#just not any time soon since I have to trudge through like 10-20 hours of mediocrity in the beginning

[zenjestrr]

at the point of no return

I kinda wish this game had LESS companion quests because I have so much bullshit to do before endgame and I just wanna finish the story but I don't wanna have someone die because I didn't give a funeral for their pet goldfish or whatever

[miridiums-writing]

Squid x Miridium

Miridium = she/he. Short as shit, I am 5’1 irl soooooo, miniture, I accidentally turned into a flustered mess who can’t deal with any compliments but the dynamic works

Squid = they/them. The taller one, I didn’t specify height because brain went no, squid kinda turned into a mysterious flirty advisory and I’m not complaining

Summary ; squid and Miridium have been enemies for years, battle after battle they have fought with no clear winner, but this time squid is determined to finally win

Warnings; blood, gore, fighting

Tag list : @squid-god-supreme since it's literally about you

Miridium crashed into the large oak door, his breaths laboured from running so far after them. Without considering what he was running into, he roughly pulled the door open. “Come on squid, stop playing this ridiculous game with me.” She heard a chuckle near the back of the room, Miridium looked around the room, quickly observing this is what looked like a theatre, with a large stage near the back. Just like squid to choose something like this to run to, they were always one for dramatics. Miridium crept forward through the pews, listening out for any other movement in the room, by the time he had reached the stage he had still heard nothing at all other than their own footsteps against the polished wood floor.

Squid was crouched at the back of the stage, their sword resting against their leg. Their own breathing wasn’t quite as haggard as Miridium’s, though in comparison they had had more time to rest. They smirked to themselves as they heard his footsteps get closer to their hiding place. Squid could distinctly remember from all the other times they had fought how easy it was to fluster Miridium, and pushing his buttons was squid’s most favourite past time. They could hear him hesitate at the stage stairs, come on Miri just a little further and this battle is mine for the winning.

Both got poised and ready to attack the other, their swords twitching to get unsheathed. With a shout squid jumped out from their crouched position, pouncing onto Miri, thankfully Miri had unsheathed his sword just in time and both swords crashed against each other, then the true fight began, each blocking and attacking the other with immense speed and agility, the only sound surrounding the room was metal against metal, and slight grunts at both ends as they battled for the win. Squid pushed their sword against Miri’s, their faces close together now, squid smirked down at Miri, seeing his face of concentration and rage. “Why don’t you just let me win for once shortcake?” Miri glared up at Squid at the nickname, every time without fail Squid had somehow managed to get under her skin and annoy the hell out of her. “Shut up!” she yelled, finally pushing squid back, causing them to stumble slightly before they inevitably regained their balance, their smirk only growing larger. “Fine, guess ill just have to be more persuasive!” They ran back at Miri, sword raise ready to attack her. Miri, quickly jumped out of the way of the dangerous blow. Though he misjudged his landing and felt himself starting to fall from the stage. In a blind state of panic for their wellbeing squid grabbed a-hold of her hand and pulled her towards themselves, their arms circling protectively around her body.

When the adrenaline on both sides starts to dull down is, they realized the position they were in. squid pulled their arms away from her and took a step back, giving them the space, they assumed Miri would want. “Just, don’t do that shortcake, you’ll take a nasty fall.” Miri had still yet to say a word to squid, her own brain had short-circuited slightly, and she had no idea what to do, her emotions going haywire. Her head repeating the same sentence again and again as it tried to understand the events that had just taken place. It meant nothing. “Lets just pretend that never happened. Besides,” she picked up her sword from the ground. “I was about to win.” Squids usual signature smirk etched back onto their face. “Oh yeah, lets see about that.” Both fighters raised their swords once more before a gut retching wail sounded from outside. Miri’s face turned white as she looked up at squid. Squid’s eyes hardened as they turned their gaze to the door, waiting for one of those things to enter. “How many do you think there are” Miri said quietly, afraid making too loud a noise would attract those things to them. “Can’t believe I’m saying this,” squid said, tucking their sword under their arm and putting the left hand out to Miri. “Let’s fight together for once and get the hell out of here, then we go on like nothing happened. Its my fault this happened, I drew us too far away from the circle” Miri considered their offer for a moment before she nodded to herself and put her hand in theirs. “Just this once, then we forget.” They shook hands before they turned to the door, swords raised once more and ready to fight it.

The door was smashed open off its hinges as the thing pushed its way through the door, it didn’t really have a name other than the thing, it didn’t seem to resemble anything anyone had seen before the worlds fall. It was a grotesque creature with horns along its back, its skin a pale off-white colour covered in a clear slime, it a rather rotund body, with small stubby legs, 10 in all. Its mouth was the worst. Closed it just look like a creepy smile, but as its moth opened, they could see its rows and rows of teeth, with a hole that went straight down to its stomach. It made a wailing noise as it slugged across the floor into the room. The things weren’t incredibly fast, but they didn’t need to be. They always came in large packs, and both Squid and Miri knew the others weren’t far behind, if they both wanted to make it out alive, they were going to need to work together.

Squid and Miri glanced at each other, nodding in a reassuring way at the other and turned their gaze to the thing, both ready to fight for not only their own survival, but the others too

Both Squid and Miri were drenched in the disgusting slime now, wounds adorned both their bodies. They had fought long and hard, a pack of 20 of them had surrounded the building and had taken over 2 hours to kill them all. Miri wasn’t quite as badly wounded as Squid as they had a bad habit of swooping in at the last moment and stopping him from getting hurt. Miri trudged over to Squid, putting an arm around them and helping them up, they both hobbled away from the carnage. While scoping out the area earlier Miri had noticed a first aid stand not too far from the building as it looked like an old run-down amusement park. Squid’s body weight leaned heavily onto Miri, causing them to struggle to pull them along, but knowing that he owed them his life. Squid tried to keep their groans of pain to themselves, trying to be as helpful as possible, so Miri didn’t feel like she was doing all the work.

Miri kicked the door down of the broken building, pulling Squid inside with her and placing them onto a seat in the corner before searching through all the drawers and cupboards for some kind of assistance. In her panic she then realized how disgusting her hands and clothing was, she rushed to the sink and thanked god that the water still ran before removing her top layer of armour and setting it aside, leaving him in a black shirt and leggings. Once he had cleaned himself up, he collected up bandages, sterilised wipes and anything else he felt might be needed. Squid had toppled over now, their wounds beginning to take a real tole on them. With quick precision and fluidity Miri removed Squid’s armour and set it beside her own before carefully pealing away Squid’s shirt. Their wound was rather deep, one of the things must have managed to bite them at some point. It was oozing blood and looked rather agitated. Miri was no medical professional, but even she knew this was way above her. The only thing she could thing to do was to clean it, sew it as best she could, bandage it and Squid back to the Circle quickly before they died.

Squid was starting to lose consciousness now and if they fell asleep, they wouldn’t be moving anytime soon. Miri tired to keep Squid awake, even at one point hitting them, but nothing seemed to work. Setting his resolve, he lay squid down across multiple chairs, and got to work cleaning their wounds.

Squid’s eyes started to open, the pain in their chest being much worse than they remembered, and much worse than any wound they had received before. Squid looked around the room, trying to get their bearings before their eyes landed on the figure slumped and asleep in a crumpled heap against the counter on the floor. Squid could recognize the curly green hair from anywhere, and a soft smile fell onto their face. Miri had dragged them here and had even fixed them up. If Squid didn’t know any better, they would think she went soft. Squid carefully pulled themself up from the chair and hobbled over to her side. Squid let their arm drape over their body, and they settled themself against the counter. Without even thinking twice about it they set a kiss against Miri’s forehead.

Its funny to think all of these years they had fought and battled one another, and one afternoon everything had changed. It squid was honesty with themself, and they often weren’t, being here like this with Miri was nice, it felt natural, it felt right. As squid passed out once more, they only hoped that Miri would feel the same

PLEASE REBLOG IF YOU ENJOYED!!

[1magine-engine]

1404 (Prologue)

Fandom: Haikyuu!! Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuro x Youtuber Reader Words: 1500+ Posted: 26/11/20

Song(s) Featured: Moon on the Water by The Dying Breed (from Beck MCS)

“It’s actually really exciting.”

Tetsuro nods, knowing Kenma means it, whatever he’s talking about. Probably something about Bouncing Ball corp. and the new game they have in development. Really, Kenma hasn’t stopped talking about it since the project started almost half a year ago and while Tetsuro is interested enough to usually listen to him rave and gush, today’s just not that kind of day.

“-and the new voice actor I have in mind is really good. We save a lot of time and money cause they speak in both languages.”

Yup, they’re probably phenomenal if Kenma is so easy to compliment them. Tetsuro racks his brain trying to remember who he’s talking about.

“I’m actually thinking about having her as a guest on stream soon.”

Uh huh.

“Oh and I’m also going to shave my head and give my hair to that middle school girl who won’t stop messaging.”

Good for them.

“Okay, how many of those have you had today?”

Tetsuro looks down at the cup of coffee he’s forgotten he’s holding. “Uh…” his brows furrow and it’s enough for Kenma to pry the cup out of his hand and set it on the far end of the table.

“And you’re always telling me to get proper sleep.” Kenma gives him a look, sipping on his own drink. He exits Discord, Tetsuro’s sagging back, drooping shoulders and lifeless eyes, more concerning than his followers’ Rule 34 fanart. “Seriously are you okay man? Have you been sleeping? At all?”

Tetsuro shakes his head, the mere mention of sleep enough to slump him over the table completely. As far as he knows, a waiter hadn’t wiped it after the last couple of people who sat down, or before he and Kenma took their place. He finds he doesn’t care. “Stupid neighbors, always either fighting or fucking all night. It’s been going on for a month now.”

“Oh that’s rough.” Kenma winces, handing him back his coffee, knowing lunch break doesn’t last forever and Tetsuro has to return to his office as a zombie. “Tried filing a noise complaint?”

He was about to, one week into the couple’s constant spats, but hearing them scream at the top of their lungs at each other about money troubles and barely keeping themselves afloat stayed his hand. Tetsuro knows how difficult it is to get an apartment in his building, a prime position near the business district at a reasonable price. He also knows his neighbors to an extent, at least what they do for a living as a preschool teacher and a struggling musician. As much as he needs his sleep, he’s not so heartless as to put them out on the streets. “It’s fine,” he promises as he downs the rest of his coffee. “I’ve been living next door to these guys for almost two years now and they’ve always seemed happy before this. They’ll work through it and I then I can get some sleep.”

“If you say so,” Kenma says but he still stares down and shakes his head at the next waitress who tries to approach them with a pot of coffee.

It’s a month and two weeks in that Tetsuro reconsiders that noise complaint or at least considers gathering his neighbors from the same floor and staging an intervention. Mrs. Mamizuka across the hall has expressed her concerns to Kuroo in the elevator one morning, telling him they’ll surely notice how loud and disturbing they’ve become when they realize she hasn’t been giving them as many of her baked goods as she normally does. And Tanaka who’s taking up residence at the end of their hall has advised him to just go out at night, go to the convenience store next to the building and wait till they tire each other out or go partying with friends.

Oh, to be a college student again.

He’s not even in his mid-twenties and he wishes for the energy he used to have, the kind that could drive him through all his classes on just 3 hours of sleep. Maybe then, he could finish his damned paperwork. Maybe then he wouldn’t fall asleep on the bus and miss his stop.

“Been up working late nights Kuroo-san?” the night guard, Sato asks him when he drags his feet into the lobby after midnight.

Kuroo nods, also wishing he had half the middle aged man’s energy, because even at the latest hours of the night, Sato-san greets every tenant and guest with a smile. Kuroo could only force himself to return it. “Something like that.”

“Well you look pretty tuckered out. You should probably put off whatever you’re working on for the night Kuroo-san.” He wags an index finger like a weather man telling a fact about nature on the news. “Sleep is important you know.”

Doesn’t he know it.

When he crosses the threshold of his apartment, he doesn’t bother turning on the lights. He heads straight for his bedroom and musters up the energy to take off his jacket, tie, socks and shoes. The night is silent, save for a light chorus of crickets outside his window. He’s gotten home later than he would have any other time, a crescent moon sitting just past its peak outside his window. And he hopes, oh does he hope, that it means his neighbors have already fought all they can fight for the night. Or maybe the husband hasn’t come home yet and that’s why it hasn’t started. 

He regrets even thinking of it when he settles into bed and hears the distant sound of a door being unlocked and slammed open.

Tetsuro sighs, already rolling over to each for his messenger bag, his earphones sitting somewhere at the bottom. He stops his rummaging when no bedlam disturbs the night. Footsteps prick his ears but they don’t stomp and aren’t followed by booming voices trying to talk over each other. He rolls back over, leaning towards the wall and hearing nothing. Odd. More shuffling and trudging draw his eye up to the crag ceiling, to the apartment above his.

The kind elderly couple who used to live up there had mentioned wanting to move to the country for months. “The air is fresher there, better for old people like us,” the wife chuckled at him once when he’d helped carry her groceries across the lobby to the elevator. Not a week later, Tetsuro was helping the husband and their son move furniture out, just in time to miss the beginning of a hard spot in their neighbor’s relationship. But whoever has taken their place isn’t so fortunate but then again, maybe it’s him that’s out of luck. In the darkness of his apartment he stares up at the ceiling, brows furrowed.

He prays, prays to whatever kami watches over the luck and serenity of apartment buildings that it isn’t another couple that should’ve broken up yesterday. Hell, he’ll even take a new family with a rowdy kid. At least kids are usually out by 10 with their parents careful not to wake them, not banging on the walls or banging each other. No movie he’s watched or game he’s been in has ever left him in such suspense. After some more shuffling and gentle creak of chair legs against a wood floor, there’s silence. 

Tetsuro sits up, holding his breath.

“Full moon sways, 

gently in the night of one fine day.”

A car drives by, the doppler effect of it rushing down the street drowning out the first few notes of an acoustic guitar. Deft fingers play with practiced ease but do so with languid movement, catching on the strings more than plucking them. The voice, high and crooning, is the same, beautiful but almost lazy. Tired, he realizes, is a better word; she sounds as tired as he remembers he feels, once all the irritation at his neighbors and frustration with missing his stop ebbs away. Laying back down, he listens.

"On my way,  looking for a moment with my dear. 

Full moon waves, slowly on the surface of the lake. 

You are there, smiling in my arms 

for all those years."

Even as the song switches to strumming with the slightest bit of force, Tetsuro finds himself sinking deeper into his pillow, eyes growing heavy.

"What a fool, I don’t know ‘bout tomorrow, 

or what it’s like to be, Ah,"

He’s never heard the song in his life, neither does he remember enough of his English classes from high school to understand everything, but he doesn’t need to.

"I was sure, I couldn’t let myself go, 

even though I feel, the end."

Her voice and her guitar are muffled by the layers of wood and concrete between them. His window is open to let the cool night air and silver light of the moon in and he can tell hers is as well but she drowns out the chirping of crickets, the cars that drive by and even Tetsuro’s own thoughts as little by little, then all at once, he falls asleep.

"Full moon sways, gently in the night one fine day 

You were there, smiling in my arms,

 for all these years."

When he opens his eyes, it’s slow. Sleep inertia from a deep sleep is always worse but he finds his eyes widening as it goes away in minutes and he feel more rested than he has in years.

He blinks, staring up at the ceiling.

“Huh.”

[babycracker]

first line tag game

thank you for the tag @amlovelies! 🤍

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag some of your favourite authors!

1. pranks (litg: bobby/mc)

“Hey Jenna!” Bobby jogs over to join her as she walks back in through the front door, and she raises an eyebrow at his cheerier-than-usual demeanor.

“Did I miss anything while I was away?” she asks, returning his smile all the same because his happiness is infectious

2. love or money (litg: bobby/mc)

Bobby’s eyes cracked open, peering into the darkness like every other morning. He always woke up before the lights came on. Even after a month in the Villa, for a split second he forgot where he was and a pang of panic shot through him when he felt Amanda shift beside him before the last twenty-nine days came flooding back to him, and he allowed himself the tiniest of smug smirks.

3. when bobby met lani (litg: bobby/mc) explicit, minors dni

The beer's cheap and nasty, the bouncers are more interested in hitting on the girls coming through the door than actually providing any kind of security detail, and the male talent is… subpar. The music's half okay though, Lani thinks to herself as she chokes down the last of the God awful beer she'd ordered. The barman, who's barely taken his eyes off of her since she sat down, nods toward her empty bottle with his eyebrows raised.

4. the one that got away, chapter 23 (litg: bobby/f!oc) main story is explicit, minors dni

His phone beeping and vibrating across Tash's nightstand woke Bobby up. He groaned and squinted at it, the small light flashing in the corner indicating a text message. He heard Tash groan from where her face was pressed into his back as he reached out for it.

"What're you doing?" she murmured as she shifted to lay her head on his chest when he rolled onto his back, squeezing her eyes closed against the sudden light.

"I got a text, sorry."

"How much did it take for you not to yell that?"

He felt her grin against him and chuckled, "not as much as it used to."

5. keep on running, chapter 8 (litg: bobby/god knows honestly the boy was a ho)

Bobby slips his phone, keys and wallet into his pockets and steps out from behind the counter of the music store, ready to head home, but stops short when he sees Gary standing just inside the door waiting for him. He offers a small smile, which Bobby doesn’t return as he tries to walk past him and out onto the street. Gary’s arm shoots out, his hand on Bobby’s chest to stop him from moving, and he sighs and looks over at him.

6. while the cats are away, chapter 3 (litg: bobby&f!oc)

As usual Bobby was the first to wake up, and had quietly made his way to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day while he had a few moments of peace. By the time he was done and heading back out to the bedroom, he was passing some of the others on their way to the bathroom. Tash was perched up on the edge of their bed waiting for him, holding a cup out to him as he made his way closer to the bed.

7. untitled (litg: ????)

Noah sat at their usual booth in the back of the bar, running his finger around the rim of his glass before letting out a sigh and checking the time on his phone again. He’d arrived early so he knew he had no business being impatient, but he’d needed to get out of that damn house, away from Hope.

It had been bad enough when they’d been playing nice. Watching her smile to his face while knowing that she was more than likely trashing him to whoever would listen as soon as his back was turned. Not that he had a right to be pissed off about that lately; he’d been doing the same thing for the last few weeks. But since signing the divorce papers, Hope had become a she-devil straight from the depths of Hell.

8. 25 (holi)days of wayhaven, day 31 (twc: adam/f!detective)

They’ve come a long way, and both of them feel it whenever they’re together. A long way from Jordan deliberately riling him up because she knew that just about everything she did irritated him. A long way from Adam going out of his way to spend as little time with her as possible.

It’s taken them a long time to realise that they were doing these things - leaning into their dislike for each other - as a way to distract themselves from the fact that they have always liked each other. Maybe they’ve always loved each other, though neither of them are willing to say that out loud.

9. untitled (twc: felix/f!detective)

Felix can't sit still. It's not as though it's unusual for him by any means, but it seems to be exaggerated when he's spent the last six hours in a place where there is literally nothing to do.

He's slumped on the chair beside the hospital bed, slouched down so low that his ass isn't even on the seat anymore, one of his legs jiggling up and down and both hands drumming erratically on his knees.

He lets out an impatient sigh and sits upright again, taking his hat off and running a hand through his hair.

10. sick like me, chapter 20 (litg: bobby/mc) explicit, minors dni

It had happened slowly, so slowly that if Lani hadn’t found herself (mostly) weirdly excited about it she might not have even noticed that it was happening. But Bobby was most definitely moving in, slowly but surely. It started with little things, a change of clothes here and there, some toiletries, until she was helping him sell off some of his bigger furniture, stuff that they both knew wouldn’t fit into Lani’s apartment.

After a few weeks, the two of them stood in the middle of what used to be his living room but was now nothing more than an empty space, as Bobby turned his keys over and over in his hand.

11. fire meet gasoline, chapter 4 (twc: morgan/m!oc)

She'd expected him to dress down a little, seeing that they are likely venturing into a sewer this morning. But all that's missing is his jacket; he's still wearing his usual long sleeve dress shirt and vest though his sleeves have been partially folded back, revealing the smallest glimpse of a tattoo on the outside of his right forearm.

"You know you're probably going to get covered in crap, right?"

"Wrong. But if you want to keep doubting me, go right ahead," he grins an obnoxiously cocky grin at her before turning and heading around the warehouse towards the sewers.

12. 28 dates with unit bravo, day 10 (twc: morgan/m!oc)

She doesn't like him. He's hot, that's all. And kind of cocky and kind of an asshole and what can she say? Morgan's into it. Maybe it's because he's the same as her; not relationship material by a long shot, but she has a feeling he knows his way around the bedroom. Probably the kitchen, bathroom and any number of outdoor locations as well. That, and he’s hot.

13. untitled (twc: adam/f!detective)

He can hear her pacing the hall outside of his room. She pauses every time she passes his door, and everytime she does he tenses, only to relax again just slightly when she returns to pacing.

Part of him wants to throw his door open and drag her into his room. Another part wants to stick his head out the door and order her to return to her room and stop shuffling around outside of his. But a part bigger than both of them makes him stay put, sitting on the edge of his bed and carefully unlacing his boots.

14. luck of the unit, day 20 (twc: adam/f!detective)

"Say another one!" Jordan can barely get the words out between gasps of laughter, only becoming more hysterical every time she catches a glimpse of the unimpressed expression on Adam’s face.

“This is hardly the best use of your time here,” he points out, pausing to gesture around the study, “you are supposed to be studying.”

“I am studying, I’m learning a foreign language,” she insists with a defiant nod, and when his shoulders sag in defeat she knows she’s got him. “Come on, another one.”

15. untitled (tanner, not fanfic)

"Does it hurt?"

"Nah."

"Liar."

Tanner pauses for a moment, unable to hold back a wince when the tattooist starts again. "Little bit."

Skylar grins at him and sits up straight in the seat again, smiling smugly at him before spinning the seat and herself around in a circle.

"Dad's gonna kill you," she points out when she finally stops herself from spinning, and Tanner rolls his eyes at her.

16. echoes in the forest, chapter 13 (twc: adam/f!detective)

“I got a bad feeling about this,” Felix murmurs quietly, trudging along between Nate and Mason. Jordan and Adam are walking up ahead close by the boy as he continues wandering through the forest.

“You mean you haven’t felt that way since we got here?” Mason scoffs, not bothering to lift his eyes from the ground in front of him.

“Yeah, but worse now,” Felix answers, and Nate places a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“It will be alright,” he tries, but somehow Felix doesn’t find himself as reassured as he usually does when Nate attempts to comfort him.

oop, didn’t quite make 20. and jfc did i have to dive down to the bottom of the barrel to get what i did, some of these were almost a year ago. i’m noticing now that i start with a character’s name more often than not. honestly i don’t think i can pick a favourite, i’ve been thinking on it for like 15 minutes now and i honestly dunno.

and i know some of you think that you know everything that i have written even if it hasn’t been/isn’t to be posted... and i know that seeing this list of untitleds, you may be surprised and i’m sorry lol.

gonna tag @dwead-piwate-meggers @mistyeyedbi @masonscig @echohauville and @agentsunshine (no pressure ofc!) and to anyone else who wants to get in on this, tag me!

[myulalie]

First Lines Of Your Last 20 Fics!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

Thanks @lightwormsiblings for tagging me, this looks fun! I'm a bit disappointed my older fics don't make the cut, but what can say, it is also an achievement to have more than 20 fics for one fandom (Shadowhunters) I guess ^^

1) Idris Tour Sweethearts

Details: on-going, malec, G

The cold seeps through Alec’s heavy jacket and freezes him to the bone.

2) Night lingers at the darkest hour

Details: complete, malec, T

Alec strolls into the hall without a sound.

3) The greatest possession we have costs nothing (it’s known as love)

Details: complete, malec, G

Alec hurries inside the store, fumbling for a basket cart while he scrolls up his messages with the other hand, looking for Isabelle’s text about the exact brand of tampons she needs.

4) Dawn crowns her in gold

Details: complete, heline, T

A long, long time ago, when the fae of Brocelind Forest were at war with the kingdom of Idris, both on the verge of being swallowed by demons, the Hero of Men drank from the Mortal Cup.

5) How to wield hearts

Details: complete, malec, G

Magnus wears his heart on his sleeve, a weak pulse hidden in frilly fabric.

6) Stalemate (two truths and a lie)

Details: complete, Camille x Seelie Queen, G

It’s a stalemate.

7) Sorry, we're clothed

Details: complete, malec, M

Magnus wakes up to the rustle of fabric and mumbles into his silk covered pillow, golden light pouring through the window and onto his naked back.

8) Talking bodies

Details: complete, malec, T

Alec squirms, uncomfortable in the leather chair, and tugs at the fabric of his black shirt.

9) Days we shall not soon forget

Details: complete, malec, M

The sun lays a gentle caress on Alec’s back, one he hopes will not leave an angry mark between his shoulder blades.

10) Into the new year

Details: complete, malec, G

The nightclub is pulsing with unspent energy as the seconds fly past, drowning in the music.

11) Going Catmando

Details: complete, malec, T

Magnus trudges along the basketball court, his head bent forward and raindrops sliding down the side of his face.

12) All the Jingle Ladies

Details: complete, heline, collection of ficlets of all ratings

The snow covered path waltzed through the land under the hill and Aline looked around gingerly as she stepped over the frozen forest floor.

13) My Dear Santa

Details: complete, malec, G

Alec helps Magnus into the Santa Claus costume, giggling a little because Magnus insisted on sneaking a pillow in the coat to make a round belly.

14) Wide open, in flight

Details: complete, malec, G

Sunlight peered through the tarnished stones at the base of the tower, dust dancing in the basement.

15) Distant lovers

Details: complete, malec, M

Water disappears down the drain with a whisper, and Magnus reaches past the ‘get naked’ script on his shower curtain to grab his bathrobe, sliding it on.

16) How (not) to get a latte dumped on your head

Details: complete, malec, G

Magnus notices the truck on his way to work.

17) Let me please you

Details: complete, malec, M

Blood red lights and purple shadows spill out on the pavement like bruises on abused flesh.

18) Deepest desires (give in)

Details: complete, malec, G

Alec skirts a corner with more distance than necessary at the sight of one of the fake spiders Isabelle seems to love for Halloween.

19) No tricks, just kinks and treats!

Details: complete, malec, collection of ficlets, E

The blade lights up when it brushes Alexander’s marble skin.

20) Lovers who haven't met yet

Details: complete, malec, M

The Hunter’s Moon is noisy and Alec wonders what he’s doing here.

I definitely have a pattern of introducing the name of the POV-character as early on as possible since my fics are often external-[insert POV character]-centric. I can't just use pronouns to get this information across. If the POV is more internal I try to convey the character's voice instead like Magnus using "Alexander" when thinking of Alec. Else, I focus on setting the mood with a descriptive line about the place and atmosphere *coughs* lots of sun related images *coughs*.

My favorite is number 14 because it's Heline, obviously. jk seriously I really like the image I have going on with the path waltzing it conveys the essence of the Seelie Realm quite efficiently I think ^^

Most authors in my circle have already been tagged, so I won't tag anyone ^^ Feel free to do this after seeing my post, the more the merrier!

[shining-red-diamond]

Ch. 16: Venom

Cast of Characters//Ch. 1//Ch. 2//Ch. 3//Ch. 4//Ch. 5//Ch. 6//Ch. 7//Ch. 8//Ch. 9//Ch. 10//Ch. 11//Ch. 12//Ch. 13//Ch. 14//Ch. 15//Ch. 16//Ch. 17//Ch. 18//Ch. 19//Ch. 20//Ch. 21//Ch. 22//Ch. 23//Ch. 24//Ch. 25//Ch. 26//Ch. 27//Ch. 28 (coming soon)

Words: 1087

Pairing: OT8 x OCs (San x Celestia in second half)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: mentions of menstrual pain, surgical procedures, and blood

As soon as the crew boarded the ship, Yunho shut the side door right when the HALA took off. San was immediately rushed to the infirmary to be treated for his injury, and Grace-Anne took the diamond piece to the lab to be cleaned and stored. Mingi rushed to the deck to where Jongho was holding the ship steady. The younger boy stepped away to let the pilot take over.

“Woah!” escaped Jongho’s lips as he looked into the distance.

The HALA had risen over the trees just enough to see black smoke rising like a shadow from the Colosseum, and tourists were rushing out of it to escape any possible danger. Police cars and firemen could also be seen zooming to the fire. Chaos was all it could be described as. A few of the crewmembers came onto the deck to see what was happening. The ship was already moving far away from the damage, but the smoke could still be seen. It now just looked the size of a licorice stick.

“Hopefully, it’ll still be intact,” Phoebe sighed.

“Considering the walls are still up,” Grace-Anne said, “I think it will be. They’ll probably just close it down for a while to do repairs.”

“That explosion was huge,” Dinah exclaimed. “The ceiling above us could have easily been blown away. Did you see how big the smoke was?”

She then felt sharp pains in her abdomen and grabbed her stomach. “Pardon me,” she excused herself before dashing off below deck, Wooyoung following closely behind her.

The crew that remained on deck stayed there until the old arena was nothing but a speck. Despite being safe on the ship, everyone was still shaken from the current events. Hongjoong ordered everyone else to clean up and rest before dinner, but he didn’t bother going into his office; he instead trudged into his room and plopped himself onto his bed to give himself a break. Grace-Anne busied herself with the diamond in the lab, Taeran was comforting Celestia while San was being treated for his wound, and the rest of the men were either setting a course for Agra or showering. Phoebe was calculating ways to sneak into their next destination without breeching security, and Dinah decided to rest with a heating pad on her stomach to try to ease her menstrual cramps.

In the infirmary, Yeosang and Dahae had an unconscious San lying face down with his chin resting on a towel to allow him to breathe as the two medics worked. They had torn off his thick leather jacket and black t-shirt to examine the wound, and an arrowhead the size of a golf ball fell onto the floor, San’s blood dripping from the sharp tip. With gloved hands and large tweezers, Yeosang picked it up and set it on a separate tray to examine later. Dahae used a syringe to inject San’s wound with a solution that was quick to extract any poison that might have entered his bloodstream. Placing a tube against the wound, a pinkish-white liquid with a cloudy texture filled up the tube.

“Poison’s out,” Dahae confirmed before disposing the substance.

Yeosang then took a suction to clean out any extra venom. He then cleaned and stitched up San’s wound and wrapped his torso in bandages.

“He’s going to be fine,” said Yeosang after he turned his friend onto his back.

“Let’s get him back to his room. I think Celestia’s waited too long for an answer.”

-

San slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the wooden ceiling. He was in his room. It took him a few seconds to remember what happened, but he was glad to be alive. He also noticed that he was clothed in only his pants and bandages around his abdomen.

“Hey, handsome,” a familiar voice sounded from his left. He turned his head to find his wife sitting on the bed and staring at him with a sort of sad but relieved smile, and he gently placed his palm on her cheek, his tan contrasting with her porcelain skin.

“Hi, angel,” he greeted back.

“How are you feeling?”

San shrugged. “Alright, I guess. What time is it?”

“Four-thirty in the afternoon. You’ve been out for about five hours.”

San tried to sit up, but Celestia stopped him. She gathered the pillows she could find and placed them behind San for him prop up. As he tried to adjust himself, he felt small pricks of pain shoot through his right side like miniature firecrackers.

“Did a snake bite me or something?” he winced. Celestia shook her head.

“We thought it was a rock or large chunk of debris or ash, but when Dahae and Yeosang examined you,” –she opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a small plastic bag with the sharp, bloodstained arrowhead- “this fell out of your jacket.”

San took the bag and examined it. “What did it do to me?”

“If you were hoping it was spider senses,” Celestia chuckled, “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Peter Parker. They did find traces of inland taipan venom coated on the tip.”

“Snake venom?”

“Yeah, but you lucked out. Had you not been wearing your leather jacket…” Celestia’s voice drifted off when she realized where her sentence was going.

San immediately saw the tears begin to pool her eyes, so he pulled her into his chest in a bear hug. He gently placed a kiss on her head.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he whispered.

“I’m your wife. Of course I’m going to worry.”

“I’m not leaving you or baby girl anytime soon.” San’s hand went to his wife’s swollen stomach, and he felt his daughter’s foot high-five his palm.

“She’s been moving a bunch ever since we got back,” Celestia explained. Her hand rested on top of San’s to secure it there.

“I guess she thinks you were running a marathon,” San giggled.

“That’s possible, but knowing that tomorrow marks me hitting the thirty-eight week mark in my pregnancy, I think she’s moving to get into position for when she’s ready to come.”

San sighed.

“I’m ready to meet her, Celestia,” he whispered against her red locks.

“’Spoil,’ you mean,” she chuckled.

“That, too,” he returned the laugh. “You’re birthday is also tomorrow, if I’m not mistaken.”

“No, you’re right.”

“Anything you want to do, my angel?”

Celestia shrugged. “Just being with you is enough.”

San lifted her chin for her to meet his eyes. “Then, I’ll make sure you have the best twenty-first birthday.”

[allthingswritings]

Trip Back Home

Peter was bored. He was in chemistry-his last class of the day-and was ignoring Mr. Harrington’s boring lecture over elements and how they bond together. He’d already learned about this the week prior with Bruce in the lab and to say he was an expert by now would be an understatement. Currently Peter was texting Tony under his desk about what they should have for dinner, Tony said pizza and Peter said lasagna, when he was pulled back to the reality of his class with a nudge at his side. It was Ned. “Dude?!?,” Peter hissed in a hushed tone, “what was the for?” “Mr. Harrington has and “important” announcement.” Ned replied in an equally hushed tone. “Class!” Mr. Harrington called for the students who had somehow managed to get rowdy in the time it took to him to pick up a stack of papers “I have some exciting news. We’re going on a field trip this Friday!” The teacher said. “Where are we going?” One of Peters classmate asked. “Well,” Mr. Harrington started, barely containing his excitement, “Were going to Stark Industries! Here’s your permission slips. ” He stated handing out the stack of papers he had previously picked up. The class erupted into excited whispers about what they hoped to see there. Peter however was neither happy nor excited about the destination of said trip. Peter galnced over at Ned who was smiling ear to ear about the thought of getting to be in the same building as Tony Stark but when he locked eyes with Peter his smile quickly faded understanding his best friends dilemma. Peter had been living in Stark Tower for a little over 4 months. About 4 1/2 months ago Aunt May had contracted a serious illness due to working in the hospital and died shortly after, leaving Peter with no family and no where to go. Mr. Stark then took Peter to go live with him in the tower and the avengers soon became his new family, so the thought of his class going anywhere near his home terrified Peter. With a headache forming Peter let his head rest on his cool desk. “Hey Parker!” Flash taunted from across the room, “you excited? Your lie is finally going to be exposed.” Just as Peter was about to snap at Flash Ned grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room given that the period was now over with a reminder to get the slip signed from Mr. Harrington. “Ignore him, he’s just jealous and you can prove him wrong on Friday.” “Thanks Ned.” Peter said grimly but accepted his friends encouragement. “So…what are you going to do? I mean it’s not going to go unnoticed around school if our class finds out you live at the tower with the avengers. I mean it’s awesome and all but that’s a little more than just interning and-“ Ned rambled on but stopped abruptly when he noticed Peters worried expression. “I don’t know Ned. I mean either I die from embarrassment or…” Peter thought for a second, “nope. That’s the only possible outcome of this trip.” Peter sighed as he gathers his belongings from his locker. Ned felt bad for his friend as they walked out of the front of the school and spotted Happy’s car waiting. Once they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways Peter walked to the car and came to the only reasonable he could think of. Friday was going to be the death of him.

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

-Friday Morning- Peter walked into school that morning, the signed permission slip weighing heavy in his bag, and prepared to turn it in. In the days leading up to the trip Peter tried in vain to come up with an excuse as to why he couldn’t go on the trip, but when Peter thought of non he asked Pepper to sign his slip and practically begged her not to tell the others. To make matters worse Flash somehow managed to get his number and was constantly sending his messages like “your not even good enough for an internship at a gas station much less SI”, “Your a worthless liar Parker!”, and “your nothing to Tony Stark, he’s just using you to look good in the press”. Of course Peter didn’t tell anyone about Flash’s messages and due to Peter actually being a terrible liar he became very antsy whenever Mr. Stark would ask him about school which only fueled the engineers suspicions about Peter being bullied. So when Peter handed in his slip he accepted his fate and trudged up the steps of the old, musty, yellow bus that would take him back to his house. Since the trip was all day Peter hadn’t bothered with a backpack and only brought the necessary items. His phone and his earbuds. The second Peter slid into the open seat Ned had left for him he was bombarded by a string of questions from his friend but Peter ultimately decided not to answer any knowing his friend wouldn’t stop asking long enough for Peter to even get a word in. Just as Peter was about to put his earbuds in he heard a familiar taunt. “Yo Parker! Think you can get your old friend Tony Stark to get me an internship?” Flash called. At this point the entire bus had stopped what they were previously doing and took notice of the current situation. “What do you know Flash? You probably couldn’t even spell Tony Stark. “ MJ said from the seat across the isle of Peter and Ned. “Can too!” Flash retorted back “T-O-N-Y S-T-“ Just then the bus hit a large bump surprising Flash and causing him to stutter and fall from his seat and into the isle. “See,” MJ smirked, “After all Peter’s on the decalathon team and your only an alternate. A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-E” MJ finished causing a deep blush to grace Flash’s checks making him duck his head in embarrassment. “Ok you too, that’s enough!” Mr. Harrington called from the front. Peter sighed and finished putting his earbuds in with a grateful nod twords MJ. Today was going to be a long day. _____________________________ As the bus pulled into the parking lot Peter heard his classmates conversations turn into excited whispers about the building in front of them. When they excited the bus his classmates looked and marveled at the 100 story tower that they now stood at the bottom of. Peter of course was the only one, besides MJ, who looked unimpressed given the he lived there. When the class of 20 walked in and saw who their tour guide was Peter instantly felt a little relief. It was one of the newer interns that didn’t know Peter that well named Emily. Peter and Emily had only talked a handful of times so she didn’t realize his position at the tower and how high up he really was and as far as Peter knew she thought he was a real intern. “Good Morning Midtown! My name is Emily and I’ll be your guide for today.” She said once the class was close enough. “Good Morning.” Mr. Harrington said back, “We are so excited to be here.” “Great” Emily smiled. “Let me just hand out these badges and go through security then we can start the tour.” Peter heard her say. ‘Crap’ he thought. See once Peter moved in, Mr. Stark had F.R.I.D.A.Y. start recognizing him by face so he didn’t have to always carry his badge and Peter gave Mr. Stark his badge back. ‘How am I going to explain not needing a badge to get around? I mean that’s going to raise a lot of eyebrows right?’ Peter thought. He didn’t even realize Emily was almost to him in the line until he heard her voice near him. By the time she was only two people away Peter started to nervously fidget with his hands coming to the realization the Emily Probaly hadn’t made him a badge assuming he had his own from his “internship”. As Emily handed a badge to the guy next to him Peter looked away expecting her to skip over him and go to the next person. “Oh Peter! Here’s your badge. Pepper said you left it in the lab yesterday.” She said handing him his old badge not acknowledging that it was noticeably different from the other interns badges. “T-thanks” Peter stutterd out, making a mental note to thank Pepper later for saving him from having to explain himself. When he looked around he was thankful no one noticed his different badge. Yet. “Class if you will follow me through security then we can begin.” Called out Emily _____________________________ Once everyone made it through security with only a few turned heads at F.R.I.D.A.Y recognizing Peter, Emily started to go over the tour and what they would see. “Ok students. We are splitting up the tour into parts. 25% in the morning then 75% after lunch. Since it’s nearly 10:00 thanks to the hour commute you guys experienced we will tour for about 2 hours, eat lunch, then finish the tour afterwards. So let’s begin!” Once they made it to the first stop of the tour, a floor set up a lot like a museum for the avengers and SI, that was he first time Flash saw his badge. “So Parker, how’d you manage to get that badge? I mean your too poor to pay someone to use theirs so what’d you do? Did you steal it?” He sneered. “No, I work here remember?” Peter stated as he tried to walk away but Flash grabbed his arm making him stop. “If you really work here then prove it and get me an internship too” “no” “why not Parker? Is it because it’s not real?” “Because I don’t have to” Just when it looked like Flash was ready to punch Peter he got hit in the face with a crumpled piece of paper. When both boys looked around they saw MJ drawing in her notebook trying to suppress a grin. “MJ, did you ju-“ “Ok class, time to move on!” Emily said, effectively cutting off Flash. When the class started to shuffle to the elevator flash turned back to Peter and pushed him to the ground. “This isn’t over Parker” was all he said as he walked back to the group but not before F.R.I.D.A.Y. caught it on video and sent it to the lab as the elevator door slid closed, taking them to their final destination before lunch. _____________________________ When the doors opened and the class stepped off Emily began to talk. “Class this is one of our many R&D labs. Right now we are just going to observe then after lunch we get to do an activity in one of the labs.” When the clsss stepped up the viewing glass they were in awe. All around the lab tech was being built, experiments were being conducted, and ideas were being formed. To the class it was amazing but to Peter it was boring him to death. ‘This is one of the most basic labs in the tower. If this is amazing to them then the rest of the tour will be jaw dropping.’ Peter thought. After a few minutes one of the scientists stepped outside and explained in depth about what the were doing and began to answer some questions. After about 30 minuets of questions Emily called for the last one. “Is it true that Parker is an intern here?” Flash asked in a smug voice clearly think he had won. Peter could almost hear the smirk in his voice. “Peter? Yeah he’s an intern here. In fact he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.” The scientist confessed as Peter reddened when he felt eyes land on him. Flash however scoffed with a mumbled with an “whatever” only Peter could hear. “Now class,” Emily called gaining everyone’s attention,”time for lunch.” And with that they were back into the elevator on their way to the cafeteria. _____________________________ -Mr. Stark’s personal lab- F.R.I.D.A.Y. had to wait until Mr. Stark got out of a meeting got show him the footage she had captured. The second he got into the lab F.R.I.D.A.Y. showed him the clip and explained what happend. The second she was done Tony stormed out of the lab and into the common room where the rest of the avengers were. “We have a problem.” Tony said and the Avengers look up at him in alert. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. show them.” Before the video even had a chance to finish the team was already walking in the elevator and Tony told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to take them to the class. They were mad. Scratch the they were pissed and rightfully so and they’d be damned if they let this kid “Flash” as F.R.I.D.A.Y. had called him, lay another hand on Peter. Peter was their family, their kid, and they would do whatever it would take to protect him. They just didn’t realize how bad it had gotten between Peter and Flash.

———————————————————————————————————-

— Flashback — It was after school and all the halls had cleared. Peter was standing at his locker and was about to close the door when someone did it for him. “What do you want Flash?” Asked Peter slightly annoyed. He had a long day and the only thing he wanted right now was to go home and sleep. But when does Peter ever get what he wants? “What’s up Puny? I just wanted to have a little chat with ya. Look we all know you’re lying about your internship so just come clean ok?” “I’m not lying Flash. Just accept it.” Peter retorted back At this Flash pushed Peter back into the locker “Shut up! You think your entitled and can lie just because you don’t have a mommy or daddy anymore? Huh? Well you aren’t so just keep your mouth shut.” And with that Flash threw Peter down the stairs and stormed off leaving Peter littered with bruises that he told Tony were from patrol. ———————— “Ok class, let’s pack up our lunches and throw our trash away and head back up” Emily said in her usual cheery voice. “Yes Ma’am” came the monotonous responds from the class. Once they were all pulled into the elevator, and on the way to a higher level lab than before, Emily began to speak. “So I know you guys are all probably bored of hearing rules but it is a mandatory procedure for all tour guides so, while we’re are in the lab you must wear goggles and an apron at all times for safety, there will also be no: filming, touching experiments, rough housing, blah blah blah” Peter just tuned her out knowing half of the rules didn’t even exist, it may be a higher lab than before but it was still a pretty basic one, Emily was just adding these because they were high schoolers. When they arrived at the lab, Emily told the class she would scan her badge first then the others could scan theirs and go in. As Emily was attempting to scan her badge to get in she found it wasn’t working. “Crap,” she muttered “Alright class my badge isn’t working right now so I’m going to call an IT guy to come up and try to get it to work so just hang on a min.” “Can’t you override it?” Ned leaned over and whispered. “Well yeah I can, but to them I’m just an intern so I shouldn’t be able to” “Oh ok” “Say Peter,” Flash piped up, “Can’t you use your badge? Ya know since you work here and all?” He said with devilish glint in his eyes “Yeah Peter, use your badge.” Said a familiar voice. A very familiar voice. When Peter looked up he saw none other than the billionaire whose been raising him for the past few months. Tony Stark. He had his hand clasped over Flash’s shoulder, who was looking very full of himself, “I’m willing to bet money his badge won't work anyways. I doubt he even works here.” Flash said to Tony, his smirk never faltering. “I guess we’ll just have to see.” Tony said with a smirk of his own but Peter could tell it had a different meaning from the one Flash wore. “O-O-Ok sure th- sure thing M-M-Mr. St-t-ark” Peter stuttered out while silently curing both Flash and Tony. He walked up and swiped his card, “Override Protocol?” Said an automated voice that didn’t belong to F.R.I.D.A.Y. “Yes, Override protocol.” Peter responded back a little shaky and very aware of the eyes that lingered on him when the door opened with a ‘woosh’. Flash, who was still next to Mr. Stark, stared wide-eyed as said billionaire let go and walked toward the the door.” Alright then class,” Mr. Stark said waving his hand in a motion letting Emily know she could leave and he would be taking over the tour. “Let’s head in.”< When Emma started to leave she looked back at Peter and they shared a fearful look. Peter gulped, scared about was coming. Once inside Peter chanced a look around the room and to his surprise everything looked normal. Or so he thought “Alright class please find a seat. One of my friends is going to pass out a test. It’s an IQ test to see if there any potential employees in here.” Everyone perked up and started to look around excitedly, everyone except for Peter. “You’ll have 20 minutes to complete the test then after we will start the real fun. “I've got this in the bag. After they see my score there’s no way they could deny me an internship.” Peter heard Flash say smugly to his friends. Apparently Tony heard it too because he responded “‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that Eugene.” Mr. Stark said with a glare but quickly flashed his million dollar smile. Just then none other than Captain America walked in holding a stack of papers. “Thanks Cap, they each get one.” Tony said as Steve passed them out. “Begin.” And with that the only sound in the lab was the sound pencil on paper. When Peter looked down at his paper he had to physically keep himself from face palming. The test was only 5 questions but those 5 questions were all advanced chemistry. A.K.A things these high schoolers couldn’t even hope to understand. Of course Peter understood it, in fact he could do all this in his head but that’s because he’s Peter. Peter who has worked alongside and even challenged the minds of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Peter looked back up and glared at Mr. Stark who just gave him a silent “what?” With a as Peter just glared harder and shook his head trying to hide the smile he had at his mentors antics. When he looked around at his classmates he saw worry and panic on all of their faces. He just laughed silently to himself and looked back up at Mr. Stark who was also silently laughing. They locked eyes and Mr. Stark winked at Peter much to his confusion but Peter didn’t have time to question it because just then the timer went off. Peter looked at his paper and quickly jotted down the answers without any work “Ok class” Tony started, “pass your papers to the front. While those are being graded we are gonna work on a little project for two of our avengers. *whistles* Widow, Legolas!” The two master assassins walked in and the whole room quieted. The class looked at them in awe but didn’t dare to look them in the eye, everyone except Peter, once again. He sent a small wave in their direction to which they discreetly returned. “Dang, I was expecting a standing ovation, you guys are lame.” Barton joked which earned him a jab at his side from Natasha. “Zip it bird brain you’re here for looks.” Tony quipped back jokingly and started laughing when Barton stuck his tongue out at the mentor. “So we will divide into 2 groups and one will work on designs for new widow bites and the other will work on designs for Hawkeye’s arrows. Whichever group has the best idea wins!” While the two groups worked the 4 avengers stood off to the side looking pretty proud of themselves, like they just created a million dollar question and were the only ones who knew the answer. ————————————- “Alright stop” Mr. Stark said and both groups presented their design ideas. The group Flash was in was tasked with the arrow design and although they had 45 minutes to come up with one simple design, Flash had shot down every idea the group came up with saying they were useless. Needless to say they had nothing to show for their ideas, and Flash was to blame. Peters group actually had a good idea that impressed both Mr. Stark and Natasha with their design. Mr. Stark deemed them the “winners” and promised to build their design to see if it would’ve worked as Natasha agreed to test it out. “Now that that’s over we have graded your tests and have the results back.” As Mr. Stark read through the results Peter was at the back of the group trying to shrink into the floor, already knowing what was coming. Flash wouldn’t get the IQ level he would want and combined with losing the competition would probably lash out and Peter would be who he turned to to blame. ‘Great’ Peter thought, ‘in front of my family too’ “Eugene Thompson” Mr. Stark’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts, “103” “I knew it! I’m the best! Take that Parker! I’ll come see you after the tour so we can discuss my future here.” Flash called out smugly. “Hold up now son.” Cap said “For starters we don’t accept behavior like that here.” “Nor do we accept egotistical brats.” Natasha chimed in. “Not to mention the fact that we don’t even consider accepting someone with that low of an IQ.” Said Tony “And most we certainly don’t accept bullies here” said Bucky as he walked into the room, metal arm gleaming, with Wanda hot on his heels, hands already glowing red. If looks could kill, Flash would be dead a thousand times over based from the glares he was getting from the avengers, and Pepper wasn’t even in the room...yet. “B-B-But how? Peter works here and there is no way Puny Parker over there is smarter than me.” Flash said, obviously not knowing when to quit. “What did you just call him?” Said Pepper who seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere and looking mad enough for all the avengers combined. “Let me educate you Eugene since you clearly can't do it for yourself. Peter, my son, has an IQ of over 141. He already has a full paid scholarship to MIT, works right beside some of the greatest minds in the world, and he still has time to give back to the community with a charity he created for the homeless. So I’m sorry you’ve been miss lead here but we don’t ever want someone like you working here. Leave.” By the time Pepper finished her jaw was locked and she was seething through gritted teeth. Flash who looked like he was about to wet himself ran to the door but to his horror it was being held closed by Wanda. “Don’t you have something to say to Peter?” She asked. “I’m s-so sor-sorry. I didn’t know. I-I’ll never b-b-bother you again.” Flash said red-faced and looking like he was close to tears. With his apology said Wanda opened the door and Flash ran off. Pepper turned to Mr. Harrington, who had remained quiet throughout the whole ordeal, “The tour is over, so please guide your class out and if I find out you let another kid get bullied in your class ever again, I will personally pay your boss a visit and see to it that your teaching license is suspended.” “Also Peter is staying with us.” Said Barton from beside Natasha. At that the class, who still look shocked at what just went down, scurried out the door and into the elevator. All that were left were Peter, Pepper, Tony, and the other avengers. Pepper took a calming breath and turned to face the group, “How about some ice cream and a movie?” A chorus of “sure” and “sounds good to me” filled the room as they too left the lab. —————————— Monday When school rolled around the next Monday Peter was a little nervous about what would happen. What would people say? What would they think? However he didn’t have time to worry about it as he arrived at his locker and waited for Ned and MJ. After he got his books and closed his locker he locked eyes with Flash from across the hall. Peter instinctively cowered away but it was Flash who broke the eye contact and scurried down the hall and away from Peter as fast as his legs would carry him. Flash’s group of friends looked up and started walking toward where he ran off. As they passed Peter he braced himself for a shove or snarky comment from the group but all he got was a “sup Parker” from some of the guys. Maybe, just maybe, the field trip wasn’t so bad after all.

[l-o-g-l-a-d-y]

The Short List

Summary: 

“Kid, you know that I have a very short list of people who I would move heaven and Earth for.” With his flesh hand, he began to tick off names. “Pepper. Morgan. Rhodey. Happy...and you. You made the cut, Pete. And honestly? I don’t know what else I have to do to prove to you that you made the list." Iron Man is retired but Tony Stark will never stop playing superhero for his kids. Or Peter Parker has a high school diploma and not a lick of common sense. Set three years post- Endgame. Featuring retired Tony and walking disaster Peter Parker.  

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18970351

Tony did not know what he did in a past life to deserve the sort of hell Peter Parker was putting him through.

It had been a normal Friday night when, for the first time in a long time, he was awoken by his AI with an urgent message.

“Boss, I am receiving an incoming message from Karen. Peter Parker is experiencing a medical emergency.”

Well, that woke him up. Beside him, Pepper stirred awake, brow furrowed in concern.

He threw the blankets off himself and scrambled to get out of bed “FRI, what happened?”

“He appears to be suffering from a severe cranial injury. Karen’s scans are reading a 7mm epidural hematoma. The bleed has stopped but the pressure against his frontal lobe and optical nerve is increasing.”

Tony felt the blood drain from his face, slapping the long unused nanite arc reactor on his chest.

“Where?”

“The midtown safe house.”

Tony whirled back around to share a confused look with Pepper. The safe house had been a byproduct of his post Battle of New York paranoia, a place to regroup nearby should the tower be overrun again. He had never dismantled it, but he had forgotten it among newer, safer, alternatives. He knew for certain he had never told the Spider-Kid about it.

“The midtown safe house?” he pressed a kiss to Pepper’s head.

“Correct, Boss.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., get me a flight plan. Don’t wait up for me, Honey!” He called over his shoulder while rushing out the door.

Tony had hung up the suit following the final Snap, all but forced into early retirement by the loss of his arm and the desire to settle down with his family. In doing so he never bothered to re-establish himself in New York City. Instead, Peter and Harley came out to the lake house on a semi-regular basis. Peter had recently graduated high school and was still adjusting to college life at NYU, so he saw his arach-kid a lot less than he would like. It was all a part of growing up, he knew, so despite the distance, Tony had eliminated some of the training wheels protocols to give the boy some space to grow. Something he was deeply regretting right then.

“How far out am I now?”

“10 minutes 42 seconds.”

“Call Peter.”

Tense seconds past before F.R.I.D.A.Y could respond “No response.”

“Fine, have Karen do another scan and get me there in five minutes.”

***

It was 12 hours later and a clusterfuck later that he found himself helping his beloved idiot walk out of the ER where they had met Dr. Cho. When Tony had first arrived on the scene, Peter had been in no shape to make the trip to the compound medbay. Tony had directed F.R.I.D.A.Y. to get him to the nearest hospital and do whatever it took to have Dr. Cho meet them there as soon as possible. It had been touch and go for the first hour. The hospital was ill-prepared to treat an enhanced patient that metabolized medications as fast as they could be administered. They didn’t exactly have protocols for letting an unfamiliar doctor commandeer the operating room or for letting a patient walk out the door eight hours after having their skull cracked open.  It had taken a lot of bluffing and abuse of his privilege as that guy who saved the universe to get it done. He was getting a headache thinking of all the paperwork he would have to fudge to keep the kid’s secret identity intact.

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Peter was still behind him and rolled his eyes at the sad picture he made. Peter was trudging up the hallway to the safehouse, now sporting a six-inch-long bald spot behind his left ear and approximately 20 staples.

Shouldering the door open Tony allowed himself to take in the safe house in greater detail than he had that morning. All in all, it looked like any large, empty, upper-class apartment, except for the Spidey suit on the floor of the bathroom, a backpack with a duct-taped strap, and Peter’s laptop perched at the kitchen bar.

Tony gestured to one of the barstools by the counter and let Peter sit while he proceeded to the hall closet. It was stocked with mostly expired medical supplies and a few emergency odds and ends. He popped an instant icepack, wrapped it in a washcloth and handed both to Peter to place over his swollen cheek with a wince.

“Do you want to tell me what you were doing here?” Tony started. His tone was sharper than he had intended. He saw Peter tense but he left the floor open for him to speak.

“I told you, I had heard about some messed up drug being distributed to clubs across the city. When I looked into it I realized they weren’t just peddling drugs, but weapons,-“ Peter looked away guilty “and people.” That should have been the first clue that he was in over his head.

“So, I’m just supposed to be thrilled you decided to take down a drug cartel and human trafficking ring all by your lonesome?” Tony interjected.

Peter bit his lip the way he always did before spilling his guts. “Uh, well no, technically not. Uhm…It turns out that Deadpool had been tracking the leader of this group too, so we teamed up to-“

Tony held up his hand.

“I’m sorry did you say Deadpool?” he said in mock disbelief “Am I going deaf in my old age? I know I couldn’t possibly have heard you say Deadpool, because I know you have been explicitly warned about that guy by S.H.I.E.L.D., by every hero operating in New York, and me.”

Peter frowned the way he always did before giving a heartfelt and utterly stupid argument.

“Look, I know he has a bad past but he’s really trying to turn over a new leaf! And I’ve been helping! He hasn’t killed anyone in months and Ms. Nat did it so- ”

“Hey, tt tt tt! Let me stop you right there. Natasha’s mental health and loyalty were carefully vetted over a period of years by a massive intelligence agency. You have been kadoodling about with a contract killer on the basis of a pinky promise to do better. There’s a difference.”

Peter gritted his teeth at the word kadoodle but figured he ought to pick his battles if he was going to get through the story.

“We teamed up. Apparently, someone from Sister Margret’s, which it turns out is NOT a school but a really gross bar that Deadpool hangs out at, had leaked that Deadpool and Spider-Man were onto them. It was basically an ambush, except we didn’t know it was an ambush, and Karen couldn’t tell that it was an ambush, but my spidey senses warned me at the last second. But by then, Deadpool had just charged right in! Before I could stop him! I couldn’t just leave him in there!”

Tony’s snort of derision made his opinion on that matter perfectly clear.

“So, I had to get him out.  They had way too many guns, and this ridiculously big dude in there. He was some kind of ‘enhanced’ situation though, ‘cause when he hit me it was like being punched by a rhino or something. He got a lucky shot to the back of my head when I was trying to yank Deadpool out of the line of fire. I think I greyed out because the next thing I know, Deadpool had me over one shoulder and he was shooting over the other. He managed to get us out onto a neighboring roof but I couldn’t swing us anywhere” He gave a weak attempt at a self-deprecating grin “it was kind of embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing?” Tony scoffed. Peter watched the knuckles of Tony’s right hand whiten and heard the minute whir of his mechanical hand tighten and quickly forged ahead.

“Anyway! I knew something was wrong but I hadn’t wanted him to know where I lived or make him try to get me to  the compound, so I had him help me get here and I figured I should probably have a friend around to keep an eye on the situation so-“ Ohhh that was the wrong thing to say. A fire seemed to flare in Tony’s eyes.

“EXCUSE ME? I think you mean a MERCENARY! A very dangerous mercenary who you should not even know!”

“Mr. Stark, I know Wade is sorta-“

“Oh, Wade is it? You had your good buddy, Wade, drop you off at a safe house I haven’t even used in a half dozen years to do what exactly? Sleep off a brain hemorrhage!?”

Peter had not seen this level of ire out of Tony since the Ferry Incident of 2017. It seemed a little unfair since he had called Tony once he realized he was out of his depth.

“Mr. Stark, I swear, I didn’t know how bad it was! And I called you, didn’t I?” Well, Karen called. And not so much once he saw that he was out of his depth so much as he when he started losing time and puking.

“I’m technically 23! I thought it was time to try- “ Tony cut him off.

“No! Functionally, you are 18, you’ve said yourself you don’t remember the Snap so none of that counts! 18 means you get to go to big boy prison and vote.  It does not mean you know jack crap about head injuries!”

Pick your battles, Peter… “Besides, Wade stayed until Karen said you were coming. He wanted to make sure I didn’t die, but I had told him not to stick around for you to get here.”

“You should have called me! First! Thing! Or Dr. Cho! Hell, call Dr. Strange!”

“I’ve been hit in the head loads of times! I thought it was not so bad!”

Tony threw his hands up and turned around in exasperation then rounded on Peter again.

“Not so bad? I’d ask if you were brain damaged, but oh wait “Tony held his finger to his chin in a pantomime of thought “ that’s right YOU ARE!”

“Mr. Stark! C’mon-“

“You didn’t know your ass from your elbow when I got here.” Tony seethed. “You couldn’t form a sentence. Didn’t know who I was! Where we were! By the time we got to the hospital, you were completely non-responsive. It took sawing off part of your skull and scooping the blood out like jello for your healing to get enough of a head start to matter.”

Peter gulped but Tony wasn’t done. “What about May? What about me? Don’t we matter, kid?”

“You’re retired! I thought I could handle it! By the time I knew it was this bad it was too late. I’m sorry!”

“Retired!? Are you kidding? UGH!” Tony wanted to punch a wall but instead, he walked a few paces away and rubbed at this face exhaustedly. When he turned around, he took stock of what he saw. Peter looked a mess with a swollen face, pilfered MIT sweatpants, a worn out 2011 Stark Expo shirt, hospital socks, and a line of staples down his scalp like a Frankenstein monster.

Who let this idiot out into the world unsupervised? Uh-he did, apparently.

“Kid.” Peter looked up from the tile grout he’d been inspecting. “You know that I have a very short list of people who I would move heaven and Earth for.” His voice had dropped to something more like his normal timbre.

With his flesh hand, he began to tick off names.

“Pepper. Morgan. Rhodey. Happy.”

He emphasized each name with another finger leaving his thumb tucked against his palm. His eyes met Peter’s desperate to get him to understand “and you.” His voice dropped to a whisper, wagging the thumb of his now open palm.

He rubbed his hand over his face again in an attempt to force a semblance of calm.

“You made the cut, Pete. And honestly? I don’t know what else I have to do to prove to you that you made the list. You’re right, I am retired. Iron Man is the Earth’s absolute last line of defense, but no matter how old I am or how old you are I am always going to be the first line of defense for Peter Parker. Capisce?”

Peter felt his eyes start to burn. He didn’t know what to say. He was sorry?  He had felt like he was handling it responsibly at the time?

He didn’t trust his voice but swallowed against the ache in his throat to say “Maybe some of the people they were hurting are on someone’s short list too.”

Despite his best efforts, Tony saw right through the rapid blinking and Peter saw his shoulders drop as the last of the fight poured out of him.

Tony was way past the point in his life where he could hold this kid at arm’s length. He crossed the room in three steps to wrap his arms around Peter’s shoulders. Immediately he felt the kid shift to lean his weight against him, trusting him to hold him up while he clutched the back of his mentor’s jacket. He briskly kissed the top of Peter’s head and rested his chin atop the matted curls. Under all the bravado, the kid had scared himself too.

Silence passed between them except for the occasional sniff as Peter tried very hard to not cry. Tony held in a sigh. Pete still didn’t get it, he had nothing to prove to Tony.

“You know I invented time travel. Not to save the universe, mind you, but for your scrawny ass.” He paused “I couldn’t live in a world without you in it. I tried. For five years, I tried, and I couldn’t do it. Not when there was still a chance.”

“That’s a low blow, Mr. Stark” Peter’s voice sounded scratchy and wet but amused.

Tony huffed a laugh. “And I’m never gonna let you forget it.” He smiled and let Peter pull back a bit. He brushed sweaty hair from the kid’s face and winced at the swollen edges of Peter’s normally handsome face. He felt his smile turn sad.

“There are lots of ways for me to lose you faster than you can heal, Underoos.”

“I know ...I’m sorry.”

Tony blew out a frustrated breath. He knew what it was like now. From both sides. Peter was a hero. He was never going to stop trying to save lives. There was never going to be a day where Peter Parker could just sit idly by while the world went to shit.  He also now understood how a woman May’s age could have so many grey hairs and why Pepper blamed Tony for her Xanax prescription.

“You know, every day you remind me that I owe Pepper about a billion apologies.” He shook his head. “The things I put her through.” Peter smiled up at him bashfully.

“Speaking of Pepper,” Tony continued handing Peter the hoodie he’d left on the counter. “I gotta go back upstate. I have a lakeside dinner date with two lovely ladies.”

Peter stood as well “Tell them I say hi, will you?” Tony watched the kid pull a denim jacket on over the hoodie. He was pretty sure it belonged to Harley but Peter probably nicked it the last time he’d been to the lake house. The kid started triple layering as soon as the air turned the slightest bit brisk.

“I can do you one better. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Gee, I don’t know if I can go up there tonight. I have work tomorrow and-“

“Looking like Frankenstein? I don’t think so. How are you going to explain to triple-J how that mess is gone by Wednesday?”

“Frankenstein’s monster.” Peter corrected shoving his laptop into the ratty backpack. “Besides, I don’t want to upset Morgan showing up looking like this.”

Tony shrugged. “She’s a tough cookie. She’ll probably want to play doctor. I should warn you her medical case is fully stocked with holographic Iron Man band-aids.”

Peter laughed “I should be so lucky as to receive such quality medical care.” He shook his head “Sure why not? But I gotta be back to pick May up from the airport Tuesday night.”

“Deal.” He glanced down at Peter’s socks “Ya still need shoes, bud.”

Peter trotted off to the bathroom to grab his shoes and spidey suit. Everything back to normal. As normal as they got anyway.

Tony called after him “Doesn’t Hot May know I owe her a thousand favors for encouraging her nephew to pursue a career in vigilante justice? She literally has access to a private jet.”

Peter shrugged as he did a once over of the apartment to make sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind.

“I don’t think that’s her style.”

“She could have Happy be her chauffeur,” Tony replied in a sing-song.

“Ughh! Mr. Stark, don’t encourage them! It’s bad enough they like to do date night at our apartment. Where does Happy even live?”

Tony held the door for Peter, laughing, and basked in the light-hearted glare Peter threw over his shoulder.

Once inside the elevator Peter gently brushed his shoulder against his mentor’s. “Thanks for bailing me out, Tony.”

The elder wrapped his arm around his kid’s shoulder. “Any time, Underoos.”

[tomb-bloom-noctem]

Doubt/Never Any

Prompts: Summer of Descendants prompt list provided by (@)jaylos. August 7th prompt-Jaylos

Rated: Teen. Some language, minor violence. Some mentions of abuse.

The beats dropped in his music, pumping up his heart. Another beat drops as sweat drops off his face too. The pace speeds up and he follows it. Pushing himself to be harder, better, faster, stronger. All of it. He was determined that he, Jay, would never be beaten in a fight again. 

As a child he was afraid. He didn’t want to fight and he feared the consequences. He feared his father especially. Threats of being turned into a mouse and feed to his father’s snake could still be heard loudly in his head. So he feared his father’s wrath and would run away. But running away only made everything worse. The threats changed from being “turn you into a mouse,” they became “turn you into the mouse you are! Coward!” From then on, Jay never backed down from a fight. That was when he started winning. People, mostly his fellow male students, wanted to battle. He never lost. His father usually payed no mind to his only son unless he was angry. When stories were told of how Jay was fighting back, winning against whole groups of bullies, not backing down no matter what began to fly around, that was the first time Jay saw any pride in his father’s eyes. 

“That’s my boy,” Jafar said. That was the happiest Jay had ever been. After his first fight, Jay never lost a fight. Until now. Until last night when he was jumped by an older classmate he’d never met before, only knew by the stories. Gerald, the eldest son of Gaston. 19, a senior, a walking hunk of muscles, and bad through and through. He jumped at Gerald for attacking another student in Jay’s grade. Jay hated bullies. And even though he lost the fight he had at least helped his bullied classmate. One eye over his swelling black eye, the other outstretched to help his classmate stand, Jay shook his hand. 

“I’m Jay by the way.”

“Carlos De Vile,” he replied shaking Jay’s hand. “Thanks for helping me.”

“It’s no problem. Can’t stand jerks like him,” Jay commented, feeling the burn in all of his muscles. “Damn he sure can use what he’s got though,” he chuckled. Carlos nodded weakly. “What did he want with you anyway?” Jay asked. Carlos shrugged. 

“Wouldn’t help his little brother. He was trying to get me to hack into a phone he stole from a girl in class. Told him to piss off. That stealing her phone was never gonna work. That girls want a man, not a pig like him. Then the idiot went to his big brother and said I threatened him. Like I really look like the kind of guy who could take on someone, let alone one of the Gaston children,” he said with a sigh.

“Well why don’t we change that?” Jay suggested.

“What?”

“Well I mean, this place is crazy dangerous. Anything can happen to anyone here. As you clearly know now. Look I’m just saying I work over at the Troll Lifts Gym. I can get you into some slots for weight training and such. Build them muscles a little and defend yourself a bit better,” Jay stated.

“You’d really do that? For me?” Carlos asked with a little bit of suspicion in his voice. 

“Yeah. A few slots of time in won’t get noticed or hurt anybody. Gonna have to pay at least a little eventually but I guarantee I can get you at least a few training sessions in free of charge and all,” Jay promised.

“Um...okay. If you’re really sure,” Carlos cautiously agreed.

“Great. See you there tomorrow at 4 pm!” Jay said sprinting off.

“What? Hey wait!” Carlos called after him but Jay was already too far away. He groaned. Pain was already attacking his body and now he was gonna work out tomorrow. Slowly he trudged home, weighed down by the dull, pounding ache that he felt all over himself. He laid down on the floor, his “bed,” just a blanket and pillow on a hard and freezing cracked concrete floor. Hopefully the cold might make his muscles numb.

Jay had raced back to his house, got some ice on his eye and ate the bit of food he had left over from another day. Making his way up to his bed afterwards, he wondered to himself why he was so quick to offer up lessons to that kid. He’d helped other bullied kids before but something in him offered the help before he really processed the thought. Maybe it was cause he knew him. Carlos De Vil. They had been in the same class since they were kids but he never really talked to him. He didn’t seem to have much friends. He could remember seeing the small and skinny guy avoiding big crowded areas like the lunch room or the gym during free time, instead hanging out in the tech room. Almost nothing in the tech room worked properly but it seemed like Carlos had a knack for all the ones and zeroes, wires and chips of technology and fixed up a lot of things in there. He saw the poor kid get overwhelmed by older kids before, especially when word got out he could fix phones. He did say that whole scuffle began when he refused to help hack into a phone. It would be good for the kid to toughen up some. Be able to defend himself. Jay had peace with his decision. He was gonna help this guy out and with that thought he fell asleep.

Yanking out his earbuds, Jay stopped thinking about last night and just grabbed himself some water. A quick glance at the time, 3:50 pm, and he should hopefully be seeing his new client soon. Jay stretched his muscles, ignoring the burn in them. Gerald sure had done a number on him before walking off in disgust all right. He had tomorrow off thankfully so he could get a bit of a muscle rest in then. And Carlos was his last client today anyway, even though it was unofficial. If he worked out with Carlos till 5, he could still have everything cleaned up and put up then close up the gym by 5:30. Yeah. He could make this work. Meantime, he could get his own good workout before Carlos arrived in order to keep making himself stronger. It irritated him to no end that Gerald beat him in that fight. He was gonna have to get stronger himself. 

A jingle at the door caught Jay’s attention and there he was. Decked out in a t-shirt and red shorts, Carlos De Vil stood there, nervous and unsure of himself. He fiddled with his water bottle as he looked around, possibly trying to find him. 

“Hey! You did make it! And you’re early even, I like it,” Jay said as he outstretched his hand for Carlos. He shook it but Jay could feel him tremble. Poor kid was so scared for some reason. 

“Thanks again you know. For doing this,” Carlos said.

“No worries man. My pleasure,” Jay said as he walked over to one of the bench press stations. “You’ll be fending off your bullies in no time,” he said as he adjusted the weight on the bar.

“I doubt that,” he barely heard Carlos say. He turned and faced him. Carlos was looking down in embarrassment. 

“Hey man. Never have any doubt, okay? No you won’t leave here today with the strength to take on anyone. It’s a process, gotta give it time. But if you trust in me, and more importantly yourself, you’ll get there. Okay?” 

Carlos met his eyes. His eyes seemed glossy, like he was gonna tear up. He nodded looked away again. Yeah. Jay had no doubt. He’d somehow or other manage to help this kid. Slamming the last weight into place and locking it tight, he called Carlos over.

“Alright this bar is alone is 20 pounds. Now it’s got 80 pounds in weights on it, making it 100 pounds total see? I want you to bench press me 10 reps. First though a quick warm up.” Jay led Carlos through some warm up exercises and then Jay deemed him ready to start. Carlos got positioned under the bar. “Remember, if you can’t lift it, don’t panic I’m right here. I’m your spotter, see? If it’s too much I’ll get it off of you,” Jay reassured Carlos. That information seemed to give Carlos a little bit of confidence.

“Oh and um...sorry again about yesterday,” he said as he placed his hands on the bar. “From this angle that eye looks worse.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just focus on getting stronger,” Jay said. He nodded and proceeded to bench the reps that Jay requested. 

“Alright! Okay let’s add a little more and see from there.” Jay said. Carlos ended up being able to bench press 160 pounds before his arms gave out. 

“Damn it!” He groaned.

“Aw no none of that man! You did great! I get people who come in here all the time who start off not being able to do that much. It’s not bad at all Carlos. You gotta stick with it. Remember what I said, don’t doubt yourself. Just give yourself time,” Jay reassured him. Carlos brushed his white tips out of his face and nodded.

“Right. Never doubt again. Right,” he said softly as if he was trying to convince himself. They spent the rest hour doing various exercises like jumping jack reps, lunges, sit ups, and others. Jay was impressed by Carlos’s spirit.

“Alright Carlos, it’s five till 5, I gotta close up at 5:30. Let’s call it a day, give you a few to shower if you like,” Jay said. Carlos nodded enthusiastically and ran off to the showers. Jay took cleaning product and worked on the equipment. Admittedly they didn’t have much for the gym but the owner tried his best. Disinfectant products were some of the hardest to come by though since it wasn’t usually thrown out with enough product to use still. The weights and benches and most of the other equipment actually had been thrown out among the trash. The owner of the gym, a guy by the name of Roger, put a lot of time and gold into restoring them all enough to be used safely. Roger was one of those kind of guys who may have been labelled a villain enough to justify throwing him here but he wasn’t really a bad guy. Just a petty thief in his youth. The gym was his pride and for Jay it was his pride too. He learned to grow strong here and he looked up to Roger. He felt a little bad for having Carlos here for a few sessions without pay but he knew that if Roger found out, he would be willing to let a few slide. After only a few minutes Carlos came out of the locker room still pulling his shirt over his head. Jay gasped lightly when he saw Carlos however. It was just for a second but he was close enough to see for certain, Carlos had several large scars on his back. He couldn’t see just how high they went up but they were for sure on his lower back and continued down his hips, except for Carlos’ shorts blocked how far exactly. Just that little bit of scarring he saw though told Jay this guy has seen some things. Lived through them too. If he had to guess what those marks were from he would have said a whip. Throwing his towel into his torn up backpack, Carlos turned to Jay with a smile on his face.

“Jay...Thank you for doing this. I’m so sore right now but I feel so good too. I’ll see you next time,” He said with a wave.

“Oh hey wait. Uh you know we go to the same school right? In the same grade and everything,” Jay mentioned.

“Oh! Yeah you’re right. Um why do you bring it up?” Carlos asked.

“Just cause I was thinking...like um. Just that I’ll see you in school. We can even...I was thinking maybe if you were cool with it, you could show me some of your tech stuff and I’d just pay for your gym membership with it. Kinda like instead of giving you money for learning the tech stuff, I put it into paying for you to come here,” Jay suddenly blabbed. Where did THAT come from? Carlos grinned wide. 

“Really?! You like technology too?”

“Well uh actually I don’t know anything about it but hey it could be something. And you know it’d be fair. It’s like you teach me to do tech and I train you here, trade skills instead of buying them. You know what I mean?” Jay asked his face suddenly feeling very hot. Carlos smiled even bigger and somehow his face felt hotter.

“Yeah! That sounds great! Thanks Jay! On Monday, head to the tech room at lunch. Okay? Bye!” Carlos waved and exited the gym. Jay exhaled heavily. He drank some water and splashed some on his face trying to get why he started blushing so badly. And where had that blurt out come from!? Learning tech! Man what the heck? He didn’t know a thing about technology and now he was supposed to start learning it! What was his brain doing? He was gonna look like an absolute idiot in front of Carlos now. He sighed in frustration. Smooth going Jay. Real smooth. Then his thoughts fell back on those scars. Gosh someone did a number on him. Abuse and violence was nothing new on the island but Jay hated it. His father may have always threatened him if he misbehaved but for the most part he was actually quite ignored. Plenty of people Jay knew were quite heavily abused by their parents or other family members. Just about everyone he knew had had an abusive partner at some point. And of course crime was sky high here. Anyone at any time could suddenly be the victim of a minor crime like pick pocketing or more serious, violent attacks. For some reason his heart really beat painfully picturing the scars Carlos had, that mere glimpse looked more painful than anything Jay had ever personally experienced. As Jay clicked the gym’s lock and left for the night, he imagined someday Carlos being strong enough to stand up to whoever did that to him. This thought was inexplicably comforting.

Monday soon came and Jay headed to the tech room with a slight dread. He really hoped that Carlos wouldn’t think him to be so stupid if he couldn’t grasp all of these technology things. It was a surprise to him however when all that really happened was that Carlos insisted Jay ate while Carlos spoke and showed him a few things on a screen and occasionally had Jay jot down a note. He explained to Jay how computers ran on codes. Binary was one of the most common and he took a little bit of time to explain the code and showed Jay a few examples of how the coding works. It boggled Jay’s mind that Carlos had all of this understood and memorized. He felt certain he wouldn’t ever be able to keep the ones and zeroes in order like Carlos could.

“Man this is gonna be harder than I thought. I’m doomed,”  Jay laughed.

“Hey now. Remember what you told me? Don’t doubt yourself, ever. You’ll learn it if you apply yourself and stick with it,” Carlos told him. It felt like Jay had been smacked. Damn this is how Carlos must have felt walking into the gym. Lost and confused. But as it would turn out Carlos was a good teacher. By the end of lunch, Jay felt like he was at least 5% smarter than all of his school years combined. 

This wound up being the flow of things. Jay took a little bit out of his paycheck from the gym and paid for Carlos to have a membership and then he’d workout with Carlos after school. Carlos during lunch would teach Jay about coding and how different parts of computers and phones and other technology worked. They started to hang out outside of their usual activities. They discovered they had a lot of things in common too! They both loved metal and dubstep music. They loved the same programs on TV; Auradon Ninja Warrior, Chef of Steel, and Auradon’s Most Haunted. They loved tattoos and liked looking through the magazines for inspiration of what ink they might get someday. They agreed spicy food was the way to go. They even had mutual friends they hadn’t realized before. Classmates Evie and Mal were friends with the both of them but somehow they never crossed over with each other. “We’ll have to hang out, the four of us some time.” 

More than a year passed since that first day that Carlos worked out with Jay. He had been skinny and pale and afraid. Now he was lean and muscular, easily benching more than 200 pounds and not nearly as afraid as he was before. Most bullies didn’t dare mess with him anymore. The two of them started hanging out with Evie and Mal as well quite regularly. The four of them made quite a team even. Carlos taught Jay absolutely everything he knew about technology. The school eventually paid Carlos to fix their main computers and were very impressed with how well he had done. Jay and Carlos could make music together on an old computer they fixed together. They edited software to fit their needs and could then create whatever kind of music they wanted with just a few keystrokes. They loved to jam or workout to the tunes they made. Jay found out the reason behind those scars. That Cruella De Vil used to whip Carlos with a belt and one night when she was quite drunk she kept whipping and whipping, causing the scars. He learned that Carlos was so skinny because he was so often without food and that she made him sleep on the floor. Jay absolutely would not stand for that and set up a space for Carlos in his room. Carlos no longer lived with that awful mother of his, now instead calling his best friend’s room his home. Jafar either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Fine by Jay. His best friend was safe. 

He sat and reflected one evening. More than a year. More than a year and a half even. They were no longer juniors but seniors and the school year was already halfway over. Soon they would graduate and could purchase a place of their own. Jafar mentioned to Jay a place he saw for sale, a room up on the first floor of some mostly empty apartment building. They planned on the two of them and Evie and Mal all moving into the place as soon as they graduated. It was all really coming together. He remembered how back then he didn’t really have a plan. Just school, work to save himself some money, move out, and that was kind of it. There was nothing for him to look forward to necessarily. No real joy. Just surviving. Now he was going to soon be a graduate, with a place of his own, surrounded by his friends, Roger offered to make him co-owner of the gym after he graduated, it was all perfect.

Well except one thing. 

Something he was still carrying inside. He hadn’t told anyone at all it was weighing on him heavily. He wanted to let it out but he was afraid that if he did, everything would come crashing down. 

He was in love with his best friend. 

Jay knew for years he was gay. He tried to speak with his dad about it before, when he was 14, but like everything else, Jafar didn’t acknowledge it. He had never had a boyfriend but he did have a few crushes here and there. Problem is, he didn’t want to out himself only to find out who he was interested in was straight. That would be more than awkward. That was possibly even dangerous for him. No, he wasn’t going to come out to anyone until he was really sure. With Carlos he knew he was in love. There was no denying it. He didn’t really become attracted to Carlos until after getting to know him very well but once he did he fell hard and fast. It’s been months since he knew and it felt like a weight on his chest. He tried to discretely uncover Carlos’ sexuality but that got him nowhere. Carlos always kind of shrugged off the answers, claiming he didn’t really notice or know. Maybe he was asexual. That could be it. Jay groaned. He wanted his best friend but he didn’t want to lose him. It would be better to have his love be unrequited than rejected as a whole. Not that he thought Carlos would hate him or anything but he could see it now. Jay confessing his love for Carlos, Carlos growing uncomfortable, saying he just wants to be friends. And then the slow drift apart. He wouldn’t do it fast, act like all was good, but it was inevitable. He’d feel uncomfortable knowing that his friend was interested in him and would spend less and less time around him until they became strangers all over again. No. That hurt too much to even picture it. 

“Hey man!” Carlos cheerfully greeted. He just got back from an evening run. Jay waved from his bed. “Dude, I found a cool thing out by Mal’s house. Come on!”

“Wait what? Now? Leave now?”

“Yeah! Come on Jay it’s really cool. Mal told me about it, let’s go! Hurry!” He ran out the front door, poor confused Jay stumbled after him. Carlos sped away, parkouring and running to the spot.

“Dude! Wait up!” Jay shouted after him. He followed his friend until finally he saw he was stopped by a old broken statue standing in a pool of water. Carlos turned to Jay and smiled. 

“Come on! We have time,” he ushered Jay over to the pool. Once Jay was at his side, he pulled out two gold coins. “Mal said that there’s a shooting star tonight. And according to Mal, if you toss in a gold coin into a still pool of water like a well or a fountain, your wish will come true,” he said with glee. 

“Are you serious man?”

“Come on, what have we got to lose? Mal and Evie made their wishes already,” he pointed out two other gold coins in the fountain.”I passed them on my run, they told me about it. I wanted to get you in on it too. Just take a coin and do it Jay,” he urged. Slightly skeptical he took a gold coin. A wish that would come true. No, he couldn’t. Could he? Would it really work? What the hell, he decided. Guess he had to try. Clutching the coin tightly, he wished with all his heart that he would be able to tell Carlos how he really felt. And that maybe, just maybe, Carlos would feel the same. He tossed his in. Carlos clutched his up close to his chest with both hands, eyes squeezed tight. Moments later, he carefully tossed his in too. 

“So what did you wish for?” Jay asked.

“Shh, wait. Can’t say it out loud until after the shooting star goes by. According to Mal’s estimate it should pass by in...7 more minutes.”

Jay shrugged and took a seat on the ground,  playing with his fingers in the dirt and rocks. Carlos stood at the edge of the pool, almost standing on his tippy toes. Jay was second guessing himself as his fingers dragged mindlessly through the sand. There was no way in hell this was gonna work.

“Jay! Look!” He looked up and wow! There it was! A large white light, powerful and fast flew overhead. He quickly rose to his feet and stood next to Carlos and marveled at the sight. It was brighter than any star he had ever seen. Like a flash it was gone, leaving Jay breathless. 

“Wow...man even if my wish doesn’t come true, it was worth it to come out here and see that,” Jay breathed in awe.

“Yeah. But don’t doubt it Jay. It’ll come true. So, now that it has passed you can speak your wish out loud. Whether we know it or not our wishes already came true. What did you wish for?” Carlos asked. Jay turned away, looking down. His hands clenched into fists behind his back, his toes curled in his shoes. This was it. It was now or never.

“I wished...,” he paused with a sigh. “I wished for something that I’ve wanted for a very long time now. But never felt brave enough for it on my own. I wished that I could be honest with someone. A friend of mine who is very important to me,” he saw Carlos looking slightly puzzled as he spoke. “See this friend of mine is really important to me in more ways than one. And I’m scared if he knows that, that he’ll feel uncomfortable and want to leave, not be my friend anymore. And losing him like that would hurt more than just him never knowing how I feel. I wished that I could tell him how I really feel and not lose his friendship. And even maybe...maybe my friend would feel the same. I wish I could tell him how much I love him,” Jay said slowly. He kept his head down and his eyes closed, bracing for impact. Now he’s done it. He trusted a stupid superstition and now he’s ruined everything. It wouldn’t take a genius for Carlos to understand he meant him and to be disgusted by him. To run off and leave him behind. He felt confusion wash over him when he felt Carlos’ hand on his face, moving his head. He couldn’t open his eyes but he knew he was facing Carlos now. He waited, not sure of what was going on. Why wasn’t he saying anything? What did he want? To make him look him in the eyes as he rejected him? No please, that would just be cruel. He squeezed his eyes tighter. 

A sensation that was warm and light played on his lips and it got heavier and and warmer. It took him way to long to realize that wait HE WAS BEING KISSED WHAT?! His eyes flew open and yeah! Sure enough Carlos was holding his face so he could access his lips, eyes closed and lips pressed onto his. Jay pulled back, too shocked to even believe his eyes. Carlos let go of him and stood up a little straighter, looking a little red like he was blushing. Jay tried to speak but he kept stuttering and stumbling. Carlos took his hands into his.

“Jay...I wished for the exact same thing,” he confessed. Jay’s head was spinning. Was this even real? Maybe he passed out after he sat down and reality would come wake him up right before the shooting star passed over for real. This was a prank. This was fake. This couldn’t be.

“I don’t believe it,” he admitted softly. 

“I know I know I was really shocked to hear you say what you wished for too but I...gosh Jay I’m so relieved. I was so sure if you knew how attracted to you I really am that you’d hate me,” Carlos said, tightening his grip on Jay’s hands. Jay was still mentally spinning. This was too good to be true...

“I just can’t believe it...” he quietly said. Carlos nodded and took a step closer. 

“I know but it’s real. There was never any doubt for me that I love you and now we never have to have any about each other,” He said. Jay’s head finally stopped reeling and his words sunk in. This was real. Shooting stars and wishes or not this was really happening! Jay suddenly was overcome with joy and he lifted his best friend into the air, both laughing at the reality. He lowered Carlos back down and brought him closer for a kiss. They broke apart and smiled wide at each other. Yes this was real, this was meant to be. Jay took Carlos’ hand again and chuckled.

“You’re right.I never questioned my love for you and now we both know the truth. There’s no need to have any doubt.”

[THE END]

Hello again it is I, Autumn the author of this work. Damn this one was giving me trouble I hope that you dear reader enjoyed it in the end. The plot kept falling apart on me and plot bunnies got me down lost rabbit trails until I finally found this path for the story. I really hope that you all enjoyed this, the final ideas to make it work came together today, the day I’m supposed to post this. Gosh dang I’ve been trying to have all these prompts written ahead of time so all I have to do is post them but look at this, 12:31 am, late again! Aaaaaaaagh. Keep going gotta keep going. Anyway. Thank you again for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it so much. Feedback is super helpful if you can give it, it can help me know what works and what to improve and such. Thank you thank you thank you for reading! <3 

[dearchuchu]

Long version.

We arrived in Cebu city, but not where we were supposed to arrive. For some reason the driver, who drove like an absolute maniac the entire 3 hours, dropped us off at a mall. We agreed on the North bus terminal, but instead we got a random mall. At first we were equally confused and pissed when he simply said, “This you.” and made everyone get off. However, once we looked it op on our google offline maps we realized we were actually closer geographically than the North bus terminal to the South bus terminal. Since we were taking a taxi anyways, this was actually for the better. 

Until we couldn’t catch a cab. 

No taxis were coming up to where we were dropped off. As best as we could figure, we were dropped off at valet. I’m not familiar with a mall valet, but whatever. We decide to wander to the closest street and try to flag down a taxi. Well, we were apparently at the “arrival” side of the mall, because every single taxi was full that we tried to hail. After about 10 minutes of frustration, we saw a hotel and figured we could ask the bellman to call a taxi for us. As we approach, a full taxi is pulling into the hotel, and we run up to catch it before it gets away. Before we get a chance to hail that cab, two guys run up in front of us and nab it. After them two older ladies came up (after us) to try to get it, and then two more people came out from the hotel to try to grab it. That’s right... 8 people all tried to get in the same cab. Not good. 

The rest of the people hunkered down after we all missed “our” cab, with one set talking to the bellman. I figured the mall would be our best bet, so I suggested we go to the other end of the mall, AFTER the taxis dropped off. At this point there starts a downpour. Fantastic. We have all our bags on us, we aren’t sure exactly where we are in the city, and we can’t find a taxi to save our lives. As we trudge through the rain back towards the mall we see full taxi after full taxi pass us by dropping off at the mall. FINALLY we see one, and again, we are getting soaked, and he has no ride. At first he passes us by, but then he stops like 20 feet up. In fact, we turned away, another random person pointed it out.. “TAXI? TAXI?” We were like, “Oh sweet!”

“OK where you going?” he asks, “Uh, Southern bus terminal.” He looks confused, “What?” “Uh... “ Mandy interrupts, “SOUTH bus terminal.” I concur, “Yeah, sorry, SOUTH bus terminal.” He says to us, “No. I’m not going there.” And then just drives off, leaving us in the rain. 

Uh... OK. 

We look over and see someone catch a taxi across the way from us, and a bunch of people are standing under an overpass labeled “Travelers lounge”. We don’t know what that means, but we sort of assume its a taxi stand since there are people huddling there, and someone just caught a taxi there. So, we go over and get “in line” because we didn’t really know what else to do. Before too long, another person caught a taxi... so we thought, “I guess this is how you do it in Cebu city.” Hey at least we weren’t getting rained on. 

There didn’t seem to be any sort of organization to the line, just people sort of standing about. We were confused as to whether we were IN line, or cutting in line, or NOT in line. We were just sort of standing near people. Before long another taxi was approaching, and I started scanning eyes of people to see who was going to make the move. No one seemed to be moving. I have no idea if we cut line, if we were in line, or if there even was a line... but I ran out into the rain and hailed that taxi but good. We said, “South bus terminal” he said, “No problem.”

The traffic was horrible. At this point it was probably around 7:45 at night. The cabby asked where we were going, and we said, “Moalboal.” He asked, “Why aren’t you taking a taxi?” A common question among taxi drivers in the Philippines, MANY have tried to sell us on literally 3 hour long rides on the meter. Yeah thanks, that’s a hard no. The driver goes on to explain, “The South bus terminal will have so many people. You much better off taking a car. We take the freeway the whole way, much faster, no wait.” I explained, “Well we are trying to travel cheap, so we are taking the bus to make it cheaper.” He basically says, “Suit yourself.” Then we sit in traffic. (I’m 99% sure the other cabby said “NO” because of the traffic. It was awful)

Eventually he gets us to the bus station, and its complete chaos. We ask the security guard at the front door where the bus to Moalboal is, and he said, “Door out back.” That’s it. He was right, it turns out, but that is hardly enough information to go on. We wander around for a while before we find a military looking guy who looks very official. We ask, “Moalboal?” He points back to the area the security guard said at first and says, “Out back.” OK.... A woman taking tickets near him sees our confusion and says, “There is a line for that buss outside in the back.” AH. 

Its still raining. Out back is... outside. There are tents covering most of the area, but they leak between where they meet up, and the ground is very wet. We go up to an official looking person and ask, “Moalboal?” and he points to a line and says, “There.” So we get in line. At this point, Mandy points out that I am totally butchering the word “Moalboal” because I don’t know how to say it, and we’ve never heard it used. I look on the list and realize there is another place called Mabolo, and damned if they could be thinking I’m saying that. I bring up Moalboal on my offline google map, and show it to the guy while Mandy holds our place in line. He shakes his head at me like I’m an idiot and then points back at the same line and goes, “Moalboal.”

We’re in the right line. It is the line in the picture from this post. Take a look at that line. That is a line for a bus. Have you ever been on a bus? Do you know how many people can fit on a bus? I’ll give you a hint... that’s too many people for one bus. That’s too many people for two buses...and so on. 

We’re standing in the line at the picture. The way the line moves is, they let a certain amount of people inside the building, and then the whole line moves forward musical chairs style, and then everyone sits back down. Rinse, repeat. We stood for a while. We debate at this point leaving line, going and getting a hotel room in Cebu city, and trying again in the morning. The taxi driver was wise beyond his years, this was going to take forever. 

After waiting in line for a while, we talk to someone else in line who came back from inside to get a snack. She mentions to her friend that when asked, an official said it would be AT LEAST 2 hours to get on a bus. Again, our hostel stops taking guests at 10 (or is it 12... we’re not sure at this point), so if we DO make it to Moalboal, but its after 12... we may STILL NOT HAVE SOMEWHERE TO SLEEP. So our debate goes, “Do we just get out of line now and try again in the morning, do we get to Moalboal and try to find a place for the night, do we get to Moalboal and take turns sleeping with our stuff outside of the hostel until someone gets up in the morning... or maybe someone comes in late and lets us in?” Decisions decisions. 

Another girl in line asks where we are going, and we say “Moalboal” she says, “Me and my friend too. Would you be interested in splitting a private car with us? Like 500 each maybe would be enough to get us there...” Which we were immediately like, “YES! ABSOLUTELY!” Great idea. That would get us there on time, we would definitely have somewhere to stay that we already paid for, and we would get there WAY faster...like at LEAST 3 hours faster. At this point we really hadn’t moved. We’d been standing for like, 30 minutes maybe. This chick runs off to find us a ride, and as soon as she gets up, the line starts moving. 

Mandy and I are like, “DON’T LOOSE HER FRIEND!” so we keep an eye on her to see where she ends up in the musical chairs so that when her friend comes back we can hopefully get out of this line and get into a car. A little while goes by, then the girl comes back and just sits with her friend, and neither one really acknowledges us. I’m like, “Mandy go up there and see whats up, I’ll watch the bags.” Mandy goes up and comes back with the report, “She couldn’t find any cars and she gave up.” Awesome. 

We’re stuck in this horrible line now with no other real options. An hour goes by, we’re still playing musical chairs. Another hour goes by, still playing musical chairs. We start talking to our seat mate, she is local and speaks Filipino, and when they come in and say something she translates for us. Finally the three of us are in the front seats at the front of the musical chair line, we are getting on a bus, FINALLY! She then says something to the official, then turns to us and says, “There are more rows inside the building.”

Cool. 

Now we are playing musical chairs inside the building. One row, one more row, one more row, then HOLY SHIT, WE ARE IN THE LAST ROW! A guy comes in and calls something out, and our seat mate gets a panicked look on her face, and she whispers, “Its the last bus.” then she makes a quick phone call to her (I assume) mom. Mandy didn’t catch this. I can feel her urgency. This is it. If we don’t get on this bus, they will quite literally tell us, “No more buses tonight, sorry, try again tomorrow” and we would have waited almost 3 hours in line for quite literally nothing. I ask her, “Will there be another bus though after this last one?” She shrugged and said a sad “Yes.” Not a very convincing yes. 

We move one last time on musical chairs, but we are still 20 back from the front easy. A man comes in and shouts something out and our seat mate grabs her shit and jumps up, so I go, “What? What did he say?” And she said, “Standing room can go if you don’t mind standing.” I jump up with her and I say, “Mandy come on lets go!” And Mandy is like, “What? Why? What are you doing?” and I go, “Standing room. Come on, we are getting on THIS bus.” And Mandy goes, “I really don’t want to stand for this whole bus ride.” and I agree, “Me either, come on, lets go!” At this point, there is no return. We give up our place in line, and go to get on the bus. 

By the time we get there, we can’t fit. 

Let me clarify, we have two carry on bags each, one front and one back. It is impossible for us to fit on with what we have. We saw someone put bags in the back of the bus, and we ask if we can put bags on the back of the bus. No one answers. We wander around asking people, “Who can put bags on this bus?” no one answers. Eventually this nice lady starts talking to us from the window, and she is like, “What are you doing?” And we are like, “Going to Moalboal” and she says, “Its only standing room now” And we say, “We know, we are fine with that.” And she goes, “You can’t fit with those bags.” Again, “We know, we’re trying to put them in the back, but no one will help us.” Meanwhile, people are still cutting in front of us to stand on the bus. She starts yelling at people from the window until finally someone puts our bags in the back of the bus, she was very helpful and very nice.

Now we squeeze on the bus, and I mean squeeze. The bus door can’t close. There is literally so many people standing that they had to just push people back against each other until the door could barely squeeze shut. The good news is, its only a 3 hour ride. The bad news is, our driver is insane. 

The ticket guy goes about his business collecting money and giving tickets, somehow pushing his way through the wall of people all the way to the back of the bus. The bus driver takes off at a mad pace, and then proceeds to try to smash all of us back and forth into each other as much as possible. I’m not even exaggerating when I say I saw him come full speed up to a completely parked vehicle MULTIPLE times and slam on the breaks about 10 feet away. With people literally smashed against each other. It was a horrible ride. 

Mandy at one point leaned to me and pointed out, “Every time someone gets off, it doesn’t get any better.” Which was true. Somehow, people got off, and it didn’t alleviate ANY of our pressure. 

Now, a bit of good news in this story. While waiting in line we had time to contact our hostel. Plenty of time. We explained the situation, and they understood and said that they would leave a key out for us in a hidden spot. So all we had to do was GET ON THAT BUS, and endure the ride up through the curvy mountains, then down to the beach. 

After about an hour and a half the bus thinned out enough to where we actually got seats, then we were pretty much good to go. Well, considering. We finally got to our stop, and we collected our bags and we were ready to find our way to our hostel. It was 1 A.M when we arrived. We started the day fresh at 7:30 A.M. and we made it to Moalboal by 1 A.M. Not great time. We were surrounded by tuk tuks as soon as we got off, and they quoted us a ridiculous price to get to our hostel. I told them, “I need a beer” (I earned it after all that, in my opinion) and I went to a 7/11 and got said beer. When I got out there they were quoting the same price. I said, “Thats too much.” They said, “Its night time, you have no other options.” I said, “I can walk.” Then Mandy said, “Uh, we actually don’t have the address...” which was true. 

The tuk tuks ALL knew the place, obviously. We begrudgingly overpaid for our ride (A dollar less than the 3 hour ride from Cebu city), but in the end we were glad we did. Google offline maps put the pin randomly in the middle of the road. Our hostel was easily twice as far as that, and it would have taken us well over an hour to walk and find it on our own. At that point, it was worth it to get ripped off. 

One of the desk people actually stayed up for us, so we didn’t need to find the key ourselves. Next thing you know, we have a bed, wifi, and we actually made it to Moalboal!

There was ONE more bus after ours, so our friend in line wasn’t lying when she said that timid “yes”. However...it was a minivan. It sat 12 at the most. We were 20th in line at the best. She knew that we all weren’t going to make it on that van. We had to make a lot of tough calls, but ultimately it got us to our destination. A long day, a very long day, but it all worked out in the end. Eventually.   

[gregkatepetegowest]

The Beginning of the End - Yellowstone

Alert: This is going to be a long one. I am going to try to include lots of detail so when someone asks me about what to do in Yellowstone I can just send them here.

Our drive from Idaho Falls to The Yellowstone River Motel was just under three hours with 1.5 of those hours driving through the park. We lucked out with the weather that day as it was in the low 60’s and overcast (perfect weather for safely leaving Greg in the car for a few minutes). Once we realized we would be driving through the park for 1.5 hours regardless we decided to make some stops so we would have less to cram into the next two days. We stopped off at numerous hot springs and geysers with the highlight for me being Artist Paint Pots. “Paint Pots” are basically little geysers that have heated the rock up enough to melt it and turn it into a mud/clay like substance. They bubble and shoot this mud/clay substance into the air. It’s mildly addicting to watch. After we had our fill of hot springs and geysers for the day, we continued north to the park exit. A few miles before the park exit, we hit a ton of traffic. Someone told me before our visit that if there are traffic jams and cars pulled over, to keep your eyes peeled. Since we were Yellowstone rookies we almost kept driving (also because Pete was stressing about work), but, at the last second, I saw a spot to pull off so we did. We got out of the car and tried to act like we knew what everyone was staring at. Then we saw it! A little chunky black bear rummaging around in the bushes below us. We watched the bear do bear things for a while and then hit the road, feeling lucky we had seen a bear so soon into our time in Yellowstone. The lucky feeling was still fresh when Pete spotted another bear, potentially a small grizzly, running along a ridgeline a half mile before the park exit (and very close to town).

Initially, I really wanted to stay in West Yellowstone. The road throughout the park is set up like a figure eight and the West Yellowstone park entrance is the most central. If you stay in West Yellowstone, you can essentially see/do all the major sites/hikes without ever having to backtrack driving wise. Of course, because I waited so long to book accommodations (and because we had a dog with us) there were no available accommodations in West Yellowstone, or really ANYWHERE. Planning Yellowstone was probably the biggest trip stressor for me once I realized we might be staying 40+ minutes away from a park entrance. Through extensive internet searching, I found the Yellowstone River Motel, which is located in Gardiner, MT. The only way to make reservations is to call them (CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE) and I truly think that’s the only reason I ended up securing a room. The motel was awesome. Dated, but clean and steps away from the north park entrance. The motel was also right on the Yellowstone River and had an amazing patio/yard space with grills, picnic tables, chairs, etc. Highly recommend staying here if you want to save a few dollars and stay right outside the park. Also, no sales tax in MT so win win.

After five or six stops in the park on our way to the motel, we arrived around 5 pm. Pete had an angry client so he needed to send a tax return out so this man-child would stop sending him angry emails. Most restaurants in Gardiner that were within walking distance closed at 8 pm on week nights so we had very limited food options since Pete didn’t wrap up work until 7:30 pm or so. We discovered the Iron Horse Saloon was open later and a short walk from us so we headed there. The bar/restaurant was right on the Yellowstone River and had a huge deck overlooking the river. We had to wait to be seated so we got a drink and stared at the river, which was lovely. The food was decent and cheap and we are easy to please. Pete got an elk burger because when in Rome! I would recommend this place if you are visiting Yellowstone/staying in Gardiner. No other establishment offers river views like Iron Horse. After dinner, we got right into bed because the plan was to get up EARLY and head to Lamar Valley in hopes of seeing some wildlife. Lamar Valley is where a lot of bison hang out which brings the bears, wolves, coyotes, etc.

Our alarm was set for 4:50 am and sunrise was at 5:30 am. This is where we went wrong. Lamar Valley was an hour drive from us and we should have planned to be there at 5:30/5:45 am. Seems crazy but that truly gives you the best chance to see some action. Alas, we were up walking Greg by 5:20 am or so. I was on high alert for bears and elk. The elk are EVERYWHERE in Gardiner and they are used to people but they will be aggressive if they feel threatened. My worry is always Greg acting a fool and causing an animal to come after us. Luckily, we mostly saw elk from afar on this walk. However, we were walking down a little bank towards the river when Pete pointed out a tiny deer on the hillside. I assured him it was fake because it was so still and looked exactly like those fake deer people set up in their yards to use for target practice. We continued on and when we looped back Pete pointed to the fake deer who hadn’t moved at all with the exception of it’s head so it could watch us. Long story short, the deer wasn’t fake and luckily it was a doe so she just stood like a statue and waited for us to leave her alone. From here, we dropped Greg off and headed to Lamar Valley.

The drive through the park at this early hour was a breeze. I cannot stress enough, especially in Yellowstone, that the earlier you make it into the park the better. We were in the valley by 7 am. Lamar Valley is gorgeous and this was both Pete and I’s favorite part of Yellowstone. You are away from the crowds and it’s quiet and peaceful (if you’re there early or late). Upon arriving to the valley, we realized we were idiots because we didn’t have binoculars. Literally every single other people/couple we saw had binoculars. UGH! Regardless, we had a wonderful morning despite only seeing bison. We left around 9 am to get back to take Greg out before horseback riding at 11 am.

We arrived to Hell’s- A-Roarin’ ranch just before 11 am after driving 10 miles up an unpaved mountain road. We had scheduled a two-hour ride around the mountain. We waited around a bit before getting on our horses. Pete was assigned Jimmy and I was assigned Pet. We started out and three minutes into the ride, Jimmy was kicked by another jerk horse, which of course caused him to jump sideways. Pedro handled it like the true cowboy he is, but I wondered how the next hour and fifty seven minutes would go. Two minutes after this incident, one of the guides/fake cowboys gives me the heads up that Pet was very bad on a ride earlier and “needs her space” or she’ll kick. Oh great. So now I have one hour and fifty four minutes to worry about Pet kicking another horse and potentially causing someone else to fall off/get hurt. We trudged onward and I warned anyone around me to stay back from Pet’s booty or else. Luckily, she did give signals when she was getting angry and, because I grew up riding horses, I could read these signals. Halfway through the ride I decided it was best for mine and Pet’s anxieties if we moved into the caboose position so that’s what we did and we had no incidents, thankfully!

Back to Pete and Jimmy… I really didn’t see Pete much during the ride. On trail rides, the horses typically have “friends” who they like to walk near so you are supposed to let them choose their marching order. I’ll let Pete step in here to give you the 4-1-1 on Jimmy’s overall disposition:

Jimmy is a stubborn and tired old horse. He only has one speed and it’s just slightly faster than the horses in front of him. Despite my continuous pulls on his reigns, he refused to give the other horses their space, preferring to ride up on their hind sides until his nose was nearly touching their rears. He would slow down momentarily and in a matter of seconds we would be back where we started. We spent time near the front of the pack, at the back of the pack, and eventually ended up somewhere in the middle. Jimmy didn’t seem to have any “friends” and couldn’t seem to find his place in the marching order. He mostly followed my lead, but I could tell he didn’t care much for me.

Throughout the ride, the guides/cowboys chatted us up. They were both super young (17 and 22) and lived on the ranch. They all bunked up in a basement together similar to the depiction in Paramount’s series, Yellowstone. Guide one, Logan, was 22 and from South Carolina. He was heading into his senior year at Clemson and was doing this for the summer before joining the rest of us in the rat race. Prior to earlier this spring, he had no experience riding horses. Guide 2, Hanley, was 17 and from outside of Billings, MT. He was… a “good ole boy” if you know what I mean. He meant well but was annoying AF and talked to me for at least 20 minutes which was painful. He grew up on a ranch and recently dropped out of high school, because another student had “disrespected” our flag and/or anthem. He worked his way among the group, telling the same stories over and over about killing rattlesnakes, rodeo injuries, and about that one time last year when he dropped out of high school.

The ride continued and, at this point, I was wishing it was one hour and not two. The ride was very slow. Many stops to wait for people who didn’t really have control of their horse (horses going of the path, stopping to eat grass, etc.). Finally, though, we were in the home stretch back to the ranch. Even though Pet and I were pulling up the rear we had a good view of the horses in front of us. All of a sudden, I see Jimmy and Pete jump sideways and up onto a hill after the horse in front of him decided to back up into Jimmy. Once again, Pete managed to stay on Jimmy and crisis was averted. Phew. This happened again just before the trail ended at the road to the ranch, this time with Jimmy jumping off the trail over some logs and into the long brush. We were both ready to say goodbye and Jimmy, Pet, Hanley, and the rest of the group.

After the horse ride, we were pretty exhausted (mentally and physically) so we headed back to the motel to shower/walk Greg/nap. We had decided earlier in the day to go back to Lamar Valley that night to see if we could spy some wildlife after talking to a woman at the ranch who told us about a wolf den located in Slough Creek. She had been there that morning and seen some of the pups playing. SO JEALOUS.

Before heading back to Lamar Valley, we stopped off and bought binoculars. I will just say, I was very thankful there is no sales tax in MT and I plan to take up bird watching once I get back to Nashville.

We headed out around 5 pm with plans to arrive to Slough Creek around 6 pm and continue into Lamar Valley after. As we were driving through the park, we once again saw people pulled over so we did the same and were delighted to see a mother black bear and her cub. The cub was adorable (obviously). Although the bears were not far from the road, we quickly put our new binocs to use for an up-close look.

We continued on to Slough Creek and Lamar Valley and saw lots of bison but not much else. We realized we should have asked the woman at the ranch exactly WHERE the wolf den was. Fail. Regardless, it was really cool to be back in the same area 12 hours later. We caught the “golden hour” in the valley and again we didn’t have to deal with traffic/crowds/trouble parking/etc. In my option, the move for Lamar Valley is to be there at sunrise or sunset (the sun sets really late this time of year, around 9:20 pm) and post up in camping chairs with some ‘nocs and just wait.

The next day was our last day in Yellowstone and we planned a marathon drive around the bottom loop to see as much as possibly could. We had already driven the top loop, with the exception of the Tower Falls stretch of road, which is closed until next year. I knew that the Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful would be a nightmare of people so we planned to be on the road early. We stopped at many other geysers and hot springs this day as well. They are basically endless to the point that Pete stated he was done with geysers and hot springs. Oh Pete. We arrived to Grand Prismatic about 9 am. A lot of cars were pulling into the parking lot, so we opted to park on the road and walk. There was a trail and it was a 10 minute walk so not bad. Since it was early in the day, it was 50 degrees out which meant all of the springs in the park were extra steamy. Hadn’t thought about that when it came to seeing the colors of the Grand Prismatic. This one was a let down for me. Although still stunning, there was so much steam you really couldn’t see much. When the wind blew, you could see a bit more but still it wasn’t what I had seen in pictures. We also tried to stop here on our way to Grand Teton National Park as it was on the route and we figured that later in the day, when it was warmer, we would be able to see more. We arrived around 1:30 pm and the amount of people – OH MY GOD. We bagged it and continued onward. We could see from the road that there was still quite a bit of steam coming off the springs so I’m not sure how you really win here unless you manage to go early in the morning in July/August on a really breezy day. If anyone has tips, please share, because I’m sure we will be back in Yellowstone at some point!

From Grand Prismatic we continued to Old Faithful. The National Parks app predicts when Old Faithful will erupt, but there is no cell service in the park so this was relatively useless to us. OF’s eruptions occur every 60/90 minutes. We arrived a few minutes after 10 am and had no trouble parking. We hustled over and could see a large crowd already there. A good sign. We found spots to sit on the ground and eavesdropped on people nearby to determine when OF was scheduled to erupt. We ended up only waiting 25 minutes or so which felt like a major win! Old Faithful was spectacular as were all the other geysers in this area (there is a trail that wraps around the backside of OF with many other geysers and hot springs. We spent quite a bit of time at this stop before continuing onward.

Once past Old Faithful the traffic and people thinned out a lot. The loop takes you past Yellowstone Lake which is the largest lake in the United States at a high elevation (I believe it’s around 7k feet). We stopped at one of the beaches to walk around and noticed lots of animal poop on the beach. As I was getting back into the truck, I noticed a sign stating the area was closed due to bear activity. Whoops. We had lunch in Hayden Valley, which was very similar to Lamar Valley and known for lots of grizzly and other wildlife activity. We hung out for a while in our camping chairs but we were there in the middle of the day, so I didn’t expect much wildlife. We saw more bison and did some birding watching thanks to the newly acquired binoculars. We also stopped at the Mud Volcano which was really cool and fairly quick (and no trouble parking) and The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which is incredible. There was a hike down into the canyon that looked fairly easy and rewarding, but by this point, Greg had been alone in the motel room for most of the day so we didn’t have time to hike down into the canyon. I would highly recommend this hike and had I known how beautiful and impressive the canyon was, I would have skipped over some of the 175 hot springs/geysers we saw.

Finally, after nine hours in Yellowstone, we made it back to a very happy Greg. We went for a walk and then Pete and I treated ourselves to rainbow trout for dinner.

All in all, an amazing couple days. Pete and I both agreed one more full day would have been perfect and we would have started it by going back to Lamar Valley again for sunrise. A couple other pro tips:

- BINOCULARS.

- Download the Yellowstone map so you can access it offline. You are still able to see your location while offline and the map clearly shows all of the points of interest. We referenced this map multiple times every day.

- If you plan to hike, bring bear spray (duh).

- In hindsight, while West Yellowstone is very central I imagine this area is the worst for traffic/parking/annoying crowds of people. If you don’t mind driving a tad more, staying at one of the other entrances may be the better move.

- I would love to get on a boat on Yellowstone Lake. No idea what the options are but this area is so beautiful and again, less people.

[yeosangs-horizon]

Company (Changkyun x Reader) 

Genre: Fluff Word Count: 1.8k

The time on my watch said 9:40 PM, almost time to close this damn coffee shop and get on with my night. I looked outside the foggy streets, anticipating anybody that would come in that this time of night. 

The jazz music blasted softly in the depths of the shop as I leaned and rested my hand on my mandible, contemplating thoughts and ideas through my brain. I didn’t even take note when the soft jingle of the bell on the door rang as a tall brown haired man with soft facial features stepped in. I looked up and shook my head as my subconscious thoughts faded away once more.

I gazed up, my eyes meeting his soft mocha pupils as I set off a fake grin, keeping my appearance with the social ‘norm’. “What can I get started up for you?” I asked, doing my regular duties as a barista. “Just one iced caramel macchiato please,” he spoke with his low toned voice throughout the quiet cafe. I nodded as I took the cash that he had for his order. “So what brings you here in this time of night?” I asked, wondering why such a good looking man would be up and about in this time of night and weather. “Oh just wandering about the city, y’know…” he trailed off. “Oh! My name is Changkyun but you can just call me IM for short, it’s my name for my rapping career,” he spoke gleefully. I smirked a bit, making small talk with him. “Well nice to meet you IM, my name would be (Y/N), but for future reference I like Changkyun better,” I answered swiftly as I poured the iced drink into the cup.

I handed the cold drink to him as I leaned back on the counter, waiting for him to leave so I could close the shop. It was one of those days where I had to finish alone because the rest of my coworkers decided that they had family emergencies to tend to. As soon as I looked up, I saw his slim figure leaning in on one of the soft bean bag chairs that we had set up in our lobby. I let out a small sigh and walked to the register to warn him about our closing time, after all, I didn’t want to be stuck at the shop until an hour after I stopped getting paid, a broke college kid like me didn’t have time to be wasting. 

“Changkyun, y’know we close in about 5 minutes right?” I asked with a hint of tired sarcasm in my tone, just to imbibe the knowledge into his mind. “Yeah, I know, but it’s only just be so if you need to tend to your duties of closing I can watch the shop for a bit for you,” he offered, not giving any explanation as to why he would not leave.

“Or you could just leave?” I chimed in, hoping to not sound so rude. “Sorry if I offended you, I just-- really don’t have the time to be attracting more customers in last minute,” I complained as I gazed at him again. His soft brown locks mixed in with his pale skin, he sure was something. “I mean if you insist, I only came here, looking for somebody to talk with, I’m somewhat new to the city,” he confessed. So he was only looking for company… “Don’t you have anybody else to chat with, or did you really move here alone?” I inquired, wondering more about his situation as seconds ticked away.

I wouldn’t mind sacrificing my beautiful sleep to him either. “Yep, I’m all alone, but with my minimal skills that I have I’ve done this quite a few times, with moving to different cities and a couple of countries as well,” he explained while gazing at me. I felt the urge to get closer to him and a spark of sympathy and adoration for Changkyun. I stripped off my apron and went to sit to the spot next to him as he placed his finished drink down. “I really like it in this city as of right now though, the hotel I’m staying at is pretty up to speed with the latest technology I’d say,” he rambled on. 

“W-wait, you’re staying at a hotel? For how long? Isn’t that expensive?” I bombarded him with questions at that point. “It’s honestly for the best, I’m going to be here for half a year so they gave me a pretty good discount, I figured that renting would be too much of a hassle since all these people ever want here is money and a long contract,” he spoke diligently. “And if I haven’t mentioned before, I’m here because of my career as a photographer but an underground rapper, I’m almost known internationally, been at this for 3 years now persay,” he reminisced. I was in awe by his courageousness. “That’s surely a talent right there,” I mumbled, feeling a wave of drowsiness come over me. I felt his arm snake around my shoulders as I sat there.

I glanced up at the clock, 10:20 PM. Well shit, I guess I’m getting little to no sleep tonight. I shot up in a panic as my cheeks flushed pink. “I should probably clean and get ready to go now. I mean, if you’d really like to you could stay until I finish… How far away is your hotel anyway?” I asked as I rushed behind the counter to sweep and tidy up the place. “I walked here which took about 2 hours since I must’ve stumbled off my original path, so I’d say about 4 miles down that way,” he pointed down the dark misty street. I felt a pang in my heart as a smile arose to my face. “If you’d like… you can stay with me, my apartment is just down a couple blocks and I know my neighbourhood is relatively safe since I really don’t want you walking back in this hour,” I offered, with hesitation.

 I felt his eyes land on my being as he answered. “I mean-- if you’re seriously offering then sure, I wouldn’t mind staying with someone as hardworking and gorgeous as you,” he flirted. “Well then, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind rapping for me either, that’s a part of the deal now,” I laughed half jokingly. He shrugged and replied, “If you want me to,”.

As soon as I put back my tools and materials in the right place, I shut all the lights off which startled Changkyun. I gazed back at him as I made my way towards the door. “Ready to go?” I asked as I swung my bag over my left shoulder. He nodded and let out a small yawn whilst trotting to the door frame. “Fuck… I forgot my jacket at home,” I yelped as the piercing cold wind shattered my pores. I then felt the warmth from Changkyun’s arms enveloping around my body. I let out the faintest smile as he pressed his warm cheeks onto mine. “I don’t get cold easily, I don’t mind repaying you in affection either,” he chuckled. I quickly locked the door behind me and shoved the key in the depths of my drawstring bag. 

As I turned towards the main road to my apartment, I felt Changkyun’s arm snake around my torso. I leaned into his warmth as we trudged through the mist back to my apartment. In this moment, I realized that I didn’t want to let go, no, it felt as if I’ve known him for ages. I felt our hands get closer as we grasped each other for warmth and soon our fingers intertwine in a loving gesture. His soft white hoodie gave me warmth as my shuddering hands soon was filled with life again. Hand in hand I led him up the stairs to my apartment door. I fumbled around in my bag until I managed to get ahold of my keys.

I bursted into the living space, feeling the warmth of my apartment seeping into my skin. I practically slammed the door behind me shut as Changkyun fell on the couch, exhausted and also freezing. “So welcome to my small apartment, as a broke college student I can’t offer you much except for my company and some hot water as of right now,” I chuckled. He turned his neck to gaze at me and let out a genuine smile. 

“I don’t mind, your company is just perfect and enough right now.” I turned my head towards my room, the only room in my apartment not to mention. “You can come in y’know, it’s much cozier in here,” I mentioned. Changkyun shuffled into my bedroom, where I had a simple aesthetic pastel layout with a couch draped in a baby blue covering. “You can spend the night there if you’d like,” I offered. He accepted the offer as he laid his entire being on the couch. The way his locks draped over his relaxing face made me smile, he looked so comfortable. He seemed unbelievably exhausted, even after his coffee. I didn’t notice myself running my fingers through his locks and the small smile that seeped through his resting face.

“Whoops,” I whispered to myself but as I went to back away, I felt a strong arm claw me back into his grasp. I had no choice but to lay down next to the man I practically just met. It felt right, as if it was some sort of destiny that I didn’t believe in or something along those lines. I inhaled his sweet scent and rested my head right next to his. The shallow breathing with his warm arms tangled around my torso was enough to drive my beating heart crazy. I sank deeper into his grasp as he fell into REM sleep. I rested my eyes as I felt my body sinking into his cozyness.

I felt the rays of sunshine hit my arm, making my limb warmer than the rest of my body. I almost jolted awake when but calmed my mind down when I remembered the events that occurred the night before. I sank my head into his shoulder once again as Changkyun remained still with a small grin on his face, happy from what had occurred I guessed. I shifted my weight and he started to move. “Morning beautiful, how was your sleep?” he swooned, acting as if he’d done this a million times.

 I shrugged, “Very comfortable I’d say, you?” I inquired while stretching my arms out. “It was sweet, I liked it,” he confessed softly. I felt his hands intertwine with mine again as he gently kissed me on the cheek. “I guess I should go out looking for company more often hmm, not that I will ever again after this experience,” he chuckled. “Well yeah, I’m probably the best there is,” I boasted with sarcasm. I felt his weight shift onto me as we fell on the couch again, laughing as if we were long time friends and lovers. “(Y/N), you’re really something y’know, thanks for the night, now you don’t mind if I stay here for another 6 months right?”

[junker-town]

This balloon race started in St. Louis and accidentally ended in the Canadian wilderness

A balloon in the snow. Not specifically the one in this story, but they didn’t pack their camera so no actual pics. | Getty Images

“And we’ll all float on, alright.”

I have three thoughts about hot-air balloons: they look eerily peaceful, they’re key to one of the internet’s best videos, and I will never ride in one. That last bit has been fully cemented by the story that follows.

There is an international, hot-air balloon race called the Gordon Bennett Cup, which has a unique but simple premise. Each year, teams of aeronauts meet at a location and see who can fly the furthest distance from the launch site. They just kinda … go, then at some point they say, “that’s enough!” But when to say “enough,” can be a tough question, and sometimes it’s not up to the aeronauts to decide. Suspense!

Now, the key to flying a balloon is that you need some weather — ideally weather that is good. But the tricky thing about weather, and what separates it from humans, is that it has the ability to change. While cancellations due to weather are extremely rare in this particular race, a pleasant takeoff doesn’t prevent voyages from wandering into less balloonable conditions.

In 1908, during the third Gordon Bennett Cup, an American balloon hit a large patch of fog, then found itself stranded in the North Sea. In 1926, multiple crews were killed by a lightning storm that set at least one balloon aflame and forced several others to crash-land. In 1995, a Belarusian attack helicopter shot down an American balloon that had drifted into their airspace. Helicopters aren’t weather, but that example also highlights an important lesson when ballooning: expect the unexpected.

I, for one, would have never expected that conditions can also be too good, but then again I will never be an aeronaut. Picture a sky so clear that you can see everything before you. You’re able to reach breathtaking heights. The sun and the moon are simultaneously in view on opposite ends of the horizon. You drift along at somewhere between 10 and 20 miles per hour, hoping to be the last balloon afloat. And then you realize that you’re over the Canadian wilderness with no humanity in sight. That happened to a pair of Americans in 1910.

Alan Hawley and Augustus Post (who was born in Brooklyn in 1873 but I’m certain I saw the other day in 2021’s Brooklyn) departed from St. Louis on October 17th, 1910, in the America II. The fact that they made a sequel to a balloon makes me assume America I didn’t have a great time, but either way, this was America II’s time to shine. Leaving the ground at 5:46 pm, they traveled low during the night, breezing north at an altitude of 200 feet. The pair took three-hour shifts, one observing the horizon while the other rested in the basket. They used rivers for navigation and changed direction as needed by adjusting their altitude, finding a fresh wind current to blow them a new way.

At low altitude they could call down to the gawkers below and ask what town or county they were over. The grounded fools beneath them wished Hawley and Post well, our team pushed on, and by 9:40 am Lake Michigan came into view. America II powered through pressure changes above the water and soared deliberately rose to 5700 feet, continuing on to the northeast.

As the second night came, fog rolled in below them. The northern lights danced overhead. Venus shone to the west. But one thing missing from their view was people. As Augustus noted in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Volume 81, “When full daylight came, we could see no signs of life below us; as far as eye [sic] could reach, nothing but lakes, fringed with forests, appeared…”

Hawley and Post’s route from St. Louis to Quebec

Continuing over the Canadian wilderness, they began to hear the sound of woodcutters. America II began to descend, but not to land. Post noted, “...we hailed them and asked where we were. They said we were over Lake Kippewa … and headed for the wilderness. They offered some advice, which we could not make out.” Onwards!

The aeronauts carried on for another six hours. At times they wished to call it quits, but beneath them was a tangle of lakes and rivers. Returning would be impossible without a boat. It’s common for ballooners to not pack a boat since their intentions tend to involve air — the opposite of water — but for once, this decision came with downsides. They went four hours more without seeing any sign of life, in part due to clouds beneath them — a curious place for those to be. As noon approached, what looked like they might be roads and cultivated fields appeared in view. This lone hint of civilization made it clear to Post that, “it looked like suicide to go farther, particularly as night was coming on.”

Hawley and Post finally elected to descend. America II picked up speed as it approached the ground. Despite plenty of time to find a safe spot to land, no clearing could be found, so they headed towards the next best thing: some trees on the side of a mountain. While dodging escarpments, they snagged the balloon onto a large tree, then hit the ground at 3:45 PM, 46 hours after leaving St. Louis. Somehow uninjured, they tidied up their crash site, as gentlemen do, and surveyed the scene.

But after flying for nearly two days in good conditions, a heavy storm quickly found them on the ground. Although likely relieved to deal with rain and not an attack helicopter, the pair was still in some distress. They hunkered down under the waterproof basket cover and pulled out their maps,not to figure out how to get to safety but to see if they had traveled far enough to claim the world record. Satisfied that they might’ve done it, the grounded aeronauts went to sleep, tucked away somewhere deep in Quebec.

They awoke to good and bad news. The good: it was no longer raining. The bad: it was snowing. With the weather changing like the trickster it is, they began to follow a river towards Lake St. John, the last landmark they’d spotted from the sky. Three hours in, Hawley slipped on a rock and wrenched his knee. Between that and the whole crashed balloon thing, he was just having one of those days.

Once the pair could go no further, they set up for their first night away from the safety provided by a crashed balloon. Augustus took the rifle they carried and attempted to fell a beast of the woods to provide meat for dinner, but his shot missed the squirrel, so he immediately gave up.

In the morning they reached the lake, but their pace slowed as Hawley’s knee worsened. Their days became a cycle: trudge along, stop to eat an egg, keep following the shore, sleep, cry (probably). Snow returned. Rations ran low. In the wild, the construct of time is meaningless. Fortunately, Post had a watch so he knew it was 7:00 am on a Monday when their fortunes changed, one week after leaving St. Louis.

The pair found a tent that to them looked like a palace. To you or me it would have just looked like a tent, assuming you’ve seen a tent before. If this is your first time, it looked like a sheet of canvas hung to provide shelter. They settled in, lit a fire, and waited for the owner to return. The following morning, smoke from the fire drew the interest of a pair of trappers who were starting off on a hunting excursion. The two couples met on the shoreline and after some conversation, Hawley and Post’s journey home began.

By then, the U.S. and Canadian governments had begun large-scale search efforts. Most back in the States assumed the worst — downed over water, eaten by wolves, helicopter attack — but thanks to the trappers, our two aeronauts soon reached a town from which they telegraphed home. Celebrations were planned for their return, both for the fact they were alive but also because they had won the 1910 Gordon Bennett Cup.

America II traveled 1171 miles in 44 hours 25 minutes, winning the race by 40 miles. While their voyage fell 22 miles short of the world record, no one had ever flown as far as they had to snatch the Cup. After being lost in the Quebec wilderness, surviving a crash landing, suppressing man’s natural cannibalistic instincts, Augustus Post and Alan Hawley’s Gordon Bennett Cup record flight of 1171 miles would stand for some time — about two years.

[casper-has-a-cat]

WARNING: descriptions of vomit below!

read the warning!

read the warning!

read the warning!

okay, you’ve been warned!  please enjoy the fic!

Kuroo didn’t like labels.  They made things feel deceptively permanent, falsely mutually exclusive, and generally excessively dramatic.  Thus, he tried not to label his days as being “good” or “bad.”  Today, however, was an exception.

Although he hadn’t woken up on the wrong side of the bed, per say, he had woken up on the floor, and with a terrible crick in his neck at that.  Which sucked, but at that point he was still able to convince himself that it wasn’t a bad enough to be a Bad™ day yet.

Then he realized he’d woken up an hour and a half late and he decided that it at least had potential.  

He rushed to get ready, knowing he’d miss first and second period at the very least, but hoping to make it to third period on time since he had a Statistics exam.  The getting ready went pretty smoothly, and Kuroo started to think that maybe the day would get better.

Needless to say, he was wrong.

There was no food in his house.  None.  He’d forgotten to get the groceries last night, and this was the result.  He slammed the cabinet door shut, losing his cool a bit before reminding himself to stay calm.  He managed to do so, right up until he saw the unread messages on his phone screen.

From: Kitten Time: 6:45 am where r u

From: Kitten Time: 6:53 am r u coming

Call from: Kitten Time: 6:55 am

From: Kitten Time: 7:02 am we r gonna b late

Call from: Kitten Time: 7:02 am

From: Kitten Time: 7:03 am im gonna skip if u do

From: Kitten Time: 7:03 am i dont want to go today

Call from: Kitten Time: 7:03 am

Call from: Kitten Time: 7:04 am

Call from: Kitten Time: 7:04 am

Call from: Kitten Time: 7:04 am

Call from: Kitten Time: 7:05 am

From: Kitten Time: 7:05 am moms making me go

“Shit!”  He couldn’t help it.  This time he shouted out loud.  One good thing was that since his parents were out of town, nobody heard him, but it didn’t make him feel much better.  By the time he texted Kenma back his hands were shaking and his head was pulsing vaguely behind his eyes.

To: Kitten Time: 9:24 am Kenma I am so sorry I totally overslept.  Hang in there.  I’m on my way.

And then he was, as he had told Kenma, on his way, begrudgingly taking with him a headache instead of breakfast, but on his way nonetheless.  He was forced to make a large detour due to a new construction site’s cropping up.  He scowled.  Not only was it inconvenient, but they’d cut down his favorite tree.  It was where he’d first met Kenma.  And now suddenly it was gone forever.

By the time he got to school, it was already 20 minutes into third period.  Kenma still hadn’t responded to his text, Kuroo couldn’t stop thinking about how his favorite tree was gone forever, his head still hurt from having been unable to eat, and his neck still hurt from having fallen off his bed.  Basically, he felt like crying.  Instead, he shot Kenma another text and went to take his test.

To: Kitten Time: 10:30 am I’m sorry Kenma, I really am.  I’ll see you at lunch, okay?

During the test could barely focus.  He was so hungry, and the combination of the crick in his neck and his mild headache was really starting to get to him, making it hard to remember material even though he’d stayed up late memorizing it.  Still, he was nearly finished when the teacher stopped them.  Five minutes early.  Kuroo couldn’t believe it.  When the teacher came by he started to protest.

“Excuse me, but I believe we should have another five minutes?  I’m almost done, and-“

“Well, Mr. Tetsurou, maybe you should have thought of that before you came to the test 20 minutes late.”

“But-“  The teacher took his papers.  Kuroo sighed and relented.  It wasn’t like he really had a valid excuse anyway, and he was truly too exhausted to argue any further.

He slunk to the cafeteria, scrolling through his non-existent new text messages in a daze.  He wondered how angry Kenma was.  

Angry enough, he soon discovered, to avoid sitting at their usual table.

“Damnit,” he mumbled, wanting to kick himself.  He shook his head.  Kenma could be anywhere.  At the moment, however, Kuroo felt like if he didn’t eat, he would pass out, so he got in the lunch line.  It wasn’t until he was at the register that he realized: his wallet was gone.

As his hand searched his pocket, which had nothing in it but a hole, his face paled.  The lunch lady was glaring at him, tapping her fingers impatiently.

“I, uh,” he stuttered, still searching his pocket in disbelief even though he knew he wouldn’t find anything there.  His throat got tight in that way it did when he wanted to cry but refused to do so, and he opened his mouth to explain what had happened.

Just then, a small figure popped up beside him and stuck a wad of cash into his hand.  Kuroo looked down in surprise, then let out a breath of relief.  It was Kenma.  He was pouting and aggressively avoiding eye contact, but he was there.  Kuroo smiled, paid for his food, and then followed Kenma as he stalked away.  They ended up underneath a tree.  Kenma sat down with his back to it and started eating, just a bit.  Kuroo tried to sit next to him, but Kenma immediately scuttled to the opposite side of the tree so that their backs were to each other.

“Kenma…”  Kuroo spooned some of his lunch into his mouth.  Despite how hungry he was, he couldn’t appreciate the food when he was so worried about his best friend.  Hoping it would help him think more clearly, he made himself eat anyway.

“The teacher called me out for being late,” Kenma mumbled, not looking up from his food.

Kuroo’s throat tightened again.  He knew how much Kenma hated being the center of attention, and this time it was Kuroo’s fault that he’d been made the focal point for his entire class.

“I’m sorry, Kenma.  Really, I am,” Kuroo apologized, not knowing what else he could say.  He didn’t think telling Kenma that he’d been called out for being late, too, would help matters, and yet it felt like his brain was short-circuiting, only capable of looping through the day’s regrets and sending him sharp bursts of physical and psychological pain.

They ate in silence for the next fifteen minutes.  Then Kenma spoke up again.

“They cut down the tree.”

Kuroo looked up, hearing that Kenma’s voice was much closer than it had been before.  Sure enough, the smaller boy was now next to him.  He could see the slight crease in Kenma’s brow that meant he was upset.  Kuroo hated that Kenma was upset, but he was glad that the tree meant something to him, too.

“I know, Ki- uh, Kenma,” he corrected.  Kenma looked up from his game and gave Kuroo a long, bland stare.  Then he shrugged and turned back to his game.  They didn’t say much else before the bell rang and they had to go to class.

The second half of Kuroo’s day was nearly as bad as the first.  He was assigned group projects in all three of his afternoon classes.  He hated group projects with a passion, because it always meant working with idiots.  It didn’t help that his headache still hadn’t gone away, even though he’d been sure to eat more than enough at lunch.  He scowled, and tried to be nice to his group mates in spite of their infuriating stupidity.

He had at least been looking forward to practice, but when he got to the gym it was empty.  Then he remembered that the coach was out of town dealing with a family emergency and had cancelled practice.  Normally the team would meet anyway, but quite a few of the other team members had other events to attend today anyway and were taking advantage of the time off.  Kuroo pulled his phone out to text Kenma to ask where to meet him so they could walk home together, but could hardly believe the message on his screen.

From: Kitten Time: 2:52 pm im in a hurry, so ill go home ahead

Kuroo rubbed his temple.  Kenma was never in a hurry, so he must still be angry.  He’d thought they were on okay terms after lunch, but maybe he was wrong.  The thought only made his head hurt worse.

To: Kitten Time: 2:58 pm Are you still mad at me?  Kenma, I’m really sorry.

To: Kitten Time: 2:59 pm Be safe on your way home.

To: Kitten Time: 3:00 pm Text me when you get there?

Kuroo sighed.  He couldn’t force Kenma to respond, and he knew his friend wouldn’t answer a direct call, so he put his phone in his pocket - the one without a hole in it - and started walking back, slowly, and with his eyes trained on the ground.

It was, of course, only fitting, then, that he would be surprised by a sudden downpour about five minutes into the 25 minute walk.  He looked up at the sky for a moment.  Normally he would curse it out, but at this point he didn’t even have enough energy to do so.  He just blinked a few times and trudged on.

By the time he got home his new shoes were ruined, he was soaked to the bone, and his head was positively pounding.  It was so bad that he was having trouble seeing.  Nausea turned his stomach as he stumbled around his house closing all of the blinds and trailing water everywhere.  Finally, he made it to his room.  It was only when he was in his bed, curled up (still wet) around an empty trashcan and shaking like a leaf, that he allowed himself to admit that it had been a Bad™ day.  His phone pinged, but Kuroo was on the verge of falling asleep, so he half-subconsciously muted it and drifted off.

“…’uro.  Kuro, wake up.  Kuro, please.” Kuroo awoke to a soft voice.  He only just had time to recognize it as Kenma’s before his stomach flipped viciously.  He panicked for a moment, but fortunately the trashcan was still in his arms.  He sat up, ducked his head into it and was almost immediately sick.  The act of doing so only made his head hurt worse.

Kenma made a strangled, shocked noise, but caught his friend as he dipped sideways, dizzy and half blind from pain.

“-uck,” Kuroo mumbled, and then heaved and threw up again.  He blearily looked at the mess at the bottom of the trashcan and instantly vomited two more times at the sight of it.  When he was finally able to pull away, Kenma was looking at him with wide eyes.

“Kenma, I’m-“ Kuroo rasped, intending to apologize, but Kenma cut him off, a shaking hand wiping residual sick off of his face with a Kleenex.

“Are you sick?”  Kenma asked bluntly.  Kuroo shook his head minutely and winced.

“Migraine,” he muttered.

Kenma blinked at him and nodded.

“Kenma, why…?”

Kenma frowned.  “You didn’t get my text?”

Kuroo’s eyes darted to the desk stand where his phone lay, and Kenma had scooped it up without any hesitation.  If he’d been at 100%, Kuroo wouldn’t have made the mistake of looking at it in the first place.  If he’d been even 70%, he would have reacted much more quickly, quickly enough at least to get it out of Kenma’s hands before he read anything Kuroo didn’t want him to read.  As it was, he felt like he was dying a torturous death, so he ended up protesting only after Kenma was already staring at the screen.  In fact, he reacted just as Kenma’s eyes widened marginally, expression otherwise unreadable.

Kenma showed him the screen.  Sure enough, there it was.  That “From: Kitten.”  Kuroo’s face flared red in embarrassment.

“Kenma, I can expl-“

“I got your wallet.”  Kenma stated suddenly.

“What?”  Kuroo started to frown in confusion but a stab of pain to his head forced him to relax into a neutral expression again.  Kenma showed him the screen again, and Kuroo scrolled through his notifications in amazement.

From: Kitten Time: 3:29 pm coming over

From: Kitten Time: 3:30 pm found your wallet

Call from: Kitten Time: 3:30 pm

Call from: Kitten Time: 3:31 pm

From: Kitten Time: 3:32 pm is your phone broken

From: Kitten Time: 3:42 pm here

From: Kitten Time: 3:43 pm let me in

From: Kitten Time: 3:44 pm u shouldnt leave the door unlocked

“Kenma, did you really…?  In the rain?  You found…?”  Kuroo could hardly speak his throat was so tight with tears on the verge of spilling.  Kenma handed him his wallet.  It was soaked through, but it was undeniably his.  His credit card was there, his student ID was there, his insurance card…

He only barely prevented himself from sobbing, and only because he feared it would make his head hurt worse.  Then Kenma spoke up again, quieter this time.

“And… You can call me Kitten if you want to.”

That was it.  Even as it intensified his pain, Kuroo dissolved into tears.

“Kuro!”  Kenma tensed up and made to examine his friend for any further signs of pain or injury, but Kuroo held up a hand.

“’s okay, Ken- Kitten,” he mumbled, and then laughed.  “’s just been a really long day, and you made it so - hic! - so much better,” he explained.

“Kuro…”  Kenma whispered, reaching out a hand.

Then the nausea got the better of him and Kuroo lurched for the trashcan, retching painfully until he burped up the rest of his stomach contents.  Kenma made a face, but still wiped Kuroo clean before taking the trashcan away.  He moved to stand up, presumably to clean it out, but Kuroo grabbed his wrist.

“Stay?”

Kenma hesitated.  “I have to-“

“I’ll clean it later.  Actually, I’ll just throw it out.  Please, Kitten?”

A funny expression crossed over Kenma’s face then.  Something gentle, something vulnerable, maybe even emotional.  Kuroo couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was before it was gone, but it didn’t matter, because Kenma nodded, and then crawled into the bed.

It didn’t take long for Kuroo to fall asleep after that.  As he did so, he thought about what an incredible day it had been.  He smiled.

This was why he hated labels.

send me an ask!

[your-modern-shakespeare]

Never Forget You (23)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22

Summary:  It’s been over a year since Dean has gone to Hell. You used to date Dean, so what would it be like if you ran into him one day?

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 3131

A/N: So finally some SPN! Sorry...everyone was just sending in Bucky requests and writer’s block sucks, so I just wrote whatever came to mind. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this and I will most likely see you guys on Wednesday. (P.S. Mystery character is back, I wonder if any of you could guess who he is...)

Warnings: talk of pregnancy, angst, little bit of fluff, implied sexy time

Tags: @drunkwordsss, @fangirl1802, @beltz2016, @lust-for-pan, @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes

Y/N’S POV

I didn’t know exactly where I was going when I chose to leave Bobby’s house.I just remember feeling like I didn’t want to see Dean being disappointed in me or angry because when I thought about it, staying in that universe wouldn’t have been that bad. As soon as I got where I wanted to though, I knew exactly where I was and it wasn’t somewhere I could ever tell Dean about. Not because I was planning on doing anything to hurt him, but because he couldn’t know that this guy existed.

I walked into the house, knowing that my friend would know that it was me. I heard him in the kitchen and I walked over to the table, sitting in one of the many empty chairs.

“Want a sandwich?” He asked.

“Sure.”

“I would ask what brings you here, but I’ve never needed a reason before. I’m glad to see you though.”

“I just needed some balance.”

“Well at least I’m good for something.” He walked over to the table, handing me the sandwich that he had been making and turned to make a sandwich for himself.

“So you know?”

“It feels the same as the last time it happened, other than the fact that it was from another universe. You’re still sad though.”

“What happened…it just reminded me so much of what happened before. I mean, I knew that I couldn’t have stayed there, in that universe, but while I was there I was stupid enough to let myself love every second of it…being pregnant.”

“Well God hasn’t done much for either of us, let alone let us be happy.” He sat down next to me with his sandwich.

“You know when I said yes to him, I thought that I would be doing something good. And now I’m stuck with these powers that put a target on my back and he is nowhere to be seen. Didn’t even tell me what was supposed to happen next, just took our baby and told me to do his work.”

“Sounds like something he would do.”

“I just don’t know what I’m doing this for anymore. I don’t see an end ever coming for me, or at least a happy one.”

“I don’t think you’re worried about your end, don’t forget, you can’t die.”

“Yeah.”

“I know you’re worried about Dean.”

“I just don’t want to disappoint him anymore.”

“You think he’s disappointed? I usually don’t pull the we-used-to-sleep-together card but as far as I remember you were never disappointing.”

“We may have been sleeping together but you know just as much as I do that what we had wasn’t anything more than physical attraction and lust.”

“Yes, but never disappointing. I bet you that he’s more upset at God than anything. And of course you’re welcome to stay the night but if you love Dean you’ll go back to him in the morning and tell him why you’re so upset. It’s how you got through it the first time.”

“I don’t really want to go through it a second time.”

“I can’t imagine you would.” He put his hand over mine and stood up from his chair, placing his plate in the sink. “The guest room is yours, I would expect you for breakfast, but something tells me you won’t be here long.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m always here.”

So I headed up to the guest room and settled into the bed there, thinking about how I was going to bring up things with Dean. Before I fell asleep I grabbed my phone out of the pocket of my jacket, to see that I already had a few missed calls and texts from Dean.

I read the last one he had sent.

DEAN: I know that you’re upset, please just let me know you’re okay.

Y/N: I’m fine, I’ll see you in the morning.

I shut off my phone and placed it next to me on the bedside table. I curled up in the sheets and tried my hardest to fall asleep without thinking about everything that had happened in the past 24 hours.

That night, sleep was not easy, and when I thought of the reason why, I thought that maybe it had been a mistake coming here. As much as I loved seeing…my friend, it just trudged up a lot of mixed feelings and confusing emotions; not because I felt anything for him but because we had been together before. And even if I could tell Dean about him, which I couldn’t, I don’t think he would be okay with me just hanging out here…definitely if he knew the whole story.

So I tried my hardest to sleep and luckily enough I did, no matter how little it was. I woke up to the sound of my ringer going off and quickly moved to pick up the phone.

Y/N: Hello? I said groggily.

DEAN: Y/N, where are you? You’re not at the house.

Y/N: I went to Jordan’s.  I lied.

DEAN: Jordan’s?

I stooped down to pick up my shoes and looked around me to make sure I didn’t leave anything before but I moved myself back to my house, where Dean was.

“I’m so sorry, I just—” I started to say but Dean saw I was there and quickly pulled me into his arms, not leaving any room for words to be said. He just held me there, not letting his grip up for even a second.

“Please don’t do that again.” He whispered. I wrapped my arms around him, as best as I could, and relished in the feeling of him holding me, of the man I loved not trying to fix things or tell me that everything was going to be alright. It was simply just him comforting me, knowing that I needed him to let me know that I wasn’t alone. I took in a deep breath, finally being able to breath after a restless night. “I need you here.”

I don’t know how long he held me there but soon enough we found ourselves up in our room, holding each other much like before but more intimately and where we could talk more privately.

“What were you thinking running off like that? I was so scared that you had just disappeared.” He said.

“I’m so sorry I just…I felt like I was drowning…you know? We got back and after we dealt with Raphael it hit me that we were back home and when I moved to touch the baby…I didn’t feel her there.” I didn’t take much to make me start crying. “I just felt a hole of where she just to be. And yet I felt so heavy and like I couldn’t breath and I just remember him helping me, after he pulled me out of the river. I just thought that maybe he could make the drowning feeling stop, like he did before. I know that I shouldn’t have run away but I was just so panicked and I couldn’t bear to see the look on your face…that I lost another one.”

“Hey, look at me.” He moved my chin up so that I was looking at him. He used his fingers to wipe away the tears that stained my cheeks. “Losing our baby, that baby girl…was never your fault.” I could hear his voice start to crack a little. “But you can’t run away like that. You know when I saw you…pregnant, I thought about our baby and I was so mad at Jeff because he got to enjoy that with you, even if it was just for a little bit.” I saw a tear roll down his cheek. “I know that it hurts, believe me I know, but I want to help you, I don’t want you to go through this alone. Let me be here for you.”

I took in a deep breath and I let him hold me, trying my hardest to not let the thoughts over run everything. Because despite everything that was running through my head, Dean was the only thing that really mattered, he was the one who was holding me and getting me through everything. It was just one of the many things that I loved about him.

Over the next few weeks the three of us spent a lot of time at Bobby’s, helping him fix up his house…after we practically destroyed it. We also had the issue of Sam…who was VERY curious about the fact that Dean and I were engaged. So we spent a lot of time coming up with the best ways to make sure that the wall in Sam’s head didn’t collapse.

We also spent a lot of “alone” time together at our house…if you know what I mean. It was like there had been a shift when I had gotten back and Dean just could keep his hands off of me. Believe me, I had no objections and the best part was that the feeling I had when I first started seeing Dean was back.

I mean, it was so…hot. He would walk around Bobby’s house in a tight t-shirt with no layers, he would pull me off to the side, where no one could see us, and kiss me senseless, and he would just stare at me like he would have taken me on the spot if Sam and Bobby hadn’t been in the room. I don’t know what had gotten into him, but I full heartedly approved.

This afternoon we were finally doing finishing touches on the house and the boys had been working all morning so I decided to go to the store buy some beer and pick up some burgers for everyone. And of course, I couldn’t forget the pie.

The venture out was quick and easy and I was back home surprising the boys in no time. I walked through the living room into the kitchen, my arms full of bags and the boys trailing after me like I was holding a cure for some rare disease.

Sam and Bobby took their food and drinks out first, moving to the kitchen table. Dean stayed right by my side as I fished out our food, grabbing two beers and opening them for us.

“Thanks sweetheart.” He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek before he grabbed his food and went to sit at the table. As soon as I sat down next to him the questions started flowing.

“You know I’ve been holding all of this in for some time but you guys are acting so strange now and I want to know why you didn’t tell me about the engagement or the baby.”

“You have enough on your plate Sam.” I started.

“Both of us decided that it would be better not to, especially after you brought us back in. It’s different if you remember something, but we don’t want to stress the wall.”

“You know, I’m not as fragile as you think I am. I don’t remember that case and I wish that I hadn’t brought you guys back but it doesn’t change the fact that I want you guys to be happy, to have a family.”

“Well you know now and the reason we didn’t tell you, doesn’t matter. It was never going to happen anyway. We’re engaged and childless and that is the reality of it all.” I said too angry, Dean put his hand over mine, calming me down.

“Sam we weren’t trying to keep things from you, the truth is this is really hard for us. Going through it once was hard enough let alone a second time. And I have been trying really hard to get both of us through this again. That’s why I didn’t say anything to you.” Dean said calmer, strangely being the voice of reason here. “I would love to have a life outside of this, but Chuck won’t let us, so we have given up on trying to fight the plan. So now we are just trying to deal with what we can and we’re trying to protect you because honestly the last thing we need is to lose you again. So you need to stop fighting us.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

“We understand that you’re confused but there’s a lot happening and we need all hands on deck. Right now wasn’t the time to run off together and once we figure out what’s happening and what Chuck wants from me the sooner we can think about stopping. But right now you need to focus on that wall staying up and we need to figure out what to do about this “mother” thing.” I commented.

“Right.”

“I may have something on that.I’ve been getting blasts from hunters all week.” Bobby left the table, grabbing a map and quickly returning to the table. “Nest of vamps. Werewolf dance party. Shifters, six of them. Two hunters died taking them out. Ghouls, ghouls. Ghoul-wraith smorgasbord.” He said pointing at different spots along I-80.

“Is it just me, or is that a straight kick-line down I-80?” Dean asked.

“Exactly.”

“Looks to me like it’s a Sherman march monster mash.”

“Yeah, but where are they marching to?” Sam asked and Bobby circled another spot on the map.

“What is it?”

“Guy bashes in his family’s heads.”

“Lovely and we know that all of these are hers?” I asked.

“As far as I can guess, yes.”

“We’re you able to find anything on her?” Dean asked.

“No, she’s still a mystery, I was kinda of hoping to get close enough to her that Y/N could sense what she was.”

“It’s not a bad idea.” Sam commented.

“Let me call around to some of the hunters I know, see if they have noticed anything weird.” I suggested and the boys started digging into the books before we would head to Ohio.

I dialed the only person I knew who would possibly know anything about this mother.

“Well hey there. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon. You usually go a couple of months without talking to me, sometimes longer.”

“I just—I wanted to thank you for letting me stay with you after the whole baby thing. You were right…about Dean.”

“Well I’m glad I could help but what do you need?”

“How did you know?”

“I think I know you pretty well by now.”

“What do you know about a ‘mother of all?’”

“That she was absolutely terrible on earth and banished to purgatory. She’s so powerful that angels stood defenseless against her and she created all the alpha species. Why?”

“Am I defenseless against her?”

“Yes. She older than angels…so yeah. God sent her to purgatory along with the leviathan for a reason and even he struggled. He was able to, but she’s ruthless. But the fact that we are having this conversation at all is indicating something that you’re not telling me.”

“Dragons may have released her.”

“Y/N do me a favor.”

“What?”

“Don’t fight her.”

“What?”

“There’s no way to kill her, not now.”

“What do you mean?”

“The weapon that you need to kill her doesn’t exist anymore. You need to—”

“If this is about the—”

“It’s not. Different weapon, but I’m telling you the last sighting of this thing was in the 1860’s and unless you have enough power to time travel I suggest you run if you come across her.”

“Okay, let’s say that I will but for curiosity’s sake how would I find her?”

“You said dragons brought her back?”

“Yeah.”

“Well that means that her vessel is a virgin. You’re looking for a young girl.”

“Right, one of the girls that the dragons took.”

“Yeah, but I’m serious Y/N do not fight her.”

“What’s the weapon?”

“Phoenix Ash.”

“Phoenix? Great and this may be a long shot but you don’t happen to have a specific date?”

“No.” I sensed the energy in the room shift as I felt Dean walk in.

“Well I got more than I thought.”

“Maybe just enough to save your life.”

“I’m going to be fine, like you said, I can’t die.”

“Yeah but everyone else can. I’ll talk to you later Y/N.”

“Yeah, thanks. Bye.”

He hung up and I turned around to see Dean staring at me.

“Anything?”

“A few things.” We started to walk back over to Sam and Bobby but I stopped him.

“Are you okay?” I asked. 

“Yeah why?”

“Well I felt you walk in and you seem…down?”

“I’m just…I’m upset that we couldn’t have taken more time, it was nice to relax again.”

“It was.” I reached up and kissed his lips softly, then I grabbed his hand and led him back to where Sam and Bobby were.

“So I mostly have bad news.”

“When is it ever good?” Bobby asked.

“Well, she was created before the angels and banished to purgatory by Chuck. She created the alphas, therefore the nickname mother, and angels are defenseless against her…as am I.”

“What?” Dean was the first to say.

“Yeah, she’s really old and very powerful. Oh and is most likely in the body of a teenager, you know the whole virgin thing. But going back to our plan, I won’t be able to sense her, because of how powerful she is.”

“Great, well there goes our only plan.”

“And there’s something else.”

“More bad news?” Sam asked.

“Kind of? I know a way to kill her.”

“Great!” Dean said.

“But it requires time travel.”

“Not great.”

“And I don’t have a specific date.”

“Double not great.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the weapon?” Bobby asked. 

“Phoenix ash.”

“Sounds like something straight out of Harry Potter.” Dean said. 

“It actually was in Harry Potter.” Sam mumbled under his breath.

“We’ll figure this out.” I said.

“Who gave you all of this information?” Bobby asked.

“An old hunter friend of mine, he’s retired. He helped me out right after I got my powers, they were pretty hard to control and he lives out in the middle of nowhere…where I couldn’t hurt anyone. But he likes to remain anonymous because he doesn’t want to get roped back in. He’ll do a favor for me now and then.”

“And what he knows is reliable?”

“Yes.”

“So what we need to do now, is find a date for when a Phoenix existed and go back in time and kill it?”

“Basically.”

“Great.” He said sarcastically. With that, we packed up our things and headed off to Ohio not knowing what exactly we could do to help but knowing that we couldn’t just sit around while people got hurt.

PART TWENTY-FOUR (Coming soon) 

Let me know what you think

[lauramclark]

#33 – Wetterhorn Peak 14,015 and Matterhorn Peak 13,590

The weather today for just about every 14er in Colorado was the same:  Windy.  I’m not a fan of wind gusts of 45+ mph (which usually end up being around 85mph up on the peaks if we’re honest) but they’re manageable if it’s a warm day.  I ruled out any peak with snow on it because wind and snow don’t mix (as I learned last week).  That left me with Wetterhorn Peak for today’s 14er.  I checked the weather:  20% chance of snow and 100% chance of 25mph+ winds with gusts of 43mph.  Hmmmm.  That didn’t sound too promising.  Not bad, but not great.  I knew there wasn’t any snow on Wetterhorn, so that was a plus.  I was just worried it would get snow during the night/day and ruin the trip.  I didn’t want to drive 6 hours out there to turn around.

I was musing all this to my kids when my youngest said “Mom, you should just go.  You’ll never really know the weather or if you can make it or not unless you try.”  She’s a smart 14 year old. (She must have an amazing mom…).  I told her she was right, and set my alarm for midnight.  Besides, this would be my 33rd 14er and my 3rd class 3.  Lots of 3’s mean it’s meant to be, right?

The trailhead is easy to find/follow.  From this sign it’s really a 4WD road.  

I know others have posted it’s manageable in a 2WD, and I’m sure it is for those amazing 2WD gods out there, but if you value your 2WD vehicle, do NOT take it on this road.  However, if you’re looking for a reason to get a new vehicle, by all means proceed.  Here are a few pics:

I made it to the trailhead at 5:30am and was on the trail by 5:45 (I drive fast).  There were 2 other vehicles in the lot (I parked lower down). There’s probably room for 15 vehicles total at the upper trailhead, including parking about 10 yards below the lot. Here’s what the trailhead looks like in the daytime.  The trail starts to the left of the trail signs.  

Note:  Most of these pictures were taken on the way down because my fingers were too frozen to take pictures on the way up.

The beginning of the hike was pretty uneventful.  (Another Note:  The summit ledger is full and the pen provided doesn’t have any ink left.  Maybe a hiker could bring new supplies with them?) It was just me hiking in the dark.  The trail was wide, clear of snow, with just a few muddy spots in areas.  It was about 37 degrees, and there wasn’t any wind.  Yet.  

As soon as I hit treeline the wind began to blow, but it wasn’t too powerful and it wasn’t cold outside, so it was bearable.  As the sun began to rise I noticed what looked suspiciously like snow clouds on the mountains next to where I was hiking.  Luckily the wind was blowing them away from me.  It seemed like the sun took an awful long time to rise this morning.  I passed a boulder field that was easy to navigate but didn’t have any cairns? This could be a problem in the winter.

The entire trail was very well maintained, all the way to the ridge

I looked for the turnoff to Matterhorn Peak but never saw it?  I did see this sign, which, despite it’s name, does not go to Matterhorn Peak.

I could see a few hikers in front of me by their flashlights.  They seemed far away, but I quickly caught up with them.  They looked really cold in their hoodies.  I was cold in my snow clothes.  

At this time the sun began to rise and the temperature began to drop as I hit the ridge and the wind picked up.  I still think Colorado Flag sunrises are cool!

At the top of the ridge I could see most of the route left.  This scree hill was insanely slippery!  I could tell a lot of people had chosen to just walk on the tundra.  I put on my microspikes and braved the scree.

At the top of the scree hill I could see the path to the summit (or part of it).  

It included a LOT of scrambling over a lot of rock walls/large gullies/insanely tall boulders.  These pictures just do not do them justice!

This part should have been fun for me (I love scrambling) but the weather made it really difficult to find my way.  The wind was cold and intense.  I had to find a cave to shelter in to get out my map, and taking my gloves off made my fingers freeze instantly.  I’d look at my map, put it away, put on my gloves, head out to hike, and the terrain kept changing on me.  I even brought up the pictures on my phone.  Nothing up close looked like the pictures I had?  Well, every once in a while they did, but not on a consistent basis. I gave up and just followed the cairns. Luckily there were a lot of them.

Did I mention the boulders were COLD?  My hands were frozen!  And it was pretty windy, so I didn’t want to rest too long to appreciate the view.  I just wanted to summit, and was thrilled when I did!

I could see Matterhorn Peak and Uncompaghre Peak in the distance.

I took a selfie to prove I’d summited

And a quick 360 degree video

And headed back down. I needed to get warm again. Soon.  I was seriously worried about two fingers on my left hand at this point that were solid and starting to burn.  I kept trying to flex them to keep the blood pumping but they wouldn’t move. (No, not frostbite, I have Raynaud’s, so I’m overly susceptible to cold temperatures).  

Climbing down is different than climbing up, as your center of gravity is off and you can see more of the exposure so it’s more mental.  I took my time, even though my fingers were frozen.  I didn’t want to slip.

Just as I was finishing the climbing part of this hike I ran into the three hikers again, getting ready to cross over the first obstacle.  

OK, time to book it back down in elevation to warm up these fingers!  Luckily the sun was coming out and the clouds all seemed to gravitate towards other peaks. It was still windy though.  As I hiked back down I contemplated Wetterhorn. She was beautiful!

Summiting had been really anti-climactic and I was trying to figure out why?  I should have LOVED that climb!  It must have been the cold/wind.  I mentally tried to decide if I was even up for hiking Matterhorn Peak today? I went back and forth in my mind a few times, and told myself the decision hinged on actually finding the trailhead and my fingers defrosting.  Oh, and warmer weather and less wind wouldn’t hurt…

As I descended into the basin and passed through the boulder field there was a brief period where all wind stopped.  The silence was deafening.  I didn’t hear a bird, marmot, pika, airplane, wind, etc.  Nothing.  I grew up in Southern California, and directly before and after earthquakes everything becomes still (for different reasons).  That’s what this felt like:  The still before the chaos.  I hoped that wasn’t foreshadowing for the hike ahead.  

I kept debating the whole Matterhorn Peak thing.  My fingers had finally defrosted, the wind had died down a bit (but don’t let those photos fool you:  the wind was intense!) and I didn’t really want to drive all the way back here to hike Matterhorn at a different time.  But I was tired, and I still wasn’t sure where that trailhead was?  As I was hiking I had a thought:  Could it be here?  At the Ridgestock Driveway and Wetterhorn Peak junction?  

That wasn’t in any of my notes, and didn’t really make sense (shouldn’t it be at the Matterhorn trail junction where it wasn’t?).  But in the daylight it looked right.  I got out my altimeter.  Ugh!  I was at 12,500’.  If I was going to do this hike I was going to have to gain another 2000’ in elevation, after already doing 3300’ this morning.  I was tired.  Did I REALLY want to do this?  I heard my daughter’s voice in my head again: “Mom, you should just go. You’ll never really know if you can make it or not unless you try.”

Before making the decision to hike Matterhorn Peak I decided to see if this was actually the correct junction to take.  Then if it was I could either continue hiking, or know for next time when I’d most likely be hiking in the dark.  I started up this hill.  It really did seem to go on a lot longer than it looked like it should, and more than once I thought about stopping this nonsense and heading back down the trail. But I’m stubborn, so I continued on.

At the top of the hill the trail kind of split in two.  Left is the correct way to go

This is what I saw:  

I was intrigued.  What I saw before me truly looked like fun. Sure, I was tired, but this looked like FUN!  There was no trail, I’d get to make a trail for the first time, and this looked totally doable!  I just needed to cross the stream and head up!  I was in a basin, so it would be difficult to get lost.  

I was in.  Since there was no established trail I designed a plan: I’d leave the trail, cross that little creek and hike straight up the mountain (no sissy switchbacks for me, I wanted that elevation gain).  I looked at the entire mountain and visually picked cues (rocks) to aim towards.  Here’s the route I took:

Before heading out I turned around to get a good visual of where I’d started from so I could return to the same spot.  I snapped a picture with my camera just in case I forgot, and was off!

I told myself no looking back/down.  The elevation gain was indeed intense because I just went straight up, but I kept making small goals and taking breaks when I met them.  I took a lot more breaks than I normally do.  As I got further up the mountain I could see the rocky ridge above me, and made out two figures in the center that looked to me like rabbits (think Easter Bunny Chocolate Candy).  They were right in the middle of the ridge, so that’s where I aimed.  

As I got closer they looked more and more like rabbits.  

I reached the rabbits and gave them my trekking pole for safe keeping.  I trudged on.  I could see the summit in front of me.  

There was no clear path to the top, but I could clearly see the peak and several routes I could take to summit.  There was a lot of easy scrambling (compared to Wetterhorn this was a piece of cake!) and a very small summit.  So small I couldn’t get a summit selfie.  I straddled the summit and just sat there, thinking about what I’d just done.  I’d rocked that climb!  And check out my view!

I was surrounded by Uncompaghre, Wetterhorn, and the entire mountain range.  I was in the middle of it all, sitting on a peak, completely enjoying the experience.  I the sun and a huge smile on my face.  This was awesome!  This is why I’d come to hike today!  And guess what?  For the 15 minutes I was on Matterhorn Peak the wind completely stopped.  I was warm, could take off my gloves, and took a few pictures.  

I was happy.  I was thrilled.  I felt accomplished and my self esteem soared.  I love solo hiking!!!  I spent about 15 minutes on the summit, which is unheard of from me. I usually summit, take pictures, and head back down to a lower elevation to warm up.  However, it was now time to head back.  I still had a 6 hour drive home ahead of me.  I revisited the rabbits, thanked them for watching my pole, looked for my point of reference and headed back down the mountain.  

I kept looking for and finding my past reference points and headed towards where I’d initially gone off the trail.  I must have done a really good job, because about three quarters of the way back I started walking over the tracks I’d initially made!  How crazy is that?  All those years of practicing orienteering paid off!

I made it back across the creek, found the trail, and headed back down the mountain. I was in a much better mood than when I’d started today!  I was so glad I’d decided to come hiking.  Matterhorn Peak is my new favorite 13er!

Total Miles: 10                                                                                                                                                    

Total Elevation Gain: 5300’

Total Time: 6 hours