his arms. “We could follow the seasons, see them in different places. Soon the kids will be all grown up and they won’t need us. We can go anywhere, we don’t need a reason.”

“I would hate to leave them,” Steve admits. “But I know I don’t have to be sorry for doing it on my own.”

“You won’t be leaving them. You’d be doing what is best for you. You’ve earned that.” Steve nods in agreement as he leans down to kiss you again.

You're just in time, make your tea and your toast

You framed all your posters and dyed your clothes, ooh

You don't have to go, you don't have to go home

Oh, there's a long way to go

I don't believe that time will change your mind

In other words… I know they won't hurt you anymore as long as you can let them go

The sun rises slowly, its rays breaking through Steve’s windows. He groans as the light pours into his room causing him to stir in his sleep. Steve tosses an arm over you, pulling you to his chest again. Even in a deep sleep, you sigh happily as your bodies tangle together. Steve presses a sleepy kiss to your temple while closing his eyes and taking in your scent. You smell like vanilla, honey, and home. Steve can’t help but continue to pepper kisses across your hairline. You turn in his arms to face him as you fully wake up. Rubbing your eyes, you blink up at Steve, “morning handsome.”

Steve groans, his eyes still shut but his lips still tracing your face. “I don’t want to get up,” he mumbles.

You run a gentle finger over his features; his cheeks are soft and imprinted with marks from the sheet, his lips are as perfect as ever, but his eyes are puffy and look like they would burn when opened. You frown as you tilt Steve’s head down to meet yours. You press featherlight kisses to both of his eyelids, Steve’s hands grip your sides even tighter as you kiss them. He blinks slowly as you back away from his face, his hazel eyes squinting in a small smile. “Do we have to leave this bed? Can't we just stay here?” Steve asks before shutting his eyes again and flopping over to lay on top of you. You wrap your arms around him, loving how his weight feels on you. It’s like a security blanket.

“We could, but we have 6 always-hungry teens downstairs right now. I should work on making them breakfast,” you sigh. Steve leans up and brushes your hair from your face.

“You’re too nice to them,” Steve whispers. “They can fend for themselves and make cereal.”

“Oh really?” You raise an eyebrow at him, “who invited them to a movie night and sleepover at their house?? Mm?”

“I don’t remember,” Steve mumbles, a blush covering his cheeks. You playfully roll your eyes at him and slide out from under his weight. Standing from the bed, you grab one of Steve’s sweatshirts from his closet while Steve throws on a tee shirt and sweatpants. Steve presses one last kiss to your head before the two of you leave the room. You’re only a few feet outside of Steve’s room when you hear whisper-yelling from downstairs. “Shh!” Max’s voice carries through the house, “you’re going to wake them before we’re ready.”

“Who cares, they have to get up anyway.” Mike responds.

“Mike,” El warns and you can only imagine the glare she shoots at him. Steve turns to you with curious eyes, his eyebrows furrowed as he listens to their conversation.

“Where does he keep the syrup if it’s not in the cabinet?” Dustin asks, “Jesus Chr- it’s in the fridge? That’s a crime.”

You giggle in agreement with Dustin and Steve narrows his eyes at you. “It’s better that way,” Steve mumbles as he takes your hand. The two of you step downstairs and peer into the kitchen. The long, wooden dining table is covered in all sorts of breakfast materials. Eight plates are placed along the edges of the table with utensils and cups. There’s a stack of toast in the center of the table with an entire stick of butter melting next to it. Steve is convinced the kids toasted a whole loaf of bread, but he doesn’t mind. His eyes scan over the kitchen to find the kids all focused on the task at hand. Max is flipping pancakes on the stove top, with Eleven holding a plate for her to drop them onto. Lucas and Will are focused on how to work the coffee machine; both of their faces scrunched up in confusion as they stare at all of the buttons. Leaving Mike and Dustin to dig through the cabinets for syrups, seasonings, and other dishes. You and Steve stand next to one another as you watch the scene unfold before you; neither of you know what to say or why the kids decided to make breakfast. They’ve never attempted anything like this before on the multiple movie nights they’ve had. Steve’s eyes race all around the room, he tries not to intervene when he thinks Max is too close to the stove. You rub your thumb over his hand and give him a small nod. Steve steps fully into the kitchen causing the titles to creak under his weight. Dustin is the first to notice your entrance, giving you a wide-toothy grin. The girls turn around next, but Max is the first to talk:

“Hey, you’re just in time!” She smiles gently, flipping a pancake in the pan in front of her. “We’re making you breakfast. Make your tea or coffee, whichever you want. Oh! And your toast!”

Steve feels his chest begin to swell again and his eyes are heavy. He’s overwhelmed with this feeling of home and family. He can only imagine what it would be like to have a real family of his own. Will my kids make me breakfast like this? He wonders as he sits at the dining table. Would they do it for Fathers Day? Christmas? Thanksgiving? His brain races as he watches the kids finish each of their tasks before taking seats at the table.

“Go,” Eleven offers a stack of pancakes. “Eat!”

You can let it go

You can throw a party full of everyone you know

You can start a family who will always show you love

You don't have to be sorry for doing it on your own

You can let it go

You can throw a party full of everyone you know

You can start a family who will always show you love

You don't have to be sorry, no

Everyone devours their breakfast as you all sit around the large kitchen table. Dustin and Steve argue over whether or not pancakes or waffles are better, which divides the table. Steve, Eleven, Mike, and Will are team waffles; leaving you, Dustin, Lucas, and Max on team pancakes. Max nudges your shoulder as the boys continue to bicker about breakfast foods. Her eyes scan over Steve who sits next to you at the end of the table. “Is he okay?” She whispers, “I worry about him.”

“Me too,” you reply with a frown. “I think he’s okay now, but we’ll all be here if he isn’t.”

“He’s lucky to have you— I mean we all are lucky to have you,” Max smiles. “I just wanted to help him,” she glances around the table. Empty plates and sticky syrup coat the table top, leftover toast and pancakes still in the center. “My mom always made me breakfast when I wasn’t feeling the best and I thought it might help him. I could tell he just wasn’t right yesterday,” she pushes around a strip of bacon on her plate. “He just kept looking at me like I was going to, I don’t know—”

“Disappear?”

“Yeah,” Max nods. “He’s good. We can’t let this place ruin him. We’re his family now—”

“Henderson, I don’t know what is so hard to understand!” Steve interrupts. “Waffles hold the syrup. That’s the point of the hole-things!”

“Hole-things? Seriously,” Dustin rolls his eyes. “Can you talk some sense into your boyfriend please,” Dustin asks you, waving a flippant hand at Steve. Steve lays a hand on your thigh, rubbing his thumb over your soft skin. He smiles at you quickly before you speak up, “Dustin, I’ve tried. He’s helpless when it comes to his breakfast opinions. First cold syrup—”

“Jesus Christ, I forgot about the syrup!”

-✩-

The dishes pile up in the sink, but Steve doesn’t care. He lets all of the kids toss their plates and forks aside so they can leave for whatever they have planned. You stand close to Steve as he watches each of them leave on bikes (and skateboards). Steve’s arm snakes around your waist, pulling your back to his chest as he rests his chin on your head. You lean into him fully, feeling completely content. Max turns to you and gives you a gentle smile, “Thanks for having us, Steve.”

“Anytime,” Steve calls out to her. “Thanks for breakfast!”

“Anytime,” she says before pushing off on her skateboard to follow the others. You watch as she catches up to the boys on their bikes before the group disappears over the hill. You and Steve still stand on the front steps, Steve presses a kiss to your temple.

“Feeling better?” You ask, trying not to pry. Steve mumbles in your hair and turns you to face him. You reach up and brush a fallen strand of hair from his forehead, and then run your hand down to rest on his jaw. He leans into your palm before kissing your hand. “Much better,” he whispers. Steve glances over your shoulder to where the kids had just disappeared. “I’m glad they were here. Those little shits are the closest thing I have to a real family.”

“They are family, Steve,” you tilt his focus back to you. “As dysfunctional and crazy as they are….they’re a family who will always show you love.” Steve’s eyes scan over your face before he brings his mouth down to yours. The kiss lasts for only a second before Steve breaks away in a full smile. A Steve smile. His eyes are crinkled, a blush keeps onto his cheeks and his perfect lips are pulled into a grin. You smirk back at him, your heart swelling from seeing a real smile from Steve after so long. Steve’s hands find your waist again as he rests his forehead on yours, “thank you.”

You know there’s no need to thank you, but you nod anyway. Steve pulls away from you to look right into your eyes, “so you’re really team pancakes, huh?”

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

i love domestic!steve, when is it MY turn! apologies for any errors but I uploaded this from my phone bc I’m on vacation okay byeeee

next in the series: “cinema” - s.h. x reader

✭ masterlist  ✭ requests 

-meg

[messers-moony]

Nothing Left | R.B

Paring: Regulus Black X Wife!Gryffindor!Reader

Summary: Everything crashes within seconds and Sirius doesn’t know where to go. 

Everything went downhill so fucking fast. How was that even possible? Everything was perfectly fine a year ago, but it seems that within that year, everything had collapsed onto the helpless boy. It was like being beneath a crumbling concrete tower that fell with no warning. Like being slapped in the face unexpectedly. Like getting doused in freezing water on a Sunday morning. 

In retrospect, it sucked. 

Sirius Black would know first hand. His entire life had been a screw-up from the beginning. It started with his parents, who - at the start - loved him. But when he turned out to be the child they never wanted all that love had vanished. They tortured him, broke him piece by piece, they built up trauma that took years for him to express to his friends. It wasn’t until third year when they heard him crying alone in his four-poster bed and asked what was wrong. He could remember the comforting embrace James Potter had given him. 

Nevertheless, it never ended there. The summer going into his sixth year, Sirius decided it was enough after too many Cruciatus Curses and body binding curses; enough was enough. His hands were trembling after enduring just ten minutes of the torture curse, and it was a struggle, but he packed everything he could. His heart broke at inevitably leaving his little brother behind. He could only hope that Regulus would understand. 

It took a Knight Bus trip to the Potter residence in Godric’s Hollow. The sky could’ve resembled how Sirius felt. Back at Grimmauld Place Twelve, the sky was always cloudy and rainy. Godric’s Hollow allowed the sun to shine past the fluffy clouds, but tonight was different. The sky was dark and thick, black clouds covered the stars. Rain poured from them, and it pittered on the stone roads. Sirius was instantly drenched when he stepped off the Knight Bus. 

Hesitantly he made his way to the door, where he knocked softly. The house was two stories and was a relatively big family home - not bigger than Grimmauld Place - but an average family home. The house was a mixture of grey, dark purples, and brown. It reminded Sirius of Remus’ patched jumpers. Sirius could hear movement from behind the plum door, and it opened to reveal a familiar face. James Potter with his messy hair, hazel eyes, and long limbs. James was muscular, but he was also tall, not Remus tall but taller than Sirius. 

James didn’t speak and ushered him inside. The following morning at breakfast, Euphemia - Mrs. Potter - had given Sirius the excellent news of his new forever home. The Potters would never forget the way Sirius lit up and how a smile had taken over his face. Sirius didn’t remember being this happy except for when Regulus was born. 

But his forever home was not forever. 

In seventh year, James’ parents had died, and nobody had comforted Sirius except one person who attempted. James had Lily, and that was enough for him. Perhaps it was selfish to think that James should be comforting him. It was definitely selfish. Sirius was doing really good at hiding how he felt until he crumbled behind a tapestry near the dungeons. 

Sirius didn’t know if it was good or bad luck that Regulus - his prefect Slytherin brother - had found him behind that tapestry. Regulus had pulled back the fabric slowly with his wand lit. His face had softened at his older brother sobbing with his knees to his chest. Regulus allowed his wand light to extinguish before sitting in front of him in the same position, allowing their socks to touch at the tips. 

They sat there for a couple of minutes before Regulus moved closer, albeit hesitantly to sit beside Sirius. Regulus had his back against the concrete, and Sirius curled up onto him while the younger Black brother rubbed his older brother's back. Sirius cried harder and harder. It took an hour before he subdued to sniffles and whimpers, but Regulus took it as his time to speak. 

“I know they meant a lot to you,” Regulus stated, still rubbing his older brothers back, “And I don’t blame you for grieving them.”

Sirius sniffled, “I ought to be grateful for them, really.” Regulus released a sound that sounded like a chuckle, but it was so foreign to Sirius he couldn’t tell, “They kept you safe. Kept you away from mother and father. They gave you a home where you could finally be you.”

“And no matter how mad I want to be at them for taking you away from me,” Regulus admitted, “I just can’t be because they gave you everything you wanted, and I’ve never seen you happier in my life.”

Regulus didn’t stop talking, “You know… I- I found my own James Potter.”

Sirius looked up at Regulus with flushed cheeks, but his facial expression was baffled, and Regulus presented him with a small smile, “Okay, maybe she isn’t my ‘James Potter’ per se because I don’t see her as a sister but rather she’s my girlfriend.”

“What’s- What’s her name?” Sirius croaked; his throat was so raw from crying. 

“Y/n L/n.”

“A- A Gryffindor?”

Regulus made that sound again, “Yeah. A stupidly brave one too. Even worse.”

Sirius smiled, “I know her.”

“Don’t tell me she was one of your conquests.” Regulus grimaced, and Sirius chuckled, snuggling back into Regulus’ chest, “No, she wasn’t. It turns out she has the hots for the other Black brother.”

Regulus smiled, and they allowed the silence of the castle to consume them. It was dark in the corridor on the other side of the tapestry, and Regulus could see the faint moonlight peaking out. He could also imagine the stars glittering beautifully in the midnight sky. He could see the star Sirius shining brighter than ever, and he just wanted his brother to feel the same. 

“I plan to marry her.” Regulus said before he could stop the words from falling from his mouth.

“What happens then?”

“What do you mean?”

“Mother and father will never approve.”

Regulus scoffed, “I’m done with their bullshit and have been for quite a while.”

Sirius met his brother's eyes again, “I left right after you. It turns out there is no more heir to the Black family name.”

The older Black brother smiled brightly and tightened his grip on his younger brother. Regulus couldn’t remember feeling this warm since they were little boys running around the backyard. Sirius was practically on top of him, and that was okay. For now, everything seemed okay again. Maybe Euphemia and Fleamont were gone, but even in their deaths, they managed to benefit Sirius’ life. 

Now it all seemed fruitless. 

Only a couple of months later, Sirius and Regulus had gotten into a huge kerfuffle. It ended with screaming, raw throats, tears, and flushed cheeks. Sirius could remember how Regulus playfully mocked his and Remus’ relationship. He didn’t know exactly what happened, just that he was pouncing for his little brother, and Remus was holding him back. Sirius had yelled some very awful things that he couldn’t take back. 

She hadn’t done anything. She didn’t even know that an argument had happened. Y/n had been reading in the common room when the book was flung out of her hand, and she was pushed against the stone wall of the Gryffindor Tower. Y/n met eyes with stormy grey ones, not unlike her lovers, but these weren’t her lovers. These were his elder brother's eyes, and he had lifted her off the floor against the wall until James had pulled Sirius off her. 

Y/n hit the floor with a thud and repeatedly coughed, hands on her throat. James had stormed into the boy's dormitory with Sirius with him. She didn’t even understand what was happening not until she met up with Regulus in the prefect dorm, and he saw the marks on her neck. Sirius had taken it too far, and Regulus was furious. They were no longer on speaking terms. 

Now Sirius had someone entirely different to grieve. 

Sirius had felt like his heart hit the floor when he was forced to move out of James’ house with Lily due to Harry being born. Remus had moved away to take care of his sick mother and asked for privacy. The funds that had previously been in Sirius’ account had been squandered, and now he was paying the price. 

He had absolutely nowhere to go. Truthfully, there was one place he could go, but he didn’t think he’d ever be accepted there. He had said unforgivable things, but James had given him enough confidence that it would be okay. Reluctantly, Sirius Black took the Knight Bus to the suburbs in London. The community felt so modern and new. It was different then Godric’s Hollow which had been around for so many years that it began to weather and erode. 

The deja vu was hitting him like a brick. Their house was a mixture of grey, black, white, and maybe blue - Sirius couldn’t tell in the darkness if it was white or pale blue. Perhaps he’d find out tomorrow if he was even welcomed inside. Sighing and shivering, Sirius knocked on the door. He could hear little squeals of delight that sounded much like a child. He also heard talking, but he froze when the door opened. 

Regulus Black, at the age of twenty-two, looked good. His hair was to his jaw, and it was wavy at the ends, whereas Sirius’ was much more straight. His eyes had turned silver over the years. His cheeks looked much fuller, and he looked a lot better. Regulus was no longer looked underweight, but he was still slim and skinny. Black family genes, Sirius supposed. Sirius couldn’t meet his brother's eyes. 

“What do you want, Sirius.” 

His name falling from Regulus’ mouth instead of a nickname hurt more than he expected, “I had nowhere else to go…”

Regulus scoffed, “James finally kick you out, eh?”

“Yeah, he did.” Sirius sounded so distant, “Perhaps it was about time, and here I am, at your doorstep.”

“Come on, Sirius.” Regulus motioned for him to come in, and Sirius did. 

The house was much cozier inside. The floors were dark wood, almost black. The living room - on Sirius’ left - was a darker turquoise color with grey furniture. The dining room - on Sirius’ right - was a light grey. The furniture was a marble table, white wood chairs with cushions, and a beautiful light fixture. Regulus led him to the kitchen, which was straight ahead in the hallway. 

It was a beautiful mint green color with black and white furniture. The appliances were primarily black and the furniture primarily white, but regardless, it was beautiful. They had another table in the kitchen that was a grey wood instead of the shiny marble in the dining room but nevertheless screamed elegance. Sirius sat at one of the barstools at the L of the counter. Regulus slid him a cup of tea. 

“Your house is beautiful.” Sirius complimented, and Regulus placed the cup back into the saucer, “Thank you. My wife picked everything out for the most part. I either built it or painted it.” Regulus smiled. 

“Your wife?”

Regulus hummed, “Y/n Black. Ring any bells?”

Sirius swallowed, “Yeah.”

They both took a sip of tea, “I have two kids too. Both boys.”

“Two?!“ Sirius nearly spat out the liquid he had just taken a sip of. 

“Twins. Fraternal, thankfully.”

He placed the cup down, “What’re their names?“

“Perseus Regulus Black and Leo Alphard Black.”

“Perseus and Leo, huh?“

Regulus blushed, “It wasn’t my idea. It was Y/n’s.”

“I like them,” Regulus looked up at him, “The names. I’m sure they fit them too.”

“Thanks.”

It wasn’t long until footsteps began to echo coming down the steps. Y/n had grown up too. Her face was sharper and her curves more defined. If Sirius was honest, she didn’t look like she had kids at all. To be fair, he wasn’t really staring at Y/n but more so his brother. Regulus had a starstruck expression as his wife walked towards him. He had a dopey smile on his face and stars in his eyes. Regulus really loved her, and Sirius could tell, hell, anyone could. 

Y/n stopped in her tracks at seeing Sirius, “What’s he doing here?” 

Regulus placed an arm around her waist, “He came looking for a place to stay. While I was waiting for you, I decided to catch up with him for a little.”

Sirius looked guilty, “Ultimately, I’m leaving this decision up to you.” 

Y/n sighed and looked at both brothers. She thought of what he did back at Hogwarts. She thought of how Regulus had cried and ached for his brother, wishing for their relationship to be back the way it was. She thought of her two children who always asked about their Uncle Sirius, who was never around. 

“Sirius,” Y/n began, and Sirius held his breath, “Where will you go if I were to say no?”

Sirius looked at his lap, “The streets.”

He couldn’t hear the footsteps that approached him until soft hands lifted his head where he met soft e/c eyes, “I’m willing to look past everything that happened at Hogwarts for the sake of my children. They deserve their uncle. But I need you to show me that I can trust you and that you won’t cause trouble.”

“I’ll do anything.” Sirius complied, and Regulus smirked, “Don’t say that. She’ll have you remodel something.”

“You’re an asshole.” Y/n whirled, and Regulus continued to smirk, “I told you to use magic, and you said we should do it the Muggle way.”

He shrugged, “We got good memories out of doing it the Muggle way.”

“If getting paint all over me counts as good memories, then sure.”

“It does.” Regulus smiled, “Your face was priceless.”

“Dickhead.” She muttered. 

Sirius grinned, “Well, Sirius. If Y/n lets you stay, then you’re welcome here. What I did back at Hogwarts was uncalled for, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mocked you and Remus.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is.” Regulus countered solemnly, “Had I not done that; then we could’ve had a better relationship. For that, I’m sorry.”

Sirius stood up and hugged Regulus tight, “New beginnings?”

“New beginnings.” Regulus smiled. 

Regulus led Sirius up the wooden stairs up to the second story. It seemed to have had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, one in the master bedroom, one in the hallway, not including the one downstairs. On the end of the left side was a door leading to the master bedroom. On the right end was a cabinet and two doors across from one another. Then in the middle of the back was a door leading to another bedroom which Regulus had opened. 

The bedroom was spotless and beautiful. It was painted a grey with purple undertone with a queen-sized bed. Most of the furniture was white, and the bedding was black. Sirius had brought his trunk to its normal size and placed it at the end of the bed. Regulus smiled as Sirius looked around. 

“This is yours for as long as you want it.” Regulus stated softly snd Sirius had tears in his eyes, “Thank you.”

Sirius hugged his brother again, “I really mean it, thank you.”

“I love you, Sirius.” Regulus confessed, “You’ll always be my brother. The one who held me during thunderstorms. The one who sewed up my teddy bear when it had gotten ripped. The one who took the blame so I wouldn’t get punished.”

Sirius was gripping the back of his shirt tightly, “That stuff doesn’t just go away.”

They parted, and Regulus smiled, “Get some sleep. I’m sure you’d like to see the boys tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’d like to meet my nephews.” Sirius admitted smiling brightly. 

“Get some sleep, Siri.” 

“You too, Reggie.”

[kinglazrus]

The Punishment Fits the Crime

Chapter 1: A New Sense

Phic Phight | Next | AO3 | FFN

Prompts used are listed at the end of the fic.

Story Summary: Ghosts are naturally drawn to death. Danny, however, finds himself drawn to those who have wrongfully died. He always said he would never hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. It's not his fault that he keeps finding people who do.

Or: Danny is a vengeful spirit.

Chapter Summary: There are a lot of dead animals in Amity Park.

Word count: 4648

Chapter warnings: animal death, implied animal mutilation (non-graphic). See Ao3 for a full fic list of content warnings

—

It begins a month after the accident, with a dog on the side of the road. Danny is on his way home from Sam's place when he finds it. His walk started normally. Somewhere along the way, he took a turn off his usual route. He can't explain why. There's nothing special about the road he turns down. It goes in the opposite direction of Fenton Works and will make him a few minutes late for his new curfew. But it's a nice night and he's been late for curfew every night since his parents implemented it, so he doesn't care all that much. He lets his feet guide him, carrying him a couple of blocks further East than he needs to go, to an area he doesn't explore much except from above.

The streets turn residential, lined with proper houses with driveways and backyards bigger than Danny's living room. That's where he finds the dog, lying in the ditch. He doesn't know how to check a dog's pulse but realizes he doesn't need to. One look at it and he knows it's dead. There is no blood, at least not that Danny can see. No gaping wound or twisted limbs. The dog is small and young, and, if not for the way it's splayed out, could easily be mistaken for sleeping. But he knows that it's dead. Has a feeling.

If Danny looks closer, he can see a streak on the pavement, the only wet spot on otherwise dry ground. There's not much of it. A normal person might not have seen it at all in this dim light, but Danny is far from normal. Whoever hit the dog dragged it out from the middle of the road before driving off. They stopped. They saw what they did. And they left. There's no sign of the car that did it. The dog is cold, so it must have happened some time ago, around sunset. Despite this, Danny finds himself scouring the street, examining every vehicle within his sight. He doesn't know what he's looking for. A dented fender? A bloody license plate? The dog is too small to have left much of a mark on whatever vehicle ran it down. The thought makes his stomach turn, but there's nothing he can do about it.

The dog has a collar, but no tags. It's not a stray, and it wasn't supposed to be outside. Danny scans the street. This time of night, not too many people are up. A few houses down, however, he sees a living room light on. Danny carefully scoops the dog into his arms, holding it against his chest, and heads for the house. He knocks on the door. A minute passes before someone answers. A middle-aged man dressed in a robe, wearing reading glasses on his nose. His eyes widen when he sees Phantom floating on his doorstep. When he spots the dog in Danny's arms, his face crumples.

"Oh, dear," the man says.

"Do you know the owners?" Danny asks. "I found it on the road. Someone hit it."

"Poor thing. Yes, I do. Let me take her." The man holds out his arms.

Danny hesitates. There's no reason for it. The man seems kind enough, and he knows the owners. There's no need for Danny to waste any more time with this. And yet, he doesn't want to let go.

"She'll be alright," the man says. "I'll take care of her." He smiles at Danny, small and probably meant to be reassuring. It doesn't make Danny feel anything, except confusion, but he relents and passes the dog over.

For the rest of his walk home, Danny puzzles over the man's last reassurance. How odd for him to think Danny was worried about the dog's body. It is odd, isn't it? Danny is a ghost. He's indeed part human, but the man isn't aware of that. He should know better. When it comes to the dead, Danny cares more about their spirits than the bodies they leave behind.

—

It happens again a couple of months later. After a rough day of outrunning Skulker—missing a math test because of it—Danny takes to the skies to clear his head the first chance he gets. That chance, unfortunately, doesn't come until after sunset, but the sky is clear and the stars are out, so it's worth it. He flies away from the city, out to the countryside where the light pollution won't impede his view as much. He veers off from the highway and settles over an open field, ready for a good hour of stargazing to help take his mind off things. Until something makes him look down instead of up.

It happens suddenly. One second, Danny is tracing Orion's path across the sky, and the next his head has turned toward the ground. Lights far below him catch his eye. They move fast, at first, but quickly slow down and turn, heading back the way they came. After a few seconds, they stop and stay in place. Abandoning the stars, Danny flips onto his stomach and drifts down to the ground. As he gets closer, he can make out the sources of the light. A pair of quads that someone had been driving around the field. They're parked now; their headlights shine on a spot in the dirt.

Danny isn't close enough for the drivers to have noticed him, but he can hear them just fine thanks to his improved senses.

"Dude, you scared it to death." The voice is young. A teenager, perhaps. Probably a pair of them. Danny supposes they must live nearby, to be out tearing through a field at this hour.

"Told you I could," the other driver says. "My brother used to do it when snowmobiling. You get them running fast enough and like, their heart just gives out or something. Crazy."

"Yeah, but... that's kind of mean."

"It's just a rabbit. Who cares?" The second driver gets back onto his quad and starts driving. The other one, who spoke first, lingers for a few seconds before he follows. Danny waits until they're a good distance away before getting close enough to see what they were talking about. A rabbit, dead, in the middle of the field. It lays a few inches from a set of quad tracks. Danny might not be a straight-A student, but he can piece together what happened fairly easily. One of the riders chased the rabbit with his quad until the poor thing had a heart attack. He killed it for no good reason.

Something sparks in Danny's gut. He turns his head toward the quads. They're still tearing around the field, maybe chasing another rabbit. Danny spares a glance up at the stars, then back toward the teenagers. It would seem that his evening plans have changed. Tonight is a good night for haunting.

—

"Did you guys see that article this morning?" Tucker asks first thing at school the next day.

Danny glances away from his locker long enough to say: "Hello, good morning, it's nice to see you, too." He quickly goes back to digging through his things, searching for all the late assignments he needs to hand in that day. Who would have thought that ghost hunting would take up so much of his time? His parents would be proud if they knew.

"Now, when you say article..." Sam trails off.

"Okay, fine. It was a forum post—on that website that I sent you guys last week. But it was referenced in an article on the Ghost Gazette this morning," Tucker says.

"I don't think that's a reputable source," Danny says. It's an online zine, from what he recalls, and it's existed long before ghosts actually came to Amity. Much like his parents and their opinions on ghosts, the GG gets a lot of things wrong.

"I told you I was keeping track of all ghost-related news in and around the city. I think it could help us when it comes to ghost hunting if we can see where ghosts are attacking the most and how far outside the city they go."

Sam grabs Tucker's shoulders and turns him to face her, looking deep into his eyes. "And we are very proud of you for taking some initiative. Good job." She pats his head.

"Oh, shut up. But I think ghost activity might actually be moving away from Amity Park." Tucker pulls up the forum post on his PDA and holds it out for Sam to read.

"This isn't much evidence," Sam says.

"What is it?" Finally done rearranging his textbooks, Danny pulls away from his locker and shuts the door, giving Tucker his full attention.

"A couple of teens encountered a ghost last week way outside the city. They were out quadding when it started following them. Chased them all the way home, apparently."

Danny fights back a smile. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"Not to mention, Amity Park can't be the only place with ghosts. We might have a stable portal here, but natural portals can open up anywhere. Once you get news of ghosts like Technus or Skulker terrorizing the next town over, then we can worry. For now, I think we're in the clear. Keep up the good work, though!" Sam beams at Tucker, who grumbles under his breath.

"This is so patronizing."

Danny is about to offer his own teasing comment when something smacks the back of his head. If he saw the hit coming, he would have dodged. He can do that now. He couldn't before, his reflexes too slow and his situational awareness at a minimum. Now, though, after a few good months as a ghost hunter, Danny's skills have improved in one or two areas. Unfortunately, none of those areas include magically knowing when Dash Baxter is about to pass him in the hall from behind.

The smack rattles Danny's brain and sends him stumbling. The stack of late assignments slips from his arms. The papers drop to the floor and scatter across the hall, sliding over the smooth tile. It's almost impressive how far away they end up.

"Someone's moody," Sam says, glaring at Dash.

"He's always moody." Danny drops to his knees and starts gathering the pages back up.

"There's a big game against Elmerton next week," Tucker says.

Danny and Sam stare at Tucker.

"My locker is by the band room."

He seems to think this explains everything. Danny and Sam keep staring.

"The band is playing the game this week. They've been talking about it. I hear things."

"Tucker, your social status can only go so low. Don't push it," Sam teases.

"Oh, shut up! You wish you could play an instrument."

"I can. Violin. It can be nice and dreary to play a piece in the middle of the night."

"I want to play an instrument," Danny mutters.

"You'd break it," Sam and Tucker say at the same time.

Danny pins them both with an offended look, but he can't deny it. Despite having his powers for months, he still drops things on accident all the time. If anyone gave him a trombone, a clarinet, or anything like that, he would break it in a day. Maybe he could learn the drums. The image of a drumstick flying from Danny's hand mid solo and hitting someone in the face quickly dashes that thought.

Piano, maybe? Nothing to fling or drop there.

Danny gathers up the last of his homework and straightens the stack. A few sheets are still out of order, but he can fix that once they get to a classroom. For now, he glares at Dash across the hall.

"Maybe I could break something. As a treat." He and Tucker exchange wicked grins. Danny's palm shines green, the light reflecting off Tucker's glasses. He points a finger over his stack of papers at Dash's back.

"Danny, don't!" Sam smacks his hand down.

"Oh, come on," Danny whines. "Let me singe his jacket. Just a little."

"Danny, we've talked about this before. You have power now."

Danny rolls his eyes as Sam slips into lecture mode. He could just walk away, but that might make her angrier. Better to bear with it until she's done and get revenge on Dash later when it's only Danny and Tucker around.

"I know you don't like to hear it but having the kind of strength you do, you can't go around using it for petty revenge. It's not right."

Danny shoots her a lopsided smile. "What's wrong with a little petty revenge?" His grin widens when Sam glares.

She looks ready to keep berating him but must see that Danny won't drop the subject so easily. "Just don't stoop down to his level, okay? You're better than that."

"No worries, Sam. I wouldn't hurt someone who doesn't deserve it."

—

Danny pauses at the mouth of an alley. He doesn't quite mean to, but it happens. Just as it did with the dog, and the rabbit, and the few other animals he has stumbled across since then. Somehow, Danny has come into the habit of stopping against his will; he already knows what he's going to find before taking a step off the sidewalk. Sam and Tucker don't realize that he has stopped right away, going a few paces ahead before they notice he isn't following.

"Hey, Danny," Tucker says. "Something wrong?"

"Probably," Danny replies. What will it be this time? A rat someone stepped on? A bug that got squished? Danny hasn't felt a pull toward one of those yet, but bugs get killed all the time. Danny found a bird just last week with a BB gun pellet in its chest. It was a small thing, too. Not even the kind of bird that's known to be a pest. It makes him smile thinking about the way the man who shot it shrieked when Danny pelted him with harmless ectoblasts. Semi-harmless. He might have had a couple minor burns by the time Danny was through with him.

"How wrong? Because the movie starts in ten minutes," Tucker says.

"Tucker! But yeah, he's right. Is it a ghost?" Sam says.

"Sort of but also no. This will only take a second." Danny starts down the alley. After a moment's pause, he hears Sam and Tucker following him. There's a lump at the end of the alley, where the cracked pavement gives way to a dusty back lane. Too small for the average dog. Much too big for a rat or anything similar. Cat, then, Danny guesses. He hasn't felt the pull for a cat, yet. Its silhouette is odd, however. As far as he's aware, most cats don't have rectangular shapes jutting out of their backs.

A lump forms in Danny's throat. When they get close enough to see what it is, Sam gasps. An orange cat with a screwdriver sticking out of it.

"Oh my God," Sam says. "What sick fucking—" She cuts herself off and turns away, a hand pressed over her mouth.

Tucker stops at Danny's shoulder and grimaces. "Shit. That sucks. I hope that cat didn't belong to anyone."

"Tucker!" Sam keeps her back to them as she shouts.

"I mean, it's still sad if it's a stray! Obviously, it's sad. But it's sadder if some kid is missing a pet because of this. Should we... I don't know, do you call someone for this? No offence but it's a cat. It's not exactly a human body.

Danny, out of habit, scans the alley and the back lane, looking for the person who did this. They're long gone, however. Nothing more than a few dusty prints left behind. There's nothing for them to do.

"We could bury it," Sam says.

"We could bury it," Danny repeats. That is a thing they are capable of, yes.

They end up missing the movie. Danny pulls the screwdriver out, grimacing at the sight of sticky blood on the metal. Dropping it in the alley doesn't feel right, so he tucks it into his hoodie pocket to figure something out later. Sam sacrifices her sweater to wrap the cat in something warm. Tucker gives her a funny look for it, but he doesn't say anything. It bothers Sam enough for her to reply anyway.

"It doesn't matter that it can't feel. It deserves some kindness."

Kindness won't bring it back, Danny thinks. Then again, nothing he wants to do will bring it back, either.

They take the cat to Sam's house. She has a large garden with plenty of space. Since it's Sam's, they don't have to worry about her mother's gardener stumbling across the body. Sam gets a shoebox to put the cat in and they find a place to bury it.

"Under the roses?" Tucker suggests.

"What about there?" Danny points to a plant with long leaves and orange flowers. "It matches the fur."

Sam shoots him a grateful look. Neither of the boys understands her at this moment, but they'll do what she wants because they love her. Danny and Tucker dig a hole between the plants while Sam arranges the cat in the box, still wrapped in her sweater. They lower it down and stare at the box for a few seconds.

"How did you know it was there?" Sam asks.

Danny shrugs. "I don't know. Could be a dead person thing."

"Technically, I think this makes it a dead animal thing," Tucker says.

Sam tilts her head. "This has happened before?"

"Yeah." Danny nods. "I thought it was a coincidence at first, but not anymore."

After a few more seconds of silence, Sam pushes the pile of dirt over the box and together all three of them smooth the patch out.

"Come on," Danny says with a hand on Sam's shoulder. "There's a later show we could go to. Might help you take your mind off of this."

"I just can't believe it. Who would do something like that?" Sam shakes beneath Danny's hand.

Danny and Tucker share a glance over her head. Sam isn't much of a crier. And, as teenage boys, neither of them is well-versed in what to do when confronted with a crying girl. Danny, at least, has some experience with his sister, but she doesn't cry much either. She's more the bottle it up and pretend everything is fine type, which is so ironic. In the end, they wrap their arms around Sam and hold her while tears stream down her face. A second set of sniffles joins Sam. When Danny pulls his head back, he sees Tucker wiping his eyes.

"Okay, so I care a little bit," Tucker says.

They stay like that for a while, until Sam and Tucker can dry their eyes, and go to the late show. Danny spends the walk trailing a pace behind them, lost in thought. While Sam and Tucker cried, he didn't feel that same sorrow. He thinks of the dog, of the man he gave it to. He thinks of the expression the man wore, so similar to the ones Sam and Tucker wear now. Something Danny can only describe as sorry. Sorry and sad.

How odd is it, then, that every time this happens, Danny only feels angry?

—

As soon as the credits start rolling, Danny pulls out his phone. It was buzzing the whole movie. When he turns on the screen, he is met with a wall of texts.

"Shit." He missed curfew by two hours, the whole length of the movie. Danny hadn't even thought of checking the time, more focused on distracting Sam. Scrolling to the start, he skims the messages. A reminder from Jazz was sent ten minutes before curfew, around the time they got to the theatre. Another reminder two minutes after. A warning message from his mom that he will be grounded if he's late again. Another text from Jazz. A text from his dad that basically says the same thing as his mom's, but with a smiley face at the end of it that feels oddly threatening even though Danny knows it's not. The most recent text is—surprise, surprise—from Jazz and is only a few minutes old.

From: Free Therapy | 12:58 p.m. Danny are you okay? At least text me so I know you're fine.

Danny is about to text back when the typing bubble pops up under her name. He waits, watching the bubble come and go. Two minutes pass before she finally composes her message and hits send.

From: Free Therapy | 1:07 p.m. You know you can tell me anything, right? You don't have to act out like this

Danny's lip curls. He tucks his phone away without writing anything back.

"Sam's coming over to my place tonight. You gonna join us?" Tucker asks.

Danny slumps down in his seat, tipping his head back. Most of the other moviegoers have left the theatre by then. Out of the corner of his eye, Danny spots an employee waiting with a broom and dustpan in hand. He stands up and stretches, offering the worker an apologetic smile.

"I wish, but I forgot to text my parents that I'd be late. I think they would kill me if I stayed out. I should probably just get home. Sorry, Sam." Danny tacks on the apology. She looks better than she did, but Sam has always been an animal lover. She doesn't even like the idea of dissecting dead frogs in biology class. He can't imagine how hard this was for her.

"I'm fine," Sam says. "Text us if your parents kill you, so we know you won't be at school on Monday."

"Rude."

They part ways outside the theatre. Danny rocks back on his heels, watching Sam and Tucker walk away. Only once they're out of view does he set off for home. His phone has buzzed a couple more times since the movie ended but he hasn't bothered checking. He's willing to bet a month's allowance that it's Jazz pestering him about how much of a troubled teen he's becoming. She's always had a hard time keeping her nose out of Danny's business. Even their parents aren't as worried about Danny's recent "attitude changes" as she is, something Danny is thankful for. Hiding his secret is hard enough with a nosy sister. Nosy parents would make it ten times worse.

At the last intersection before his street, Danny stops. He can already see the bright lights of the Fenton Works sign glowing in the distance, traces of neon orange and green spilling into the street. One more block until he's home. Danny's shoes scrape against the concrete as he makes his turn. As he heads further down the street, the glow of Fenton Works fades behind him. He follows the regular route that he takes to school for three minutes, making it a quarter of the way to Casper High before he stops at a side road. It's rarely travelled now except by the occasional pedestrian, of the homeless or vandal variety.

One too many ghost fights in the area have left the pavement riddled with potholes and impossible to travel by car unless you happen to have a GAV at your disposal. The city deals with so much ghost-related damage that it can't afford to keep patching up this one dead-end road anyway, so it has been left unattended. Danny only feels a little guilty about that. He won't lie and say he hasn't intentionally steered a few of his foes into this area before. For the first twenty yards, the road is lined by empty lots on either side. It's easier to fight when there's less collateral damage to worry about. Besides, the area was abandoned long before ghosts arrived. They just made it worse.

Danny ignores the big box store at the end of the road—some chain that tried to make it in Amity Park but ultimately failed. Instead, he focuses on the gathered silhouettes that stand out against the distant white walls. The sounds of laughter and clinking bottles drift toward him. Danny takes a step forward, kicking a loose stone out of his path. It skips across the pavement, the skittering noise drawing the group's attention.

"Hey!" someone calls from the throng. Danny waits until they all notice him, unfolding from their tightly gathered pack. He makes out three figures of varying builds, with a few common factors. They're all taller than him, and most of them have arms thicker than Danny's thigh.

One of them grabs something from their pocket. An instant later, a light shines, pointed straight at Danny. From this distance, the light from a flashlight phone doesn't even touch Danny's sneakers. But it does wonders to illuminate the thugs that have caught his attention. The brown of their letterman jackets stands out in particular. So, Danny has run across a gaggle of Elmerton punks. Not surprising, considering the football game tomorrow. It's an Elmerton High tradition to prank Casper the night before a big game, or so Danny's upperclassmen say. Except these boys are a long way from school. Danny doesn't like it.

"Just some kid," another of the Elmerites says. There's a round of snickers. One of them tips their head back. The starlight glances off the neck of a beer bottle. After that last comment, they decide Danny isn't worth their attention and return to their huddle. Danny decides that's the perfect time to find out why exactly he's here.

He ghosts over the pavement, barely making a sound as he crosses the distance between them. He steps up to the nearest gap between their bodies, still unnoticed, and stares at what called him here. Ravens, four of them, lying in the dirt. Wings bent. Necks broken. Plucked feathers litter the ground. Someone drops their beer bottle. It cracks on a raven's beak. Someone else takes a step forward, right onto the talons of one of the dead birds. Danny twitches at the crunching sound.

Shoving his way into the middle of the group, Danny kicks the leg standing on the raven's foot.

"Holy shit!" Shouts ring out as the boys jump back, away from Danny. He sees their expressions twist from shocked to incredulous as they take in Danny's size. The boy Danny kicked leans down and sneers. "What's your problem, kid?"

Shit Boots, Danny decides to call him, on account of the fact that his boots are shit.

"Geez, will you look at his fuckin' eyes? Looks like my cat." The boy beside Shit Boots—hereby dubbed Flashlight—sticks his phone in Danny's face. Danny has to blink a couple of times at first, but his eyes adjust quickly. One of the benefits of ghost biology. "Creepy."

"Oh, look." Shit Boots grabs the front of Danny's hoodie and pulls it out, showing his friends the Casper High logo. "He's a raven, too."

"Maybe we should pluck his wings, too," a third boy says.

Danny faces the newly dubbed Big Mouth—who actually has a small, pinched mouth, but the name fits in its own way—and smiles. "So, you did this. Right? That's what you're saying right now?"

Big Mouth guffaws. Danny has never liked that word, but it perfectly describes the deep laugh that bursts from the boy, boisterous and dumb. He didn't know a laugh could reveal the intelligence of its owner, but that is what's happening now. A big dumb laugh for a big dumb boy and his big dumb mouth. Should have kept it shut.

"So what?"

He really should have kept it shut.

Danny doesn't know when his hand drifted to his hoodie pocket, but now that it's there, his fingers close around the handle of the screwdriver.

"That means you deserve it."

—

Prompts used:

Submitted by @faedemon / @moipale: Ghosts are naturally drawn to death. When people die in Amity Park, Danny keeps finding the bodies. (PR263)

Next

[nellasbookplanet]

Will you believe me if I say the Molaesmyr au immediately morphed into a weird magic wild ride about the nein ending up in alternate realities and encountering different versions of themselves? Yeah.

Also, remember that one time when I talked longingly about an au where Caleb was too slow to bring out the Beacon in the Bright Queen's court and the gang were all captured? Because I sure remembered.

Excerpt under readmore.

It comes to him all at once. He’s only been here once before, but the memory is bright like a flash of lightning in his mind: a breakfast of slightly stale pastries and cheeses, digging up clay in the backyard, pouring over arcane notes in the laboratory tower. This is—was—Essek’s home.

Just as the thought settles at the front of his mind, dazing in its unexpectedness, the door at the far end of the room opens and a figure glides through, perusing a stack of papers, a pinched expression on his face. Caleb, unwillingly, sucks in a breath, and Essek looks up. Their gazes lock, and both of them freeze.

Essek recovers first, letting the stack of papers fall as he flings out a hand, barking a word in Undercommon. Caleb recognizes the call for arcane Lightning and reacts reflexively by mirroring the motion, lifting his own hand and shouting an invocation. Black lightning zigzags toward him, throwing the room in stark black-and-white relief, but as it meets his Counterspell it cleaves, splitting on either side of him before dissipating fully. The air is left dry and staticky. Small sparks leap from metal objects around the room, and Caleb’s and Essek’s hair both stand on end. Caleb gives another gasp, feeling his lungs burn and eyes water from the near hit.

Essek doesn’t give him a moment’s reprieve. His other hand rises to join the first, and this time Caleb isn’t quick enough; the Counterspell is knocked from his mouth and he’s not so much lifted into the air as sucked up and forward. Force crushes him from all sides, and he’s left like a crinkled piece of paper, hanging suspended and paralyzed.

“You,” says this strange Essek, “should not be here.”

Caleb would very much like to respond, but his lungs are being crushed and his mouth is full of blood. In his ears is the roar of his own heartbeat, loud enough to almost drown out the words of his friend.

Essek stares at him for a moment, still that pinched expression to his face, before lowering Caleb to the floor with perhaps a bit too much force. Caleb hits the ground back first, head ringing, and lies pinned like a butterfly to a board. The crushing force eases slightly, just enough for him to breathe but not so much his bones stop creaking. He still cannot move.

Above him, the ceiling and its intricate geometric patterns is blotted out by Essek, head tilted as he stares down at his captive.

“Essek,” Caleb manages to wheeze, “what are you doing? It is me.” 

Essek flinches. The spell does not let up.

“How did you get here?” he says curtly, cutting. “Did someone help you? You are supposed to be—”

The words stop, and he narrows his pale eyes. In a flash, he’s on the floor with Caleb, hovering still but kneeling, close enough to touch. Which he does; his hand reaches out and grabs Caleb’s chin, tilting his head to the side as if inspecting it. The motion makes Caleb’s neck, still crushed under that unnatural gravity, complain loudly. Essek releases him, looking anything but pleased.

“You aren’t him.”

“I am a friend,” Caleb responds, perhaps a bit desperately. He’s not sure how much longer his ribcage will hold up before collapsing into his lungs. “Essek, please—”

“Who are you?”

“I am Caleb. You know this, you know me, dammit!”

Essek’s eyes gleam. He lifts one hand, lets it hover just above Caleb’s trembling chest. The pressure grows incrementally worse. 

“Do you think me a fool?” he says, slowly crushing the life out of Caleb. “I am perfectly capable of recognizing the face of my own prisoner when presented it. You are not him. What kind of trap is this supposed to be?” His lips purse, expression irked. “Did you think me soft on him? That his face would make me lapse in my security?”

The edges of Caleb’s vision have started to turn black. He doesn’t have much time. His fuzzy mind desperately tries to fit the pieces together in time to save him. Essek, but not Essek, dressed in Shadowhand regalia and evidently thinking of Caleb as an enemy. The traces of dunamancy before he found himself here, a place that should no longer exist in a manner such as this. Has he time traveled? Is this Essek before the Nein befriended him? But no; he’d called Caleb a prisoner, not a hero of the Dynasty.

This isn’t Caleb’s Essek. This isn’t Caleb’s world.

“Well?” Essek—the Shadowhand—says. “Who sent you?”

“You!” Caleb says. “You sent me.”

Finally something to catch him off-guard. Essek’s eyes go wide with surprise, the hand over Caleb’s chest twitching. Some of the pressure lets up. Not so much Caleb can stand or even sit up, but he can move his fingers, can suck in a full breath of air. Not moving his eyes so as not to give anything away, he sketches a sigil on the floor with his fingertips, not speaking the incantation until the very last second, as he feels the dispelling magic already gathering to be released.

The graviturgy magic frees him all at once.

Essek rears back, but isn’t fast enough to recast or counterspell. Caleb grips him with Telekinesis and flings him away. There’s more desperation than finesse in the motion and Essek hits the wall hard enough to knock down a couple of paintings. He hisses and squirms but Caleb doesn’t let him go.

As he sits up, one arm still outstretch toward Essek, there are crunching noises inside his chest. Caleb groans and bends double over his knees. Blood drips from his face onto his trousers and his vision swims. He realizes, belatedly, that Essek has stopped struggling. When Caleb looks up, even that small motion paining him, the drow meets his gaze with outward calm, but a fierce burning in his eyes.

“It would,” he says, with barely concealed fury, “be in your best interest to let me go.”

Caleb can’t help but laugh. Droplets of blood splatter his lips. “You will have to excuse me if I do not believe that, friend.”

Essek narrows his eyes at him and says, deadpan, “Friend.”

“Ja.”

“Who are you?” A twitch, as if he’s trying to move his head, but the spell holds him tight. “You admittedly look like him, though not so much as to be a deliberate disguise spell. You are older. Different scars, different hair.” He frowns. “A relative? Older brother, perhaps, here to save a loved one? Bold move, I must admit, for a human not only to walk alone into the Dynasty but into the home of the Shadowhand himself.”

“No risk, no reward,” Caleb mumbles, finding it oddly funny. His head is starting to get fuzzy. “I did not lie to you. You and I, we know each other. Just not…” He frowns. “Just not here, it seems.” He looks up. “I do not know where I am, Thelyss.”

Essek is staring at him. Then, Caleb doesn’t see anything more, because the floor is rushing up to meet his face and he blacks out.

[shemarmooresfedora]

Rebuilding Family

Summary: Y/N and Spencer were college sweethearts at Cal-Tech but once Spencer got accepted to the FBI Academy, he ended things deciding it was not fair to make Y/N wait for him. When they meet again years later, he discovers something unexpected.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem! Reader

Masterlist

Chapter 2

Your phone buzzed as you were giving Jo a bath. You swiped accept and pressed the phone between your ear and shoulder.

“Hello?” you spoke.

“Y/N? Hi, it’s JJ, Henry’s mom,” JJ answered.

“Oh hi! What can I do for you?” you chirped.

“I hope it’s okay I got your contact information from Mrs. Flynn. Henry has been dying to have Josephine over for a play date,” she explained.

“Jo would love that! She was just telling me about how Henry and her pretended to be dinosaurs the entire recess,” you laughed.

“Oh my, thank god I didn’t get a call from the school about any biting. Anyways, I could pick Jo up after school tomorrow and bring her home with us if that’s alright,” JJ offered.

“Of course, I’ll let the school know when I drop her off that she can go home with you. I’ll pick her up at like 5,” you replied.

“Sounds good! Bye Y/N!” JJ responded.

“Bye! See you then!” you hung up the phone.

You were excited that one of the moms had finally called you. It seemed like most of the moms of the kindergarten class had a clique. They all lived in the same posh neighborhood and you had heard they had cookouts where they would all gossip about the other parents while their husbands grilled. You undoubtedly were a source of their gossip. Just because you didn’t fit into their cookie cutter lifestyle apparently deemed you not good enough for Jo to play with their kids.

-

You lightly knocked on the door.

“Hey!” JJ exclaimed as she opened the door.

“Hi!” you waved back.

“Come in, come in. The kids are in the backyard. They are actually getting a lesson from Henry’s godfather about dinosaurs. They seem very enraptured,” JJ chuckled.

“We can give them a few more minutes. I’m actually so glad you called. I’ve been trying to schedule play dates with kids for Jo for months but I had kind of given up at this point,” you stated.

“Yeah let’s face it, some of these moms are absolute bitches. They don’t like that I am an FBI agent. Apparently it’s not very ‘ladylike’,” JJ grinned.

“Exactly! Like is this high school?” you agreed, “I don’t understand how Jo’s father not being in the picture makes her any less of a good kid. It’s like they have a checklist that the kids have to follow.”

“Well then Jo and Henry can just be best friends and stick it to them. That preppy gated neighborhood is such a far drive anyways. Also, if you ever need someone to watch Jo, Will and I are more than happy to help,” JJ offered.

“Thank you, that means a lot. We better get going so I can get started on dinner. Next play date can be at our house. I’ll text you about a day and time once I check my calendar,” you smiled.

“Perfect! The kids are right out back so you can just call out through the window for them,” JJ said.

“Jo, honey! Mommy’s here! We gotta get going!” you called out even though you couldn’t see her through the window.

“But Mommy, Spencer was just telling us about the stegosaurus and you know that’s my favorite one,” Jo whined.

Spencer? It couldn’t be. Oh god, JJ did mention she was an FBI agent. Your eyes visibly widened and the color drained from your face as you ran for the porch door.

When you opened the door, Spencer’s head snapped up to meet you. You avoided all eye contact with him, walking straight over to Josephine.

“Josephine, we are leaving now,” you said firmly and scooped the child up, briskly walking to the car.

You buckled her in record time and pulled out of the LaMontagne’s driveway as quickly as you could.

It’s been seven years without any contact and suddenly he was everywhere.

-

“What was that?” JJ asked, “Y/N was completely fine one second and then she looked like she had seen a ghost.”

“Y/N and I dated in college,” Spencer whispered, trying to process his second interaction with you in less than two days.

“How many years ago?” JJ asked.

“Seven,” Spencer furrowed his brow.

“Spence, Josephine just turned six. That plus the pregnancy would be nearly seven years. She has said the father was never in the picture,” JJ slowly explained as she was putting the pieces together herself.

“N-no, Y/N, s-she would have told me, right?” Spencer was shaking his head profusely.

“Well how did your relationship end?” JJ asked.

“I-um I broke up with her when I got accepted to the academy because I didn’t think it was fair to keep her waiting for me,” Spencer stuttered.

“Let’s look at this from her perspective, you dumped her and then moved across the country. Spence, no offense but if I was her, I probably wouldn’t have told you either,” JJ spoke softly.

Spencer remembered the kid’s hazel eyes and curly brown hair that was eerily similar to his now that he thought about it.

“I’m going to be sick,” Spencer ran off to the bathroom.

After a few minutes, JJ knocked hesitantly at the bathroom door.

“Are you alright in there, Spence?”

“Just trying to cope with the fact that I most likely had a daughter out living in this world for six years that I didn’t know about,” he mumbled.

JJ opened the door and walked in.

“Well, do you want to get to know her?” JJ asked.

Spencer smiled softly as he leaned back against the bathroom wall, remembering the adorable giggly little girl he spent the afternoon with.

“Yeah, I would love nothing more but I’m not sure Y/N feels the same way,” he spoke softly.

[sirenspells]

I said in my first post about witch sunny that I didn’t have a plot, that the au was just vibes. then like 10 minutes after I made that post I started coming up with a plot and here’s what I got for it so far

So like Sunny throwing his violin, getting into the argument with Mari, him pushing her, that all still happens. Big difference though, Basil isn’t there when that happens, so Sunny’s on his own after he kills Mari. Then he hears someone knocking on the door of their home, and it’s Hero, who heard the commotion from his house and is wondering what the heck’s happening, and Sunny decides to get the hell out of there. He runs off into the forest behind their backyard, and he just keeps running and running for what feels like forever until he stumbles upon an abandoned house in the middle of the woods

Sunny enters this spooky house and sort of just sits in a corner and cries to himself, about how he’s an awful human being who killed his sister and now he’s just up and abandoned everything. Suddenly weird red hands appear around Sunny and if he wasn’t freaking the hell out before he’s freaking out now, but while he’s panicking, a black cat enters the house through a window and approaches Sunny. Sunny finds comfort in the cat and picks it up and cradles it in his arms, and as he calms down, the red hands disappear

Sunny ends up falling asleep, and when he wakes up, the cat’s sitting by the window. And once it notices that Sunny’s woken up, it talks. Sunny’s freaked the hell out that the cat just spoke but the cat continues. He introduces himself as Omori, and reveals that Sunny’s a witch, and that Omori is his familiar, whose job is to help Sunny learn and control his powers. Omori also reveals that those red hands that appeared around Sunny the night before was actually Sunny’s doing, as his powers had awakened right then and there

So of course this is a lot for Sunny to take in. I mean he just killed his sister, ran away from home, and now he apparently has magic powers and a cat is talking to him. But Sunny doesn’t want to return home because of what he did, and he feels he doesn’t deserve to return to his friends. So he resigns himself to staying in the woods and learning magic from Omori

So four years pass and over those four years Sunny learns magic from Omori and also the two of them clean up and redecorate the house with whatever they can get their hands on, until it’s no longer the abandoned creepy house that Sunny first stumbled upon

So Omori occasionally goes into Faraway Town, mostly if Sunny’s curious on how his friends are doing, so about two years after Sunny runs away Omori’s doing that and he uh. sees Mari leaving Sunny’s house. And Omori’s like “what the fuck” cause he was sure that Mari was dead. So Omori kinda follows her around a bit, overhearing conversations she has, and learns that she hadn’t actually died when Sunny pushed her. Hero called 911 when he found her body at the bottom of the stairs and she still had to stay in the hospital for a while but she’s doing fine now

Btw Mari surviving the fall is a change this AU makes, in canon she most definitely was dead when she reached the bottom of the stairs lol

Of course Omori tells Sunny this and Sunny feels. conflicted. He’s happy that she’s alive, of course, he spent two years hating himself for killing her. But he still hurt her and said some awful things to her before he pushed her, and ruined what was supposed to be a night of them performing, so he still believes he doesn’t deserve to come back and so decides he’s gonna continue isolating himself

OKAY im stopping the plot summary here cause this is where the plot is a little less set in stone and this is getting long but I will say what happens next is that four years after Sunny runs away, Kel, Aubrey, and Basil get lost in the woods and come across Sunny’s house oooo spooky

[doyouknowhowtowaltz]

Please, I must know about your Addams Family AU, my curiosity keeps me up nights

Bear in mind there's little in the way of story put together right now, so I am going to throw down the notes for this au, and a lot of really early sketches.

Meet the Addams! (A break for your convenience because this is long as hell)

- Enoch, Beast, Young Lorna, Whispers, and Adelaide Addams make up the Addams family (in addition to Pumpkin (cat) and Turtle (Dog)

- Beast is the only blood Addams in the lot, and is heir to the Addam's fortune, his living relatives are distant, most don't even share the family name anymore, and all immediate family have been dead and dust for at least a decade.

- Both Whispers and Adelaide are sisters that married into the family and have been since widowed

- Enoch is married into the family (Through Beast, who else)

- Lorna's specific relation to the family is never specified, everyone is Auntie and Uncle, as far as the town is concerned, she's everyone's niece. Its also highly debated if anyone in the family actually knows where Lorna came from.

- Enoch and the Beast are exactly in love as Gomez and Morticia,

- Enoch somehow has even less inhibitions about showing it than Gomez

- Enoch is friendly, the neighbors love him, thinking he's the most normal one of the bunch despite his... unconventional dressing. Strangers who are new to the family normally latch onto him when faced with the... oddity of the rest of the family.

- One problem with this, Enoch isn't a man. He's man-shaped... barely. Enoch's eldritch nature is continually hinted at as part of a long running joke in this AU about Enoch being the normal one despite making no secret of the fact he feels terribly limited by two arms.

- (This is the version of Enoch that made me enact the Rat test)

- There's a rumor running around the neighborhood about a black cat that calls itself Providence and will strike up a conversation with you if you greet it politely.

- Enoch, of course, denies any connection.

- Enoch, weird as he might be, and off-putting as he is on second meeting, does actually have a lot of friends in town, some as odd as him and some perfectly normal average humans who are undaunted in the face of his family.

- One such individual is Miss Clara Dean, who is a finance lawyer for the Addams, and while she might have been shaken when she first met them, she's well past gawking at their odd home and traditions now

- His human glamor is tied to his bolo, I will not elaborate

- Enoch runs for mayor every opportunity, he never wins, but its always by thinner margins than should really be possible

- Adelaide never took her husband's last name, making her the only Addams who's not an Addams.

- She's fussy about the night air, dreadfully superstitious, and quite spiderlike, right down to a colorful web she keeps. She would have married Beast if he had shown a flicker of interest in him.

- She can divine the weather and sometimes says strange things about blue birds and curses

- She doesn't get out much, the neighbors don't know much about her, but all the neighborhood kids agree, she's definitely a witch.

- Whispers is very kind, and if you get past the initial shine on Enoch, probably the most normal of the family

- Except that she eats animals live

- And is also a witch (Probably, definitely, the neighborhood kids all agree, she's gotta be they insist.) Between her and Enoch they are the most out and about members of the Addams family.

- Lorna is quiet, shy, very sweet

- And she eats people.

- She also has a drowned ghost routine she likes to practice on door to door sales people by climbing out of the well in the backyard to give them a scare.

- Lorna's teachers are concerned by her behavior and encyclopedia knowledge of anatomy and torture, but are more concerned about calling a parent-teacher conference, since the entire Addams Clan will show up.

- Lorna sleeps under her bed instead of on it, Whispers occasionally frets about her waking up and knocking herself against the baseboards of the bed, Beast waves her off telling her its perfectly natural, at her age he was sleeping in a coffin.

- She of course ends up with Wednesday's classic noose braids at some point, courtesy of her uncles usually

- There's a red-haired girl who's tough as nails and maybe a little rude about Lorna's family who has been steadily hanging out with her, eventually Beatrice's mom invites the Addams over for dinner, it goes well all things considered.

- And that brings us to Mr. Addams himself,

- Beast wasn't christened Beast, but he hardly remembers the name on his birth certificate anyway.

- Sporting a stunning hat-veil constantly, and a floor length dress (Always black, only black maybe some red, sometimes a little blue and yellow), its safe to say no one in the neighborhood knows what Beast looks like, even if he did ever leave the Addams manor.

- Which he doesn't.

- The nicer gossips muse that he's agoraphobic, and the ruder ones say he's batshit and they're frankly glad he stays inside.

- Beast isn't inherently rude... most of the time, but he is incredibly disconcerting, and gives complements like a serial killer. Which does not help the numerous rumors that surround him and his family.

- He sings too, roaming the woods on the Addams property at night, and he's responsible for a fair few ghost stories.

- And his garden, its a bitter grey thing, and its almost artfully... decrepit, decorated by ornamental trees with grey-orange leaves and bark that almost looks like screaming faces. And his rose bushes, they're his pride and joy. They are so high maintenance though, when they bloom, he spends hours cutting their heads off.

- Every now and then, someone comes to the house, a door to doors salesman, a child on a dare, someone chasing stories of the Addams Fortune.

- All's well and good unless they manage to break into the house. Sometimes they get tangled in Adelaide's traps, sometimes Whispers finds them and ushers them out the door with an ominous warning, sometimes Lorna scares them out of the house and works herself into a giggling fit. Sometimes Enoch finds them, and he's all politeness and veiled menace.

- Oh, but heaven help the fool who gets found by Beast.

- I think that about wraps it up!

Something something cats on leashes, they're grossly in love.