#it’s so obvious to me every time I watch this show

[m00nl1ghts1vt]

♡‧₊˚ Babydaddy!Chris x Sweetheart!Reader - Dedicated

It is highly recommended to read Delusional before continuing.

🎵 Soul Ties (remix) - Savannah Cristina

“Yea he’s not leaving anytime soon,” your best friend sounds from the next room, her stale tone of voice makes it obvious she’s annoyed at the fact that Chris’ car hadn’t moved an inch from the parking spot it was in the night before. Your plan was to stay hidden away in your best friend's house for as long as you possibly could, knowing any conversation with your babydaddy would either leave you in tears or wrapped around his finger once again — you wanted neither. The open kitchen layout gave you a clear view into her living room where she was peeking thru the blinds. You lift your head from your hands and let out a hefty sigh, “he’s still out there?”

“I don’t think he ever left,” she tells you before whirling around to face your direction, “pathetic – dedicated but pathetic,” she snorts, no emotion showing in her voice until she sets her eyes on you. Her tight-lipped smirk falls to a frown as a sympathetic look washes over her face, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

You force a smile, shaking your head at her, “it's okay. You’re allowed to have your own opinion on him.” It was the truth. She saw it all, from the beginning until now – she watched yours and Chris’ relationship flourish, she was the first person you told about your pregnancy beside him, she was the one to pick you and put you back together the first time Chris cheated. Now, she’s here doing the same thing once again but this time she’s comforting her very heartbroken, very pregnant, nearly due, best friend. She had every right to hate him. You just wished she could give some of the hatred she had for Chris to you because no matter what he did, you couldn’t hate him if you tried. You were too in love with him. 

Chris’ dedication to stay camped outside of your besties house wasn’t helping you hold the grudge that you wanted to so badly. You knew he needed to be held accountable for his actions but the longer you stayed away from him, the more you missed him. Not to mention the pregnancy hormones that raged thru your body, it felt like your heart had your brain in a headlock. He had been texting your phone every other hour on the dot, making your heart ache each time another text from Chris delivers to your phone. A thick silence falls across the room as your phone chimes on command, you and your best friend eyeballing each other across the kitchen island. You let out another sigh before flipping your phone face down, knowing anything that man said to you was just going to convince you more to take him back, you didn’t want to see another lame ass, “I’m sorry” or “please talk to me.” You just wanted time to think.  

“Maybe talking to him won’t be such a bad idea,” your best friend eases, “Bean is coming soon, and you guys at least need to be on talking terms before he gets here.” One thing you loved about her was her logical thinking, but she just didn’t understand. You were grateful for her being there and helping you thru the emotional roller coaster you had been on the last twenty-four hours. One minute you were in tears and the next you were pissed at Chris. Pissed at him for letting other women on social media cloud his judgement. You knew Chris’ lifestyle came with plenty of women throwing themselves at him, but you didn’t think he’d stoop down to that level, not when you were pregnant anyway. 

It made you wonder if he continued to text other women after the first time he was caught, had he been in other bitches DMs your whole pregnancy? The thought made your stomach weak and head woozy.

As much as you wanted to stay hidden in the comfort of your best friend's home, you knew Chris wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, not until you talked to him. All the time you two were in this situation before, Chris was always one to give you your space. This time it was different, you were pregnant with his son; he couldn’t just stay home while you sat heartbroken, and he wasn’t leaving the spot he was in unless you were coming with him.

"One reply won't hurt," your best friend adds on, breaking you out of your train of thoughts, "don't give in too quickly. He deserves the meanest version of you right now, remember that!" her voice calls after you as you get up from your seat. You smooth a hand over your bump, slugging to the next room while you unlock your phone to read Chris' text messages.

You lock your phone, shoving it into your pants pocket before heading to the foyer, slipping on your shoes and calling out to your bestie, "going to talk to him!" Even though you were dreading the conversation that was to come. You weren't accepting any unkept promises this time. As much as you craved more information, it was unlikely you'd get it. You knew Chris, and you knew you'd be playing detective if you wanted to get anything else out of him.

The fresh morning breeze hits you as you make your way outside, your pregnancy waddle making itself known with each step you take. Your heart thumps violently in your chest as you set your eyes on a very messy looking Chris taking long strides to the passenger side door, yanking it open and waiting for you with eager eyes. The sight of him makes you feel like you could vomit at any moment, the feeling of uncertainty lies deep in your gut. You take a deep breath, trying to collect yourself as you approach his car, making sure you don't meet his gaze as you sink down in your seat.

You watch as Chris shuts the door, his bottom lip clamped between his teeth as he runs a hand thru his hair, quickly moving on his feet to the driver's side. It was obvious he hadn't slept all night. Chris sported his classic sleepy, messy-haired look many times before, but the bags under his eyes told everyone his lack of sleep was stress related.

Chris runs another hand thru his hair, letting out a long sigh as he sinks down into his seat, "I missed you, Sweetheart," his voice was hoarse, way raspier than normal, " — and bean." Your son did somersaults in your wombs at the sound of his dad's voice, making you smooth a hand over your bump in an attempt to calm him. Chris' eyes follow your movement, and he stretches a hand out to mimic your actions. Baby Bean thrashes around actively at the feeling of Chris hand on your stomach. Chris clears his throat, "I really am sorry," his voice thick with emotion as he looks up at you. You can see the tears pooling up in his eyes as he attempts to blink them away, letting a few fall in the process. It was the most emotion you had ever seen on him considering the fact you didn't even see tears when he found out you were pregnant. You watch as Chris collects the stray tears with the sleeve of his hoodie, quickly looking away as he sets his bloodshot eyes on you. Seeing him cry made you want to forget about all the hurt he caused you; it made you want to suffocate him in a bear hug while you ran your fingers thru his hair and sang him soft lullabies.

"He misses you too," you croak out, crossing your arms over your chest as you study the man across from you. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, his signature scent of cologne was very faint, nearly worn off and watered down. The stress induced bags under his eyes indicated his mind was running rampant all night long, much like yours. His gaze fixated on you; he wanted you to know he was ready for whatever you threw his way. He was ready to take the heat for all of it, anything he had to do to get you back.

"You don't miss me?" his words echo off the interior of the car, making the silence thicker than it already was. There was no doubt that you missed him, but he didn't deserve to hear that. Your best friends' voice pops into your head, 'he deserves the meanest version of you,’ you wanted so badly to agree, but looking at how tore up and dismantled Chris sat in front of you – it absolutely broke your heart. You let out a staggered breath, "yea, I always miss you — but that doesn't mean I forgive you, Chris." As soon as the words leave your lips, Chris is nodding in agreement, he knows he has some making up to do.

In a way, you were thankful you isolated yourself from Chris instead of acting off of your emotions as you usually would. It gave you a lot more time to weigh out your options. Was it reasonable to break up with the father of your child twelve weeks away from your due date because he was texting a random girl on Instagram? Probably not. If there was more you didn't know about, it'd be a different outcome. Isolation came with overthinking, and you thought of every possibility when it came to Chris' infidelity. Who was she? Was she a side bitch or just some random? Was that the only conversation or was there more? Did he know her personally? You knew you’d be a wreck at this moment if you hadn’t cried your tear ducts dry the night before. No matter how hard your heart thumped in your chest, you felt numb.

You knew you couldn’t do it alone; you relied on Chris for almost everything these last 7 months. You were freshly in your third trimester, and you’d be damned if you spent the first few weeks of your baby’s life living in an unfamiliar air bnb or hotel room. There was no point in arguing with him. There was no point in asking questions. If Chris was this dedicated to get you to talk to him, there was no telling what he'd do if you held out no contact when the baby was here. Besides, he said he’d never do it again, right?

Wc - 1752?? (Not proofread yet)

♡‧₊˚ Sweetheart is such a pushover for her babydaddy 😭 I hope everyone likes this lol. This is very much unresolved, so there will definitely be more angst in the future 🫣 But also some fluff, Baby bean is due soon and I have yet to pick out name lol. Let know what you guys think and don't forget to send me ask about the two 🫶🏻

Masterlist

Babydaddy!Chris Masterlist

Taglist (comment to be added)

Requests/Asks are always open - send me questions or suggestions for Babydaddy!Chris x Sweetheart or Neighbor!Matt x Brat!Reader

© m00nl1ghts1vt - Please do not copy my work.

[thanosscross]

my girl - Choi Su-Bong/Thanos x reader 3/? SMUT

A/n: This was supposed to be a short half chapter..but ended up being a full chapter of smut I guess

Summary: After finally getting away from the games, Thanos wants to show you just how much he needed you

warnings: SMUT HOLY HELL SMUT, hair pulling, Thanos being a switch bc obviously, slight degradation, use of the term 'good boy'

You weren't even done eating for ten minutes before Su-Bong's hands were back on your body "I've been waiting for this for days, beauty flower" He whispered, you were both sat in the dining room, Su-Bong was standing though, letting his hands roam your body as you stay seated "Years actually, since you did your little dip move right fucking in front of me during my first shoot" He whispered in your ear, his tone started to grow more frustrated "I just had to keep my mouth shut, not do anything because you did it right in front of my c.e.o" He growled before spinning your seat around, you were now facing him, eyes locking with his waistband of his pants "I never meant it-" He cut you off, letting your chair lean back on two legs until the back of it sat against the table, keeping you at an angle "Lies, beauty flower, lies" He protested, popping one of his pills as he starting to take his black button up off, he couldn't even remember why he was wearing it in the first place when he left for the games. You were nervously fidgeting in your seat watching him closely, he offered his hand up smirking "Baby" He whispered dragging out the petname in a sing song tone, you took the initiative and pulled his lips down to yours, confidently swiping the pill off of his tongue, swallowing it before deepening your kiss with you, moaning against his lips as you felt his tongue swipe across yours.

"Holy shit, I knew you'd sound so fucking amazing" He panted against your lips, letting your head fall to the side, Su-bong took his chance and attacked your neck with his lips and bites "S-Su-bong" You whispered faintly, you were getting so turned on you were getting light headed "Thanos" He demanded, his breath against your neck as he spoke didn't help, you tried to grab him, set yourself level so you could move this to his bedroom, but he just caught the arm rest of the chair and slammed it back against the table "where are you goin, beauty flower?" He asked nipping as the base of your neck "please, su-bong, please" You begged, trying again to sit up, but this time his hand was pressed against your boob using that to keep you sitting back, this time sending you a dangerous glare "P-Please, Thanos" you tried, this seemed to appease him because he slowly lowered the chair to sit back on all fours, lifting you up before you could actually stand on your own "Feel that baby?" He asked, purposely holding you lower on his hips to feel the obvious hard on "Every. fuckin. night" He whispered, squeezing your hips as he brought you towards his room, dropping you on the bed, and compared the shitty mattresses they provided during the games, his felt like a cloud. Setting you down gently, he roughly ripped your top off, it made your heart swoon, he was so rough, but so gentle as the same time.

You arched your back, allowing him to take off the sports bra you wore before you left, it was a little big now, but still fit for the most part. "Holy shit look at those fuckin tits" He marveled, eyes blown wide as the drugs finally hit him, right as he did, you could swear you could feel your high starting. He was quick to take one of your nipples into his mouth, swirling his tongue around in figure- eights and sucking every four or five swirls. You were coming undone underneath him, your moans sounding like the beat he had been looking for all of life, it was perfect, heavenly, and they just got better as he started to grind his hips into yours, he was so hard you would think his dick was made of concrete, he held it together though, unlike most men you had been with. "You want this baby?" His voice pulled you out of your thoughts, now registering in your mind, his hand was ghosting over the button of your pants, never breaking eye contact as he waited for your go ahead. "Y-Yes Thanos, please" You whispered rising your hips to meet his fingers "I want you to fuck me su-bong, please, only you" You muttered, grabbing the back of his neck pulling his lips to yours "I want to be with you Su-Bong, only you, forever" You whispered, he froze for a moment, before placing his thumb on your chin parting your lips as he slammed his lips into yours, grinding his dick against your clit a lot more direct than before causing you to call out moaning.

"I know baby. You're my girl, of course you only wanna be fucked by Thanos the great" He smirked, you rolled your eyes smacking his chest "Stop calling yourself that before you ruin it" You giggled, he shook his head, using your relaxed nature to press his hips against yours, watching as your hips twitched and bucked against yours. Finally deciding to, Su-Bong unbuttoned your jeans sliding them down your legs effortlessly, smirking at the lacey f/c underwear. He wasted no time ripping them off, lowering himself to be eye level with your pussy that was currently dripping onto his bedsheets. "Fucking fantastic baby" He whispered, spreading your legs as far as he could before slipping his tongue through your folds, gathering the wetness on his tongue before attacking your clit, nipping, sucking, and swirling his tongue around spelling his name out, while you tugged his hair screaming out his name, you weren't going to lie, you had been very sexually frustrated by Su-Bong, especially whenever he mistakenly went into the female bathroom at night right before you, so you knew he was packing large.

"S-Su-Bong!" You squealed, feeling yourself get closer to cumming, the tight ball in your stomach growing larger, the more you felt his movements against your desperate pussy, you lost it whenever he shoved his tongue inside of you, curling and flicking his tongue as he wrapped his arms around your thighs pulling you back down to his mouth. Your chants were going unheard on Su-bong's ears, he was too enthralled with your body and pussy and how amazing it tasted and felt, as he curled his tongue again and felt you squeeze around his tongue and pulled his hair he whined, grinding against the bed whispering soft begs under his breath. "Fuck! Please! yes right there! Oh fuck yes! Fuck yes that's such a good boy!" You screamed out, twisting your hand in his fluffy hair, Thanos let out a mixture of whine and moan as his dick twitched inside of his jeans, cum spurting out of the tip, getting trapped inside of his boxers and smearing as he continued to grind against the bed desperate for another release. You picked up on his demeanor, starting to grind against his mouth, moaning even louder "Fuck Su-bong! Such a good boy, keep eating your girl's pussy! Fuck make me cum like a good boy" You begged, squealing as his fingers pinched and twisted your nipple, his other hand using your free boob as a stress ball, twisting and squeezing as he continued to curl and twist his tongue inside of you, his hips grinding against the bed faster as he felt more liquid start to spill out of you "Fuck! Su-Bong! Faster please! Be a good boy for me and fucking go faster please" You half demanded half begged, Su-bong had fully switched though, desperate to please you in any way you ask, as long as he could hear those amazing words fall from your lips again. He grunted against your clit as you tugged his hair roughly, cum rushing into his mouth, filling his cheeks as he greedily tried to gather it all, whimpering as you pulled him away by his hair "Come here, baby" You whispered, watching him swallow your cum, making your stomach start to turn again, you slowly pressed your lips to his collarbone, sucking gently as you slowly traced a hand to his hard on that was prominently showing from his jeans, you could feel the dampness even through the denim and almost felt bad, here you just had one of the bed orgasms of your life, and he had to cum in his pants like an awkward teenager.

"p-please" His whimpers were soft, quiet, almost embarrassed as he grinded his hips against your hand "I will baby, don't worry..." You whispered starting to undo his button and zipper "What happened to thanos the great?" You teased, you could tell this was a different side of Su-bong, one you had never seen before "D-Don't care, just want to be your good boy" He whispered cupping your head in his hand as you moved onto your third hickey "Why don't..you be a good boy, su-bong, and fuck me" You whispered licking a soft stride over his bottom lip before wrapping your hand around his cock pulling it out of it's confines, you could see the glossiness of the cum from earlier, you could also see Su-bong's face go bright red, and him start to retreat, you caught his hands pulling him down onto his back, straddling him "What's wrong, baby? Cum in your pants like some school boy?" You teased softly, watching his face go an even deeper shade of red as he looked away from you "It's cute" You whispered grabbing his dick that stood at full attention, you kept your eyes trained on him as you slowly positioned your pussy over his dick and slowly pushed it inside of you. Su-Bong jolted, his legs bending and hands falling to your hips trying to lift you back up "What's wrong baby, talk to me" You whispered pressing your lips against his neck "T-Too good" He whined quietly "Aww, it's okay baby" You whispered kissing him softly as you slowly lowered yourself fully, letting him bottom out inside of you, Su-bong wouldn't admit it but he was already about to have his second orgasm, he couldn't help it, not only had it been a minute since he actually fucked a woman, but a woman like you who also likes calling him a good boy? he doesn't think he'll ever last over an hour with you.

Su-bong was a whining mess underneath you, trying to buck his hips or roll them, but you kept your pace steady, arching your back and moaning, feeling Su-Bong's hands cup your tits you rolled your hips against his "M gonna cum, y/n, please beauty flower, holy shit please" He begged, throwing his head back, you slowly leaned down taking a handful of hair tugging his head back watching him bite his lip harshly "Cum. Be a good boy, I wanna feel every bit" You whispered as you slowed your hips, Su-Bong took the hint and grabbed your hips, roughly flipping you over, starting to fuck you so hard you could hear the head board slamming against the wall, you tried your best to hold your composure but he was like a god in the sheets, one hand expertly playing with your clit while the other twisted and pinched both of your nipples back and forth. It all sealed your fate whenever he leaned over whispering in your ear "Am I your good boy, ma'am?" before kissing your deeply, not having any shame with how messy the kiss was. You both cried out as he came inside of you, he gripped onto your left boob tightly as he came, panting against your lips, you could faintly hear him chanting yes and please, and you could've swore you heard him call you mommy once or twice. Feeling the warmth spread inside of you, your body convulsed bending forward towards Su-bong's chest, he moaned out feeling you tighten around him, you squealed as you felt the cum drip from around his cock that was becoming hard again, intensifying any pleasure you already felt. Su-Bong shamelessly start to buck his hips again, turning into a blubbering mess of yes's and pleases and again you could've sworn you heard a mommy in there as well.

"Su-Bong fuck! I didn't say you could fuck me again, fucking slut" You grunted, pulling his hair back so you could see his twisted face "I-m sorry! P-Please your pussy- I-I can't" He begged, his hips twitching as he tried to pull out, crying out whenever you wrapped you legs around his hips "don't you dare fucking pull out" You growled, his cock was now harder than he had ever had it, at least he thought, and the way your pussy was wrapped around him made it feel like it was hard as a rock. You wrapped your arms around his neck, signaling to lift you, he did as he was told, whimpering as he tried not to fuck you crazy right then and there, you never spoke though, just pointing towards the wall. Walking over, and carefully setting you down he whimpered, and you could feel him almost lose his balance, you leaned forward, using your hands to stabilize yourself against the wall, spreading your legs and bending slightly, Su-Bong moaned again, placing one hand on your hip and another in your hair "Fuck me Su-Bong, make me one of your girls" You said lowly, that seemed to flip something in him, his thrusts becoming rough and fast, his grip tightening as he slammed his cock into you "You wanna be one of thanos's girls? Wanna be in the thanos world, baby?" He asked panting as his cock slid in and out of you, you couldn't speak though, just nodding your head "Let Thanos blow your fuckin world then, baby" He grunted, you didn't think he could be any rougher, you'd be lying if you said you didn't like it though, your back arched again and his grip tightened even more, you couldn't even tell he was cumming while his thrusted inside of you until you felt some drip onto your thigh "Fuck yea baby, you like that? you like whenever Thanos fucks you good?" He asked, you were so close, grabbing his hand from your hair you moved it to your boobs, he used the new vantage point to pull you against his chest as he fucked you. "You gonna cum, baby? Oh fuck yea you are, I can feel it, go ahead baby, let that feeling grow and grow" He whispered using his other than to ghost over your stomach "Feel your pussy trying to pull my cock deeper, like a desperate slut? Means your probably dripping right now" He whispered swiping a finger where your pussy and his cock met, pushing his finger into your mouth "Taste it? just the taste makes my cock hard" he whispered, your whines were getting more frequent and high pitched "There you go baby, squeeze my cock, ride it, use my cock like a toy" He demanded, pressing his hand onto your stomach, he gasped as he felt you squirt around him "Yess baby, let it all out, just keep ridin that dick" He whispered starting to thrust his hips slower to meet your hips bucking against his "Such a good slut for, Thanos, aren't ya?" He asked squeezing your nipple in between his finger tips, you whimpered leaning back and slumping against Su-Bong, he held you up effortlessly, slowly pulling out of you and helping you walk to the bed "Um...I don't..know how this really works..I'm getting some weed and some water..do you want some?" he asked, you smiled softly still trying to catch your breath "P-Please" You whimpered trying to find a comfortable way to sit, he was quick to come back and claim his spot next to you on the bed, handing you a water bottle with a quick peck to your lips "That was..fantastic baby..better than I ever dreamt of" He panted, you giggled, remembering to ask him to elaborate more on his statement later.

---

I need some holy water and JESUS

[hvnlygrl]

hii can u do rafe cameron

can u pls do soft!rafe cameron or soft!jj maybamk where reader and him get into an argument and then he storms out and then the next morning reader gets her period, and when he comes home he just sees her lying on the bed eith a heating pad so he decides to make her a cookie skillet with nutella in it and ice cream on top of it and when he gives it to her she immediately starts sobbing and covering her face with the back of her hand telling him how shes so sorry and that she wished she never foughr with him and then he just comforts her and helps her eat while they watch a movie

i take it all back.

pairing — rafe cameron x fem!reader

word count — 1.3k

warnings — lotta cussing, reader gets a little mean, argument between rafe/reader, hurt/comfort.

synopsis — after a fight with rafe due to your hormones during that time of the month, he goes out of his way to make you feel better.

notes — sorry i kinda went in a little bit of a different direction with this i hope that's okay! but the general idea is still the same... thank you for the request! it's such a sweet idea <3

it had never bothered you before, the sound of rafe on his game in the spare bedroom, but for some reason the loud sounds of him on the headset with his friends were driving you up the wall while you tried to watch your show in the living room. 

you sighed out in annoyance when you heard him for what seemed like the 20th time in 5 minutes, “GO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? TOPPER GET HIS ASS!” 

you clicked the volume up on the t.v. in front of you, head beginning to ache from the loudness of the show mixed with the loudness from the game room. you were unsure of how to handle the situation. you didn’t want to ruin rafe’s fun on the game, and you surely didn’t want to start an argument with him but you couldn’t take it anymore. 

you paused the show, stood from the couch and stomped your way down the hallway. you didn’t bother knocking on the door since you knew he wouldn’t hear it, instead opening it as soon as you reached it. “rafe,” you called out. no answer. he continued clacking at the keys on the p.c., shouting orders at topper and kelce over the headset. “rafe,” you called out again, quite a bit louder this time. still no answer. 

at this point you were fed up. you were unsure of where the blind rage came from, but before you knew it you yanked the headset from his head. 

“what the-y/n? what the fuck are you doing?” he shouts at you, his eyes flitting back and forth between the computer screen and your angered expression. 

“can you shut the fuck up, dude? i’m trying to watch my show,” you grumble at him as if it's obvious. 

“woah,” he cocks his head back at your statement, “chill out.” 

now you’re really pissed. “don’t tell me to fucking chill out!” 

“babe, it’s not that serious,” he continues clacking at the keys on the game. 

“it is that serious. you try watching your favorite show and listen to me hooting and hollering from the next room. it’s fucking aggravating and i can't take it anymore right now.” 

rafe rolls his eyes. “i don’t know what you want me to tell you, y/n, it’s really not that serious. i’m doing my thing and you’re doing yours. you don’t see me busting through the door to get on your ass about the t.v. being too loud.” 

you can hear the oohs and ruh-rohs coming from the headset, only adding fuel to the fire. 

“oh my god, dude, can you just act like a fucking adult for five minutes? you don’t have to play fortnite every single night with your gay ass homeboys. maybe you could spend time with your girlfriend instead of being on the game from the second you get home until hours after i fall asleep.” 

“that is so not true and you know it, bruh.” 

“if you’re gonna play the game and not even interact with me, then just go do it at your own damn apartment. i’m not fucking dealing with this right now. i have a migraine and i don’t want you here tonight.”

rafe can't ignore the pang that shoots through his heart at your words. “seriously? you’re kicking me out?” 

“yeah,” you mutter softly before leaving the room and heading back to the living room. cramps begin overtaking the muscles in your stomach, only adding to your agitation. you breathe out shakily, your throat beginning to tighten as you watch him grab his bag and storm out. 

once the door slams behind him, a wave of guilt washes over you, your eyes watering as you smack yourself for kicking him out. all you wanted was for him to stop being so loud and now he’s on the way back to his apartment, pissed at you for embarrassing him in front of his friends and for sending him home.

you lie down on the couch, allowing the tears to stream freely as your thoughts get darker and crueler toward yourself. you sob deeply, arms wrapped around a pillow until you finally fall asleep. 

about an hour or so later you wake up, shuffling into the bathroom, you notice your appearance in the mirror; cheeks puffy and eyes swollen from crying. the sight only makes you feel worse. you sit on the toilet, letting out a harsh sigh when you notice the blood that pooled in your favorite pair of panties. after already feeling like a piece of shit both physically and mentally, here was mother nature three days early, ready to screw you over even more. 

you couldn't help but tear up again at the inconvenience, suddenly realizing what happened tonight. you wanted to slap yourself for being so stupid and not noticing the signs, but you knew that it was too late now. after heading to your bedroom to find a new pair of underwear and shorts, and spotting the dirty pair before throwing it into the wash, you head back to the living room. 

your heart beats in your throat as you pull out your phone to text rafe. 

after the conversation with him you felt a lot better about the situation, but you were still feeling pretty upset. you rummaged through the kitchen, checking the cabinets and the fridge and freezer for any type of food that would satisfy your cravings. of course, you had absolutely nothing that would help. you sighed as you shuffled back toward the living room, opting to just lie on the couch and watch your show until you fell back asleep. 

you knew the thought was dramatic, but you couldn’t help but wonder when your life turned into this; alone in an apartment that was too big for you with nothing you wanted and no one to share it with. 

and then you heard a knock on the door. despite it being his signature knock, you couldn't stop yourself from checking the peephole, heart fluttering when you saw the blonde on the other side of the door.

you quickly opened it, a soft smile on your lips. “what are you doing here?”

“did you really think i was gonna let you be alone on night one?” rafe raises a brow at you before revealing two grocery bags he’d been hiding behind his back. he had made a run to the local store for all your favorite sweets, chips, icecream, drinks, and anything else he could think of. he even bought you a heated stuffed animal that could be thrown into the microwave and used as a heating pad.

“baby,” your lips curl down into a frown, eyes watering at the gesture, “you’re too nice to me.” 

“of course i am,” he chuckles as he sets the items down on the coffee table, “you’re my girl.” 

you watch in awe as he grabs your favorite cup, fills it with ice and pours your drink into it. then he grabs the stuffed turtle (your favorite animal) and heads to the kitchen to throw it into the microwave for a couple minutes. 

“get comfy, babe,” he calls out to you, “get your show set up, do whatever you gotta do.” 

you smile at him sweetly. “you didn’t have to do all this, rafe.” 

“i know,” he shrugs nonchalantly. “i wanted to.” 

“thank you,” you whisper when he brings the warmed turtle over to you. you moan happily when you stick it onto your lower abdomen, the sensation immediately easing some of the pain. “i don’t deserve you.” 

“sure you do,” rafe huffs as he kicks his shoes off and gets comfy next to you, “how many times have you taken care of me? saved my ass without me even thinking to ask you for help?” 

you nod, “yea, i guess you’re right. i’m sorry about what i said earlier baby, i take it all back.” 

“don’t stress,” he holds his hands up, “water under the bridge, my girl.” 

you smile at him, admiring his features before turning your gaze back to the t.v. and snuggling in closer to him. “i love you.”

“i love you,” he parrots back, hand rubbing at your lower back in the spot that he knows typically bothers you. 

-> back to masterlist

taglist — @lanasb0ngwater

[love-byers]

if you watch the rink o mania fight closely, you can see that mike only gets annoyed when will says "sorry if i wasn't smiling"

that's when he narrows his eyes and clearly has more to say but leaves it alone and says "yeah whatever man"

will 'apologizing' for not smiling annoyed him because that's not why he was upset. he was upset because he missed will and wanted to talk to him and had been looking forward to spending the day with him. he didn't just want will to smile, he wanted will to talk to him and engage with him, which will did not do. it clearly goes so much deeper for mike than will simply "not smiling", so much so that will saying that made him narrow his eyes, as if he can't believe will just said that, that he whittled it down to that.

now obviously that does not make mike innocent here 💀 the problem is that mike made no advance to show will he cared and wanted to talk to him/spend time with him. will had every reason to believe mike didn't want to talk to him after mike barely called and then brushed him off at the airport, so he just kept to himself thinking that's what mike wanted.

this is why mike later calls himself a self pitying idiot. will not talking to him only happened because mike brushed him off. why exactly mike did that is up for debate, but to me it's pretty obvious that he was feeling insecure about the nature of he and will's relationship, fearing that he cared too much about him or was toeing romantic. he also might've felt jealous because he thought will had not been calling him because he had all these new friends. act like you don't care. and then it just got worse because he wanted the painting to be for him and was disappointed to find out (assume) it was for another friend they'd be meeting that day, likely a girl that will liked. mike was so stressed, so worked up, so annoyed, so hot and bothered ALL DAY because of will. mike's WHOLE DAY was ruined, from the airport to the end of rink o mania. will's silence let mikes thoughts fester for far too long. he got in his own head and was so jealous and upset and hurt that he put all the blame on will and blew up at him, only to find out will had no intentions of ruining the day and was feeling rejected by mike himself. he felt too bad for himself to realize the whole thing stemmed from his own actions (the airport). and not only that, he also finds out will felt like he lost mike and that they weren't best friends anymore and puts the blame on mike.

will voicing his own feelings, expressing how he felt rejected and like mike didn't care about him because of mike's actions, knocked some sense into mike. it made him realize will wasn't out to get him, he felt the same way mike did. but unlike mike (who crashed tf out), will just kept to himself and stayed quiet. it allowed mike to realize he didn't need to be on the defensive front, there was nothing to fight or run from or protect himself from. it allowed him to make sense of how he'd felt the last 6 months and articulate it enough to explain himself and apologize to will.

yes mike was being a jealous dumbass that whole day, but it also went much deeper than that. he loves will and desperately wanted to connect with will and spend time with him, and not getting that made him MISERABLE. and for will to reduce that to mike wanting him to smile STUNG.

[world-of-wales]

LAURA WARSHAUER SHARED SNIPPETS FROM HER TIME AT ST ANDREW'S WATCHING WILL & CAT FALL IN LOVE ♡

Laura Warshauer had a front row seat as a result of her close friendship with the pair. Whether it was William helping to carry her luggage, Kate comforting her on a night out, or just having a quiet drink in a cosy corner of a pub together, those memories live on.

Her interactions with them are something few can share – teaching Kate how to play the guitar, William buying her first ever Jack Daniel’s and Coke, eating takeaway food together or laughing and joking during road trips.

Speaking about her time at uni she said :

‘I graduated from school a year early and then spent what would have been my senior year at high school in St Andrews. It was a beautiful moment in time.

I wound up getting a front row seat to the very beginning of what would become one of the greatest and most iconic love stories of our time. It’s great to see Will and Kate, the same people they were then, on the world stage.’

Talking about their form life, she recalls that she'd her mother’s lasagne recipe and her aunt’s toffee – for William and some of his friends as well as chatting with him during meal times in the ‘Harry Potter-style’ dining hall.

William & Laura sitting together for the art history 02 class photo (fun fact william changed his course like 2 weeks later to geography)

She said:

‘Will lived down the hall with two of his friends from Eton. Kate lived on the floor below.

‘I met them the same week they met each other. I was struck by how normal Will was. You could talk about anything – the most mundane things.

'Coming back from a trip home to New Jersey with my big luggage, Will would grab my bag and take it inside the dorm.

‘We were all just trying to find our way. Even if you’d been at a boarding school like Eton, people were still in a new environment.’

‘I remember I made dinner for everyone on my birthday in December and Will brought me a gift – a stuffed animal from Tesco.

It’s a seal with a blue backpack with stars on it. It’s in a place where I can see it every day and I’m like, “How cool”. It’s adorable.’

Laura said Kate and William had instant chemistry and fell for each other months before the 2002 fashion show where Will saw Kate modelling and described her as ‘hot’ :

‘We went to a party at a castle. It was a Harry Potter theme and they did an auction for charity where people were bidding to win a date. Will bid £200 to win a date with Kate.’

This is the Glamis Castle Birthday party from 01 where Catherine was pictured with Olivia Bleasdale

While Ms Warshauer doesn’t know what they eventually did for their date, she remembered Kate’s reaction was effortlessly cool – showing she was unfazed by titles and comfortable around him.

She spoke about Kate extricating William from an uncomfortable encounter:

‘It was early on when Will and Kate were getting to know each other. This girl was talking to Will, and he was being polite, but it was obvious he needed a way out .

‘All of a sudden Kate walks up from across the room, puts her arms around him and enables him to turn to this other girl and be like “I’m sorry, I have a girlfriend”.

‘And then he turned to Kate and silently mouthed the words “Thank you”. I remember thinking at that moment that no one but Kate could have done that.

‘They had just met each other but it was clear they had a connection.’

Speaking about her friendship with The Princess of Wales she said :

‘Kate saw that I was upset one night while we were out. I was walking ahead so people couldn’t see that I was upset and she came up and put her arm around me and said “I hate seeing people I care about upset”. You remember these moments.’

A photograph of Kate and Laura taken in the town’s camera shop in 2001 shows their friendship. A trip taken to find equipment for Laura's CBS audition tape filming:

‘As you know, Kate loves photography, she loved it then. Even in her dorm room I remember the beautiful photos.

‘She and I went to the camera shop together to get everything we needed and then she filmed the audition for me.’

Laura had shared a photo on social media of herself and Kate – taken at a 19th birthday party during their time in St Andrews – in a show of support for the Princess following her treatment for cancer.

This party seems to be Oliver Baker's birthday. He's one of W&C's close friends and one of George's godparents.

Speaking about it she said:

‘The interest is even greater now than it was the first time.’

Reminiscing about the party where the photo was taken, she remembers that she had just been to Paris to visit her sister who was studying there. The outfit she has on in the snap is one she bought during that French adventure.

Even that trip to Paris had started with another cherished moment with WillCat. She said:

‘Kate and I were supposed to ride a taxi to the airport together but then Will gave her a ride so I got in on it. I love how he offered her a ride and that’s how I got to go.

‘It was so cool to arrive in Paris and be like, “So guess who gave me a ride to the airport?”

‘The radio was on and Will was like, “Laura, you can sing with the radio”. It was just like popular music. It was sweet that he made that reference to me as a singer.’

[syndrossi]

Maybe where Dany is summerhalled alongside Jon and Rhaegar as their sister? 💕

I went with a Reverberate variant here, where Dany is their "triplet"! Why did they choose "Daenerys" for a name? *shrug* Maybe Jon mentioned it once as a name that he liked?

x~x~x

Daemon’s confidence after awakening as his younger self held until he finally confronted his wife at Runestone, where he was faced with not one pregnant woman but two. But they were twins, he thought with something almost like disappointment before shaking off the thought. The differing treatment his sons had received at the Gates of the Moon was cast in a very different light if Jon had always been Rhea’s trueborn son, hidden away alongside her sister’s bastard.

Still, his wife, for all her cold fury at his lack of remorse, agreed to the scheme. It was a far easier lie to tell with her own pregnancy to bear out the truth. Lady Elys preceded them to the Royce summer estate a full three moons earlier, long enough for Rhea to show her very obvious belly to those around the holdfast.

His brother’s raven came not long after with enthusiastic well-wishes and no small amount of smugness over his own role in the good news.

Then they were all at the estate—the Royce sisters, Daemon, Caraxes, a discreet handmaid of Rhea’s, and the former maester of Runestone, who had retired from his duties in his waning health to spend the last of his days at the estate.

Daemon found himself freshly unprepared when Rhea went into labor first and birthed healthy twin boys, dark-haired and fair—Jon and Rhaegar. If they are both hers, then why the schemes? Was she truly so cruel as to keep our trueborn sons from me? Or so bitter at her sister’s dishonor?

He awaited the outcome of Elys’s labors a fortnight later with apprehension. There had only ever been his sons, which meant that sorrow likely awaited.

But it did not. Eighteen hours later, he was holding his daughter in his arms, healthy and sweet, her hair and eyes nearly a twin to Rhaegar’s.

She could not have hidden you from me.

The thought came with dread. On her deathbed, Rhea surely would have confessed to him if there had been another child tucked away in another loveless household. If that had not been the case, if his sons did not remember their own sister—

Then she had died young. Taken, perhaps, by the same fever that took her mother.

x~x~x

For all the joys of his three children—triplets, as far as the world was concerned, and a marvel touted across the realm—fear constantly lurked beneath the surface. All three developed a fever and disconsolate whimpers at seven moons. It was merely the babes teething, he had been assured, and he offered them every relief that he could: corals, House Royce’s runed bronze rings, fresh cloth packed with snow, his own knuckles.

He learned the different sounds of each of them breathing, and often woke in the middle of the night with a terror that did not ease until he had identified all three.

His children took their first steps, strong and sure, and their personalities grew by the day. Jon was the wildest of the three, his mischiefs earning full-belly laughs from his brother and sister. Rhaegar watched both people and the world with the concentration of one trying to make sense of all that it contained. Daenerys—Dany to her brothers—was by turns willful and needy, upset when any of them disappeared from view.

Volantis came for his children, and he sent them back with a message. He kept the eggs, three this time, and dared to hope. A Targaryen child with a dragon’s egg—much less a dragon—was stronger than one without.

Spring Fever came four moons after the triplets turned two. Elys was spared, but Daemon watched in agony as each of his children took ill, one by one. Their fevers raged, and their sobs broke his heart as much as they comforted it, because it was silence that he feared most.

Jon recovered first, and was disconsolate at being kept from his siblings. His children’s hatchlings rested by their side, and he watched them just as closely, their lethargy a reflection of the children’s misery. Daemon sang by their beds until he was hoarse, and on the eighth day, Rhaegar’s fever broke.

That left him alone with his little girl, and the only time he spent away from her bedside was when he strayed into his own bedchamber, to the candle that the warlocks had left behind. He had thought about burying it somewhere, or melting it down, but he stared at the drawer that contained it.

If any could save her—

Her fever broke the next day, and his body broke with it. He remembered little of his own fever other than the terrible dreams, hazy and indistinct and brimming with grief and loss. He also remembered the sweet sound of singing, easing his heart to rest.

Daemon lived. And with each moon that his daughter lived, he slowly began to hope.

[thesleepyhollows]

Understanding Arkhamverse scarecrow.

I’ve been wanting to make this post for awhile. I think with the release of Arkham shadow we might finally have all the necessary pieces to understand the life of Jonathan crane, his motivations and his descent into obsession.

This scene gives us a lot to work with.

Let’s start with this. It seems like unlike some versions of crane who see fear as a tool. The true face of control and power. Arkhamverse Crane sees fear as everything. This has been observed all throughout the series. From him discussing how fear drives every human action in Arkham asylum to this line in Arkham knight just before he’s defeated.

Something else I noted in that clip was Jonathan immediately trying to rationalise and analyse his reaction to his toxin using fear.

Now we’re not quite sure what this original chemical of his does. Only that its intention is to trigger the shadow within people. We can assume through both his and Batman’s reactions that it aims to do this through a similar process to the future fear toxin. Bringing out and facing people with their deepest fears. Hoping they may become them.

Though that leaves the same question. Why jump to fear. He’s clearly talented in chemistry. Surly there would be more direct ways to bring out people’s demons rather than only focusing on a single part of the shadow. Well I believe that shows us even before this realisation Jonathan had some experience and issues with fear. It’s also why his greatest fear seemingly is just. Fear itself. The helpless fears given to us from evolutions and experiences long before our time. Inherent fears.

However we also shouldn’t disregard his fixation on the shadow itself. Why does he seemingly want to get people to become their worst selves. As seen in his tapes with Harvey. Why is Jonathan crane like this?

Well I think there may have been a time where he saw someone consumed by fear. Destoryed by it.

This could draw an interesting parallel to the story of Amadeus Arkham whose story started when he watched his own mother be consumed by her mental illness before ending up consumed by it himself. I think this parallel could make a lot of sense given that I’d argue although the joker plays a more personal threat scarecrow is the main villain of the Arkham series.

So allow me to tell you what I believe to be the story of Jonathan Crane in the Arkham series. Assuming that the brief backstory we got in his Arkham asylum character bio isn’t considered canon.

A parent or other caregiver suffered from great anxiety and paranoia that caused them to do great harm. Maybe overtime perhaps in one tragic incident. Jonathan internalised this and began to grow interested in the mind. Maybe it started with good intentions. After all he does claim to be helping people in Arkham shadow. Maybe that was a lie and he’s been twisted for a very long time. Who knows.

He began work at Gotham state university and we know how that ended up.

Though it’s worth noting he clearly was brilliant. So much so that this incident unlike most versions of the character did not get him fired because his classes brought the university so much revenue. Instead he left on his own accord to take over as head of rehabilitation at blackgate. An odd choice given the amount of institutions bidding over him. They were likely offering more, far more than the job he took. Though I think his motivations for this were split. Partly is of course the obvious motivation of easy access to test subjects that couldn’t easily speak out. We can see in the previous game that he was running controlled tests likely of the chemicals we see used in Arkham shadow and his subjects were willing participants.

Now either not enough people were choosing to participate or the effects were becoming so potent it risked drawing unwanted attention to his work.

The second reason connects to my proposed backstory. Maybe he was curious to explore how fear connects and causes crime and violence via the shadow. The chain reaction that begins WITH fear.

We then see the events that happen in Arkham shadow and we find out alongside Jonathan that he’s been inhaling his own chemicals during testing. Smart move there buddy. This sends him into a psychotic spiral and forces him to confront and become his greatest fear. His shadow. Fear itself. We can see that this truly set in given how messed up he looks the following day. Not to mention his actions becoming erratic. No longer thinking to hide his crimes until after he severely injures Harvey and huffing his own chemicals right in court.

Afterwards? We’re not sure. Of course he goes on to become the scarecrow then the events play out as we see throughout the rest of the Arkham games. He gets mauled by killer croc during the events of asylum and his previously smug and joyfully sadistic personality get destroyed alongside his face. The experience clearly changed him quite drastically as a person. Although clearly it didn’t shake his core ideals and beliefs about the all consuming nature of fear.

How pitifully ironic that this idea became true in the end. As he’s injected with his own toxins his mind collapsing and giving way to permanent insanity and terror. Fear really was everything Jonathan had left in the end.

[fryingpan1234567]

bodoc nation how we feeling

i present some not quite PG thoughts from someone who is halfway through iron flame

In my head Bodhi has GAD but maybe I’m crazy

His favorite place to bury his face (I mean… in a public setting) is the inked spot where Ridoc’s neck meets his shoulder 

Bodhi is COVERED in tattoos and Ridoc will get the random urge to just. Lick them. Someone save him he’s a horny idiot with minimal impulse control 

Let’s never ever forget that Ridoc has the sex drive of a teenager and Bodhi is like Xaden’s twin but somehow more possessive. Randomly disappearing for twenty minutes throughout the day and reappearing with obnoxious grins, making out in hallways between classes, PDA at 200% all the time

Also they have a bunch of weird hideouts only they know about all over the school they discovered while exploring together

Cooking together in the Aretia fortress!!

Tyrrish pet names 

Telepathically sharing notes in class

Telepathically flirting

They’re in each other’s heads

(Cuir and Aotrom are mated)

The dirty jokes don’t stop but while Ridoc’s are obvious, Bodhi’s are subtle and he says them with a straight (lmao) face so it takes a second for people to notice 

Bodhi needs a full night of quiet time and being wrapped around Ridoc like a sloth to cool down every time Ridoc comes back with fresh wounds from RSC so he doesn’t murder anyone

SPARRING SPARRING TROPES SOS SAVE ME

Ridoc giving Bodhi fuck me eyes across the cafeteria just to watch him spit his drink at Imogen sitting next to him

Bodhi sending an image of the position he’s gonna put Ridoc in later as revenge and Ridoc spills hot coffee all over his lap

Racing, both on foot and dragonback (Cuir and Aotrom are just as competitive)

After the first time Violet showed her squad the magic knife thing, Ridoc tried not to freak out when Bodhi gave him an exact replica a few days later

The hugs after they get back from battles… I’m unwell 

TRADING FLIGHT JACKETS. OR JUST RIDOC WEARING BODHI’S. BONUS POINTS IF IT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE LATE TO BREAKFAST AND RIDOC PICKS UP THE WRONG ONE IN HIS RUSH OUT THE DOOR. BODHI WHO DOES NOT ARGUE BECAUSE HE LOVES SEEING HIS NAME ON RIDOC’S BACK. THANK YOU

They’re always touching somehow their friends are so sick of them 

Studying together help me gods

“Hey you took this class last year, what was the Treaty of—“

“I’m not helping you cheat on your history homework.”

“What I’m hearing is you don’t love me.”

“You heard wrong.”

“TELL ME ABOUT THE TREATY.”

“NO??”

Freaking out over each other’s wounds, even if they’re minor

Yeah these two are just as bad as Xaden and Violet when it comes to… furniture usage (if not worse than, somehow)

Showering together help

The HORRIFYING, GRINCH-LIKE GRIN when Sawyer dropped to Bodhi that Ridoc was deathly afraid of snakes

MERCILESS teasing (about that but also just in general)

Just cause they’re perfect for each other doesn’t mean they don’t argue, cause they definitely do

Ridoc has a LOT of exes and Bodhi’s favorite thing is the looks on their faces when he fully just makes out with him in the middle of the courtyard

Ridoc has that Needy Cat Energy, but especially when Bodhi is in leader mode. There’s just something about it

Nightmares. They both get them. They know how to take care of each other.

Yeah affectionately Ridoc is an attention whore but lucky for him Bodhi is happy to give it to him pretty much all the time

Ridoc helping train some of the younger marked kids without Bodhi’s even asking him to or even hinting he needed help with them. He nearly proposed on the spot

Also Ridoc defending marked kids in general

Going to some bar/ dance club vibe over one weekend and both of them getting slightly drunk (Ridoc is pretty much wiped but we don’t talk about that) and dancing together 

Ridoc fell for Bodhi when he caught him laughing at one of his stupid jokes btw if anyone cares

Bodhi fell for Ridoc when he learned he’d gotten into a physical altercation with some jackass who said Navarre would’ve been better off if the marked kids were executed with their parents

Bodhi’s mom would’ve loved Ridoc btw ): I’ve never met her but I just know she would 

They’re almost the same height but Bodhi is marginally taller 

Sometimes Ridoc gets too antsy or fidgety and Bodhi needs to focus on whatever task at hand so he’ll kiss him to shut him up

Xaden coming to visit Basgiath before learning about Bodhi’s thing with Ridoc and seeing marks on his neck under the collar of his flight jacket like “NOT MY BABY COUSIN!!!!”

“I am one year younger than you—“

“I’LL KILL HER”

“Not a her”

“I’LL KILL HIM”

“Sit tf down we need to talk strategy”

Yeah they use regular pet names, and I already mentioned Bodhi uses Tyrrish ones for Ridoc when he’s feeling extra sappy, but sweetheart is used ONLY with negative connotation— teasing, fighting, sparring, name it

Too many inside jokes between them

Have y’all seen that one post about two characters stripping each other about to bone but they can’t cause they each have too many concealed weapons and there’s just a ludicrous cartoony amount of hidden weapons piling on the floor with their clothes

If that isn’t The Most Bodhi And Ridoc Thing I’ve ever heard 

[totallyjustabunchofhocuspocus]

Fic: Something to Sink Your Teeth Into 30/35

Pairing: Buck/Tommy

Vampire/Witch!AU

Read on AO3 (current chapter)

Read on AO3 (from beginning)

Why didn’t you tell me? You can’t expect me to believe she forbade you to speak immediately. From the very first?

Sally tried very, very hard to keep her voice calm, even. Tried not to let judgement creep into her tone, tried not to let a hint of the panic that was clawing up her own throat, choking her breath, show in her words or her manner. Sebastian was a weeping mess in front of her, nearly plucking his own feathers out in his despair.

I’m sorry! he wailed, his wings fluttering and flapping as he struggled to rein in his wild emotions. I swear to you, I never thought it would go this far. He wasn’t…he wasn’t like this at first. She thought she could handle it, she thought they could work through it, that he loved her enough to change. And then…and then when it got worse she was afraid of what it would mean for the coven, for her parents. For Evan. You know his family could make life even more difficult for Evan; we couldn’t…we didn’t want to risk it. I begged her, Sally! Please believe me, I begged her to ask for help. She bound me to keep silent the first time he left a mark. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!

Sebastian dissolved once again into great, hiccoughing sobs, and Sally was struck anew by just how damned young he was. One of the youngest familiars in the coven. Maddie Buckley was his first witch. His first experience with the sacred duty to guide and protect the practitioners of the magic they served that all familiars took up when they took physical form in the human world. His first experience, and he had to contend with…this.

She had never liked Doug Kendall. She knew his type—too in love with power and prestige and his own image for the meat beneath the veneer to be anything good. She’d counseled her witch’s sister to look elsewhere for a match as best she could, but Maddie had been too eager to escape the oppressive atmosphere of her parents’ house and her parents had been too eager to curry favor with the Kendall coven. Maddie Buckley, sadly, was not the first young witch to be offered up on the altar of coven politics and she would not be the last. Sally had not expected her marriage to be happy.

But she had not expected it to be violent, either.

She’d been arrogant, she saw now. So certain in her ability to take the weight and measure of any witch after so long on this plane of existence. Stupid. Stupid.

Anger warred with the panic that wanted to overtake her, her magic crackling and snapping beneath her skin. Fury like she hadn’t known in centuries pulsed in her heart, so intense she barely knew what to do with it. She could almost hear her mentors from centuries past whispering in her ear. Who does anger serve Sally? What does anger help Sally? Channel it, Sally. Make it productive. Anger wouldn’t help anyone right now…but it was better than the panic.

The problem was the obvious target for her anger was already dead…and so she was left to keep it from splashing all over every other available target.

She was angry with Sebastian. A familiar’s first duty was to protect their witch. There was no getting around the fact that he’d judged the situation between Maddie Buckley and her husband poorly; let Maddie’s desires outweigh what he had to have known was the best course of action and had failed in his duty.

She was angry with herself for not seeing signs that she absolutely should have recognized if she was so damned smart and observant. For not stepping in to help the woman she’d watched grow up, the woman her witch adored above all others in his life, even herself. For not realizing the desperate, foolish plan her witch had come up with to protect his sister until it was too late.

Heaven help her, she was angry at Evan. Why hadn’t he called to her when he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to just drive to his sister’s house and bring her back to their parents’ home? Why hadn’t he called? He knew she would have come. He knew there was nothing she would not risk, nothing she would not give up to protect him. Maddie had had no choice but to defend herself, and she would have stood proudly by her witch to testify to that fact. He had to know that. She was one of the few beings in the state that had the clout to even begin to mount a defense for Maddie, though it mightn’t have been enough. The laws around using your magic to take another witch’s life were strict and all but merciless, for good reason, but…

No.

No, she knew exactly why Evan hadn’t called for her.

She could have done more for his sister than just about everyone else in their coven, but there was still a very large chance that Maddie would be executed. She could not truly guarantee that Maddie would not have faced the death penalty, particularly with a coven and family as politically powerful as the Kendalls on the warpath, seeking revenge for their son’s death. Evan…Evan was still technically a child, by human and coven law. There were those on the Pennsylvania high coven that would push for his execution, as close to the age of majority as he was, but Sally was confident that they would be outnumbered by those who favored banishment.

Banishment.

Evan was facing banishment.

Her witch. Her little love. Grown so tall and broad now, but forever small in her eyes. The boy she’d practically raised—alongside his sister—since he was ten years old. And banishment was the best case scenario. She was confident that the high coven would not vote to execute a seventeen-year-old boy…but she had been confident that Doug Kendall was only a political animal. Not a monster.

Foolish. Sebastian had been so foolish not to tell anyone the first time Doug Kendall lashed out at his wife in anger. Maddie had not recorded any evidence of the abuse she suffered with the human authorities, using her own magic and training to treat the worst of her wounds and hiding the rest until they faded from view. She had never come to her coven for protection, had never lodged any complaint that her marriage—an alliance between the Buckley and Kendall covens first and foremost, with certain rights and protections guaranteed to her because of it—was causing her harm. There was no paper trail, no evidence, nothing they could use to claim Maddie was justified in killing her husband. Intellectually, Sally understood. Oh she understood how well shame and fear and despair could work to silence even the strongest person. But Evan was in danger now. She cared for Maddie, but Evan was hers.

Pull yourself together Bastian, she said firmly, forcing her anger and fear back under her control by sheer force of will. Neither would help her witch. There must…there must be some way out of this.

There had to be.

How? Sebastian sniffled, shaking himself again and heaving in great gulps of air, visibly trying to regain his composure. Neither of us were there to witness. Maddie…Maddie’s still ill from the drain defending herself put on her magic, but Phillip and Margaret are already spinning a story of her having a breakdown over Doug’s death and her brother’s supposed betrayal. With Evan already confessing, no one will push to question her before she’s recovered—there won’t be any evidence that she’s the one who expended the magic to kill him.

And Evan was well-known to be a powerful witch. A powerful witch trained by a veteran of the Annihilation, no less. No one would question why Evan was not an insensate heap on the ground after murdering another witch. Maddie was in no condition to call her brother’s story into question or confess herself, and by the time she was…

Lying to the authority of the high coven was not as serious a crime as murder…but it was not far off.

Sally had only seen her witch briefly before he was hauled off for questioning by the high coven. If she lived another thousand years, she knew the sight of him would be burned indelibly into her heart and mind. Pale and shaking, hunched in over himself so that even with his great height he seemed little more than a child. Bound and shackled like the worst kind of criminal, left to stew in his own fear in a hastily warded room in his parents’ house while the local covens worked together to ensure that the true nature of Doug Kendall’s death was hidden from the human authorities. Neither of his parents had even deigned to come sit with him.

To her dying day, she would never be able to recall the pain in his eyes when she approached him, the way they’d instantly filled with tears, the way he’d breathed her name like the sight of her was the only comfort he had left in the world to cling to.

And in the next breath, he’d forbidden her to help him. Bound her in silence the way Maddie had done to Sebastian. Tears spilling from his eyes, shaking like a leaf—but his voice had been steady and sure. He’d known exactly what he was doing, exactly what it meant. He’d had to have known she would wait to speak to him before she did anything, would want the full story so she could decide how best to approach his defense; minimize the risk to Maddie.

At every turn, Evan had orchestrated everything to protect his sister. Terrified and traumatized, well aware that he was risking death or banishment, he’d taken the terrible, terrible cards he’d been dealt and played them all perfectly in service of making sure Maddie wouldn’t suffer any consequence for defending herself. In any other circumstance, she would have been bursting with pride.

As it was, all she could be was worried.

Sebastian looked around the attic space where he’d spent years training Maddie Buckley, misery in every line of his body. Seven years ago, in this very room, Sally had first laid eyes properly on her witch…and felt something about him call to her in a way that no Buckley witch had in over fifty years. She’d known in that moment that he was hers. She was meant to train him, to protect him, to make sure he was ready.

Ready for what, she’d never been able to tell. Divination, true divination, was a rare gift…even moreso in this day and age, and one that had never run in the covens to which she’d pledged her magic. It was true, though, that all familiars were at least a little sensitive to the whims of fate. You had to be, when your entire purpose in existence was to guide young witches in service of magic. The currents of magic that flowed around Evan and off into whatever fate had planned for him were so peculiar. She’d noticed it the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. Logic would dictate that what she’d sensed were the remains of the terrible thing his parents had tried to do when he was only a baby—but Sally had never felt like that was it. Or at least, that was not all.

All she knew was that Evan was meant to be her witch. That she was meant to make him strong, that he needed the kind of training that only a familiar of her age and experience would have been able to provide. There had been many in the coven that looked at her strangely for the way she trained Evan. And the heavens knew she’d clashed often with Margaret and Phillip over the perceived old-fashioned nature of the education she was giving their son. None of it mattered. She knew in her heart she was doing what was best for her witch. Her finest and most favorite witch she had ever bonded with, in all the hundred of years that she’d been training witches.

She could only pray that she had done enough; that Evan would be strong enough to face whatever the currents of magic were pushing him towards.

Sally, Sebastian said miserably. What are we going to do?

For the first time in what felt like forever, Sally had no answer.

*

She had known what it would mean when—not if, she had never let herself entertain the notion that Evan would be executed—Evan was banished. She thought she had prepared herself for it. Told herself that as long as he was still alive, that was all that mattered. She was, when all was said and done, a product of war…even as old as she was, more of her life had been spent in conflict than out. She well understood that hope was only gone when you were dead. As long as Evan was alive, she could have faith that there was some way to fix this mess. As long as her little love lived, she could still have hope. When the high coven handed down the sentence, though, the full enormity of what she would have to do hit her.

She had lost witches before. Of course she had lost witches. Many. Some to age and sickness. Some to accidents. Some…some had died far, far too young, screaming their pain and defiance as they lost their lives to another damnable coven war. She had lost her first coven, her entire coven, in one of the opening salvos of the Annihilation and that pain had never left her. That wound had never closed. She knew the pain of coven bonds going dark. Slowly and gently as her witch left this world for the next at the end of a long life. Harshly and violently as the bond did not fade, but broke, a jagged, pulsing injury that left her reeling for days on end. It was not an unfamiliar pain.

But never, in all her centuries, had she had to sever the bond herself.

She sat in a vestibule of the Pennsylvania high coven’s meeting hall, separated from her witch as she had been from the moment formal charges were brought against him. Nearly a month since she had been allowed to speak to him, see him, comfort and guide him. Their bond felt stretched to the breaking point, for all that she knew that was mostly in her head. She had spent her days trying to project calm and reassurance to Evan, even as she grew more and more frantic in her search for some way to prove that Evan had not murdered his brother-in-law within the directive her witch had bound her to, to not speak of it.

She could not even encourage the investigators indirectly to look for other explanations—the investigation had been a farce. Over so quickly that it was obvious they had not even entertained the possibility of another explanation than the one Evan gave. Especially after Maddie was questioned and confirmed Evan’s version of events.

Sally didn’t blame her. Well. She was trying not to blame her. By the time Phillip and Margaret had allowed the high coven investigators to talk to her, the lie had already taken root. Confessing what she had done would have resulted in her death and Evan would have possibly been banished anyway. The purely practical part of her—forged to diamond-like hardness in the fires of the Annihilation—understood that Maddie had not had a choice but to go along with the story, and also acknowledged that Maddie was sick with guilt over it. She regretted dragging her brother into the mess with every fiber of her being and even if things somehow, somehow turned out all right, Sally knew that guilt would stay with Maddie until the day she died. There was only one person responsible for this entire mess, and he was dead.

Sitting here, flanked by the Pennsylvania high coven’s familiars, flanked by Doug fucking Kendall’s familiar as witnesses to what she was now required to do…it was hard to remember that.

Evan was banished. It was forbidden for a familiar to remain bonded to a covenless witch.

My lady, the sentencing is over, one of the high coven familiars said, his voice quiet. She was older than all of the familiars surrounding her by at least a couple of centuries. Most of them knew her by reputation at the very least, and their discomfort was obvious in every interaction. At least they had been respectful.

Hrmph, Doug Kendall’s former familiar, a creature named Ichabod that had taken the form of a copperhead snake. The younger familiars tended to be more free with the forms they took—eschewing older generations’ habits of choosing common, innocuous animals like cats, dogs, and native birds. One of the high coven familiars sat in the form of a peacock in the middle of Pennsylvania. At least Ichabod had chosen a native animal for his form. Banishment. Too good for the bastard.

Sally’s eyes found his, and she stared at him coldly until he shifted in discomfort and slithered further away from her. It was a terrible thing to lose one’s witch to death. Even the long-expected death of old age was difficult. To lose your witch to violence was a pain Sally would not wish on anyone…but nor did Ichabod inspire an ounce of her sympathy. Not when she had no idea if Doug Kendall had bound him to silence over his treatment of Maddie, or if the creature simply didn’t care. Not when he was so damned gleeful over Evan’s trial, over the possibility that he would be executed for Doug Kendall’s death.

My lady, the high coven familiar—Joseph? Jeffrey? He’d introduced himself, but she couldn’t remember his name for the life of her—said again, dipping his head in a small bow that somehow managed to convey both sympathy and an implacable expectation that she would do what he had been charged with witnessing her do. He was nearly as old as she was, probably a veteran of the Annihilation himself, and spoke in a stiffly formal, old-fashioned manner that she hadn’t heard for a very long time. No one had called her a “lady” in over a hundred years. You must sever your bond with the boy.

She swallowed, closing her eyes briefly as she tried to draw on the strength that had carried her through the centuries. Through war and death and fear and chaos. Through the world changing all around her in ways she could never have imagined when she first took physical form on this plane. Through every trial and challenge she had ever faced. She had lost witches before.

But not like this. Never like this.

It was Evan.

It was wrong. It went against everything she stood for as a familiar, every vow she’d sworn to the Buckley coven to be fair and impartial, to be a guide and always treat her witches the same…but Evan had always been different. She’d loved all her witches, it was true, but Evan had worked his way into her heart in a manner that none of the others ever had. None of the others had ever needed her the way that lost, lonely little boy had. None of the others had ever called to her the way Evan did. He was hers. He was hers.

Well? Ichabod scoffed, a greedy, satisfied light glittering in his eyes. He was enjoying this. Reveling in the fact that Evan was about to lose everything. Get on with it.

Ichabod, the high coven familiar—Joseph, his name was Joseph, it came to her—said, a hint of reproach in his tone. Give her a moment.

Ichabod hissed, raising himself up to sway menacingly back and forth like a striking cobra instead of a copperhead. Why should I? Her bastard of a witch is banished! He deserves every bit of what’s coming!

Bite your tongue, Sally warned, her body going still, her magic churning within her. Ichabod whirled on her, scoffing again.

What? Can’t stand the truth? Perhaps if you’d accepted the rot in him sooner, like the rest of the coven, he wouldn’t have— The rest of his sentence was cut off with a choked cry as Sally flashed forward, faster than he was expecting, faster than any of them were expecting judging by the startled cries that went up around her. Between one breath and the next, Ichabod was pinned to the floor, her claws digging into his throat as he hissed and thrashed.

Bite. Your. Tongue. Or I’ll do it for you,she said, her voice deadly even.

My lady, Joseph interceded, stepping cautiously closer to her. My lady, this isn’t going to help anything.

She glared down at Ichabod, at this creature who had known what his witch was doing to Maddie Buckley. Even if he was bound to silence, even if he didn’t realize that it was Maddie who killed Doug Kendall and not Evan…he had to know that Kendall had deserved it. She pressed down harder on his throat, just to watch his eyes widen, just to watch the fear start to creep into his gaze as he thrashed helplessly under her. Then she released him, stepping back to sit primly down and wrap her tail around her feet.

Out, she said, the cold of the between dripping from the word. All of you. Joseph will witness when I sever the bond. She sat herself up ramrod straight, meeting each of the high coven familiars’ gazes unflinchingly while Ichabod sputtered and spit, hissing in fury.

Agreed, Joseph said immediately, nodding sharply at his companions. Sally watched in silence as Ichabod was escorted out of the room. Only when she and Joseph were alone did she let her shoulders slump, her head hanging.

I…apologize, she said softly. It has been a difficult month.

I’m not sorry to see that asshole put in his place, Joseph replied with a small smile. His witch had been one of the strongest voices on the high coven advocating for leniency for Evan, and Sally found herself comfortable in his presence in a way she only really felt with familiars around her own age. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe justice is being served here. Your witch…Randall and I both have our suspicions about what happened, and why you’ve not contested his account. If it had been almost any family but the Kendalls…

The players change, but somehow the story always remains the same, she said tiredly.

Joseph was silent a moment. Then, You love him as a mother loves her child, my lady. That’s a dangerous position for any familiar to be in.

She laughed, and Joseph was politely silent in the face of how wet and ragged it sounded. If fate had given him a better mother, perhaps I wouldn’t have felt the need to put myself in that position. But I did. And I do not regret it.

I am sorry, Joseph said, and he sounded sincere. He bowed his head again, and then said gently, It’s better not to draw it out.

Sally closed her eyes again, taking a deep, shuddering breath. I know.

There was no other choice. Regardless of her age or power, regardless of whether or not the law was just or fair or even still useful, she had to follow it. A familiar could not be bound to a covenless witch. She had to let Evan go. Her eyes stinging with unshed tears, she reached for the bond that had burned in the back of her mind for seven years, brighter and truer and more important than any of the bonds she’d had in her long life. She curled herself around its warmth for just one moment more, wishing, wishing, wishing that she could see Evan again. Talk to him. Tell him that she forgave him…that she understood why he did what he did, and that no matter what she was proud of him for defending his sister so fiercely.

Evan would be kept under guard for the seven days and seven nights he had to vacate the Pennsylvania high coven’s territory. He would not be allowed to see or speak to any of his coven except for the last night, when he’d be allowed to choose one member of his coven to accompany him to the edges of their territory…if any member of his coven was willing. It would not be wise, given the optics of the situation, but she knew Maddie would be the one to take that journey with him. They’d find a way to hide it, somehow. It had to be Maddie, however much she knew that Evan would want them both. It could only be one of them, and she would never take the chance to say goodbye from either of them.

Even if it meant she would not be able to say goodbye herself.

The bond between a witch and familiar was not quite an empathetic link. She could not share her thoughts with Evan, or even much more than vague emotions. She opened herself to the bond now, concentrating on the love she felt for her witch—as Joseph had said, a mother’s love for her child. She just hoped he could feel it. That he would understand.

I’m sorry, little love, she thought to herself. She steeled herself.

Took one more moment to bask in the light of her bond with her witch.

And then severed it.

*

She had been loyal to the Buckley coven for over three hundred years.

Once upon a time, she had thought she would be loyal to them until the day she left this plane of existence. They had taken her in when she was still reeling from the destruction of her first coven in the beginnings of the Annihilation—given her a home, a purpose, a coven again. They had been friends, family. She had trained many witches in their line. Even…even when things started to go wrong; when she started to notice a growing preoccupation with reputation, prestige, and power among the coven leaders. Even when she found herself turning away from the idea of training any of the young witches coming up in the coven, instead devoting herself to mentoring new familiars that found themselves called by the magic they all served to take physical form on this plane.

She had still thought she would stay with the Buckley coven.

When she found Evan, she thought she had at last found a reason to become more fully integrated in the coven again. She’d been aware of the boy, of course—she knew all the young witches in the coven. She’d even been vaguely aware that his parents and some ranking members of the coven seemed to think there was something wrong with him. Or at least, they seemed put off by him. A few of her friends among the coven familiars attributed it to Evan having been born shortly before Philip and Margaret’s other son had died, and it had seemed a logical explanation. Awful. But logical.

And then she’d followed one of the young familiars she was mentoring to his family’s house, after he’d announced that his witch was calling for him and it felt like she was frightened. She’d had no idea how much that single night would change.

She had learned so much about the current state of the Buckley coven since that night. More specifically, she had learned much about what certain members of her coven were willing to sink to in desperation…and what other members of her coven were willing to cover up in pursuit of maintaining an image.

If she had not already bonded with Evan when she discovered that Philip and Margaret Buckley had used a forbidden ritual in an attempt to save Daniel Buckley’s life, she would have left the coven that night. What they had tried to do was a relic from some of the darkest times in history for witches…and should have remained there. Even when Sally had been young, covens had gone to war over such rituals. That they had been willing to sacrifice their child…that they had conceived Evan solely to be a sacrifice…

She might still have reported them to the high coven if she’d had any faith that Evan and Maddie would not have suffered any consequence. If she’d had any faith that the coven would have taken care of Evan the way he deserved to be taken care of, that he would not have been blamed for something that was never, never his fault. She didn’t, though. The fact that coven leadership had been willing to sweep Philip and Margaret’s actions under the rug to preserve the coven’s reputation was proof enough of that.

She…she had no faith in the coven anymore.

She had planned to wait until Evan turned eighteen, until he was able to be out on his own in the world before she did anything. But with her bond with Evan broken, with her witch already out in the world alone…what was she staying here for?

Maddie and Sebastian were the only ones she’d even spoken to with any regularity in the three months since Evan’s banishment. She tried to be gentle and understanding, but the truth was talking with Maddie was painful for her. There was too much guilt, too much uncertainty between them and Sally…Sally knew she should be the one to breach the wall that had sprung up between them. For Evan’s sake, for the boy they both loved so much, had worked together to raise. She couldn’t bring herself to do it, though. It hurt too much. She couldn’t bear to even look at Philip and Margaret. Ignored any overtures that Philip’s familiar tried to make. The other members of their coven seemed not to know how to even approach her.

Why was she staying?

The coven that had taken her in and given her a home during the worst moments of her life had changed almost beyond all recognition. What was keeping her here? What was she being loyal to?

She could move on to a new coven. Any would take her, would be glad of the chance to add a familiar of her power and experience to their ranks. She could start over somewhere new. Couldn’t she? Or…

Or.

The thought came to her in the late hours of the night as she restlessly paced the perimeter of the Buckley coven lands. And once it came, it would not leave. It was forbidden for a familiar to stay bonded to a covenless witch—and familiars needed a coven bond as much as witches did. Without a coven bond, a witch’s power would eventually fade and die, and until then the strain of casting would grow ever, ever harder to bear. For a familiar? A being made of pure magic? For a familiar to be covenless would eventually mean death. A return to the source of the magic they wielded. Death.

Peace.

Rest.

Sally had walked this plane for over four hundred years. It would take a long, long time for her magic to fade to the point she could no longer maintain a physical form. Years. Decades, even. She would have her magic long after even Evan’s faded.

Hadn’t she always sensed that Evan would be her last witch?

Evan needed her. From the very first, something about him had called to her, told her he needed her. She had sworn to answer that call—sworn to protect him and guide him for as long as he lived. He was her witch. He was her witch, and he was all alone in the world. She might not be able to maintain this form for the rest of his life, but she would not fade for a good long while. Hadn’t…hadn’t she served magic for long enough? Hadn’t she done her part to guide young witches, bring stability to her covens, mentored young familiars?

Couldn’t she give herself over to a life lived with her last witch?

The idea would not leave her.

She had no way of contacting Evan. Maddie said he had promised her he would call when his magic faded…the girl had some notion of giving up her own coven bonds to make her way in the world with her brother. A beautiful idea, but Sally was skeptical that the Buckley and Kendall covens would allow her to leave so easily. Besides—it would be years yet before Evan lost the last of his magic. There were scrying spells, locator charms, but all of those worked best in fairly localized areas. If Evan had traveled more than a few hundred miles away—and in her heart, she knew he would be forced to be on the move fairly constantly, always driven away from coven territories as soon as they realized his banished status—most spells would be about as useful as picking random cities and asking people on the street if they had seen a young man with a birthmark. There had to be a way. There had to.

As Evan’s familiar, there had been no distance too great for her to be able to sense him. Find him. He would have been able to call to her from halfway across the world and she would have felt it. She could have followed him anywhere. Without the familiar bond, he was lost to her. She could no longer sense his presence, his magic.

Perhaps it was fate that the answer came to her on the day of Evan’s eighteenth birthday.

For years, Evan’s birthday had been mostly a private celebration between him and Maddie. No gigantic parties attended by the whole coven. Occasionally he would gather friends from school and go out for movies or pizza. Mostly, though, he and Maddie would pile into her car and spend the day together—sometimes they went shopping, or to arcades or amusement parks, or just out to dinner at Evan’s favorite restaurant. She and Sebastian would follow along at discreet distances, content to just watch their witches be happy together.

Evan’s eighteenth birthday was supposed to be a day of celebration for all of them. The day Evan was finally free to make a life of his own choosing, the day Sally had planned to finally make sure his parents paid for the horrific thing they had done to him when he was helpless and dependent on them, the day that was supposed to be the start of the rest of his life. Instead, Maddie was forced to pretend not to acknowledge the day at all. The Kendall coven was still circling around her like vultures, under the pretense of ‘helping her through her grief.’ Gloria Kendall, Doug Kendall’s mother, was particularly…intense around Maddie. Sally wondered if the woman didn’t suspect the truth of what had happened to her son, and was just looking for some kind of proof to bring punishment down on Maddie’s head. She knew Sebastian was almost afraid to leave his witch’s side these days.

The other familiars of the coven were avoiding her, barely able to meet her eyes when they did happen to cross paths. Once, it might have wounded her deeply—but there was nothing that could hurt as much as knowing her witch was waking up to a world that would barely acknowledge his existence, let alone his birthday.

She didn’t know why she found herself in the attic where she and Sebastian had spent so many years teaching Evan and Maddie. Philip and Margaret didn’t like her showing up at their house anymore, though Hepzibah and Gregor rarely made an issue of it. There were other places that held the same kind of memories for her, other places that made her feel close to Evan just by being there. Better places, even, as Evan had never been truly happy in this house, however much she and Maddie had worked to make it otherwise. The attic was where it all began, where she had truly been introduced to Evan, where his magic—so much stronger than it ever should have been for such a terrible reason—had called to her for the first time.

She wondered, sometimes, what would have happened if Maddie had never chosen to try and cheer her brother up by casting with him that night. Would she have come across Evan in some other way? She’d always been aware of the children of the cove, of course, but she had not been looking for another witch to train at the time. She’d even had vague thoughts of officially announcing that she would only be mentoring the coven familiars from then on, fading into the background of the coven’s day-today life even more. If the finding spell Evan had cast that night had never gotten so tangled in the outsized magic that Evan wielded…

The realization was like being struck by lightning.

She had been curled up on the threadbare carpet where she’d sat with Evan so many times, teaching him how to harness the magic inside him, how to channel the immense power he held, but now she leapt to her feet. Her eyes darted around the expanse of the attic, her magic curling within her and reaching outwards. Evan was eighteen now. An adult, by coven and human law. And that meant…

The spell he’d cast that night Sally had first met him would have found its anchor and solidified between them.

Any other witch, any other witch, and any other familiar, it would have been madness to even try. The echoes of years and years of magic and spells were thick in the attic, layers upon layers of Buckley magic that never quite faded from such an established focal point. To try and find the echoes of a singular spell…to try and follow it. But Evan’s magic was stronger and brighter than anyone else’s in the coven. Sally was stronger and older than any other familiar in the coven. This. This was the way she could find him.

The finding spell he’d cast when he was just a child…a powerful tether he’d unwittingly created with a child’s simple wish to be loved and a level of power that ought to have been impossible. The spell had spiraled out of control in Evan’s untrained hands, but it had been cast. Sally had always known that eventually Evan would be drawn to the person the spell had tethered him to. It had never worried her—it had been a foolish spell for Maddie to attempt, but Evan’s innocence would actually have acted as a shield against many of the ways it could have gone wrong. The spell as Evan had cast it really would find the person it was meant to—someone who would love her witch the way he deserved to be loved. Someone who would take care of him and protect him the way he deserved to be taken care of and protected. How could she be worried about that?

If she meant to do this—she would have to commit. She would have to give up her coven bonds. She would have to take the risk that the tether that bound Evan to the person he was meant for would lead her far, far away. And she would have to follow it to that person. Trying to trace the magic back to Evan himself had far less of a chance of success when he was all but guaranteed to be constantly on the move. Once the spell led him to where it had anchored, there would be nothing left for her to follow…she could waste all of the time she had constantly playing catchup to him. No…no, better to find the anchor point. It would still be like searching out a needle in a haystack—heaven help her, it might take years to follow such an ephemeral thread of magic—but at least it was less likely to be a moving needle.

If she meant to do this…

She did. She did.

She had never seen the value in dithering over a decision once it was made. This place, this coven—it was not home anymore. Home was with her witch, her little love…wherever that ended up being. Even taking the time to tell Maddie and Sebastian what she intended to do seemed an unnecessary delay. They might try to talk her out of it—might even insist on trying to come with her. As much as she cared for Maddie, the purely pragmatic part of her was forced to acknowledge that she had to play the part she was playing right now. It was not safe for her to leave her coven and seek her brother out. It might not be safe for a very long time. Still…she would not be so cruel as to simply vanish, not when she knew exactly how important having any kind of connection to Evan would be to Maddie right now.

She didn’t dare leave anything so mundane as a note on the table—Philip and Margaret did not seem to venture up here often, but they did occasionally make their presence known. Sebastian knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t simply leave with no warning, though…and he would know to look in the between. A simple mimic burst, spelled into the between in the attic—something no one but someone who knew her well would think to look for. Something only Sebastian and Maddie would want to look for.

How had the coven she had loved for over three hundred years come to this?

There was nothing she could do about it now, though…and Evan needed her.

She closed her eyes, breathing deep, and concentrated on the echoes of magic that swirled through the room, seeking out the remains of the wild burst of magic that had first drawn her to her witch’s side. She poured all of her power into her senses, clawed for the echoes of the tether that would eventually lead her to her witch’s side once more. Her heart beat wildly when she found it, a shining thread of magic that she could follow. It was faint to her senses—and she could tell that wherever the other end of the tether was, it was very far away. But it was there. It was there.

Sally stood in the quiet of the attic, contemplating what she was about to do—what she was about to give up. This had been her home, her coven for almost four hundred years. It should be a harder decision, shouldn’t it? She should feel some reluctance, she thought. Some apprehension. But no…

No.

This course of action would lead her back to her witch’s side, where she belonged. Where she would always belong. What could compare to that?

Sally gathered her power and reached for the connection that bound her to the Buckley coven, and had for centuries. Allowing her focus to shift to the faint tether that would take her to the person Evan was destined to be drawn to, she closed her eyes…and let go of her coven.

Then she plunged into the between.

[courtesons]

Ethan honestly thought he could spend quite some time just watching Vincent and enjoying every reaction he had in these moments, the way goosebumps would dance across his skin or the way he would lean closer despite his better instincts or the way he'd have to clear his throat just to properly form his words. He loved every single moment of it and so much more. The man was beautiful when he was vulnerable like this and Ethan intended to explore that.

"Fine?" He repeated, a hint of amusement in his voice and tone as his hand briefly brushed against the obvious bulge bewteen those thighs of his. "I think your feelings on it are more than fine, Vincent" He remarked, purposefully using his first name while the other tried to keep things professional. "But if you like, I'll even let you pick which student we claim first - a show of good faith" He murmured as his fingers continued to dance across the man's body.

"Are you asking for one?" Ethan countered when Vincent chose to say he hadn't been given a reason yet. Not a denial of wanting one or that he didn't want this...a very telling choice of words. "Was it thwating your schedule or making sure you were always coming to me, just like were you really that upset...or using it an excuse to come to me?" He murmured, voice low and intimiate. "You want a reason? I'll happily give you the most important one of all..." He trailed off, another tug on the tie so their foreheads were pressed together.

"Because with that word it's not just something dirty to say for a bit of fun, but something I take very seriously. Because you're not just some prize or fun distraction, you're the whole prize Vincent" He murmured, lips finding the man's ear. "Just as you'll get used to the feel of my bed sheets gripped in your hands, you'll be familiar with the smell of breakfast in bed and kisses in that spot of your neck that you love the most, once I find it" He murmured, lips dancing across the man's neck.

"No more having to find this side of yourself, it'll be all mine to take care of" He murmured against his skin before pressing his hand to the man's chest and guiding him to lay down on his back on the desk as Ethan loomed over him. "My Vincent."

his body did not know if it wanted to lean back against the desk or inch forward towards ethan. there was no safety in either direction, especially when ethan--professor woods--held onto his tie like a pet. not with the way his hands freely roamed across vincent's body. each touch sending a trail of goosebumps and shivers in its path. his jaw tensed as their noses brushed against one another, the musky scent of the man filling vincent's nostrils. intoxicating and lulling him further in towards this professor's allure.

"fine," he managed to reply firmly, throat clearing just briefly. the idea piqued his interest enough and though he was unsure if ethan truly intended to carry out this master plan of his, vincent could at least cross that bridge in the future. faces of potential students flashed across his mind, a mental image of the two of them putting said student to good use with one in front and one behind. the image shot right down to his cock, causing it to twitch some more.

"yours?" he scoffed lightly at how easily ethan already convinced himself of such a notion like it was an inevitability. vincent disliked this man and yet as each second passed, he could not resist the feeling that he wanted ethan in this very moment. that alone infuriated him some more as he tried to recall the initial purpose of his visit here in this office. all he could think about, focus on, was the way his breaths grew shallow, how close their bodies were, how hard he felt. "you have not given me any reason for me to want your ownership." his words low and rumbling from his chest. he found his hand moving on its way, skating up ethan's chest before resting along his arm. "especially not when you continuously thwart my plans and scheduling."

[seagreenstardust]

Izuku spends the entirety of MHA showing and telling us that Katsuki is his most important person.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Pages from trying to keep a little sketchbook-scrapbook type thing going for two weeks lol. I gave myself specific rules in hopes they might all end up more cohesive/consistent seeming, but alas, scribbly chaos reigns, it seems

[allamericanb-tch]

that one scene in gravity falls where stan tells ford mabel and dipper are their younger brothers grandkids. the one scene we see shermie, he is a baby while stan and ford are around 18-19 and we’re just going to say the year is 1970 (or sometime around there). 20 years later (1990) shermie would be 20, and NINE YEARS LATER (1999) dipper and mabel are born. in 2012 (when the show takes place), shermie would be about 40, and he has two 13 year old grandkids ???

[6mayhem]

anyway i need to hang out with my brother again he is the one person who i am pretty sure knows literally everything about me so he's the only person i trust that i can absolutely not disappoint. nothing i can do could be worse than the sum of everything i've been doing to that poor man (and him to me) the past 19 years

[explode-this]

.

[ncytiri]

how are ppl still talking about oppenheimer so incorrectly.