#jay had a hair straightening phase

[kopibihun]

kinda old ninja doodle dump i just kept adding to in my free time

[tzyuki]

hello! can i request enhypen members trying to style their s/o? (doing their hair, picking their clothes etc.) thank you and i love your works 💗

— (06.05.23) ENHA-QUESTS

IN WHICH ✶ enha styles their s/o!

genre 𓏸 ͘ ࣭⸰ enha x gn!reader. fluff fluff fluff!!!

warnings 𓏸 ͘ ࣭⸰ swearing, if any more please tell me!

ej note 𓏸 ͘ ࣭⸰ hi anon!!

⏤ ☆ yang jungwon / 양정원

jungwon would style you in a cute little beanie and like a comfy sweater, something very chill so you guys can hangout and you’d be comfortable!

⏤ ☆ lee heeseung / 이희승

one time you let heeseung pick your hairstyle and now it’s his favorite thing to do. he even asked you to teach him how to braid so he can help you when you’re struggling or when he just wants to play with your hair and braid ittie bittie braids.

͏͏⏤ ☆ park jongseong / 박종성

jay loves to pick your outfits, atp he’s your own stylist . before going out you always ask for his opinion because you trust him and know he’s not gonna let you leave the house looking a mess, you’re honestly thankful for that. although one time he was having a phase with mismatched colors and let you go out wearing orange shoes and a blue shirt.

͏͏⏤ ☆ sim jaeyun / 심재윤

jake likes to pick out what shoes you will wear bc he likes to match them with his outfit. he also likes to match your outfits up without you knowing so. he’ll make up some dumbass excuse like “omggg whattt noo i didn’t purposely match us. i planned this outfit last night.”

͏͏⏤ ☆ park sunghoon / 박성훈

sunghoon also likes to style your hair, he likes to play with it, tie it in little pigtails, braid it, curl it, etc. you were shocked and surprised he knew how to do so much with hair. he says it’s because he did his little sister’s hair growing up but in reality he had sunoo teach him how to do everything to impress you.

⏤ ☆ kim sunoo / 김선우

sunoo loved to style your hair as well. he liked to straighten your hair and put pretty little clips on it. he would put matching ones in his hair to twin with you.

⏤ ☆ nishimura riki / 西村 力

riki liked to style and buy you with jewelry because he thinks it completes an outfit. you barely owned any, only a couple of necklaces so he bought you some and would tell you which one to wear with what outfit.

enha-masterlist — permanent taglist (open) ; @jangwonie @cwsana @luvyrin @amara-mars @ineedaherosavemeenow @mintydayeon @love-4-keum @kpopx-xlover @abdiitcryy @beepjeongie @ox1-lovesick @ja4hyvn @shinsou-rii @winkura @ddeonudepressions @tnyhees @wannabeyn @kpoprhia @svnghoonsonly

[centeris2]

(belated) impressions, thoughts, ideas, etc about the Dark Riders + their redesigns. Under the cut because I'm sure it'll be long af. Now I wanna talk about how I’d redesign the soul riders but that’ll be another post

tl;dr - Basically I have an icky vibe, not because of any single design but because collectively, compared to the soul riders, they are more diverse. Which gets into vaguely icky "gender non conforming/not being Pretty Obvious Ladies is a Villain Trait." I doubt it was intentional but it is a shame that the soul riders are all basically, well, gender conforming and traditionally pretty. Their body type differences are extremely minute to me, I could only see the differences when looking at their nude models. But the dark riders are all radically different in body shape and color. Hell even Katja, the 'white' one of the group, falls more into the albino category, which is isn't great given albino characters are generally villains. It's a shame that the Soul Riders didn't get the variety in body type and gender presentation, at least they get points for making Lisa visibly hispanic (even though her mother had a canon appearance and I miss her spiky bright red hair rip). It seems like it accidentally reinforces the terfy "(traditional and proper) Girls Only Power!" feeling that SSO is developing. Only girls can be the heroes, if you are gender non conforming or don't fit into the acceptable Pretty Girl mold you're a villain.

Sabine

First impression: Wait why does she look like XCX Charli, whose music gives me Sabine vibes (especially Vroom Vroom. I can not explain it). I imagined she could straighten her hair or leave it super curly. This has to be a look that she'd pick after pretending to be a high school student, not before, especially with the face scars. Why any scars when you can choose your physical appearance? When you literally imagine and shape the body you are walking around in (and it isn't your true physical one) would you have any true scars? So it's just cosmetic to look scary then. Aight. Why is she giving me Native American vibes. Skin + cheek bones + super straight black hair in a braid(?) or impressively held together ponytail I guess? Can she ride a motorcycle may as well go all out. She should absolutely have a motorcycle. I appreciate the muscles and height, just wish one of the soul riders had a similar build. Why not Alex? Alex could be tall and buff.

Jessica

First impression: tf. what does SSO have against highly feminine characters? first Anne now Jessica? Also hold on Jessica looks like one of Garnok's human forms what. That's. SSO how do you keep reading my mind and using it in strange ways???

For real though, first Anne is rewritten so she doesn't like being a model or her appearance and she's super smart, and now Dark Princess Jessica is switched into nonbinary(?)/androgynous(?) territory? Sabine feels like a better option for going androgynous/masculine. Or Chiyo! They literally have a blank slate for a fourth dark rider! Instead it just seems like SSO is just another "Girl Power! But not that type of girl power!" as if enjoying make up or being highly feminine or focusing on your appearance automatically makes you a bad woman. Like I get them not wanting Anne to be a snobby bitch (though she wasn't one by the end of the Starshine Legacy games anyway since she made friends. growth!) but they could have left her wanting to be a model and make a career out of fashion/her appearance. I'm getting off topic. Kinda. Feel like it's the same deal with Jessica, can't have a female character that is a princess (think of how many movies, including recent disney movies, scoffing at princesses, with the female protagonists insisting no of course they aren't some weak, useless princess!). Literally just let Jessica still be super feminine, she was the only one established to be super feminine with the Princess thing. Like yeah sure I can come up with stuff in my fics for why Jessica has a Jay phase but that's not gonna be a thing in SSO. Let's experiment with gender, but only when it's a villain >.< (I'm not counting Concorde because as soon as characters find out Concorde was born a filly it's all She/Her pronouns. Shame Concorde can't talk yet and tell everyone hell nah I'm a Stallion.)

I didn't expect Regicide to be her official horse's name but I'm still sad about it. But that's what fanfiction is for! He'll always be Regicide in my heart.

Katja

First impression: we've been seeing this exact same teaser art for years there are no surprises here. Guess she's not pretending to be a model anymore, or she's a somehow younger looking model. Idk how she looked older in the Starshine Legacy games but she did. Wish all the dark riders had musical instruments with them, be funny if my Dark Chord headcanons were accurate, at least in them all having some musical skill. I guess Stalker wasn't a Kid Friendly enough name, what a shame.

Chiyo

First impression: what happened to Elise? We literally only had her name? Okay whatever SSO guess we have Madison's evil twin now. Of course the Asian coded character has purple hair, but the others all have natural hair colors. Give Jessica a streak of green so Chiyo isn't the only one with unnaturally colored hair won't ya? And why is she presenting as a child is she trying to not get taken seriously? Adults are just gonna try to put her into school. Whatever as far as my fics and headcanons are concerned EliseChiyo doesn't exist. Or at least not as a general. Is her causing discord in the group just because she's a literal child that 3 immortal generals have to work with for some ungodly reason? I'd be pissed too if one of my coworkers was a 10 year old with a hobby horse pretending to be a leader. Is that how generals and advisors felt when a child would take the throne in a country?

The real question is will SSO change "Elise" to "Chiyo" in quests, or will they forget.

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

in honour of the rawring 20s, more cringy things from my emo/scene phase, a semi-masterpost:

•putting the you me at six lyric “whose keeping a score of who is a whore??? i know you don’t!” as my myspace header in japanese…… so the girls in my year at school that i thought were “whores”, and didn’t like them bc of that, wouldn’t pick up that that i was aiming it at them. like being a weeb and a scene kid douchebag???? they don’t mix lmao.

•screaming “IF YOU HAD A SEX LIFE, A SEX LIFE WOULD YOU EVEN WORRY ABOUT MINE WHEN YOUR BED IS EMPTY???? YOU’RE A WASTE OF TIME!!!!” from the song sex life by d.r.u.g.s (destroy rebuild until god shows) through the halls of catholic school in year 10/2011 to try to ~subtly~ and bitterly flirt with my crush lmao. like honey. chill the fuck out!!!! you’re 15!!!!! not many people have a sex life at 15 anyway lmao

•my uh. jeffree star music phase in 2007

•i’ve mentioned this before but wanting to score my entire year 10 drama shakespeare monologue with emo music and my teacher having to block the idea constantly bc “it’s good enough on its own! i swear to GOD!”

•taking a studded belt to school on the 31/10/2009 bc i had to get ready for amity affliction at my besties house that day after school so we could head up to sydney that night for the concert. saying shit about having a studded belt made me hardcore and wanting to punch people in the face with it bc it was some dumb reoccurring theme i had

•watching the music video for one love by aiden on my ipod nano at school and telling everyone about jeffree star’s i hate you ring in the video and how if i ever had it i’d punch all the people i hated in the face with it….. and then they’d be branded for life with the fact that i hated them?????? like bro. i KNOW you are the embodiment of angsty harry potter from HP puppet pals. but literally!!!! calm the fuck down!!!!!!

•i’ve talked about it before, but breaking up with clear braces boy and immediately demanding him to “hurry up and listen to a day to remember bc they’re fucking amazing!!! and you know i’m motherfucking right!!!!”

•taking 3 hours to straighten my hair just to go swimming….. then like someone pushing me in a pool or the surf (if we’d gone to the beach) and RUINING MY PERFECTLY STRAIGHTENED HAIR AND MY AESTHETIC!!!! HOW DARE YOU????!!! you KNEW you were going swimming girl. why the fuck did you bother to straighten your hair anyway, lmao???

•the whole cringy thing of me wanting to work in the CD shop sanity just so i could play a bunch of emo music and have some cute heavily tattooed emo boy/guy in his skinny jeans, slouchy beanie/now gross beanie hat type thing and band shirt come in and mysteriously fall in love with me….. and then kiss me to “kill me in a record shop” by boys like girls… or like alternatively i’d be making out with my hot older emo coworker in the back to the same song or some other horny emo song anthem/s 😂😂 same went for JB hifi when they came along and started stocking all time low and cute is what we aim for cd’s 😂😂😂 the hot emo bro would also teach me to skate as a bonus hobby outside of work. like KILL ME NOW!!!!

• alternatively to the above, i’d just magically have a hot emo boy boyfriend who was preferably the singer in the band…. but also could play guitar and could hardcore scream really well….. when like the bulk of those dudes were literally in their 20s 😂😅. on this point, teen emo me believing that her liking 20something emo dudes who were covered in tats and piercings and wrote ~hella deep~ lyrics etc etc just apparently made her more mature than the girls in her year at catholic school who liked justin bieber or one direction (who were literally the same age as us lol). like girl no. if those older dudes hit on you, IT’S A RED FLAG!!!! FUCKING RUN!!!!

•wanting to take my edgy pop punk road trip to a town 8 hours north from where i am as soon i got my licence and stuff… also the whole moody thing about ~crashing my car just to feel again~ theme i had going on 2011/year 10 in my teen mental breakdown phase in regards to getting my licence bc i was so desperate to do something ~reckless~

•basically a good bulk of my high school statuses tbh

•me taking in the same 3 pics of the same 3 scene queens and hayley williams (and cassidy pope, once) into my hair dresser EVERY 8 WEEKS to get my hair cut just like them 😂😂 i even updated my facebook status in year 9/2010 once with “got hayley williams hair cut today :D :D!!!!” i swear to god my hairdresser got so sick of me taking those pics in lmao 😂😅

•stage diving at a local amity affliction show in 2010/year 9 and going straight to the fucking floor bc i accidentally jumped into a hole in the crowd…. but i suppose it’s bc i was the biggest wanker at the show bc….. before we went in, i was bragging hella loud about how “hardcore” i apparently was 😂😂

•using my hot topic dress in my year 10 drama monologue bc i thought its steampunk style was elizabethan enough when paired with my black marching band style jacket (that i used to imitate black parade era mcr) and a pocket watch that was a tiny moveable robot. and also my trusty red flanno shirt from jay jays

•wanting entire clothing lines from certain band members from certain labels. and most especially booty shorts with the persons name (most frequently a dude) plastered across my ass 😂😅

•wanting the entire mid2000s line of drop dead merch. also bbycks (baby cakes) and zumiez etc etc. also glamor kills.

•desperately wanting my bra to be on a mic stand of a certain band dudes mics (just why lmao)… or on certain band members mics lmao (also just why)

[mcfanely]

Prince Cole, the Quiet One

Since I’ve been thinking on this idea for the past few days and couldn’t get it out of my head, I had to write something for it. In this AU, Cole takes the role of Harumi.

Cole has always been the Jade Prince, he’d been born into the role; yet being a ninja had always taken priority. Though, after years of being pushed to the side, ignored and having his problems not taken seriously, his opinions not taken into account by bother his father, the Emperor, and his teammates; he’s tired. 

And he won’t be ignored anymore. He won’t be silenced.

The Quiet One, 1613 words

"The mask of hatred... We've found it." Cole laughed, and he had to laugh. After all this time, after all this stress and false leads and simply not knowing where to go, the final mask was right in front of him.

Right there. Shrouded in purple energy.

Lloyd smiled too, but it was probably due to a different reason. They'd beaten the Sons of Garmadon, they weren't going to win and carry out their plan; that was most likely the reason.

In that moment, though, Cole had won. No one else, not the ninja, no one.

Him.

He just needed the mask.

"Lloyd, you can take it. Your Oni blood will let you take the mask."

And Lloyd turned, he faced the purple field with a set gaze and Cole swallowed hard. All this time, all of the lies and the struggle, it would be over! He could finally get what he wanted, bring back what was taken from him.

Then Lloyd took hold of the mask, and pulled. The purple light flared for just a second, but died down just as promptly; and the mask was free.

Cole took a small step forward beside himself, he just wanted a proper look. "The last mask..." He shook himself, "Come on, let’s head back to the Bounty. Before the Sons of Garmadon find out we've got the last mask."

He reached over for the mask, subtly. Like, why would he not want to hold it? Lloyd could take the lead, focus on getting back to the Bounty safely, and Cole could carry the mask.

Then Lloyd shifted away, moving the mask with him, and with a slight bit of confusion, he questioned, "How did you know... That I was part Oni?"

Cole just raised an eyebrow after a second, as if it was obvious, "Lloyd, you're the grandson of the first Spinjitzu Master. He's an Oni, you're part Oni."

"But, at Mistaké's, Jay and I found out. And we didn't tell anyone, it wasn't important at the time..." Lloyd faltered, they hadn’t told anyone, "We didn't even mention it."

"Jay told me." Cole shrugged, but his eyes flickered between Lloyd's expression and the mask. At the shock that was there, the confusion.

The dawning realisation.

"Lloyd, just give me the mask, we need to get going--"

"You're the Quiet One..." He whispered. 

All that could be heard in the cavern was the sound of dripping water. The echo of the river running outside, and their joint breathing. Deep, fast. 

Cole swallowed hard, but put on a small smile, "What? Lloyd, come on. That's a stupid idea." 

He advanced, Lloyd just stepped further away. 

"Why would I be the Quiet One?" 

Lloyd paused, and Cole could tell he was thinking. Thinking of a reason, an explanation of his accusation. 

"I don't know... But Cole, you're the Jade Prince. You're a Ninja! But you knew about the mask, you knew where the map to it was.

"It wouldn't be the first secret you've kept from us-"

Cole's gaze snapped up to Lloyd at those words. The first secret? The fact that he'd kept it from them? That he’d kept everything from them?

No, he didn't keep secrets. He didn't lie to people, not really. He wouldn't have to if he knew that he could trust them with the truth. The reveal of him being the Jade Prince had only been a source of jibes and ridicule. Jay had laughed at the situation, right in front of his father.

Was there any reason why he should have told them? The Sons of Garmadon knew, they knew every part of his life. Everything.

Whereas, the ninja, his supposed friends find out one thing about him and suddenly that's all they tease him for.

Is it any wonder why he kept things from them?

And if he'd told them, would they have cared. Taken an interest? Cole knew that he wasn't the most liked ninja; in the sense that if he asked anyone of his teammates who they cared about the most, Cole wouldn't be at the top of anyone's list.

He was in the background. He was ignored and pushed aside and almost forgotten about! He got turned into a ghost and no one seemed to care how he felt; and between his life at the Palace, at the Monastery, and with the Sons of Garmadon, he was being pulled in so many directions and he was so exhausted...

Yet, no one asked him if he was okay. No one acknowledged the bags under his eyes or the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Me, keeping secrets?" Cole laughed beside himself, though it wasn't jovial. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes. They really didn't understand. 

They didn't know what they'd done-- or not done. 

"I've never kept anything from you guys. The idea of a secret is something that I keep hidden actively from people. That is unseen by others." Cole grit his teeth, glared at Lloyd. "You don't pay attention, no one cares enough about me to even class it as a secret. No one looks at me and wonders if I'm okay, wonders if I'm keeping things from people-- no one wonders because no one cares!" He shouted. 

The ground rumbled in unison, powers fuelled by Cole's frustration. The hurt. Lloyd stumbled back. 

"Cole--" 

"I'm invisible to you guys! Always the last one you think about, the last one you notice!" There was a short crack in his voice. He threaded his fingers through his hair, pulling. Everything was coming rushing out, all because Lloyd had to pick the wrong thing to say. 

"So what if I am the Quiet One? I've been silenced my whole life! By my father and my role as the Prince, by being a Ninja and not being able to tell you who I really am! By being the least important! No one listens to me!

No one notices that I'm in pain and I'm so exhausted that I can't even keep myself awake half the time!"

Cole advanced forward faster, and Lloyd moved the mask behind his back and maintained the distance between the two of them.

"Cole… We didn't know you felt like that." Lloyd said, placating. "If you'd just come and told us, told us how you were feeling, who you are, we would have helped you! We would have listened, understood!" 

Cole grabbed for the mask and Lloyd tripped backwards, hitting the ground, Cole just stood over him, his shoulders heaving, his eyes burning with tears that were quickly threatening to spill. 

"So you could laugh at me?" He shouted. "And don't tell me you wouldn't have, Jay did! In the throne room, in front of the Emperor, my father!” Cole jabbed a finger at his own chest, “So you could dismiss my feelings? Get caught up in some other worldly problem or someone else's issue?" 

Lloyd looked hurt at that, and gathered himself up off the floor, "We're your friends, Cole! We may not get it right all the time but we're here for you! We care about you, and whatever this Quiet One phase is, whatever the reason behind it is, we can help you." His eyes moved down to the mask in his hands, before he gripped it tightly. 

"Why do you want the masks? They can resurrect people, why do you want them?" The question was carefully measured, quietly spoken in the expanse of the cavern. The atmosphere was still thick, tense, but Lloyd was trying to calm it. Calm the situation.

"Because with the masks, I can get the one person back who actually cares about me." Cole swallowed around the lump in his throat, he could feel a tear fall free and track down his cheek, he just wiped it away and held out his hand.

"Give me the mask, Lloyd."

"Tell me who you're resurrecting-- Cole, tell me everything. We can sit and talk, figure this out. This doesn't have to go any further than it has done, you can stop right now. This whole thing can stop."

Lloyd, always the talker. Always words before actions. 

"I want my mother back." Cole ground out after a second of silence, his head dropping forwards a little. He didn't need Lloyd to see the pain on his face. He didn't want anyone to see the pain he felt inside.

Lloyd's eyes widened. 

Cole just straightened up after a moment, he eyes the mask but his attention was mainly on Lloyd. At the fact that he was listening. 

Or, at the fact that it took deception and lies and a severe betrayal to finally get someone to listen to his plight. 

To ask if he was okay. 

Is that really what it took to get people to listen to him? For him to stop being invisible? 

"I just want to be seen, Lloyd. I just want to be understood and cared about--

"We do care! And you can help us understand--" 

"Shut up." He spat. 

Lloyd promptly fell silent. 

"I want my mother." Cole shifted on his feet, until he was in a fighting stance, his legs apart, arms up and fists balled. "And I want that mask."

Lloyd observed what was happening, but didn't make any move to retaliate, to show he was going to fight back. 

"Cole--" 

"I want to be seen! I don't want to be ignored, I don't want to be invisible or to be someone's second choice! I want to be cared about!

And when you give me that mask, willingly or not, I'll finally have someone who cares.

I'll finally be seen."

[the-is13]

A Pinch of Salt

Description:  You didn’t expect to be working tonight. It was a regular Friday night, or so you thought. Two beautiful men happen to come into the small pizza joint, one with particularly captivating hazel eyes.

Characters: Jared, Jensen, Reader, OFC’s OMC’s

Relationship: Jared x Reader

Warnings:  None really, cursing? A bit of fluff

Word Count: 4046, wow that surprised me

A/N: So this is my first fic, I read a lot but have never wrote anything. This stemmed from a dream I had. For the purpose of this fic its set in early stages of the boys filming Supernatural. Jared is a bit younger, late twenties. Him and Gen are friends but nothing more. This purely fiction! I mean no harm to J2 or their families, I love them all the to moon and back. Any hate will not be tolerated. Please be kind and let me know if you liked it! 

Beta: A GIANT shoutout to @team-free-will-you-idjits-67 for being a beta and pretty much helping me get this right, haha pun intended. You rock chick. 

Oversized t-shirt, fuzzy socks, warm cup of tea, and netflix. That’s how you typically spend your Friday nights since you aren’t one to go out or party. You like your space.You’re content with the quietness of just sitting and reading a good book or just watching netflix by yourself.

That’s how you’d like to be spending this friday night, but alas, Susan called in to work.Again. Apparently her little boy is sick, for the third time this month. You’re pretty sure he’s fine and that she just has a date. It wouldn’t bother you if she would just ask and tell you the truth, but of course, she lies. Well, at least you think she’s lying.

Oh well, more tips for you.

So here you are, at Pete’s Pizza on a Friday night. It's not too busy, but its not slow either. Pete’s is a pretty good place to eat, lots of beer and, of course, plenty of variety on pizza. The owner, and head pizza master, Jimmy, is an amazing cook and is always trying new things to put on pizzas. It's a popular spot. If you didn’t work there, you would probably eat there too.

You’re busy turning in another order for this weekends special; spicy taco pizza with extra jalapenos, when your coworker Nancy bumps you roughly.

“Sorry, y/n!” She went to turn away from you and tend to her own tables when she exclaimed, “Oh! A few guys just sat in your area.” She placed her hand beside her face like she was trying to cover a secret she was about to tell you, but you knew whatever she had to say wouldn’t be quiet. “They seem like a rowdy bunch too.”

You sigh, “Great. First the Johnson’s, now these guys.”

Everyone knew the Johnson’s, they were regulars, the kind of customers you hate: rude, always blaming you for everything, and nitpicking every single thing. od forbid there be an onion out of place on their pizza. They had five kids. Seriously, five, and they were ALWAYS misbehaving. But of course, it was never their fault, according to their parents. You thought differently, they all needed a good whoopin’. On top of it all, they never, ever, tipped. No matter how hard ANYONE tried. It was very taxing to say the least.

Grabbing your pen and paper you waltzed off to table 8 and tried to put on your best smile. You really wanted to make some money tonight, afterall you needed to pay the bills.

“Welcome to Pete’s! What can I..” Looking up from your pad you started to stutter as you noticed who was in front of you. This couldn’t be. You had to be dreaming, it wasn't real. You stared into his hazel eyes, the captivating blues, greens, and speckles of brown. He smiled, oh lord, his smile, so bright and white.

“Wh-what can I start you off with tonight?” You stuttered. Wow, you made a sentence. You were pretty sure you were going to faint.

“I think I’ll have a beer, what ‘bout you Jay?” Oh god, his booming voice, if he spoke another word you might turn into a puddle right then and there.

“Yeah, beer sounds great right now.” said his friend, his best friend. Of course you knew him, well, knew of him.

“I think we’ll just take two beers for now” He smiled politely brushing some hair from his face.

“I-I, I’ll.. be, right.. B-back with those” You smiled back, trying not to sound so foolish, but damn, how could you not? Jared fucking Padalecki and Jensen fucking Ackles just walked into Pete’s, and sat in your area!

You let Nate, the bartender that night, know you needed two beers asap. Then you whipped out your phone to text your best friend, Hannah. You two had been through hell and back, knowing each other practically since birth or before since your moms attended lamaz together. She shared your healthy obsession with Supernatural and all things cooperating. She had to know what was happening. Now!  

Y/n:OMG!! HANNAH YOURE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!!!

She quickly wrote you back, knowing you had to work this evening

H: What’s up? You get a $100 tip or something, ‘cause that WOULD be unbelievable!

y/n: Wow bitch, thanks. NO this is MUCH MORE EXCITING!!

H: Well.. go on with it…

y/n: JARED AND JENSEN ARE HERE

H: …

You’re joking right?

y/n: OMG NO! WHY WOULD I JOKE ABOUT THIS!? I KID YOU NOT, THEY ARE BOTH HERE SITTING IN MY AREA!!!!!! IM GOING TO DIE!!!

H: BREATHE! You need to be cool, or at least as cool as you can be. Hehehe

y/n: Shut the fuck up, im cool.

H: uhhhhuh you keep telling yourself that.. ;)

You waited for her to be serious, since she probably thought you were joking. The realization of your truth hadn’t hit her yet or else she’d be freaking out as much as you were. You waited, watching her little dots letting you know she was indeed typing back to you. You didn’t get a chance to read it as you were snapped out of your world with your best friend by Nate.

“Eh hemm, y/n, you busy over there, or you wanna take these beers?” You nearly jumped out of your skin. He had been staring at you, watching you frantically typing away on your phone. “OH! Yes, thanks Nate,” you said with a wink. Nate and you flirted all the time but you never really meant anything by it. You were pretty sure he had a crush on you though. You could feel him staring at your ass as you walked away.

Approaching their table you made sure to take some deep breaths. In and out Y/n, in and out, you reminded yourself. With a polite smile you were able to speak, “Here’s your beers, gentlemen.” You didn’t want to seem like the fangirl you were, knowing their names, so you stuck to the informalities. “Are y’all ready to order?” As you smiled once again, trying to keep your excitement under control.

Jensen spoke first this time “Yeah, I think so. That speciality pizza sounds pretty good darlin’. I think we’ll have two with a side of cheesy sticks,” he said before sending a quick wink your way. You gulped, knowing that he definitely noticed you staring at them. Who would blame you though? They were such fine men, and they knew it.

Scribbling down their orders legibly as possible, all while trying not to fling your pen out of your hand like an idiot you chirped, “I’ll put that right in, be out soon”.

You went to grab their menus, meeting Jared’s eyes once more and drowning in the sea of colors, causing you to accidentally knock the salt over on the table. You watched in horror as the top flung off and covered Jared’s lap with salt.

“Oh! My gosh! I’m, so, so sorry! Let me get a towel, I’ll clean this up, sorry.” You rambled. You thought you were playing it cool, but obviously not. You scolded yourself for being so clumsy before you ran off to the kitchen. Handing Jimmy their order quickly, you went around the door of the kitchen to the closet to grab a rag.

Jensen nudged Jared as they watched you run away “Dude, I think she knows who we are. he seemed a little flustered, doncha think?” He hit Jared in the shoulder, noting how he wasn’t phased that his lap was saltier than the ocean.

Jared winced as he rubbed at his arm,”Ow! What?”

Jensen stared at Jared with a ‘are you serious?’ look. “Didn’t you hear me? I think she recognized us.” Jared’s attention had returned to the direction you disappeared in. SNAP SNAP SNAP  “Dude, what is your deal?!” Jensen spoke with a little more irritation as he waved his hands in front of Jared’s face.

Jared finally turned to him and stuttered a little “Uhh, yeah, whadya say Jay?”

Smacking his forehead a little dramatically Jensen exclaimed, “Have you heard a word I said? Like, at all?!” He talked louder than he had wanted, drawing more attention to them than he planned.

“Do you really need to shout?” Jared questioned. “I Just wanted to go out and relax tonight and you’re trying to make a scene!” He snapped.

Finally looking down at his lap he tried to gather as much of the salt he could and dump in onto the table. Scooting back in his chair, he stood up to shake some salt off but heard a soft ompf as he stood. He bumped into you, nearly knocking you down.

Now it was his turn to apologize.

Spinning around quickly he grabbed your wrist before you could tumble all the way down, yanking you a little hard as you ended up with a face full of his chest. You couldn’t complain though, he smelled delightful.

You crained your head upwards to look at him, seeing his mouth moving but the words not registering in your head. You probably looked like a fish out of water, jaw slack, eyes wide.

“You okay?” He repeated. Finally, you snapped out of it. Blinking rapidly you managed one word “Yeah..” Jared smiled softly, “You sure? You’re sorta staring at me like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Retreating from his hold, you internally scolded yourself for the third time of the night. This was Jared Padalecki. You couldn’t be looking at him like a damn knight in shining armor. This was not a fairytale. This was real life, or so you hoped. You straightened yourself out a bit “Uhm, yeah, I’m good, so sorry again. Let me clean your table,” you clipped out.

“It’s okay, no big deal really. It’s not like you a-salt-ed me, or anything,” he said giggling, trying to lighten the mood. But failing to contain his laughter from his own joke. Jensen smacked his forehead once again and thoroughly rolled his eyes.

You lifted your head and just stared at him, was he kidding? You couldn’t tell, all you heard was assault. Immediately you assumed the worst, he was going to press charges because you spilled salt. My god how stupid were you! So fucking stupid, you should’ve just stayed home!

“I’m so sorry Mr. Padalecki, please don’t sue me,” you squeaked out. Your voice barely above a whisper, afraid you’d burst into tears on the spot.

Realizing you didn’t take his joke well, he started to back track. Holding his hands up almost defensively. “What? No! I was joking! It was a joke! I’m not going to..” then it clicked, you called him ‘Padalecki’.

“Wait, you know me?” He said with a raised, questioning brow.

“Uhh.. hmm.” Stuttering slightly, your brain went into overdrive to try and explain yourself. But it was working too fast trying to form the correct words. You cleared your throat trying to remain calm and collect yourself. “I guess you could say that, I mean I do watch ‘Supernatural’..” you looked towards Jensen “So yeah, I guess I do know who you are, both of you.”

Jensen’s face lit up “I told you dude! I can always tell when they know!” he exclaimed.

You could feel heat creeping into your cheeks, embarrassed because you thought you were playing it cool. Maybe Hannah was right. You were just a waitress at a pizza joint, and this was Jared fucking Padalecki we were talking about here.

Without saying a word, you began to turn away and head back to the kitchen or to check on your other tables. Hell, almost literally, anywhere but right here.

“Hey…” Jared had snached your wrist once again, “Don’t worry about it, its okay.. D-do you want to take a picture.. Being a fan of the show and all..” he trailed off motioning to Jensen.

“Uh, yeah.. Sure, as long as y’all don't mind.”

They both chuckled lightly, wishing you could hear that sound forever. It was such a beautiful sound, much different in person. “Nah, it's no problem, afterall we try to maintain a good relationship with our fans,” Jensen drawled with a wiggle of his brows. You weren't sure if he was just being friendly, or if he was displaying some of Dean’s flirtiness.

You were still slightly embarrassed as you pulled out your phone quickly, closing your recent conversation with Hannah. You tried to angle your phone to get a good selfie, but you couldn't really capture the behemoth of men behind you. Jared lightly and plucked your phone from your grasp, knowing you were struggling to get a good picture. “Here, let me..”

Click click click

He took a few pictures to make sure you got a good one. You had the the attention of almost the entire restaurant now, since you spilled the salt all over Jared and were now snapping pictures with the two of them.

“There ya go, I’m sure you got a good one.” Jared said handing your phone back to you.

“Thanks..” You trailed off, looking down to try and hide the blush creeping onto your cheeks as your fingers brushed his in the exchange.

“Y/N!! Y/N!!” Mrs. Johnson yelled from across the room waving her hand like the lunatic she is. “Y/N!! Come here!”

Huffing a bit, you quickly said additional ‘sorry’s’ to Jared for making a mess and ‘thanks’ to them both for the pictures. Taking a deep breath, before dealing with the table from hell, you turned on your heel making your way to their table.

Meanwhile, that was the first time Jared had heard your name, y/n. You were too caught up in who you were looking at to introduce yourself upon taking their order. ‘Y/n’ he thought it was a beautiful name.

“Yes, Mrs. Johnson, how can I help you?” You said as you plastered on a fake smile.

“We need more napkins, what do you keep stocked in these things? Two napkins?” she said in a snarky tone while tapping the napkin dispenser. Trying to refrain from commenting on how her children used half the restaurants napkins because they were either such a mess or building a damn castle in the bathroom with them, you made your smile even wider.

“I’ll run and get more right now Mrs. Johnson.”

Turning away from their table you were halted by her grabbing your elbow and not so whispering in your ear. “That performance was horrendous, spilling salt all over that poor boy, just for him to take a picture with you. Pathetic.”

You ripped your arm from her grasp and gave a tight lipped smile, “I’ll go get those napkins now, be right back.” Heading towards the backroom once more, you heard her muttering to her husband how ‘sad and pathetic’ your life was. Like she should give a damn about your life.

Sometimes you wished people would just mind their own damn business and keep their mouths shut. Afterall, that's what you did. You were never one for confrontation. Even as a child, you hated arguing with your older brother or your parents, you just kept to yourself. You never really stood up for yourself. You took the blame for so much, even if it wasn’t your fault or you didn't do it, you took it. You didn't want to upset anyone.

You dropped a huge pile of napkins off with the Johnson’s after taking Jared and Jensen their pizza’s. All while Mrs. Johnson kept nonchalantly whispering about you, either to herself, Mr. Johnson, or ‘non-directly’ at you. It was really tiring.

You tried to keep a smile on while checking on your other customers and, of course, Jared and Jensen. You really wanted to talk to them about the show, their lives, or anything else for that matter. It was still hard for you to believe this was real.

Between the Johnson’s, their herd of children that you constantly cleaned up after, the other customers, and Jared and Jensen, you were feeling a little worn out. Nate could tell, he kept asking if you were okay, to which you always replied with a kind smile, and ‘yup i’m good’. It was nice for him to be concerned about you. He was always a nice guy. He never pushed too far with the harmless flirting, never talked behind your back, and he always made sure you got your tips. It was refreshing after being walked on most of your life.

Jared and Jensen ate their pizza slowly and drank their beer a little faster than they ate their pizza. You kept bringing them refills and could tell they were getting a little loose. Not that you were to judge, it must be hard being famous and all. Plus, you pretty much ruined their evening. They kept smiling at you though, letting you know everything was fine, and damn, were they.

After the Johnson’s finally left and things calmed down a little, you stood behind the bar with Nate making idle chit chat.

“Do you know them?” He asked, pointing to where Jensen was currently laughing at Jared for some joke he made. “I saw you taking pictures with them..”

You were currently making heart eyes at the pair, after all, who wouldn't? They had some damn good genes. You realized Nate was talking to you and not a customer. “Oh, what? Know them? Do you not?”

He just shook his head ‘no’ looking at you like you had two heads. “Am I supposed to?” he questioned.

“NATE!” You said just a bit too loud, causing Jared and Jensen to look your way. You just smiled and turned toward Nate, blocking yourself from their view. “Do you really not know who they are?” He shook his head again peeking around your shoulder to look at them.

You tugged his shoulder and scolded him for staring. Now you were pot calling the kettle black. “They’re famous Nate, that’s Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. They star on the show ‘Supernatural’, it's like the best sci-fi, drama, family show, ever!” He was still looking at you like you were crazy. “Nate c’mon, you've never watched it?”

You could tell he was wracking his brain by the look on his face.

After about a minute, or what felt like it, he finally spoke up. “Hmmm, Jensen… Ackles… I think he was on Smallville right?” You’re face lit up with excitement but you tried to contain yourself. “YES! Yes, he was! He played Jason!”

“Soo, you took a picture with them?” He pondered. You looked a little dumbfounded, would he not have? I mean, what if he was to meet someone famous? Just pass them by? Nate could tell by the way your face was twisting up in that sour look he thought was so cute, you were not pleased with his answer. “I mean that's pretty cool right? You can tell your grandkids you met ‘the stars of supernatural’,” he said a little too sarcastically as he waved his hands in the air like he could see the headlines of it.

You were still a little offended he was making fun of you but laughed it off and lightly pushed his shoulder. “Oh stop it Nate! You’re just jealous.” He smiled a little but then noticed the guys you had been making heart eyes at were getting ready to leave. “Hey..” he pointed in their direction, “I think your friends are leaving.”

Turning around quickly and nearly tripping over your own feet again, you noticed they were started to fight over the check. You could barely hear them arguing about who paid last time and who drank more. Mustering up all the courage you could, you put one foot in front of the other and marched towards their table. They both looked up at you curiously. “Beer’s on me guys, afterall you put up with the disaster I made earlier and were kind enough to take a picture with me”

They smiled widely, both slightly tipsy, you could tell their emotions were genuine, which made your heart flutter.

Jensen spoke first, running his tongue out across his lip, “That’s mighty kind of you darlin’,” he drawled, his southern accent peeking out more from the alcohol.

“Jay stop flirting, you’re probably scaring her! Then she won’t pay for anything!” Jared said with a wink and grin that made your knees weak.

You took in their drunken state light heartedly. They were much more kind than the other guys who would come in, get drunk and try to cop a feel. Not that you would mind if it was them though.  You’d let Jared or Jensen feel you up all day or night.

You waved Jensen off, “Its fine, not like I’ll ever see y’all again..” you trailed off, the thought making you a little sad. You had enjoyed watching them interact, even if it wasn’t with you.

Jensen piped up with a smile that would shatter the moon, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, sweetheart”, he winked and was out the door in a flash. That left just you and Jared, standing there like awkward teens at the school dance.

Jared nervously ran his hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck. You were in awe. He looked so beautiful, even with the nervous behavior he was displaying.

“W-would you mind if I asked you for your number?” He stammered

You blinked, what was happening, was Jared fucking Padalecki asking you for your number? You pinched yourself and jumped, he was still there, awaiting your answer.

Noticing your apprehension he began to turn away “It’s fine if you don’t wanna give it to me, I know we just met and all..”

“YES” you replied a bit too eagerly. “I mean, yeah, you can have my number,” you spoke as you grabbed your notepad and quickly wrote it down, handing it to him.

He looked at you shyly, “Thank you, y/n for everything.” He flashed that bright smile and waved before turning to leave.

You stood there for a moment longer, shocked that what just happened, had indeed happened. You gave Jared PADALECKI your number.

Maybe he wouldn’t even contact you, maybe he was just trying to be nice. That was it, he was just being nice, I mean, from what you had seen about them in the media, they were generally nice guys.

You finally moved from your place, noticing that you got off in 10 minutes. You decided to just go ahead and start your cleaning duties and head home. You were wiping down Jared and Jensen’s table picking up a few napkins noticing something written on one. Flipping it over you had to slap your hand over your mouth to stifle the gasp that left your lips.

“Y/n, you are too beautiful and kind to be working here, and you are not pathetic. I did kinda like the a-salt though ;)”

Was delicately written and tucked inside was a crisp $100 bill, by far the best tip you’d ever received. Hannah would be eating her words and you couldn’t wait to tell her.

You did the rest of the cleaning and closing with Nate rather quickly. Anxious to get out of there and phone your best friend.

Biding goodnight to Nate and Jimmy, you rushed to your car, about to grab your phone to call Hannah when a little ding let you know you had a text. Figuring it was her, you click the screen to light it up. Of course you had 12 texts from her wondering what was happening and how she needed the ‘dirty details’. Rolling your eyes you scrolled down noticing you had a text from a number you didn’t recognize. Opening it, you could have burst into tears from the fire in your heart.

I loved the pizza, beer and taking a picture with a beautiful girl, hope to see you soon. :)  -Jare

Clutching your phone to your chest tightly you sighed and pinched your leg.

Ow, nope not dreaming, you thought to yourself. Now you really couldn’t wait to get home and tell Hannah.

[sibillascribbles08]

Tick Tock

A Steampunk drabble commission for @echojulien, another one on the way soonish.

This one takes place in my Time Echo AU, you can check the tag on my blog for some context.

If you’re interested in a fic commission please DM me what you’re looking for, as it’s difficult for me to write for something I’m not personally interested in.

    It was quiet.

    An unusual state of affairs in his parents junkyard, but to be fair his parents weren’t around right now. Ed and Edna had gone to the city for the big farmer’s market. They invited Jay to go along but he turned it down.

    He was too worried about Echo.

    It’d been three weeks since the defeat of the time twins, since Wu vanished into the time stream, along with Echo’s source of power.

    It took a week for Jay to be able to build a new one with Borg’s help, but it wasn’t ever going to be a proper replacement. They couldn’t get Echo’s time powers back. He’d lost his ability to travel back to the future, the time he wanted to be in.

    Jay apologized, a lot, over and over again. He wound up sobbing when Echo first came to, despite the fact that he wanted to be happy his friend was even functioning. They couldn’t get his power back. Jay promised he would and he failed.

    At the time, and the times after it, Echo was always calm. His touch was gentle as he told Jay it was alright. That he had nothing to apologize for. Echo kept acting like it was fine.

    But it wasn’t fine. Jay wasn’t oblivious to his shift in behavior. The nindroid kept his distance, often wandering around the land, finding places to sit and stare at the horizon. Jay tried to give him some space, but didn’t want to leave.

    It was quiet.

    Jay tried to keep his mind off things by tinkering but it didn’t last. After only twenty minutes he found himself wandering around, looking for Echo. He found the nindroid outside the junkyard, sitting on the top of one of the nearby stone pillars. It took a bit of effort for Jay to climb up, and sadly he couldn’t be as subtle as he’d like.

    “Yes Jay?” Echo said, not looking back at him.

    “Uh, sorry.” Jay mumbled, still only halfway up with his leg in the air. He finished pulling himself on top of the pillar. “Didn’t mean to bother you.”

    “You don’t bother me, Jay.” The nindroid finally looked back, a smile on his face. “But if you needed me I could have come down.”

    “Hah, what? I need the exercise.” He joked as he straightened up. “No need to be getting lazy while the team figures out our next move.”

    Echo hummed, his smile fading slightly as he looked back at the sky.

    Jay fidgeted for a moment. “What’s wrong?”

    “Nothing’s wrong.”

    “Don’t lie to me.” He frowned. “You keep sitting out in the middle of nowhere staring at nothing. I get that you’re upset about losing your powers. You don’t need to pretend you’re not.”

    “Jay.”

    “And I’m sorry I couldn’t get them back. But maybe we could still find them? Along with Master Wu. Maybe then you can go back to the future and–”

    “Jay.” Echo raised his voice as he stood up. “My powers being lost wasn’t your fault. You can’t keep blaming yourself.”

    “Well what am I supposed to do?” His shoulders dropped when he sighed. “I can tell you’re upset and I can’t do anything about that either.”

    “It’s something I have to accept.” Echo stepped over, not even hesitating to reach out and touch Jay’s face. “Losing my powers, staying here in the present, it will take some getting used to on my part.”

    “I’m still sorry.” Jay mumbled. “You hadn’t even fully decided if you wanted to stay here or go back to the future but then that choice was made for you.”

    Echo seemed to pause for a moment, studying him. “Didn’t you once ask me to stay here anyway?”

    Heat rushed to his cheeks. “I mean, yeah, but I wouldn’t have made you. I wouldn’t have been happy with you getting trapped here. I’m still not.”

    Another pause. “Did I ever tell you why I came back again?”

    Jay blinked. “Huh? Well no I don’t think so. You mentioned wanting to spend time without the stress of evil sky pirates hanging around.”

    Echo chuckled. “You asked me to, again.”

    “I did?”

    “Your future self wanted me to return to my own time. He said I should try taking control of my own future, instead of just existing in an ever changing one.”

    Jay frowned. “Honestly? That sounds like something I would say.”

    “He said he…” Echo trailed off for a moment, his hand moving up to Jay’s hair, twirling the strands in his fingers. “He said it was a bit selfish. He didn’t want to wait ten years to see me again.”

    His face got even warmer. His voice stuttered for a moment. “Yeah that uh, also sounds like… something I’d say.”

    “If I had gotten my powers back, would you have still asked me to stay?” Echo’s gaze fixed on him.

    Jay’s heart started racing. The answer was screaming in his head but he couldn’t seem to manage to say it. “I mean it–it’s fun having you around and stuff. I like hanging out with you. Would uh, would suck if you were gone that long.”

    Ugh, what was he doing? He should talk about this properly, right? It was a good opportunity. Echo was here. Jay was glad he was here. For a while he’d though he’d never see the nindroid again until he grew up. For a while he couldn’t map out the empty feeling in his chest.

    “Um, the future self who asked you to come here.” Jay said. “Did he um… were you and him uh, dating?”

    Echo blinked, studying him. “What do you think?”

    “Well–”

    “Based on how you feel now, what do you think your future self felt?”

    “Think he…” Jay paused, swallowing to try and control his nerves. “Think he asked you to come back here because… waiting that long to confess a crush must suck.”

    Echo leaned closer, a slight smile on his face. “Do you have a crush on me, Jay?”

    He sputtered. “Wh– I mean, yeah, I do!” He shouted, taking a step back. “Don’t act all surprised, or whatever. You probably knew.” He pointed at him.

    Echo straightened up as he chuckled, then laughed. The sound travelled down into the empty wasteland. Everything about him seemed to light up.

    Echo stepped over and pulled Jay into a hug. He didn’t protest it, in fact even hugged Echo back, despite the embarrassment still rushing through his system.

    Echo hugged him even tighter. “I love you so much.”

    Jay knew he should properly respond but all he could manage was a mumble as he hide his face, begging for the burning in his cheeks to stop.

    “Not being shy, are we?”

    He mumbled again. Echo was clearly just teasing him now.

    The nindroid laughed again as his hand ran through Jay’s hair. “You’re unbelievably adorable.”

    This time he made his mumbling sound as angry as possible, but it didn’t phase Echo in the slightest. He just laughed again.

    When everything quieted down, including Jay’s heart, he lifted his head up a bit, but didn’t let go.

    “I know losing your power sucks.” Jay said. “But I’m glad you’re here.”

    “Honestly? So am I.” Echo’s hands moved to his face, pushing him back ever so slightly. “I think I can handle no longer having my powers if you stay by my side.”

    “You’re too poetic.” Jay pouted. “How am I supposed to top that?”

    Echo just laughed again before kissing Jay’s forehead and letting go. “Come on, we should get back down. It’s close to lunch time and your parents will be getting home soon.”

    Something about Jay wanted to protest, wanted to stay up here longer, maybe give Echo a proper kiss.

    But for now he ignored it. Not like they wouldn’t have the time to do that later.

    Even without Echo’s powers they still had all the time in the world.

[queenpersephonesgarden]

Whumptober Day 27

Prompt: “I can’t walk” Fandom: Young Justice Characters: Bart Allen, Wally West Words: 2407 Warnings: graphic injury, more than canon typical violence

The strange, geometrically structured hallways of the Reach’s central Earth base tended to twist in on themselves and loop around until you were right back where you started when you first entered the building if you weren’t paying very close attention to your surroundings.

Bart had been paying very close attention for the past thirty minutes, but it was pretty clear to him that if he hadn’t had Helena’s voice calmly chattering in his ear, he would have been lost five minutes into his trek.

“I think I finally found the elevator that should have been on the east side,” he whispered quietly into his comm, cautiously using one hand to phase through and break the activation panel beside the only door in the hallway that didn’t line up perfectly with a corresponding one on the opposite wall. Sure enough, as it slid open, he could very clearly see an open, empty shaft that went far off into darkness both above and below him. The abyss yawned below him, the occasional flicker of light from a wall circuit doing nothing to stop the unease pooling in his gut.

He’d found it, but it had taken an extra twenty minutes the Outlaws didn’t technically have. Things would have been a lot simpler if the Reach could design their bases less like giant hives and more like actual buildings.

But there would be time for complaining about mazes later.

“Good work. Doctor Light and Nightwing are in position along with Red Hood and Red Arrow,” Helena told him, sounding far calmer than Bart himself felt. His pseudo-sister’s training as Robin still served her well, nearly a decade after she’d been forced to leave the name behind. Bart heard her type a few keys on a holographic keyboard, and the display in his goggles zoomed in on the not-very-accurate minimap he’d been following since he’d arrived. The small, flickering signal he’d been searching for briefly lit a point on the map green instead of red. “Flash’s signal seems to be coming from about thirteen floors below you. You’ll have to be extremely careful; if that was the floor where they’ve been holding him, then it’s likely they have traps specifically designed for speedsters down there. Go slow, and keep an eye out for anything.”

Bart grimaced at the thought of going even slower than he already was, but didn’t try to protest. He’d seen what the Reach was capable of when they wanted to restrain a metahuman, and he wasn’t exactly eager to experience that himself. “Sure thing, boss. Anything else?”

He readied the small grappling hook stashed in one of his hidden cupboards as Helena sighed quietly. “You’ll be going pretty deep underground, so it’s very likely our comms won’t reach each other until you come back up. If you do need help, hit your emergency signal and get as high up as you can. Don’t worry; I’ll be heading to the main cellblock with Arsenal, so it shouldn’t take me long to get there.”

Bart couldn’t quite help a smile, even as he prepared to descend directly into the belly of the beast. “I know you’ve always got my back, so why would I be worried?”

The surprised chuckle he heard just made his smile grow wider. “Just try not to die before I get there, okay?” Helena’s voice took on a softer tone. “Good luck, Bart.”

“I’ll certainly try to find some,” Bart said with false cheer. Some good luck would be really nice right about now; he hadn’t had nearly enough of it, lately. “You be careful too.”

With that final farewell, Bart deployed the grapple and jumped into the void, rappelling down into the darkness of the Reach base.

-

This is not the first time he’s ever seen the deeper parts of an alien hive.

Many of the human labor force captured and used by the Reach to collect scrap and haphazardly throw together some semblance of working technology that could be useful to the Empire had been forced to carry their meager offerings from the camps all the way into the nearest mining colony, sometimes miles away from where they lived and often so quickly they collapsed on emaciated legs before they could even get there and back to where they were relatively safe.

Bart has been in and out of colonies and camps since he was nine years old, but the sheer size and complexity of this base is almost overwhelming. He’s never been on one of the science floors before, never seen the terrifying instruments of torture and dissection he’s catching glimpses of through broken doors and cracked windows, and the shapes of them in the gloom are making the hair on his neck stand on end.

His comm signal had fizzled out like Helena said it might, but his goggles’ HUD is still working, pinging helpfully off of disabled cameras and giving the already darker, dimly lit corridors some nice, eerie lighting to go along with the shattered security droids and debris littered throughout.

Not a cozy place, by any stretch of the imagination.

It looked as if some sort of hurricane had swept through.

It looked, Bart noted grimly, like a rather angry speedster had ripped through here. He’s never met Wally or his children before, but Bart knows Jai is capable of super-strength when he diverts his speedforce connection into growing the muscles in his arms rather than distributing it throughout his entire body. Bart doesn’t know if Wally or Irey are capable of the same thing, but as he watches the remains of one drone spark and fizzle spastically, he starts to think that might just be the case.

“Aw, geez. Helena’s family is scary. Maybe that’s where she gets it from?” He can’t quite keep from running his mouth, even down here in a potentially life-threatening situation. Damian would probably scold him for that if he could hear him.

The sharp crash of glass hitting the ground makes Bart zoom to one side of the hall, ducking into an empty doorframe. It’s incredibly thin, not proper cover at all, but it’s all he has at the moment.

He peeks around it, tense like spring, ready for anything to appear out of the darkness, but nothing comes charging out into the open, no new security bots start flooding the corridor.

The sound of glass sliding across metal, and a weak, muffled voice; cursing in English, not the strange, inhuman clicking of the Reach.

Wally, or Jai or Irey? Another Reach prisoner, also used for experimentation? Or a trap?

The haunted atmosphere of this lab is already making Bart paranoid, but his training with Damian is giving him even more of an edge than normal. His stomach churns in protest, but he heads forward anyway. Waiting around in enemy territory never tended to end well, in Bart’s experience.

He tiptoes carefully up toward the door the voice seems to be echoing out of and freezes at the corner, staring into the room.

His eyes slowly trail their way across the ruined walls and filthy ground before he spins around and promptly empties his stomach onto the ground.

It’s a damn massacre.

Remains of Reach droids and scientists alike are scattered across the metal floor in a macabre amalgamation of bluish gore and gears, bits of heads and legs suggesting that something had blown straight through their torsos too fast for them to react. The bizarre alien blood was making several of the droids spark weakly in the low light, casting odd shadows across the horrific display.

Several tables, filled with what once had likely been human bodies, now held nothing more than what could only be described as actual organs, some of them pulsating grotesquely where they were attached to some huge, otherworldly medical instruments.

And a single remaining intact humanoid body, slumped next to a table, breathing heavily and covered in a lot of blood.

Bart heaves once, twice, then clamps his mouth shut and swallows the bile down, tears pricking his eyes and body shaking.

He has a job to do, and he’s running out of time to do it.

God, he hates this. He wants to go home.

He shoves the childish thought aside and straightens back up again.

Bart enters the room quickly, forces himself to walk carefully over broken remains of alien bones and metal casings, tries not to think of what could be squishing underneath his feet, definitely does not let himself look at the lazily pulsing sacks on the tables as he approached the figure that isn’t as familiar as it should be.

Wally West is even paler than he was in all of Linda’s pictures, hair cropped much shorter and shot through with more gray than red. Worry lines have been etched into his face, scars just barely visible beneath the Reach clothing he’d apparently found trailing all the way down his throat and across the left half of his face, burns and incision marks that made him nearly unrecognizable and his left eye cloudy white rather than green. Shoulders that had once been broad were now bent inward by some invisible weight, a body that had once been lithe and agile now thin and emaciated far beyond healthy for a speedster with an accelerated metabolism.

He's slumped half over on his side, shoulders heaving with breath and one arm pressed hard to his waist, where Bart can see a deep red stain spreading lazily across the jumpsuit he’s wearing, slowly overtaking the blue blood of the Reach scientists, and Bart swallows hard.

This is a man about five minutes after an incredibly violent episode, injured and seemingly unaware of his presence to boot. He’s only seen a small handful of people brought back from the Reach’s science division, and none of them had been anything close to this level of powerful and dangerous.

He couldn’t afford to fuck this up.

Deep breath in, out. Once more, and again, the way Helena taught him.

Bart spots a sizable piece of glass on the floor and takes a heavy, deliberate step onto it.

The crunch that announced his arrival made Wally snap to attention, head coming up to glare straight at Bart from his hunched position, and Bart froze completely, hands open at his sides, trying not to let his terror show.

It’s been a while since Wally was back home with the rest of the Outlaws, and the light in the room is flickering and near useless; will the man even recognize the modified Kid Flash uniform in the gloom?

But he apparently didn’t need to worry; Wally blinks his eyes hard several times, scanning Bart from head to toe, evidently recognizing him as a nonthreat and slumping a little more to the side with a long, pained sigh.

“Wassup, Kid?” Wally asks, daring a bloody little grin, and Bart is so surprised he can’t answer for a second. He wasn’t quite sure if the man would lucid or coherent in the state he’s in, but apparently the older speedster’s accelerated healing is doing at least something to help his addled brain.

Bart still approached slowly, watching for any sudden movements, but he needn’t have bothered. Wally’s arm stays fixed firmly around his bleeding middle, and he doesn’t move to sit up until Bart is already beside him, hissing quietly in pain as his wound moves with him.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Bart says in as steady a voice as he can manage, and he means it, because as strung out and crazy as this man is right now, he’s been an inspiration to Bart since he was little and he doesn’t know what else he can say to a guy who singlehandedly ripped through an entire Reach lab. “Why weren’t you in the main cellblock? That’s where we were supposed to meet, right?”

Wally shakes his head too fast, listing a bit awkwardly to the side again when he apparently gave up on sitting straight. “Thought I could find Jai,” he slurred slowly, shakes his head again.

Bart feels something cold sink into his stomach. He doesn’t dare take a glance at the human remains displayed on the table above Wally’s head, and his hands don’t start shaking again when he reaches helplessly to press against the wound in his abdomen.

“Here.” A hand, slick with red red red, rises slowly so Bart can see what it’s holding in trembling fingers. A data card, like one of the fancy ones Roy had been looking for recently, some sort of super-secret Reach project that was going to change the tide of the war or something.

Bart barely spares it a glance, too focused on trying to stem the flow of blood because hell, what else can he do, but Wally practically shoves it under his nose with an impatient sound. “You gotta take this and go, Kid. Someone’s… probably noticed the cameras by now,” Wally’s voice is thready and breathless, but still holds as much authority as Damian’s does when giving Bart a direct order.

And that’s stupid, what the hell?

“I’m not leaving you here, dude! Helena would kick my ass if I let her grandpa kick the bucket in a place like this!” He tries to sound as convincing as he can, but he can tell by the old man’s face it’s not working. “Come on, we can still make it to the rendezvous point if we hurry-!”

“I can’t…… can’t walk, Kid,” Wally interrupts, and Bart’s limbs feel numb when the data card is clumsily slipped into one hand. He clutches onto it reflexively and looks down at the blood coating it, ears buzzing. “You gotta go.”

He should argue. He should tell him to hell with that, tell him Linda and Helena were waiting for him, tell him Damian had the schematics for the Reach warship hovering over Earth, tell him they finally had a chance in this war, tell him there’s finally something to fight for again.

There’s a lot of things he should say, but Wally’s eyes blink shut a little too long before the right one opens again, glazed over and unseeing, and he shakes his head one more time. “Run, kid,” Wally murmurs, before leaning back against the table holding what’s left of his son.

Bart turns and flees, because what the hell else can he do?

[fortheloveofpearlet]

Straightjacket Feeling - Pearlet [Chapter 10]

A/N - more angst in this one! Some violence and homophobic language.

Chapter 10

(Do I wanna know?) If this feeling flows both ways

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

The next few months flew by. Jason and Danny were so caught up in their 'honeymoon' phase, they could barely keep their hands off of each other for more than five minutes. Jason was so caught up in Danny he hadn't even realised that it had been months since he'd seen or spoken to Matt. He knew he'd been demoted as best man, not that Matt had had the decency to tell Jason that. Jason had had to see it on Facebook a few weeks ago.

Jake Ludwig: trying on suits with my favourite dude #bestmanduties - with Matthew James Lent

Jason didn't even really care. If Matt was going to be that petty then maybe Jason wouldn't even go to the wedding. For the first time in a long time Jason didn't give a shit about Matt. It was hard to when he was so preoccupied by Danny throwing himself at him every chance he got. They tried to go on dates but they always ended the same way. At the movies they exchanged hand jobs in the back row with only Danny's jacket as a shield. When they went to bars they always seemed to end up in a bathroom cubicle with one of them on their knees. Even once when they'd gone for a walk Danny had pulled Jason into a public bathroom and sucked him off. They spent all their free time together and Jason hadn't felt this happy in a long time. He'd started integrating Danny into his world, he'd met Kurtis several times and Kurtis loved him and they'd been on double dates with him and Patrick. He'd met the Brian's too and they both loved him, Danny had a very infectious personality, it was hard for people not to like him. Of course he hadn't met Matt because Matt wasn't speaking to Jason and he hadn't met Jake either. Jason had always gotten the impression that he and Jake weren't really friends anyway, they never hung out without the others and if it wasn't for Matt, Jason was sure he would have nothing to do with Jake. Jason had even been introduced to Danny's parents when they'd been to visit a few weeks ago and they couldn't stop raving about how much they loved Jason. Things were going really well, Jason finally felt as though he'd found everything he'd been looking for. He was happy, he was crazy about Danny. He should have known something was going to happen to destroy that. It always did.

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One evening Jason and Danny were snuggled up on Jason's couch watching TV when Jason's phone buzzed with an event notification. He frowned and opened his Facebook app. 'Oh fuck.' He groaned looking at the event page. 'I'm meant to be going out for drinks for Courtney's birthday tonight, I completely fucking forgot.' 'Do you have to go?' Danny stroked his cheek. 'I probably should, I think I've already done enough damage with my friends recently, the least I can do is go for a drink. Oh god I don't want to see Matt.' He sat forward and put his head in his hands. He felt Danny stroke his back. 'It's ok babe.' He cooed. 'Want me to come with you?' 'Matt will be there.' Jason told him again. 'I know, I don't have an issue with him.' Danny shrugged. Jason sat back to look at Danny. 'Are you sure?' 'Of course sweetie.' Danny beamed, kissing him. Jason looked at the event page again rolling his eyes before flicking over to his profile. 'We should get ready really, we're supposed to be there soon.' 'What's that?' Danny was preoccupied looking at Jason's phone. 'What?' Danny pointed to what he was looking at. 'Jason Dardo is single? Oh hell no!' Danny chuckled and grabbed Jason's phone from his hand. 'Jason Dardo is in a relationship with Danny Noriega. Much better.' Danny grinned. A notification dinged on his own phone. He pulled it from his pocket. 'Oooh Jason Dardo wants to be in a relationship with me. Should I accept it?' He laughed making Jason roll his eyes. 'You are such a dork.' Jason pushed him back to the couch and kissed him. When he went to pull away Danny held him close, deepening the kiss. 'Have we got time for a quicky?' Danny grouped Jason's ass. Jason smirked. 'Baby, there is always time for a quicky.' He told Danny, kissing him again.

----------------------------------------- They showered together after their impromptu sex session got them sweaty and come slicked. Danny was dressed and ready now sitting back on the couch. Jason came out of his bedroom wearing tight skinny jeans and black vest top. He threw one of Danny's checked shirts around his shoulders. That boy owned a lot of checked shirts. 'Do you have any clothes at your own apartment anymore?' Jason joked. 'My wardrobe is getting fuller by the day. And my bathroom. And every other room in the apartment for that matter.' He laughed. Danny stood up and came close to him wrapping his arms around Jason's waist. 'I just spend so much time here, I never get a chance to take it all home. I can get rid of it if you like?' Jason cupped Danny's face and kissed him, only grinding his crotch on his boyfriends a little. 'It's ok I don't mind. You practically live here anyway it would pointless taking them home.' He chuckled stroking Danny's hair back off his face. 'In fact,' Jason suddenly turned serious. 'Tell me if I'm moving too fast but...why don't you just move in here? Like you said you're here all the time and all your stuff is here. It seems silly for us both to be paying rent on our apartments.' Jason shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. Danny didn't answer him right away and Jason was worried he'd freaked him out. 'Are you serious?' Danny's voice wasn't identifiable. 'Uhm...yeah kinda.' Suddenly Danny's face broke out into a large smile and kissed Jason hard. 'I'd love to!' He squeezed Jason tightly. Jason smiled brightly and kissed him again. 'You had me worried there for a second! I thought I'd totally freaked you out!' 'Well it is kinda soon but I am fucking crazy about you Jason.' Jason's heart soared. 'Me too.' He whispered and kissed Danny passionately. Neither of them knew how this had happened. This was never meant to be serious, it was only ever meant to be a bit of fun, a distraction. But it had quickly become so much more than that. Jason held Danny tightly, running his fingers through the older man’s hair as the kiss deepened. He felt himself getting hard again. 'Fuck, we really need to go.' Jason panted, he didn't want to go at all. 'Let's see how quickly I can get you off then. Roomie.' Danny winked and then he was dropping to his knees and Jason's jeans were going with him. God he hoped they'd still fool around this much when they lived together.

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

They were over an hour late by the time they finally arrived at the bar. Jason had stopped off and brought a cheap card and bunch of flowers for Courtney because he thought it was rude to turn up empty handed. He couldn't deny that he was nervous about seeing Matt. The last time he'd seen him Matt had had his dick in his mouth and he knew it was going to be fucking awkward. He spotted Courtney right away, her long wavy blonde hair bouncing a little as she laughed as something the older Brian said. Bri, Kurtis and Jake were with her too but no Matt. A wave of relief hit Jason, maybe he was sick or something and couldn't come? He tapped Courtney on the shoulder and she spun around. 'Happy birthday Court!' He pulled her into a hug and then handed her the card and flowers. 'Thank you Jason, these are beautiful.' She smiled her award winning smile. God she and Matt were going to have some gorgeous kids one day. 'Courtney this is my boyfriend Danny.' He put his hand around Danny's waist and motioned him forward. 'Oh it's so good to finally meet you!' She beamed. 'The Brian's never shut up about you.' 'It's nice to meet you too, and as long it's all good then, party!' Danny hugged her. He said his hello's to Kurtis and the Brian's and so did Jason. 'Danny this is Jake.' He motioned to the other boy. 'Good to meet you.' Jake gave Danny a stiff handshake which Jason thought was weird but he didn't mention it. 'He's finally taken me out of hiding.' Danny chuckled. 'I saw you went Facebook official today.' Bri winked at them. 'About fucking time.' 'Who went Facebook official with what?' Matt suddenly sauntered over. He took one look at Danny and he scowled. 'What the fuck is he doing here?' 'He's my boyfriend Matt, I invited him.' Jason scoffed, wrapping a protective arm around Danny. 'Well this is my fiancé's birthday so I'm uninviting him. If you don't mind this is friends only.' He gave Danny a sarcastic smile. 'Matt, don't be so rude!' Courtney put her hand on his shoulder sensing he was getting worked up. 'This is my birthday and I say the more the merrier.' 'Well I want him to leave.' Matt snarled. 'What the fuck is your problem?' Jason suddenly spat taking them all aback. 'If you don't want to talk to us you don't have to, but he isn't going anywhere.' 'Wanna fucking bet?' Matt stepped forward close to Jason, puffing his chest out. Was he threatening him? Jason let go of Danny and straightened his back so he was at his full height, much taller than Matt. 'What are you gonna do about it?' Jason scoffed. 'Matt, dude, stop this.' Jake grabbed Matt's arm but Matt shook him off. 'He's not fucking welcome here.' 'Look I don't know what your fucking problem is with Danny but he's my boyfriend, where I go, he goes. So get used to it.' Jason spat. 'Jay this isn't worth it, let's just get out of here.' Danny tugged at his hand. 'Jason isn't going anywhere.' Matt snapped. 'You on the other hand...' 'If he goes, I go.' Jason growled. 'It's Courtney's birthday, you aren't going anywhere. You already turned up an hour late! How fucking rude is that?' 'Sorry, we got a little...carried away.' Jason smirked and he swore he saw a vein in Matt's neck pop. 'I don't need to know.' Matt spat. 'Really? You don't want to know about how we can't keep our hands off each other for a second? You don't want to know about the two orgasms Danny gave me when we were supposed to be here?' Jason's smirk grew. Danny rolled his eyes. He'd hoped Jason was getting over Matt by now but he could tell by the way he was trying to get a rise out of him that he still had feelings for him. It was like that night at the bar in Daytona. The sexual tension was ripe. 'It doesn't matter Jason, you're here now.' Courtney tried to intervene but both men ignored her. 'I've told you before, I don't want to hear about your fucking sex life. Fag.' Matt didn't know what had come over when he said that. He wasn't homophobic, not even in the slightest. 'Whoa, what the fuck?' Bri grabbed Matt by the shoulder and spun him around. 'What the fuck did you just say?' 'Yeah what the hell Matt!' Brian joined in. 'Not fucking cool man!' When Matt turned back to Jason he saw the hurt in his eyes. 'I uhm...I didn't mean that. I-' 'Who knew?' Jason's voice was lower now, a sadness riddled in it. 'Who knew you of all people could be homophobic?' 'I'm not! I didn't mean-' 'Given your history I mean.' Jason's lip turned up into a dangerous smirk. 'Because to me, you didn't seem all the straight yourself once upon a time. Well more than once, am I right?' 'Jason, don't you fucking dare.' Matt clenched his jaw. Jason's smirk grew. 'You never seemed all that homophobic in Daytona. Remember Daytona Matt? Remember when you had your dick-' Matt cut Jason off by punching him in the face. Jason fell backwards, Danny caught him. His hand flew to his nose where blood was pouring out. Jason stared at Matt, he had tears in his eyes but it had nothing to do with the pain. Matt froze, his still balled fist limply hanging at his sides. It had been like an out of body experience. He hadn't meant to do that anymore than he had meant to call Jason a fag. 'Dude!' Jake hit him in the arm. 'What the fuck has gotten into you?' Kurtis hit him too. Matt didn't even seem to notice. Courtney took a few steps back and put her hands to her mouth. Danny had his arm around Jason's shoulders and handed him a napkin from the bar to try and stop the bleeding. 'Holy shit.' Matt muttered under his breath. 'Oh my god Jay, I'm so fucking sorry!' He sprung to life as though he'd been woken up from a trance. He reached for Jason but Danny pushed him away. 'Don't fucking touch him. Do you not think you've done enough damage?' Danny spat. 'I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean to do that.' Matt sniffed, feeling on the verge of tears. What the hell had he done? Jason was still staring at him like he was some kind of monster, his eyes watering. He shook his head sadly at Matt before turning to Danny. 'Take me home, please? Get me away from him.' He sniffed and a small tear escaped his eye. 'Of course baby.' Danny kissed his head. He shot Matt a look of disgust. 'Sorry Court.' Jason muttered as Danny started leading him towards the exit. 'You're not the one who should be apologising.' she called after him. She looked at her fiancé in the same disgust Danny had looked at him. 'That's your best friend Matthew! What the hell is wrong with you?' 'I didn't mean...I'm sorry Court.' He went to hug her but she shook him off. 'Don't. I don't want to be around you right now.' She shook her head and ran to the bathroom. Jake, the Brian's and Kurtis were looking at Matt in shock. 'What the fuck man?' Jake shook his head. 'Asshole.' Bri muttered under his breath. 'Fucking asshole.' Brian agreed. Matt looked at Kurtis who's mouth was agape in shock. Matt hated himself in that moment. He pushed passed their disapproving stares and ran outside. He leant against the wall, sparked a cigarette and he let his tears fall. How could he hurt precious Jason? Matt had never hit another person in his life, so why had he started now? Would he really rather have punched his best friend than have everyone know about their past? He felt fucking horrible. He let his tears fall down his cheek as he violently sucked on the cigarette. He didn't hear the door open or his company step outside. 'What the fuck happened in Daytona?' Kurtis whispered. Matt looked up at him, he was blurry through his tears. 'As if Jason didn't tell you.' Matt scoffed. 'He told me he kissed you, but I think there's more to it than that.' Kurtis was speaking so softly and Matt didn't think he deserved that. He sighed and dragged heavily on the cigarette. 'We slept together.' That was the first time he'd ever admitted that out loud. 'And I freaked out and when he came to me to talk about it I refused. We've never talked about that night. I would have thought he would have told you though.' Matt wiped his face on the sleeve of his hoody. Kurtis bit his lip. 'Why the fuck did you hit him Matt?' Kurtis didn't look mad, he looked more disappointed than anything. Matt shook his head. 'Because he was going to tell everyone! I don't know, he was talking and I knew where he was going and I swear I blacked out or something. It was like a fucking outer body experience. It was like I was floating above the bar and I saw myself raise my fist and I was screaming don't do it but I did and I don't know why. I wish I could take it back, but I couldn't have Courtney find out.' He was sobbing into his hands now, his cigarette falling to the floor. Kurtis surprised himself and Matt when he put his arm around his shoulders. 'It was a long time ago Matt, people go through phases. I'm sure Courtney would have understood.' Matt was shaking his head. 'That was a long time ago sure. But that wasn't the last time.' 'What do you mean?' Kurtis stepped back a little so he could look at Matt. 'We hooked up a few months ago. I cheated on my fiancé for fuck sake! But I wouldn't take it back. But she can't find out Kurtis, she would never forgive me.' He shook his head, his tears still falling hard. 'Have you ever thought that maybe Courtney isn't the person you should be with?' Matt straightened up now, his face contorting angrily. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?' 'You know what I mean Matt.' Kurtis sighed. 'I've always thought you had feelings for Jason, but I've never been sure until right now.' 'I do not.' Matt scoffed like it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. 'Oh stop this Matt. Why are you so determined to pretend you don't want to be with Jason when it's clearly making you miserable? It's not fair on Jason, it's not fair on Court and it's not fair on yourself.' Kurtis tried to reason with him. Matt sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. 'My parents...' he croaked. 'We're really close and all they've ever wanted is for me to find a nice girl and settle down. To get married and have kids. If I told them I had feelings for a guy...I don't even want to know what that would do to them and our relationship.' Matt lit another cigarette. 'Coming out is hard.' Kurtis told him. 'I mean not for everyone, by the sounds of it Brian's parents were amazing when he come out. But my parents were a nightmare, for years they didn't look at me the same. We're getting there but I don't think it will ever be the same, they've never even met Patrick and I doubt they ever will. Bri's parents were assholes when he came out apparently. And Jason, his dad practically disowned him. He kicked Jason out and he moved in with his grandma for a while. His mom was amazing though, she and his dad eventually divorced because of it and her and Jason are super close but he hasn't spoken to his dad since.' 'Is this supposed to be making me feel better? I don't want that to happen!' Matt shook his head. 'I'm just saying, we've all been through it. You shouldn't let what you think is going to happen stand in your way of happiness. No matter what happened with our families, I bet you not a single one of us regret coming out for a second. Because we get to be happy, we get to be with the people we want to be with and not the people we're expected to be with. I know the idea of coming out is hard, trust me but-' 'Kurtis, with all due respect, none of this fucking matters ok? Regardless of any of this shit, Jason is never going to talk to me again. Courtney and all the guys are mad at me, I've fucked everything up.' He slid down the wall and crouched on the floor. 'You can fix it Matt.' Kurtis squatted next to him and put his hand on Matt's shoulder. 'Sure Jason is mad now but he's fucking in love with you, he'll forgive you.' Matt turned to him, his eyes wide. 'He's...he's in love with me?' He stuttered, more tears falling now. 'Isn't it obvious?' Kurtis sighed. 'That boy dotes on you. He hangs off your every fucking word. You click your fingers and he comes running. It's because he's in love with you.' Kurtis didn't know if he should really be telling Matt that or not. He just hoped it would help things. Sure he liked Danny, he liked Danny a lot in fact but he knew that Matt was who Jason really wanted; who he was probably supposed to be with. 'He's in love with me.' Matt repeated. 'How did I not see this? Fuck I'm so dumb.' 'Little bit.' Kurtis rolled his eyes. 'But you need to make a decision Matt. You either need to tell Jason how you feel about him or you need to let him go for good. You don't get to have Courtney and still string Jason along. It's one or the other.' Kurtis stood back up and helped Matt up too. 'Yeah, yeah I know.' He wiped the rest of his tears away. 'And one more thing,' Kurtis spoke before he walked away. 'If you ever hit him again,' Kurtis snarled. 'I swear to fucking god it will be the last thing you ever do.' Kurtis jabbed Matt in the chest and then he went back inside. Matt smoked another cigarette while he thought about what Kurtis had told him. Jason was in love with him. It was do or die time. He had to make a decision once and for all about who he wanted to be with. On the one had there was beautiful, sweet, caring Courtney who his parents loved and who he wanted to love. And then there was Jason, even more beautiful than anyone Matt had ever seen, the person who Matt had probably always been in love with. But his parents wouldn't approve. Was he willing to risk his relationship with his parents for a shot at real happiness? He wanted to, God he wanted to more than anything else in the world. But Matt was a coward. So maybe he would rather be with a person he didn't really love and make his parents proud than admit that he was in love with another man.

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(Sad to see you go) Was sorta hoping that you'd stay

[artificialqueens]

Straightjacket Feeling - Chp.10 (Pearlet) by Scarlet

A/N - more angst, some violence and homophobic language.

Chapter 10

(Do I wanna know?)

If this feeling flows both ways

—————————————–

The next few months flew by. Jason and Danny were so caught up in their ‘honeymoon’ phase, they could barely keep their hands off of each other for more than five minutes. Jason was so caught up in Danny he hadn’t even realised that it had been months since he’d seen or spoken to Matt. He knew he’d been demoted as best man, not that Matt had had the decency to tell Jason that. Jason had had to see it on Facebook a few weeks ago.

Jake Ludwig: trying on suits with my favourite dude #bestmanduties - with Matthew James Lent

Jason didn’t even really care. If Matt was going to be that petty then maybe Jason wouldn’t even go to the wedding. For the first time in a long time Jason didn’t give a shit about Matt. It was hard to when he was so preoccupied by Danny throwing himself at him every chance he got. They tried to go on dates but they always ended the same way. At the movies they exchanged hand jobs in the back row with only Danny’s jacket as a shield. When they went to bars they always seemed to end up in a bathroom cubicle with one of them on their knees. Even once when they’d gone for a walk Danny had pulled Jason into a public bathroom and sucked him off. They spent all their free time together and Jason hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. He’d started integrating Danny into his world, he’d met Kurtis several times and Kurtis loved him and they’d been on double dates with him and Patrick. He’d met the Brian’s too and they both loved him, Danny had a very infectious personality, it was hard for people not to like him. Of course he hadn’t met Matt because Matt wasn’t speaking to Jason and he hadn’t met Jake either. Jason had always gotten the impression that he and Jake weren’t really friends anyway, they never hung out without the others and if it wasn’t for Matt, Jason was sure he would have nothing to do with Jake. Jason had even been introduced to Danny’s parents when they’d been to visit a few weeks ago and they couldn’t stop raving about how much they loved Jason. Things were going really well, Jason finally felt as though he’d found everything he’d been looking for. He was happy, he was crazy about Danny. He should have known something was going to happen to destroy that. It always did.

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One evening Jason and Danny were snuggled up on Jason’s couch watching TV when Jason’s phone buzzed with an event notification. He frowned and opened his Facebook app.

‘Oh fuck.’ He groaned looking at the event page. 'I’m meant to be going out for drinks for Courtney’s birthday tonight, I completely fucking forgot.’

'Do you have to go?’ Danny stroked his cheek.

'I probably should, I think I’ve already done enough damage with my friends recently, the least I can do is go for a drink. Oh god I don’t want to see Matt.’ He sat forward and put his head in his hands. He felt Danny stroke his back.

'It’s ok babe.’ He cooed. 'Want me to come with you?’

'Matt will be there.’ Jason told him again.

'I know, I don’t have an issue with him.’ Danny shrugged. Jason sat back to look at Danny.

'Are you sure?’

'Of course sweetie.’ Danny beamed, kissing him. Jason looked at the event page again rolling his eyes before flicking over to his profile.

'We should get ready really, we’re supposed to be there soon.’

'What’s that?’ Danny was preoccupied looking at Jason’s phone.

'What?’

Danny pointed to what he was looking at.

'Jason Dardo is single? Oh hell no!’ Danny chuckled and grabbed Jason’s phone from his hand. 'Jason Dardo is in a relationship with Danny Noriega. Much better.’ Danny grinned. A notification dinged on his own phone. He pulled it from his pocket. 'Oooh Jason Dardo wants to be in a relationship with me. Should I accept it?’ He laughed making Jason roll his eyes.

'You are such a dork.’ Jason pushed him back to the couch and kissed him. When he went to pull away Danny held him close, deepening the kiss.

'Have we got time for a quicky?’ Danny grouped Jason’s ass. Jason smirked.

'Baby, there is always time for a quicky.’ He told Danny, kissing him again.

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They showered together after their impromptu sex session got them sweaty and come slicked. Danny was dressed and ready now sitting back on the couch. Jason came out of his bedroom wearing tight skinny jeans and black vest top. He threw one of Danny’s checked shirts around his shoulders. That boy owned a lot of checked shirts.

'Do you have any clothes at your own apartment anymore?’ Jason joked. 'My wardrobe is getting fuller by the day. And my bathroom. And every other room in the apartment for that matter.’ He laughed. Danny stood up and came close to him wrapping his arms around Jason’s waist.

'I just spend so much time here, I never get a chance to take it all home. I can get rid of it if you like?’

Jason cupped Danny’s face and kissed him, only grinding his crotch on his boyfriends a little.

'It’s ok I don’t mind. You practically live here anyway it would pointless taking them home.’ He chuckled stroking Danny’s hair back off his face. 'In fact,’ Jason suddenly turned serious. 'Tell me if I’m moving too fast but…why don’t you just move in here? Like you said you’re here all the time and all your stuff is here. It seems silly for us both to be paying rent on our apartments.’ Jason shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. Danny didn’t answer him right away and Jason was worried he’d freaked him out.

'Are you serious?’ Danny’s voice wasn’t identifiable.

'Uhm…yeah kinda.’

Suddenly Danny’s face broke out into a large smile and kissed Jason hard.

'I’d love to!’ He squeezed Jason tightly. Jason smiled brightly and kissed him again.

'You had me worried there for a second! I thought I’d totally freaked you out!’

'Well it is kinda soon but I am fucking crazy about you Jason.’

Jason’s heart soared.

'Me too.’ He whispered and kissed Danny passionately. Neither of them knew how this had happened. This was never meant to be serious, it was only ever meant to be a bit of fun, a distraction. But it had quickly become so much more than that. Jason held Danny tightly, running his fingers through the older man’s hair as the kiss deepened. He felt himself getting hard again.

'Fuck, we really need to go.’ Jason panted, he didn’t want to go at all.

'Let’s see how quickly I can get you off then. Roomie.’ Danny winked and then he was dropping to his knees and Jason’s jeans were going with him. God he hoped they’d still fool around this much when they lived together.

—————————————–

They were over an hour late by the time they finally arrived at the bar. Jason had stopped off and brought a cheap card and bunch of flowers for Courtney because he thought it was rude to turn up empty handed. He couldn’t deny that he was nervous about seeing Matt. The last time he’d seen him Matt had had his dick in his mouth and he knew it was going to be fucking awkward. He spotted Courtney right away, her long wavy blonde hair bouncing a little as she laughed as something the older Brian said. Bri, Kurtis and Jake were with her too but no Matt. A wave of relief hit Jason, maybe he was sick or something and couldn’t come? He tapped Courtney on the shoulder and she spun around.

'Happy birthday Court!’ He pulled her into a hug and then handed her the card and flowers.

'Thank you Jason, these are beautiful.’ She smiled her award winning smile. God she and Matt were going to have some gorgeous kids one day.

'Courtney this is my boyfriend Danny.’ He put his hand around Danny’s waist and motioned him forward.

'Oh it’s so good to finally meet you!’ She beamed. 'The Brian’s never shut up about you.’

'It’s nice to meet you too, and as long it’s all good then, party!’ Danny hugged her. He said his hello’s to Kurtis and the Brian’s and so did Jason.

'Danny this is Jake.’ He motioned to the other boy.

'Good to meet you.’ Jake gave Danny a stiff handshake which Jason thought was weird but he didn’t mention it.

'He’s finally taken me out of hiding.’ Danny chuckled.

'I saw you went Facebook official today.’ Bri winked at them. 'About fucking time.’

'Who went Facebook official with what?’ Matt suddenly sauntered over. He took one look at Danny and he scowled. 'What the fuck is he doing here?’

'He’s my boyfriend Matt, I invited him.’ Jason scoffed, wrapping a protective arm around Danny.

'Well this is my fiancé’s birthday so I’m uninviting him. If you don’t mind this is friends only.’ He gave Danny a sarcastic smile.

'Matt, don’t be so rude!’ Courtney put her hand on his shoulder sensing he was getting worked up. 'This is my birthday and I say the more the merrier.’

'Well I want him to leave.’ Matt snarled.

'What the fuck is your problem?’ Jason suddenly spat taking them all aback. 'If you don’t want to talk to us you don’t have to, but he isn’t going anywhere.’

'Wanna fucking bet?’ Matt stepped forward close to Jason, puffing his chest out. Was he threatening him? Jason let go of Danny and straightened his back so he was at his full height, much taller than Matt.

'What are you gonna do about it?’ Jason scoffed.

'Matt, dude, stop this.’ Jake grabbed Matt’s arm but Matt shook him off.

'He’s not fucking welcome here.’

'Look I don’t know what your fucking problem is with Danny but he’s my boyfriend, where I go, he goes. So get used to it.’ Jason spat.

'Jay this isn’t worth it, let’s just get out of here.’ Danny tugged at his hand.

'Jason isn’t going anywhere.’ Matt snapped. 'You on the other hand…’

'If he goes, I go.’ Jason growled.

'It’s Courtney’s birthday, you aren’t going anywhere. You already turned up an hour late! How fucking rude is that?’

'Sorry, we got a little…carried away.’ Jason smirked and he swore he saw a vein in Matt’s neck pop.

'I don’t need to know.’ Matt spat.

'Really? You don’t want to know about how we can’t keep our hands off each other for a second? You don’t want to know about the two orgasms Danny gave me when we were supposed to be here?’ Jason’s smirk grew. Danny rolled his eyes. He’d hoped Jason was getting over Matt by now but he could tell by the way he was trying to get a rise out of him that he still had feelings for him. It was like that night at the bar in Daytona. The sexual tension was ripe.

'It doesn’t matter Jason, you’re here now.’ Courtney tried to intervene but both men ignored her.

'I’ve told you before, I don’t want to hear about your fucking sex life. Fag.’ Matt didn’t know what had come over when he said that. He wasn’t homophobic, not even in the slightest.

'Whoa, what the fuck?’ Bri grabbed Matt by the shoulder and spun him around. 'What the fuck did you just say?’

'Yeah what the hell Matt!’ Brian joined in. 'Not fucking cool man!’

When Matt turned back to Jason he saw the hurt in his eyes.

'I uhm…I didn’t mean that. I-’

'Who knew?’ Jason’s voice was lower now, a sadness riddled in it. 'Who knew you of all people could be homophobic?’

'I’m not! I didn’t mean-’

'Given your history I mean.’ Jason’s lip turned up into a dangerous smirk. 'Because to me, you didn’t seem all the straight yourself once upon a time. Well more than once, am I right?’

'Jason, don’t you fucking dare.’ Matt clenched his jaw. Jason’s smirk grew.

'You never seemed all that homophobic in Daytona. Remember Daytona Matt? Remember when you had your dick-’

Matt cut Jason off by punching him in the face. Jason fell backwards, Danny caught him. His hand flew to his nose where blood was pouring out. Jason stared at Matt, he had tears in his eyes but it had nothing to do with the pain. Matt froze, his still balled fist limply hanging at his sides. It had been like an out of body experience. He hadn’t meant to do that anymore than he had meant to call Jason a fag.

'Dude!’ Jake hit him in the arm.

'What the fuck has gotten into you?’ Kurtis hit him too. Matt didn’t even seem to notice. Courtney took a few steps back and put her hands to her mouth. Danny had his arm around Jason’s shoulders and handed him a napkin from the bar to try and stop the bleeding.

'Holy shit.’ Matt muttered under his breath. 'Oh my god Jay, I’m so fucking sorry!’ He sprung to life as though he’d been woken up from a trance. He reached for Jason but Danny pushed him away.

'Don’t fucking touch him. Do you not think you’ve done enough damage?’ Danny spat.

'I’m so, so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to do that.’ Matt sniffed, feeling on the verge of tears. What the hell had he done? Jason was still staring at him like he was some kind of monster, his eyes watering. He shook his head sadly at Matt before turning to Danny.

'Take me home, please? Get me away from him.’ He sniffed and a small tear escaped his eye.

'Of course baby.’ Danny kissed his head. He shot Matt a look of disgust.

'Sorry Court.’ Jason muttered as Danny started leading him towards the exit.

'You’re not the one who should be apologising.’ she called after him. She looked at her fiancé in the same disgust Danny had looked at him.

'That’s your best friend Matthew! What the hell is wrong with you?’

'I didn’t mean…I’m sorry Court.’ He went to hug her but she shook him off.

'Don’t. I don’t want to be around you right now.’ She shook her head and ran to the bathroom. Jake, the Brian’s and Kurtis were looking at Matt in shock.

'What the fuck man?’ Jake shook his head.

'Asshole.’ Bri muttered under his breath.

'Fucking asshole.’ Brian agreed. Matt looked at Kurtis who’s mouth was agape in shock. Matt hated himself in that moment. He pushed passed their disapproving stares and ran outside. He leant against the wall, sparked a cigarette and he let his tears fall. How could he hurt precious Jason? Matt had never hit another person in his life, so why had he started now? Would he really rather have punched his best friend than have everyone know about their past? He felt fucking horrible. He let his tears fall down his cheek as he violently sucked on the cigarette. He didn’t hear the door open or his company step outside.

'What the fuck happened in Daytona?’ Kurtis whispered. Matt looked up at him, he was blurry through his tears.

'As if Jason didn’t tell you.’ Matt scoffed.

'He told me he kissed you, but I think there’s more to it than that.’ Kurtis was speaking so softly and Matt didn’t think he deserved that. He sighed and dragged heavily on the cigarette.

'We slept together.’ That was the first time he’d ever admitted that out loud. 'And I freaked out and when he came to me to talk about it I refused. We’ve never talked about that night. I would have thought he would have told you though.’ Matt wiped his face on the sleeve of his hoody. Kurtis bit his lip.

'Why the fuck did you hit him Matt?’ Kurtis didn’t look mad, he looked more disappointed than anything. Matt shook his head.

'Because he was going to tell everyone! I don’t know, he was talking and I knew where he was going and I swear I blacked out or something. It was like a fucking outer body experience. It was like I was floating above the bar and I saw myself raise my fist and I was screaming don’t do it but I did and I don’t know why. I wish I could take it back, but I couldn’t have Courtney find out.’ He was sobbing into his hands now, his cigarette falling to the floor. Kurtis surprised himself and Matt when he put his arm around his shoulders.

'It was a long time ago Matt, people go through phases. I’m sure Courtney would have understood.’

Matt was shaking his head.

'That was a long time ago sure. But that wasn’t the last time.’

'What do you mean?’ Kurtis stepped back a little so he could look at Matt.

'We hooked up a few months ago. I cheated on my fiancé for fuck sake! But I wouldn’t take it back. But she can’t find out Kurtis, she would never forgive me.’ He shook his head, his tears still falling hard.

'Have you ever thought that maybe Courtney isn’t the person you should be with?’

Matt straightened up now, his face contorting angrily.

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?’

'You know what I mean Matt.’ Kurtis sighed. 'I’ve always thought you had feelings for Jason, but I’ve never been sure until right now.’

'I do not.’ Matt scoffed like it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

'Oh stop this Matt. Why are you so determined to pretend you don’t want to be with Jason when it’s clearly making you miserable? It’s not fair on Jason, it’s not fair on Court and it’s not fair on yourself.’ Kurtis tried to reason with him. Matt sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

'My parents…’ he croaked. 'We’re really close and all they’ve ever wanted is for me to find a nice girl and settle down. To get married and have kids. If I told them I had feelings for a guy…I don’t even want to know what that would do to them and our relationship.’ Matt lit another cigarette.

'Coming out is hard.’ Kurtis told him. 'I mean not for everyone, by the sounds of it Brian’s parents were amazing when he come out. But my parents were a nightmare, for years they didn’t look at me the same. We’re getting there but I don’t think it will ever be the same, they’ve never even met Patrick and I doubt they ever will. Bri’s parents were assholes when he came out apparently. And Jason, his dad practically disowned him. He kicked Jason out and he moved in with his grandma for a while. His mom was amazing though, she and his dad eventually divorced because of it and her and Jason are super close but he hasn’t spoken to his dad since.’

'Is this supposed to be making me feel better? I don’t want that to happen!’ Matt shook his head.

'I’m just saying, we’ve all been through it. You shouldn’t let what you think is going to happen stand in your way of happiness. No matter what happened with our families, I bet you not a single one of us regret coming out for a second. Because we get to be happy, we get to be with the people we want to be with and not the people we’re expected to be with. I know the idea of coming out is hard, trust me but-’

'Kurtis, with all due respect, none of this fucking matters ok? Regardless of any of this shit, Jason is never going to talk to me again. Courtney and all the guys are mad at me, I’ve fucked everything up.’ He slid down the wall and crouched on the floor.

'You can fix it Matt.’ Kurtis squatted next to him and put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. 'Sure Jason is mad now but he’s fucking in love with you, he’ll forgive you.’

Matt turned to him, his eyes wide.

'He’s…he’s in love with me?’ He stuttered, more tears falling now.

'Isn’t it obvious?’ Kurtis sighed. 'That boy dotes on you. He hangs off your every fucking word. You click your fingers and he comes running. It’s because he’s in love with you.’ Kurtis didn’t know if he should really be telling Matt that or not. He just hoped it would help things. Sure he liked Danny, he liked Danny a lot in fact but he knew that Matt was who Jason really wanted; who he was probably supposed to be with.

'He’s in love with me.’ Matt repeated. 'How did I not see this? Fuck I’m so dumb.’

'Little bit.’ Kurtis rolled his eyes. 'But you need to make a decision Matt. You either need to tell Jason how you feel about him or you need to let him go for good. You don’t get to have Courtney and still string Jason along. It’s one or the other.’ Kurtis stood back up and helped Matt up too.

'Yeah, yeah I know.’ He wiped the rest of his tears away.

'And one more thing,’ Kurtis spoke before he walked away. 'If you ever hit him again,’ Kurtis snarled. 'I swear to fucking god it will be the last thing you ever do.’ Kurtis jabbed Matt in the chest and then he went back inside. Matt smoked another cigarette while he thought about what Kurtis had told him. Jason was in love with him. It was do or die time. He had to make a decision once and for all about who he wanted to be with. On the one had there was beautiful, sweet, caring Courtney who his parents loved and who he wanted to love. And then there was Jason, even more beautiful than anyone Matt had ever seen, the person who Matt had probably always been in love with. But his parents wouldn’t approve. Was he willing to risk his relationship with his parents for a shot at real happiness? He wanted to, God he wanted to more than anything else in the world. But Matt was a coward. So maybe he would rather be with a person he didn’t really love and make his parents proud than admit that he was in love with another man.

—————————————–

(Sad to see you go)

Was sorta hoping that you’d stay)

[hinasho]

Like Jay might've had curly hair and just started straightening it after grad, Cole had that ponytail, and Kai had an eMO PHASE