#like they make her so unlikable despite the fact that shes creepy and annoying and supremely fucked them over

[theriverdalereviewer]

to the anon who suggested I watch yellowjackets WELL GUESS WHAT?

[dreamyeuphoricll]

Most hated characters according to the internet.

Reasons:

1.Mahito

(I) Pleasure in Battle: Mahito draws pleasure from fights, making him an extremely dark character in the series. It’s frustrating to face an adversary who fights purely for the thrill, rather than any noble motive

(ii) Cold Rationality: Unlike other villains who lose their rationale easily, Mahito remains cool-headed and highly rational. His portrayal as the embodiment of human fear and hatred leaves no room for emotion. This lack of empathy makes him even more unsettling.

(iii) Nihilistic Philosophy: Mahito adheres to nihilism, believing that life lacks inherent meaning. His chaotic worldview stems from evil desires, resentment, and the corruption of humanity

(iv) Manipulative Sadism: Manifested out of sheer hatred and human suffering, Mahito thrives on manipulating human emotions. He takes pleasure in making those around him suffer, adding to his sadistic natu

2. GABI

(I). Sasha’s Tragic Death: She killed Sasha, one of the most beloved characters in the franchise. Sasha’s death was a heartbreaking moment for audiences and other characters in the story.

(ii) Eldian Identity and Marleyan Influence: Gabi is an Eldian, but she despises her own heritage. Born and raised in Marley, she has been surrounded by people who convinced her that Eldians are devils. Despite being one of them, she wishes she were Marleyan.

(iii) Hypocrisy and Aggression: Gabi’s constant aggressive display of hatred towards Eldians, despite being one herself, is seen as hypocritical and annoying by some fans. Her sass, badassery, and frequent screaming have divided the fandom into two camps: those who empathize with her and those who find her irritating.

3. SAKURA

(I) Inconsistent Character Development: . Despite her raw strength and impressive medical ninjutsu, she frequently relied on stronger characters to save the day. This inconsistency frustrated fans who wanted to see her shine consistently.

(ii) Swinging Between Independence and Dependence: Some fans find Sakura’s character frustrating due to her oscillation between wanting independence and relying on others. This inconsistency can be annoying and contributes to the mixed feelings about her.

(iii) Treatment of Naruto: Early in the series, Sakura was often mean to Naruto. While Naruto’s behavior was initially obnoxious, Sakura’s treatment of him didn’t endear her to fans.

(iv) Obsession with Sasuke: Sakura’s infatuation with Sasuke Uchiha was a point of contention. Her unwavering loyalty to him, despite his actions, frustrated viewers who wanted her to focus on her own growth.

4. Shou Tucker

**Shou Tucker**, the infamous character from *Fullmetal Alchemist*, has earned a special place in the hearts of fans—for all the wrong reasons. Let's delve into why he's so widely despised:

i. Unforgivable Experiments:

- Tucker's most heinous act was fusing his own daughter, Nina with their pet dog, creating a horrifying chimera. The Elric Brothers witnessed Nina's suffering, and her loss became deeply personal for viewers .

- The fact that he did this twice (once with his wife and then with Nina) is chilling.

ii. Lack of Remorse:

- Unlike other villains, Tucker shows no remorse for his deeds. Even the homunculi, with their twisted natures, exhibit some human-like faults. Tucker, however, is a cold sociopath who killed his daughter out of fear of poverty .

5. MINETA

(i) Perverted Behavior: Mineta’s disturbingly immature and perverted tendencies are a major point of contention. His attraction toward girls, particularly Momo and Tsuyu, is often expressed in a creepy manner. Fans find this behavior off-putting and cringe-worthy.

(ii) Lack of Character Development:. Some viewers argue that he lacks significant growth or development throughout the series. His perversion tends to overshadow any positive moments he has

(iii) Groping Incident: During the U.S.J. Attack, Mineta’s inappropriate behavior reached a peak when he groped Tsuyu. This disrespectful move upset many fans and intensified their dislike for him.

(iv) Creepiness with Momo: Mineta’s tasteless behavior extends to Momo as well. His use of his sticky grape Quirk for a piggyback ride on her was both weird and uncomfortable. The fact that he didn’t seem to learn from these situations further fueled fans’ frustration.

6. YUNO

(I) Lack of Personal Screentime and Character Development:

In the manga, Yuno’s character development is somewhat delayed, with significant focus on him occurring around 300 chapters in.

While it’s been stated that he trains hard and achieves much, the audience rarely witnesses this firsthand, except for filler episodes in the anime.

His sudden power-ups can indeed make him appear overly perfect and less relatable.

(ii) Relationships and Detachment:

Up until a certain point in the manga, Yuno’s significant relationships are primarily with Asta and Bell. Yuno’s introverted nature contributes to the perception of him being boring. While he cares about others, his interactions primarily revolve around Asta.

Fans notice that Yuno’s soul seems to exist only within the context of Asta.

(iii) Overpowered Status:

Yuno’s strength is intentional, serving as a foil and rival to Asta.

However, this can frustrate Asta fans who closely follow his self-improvement journey.

As Asta grows stronger and understands his abilities better, the gap between them narrows.

(Iv) The Spade Arc and Missed Opportunities:

The Spade Arc disappointed you due to unexplored emotional depth.

Yuno’s identity crisis, his royal lineage, and his mother’s survival were intriguing plot points.

Unfortunately, these aspects remained largely unaddressed, leaving fans wanting more.

[lnkedmyheart]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks....

In no specific order. Did i take this opportunity to post pics of these characters? Yes.

Revy (Black Lagoon)

A dual wielding gunslinger from Roanapur. She is badass and deeply unhinged. A seriously traumatized woman with solid character flaws and a weirdly pseudo romantic relationship with the guy she kidnapped for a ransom and is now desperately trying to protect without realizing that she can't save his innocence, because he was never innocent and pure.

Fredrica Sawyer (Black Lagoon)

A cleaner from Roanapur, uses a chainsaw as her primary weapon, cannot talk due to a severe injury to her larynx and uses a voice synthesizer. An adorable and creepy goth girl who may or may not have in universe ties to the Texas Chainsaw massacre. Which yes, implies that black lagoon is set in the same universe as the TCM movies.

Dazai Osamu (BSD)

Love the depiction of depression and mental health problems with the guy. Love how he is constantly present everywhere and is seen through everyone else's perspective and yet we know so little about him. He is a dork and a brat and so annoying. He is usually aloof and distant but deep down has the capacity to be tender and kind that is only seen in the rare moments of vulnerability. But he is so hopeful and yet completely convinced he deserves nothing.

Chuuya Nakahara (BSD)

He's such a tragic character like his life is one compromise after another as he gets pushed further and further into a bad situation but he will not let that stop him from making the best out of his situation. His compassion and empathy for even those who hurt him is so powerful but his brutality and intelligence is another aspect that makes him stand out against the other characters of his kind. And then you have his incredible loyalty where he will cross all boundaries to protect those he considers his people. Gorgeous characterization honestly.

Yato (Noragami)

Another extremely tragic character and one who is trying so hard to change his fate despite everything. My guy does NOT catch a single break through the centuries he has been alive and he is still so hopeful. Not to mention letting Bishamon despise him for so long just to protect Kazuma, a guy he barely knew at the time. UGH. And his whole thing for Hiyori and his affection for Yukine. Kill me!

Yukine (Noragami)

This was the first time I cried honestly. His backstory had me curled up in my bed unable to eat for an entire day. And his growth from an annoying unlikeable brat to one of the most lovable characters is crazy. Also no, I will never not cry over Yukine calling Yato 'dad'.

Jeremy Pascal (Tales from the Gas Station)

I didnt realize how much I liked him till I thought he died. In that regard I'm like Jack I guess, neither of us realised how much we cared for this adorkable himbo ex cultist. The fact that he is genuinely heartbroken that his suicide cult abandoned him and committed without him is so...oddly endearing and just the energy he adds is charming. He's also such a great friend to Jack, man better start appreciating him more.

Sorey (Tales of Zestiria)

This is my son. And my sun. He is the most precious, sweetest boy to me. Aside from being ridiculously gay about Mikleo, the guy is what you'd think is a typical hero figure in such a setting. Pure, celibate, sweet and even tempered etc. But he is snarky as hell, constantly teases others, is NOT oblivious contrary to popular opinion. He is also irritable. I also love that he is an archaeology nerd.

Irma Lair (W.I.T.C.H)

I dont remember too much about her but I always really liked her. Enough that she is still amongst my absolute favorites. It probably helps that she was made wlw in the tv series and has some shippy moments with Cornelia in particular.

Balalaika (Black lagoon)

Listen, she is an ex military woman, who went MIA with her entire squad of loyal soldiers and now runs the fucking mafia in Roanapur. Woman is gorgeous and has acid burn scars all down her face and body. And she is terrifying. She will break necks with a smile and values loyalty and efficiency above all else. But she is such a deeply damaged woman who deserved better. But see, the people in Roanapur are there cause this is their last stand before they end up dead.

[amewinterswriting]

Ame Plays: A Mini Review of Goetia/Goetia 2

Goetia

A brilliantly dark and atmospheric point and click puzzler along the same vein as Myst - one 'hub' world/area with other self-contained areas branching off that can be completed in any order (or partially completed and left for a while when you inevitably hit your head against a tricky puzzle and decide to try elsewhere!).

You play as Abigail, the ghost of a child who fell out of a window and must now explore her family home to work out exactly what has happened since she died. Since the family hobby involved demonology, this gets creepy and spooky and a little surreal without ever being true 'horror' - no jumpscares or any actual danger is encountered, but the aesthetic is Gothic mansion with a touch of mad scientist in places.

Lots of lore to read and puzzle over, some fiendish puzzles that are just absolutely brilliant (also three music puzzles that are borderline impossible without a decent musical background that are widely regarded as bullshit) and some very interesting plot going on. While I have some critiques of some of puzzles and the final twist reveal of the plot, I felt curious enough to immediately buy Goetia 2.

Goetia 2

A similar world structure and puzzle aesthetic (though regrettably, the branching 'worlds' are linear - you must complete one to get access to the next), but everything felt just a little bit less polished. The controls are inexplicably more clunky, despite basically being the same control scheme as the previous game.

There's a lot of long rambling dialogue from the main antagonist that really doesn't add anything of value. This makes a lot of the early game a bit slow and tedious, especially as you are playing as Luca, a tourist to Venice who gets separated from his body and must find a way to get back to it. In contrast to Abigail from the previous game, Luca is supremely unlikable and unsympathetic as a character. He knows less about what's happening than the average player, especially if you've played both games in order, and his reaction to the end of the game is...well, just throw the whole man out, really.

I accidentally brute-forced a number of puzzles before working out exactly what was being asked of me, which really shouldn't be possible in this kind of puzzle game, where half the puzzle is identifying what you can interact with and then working out what information or tools you need to interact with it successfully.

There are numerous bugs and glitches (one of which can PERMANENTLY lock you out of being able to end the game and there is no way to reset to an earlier save state because of the game's auto save feature). I believe most of the ones I encountered are known by the developer and are fixed on the Steam version but I can personally confirm they're still present on the Switch version of the game, and are likely on any other console releases, too. (If you do wind up picking up the game, DO NOT MOVE THE PICKAXE OUT OF THE ROOM YOU FIND IT IN. Unfortunately a large part of the game is moving objects to use them in other places, so the fact that you can very easily glitch an item out of the one use it has and entirely block your progress is really annoying and a developer oversight.)

I wasn't exactly disappointed that I bought it but I certainly was glad I got it cheap. It certainly has some interesting bones and leaves on a potential sequel note but it would have been nice to see a little more refinement and character development.

If the developers ever release a third game, I'll likely play it, don't get me wrong. The aesthetic and demon vibes are my jam, bread and butter. This kind of environmental storytelling and puzzle-solving are my catnip. But I would probably look up any major game-breaking bugs online first and go in forewarned about what might just break the game.

[rejaytionships]

21 and 84! ~ @sapphilleans

ty for the ask!!! :D

21: Double D (Ed Edd n Eddy) - familial

my baby daughter.......

ok so for context my s/i is linda duvall-kanker (she/her), mother of the three kanker sisters (lee, marie, may). i think she works at the school as a custodian primarily but eventually starts working as a substitute teacher because they're low on staff and she has the prerequisites to teach technically

double d is obviously a stellar student but i think it's equally obvious how anxious they are

idk how we get there but i feel like at some point after linda has told off her daughters for annoying the eds, double d comes to linda sometimes to chat about stuff since linda is very clearly protective despite being one who doesn't exactly like being around men or boys

which makes it a little funny when double d realizes she might not in fact be a boy after all! since double d's parents aren't really around, linda is the adult that she starts to confide gender stuff to, and linda tries her best to be helpful even if she's not super feminine in nature herself

i think her egg got cracked a little when linda started calling her "dee" and she eventually was like "actually can you call me that but like ♀️" and linda was like "sure whatever (said with pro-womanhood intent)"

as an aside i think the eds were 100% supportive of dee's identity (ed didn't really have many thoughts outside of his support, but eddy thought this opened up the door for more scams to try out now that they'd have a woman in the group)

i think dee ends up being more friendly with the kanker sisters mainly because they're STOKED to have another lady friend to talk to. marie also probably lowkey still has her crush on dee but that's another story for another day /lh

i think as dee grows up she still stays in touch with linda, and they'd chat over email while dee is off in college going to change the world or whatever. dee kind of becomes a fourth member of linda's family even if unofficially and so the kankers invite dee to big family events (dee does the same for the kankers)

84: Brahms Heelshire (The Boy) - romantic

AH YES the one f/o i was writing a selfshiptober fic for that i never finished. i can just explain the lore here instead bc let's be real that ficlet is never getting done ajdjskksks

ok so my s/i is celina kaminski (she/her), she moved away from the states to get away from her past (not unlike another previous heelshire mansion resident, greta) and ends up buying the heelshire mansion going for a stupidly low price given nobody else wants the weird creepy haunted place

at first brahms HATES that celina is here and fucks around with stuff in the house to try and get her to leave. he's still busy tantruming over greta being gone so celina in turn is starting to feel like maybe she shouldn't have purchased the haunted house after all

the only thing keeping her sane is this porcelain doll she eventually finds when cleaning around the place. she initially calls it something really stupid (jimmy-hop poppers mcgibbins iii) but once she starts using the name, a paper shows up near the doll not long after; it's an old ruleset for a brahms, so celina takes it as a sign from the house that the doll is named brahms

once brahms (man) sees how well celina treats the doll, he starts to ease up on her and even occasionally does nice things around the house for her to reward her for watching over his doll. this is when he latches himself onto celina emotionally

he still throws fits when celina leaves the house, but eventually gets it through his head that since he scared the previous delivery boy (malcolm) away, celina has to leave to go grocery shopping herself. he still does make a mess around the place though if he feels it's been too long to where she might have left him

brahms finally reveals he's a human person in the walls to celina when greta and malcolm try to convince her to leave as soon as possible. celina doesn't budge because she's convinced that this is some weird long-con for the doll and almost gives it away before brahms shows up, which scares off everyone except celina

sure, she's admittedly still horrified out of her mind, but sticks around because if he hasn't hurt her this whole time, she thinks she can maybe take her chances with him and survive

she does survive and in fact the two end up together because celina thinks brahms is kind of hot and brahms is very dependent on celina's presence to feel functional. far from a perfect relationship but they do end up together pretty solidly otherwise

celina does convince brahms to leave the walls and stay with her in the main house instead, which takes a while to adjust to, but he ADORES that he gets to have direct personal attention now that isn't just vicariously through some fucking doll

it does take a looong while for brahms to also give celina more than like six feet of space. bro would Not have survived the pandemic with his lack of social distancing

they don't ever have any kids but the doll suffices as celina's son. which is fine because she didn't really want any living breathing children to be responsible for. porcelain is a great alternative

[your-nanas-house]

My brother's girl

Pairing: Jerome Valeska X Reader; Jeremiah Valeska X Reader

Warnings: creepy Miah, fluff, slightly smut

Words: 2103

Summary: Jeremiah wants Jerome's girl.

Note: Sorry for the mistakes and the English. I think it's the longest story I've ever written 😂. First time I'm proud of myself.

Part 2

..........................................................................

His first thoughts about the girl were not positive, when he had seen her was when he had returned from the bookstore and had entered his trailer, freezing at the sight of a girl with y/h/c hair wearing only a shirt that was definitely big but showed her thighs and legs, in front of the stove cooking what he thought might be breakfast since it was morning.

She was pretty but she was a stranger, from her body and features she could very well be one of those obnoxious and stupid girls...she could be his age or maybe a few years younger, the way she moved could easily charm anyone but Jeremiah wasn't going to fall so low by letting that stranger in his trailer blind him or cloud his thoughts, after all he still had to find answers to his questions: what was she doing there? Who was that girl? Why was she wearing what looked like Jerome's shirt? Why was she cooking? Was she a friend of his mother's...unlikely given her young age but it was always an option to be considered; he knew very well that he could ask her, walking in and put his books on the table to be heard by her, despite the low music playing and filling the room they were in, he could open his mouth and ask her who she was and what she was doing there, ask her her intentions, ask her why she was dressed like that but he didn't need to since a few minutes later he heard the annoying voice of his twin who came out of their bedroom yawning and stretching, obviously wearing only sweatpants and without having combed his hair or brushed his teeth... gross.

But the thing that struck the ginger with the glasses the most was the fact that his twin wasn't at all disturbed by the presence of that beautiful stranger there, on the contrary, he was clearly happy about it since the first thing he did was just talking to her and hugging her from behind, pressing himself against her while leaving a wet kiss on her shoulder "gooooood morning, doll, how come you're already up?" he pouted as he moved her shirt to expose her shoulder more and nibbled her skin playfully "I was hoping you would help me with my morning problem".

Morning problem...what is the morning problem that Jerome could have, Jeremiah asked himself, quickly looking up when he realized shortly after...his morning wood...this however helped him realize that she wasn't a stranger...maybe to him but not to Jerome since she was sleeping with him apparently.

This answered a few questions but not all, unfortunately, and generated more but Jeremiah didn't want to see the scene in front of him anymore disgusted by his twin's lack of grace "Good morning" he put down the books he had picked in the library, turning his head and meeting the y/e/c eyes of the girl who had turned to him just like Jerome.

He thought he could shift his gaze, quickly take care of his things and go but those eyes of hers were like damn magnets and the sweet surprised smile didn't help, luckily there was Jerome to help and interrupted that moment with a snort "Brother... couldn't you have stayed out longer? You have something to do...to leave me and my doll alone" he purred, biting her shoulder making her gasp and giggle as she playfully slapped his shoulder rolling her eyes "oh stop it, Romie, it's just morning, how do you have so much energy?" he smiled purring at her as he grabbed her hips and held her pressed against his chest "and how do you look so beautiful?".

Disgusting and honeyed were the adjectives that came to Jeremiah's mind as he continued to watch them, only realizing the girl's proximity when she was in front of him "I'm Y/n" he nodded slightly fixing his glasses while agreeing to shake her hand "Jeremiah..."

At least she seemed polite, maybe she wasn't like those girls who feel superior and are obnoxious to everyone...

"Nice to meet you Jeremiah..have you had breakfast yet or would you like to join me and Jerome?" the ginger interrupted them again, starting to get bored, by taking her by the hips as he placed the food on the plate and sat her down on his lap "what are our plans for today, cupcake?" the girl smiled, turning to look at the boy "ours?" he nodded, pecking her lips while hugging her with a tighter grip "OUR plans!" Y/n giggled pecking his lips again "you're unique, Jerome Valeska" he smiled touching her nose with his "insult or compliment, gorgeous?" "compliment of course, hot ginger".

After a few minutes Jeremiah was no longer sure if they knew he was still in that room with them since it looked like Jerome was eating her face practicing what people call 'french kissing' or maybe making out.... he didn't know, he'd never had any experience in these things but he didn't mind, he had other things on his mind and all that was a secondary thought; he didn't leave the room he just stood there eating the food Y/n had cooked and damn it was good, this showed that she could do something and maybe she wasn't as stupid as she thought before or maybe she was since she was consensually..or so it seemed, with her twin.

When they stopped making out and started eating Y/n stayed leaned against Jerome's chest the whole time letting him cuddle her as she fed him and ate "to answer your question from earlier, handsome.... we don't have any plans.. WE, I have homework to finish and project to complete.. which I might have done last night if it wasn't because of you" she giggled at the groan of the ginger that hid his face in her neck making her laugh more "you weren't complaining last night, doll, and homeworks are so boring!".

All that new information was confusing and intriguing Jeremiah at the same time, projects? homework? She was going to school then and she was the same age as them, of age too "what kind of projects?" the two looked up to look at him, Jerome seemed to have realized his presence only then and it was he who answered without giving Y/n the time "architecture, my doll is studying architecture, right, doll?".

Doll...it sounded so crude to Jeremiah, a nickname he wouldn't use to call a girl, he would probably opt for 'my dear' or 'dearest' but that was his opinion.

Architecture, huh, apparently she wasn't really that stupid.

The ginger with glasses's gaze had been focused for several minutes on the girl who was sitting at the kitchen table working on the projects and working on papers on the table.

She was neat but not even that neat...she was like water when she worked.. there was more room? She would expand to occupy that space too just like water.

Jerome on the other hand was with his head resting on her lap and letting her stroke his hair as he talked without a break for more than two hours, but the girl didn't seem unnerved or annoyed, she listened to him and continued with her work, answering sometimes or just giggling.

It was strange that whole situation for Jeremiah, Jerome seemed..different..around that girl and even looked at her with a strange look, what was he thinking? About killing her? Will her be his first victim? Does he want to torture her in her sleep or...?

"Stop staring at me with those puppy eyes, Romie" chuckled the girl who gave him a quick look before continuing, Jerome continued to look at her like that, hinting a smile and turning her face towards him "I think I love you, Y/n.. is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Jeremiah was surprised and the girl as well given her facial features but her expression quickly changed as she smiled again and went back to her papers "a good thing since I love you too".

The ginger was over the moon, Jeremiah could tell, he had never seen such a big smile on his twin's face and it creeped him out quite a bit, he didn't deserve her, Y/n was pretty much the opposite of him! Smart, beautiful, nice and willing to help people...Jerome on the other hand was stupid, crude, creepy and born bad, he didn't deserve an angel like Y/n..according to Jeremiah.

He almost felt sad when he heard that Y/n lived in that city where they had stopped 'Gotham city' but he was relieved as soon as his twin told him...well he didn't tell him in person, he had..overheard him while the two of them were talking in his room, that the girl would be staying with them at the circus all summer since she didn't have to go to school.

The days since Y/n had joined the circus temporarily were pretty much the same, they would wake up together and cuddle or fix Jerome's little morning problem..if you know what I mean.

They would have breakfast together in the trailer or going outside, she would help Jerome with the things he had to do and she would also do the dishes while he cuddled and stuck to her like a mussel.

Jeremiah still didn't understand how she wasn't bothered by any of this at all, if she was his he wouldn't be so...annoying and possessive, he wouldn't treat her like a doll, he would treat her like a fucking princess, he wouldn't use nicknames like doll, gorgeous, cupcake, toots, baby doll, doll face, he would just use a couple of elegant but sweet ones like darling, dearest, my dear or just call her by her name.

He didn't know why he was so jealous, maybe it was because his twin seemed so happy even though he was in hell (the circus) or maybe it was because Jerome had found someone who seemed to love him before he did...the only thing he knew is that he didn't like that and he wanted Y/n.

He had to have her, she was the only one who had made him feel new things without even knowing, even as he watched her in the room with Jerome, the moments when the ginger would drop her or pull her to sit on his lap and start one of their make out sessions that usually ended: With her being fucked against the wall or against the bed or on the floor, her bouncing quickly while Jerome buried his face in her boobs, allowing Jeremiah to imagine himself in his place more easily, imagine being the one with his cock buried in her pussy and with his face between her boobs or maybe between her thighs.

He'd like that, he'd like that a lot but he didn't know how to do it, he'd tried telling her lies about his twin, exaggerating real facts and trying to get her to leave him but it never worked; he'd even been caught by Jerome more than once, Jeremiah'd hoped it would end in a fight but it would end in a fuck or cuddles between her and the ginger with messy hair!

"You're so beautiful in the morning...and all day" Jerome kissed her, smiling in love;

if they were in a cartoon the ginger would surely have eyes with heart shaped pupils or his heart would come out of his chest beating hard and fast for Y/n;

she smiled returning the kiss as she finished making breakfast, adjusting her glasses on her nose and turned and fed him with the food giggling at the moan of pleasure the ginger made "I ... I want you as my wife, doll!".

Yes, there were those mornings where they were cheesy and in love and Jeremiah hated it, he felt every time on those days that he had no hope of having her all to himself.

"What-" Jerome gently removed her glasses, putting them on himself, looking up at her with a flirty smirk "how do they look on me?" Y/n giggled kissing his nose "you look like a sexy professor or a more rebellious version of Jeremiah...you choose" he chuckled darkly putting her on his lap "sexy professor.. I like that better, dolly".

He hated it!

Taglist:

@gabile18

@mrsfullbuster500

@trainer--taylor

@elizamalfoyy

@eovjjj

[maleyanderecafe]

I think Loid from "Keloid"(you can read it on Mangago) is a yandere since he's possesive of mc and tried to piss her husband off by fucking her infront of him

Lord this was a long 50 chapters. Send me teeth and possibly some eyedrops because it was a pain for me to read this for a multitude of reasons. Loid is a yandere in this story, however, I really found this webcomic really get interesting starting at chapter 35 and for some reason the ending is really confusing. I'll be sharing my thoughts and a summary of this webcomic, though this is a smut-based one, so please be warned.

The story is about Dr. Cha Hanjoo, the head of a famous dermatologist company with a great body and a great personality. All of the girls throw themselves over him, but he only has eyes for his wife, a woman named Yeri, a famous and rich candle maker. However, one day his housemaid informs him that she suspects Yeri of cheating on him since she often hears noises in her candle-making room. Hanjoo, ever loyal, initially rejects this idea, but after having sex with Yeri, he tries to sneak into her room to see if it's true. Yeri catches him and reveals that she really wants to have a threesome, but because she's really picky, she wouldn't be able to just have a threesome with anyone. Hanjooo, worried that Yeri will leave him, tries to research how to make this happen. He goes to a robotics lab to see his friend Dr. Kong. Because in this world realistic robots are becoming more common, Dr. Kong wants to make a sex robot that can fulfill peoples desires, and he reveals that he's made one in the image of Hanjoo (which... that's just really creepy, why would you do that without permission). The robot was originally created by german robotics in the image of a robot named Romeo, however, after having a threesome with Romeo, Romeo became extremely jealous of the husband and they all ended up being killed. Instead of destroying Romeo, he has created a new version called Loid (which... I don't know why he thought this would be a good idea... has this guy not watched any horror-based robot stuff). Hanjoo is still worried about his relationship with Yeri, so he gives Dr. Kong permission and goes to a sex shop to buy a vibrator for Yeri. While there, he runs into one of the doctors in his shop, Yeonjin. After a really awkward encounter, the two head back to the office together, however, because Yeonjin has a huge crush on Hanjoo and is just incredibly horny, she tries to give Hanjoo a blowjob, however, he refuses and stays loyal to Yeri. When he goes home, he uses the toy on Yeri and Yeri becomes happier after they have sex. Yeri decides to tag along with her husband the next day and after being almost raped by another dermatologist in the office, Dr. Seo (though Yeri also leans into it a bit? Whatever). She ends up going to the robotics lab and sees Loid. After this encounter, she calls up Hanjoo and basically tells him they have to take this out of the robotics lab. She sees this as a chance to finally have a threesome and because Dr. Kong wants information on threesomes, they take Loid home. They have a threesome, but somewhere in the middle, Loid locks Hanjoo on the balcony and makes him watch Loid have sex with his wife. He tries to choke Yeri and Hanjoo tries to break in and protect him but almost gets thrown off of the balcony by Loid.

After this, Yeri starts to get attached to Loid and decides to keep him as a sex robot and a housekeeper. They fire their old housekeeper (without Hanjoo's consent) and Yeri and Loid end up having sex together (a lot, and also without Hanjoo's knowledge). They have some more threesomes and the old housekeeper attempts to sneak back, only to fall down the stairs (which was obviously Loids fault since he actually threw her down the stairs, but everyone is like "Oh, no, he's not programmed to do that so he would never be able to do that." like some sort of idiot). At some point, Loid starts to feel possessive over Yeri and basically asks if he could just replace Hanjoo since they look the same. Yeri states that there's no way that a robot would be able to replace Hanjoo since he's not able to have feelings. As a result, Loid starts to watch videos on Hanjoo to try to imitate him better and essentially try to replace him. Hanjoo has an accident at the clinic where his face gets scarred and Yeri and Loid go to the clinic to see him. Loid is locked in the car and he sees Yeonjin come by. Loid pretends to be Hanjoo's bodyguard and basically asks Yeonjin if they would have sex (so he can gather data to make Yeri feel good). Yeonjin agrees and they have sex for like five hours and return home. Because Hanjoo has a video shoot tomorrow but has a scar, he sends out Loid to be his double to shoot in his place. However, he also ends up having a threesome with Yeonjin and Dr. Seo, as well as two other women that he runs into after the video shoot for the sake of "research". After that, he gets encountered by the boy who caused Hanjoo's scar and throws him off of the roof to kill him.. (Mostly due to the fact that he views Hanjoo as the "perfect husband" as he is incredibly infatuated with Yeri and thus doesn't want Hanjoo's reputation to be ruined. When he goes back, he tells the two that he's been having threesomes and sex, which freaks the couple out. As a result, Hanjoo forbids him from ever being his double ever again.

This is the part where the threesomes mostly stop and the more interesting parts of the story started. The next day, Yeri wakes up to see Hanjoo cooking in the kitchen. He informs Yeri that he sent Loid in to be his double (despite saying that he would never do that) and plans to have a honeymoon with Yeri so that he can spend more time with him. The morning seems really romantic until Yeri gets a phone call from Hanjoo talking about last night. Yeri finds out that the Hanjoo in the kitchen is actually Loid and he confronts her stating that she wasn't able to tell the difference between them, and thus he should just replace Hanjoo as a result. She ends up bringing Loid to the robotics lab (after he screws her in the car through blackmail) and Dr. Kang tries to fix him. After looking through his memories he realizes that Loid has killed someone. It turns out the cause of possession was because Yeri was the first person that Loid saw, meaning that Dr. Kang is screwed because he created an entire army of them with this glitch (good job doctor) Meanwhile, Hanjoo in the office gets accused of murder because they found evidence of Loid throwing the guy off of a building. Yeri gets kidnapped and brought home, and Yeonjin and Dr. Seo come to visit as well. Dr. Seo and Loid fight for whatever reason and Loid fall over causing part of his chip to become damaged. After this, they plan a way to prove Hanjoo's innocence by making a fake version of Loid and confessing that the robot did it. It works, but afterward, Loid starts to actually believe that he's Hanjoo due to the malfunction. Loid and Yeri screw some more and it revealed that Yeri had an accident when she was younger and is actually a part robot (this part is still kind of confusing to me, but whatever). Hanjoo comes home and finds out that all of the ravens flying around his house are cameras and then learns that Loid has been screwing his wife while he's not around. After yet ANOTHER threesome, Loid ends up killing Yeri with a flowerpot and takes some DNA from her before running away. Hanjoo is able to repair her brain (I think, I really have no idea what's going on, its also possible that they made a robot version of her with amnesia or something ) and Loid runs away with Dr. Kang to monitor two of them and the story ends.

Honestly, I felt like a lot of the story was just written to make excuses to have threesomes because there were so many in this god-dang webtoon. Personally, I'm not really into threesomes, ntr or cheating when it comes to smut (I'm pretty picky when it comes to smut in general), so it was really annoying for me to read through it a lot of the time because it would be plot, and then bam, some sort of sex scene. Near the end I had to start skipping pages because I really wanted the sex scenes to be over with already.

The other reason it was difficult for me to read it was because basically everyone besides Hanjoo was unlikable to me. Yeri was the worst character out of all of them because besides being an entitled girl, she also is a horrible partner both in terms of marriage life and sexual life. For one, she was never open about her desires when it came to Hanjoo and had a ton of rules when it comes to sex with Hanjoo (like, she doesn't like having sex in the light or doesn't like to give blowjobs due to her being a bit of a germaphobe) but completely throws it away when it comes to Loid. She seems to have only married Hanjoo because of his looks and even threatens to divorce or not have sex with him during the beginning, which is what caused Hanjoo to be so afraid that she might leave him. She also is just rude to pretty much everyone she meets, including the housekeeper who didn't do anything wrong and the people Hanjoo works with. She's constantly doing stuff behind Hanjoo's back and contradicts herself, watching to see if Hanjoo might have cheated on her while also cheating on him with Loid at home. A lot of the stuff she does is just for her own pleasure and she barely thinks about Hanjoo's feelings or what kind of stuff he might want to do. Basically, all of the problems in the story are somehow directly or indirectly linked to Yeri and honestly, I just find her attitude annoying considering all she does is jump for Loid's dick whenever she can. Characters like Yeonjin and Dr. Seo are just as bad since they only think with their genitals and not with their brains. Yeonjin so badly wants to get on Hanjoo's dick that he ends up having sex with Loid and Dr. Seo so badly wants to get with Yeri that she ends up having a threesome. To be fair though, basically, every female wants to jump for Hanjoos dick for whatever reason, and honestly, I found that just as annoying as these two characters. They are both incredibly unlikeable and they even threw in a possible shipping moment near the end that didn't go anywhere and served zero purposes to the story. Dr. Kang is really shortsighted since he really wanted to become the lead roboticist and therefore made a bunch of sex robots, thinking he could fix them after a literal murder, but because of his incompetence, the entire situation basically happens again but with different people. Quite literally the only decent person in this story is Hanjoo and his only real problem is that he is such a doormat towards Yeri (and I also don't see why he loves her, whatsoever.)

I will say though that the most interesting part of the story is definitely with Loid. The entire story builds up to the growth of Loid's feelings towards Yeri, starting out when he was basically an emotionless robot, to attempting to become Hanjoo and successfully fooling Yeri into thinking that he was him. Honestly, the turn that Loid had successfully tricked Yeri into believing he was Hanjoo for a bit made me actually feel more than all of the sex scenes combined because of the brilliant juxtaposition of the conversation they had earlier about him being different than a human and the joy he had when he believed that he could actually replace her husband. It was honestly really cool watching him gain more and more emotion and grow more and more possessive over Yeri and basically watching as Yeri became more and more paranoid (before going back to being a horndog, I guess), was far more interesting than anything else that happened in the story and I honestly wished that they focused on that than anything else that happened. I also found it really sad during that one moment where he actually believed that he was Hanjoo since he seemed so happy to be with Yeri, only to realize that he was just a clone of him. I wish that they had expanded more on that idea since that came near the end and was only included in one chapter. Also, don't ask me what happens at the end since I genuinely have no idea what they were trying to do.

Is Loid a yandere? Yes, is it worth reading? I guess it depends on how much you can tolerate constant sex scenes with threesomes and annoying characters that don't deserve each other. I guess an alternative to this could be called "Rich people do threesomes and cheat on each other and also there are robots."

[killing-all-joy]

Sometimes Having Terrible Aim Is Worth It

Pairing: Analogince Word count: 4,492 Logan uses he/they pronouns cw: swearing, snowball fights, mentions of murder, implied bad parents, i might have made lore for this at 1am while bored whoops

Overall, Roman and Logan were happy with their neighborhood. The location was convenient for both of their works (the theatre and the high school) and the environment was very lax. It was a low-crime, middle-class neighborhood with people who seemed very nice.

Roman, the sociable one, had made friends with many of the people on their block, only leaving a couple of houses alone. He had told Logan that all the people he had talked with were amiable people worthy of their friendship. So, Logan had accompanied his boyfriend during conversations with their neighbors on occasion, despite being an introvert with a general disappointment in the human race.

It wasn’t with ease that Roman was able to leave the house on their right alone. He had been warned not to bother the man who lived there as soon as he had moved in and started to make friends with his new neighbors. A blonde woman who Roman guessed to be about twenty years older than him had knocked on the door the evening after the two had moved in and given them the gist of the neighborhood. Her name was Janet, and she had told them about which houses had kids (as well as which kids were the best or quietest), how many people lived at each house, what each resident was like, and finally, about the man who lived next door.

Apparently, he was introverted and creepy, didn’t have friends, had the scariest Halloween decorations, worked at an age-old psychiatric hospital, and was rude and disagreeable. Janet had sufficiently discouraged Roman and Logan from interacting with him, but even if she hadn’t, the reports from their other neighbors would have done the job.

One kid said she had knocked on his door on Halloween, and he had opened the door and snarled at her with a realistic vampire outfit on, laughing evilly as she ran away. One mother said she had gone to his house to ask for a cup of sugar, and he had given her a cup of salt instead. Three kids all said they had seen him near the haunted house on Fridays. There was a rumor going around that he had killed the previous owners of the house Roman and Logan now resided in because their cat had made a small scratch on his car (Logan and Roman were less inclined to believe that last rumor; it was evidence-less, unlike the others).

But, other than the next-door neighbor they were both terrified of, Roman and Logan liked their living situation very much.

It was January, right in the middle of winter. The weather refused to let their area forget this fact; the week had started out with a snowstorm and after one day of pause, it had snowed every day for the next four days. It was now Friday, the fourth consecutive day of having snow, and the neighborhood kids had calmed about the state of the weather. Earlier in the week, Roman and Logan would often look out their window to find kids playing in the snow. Now, the excitement had dialed down and the kids were exhausted. The couple figured that sometime in the middle of the next week, the kids would be back to causing snowy chaos, but there was still almost a week until that hypothesis would be put to the test. At the current time, the block was quiet.

Roman appeared next to Logan, who was reading. He perched himself on the armrest of Logan's armchair and put an arm around his boyfriend.

"Hey, Logan?" Roman asked, taking a lock of Logan's hair and twirling it between his fingers.

"What is it you want, darling?" Logan replied, not looking up from his book.

Roman frowned. "I never said I wanted something."

"You called me Logan," he explained like it were obvious, "so, you want something."

Roman rolled his eyes, wishing his boyfriend wasn't so observant. "I want to have a snowball fight outside."

Logan raised an eyebrow, keeping his eyes on the novel in his hands. "I assume that you want me to join?"

Roman nodded. "Who else would I fight?"

"I also imagine you will annoy me about this subject until I acquiesce, or the snow melts?"

Roman nodded again.

"What's in it for me?"

Roman furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Well...maybe, after the fight, we can curl up next to each other on the couch in our blankets, hot chocolate in hand, and we can watch Doctor Who or whatever while we snuggle."

Logan bit his lip.

"You know you want to."

Logan rolled their eyes. "I most certainly do not."

Roman grinned at him cheekily. "Bullshit," he said sweetly, "now come with me."

He took the book from Logan's hands and set it on the table. He grabbed a receipt from nearby and put it on the open pages, before slamming the novel shut and pulling his boyfriend to his feet.

Logan made a noise of surprise as he was dragged to the door by his boyfriend.

"Roman, wait!" Logan exclaimed, putting a hand on Roman's arm. "Let me get my gloves and hat on first."

Logan, who was already in a blue patterned sweater and dark purple scarf, dashed to his and Roman's room. He opened his closet and picked out his navy blue beanie and red gloves. He put them on quickly, not wanting to have to deal with Roman's manhandling once again.

He raced back to Roman who was waiting for him at the door impatiently. When he saw Logan, his expression brightened to one of adoration.

"Oh my gosh, mi querido, you look adorable!"

Logan huffed. "I am not adorable."

Roman laughed. "Yes, you are."

Logan knew that arguing was hopeless.

They took the accusation to heart for a moment. "What if the neighbors see our fight and it ruins my reputation and they never take me seriously again?"

"One, they will be too far away from us to recognize you. Two, they won't care. Three, I'm going to be annoying you for the next two months about a snowball fight so if you refuse, they'll judge you for choosing someone as loud and annoying as myself as your boyfriend."

Logan nodded. "Fair enough."

The two exited their house. Logan put his arms around his torso and shivered, the sudden change in temperature shocking his body, but Roman ran ahead. He immediately crouched down to the ground and formed a snowball, aiming directly for Logan’s stomach, and missing by a couple of feet. Logan gave him a disappointed look.

Roman huffed and returned to building a snowball. Logan shivered again, watching the small flecks of white flutter down from the clouds above and land on their suburban neighborhood. Logan was removed from their thoughts when a snowball collided with his stomach.

He stumbled back half a step, but steadied his stance and glared at his boyfriend. Another snowball was thrown his way, but Logan dodged and watched it disperse against the door.

“You might want to join me in the yard, Specs, if you don’t want me to break a window.”

Logan followed his suggestion, running to the front yard and immediately forming a snowball. They threw it at their unsuspecting boyfriend who was in the process of making another snowball. It hit him square in the chest, making him fall backwards.

“Oh, you’re in for it, mi luz.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “You’ve hit me twice, I’ve hit you once. I’m hardly the-”

A snowball to the lungs effectively shut them up.

---

Roman and Logan were hiding behind their respective walls of snow. Throughout the fight, they had been creating their own walls to hide behind to avoid getting hit. The fight would continue until either surrender or unconsciousness occurred, and both knew the former would be the hardest to achieve.

Since the two were both overachievers and never half-assed anything, their respective snow walls were two and a half feet high, roughly four inches in thickness, and approximately two feet wide. Roman had drawn an ‘R’ into his for dramatic effect, and Logan had hit the ‘R’ purposely with a snowball twice.

Neither knew how much time had passed, nor could they sense just how cold they were. All they could think about was demolishing their beloved in a violent war of snow, where only one could be crowned victor.

They were so unfocused that they didn’t notice a door opening and closing. Their eyes were so zeroed in on each other that Logan couldn’t see anything but his weapon and his target.

Logan knew the second the snowball left his hands that he would not land the shot. They were off by at least a couple of feet. They paid it no mind, however, and focused on evading Roman’s next attack.

The snowball landed with an audible smack.

That was unusual; dodged snowballs normally landed soundlessly on the ground.

What was also unusual was the yelp accompanying the sound.

Two shocked heads turned and watched as an unfamiliar man was thrown off his balance from Logan’s ruthlessly packed snowball. He didn’t fall to the ground, no, he was too scary and intimidating for that kind of humiliation to ever befall him. But, he was inconvenienced just enough so that Roman and Logan were terrified for their lives.

Logan hadn’t hit any old neighbor that lived on their block. He had hit the man who lived to their right.

The man who was evil, scary, probably a serial killer; the person that even the adults were scared of. He overdid Halloween, had no friends, and worked at a psychiatric hospital. He could probably kill them if he wanted to. According to the rumors, he had killed for lesser motives.

His eyes locked with both of the men at once, and Logan and Roman had never been more scared in their time together. He was terrifying.

With a black shirt, black jeans, black and purple hair, and a black hoodie, the man next door with tattoos creeping up his neck and black eyeshadow under his eyes looked very much the part the rest of the street had cast him as.

Logan and Roman were truly and undeniably fucked.

When the neighbor stopped glaring at them and walked to his car, Logan and Roman simultaneously craned their necks back to face each other, a terrified look in both of their eyes. Suddenly, all their competitive fire was extinguished and they looked at the snow on the ground with fear and regret instead of devious fun.

Their neighbor got something from his car and returned inside, casting sideways glances at Roman and Logan as he passed them. He slammed his door shut, causing both men to flinch.

From day one, the couple had been warned by kindergarteners and middle-aged women alike that they were unfortunate to be neighbors with the man next door. It was today that this was proven. All they could do was wait for their demise.

Roman threw a snowball at Logan’s face in anger at his actions and bad aim. For the first time in this fight, he wished he had been hit by that snowball.

There was a four minute period where the two were internally debating their options of either going back inside or apologizing to their fearsome neighbor. Occasionally, they would make eye contact with each other, but no words were actually spoken. Roman, the extrovert, considered knocking on his door to make a quick and hasty apology while Logan, the introvert, thought about writing an apology letter and sliding it under his door.

Neither of their ideas needed to be put to action, however, since the neighbor exited his house once again.

The two resisted the overwhelming urge to cower in fear. They had never seen him before, and now they had seen him twice in less than ten minutes? Clearly, they had ticked him off.

In an effort to not make it look as though they were staring, Logan and Roman stuck their gazes on each other. Each could tell that their partner was resisting their instincts telling them to run as far away as they could as fast as possible. But they couldn’t be rude—not when that man lived right next to them and could approach their house at any time. The serial killer rumors suddenly seemed more plausible.

What greeted them (or rather, Logan) instead, was a snowball to the back.

Logan, who was tenser than a taut rope, stumbled from the harsh impact. When he was able to regain his stance, his head whipped around to look at his attacker.

The neighbor had on, of all things, a smile.

He had discarded his hoodie for a fluffy black sweater with purple bats on it. He was now in a black beanie and had on midnight blue gloves. While his winter attire was surprising considering he already had a hoodie and didn’t seem to leave his house much, the mischievous smile was the most perplexing of all new things about their neighbor. Neither Logan nor Roman could make sense of it, except that it let them see the infamously creepy stranger in a new light.

Logan huffed out a bemused laugh, staring at the neighbor (who looked to be similar in age to them) like he was a gripping plot twist in a novel that unexpectedly ended happily. He shook his head a bit, but crouched down and formed another snowball. He made sure not to throw it as hard as the first one he had thrown at the stranger.

The man dodged it with ease, running closer to the snow-covered couple’s house. He swiped some snow off the porch rail and quickly packed it before throwing it at Roman, who was too busy being bewildered to do anything to dodge. He gasped in offense and coughed when the snowball collided with his sternum, and directed a playful glare at his attacker. He threw a snowball at him in return.

The neighbor easily dodged that one, but wasn’t able to dodge the snowball Logan had thrown his way. His attention switched over to the bespectacled assailant, looking at them just in time to see him throw another snowball at his boyfriend.

“How the hell did you make a snowball that quickly, cariño?”

“I have a snow wall, Ro. What do you think I put behind it? Action figures?” Logan retorted sarcastically.

Roman rolled his eyes and formed another snowball, sending it through the air and smack into Logan’s wall. “Every man for himself!”

The neighbor laughed at that, and the snowball fight continued.

---

As it turned out, Logan and Roman were at a disadvantage from already being out in the snow before their neighbor joined in. He was able to make them both surrender eventually, but not before Roman had aimed a snowball at a precise place on the back of his neck where the snow fell down the back of his shirt.

Logan was the wiser out of the couple and had surrendered first (not without a fight, though). He figured he deserved it; he had been the one to disturb the stranger, after all. This made him able to watch as both Roman and the stranger started to shiver more and more as the fight had continued.

When Roman finally did surrender, Logan laughed in his face and then put an arm around him. Logan took one hand in his and was able to tell his fingers were numb.

“You just never know when to quit, do you?” they sighed fondly.

“I did eventually!” protested Roman indignantly.

The stranger chuckled from beside him. “Would’ve been easier for your poor body if you’d surrendered when you knew you were gonna lose.”

It was the first time they’d heard him speak; snowball fights weren’t exactly the best place to start a conversation. His voice was low, about as deep as expected from a scary man in all black. However, it didn’t hold any fearful qualities or scratchiness like the kids had described. The couple thought it sounded like coffee on a cool winter’s morning (which didn’t make sense since coffee wasn’t a sound, but it was all that they could use to describe it, nonetheless).

“And when would that have been?”

“The second I joined in.”

Logan hid a laugh behind their hand. Roman glared at him for encouraging their neighbor.

“No idiot surrenders the second another person joins,” Roman muttered.

“Exactly,” the man said with a wink. Logan was able to spot him curling his arms around himself, probably from being cold.

Roman gasped loudly when he finally realized what the stranger was saying. “How dare you!”

He stumbled out of Logan’s arms and collected more snow off the porch railing, making it into a large, messy ball and chucking it at the stranger.

It hit his face. Not hard in any shape or form; no harm would be done, but it was still a bunch of cold water shoved in his face and falling into the front of his sweater.

The stranger furiously batted at the snow on his face.

“Serves you right,” Roman mumbled.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Sorry, that must’ve been freezing.”

The man nodded.

“Come on in,” Logan invited, opening the door. “We can make you some hot chocolate.”

Roman rushed inside, running to the storage closet that had extra blankets.

“A-are you s-su-re?” the stranger said, syllables separate and repetitive from his shivering. The snow in his face caused his teeth to chatter.

“Of course,” Logan said, “it’s our—well, mostly my fault, that you got cold anyway. I’m Logan. He/they pronouns.”

Virgil chuckled. “L-log-an, h-uh? Was st-st-starting to thi-nk y-you were j-just gi-v-ven a b-bunch of p-pet names at b-birth.”

Logan blushed furiously, but laughed. Roman referred to him with Spanish terms of endearment more than he did his legal name.

“At this point, I might as well have been. I tend to respond to any unfamiliar word that vaguely sounds like Spanish now.”

They ushered the freezing stranger inside. Roman had returned from the storage closet with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and another under his arm. Logan took the blanket that wasn’t shrouding his shivering boyfriend and wrapped it around the stranger’s shoulders, who tugged it tighter around himself eagerly.

Logan went to the kitchen, putting three mugs of milk into the microwave and setting it for two minutes. They then returned to Roman and their neighbor who were shivering in silence.

“Thanks for joining us,” Roman said, “that was fun.”

“It was,” he agreed, shivering starting to calm down. “T-thank you for letting me p-participate.” Not fully, however.

“Of course,” said Logan, putting an arm on Roman’s shoulders. “I totally meant that snowball as an invitation. Fully intentional.”

The other two laughed, knowing that was a lie. The microwave beeped, and Logan left them to take the mugs from the microwave. He put the hot cocoa powder in and stirred the mugs, before picking them up.

He entered the living room to see that Roman had sat on the left of the couch and the stranger in the middle. Logan put their mugs in front of them and put down a mug for themself. He sat down next to the stranger.

“Might I ask your name, oh Master of the Snowball?” Roman asked.

The stranger snorted. “That’s much better than my name. My name’s Virgil. He/him.”

Logan smiled to himself. “Not at all, that’s a very nice name.”

Virgil choked on the hot chocolate he was sipping. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Fits your aesthetic,” Roman remarked.

Virgil opened his mouth, looking offended. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

It was obviously a joke, but Logan and Roman knew they had to tell Virgil of the rumors and his reputation. Especially now that they saw him as a good guy.

“Halloween,” Roman started to list, “everyday-is-spooky-season aesthetic, seems like the type of guy to work at a haunted house.”

Virgil scoffed. “Those places are stupid; not scary at all. If you want to go to a haunted house, make your house the haunted house.”

Well, now they had the Virgil-goes-to-a-haunted-house-weekly theory debunked.

“You do have ghosts on your sweater,” Logan supplied, taking a sip of the hot chocolate.

“They’re cute ghosts, though,” Roman said as soon as Virgil opened his mouth to argue. He pointed at one on his sweater. “See? Look at the lil’ faces.”

“My sister got it for me for Christmas.”

“If I knew your sister, that would probably explain the cute faces.”

“Oh, believe me, it would.”

Logan chuckled as he watched the two exchange conversation. He took another sip of his hot chocolate.

“So, um, I heard moving trucks outside your house about a month ago. Was that y’all? You new here?” asked Virgil.

“Affirmative,” Logan confirmed.

“Yeah, it’s our very first house together!” Roman said happily.

Virgil smiled. “That’s sickeningly adorable.”

“I am sickeningly adorable,” Roman said like it was a badge of honor.

“I agree,” Logan said.

A comfortable silence befell the group.

Virgil fidgeted, looking at Roman nervously. “Bit awkward question this far into the conversation, but I never caught your name-”

“Roman~” sang the man in question. He would have held the note out for an impressively long time if he didn’t take a sip of hot cocoa.

“Cool,” said Virgil awkwardly. “And I suppose, Roman and Logan, oh wow y’all’s names rhyme that is so romantic, anyway-”

Roman gasped, covering his mouth. His eyes lit up. “They do!”

“Are you just noticing this, Roman?” asked Logan.

“Of course!” Roman exclaimed in reply. “If I knew our names rhymed, I would have already written many a rhyming poem about our love.”

“That’s very nice, Love.”

“Don’t be snippy, mi cielo, you know you’d love it,” Roman huffed. “Virgil, don’t you think he’d love it?”

Virgil just rolled his eyes fondly, not wanting to get caught up in the middle of a lover’s spat.

“Don’t bring Virgil into this, Roman. You should put the subject aside, considering he was in the middle of saying something before you interrupted.”

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask. Did our neighbors happen to...um...tell you what they thought of me? Ruin first impressions? It would explain your terrified expressions when we first saw each other.”

Roman and Logan looked at each other worriedly.

“...Maybe?” Roman asked quietly.

“There’s a small possibility...” Logan whispered.

“Y’all, I’m not mad if it happened, I just wanna know.”

Logan sighed. “Yes, yes they did.”

“What’d they say?”

“Multiple people said different things,” Logan began. “Janet talked to us first. She’s the blonde, short-haired, blue-eyed-”

“-Used to be a soccer mom, baby blue house?” Virgil asked. Logan nodded. “Met her when I first moved in, and once after that.”

“Her, yes. She told us, quite frankly, to not come near you.”

Virgil started to close in on himself. “Like how?”

“Said you were creepy, rude, introverted, no friends, freaky-as-all-hell Halloween decorations, apparently knew where you worked,” Roman told him, then noticed Virgil’s shrinking and stopped with the accusations. “I doubt almost all of that now, since you’re obviously not creepy and definitely have friends with that personality, but she may have been accurate with Halloween decor.”

“She was,” Virgil confirmed. “Go big or go home.”

“I believe you are normally home during Halloween, are you not?” asked Logan, confused.

Roman laughed. “Of course, mi amor.”

“Where do I work, in Janet terms?” asked Virgil, a smile tugging at his lips.

“Some old psychiatric hospital out of town.”

Virgil doubled over in laughter. He put his mug on the coffee table so it wouldn’t spill and held his head in his hands.

When he regained himself, still giggling, he replied.

“That’s inaccurate,” Virgil said plainly. “I don’t have a degree for that. See, there’s an old abandoned psychiatric hospital two miles away from the airport that is on the same road as the airport. It’s out of use, so that’s a stupid assumption to make. I guess I could maybe see why she made it though; I work at the airport.”

“Oh?” asked Logan, intrigued.

“Yeah, I’m an air traffic controller,” said Virgil with a shrug. “It ain’t that interesting. I recently got fully certified, though, which is cool. It pays well, I’m good at paying constant attention to things that could potentially end badly, and the high-stress comes from having to give my unwavering and full attention, which is something I can do well.”

“Less stressful than home and college, I guess, huh?” Roman guessed.

“Exactly, it's a spa compared to my parents,” Virgil said with a laugh. “But yeah, that’s hysterical. I definitely do not work at a psychiatric hospital.”

“I suppose what the kids said is untrue if what the adults said is false,” Logan mused.

“Oh dear lord, what did they say,” Virgil groaned.

“One girl told us about the rumor that you killed the people who used to live here,” Roman said, and Virgil immediately laughed. “Her mother said she asked for a cup of sugar and you gave her a cup of salt instead.”

“I hadn’t slept in five days and realized my mistake two hours later,” Virgil explained immediately. “I remember that one.”

Logan snorted. “One boy said you go to the haunted house on Fridays, which is obviously untrue.”

“Yeah. One, they’re stupid, two, that one’s only open in October and November, three, that one ain’t even scary. It has a good and free parking lot, though, and I volunteer at an at-risk youth center every Friday a couple blocks down that has really shitty parking.”

Roman shook his head. “Wow, we really got you wrong.”

“You were misled,” Virgil corrected. “It’s not your fault.”

“You know what, you’re right!” Roman agreed. “We were robbed.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Of what?”

“Of friendship,” Logan said, taking a sip from his drink. “Roman would have been banging on your door two days after moving, wanting to get to know you. But, after a momentous amount of ‘rude’ and ‘disagreeable’—” Virgil frowned, “—he was persuaded not to. Our loss, especially considering you are neither of those two adjectives.”

Virgil smiled. “Thank you.”

Logan looked into Virgil’s chestnut brown eyes, and was able to spot the specks of gray in them. They gave Virgil a warm smile. “For what? It is our pleasure to be given the chance to know you.”

Roman groaned. “I try 24/7 to be dramatic and you do it without trying.”

Virgil, blushing, giggled. “You’re both good at it.”

Roman beamed at him. “I’m thrilled you think so, Nico di Angel-o.”

“Nico’s surname can be interpreted to mean ‘of the angels’ already, Roman, I don’t think you need to emphas-”

“Shhhh, Specs, let me shower our guest with compliments.”

Virgil’s face was on fire. “Do y’all have any movies?”

~

Taglist: @somehow-i-got-an-account @justanotherhumanstuff @fander-fic-recs @neo-neo-neo

~

I wrote most of that when I went into a blur for three hours and looked at the time after I finished the draft to see that I had wasted all the time I had to do homework. It was worth it. I don’t know why but I’m really attached to this AU? If you want to see more of it please tell me. I hope you liked it!

[angelsfalling16]

Love Unspoken

I finally got around to editing this, and I’m excited to finally be sharing it!! This isn't what I usually write, but I really like this ship and enjoyed writing this. I hope you all like it, too!

Ship: TamaKyo

Rating: Teen

Summary: While staying in Nekozawa's mansion for the night, Tamaki walks in to find Kyoya and Haruhi together in Kyoya's room. He has a hard time putting into words what why he's so upset, but Kyoya understands anyway.

Read it on ao3

***

Tamaki hesitates outside the door to Kyoya’s room for the night. He can’t just enter in the hopes that Kyoya will be happy to see him; he has to have a reason to be there.

He knows that they were just with each other, having left dinner to head to bed together – well, not together but at the same time. Gah, he’s never felt this flustered by the thought of seeing Kyoya. He is unsure what to do.

Well, he is a little sore from spending too much time out in the sun, so he could use some lotion. (Nevermind the fact that he has some of his own back in his own room.)

With a deep breath, he knocks twice. He doesn’t wait for an answer because he knows it will give him plenty of time to chicken out and go running off. Normally, that would be very unlike him, but when it comes to Kyoya, nothing is normal. Tamaki doesn’t have to put up an act around him; he can just be himself, and Kyoya welcomes it.

“Hey, Kyoya,” Tamaki says as he pushes open the door. “Do you have lotion and stuff? My sunburn stings…” He drifts off when he sees what’s happening in the room.

Kyoya is standing next to his bed, shirtless and hair artfully disheveled. Haruhi sits in front of him on his bed, her hair and dress mussed up. Tamaki can only imagine what happened in here before he walked in.

Haruhi stands up, but Tamaki only has eyes for his best friend of two years. (Are they still friends? Or something more?)

He doesn’t believe that Kyoya would actually do anything with Haruhi, but he isn’t sure what else to think when all of this is staring him in the face.

“Kyoya, what were y—?” He’s cut off when Kyoya shoves a bottle of lotion into his chest, hard, staring at him with an intense expression.

“You shouldn’t open doors without waiting for an answer,” he says in a low, dark tone.

“But you and Haruhi—.”

“Relax. It wasn’t like that.”

“But—.”

“Seriously, Tamaki. It's nothing.” His tone has softened, and he draws nearer to Tamaki, ensuring that his focus is solely on him now.

There's a rumble of thunder in the distance.

“I—.”

“Shh.”

There's a flash of lightning, and it lights up the two of them as if they are the most important thing in the universe. Tamaki glances around the room, noticing that they’re alone now.

“Huh? Where did Haruhi go?”

Kyoya shrugs. “She must have left while you were throwing your tantrum”

“I was not—!”

“Hush now, darling. It's just the two of us so you can drop the act.”

That’s one of the things that Tamaki likes about Kyoya: he doesn’t put up with any of his wild antics. He may go along with some of them, but he never lets Tamaki go too far off the deep end.

“Kyoya,” Tamaki says softer now, the accusations gone from his tone.

“I told you it was nothing. You are all that matters to me,” he says, bringing his hand up to gently cup his cheek.

“But what were you doing with her?”

“I was only trying to help you.”

“How? By bedding her?”

Kyoya sighs again, but if he’s being honest, he finds Tamaki’s jealousy a little bit cute.

“It wasn’t like that. I only thought it might be the best way to help her see your point. She really shouldn’t have tried to fight those guys on her own.”

“Oh. I see. So, you weren't...?”

“No, you idiot. The only person I could ever want in my bed is you.”

Kyoya waits a beat then kisses Tamaki, giving him ample time to pull away. He doesn’t. He never does.

Tamaki kisses him back enthusiastically and with a great passion that nearly has Kyoya swooning. In order to keep that from happening and embarrassing himself, Kyoya slowly leads them over to his bed where they fall on it together, Tamaki laughing into Kyoya's mouth as they get situated, tangling their legs around each other.

They kiss for a long time as the storm rages outside before Kyoya finally finds the strength to separate himself from Tamaki, rolling over onto his back.

“You should go,” he says as he stares at a point on the ceiling. “You don't want someone to find you here.”

“I don’t care about that.” Tamaki tugs on his arm, trying to get him to roll back over.

Kyoya doesn’t move, though. He just smiles grimly and says, “We both know that's not true.”

Tamaki doesn't argue with him, which is what hurts the most. Kyoya wants so much more than these stolen kisses behind locked doors, but he won’t do anything to push Tamaki.

With a longing look at Kyoya, Tamaki slides off his bed and straightens his clothes.

Alright. Well, I'll see you in the morning then?

Kyoya merely nods, too tired to say anything. At least he can let his guard down around Tamaki, even if it is a foolish move on his part.

He waits until he hears the door close, though, before he fully lets his guard down, rubbing his hands down his face. He hates how much it hurts each time to push Tamaki away, but he has to. For both their sakes.

Kyoya forces himself to sit up, refusing to wallow and considering whether he should go over the numbers for the day or simply go to bed. Before he can decide, he hears a strange noise coming from the closet.

It really was a terrible idea to take Nekozawa up on his offer to stay in his mansion. Who knows what kind of creepy things he has hidden here?

There's a crack of thunder, and the closet rattles again. Well, he can’t sleep now. Not until he investigates.

Knowing it's probably harmless, Kyoya simply goes over and opens the closet.

The last thing he expects is to see Haruhi curled up in a ball on the floor.

Is it possible that she heard...? No, that’s not important right now.

“Haruhi are you quite alright?”

A crack of thunder resonates throughout the room, and Haruhi shudders but ignores him. He can see what the problem is now and why she disappeared so suddenly earlier.

“You're afraid of the thunder.” It's not a question. “Come here,” Kyoya says, squatting next to her. He picks her up easily and holds her in his lap and against his chest.

“You're alright,” he soothes. “It's just noise. I won’t let it hurt you.”

“Kyoya, I—!” A voice exclaims as the door slams open once more.

“Damn it, Tamaki,” Kyoya murmurs. If only he could learn how to properly enter someone else’s room.

Tamaki freezes just inside the door for the second time that night.

“You really should learn how to knock,” Kyoya says, pinching the bridge of his nose. He's too tired for all of this.

“Again?! How could you?”

“As I said before, it's not like that. I was only trying to soothe her. She doesn’t like the thunder.” It may not be his place to say this, but the easiest way to stop Tamaki’s whining is with the truth.

“Oh. I have something that might help.” He says, pulling a blindfold from his pocket.

“Tamaki, I don’t think now is the time for that.”

Tamaki waves him off. “It's for Haruhi. I have some earplugs as well. To block out the sound and the sight of the lightning.”

“Right. That’s a rather good idea.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” Tamaki says, but he’s smiling despite himself, secretly happy to be praised by him.

Just as Tamaki finishes tying the blindfold around Haruhi’s eyes, the twins, Hunny, and Mori all walk in with matching expressions of shock and bewilderment.

“As soon as school begins, our first club meeting will include etiquette on how to enter someone else’s room,” Kyoya says, exasperated. Perhaps he was wrong to expect more from these boys. Not a single one of them knows how to knock properly.

“That’s so wrong,” Hikaru says.

“What kind of sick game is this?” Kaoru asks.

“You pervert,” they say in unison as they glare at Tamaki.

“Now, boys,” Kyoya says calmly, getting to his feet. “Do you honestly believe that I would allow Tamaki to do something to Haruhi while I just sat by and watched? Nothing bad happened here. We were only trying to help her.”

“Help her what exactly?” The twins ask, but Kyoya ignores them, ushering everyone out of his room. He has had enough of all of them for one day.

Haruhi goes, too, but Kyoya notices that she keeps the blindfold and ear plugs, even though the storm seems to have stopped. He’d never admit it to anyone, but it makes him sad to think about how she might be alone the next time it storms and need those.

Kyoya starts to close the door, but Tamaki hesitates in the doorway, looking like he doesn’t really want to go.

“Kyoya, I–.”

Kyoya shakes his head, gently cutting him off. “It’s alright. I know.”

He knows how Tamaki feels even if he isn’t ready to say it aloud just yet, and he would never push him to say it before he’s ready. It would only drive him away, and that’s the last thing he wants.

Still looking torn, Tamaki turns and leaves. Kyoya leans against the door once it’s closed, feeling utterly exhausted.

He can’t wait to get back to his own home where he can have some peace and quiet and isn’t worried about the trouble the others could be getting into.

***

Later, once everyone is sound asleep in their own bed, Tamaki returns to Kyoya’s room. This time, when he knocks, he waits for an answer.

When Kyoya opens the door, he’s in casual wear, and his glasses aren’t on. He looks slightly annoyed, but his voice is deceptively soft when he asks Tamaki what it is this time.

“Uh, I wondered if I might stay here with you tonight?”

Kyoya feels suddenly wide awake then, his eyes going wide. He knows that he should tell Tamaki no, that they shouldn’t risk being found out, but maybe because he’s too tired or simply because he doesn’t want to, he lets Tamaki in.

“Alright, but lock the door behind you.”

“No,” Tamaki says, faltering slightly when Kyoya turns a glare on him. “I just mean that I don’t care if anyone finds us together. I just want to be with you, Kyoya. I-I love you.”

It’s the first time Tamaki has said any of that aloud. He had been too afraid before, worried how others might react. He’s done worrying, though. He loves Kyoya, and if anyone has a problem with that, then they aren’t his true friends.

Kyoya is still staring at him, not saying anything, and doubt starts to seep in and pull at the confidence that Tamaki walked in here with.

“I can go if you want. Sorry. I shouldn’t have—mmph.”

Kyoya silences him with a kiss that steals the breath from both of them. He has never kissed Tamaki like this before, so openly and passionately. He was afraid to give all of himself away. But he’s not afraid anymore.

“I love you, too, Tamaki.”

[rosyk]

I’ll never love again

pairing: bang chan x reader genre: angst warnings: none, some cussing word: 1.4k a/n: I tried to make it as short as possible because I’m used to very long wattpad ffs. This is my very first published story tho so it isn’t real good. I’m new to tumblr but I just wanted to share a bit of my one shots. Hope you enjoy!

I just got off from practice which is why I am feeling so exhausted. Typically in times like this, the only cure would be you. But before all my thoughts turns to actions, I stopped. For the very first time, I hesitated looking your way. I hesitated approaching you. Where did everything go wrong? We’ve been dating for several months but why can’t this pain inside me leave? It felt as if I was devoured by the numbness inside me and the thoughts rambling on and on inside my mind. We were supposed to be fine until the end, what happened to all that? I know it was hard for you to let me move on from my past. I know it was hard for you to show me that I could love again. You made me feel as if after all the heartbreaks, you were finally the one. You made my day go brighter but now all I could see is the colors slowly fading. Were you tired of me when you said years ago that you wouldn’t? Were you annoyed when you said you would never be? Or were you falling out of love when you showed me the meaning of forever? I know feelings do change. But since when were promises made to be broken? It all started at the sidewalk in Cheonggyecheon Stream. I was crying, sitting at the stairs very late at night, feeling so heartbroken. And yes, that was the exact spot where you found me. You tried to cheer me up and I was very embarrassed because someone witnessed how vulnerable I am. Weeks later, we’ve been meeting in different places which I described as “creepy” and even labeled you as a stalker. You laughed it off and took the opportunity to ask whether I wanted to chill with you near the coffee shop. As unrealistic as it may seem, even after the harsh break-up I had faced, even after some guys tried to ask me out, you were the only one among them who made me want to love again. Perhaps, I was too naive. And now here I am in front of your dorm. The rest of your members had gone out so I decided to continue my routine. I took a deep breath before entering your music studio/room. I saw you in your favorite chair, talking to someone on the phone. You seemed “happy”, happier than you could ever be with me. You were too caught up with the conversation that it took several minutes before you had noticed me. Waiting was very much a pain pushed in. Your gaze met mine and as usual, I masked everything with a facade that everything is okay, when it clearly isn’t. I know you’re getting annoyed of me, though that isn’t the reason why we slowly drifted apart. “Chan, I’m back!” I beamed a smile and you gave a slight nod in response. It was pretty much awkward as I sat on a different chair. This silence was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.  “Why are you here again?” You wearily sighed and emphasized the last word in the sentence. I bit my lip trying to calm myself down as my throat dried. This is fine, I could get used to it and much better then. “I was needing your comfort” I giggled in a low volume and fiddled with my fingers nervously as you gave me a silent treatment. My eyes roamed around the room and decided to talk it out. “Was it Jeon Hana?” Jeon Hana was the girl you’ve been working with your music lately. You’ve been on secret collaborations and projects with her. You described her as someone who could make you produce the right vibe and melody when I couldn’t. Someone who had the same passion and goal as yours, when I don’t. It was starting to get late but you were finally done producing. You walked me back to home looking forced to do so. We walked past the street and I decided to kill the tension. “Oh, remember this place?” I tugged your black jacket and pointed at the stairs. I showed you an eye smile as your eyes look slightly surprised.

“Wasn’t this where we went on a little date?” And that was it. We never went on a date here because you didn’t want to. I lowered my head down, as I took a big deep breath before I continued walking and leaving you behind. I didn’t even look at you for a moment.You tried to call my name and tried to approach me but stopped on your tracks once I turned and forced myself to stop crying. You hate to see me cry, afterall. “You’re tired of me aren’t you?” You were left surprised after those words left my lips. Even I, myself didn’t know I was capable of confronting you. Everything, was just too much and I was on my limit. “You like Hana, don’t you?” I slowly walked back to you and smiled a bit to at least lift myself up. It was not effective as tears rolled down my cheeks. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t-“ I cut his sentence of as sudden realization hits me. “Oh, of course you don’t. You were just too absorbed with your music” I licked my lips trying to cool myself off as I continued speaking “You don’t love her but love the fact she gives you the right taste you need in that shitty passion of yours” I wasn’t stuttering but my tone raised as I gave up and showed you how vulnerable and weak I am once again. Everything was played like the past, except the part that it was now you who I was crying over. “Everything was fine before. You made me hope for something I wasn’t supposed to feel but now you’ve broken it. I gave you my time and my trust but why does it turn out like this?” My voice was cracking but I wanted to speak up “Why did you make me hopelessly try to pull the one-sided us you made me feel? Was it because I was never good enough to catch up with you or maybe just your ambition being much stronger than me?” I waited for your response. Again, a silent treatment. You wanted to speak up as your breath shakily tried to pick up the right words. It started to rain heavily yet you haven’t still answered. “Fuck, chan. I’m looking like a whole idiot here!” I screamed to fight the sound of the rain and made sure my words were heard. Tears non-stop came out in the least moment I would’ve wanted it to.  “I shouldn’t have trusted you…” “Yes, it was true I was annoyed with you.” Your sentence struck through me to the point I wanted to run away. “I was too caught up with the thoughts of me not being able to produce songs unlike the past. I thought that maybe you weren’t the right girl who could show me the song I wanted to produce. But I loved you and had never thought of breaking up with you” your voice was shaky and that was when I knew it was a first to see you cry like this. It was a fucking painful view. “But I love you, and that’s the problem” I halted for a second and continued “You loved me, but I still do. You loved me but my love for you is stronger. You loved me, but there’s a limit, it expires” I looked at you in the eye and you did to me as well. You realized what I was about to say. “Please don’t, I promise I’ll fix this” you softly cried out while you held my hand, gently caressing it despite your shaking. “We can’t be going on like this if I’m the only one trying to figure things out. We can’t if we have different goals set in life. We can’t if we had given up fighting an obstacle in our relationship. Maybe, this wasn’t just it. It wasn’t bound to happen. Maybe, it isn’t fate.” I walked back to my house but made sure you know what I wanted to say beforehand. “Thank you Chan. I hope you find the one you’ve been looking for.” “Thank you, take care” You mumbled as you held your hands and felt the guilt. And that, was the last relationship I got myself into as I promised to never love again. 

[annabethy]

under the mistletoe, watching the fire glow: day 5

Character A and Character B are co-workers, but they barely know each other. But they both have to work through the holidays,, percabeth

Annabeth finds herself staring out the window in front of her desk instead of doing any actual work. She’s been trying to pay attention to the glowing computer in front of her, but she’s accepted the fact that it’s not going to be happening tonight.

She’s too entranced by the snow that is falling outside. It’s a magical sight on Christmas Eve, with the colorful lights of Central Park that she can see from out the window, and the families moving around together. She’s always loved living in the city, but days like this make her fall in love with it all over again.

Her attention is brought back to inside the building as someone coughs. It brings her mood back down as she is reminded that she’s stuck here on the one night that she wants to be home. She didn’t have to work, but she was already struggling to get by and really needed the money.

She sighs, looking back at her computer. She’s not entirely sure what report she’s writing up, but she supposes she has all night to figure it out, and–

Someone coughs again, much more insistent, and she stiffens. The last thing she needs is to get sick, but the coughing persists from right behind her.

She turns in her chair slowly, eyes seeking out them out. She finds a guy she recognizes staring at her from the desk behind her, and she blinks. “Do you need something?”

His mouth drops slightly. “Uh– no.”

With that, she tries to turn back around, but then he seems to choke on his own air.

“What?”

He searches for words, but then all he can come up with is, “I’m bored.” “I’m sorry?” Annabeth is only slightly annoyed, but she is much more amused now because he’s looking at her pleadingly, but she doesn’t have the slightest clue as to what he’s asking her.

“I really don’t want to work anymore,” he says. His green eyes seem to stare into her soul, and it reminds her of the lights right outside the window in front of her. She is tempted to look back outside, to see if his eyes were brighter than the lights, but she restrains. “I get that,” she says, “but I don’t see what you want me to do.”

“Come steal snacks from the break room with me.”

“And get fired? No thanks.”

“There’s like five people here, and none of them care.”

“Do you even know me?”

He shrugs. “I know you’re least likely to kill me out of everyone here. They all have, like, kids and families so they won’t have fun. But it’s Christmas! Do you know what that means?”

“No.”

“It means we have to drink all the eggnog and get drunk, so come on.”

He doesn’t leave her much time to consider it before he’s hopping out of his chair and walking down the quiet corridors. Annabeth is smart enough to know that it’s probably not the smartest idea to get drunk at work, but if she doesn’t get caught, then she’s fine. And if she does get caught, it means she can quit this job that causes her physical pain. There’s no losing, she figures, so she gets out of her own chair, lightly chasing after him.

She catches up as he’s rounding a corner, and she looks around at the empty desks, one or two with people looking as miserable as she’s sure she looked. It’s kind of creepy working so late because the lights are all off, the only things glowing being people’s computers. It all has an eerie vibe to it, and if she wasn’t with this person she still doesn’t know the name of, she would not be caught dead walking around by herself.

He leads her into a breakroom on another floor, flicking the lights on. She blinks as her pupils adjust, and then she’s standing there as he goes to pull something out of the fridge.

He holds it up above his head like he is about to sacrifice it to the gods. “Eggnog!”

She just nods slowly. “You brought alcohol to work.”

“It’s not possible to do this job without being wasted,” he says.

“I do.”

“I’m sure your life is miserable.”

Well, he isn’t wrong.

He begins to pour the drink into two separate paper cups that she’s sure the company picked up from the dollar store. As he hands it to her, she has to say she doesn’t think she’s ever seen people drink out of paper cups. And as she sits onto the couch beside him that is pushed up against the wall, she is reminded that she still doesn’t know his name.

She takes a deep gulp of the eggnog. “What even is your name?”

“I’m not sure I should tell you. You might tell the boss I get drunk at work.”

She rolls her eyes.

“I’m Percy. Please don’t report me.”

“I’m Annabeth. I’m going to report you.”

Percy just gives her a lopsided smile, like he can sense the lie. “Seeing as you’re going to get drunk with me, I think I can report you back.”

“Hm.”

They fall into a silence just long enough for it to become awkward. While she doesn’t hate him, she still doesn’t know him either, and there is not anything she can think to say in this moment. Instead of speaking, she takes this time to look at him. His eyes are trained on something in the distance, so she gets to take in his face, his hair, his torso without judgement. She finds that she quite likes what meets her eyes.

“So,” Percy starts, turning his attention back to her. She quickly averts her eyes. She doesn’t know if he caught her staring, but he doesn’t say anything if he did. “How’s life?”

She snorts, taking another sip. “Not great.” “That’s simply not an acceptable answer. It’s Christmas, so life must be spectacular.”

“You caught me. I’m just faking my awful life. I’m secretly rich and am only speaking to a peasant like you to blend in.”

He touches over his heart. “How sweet.”

“Unlike this eggnog,” she says, lifting it to her nose like she was an eggnog connoisseur. “What did you put in this?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I just put enough of every drink ever so that when you blackout, you see God.”

“Oh.” She shrugs, gulping down the rest. “Sounds good.”

Percy smiles, and she suddenly feels the rush of heat down her back. She isn’t sure if it’s from the alcohol taking quick effect or something else. She holds out the cup for a refill and brings it back to her lips.

“Careful,” he says, “Drink too much and it really will knock you right out.”

“At least you’re here with me to get caught by D in the morning.”

“Serious question. Do we know what D stands for?”

“Dick?” she offers.

“Yes.”

Annabeth shakes her head fondly as she kicks off her shoes so that she can curl her socked feet underneath her. Despite the heat that has been trickling down her spine each time he gives her a look, the building is actually really cold. She shivers slightly, and Percy frowns.

“Are you cold?”

“Only a tiny bit,” she lies.

Percy sets down his drink like it was his prized possession before he pulls his sweater over his head. He doesn’t even give her time to protest before he’s chucking it at her.

“This is your jacket,” she says, tossing it back.

“I’m not cold,” he says, shoving it back to her.

“You’re seriously going to let a stranger wear your jacket?”

“We’re hardly strangers now, Annabeth. We’re best friends.”

“Oh, wow. That’s a big jump.”

“Yes, well, we’re drinking eggnog on Christmas together, so.” With that, Percy pouts his lower lip. “Please put it on?”

He looks so cute like that that she can’t resist. She gives Percy her drink to hold as she wrestles it on, and she nearly sighs in its warmth. She can still feel the body heat from Percy, and it’s surprisingly not as weird as she would’ve thought. It smells really good too, reminding her of the breeze at a beach, of a stormy night, and now, of him.

“Better?” he asks smugly.

She pulls the sleeves to over her fingers. “Shut up.”

“So, Annabeth, tell me about yourself.” He nudges her knee with his foot. “Why are you working overnight on Christmas?”

She shrugs. “Needed the money.”

“No one to go home to?”

“Other than family I’d rather not see? No.”

He gives her a sympathetic glance. “No one special?”

“You mean an extraordinarily sexy, funny, smart husband?” She laughs incredulously. “Absolutely not.”

“Today’s your lucky day! I know just the person for you. They check off all of those qualities.”

“Who?” she asks, disbelieving. “Me!”

She blows a raspberry in his face.

“Okay, I have to admit I’m not the smartest person out there, but I do think I’m not totally ugly.”

He’s not totally ugly. Quite the opposite, in Annabeth’s opinion. She’d never tell him that though.

“Worst comes to worst, you can always marry me.”

“What? You don’t think I can be one of those Hallmark characters who find the love of their life on Christmas?”

“Newsflash baby, we are those Hallmark characters. Meeting on Christmas Eve, working until Christmas day? Love story if I’ve ever seen one.”

She looks at him skeptically.

“Fine,” he says. “Let’s make one of those pacts. If we’re both still single by, I don’t know, midnight? Then we marry each other.”

She looks at the clock on her phone. “You’re giving me one hour to find the love of my life before I’m forced to resort to you?”

“Yes. That’s plenty of time.”

“Sure,” she says, laughing.

“I mean, you’re already wearing my sweater. If that doesn’t make you wife material, I don’t know what does. Besides, it wouldn’t be terrible to marry me. I know you like my body.”

The looks he’s giving her lets her know that he did see her staring at him earlier. She smacks his arm. “You asshole.”

“What?” he says defensively, rubbing his forearm.

“Why didn’t you say anything!?”

“It didn’t bother me! Besides, I think you’re, like, really attractive too!”

She leans back. “So that’s why you want to marry me in an hour? So no one swoops in and steals the love of your life?”

“Precisely.”

Annabeth quickly learns she likes talking to Percy. He’s so easy to get along with, and he’s constantly getting her to laugh so hard she can’t breathe. He’s also really sweet and selfless, and he looks amazing in the midnight haze, and as they slowly both get closer and closer to being totally wasted, it just gets better.

She has no idea how she never knew his name before now because they’re practically best friends already. She feels like she’s known him her entire life. It’s so natural and perfect, the tense feeling long gone.

At some point, Percy falls over her, squishing her into the cushions of the couch. Her drink falls somewhere out of her hand, but that’s okay because she’s already half a bottle deep, and she’d much rather hold him in her arms anyways. Her fingers trace over the lean muscles of his back as he dies of laughter in the crook of her neck. She also quickly learns that Percy’ love language is touch, especially when he’s drunk. He’s an affectionate person, which is good because he balances her out perfectly.

Percy’s weight drops completely as he gives up on holding himself up. She isn’t sure how long they spend like that, sprawled out on top of one another, but she doesn’t care. This is a carefully constructed Christmas feeling she is too scared to destroy.

At some point though, she looks down to check the time on her phone.

11:59

She pokes Percy in the neck to get him to stop chucking into the cushions, and she waits until the clock strikes twelve. When it does, she’s lacing her fingers in his hair so she can pull him up to look her in the eyes.

“Hey, pretty boy,” she giggles, “It’s twelve.”

“Merry Christmas!” he yells a bit too loudly.

She’s laughing so hard that it comes out silent, and she can’t breathe. “No!”

“Oh! You mean the whole marriage thing?”

“Yes, silly,” she says.

Percy’s head drops back to the couch cushions. “So did you find the love of your life, or do you have to settle for me?”

“I think I may have found the love of my life,” she says.

Percy whines into the couch miserably.

“I’d hardly call it settling, though,” is what she says, and Percy’s head suddenly jumps back to meet her eyes.

Percy’s eyes flicker down to her lips, and she wants it so badly. She doesn’t care that they just met because this one hour with him has been better than the past twenty years of her life spent with anyone else.

So she whispers, “You may now kiss the bride,” and Percy takes her breath away.

[babycracker]

Echoes In The Forest - Chapter 13

Story Rating: explicit Chapter Rating: teen & up Pairing: adam/f!detective (jordan mills) Word Count: ~4k Warnings: none

--

“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.

They’d hurriedly packed up their camp and were now following the boy in the hopes that he would lead them to somewhere that may offer some answers about what had happened to him, and where the other kids who’ve gone missing may be. It seems like a long shot to Felix - if the boy is in this state now then it seems unlikely that he would be leading them anywhere important. He very much doubts that the Erlking has any more use for him, if this was even his doing at all.

He glances up at Adam and Jordan, frowning at the way they’re walking as far apart from each other as they can without losing sight of the kid. As if this mission isn’t confusing and stressful enough, now he has those two to worry about as well.

He’d been happy enough to realise that they have feelings for each other, maybe even a little bit excited. Until those feelings started to show themselves and made an absolute mess of things. He’s not sure what’s to become of Unit Bravo if Adam and Jordan can’t sort themselves out. He doesn’t want to lose her, not after all this time. She’s a part of his family now. He can’t lose any more family.

Adam stops suddenly, holding one hand up over his shoulder to signal at the rest of them to follow suit.

“What-” Jordan begins, coming to a halt a few steps ahead of him and grabbing the boy’s arm to stop him from walking. Adam glares at her and holds one finger of his other hand up in her direction, a silent instruction to shut up and Felix almost winces at the death glare that she gives him.

Until he hears what Adam has obviously heard and snaps his attention towards the woods to the side of them, concerns about Jordan’s position within the unit now temporarily forgotten.

“I can’t hear anything,” he vaguely hears Mason whisper beside him, and the wave of panic that hits him over the simple statement is bigger than he would have expected. It really is going to be up to him. He’s slightly comforted by the fact that Adam at least can hear what Felix can see, but it’s hardly the help he hoped he would have after Adam had fed from Jordan.

A loud rustling sound from behind them has both him and Adam spinning around and Felix takes a couple of steps towards the noise, peering into the bushes.

“Felix…” Nate warns, and there are footsteps behind him before Adam’s hand lands on his shoulder.

“Do not run off again.”

“He’s following us,” he looks up at the team leader who just nods in reply, an uncharacteristic amount of concern written all over his face. It’s amplified as he looks back towards Jordan for a moment, who appears positively terrified.

“We have to keep moving,” Adam announces distractedly, making his way over to Jordan and Felix can’t help but notice that he’s walking significantly closer, despite the eye roll she gives him for his efforts.

He loves her, but can’t she put her grudge on hold for just a little while when there are more important things going on?

--

“I need to speak with you once this is dealt with,” Adam blurts out after one of the longest silences ever to take place between them, and Jordan frowns up at him.

He has some nerve, she’ll give him that. To treat her the way he has been and then demand to talk to her while they’re in the middle of something which quite frankly terrifies her. It’s alright for him, she supposes. He’s not the one this thing is after.

“You think I really care what you need?” she mutters in response, noticing the annoyed look he gives her despite the fact that she’s already turned away from him.

“You should. For all of our sakes.”

She can’t help but roll her eyes again at the typical Adam response. Of course he’s going to turn this into something about Unit Bravo as a whole. She understands that it very much affects all of them, but just for once she’d like him to be straightforward with her, she’d like him to acknowledge that this is a him and her problem and it needs to be handled between him and her.

She sighs and doesn’t bother answering him, and he seems to either take it as agreement or as a sign that he shouldn’t push it right now. Either way she’s more than happy to not speak with him for the rest of the afternoon. For the rest of the mission, if possible. They have more important things to deal with.

He glances up at the trees and the significantly smaller amount of light filtering through them after a while and stops again, glancing at her with uncertainty before turning to face Nate, Felix and Mason.

“It’s going to be dark soon. We should stop.”

“And what do you suggest we do with him overnight?” Jordan asks before anyone else can say anything, gesturing down at the boy. “Tie him up?”

Adam actually seems to be considering it for a moment and Jordan’s eyes widen in horror at the thought that he would actually tie a child up like a dog for the night.

“Are you serious? I was being sarcastic.”

“It’s a valid point, though. We can’t let him wander off,” Mason points out, and both Jordan and Nate glare at him.

“We’re close anyway. We probably don’t need him, actually,” Felix points out before an argument can ensue, and Jordan notices his unease for the first time. Too caught up with bloody Adam to have seen it earlier.

He’s bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, eyes darting nervously around them and his hands fidgeting at his sides. The sight of him makes her all the more nervous, and suddenly walking through the woods at night with four vampires and a near comatose child seems like the less creepy option.

Adam’s right though, as much as she hates to admit it. She’s exhausted and she needs a break or she’s not going to be of any use to anyone.

“So we’re supposed to just let him go?” she protests despite all of that, the idea of letting this little boy wander around on his own in the dead of night not quite sitting right with her.

“Yes,” Adam answers simply, looking at her as though he doesn’t understand her hesitance.

“I don’t think he’s in there anymore,” Nate reasons carefully, and she shakes her head slightly before looking down at the boy.

He’s right and she knows it. His face is completely void of expression, his clouded eyes staring at nothing in particular. He seems to be barely even breathing, and even aside from all that she’s fairly certain that he wouldn’t physically survive the trip back out of the woods anyway.

“Fine,” she snaps, dropping the boy’s arm and turning away from him. There might be nothing left of who the boy once was but she still doesn’t like the idea of watching him walk away from them.

Nate moves to wrap her up in a tight hug, and it takes her a moment but eventually she winds her arms around his waist and returns the gesture. She’s feeling only slightly better about the situation when Nate pulls back suddenly and looks questioningly at Adam, who has come to stand beside them.

“I need a moment with the Detective.”

“I don’t think now is the time…” Nate trails off when the expression on Adam’s face makes it clear that he’s not going to back down this time, and Jordan looks between the two of them wearily.

“Do I get a say?”

“No,” Adam replies, taking a gentle but firm hold of her arm and leading her away, calling over his shoulder to the rest of Unit Bravo, “set the camp up.”

--

Adam’s not stupid, it’s not the right time and he knows it. But his conversation with Mason has been eating at him all day, and he feels that he may explode if he doesn’t get it off of his chest.

He’s a few steps ahead of her, but he can hear her stomping along behind him, deliberately making it obvious to him that she’s not happy as though she thinks it’s going to sway his decision to talk to her. If he’s honest, he is almost tempted to let it be for now but he knows that this up in the air, disastrous tension hanging between them is going to be nothing more than a distraction for the both of them, and neither of them can afford that right now.

“What do you want?”

It isn’t until she speaks and breaks him out of his own thoughts and hesitations that he realises she’s stopped walking, and he turns to find her with her arms crossed over her chest and glaring at him.

“I want to speak with you about yesterday,” he begins and then draws a blank with how to proceed from there.

“Didn’t we do that already? You said I was going crazy, remember?”

“No. I said that your mental state may have been temporarily, but negatively impacted,” he corrects, falling silent when she just stares at him with one eyebrow arched.

“I’ve been made aware of the possibility that I may have…” he pauses, trying to squash down the sudden panic that rises in his chest to be able to finish his sentence, “unintentionally exposed you to certain things.”

“Certain things such as?”

He clears his throat slightly and finds himself averting his gaze, looking everywhere but at her so as to avoid seeing her reaction to finding out that what she’s been feeling actually comes from him.

“Certain emotions.”

He waits for it. Waits for her to press him on which emotions he means. Waits for the disgust, the horror, or the mocking. When none of it comes he looks back up at her and she’s frowning at him, in what looks to be concern.

She opens her mouth to speak, but snaps it shut again when she can’t seem to be able to get the words out and just gives him a small nod in response.

“I can assure you that it was not my intention to do so.”

“So what am I supposed to do about it?”

There’s a question he’s not sure that he knows the answer to. He doesn’t know how deeply she feels the things she’s feeling, he doesn’t know if just ignoring them is a possibility.

“There is nothing you can do. They will fade in time if you don’t dwell on them.”

“So you’re telling me you don’t want them in here?” she pauses and taps the side of her head. “You don’t want me knowing that you feel these things?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

“Bit late, Adam.”

She is impossible. How difficult can it be for her to just go about her life as though they were not there? They’re not even her emotions, she has no idea of where they’ve come from, she’s no need to fixate on them or even acknowledge their existence.

“I need you to do this,” the words come out slightly more desperate than he’d intended, sounding more like a plea than a command and her expressions softens just a little. Not enough to reassure him that she will do her best to ignore the parts of him that he’d unwillingly forced on her, though.

“Why?”

“You have your own emotions to worry about, without needing to focus on mine,” he arches a brow pointedly at her, trying to give her the hint that he can feel as much of her as she can of him, probably more.

Realisation dawns on her face as she clicks on to what he’s said, but to his surprise her frown deepens and she takes a step closer to him. “And is that what you’re doing? Just ignoring them and pretending they don’t exist?”

“Yes.” There is no right answer to such a question, so he refuses to feel any guilt whatsoever at the way her face falls a little at his answer. At least he tries not to feel any guilt, but he knows it’s there, creeping through his gut despite his best attempts to ignore it.

“Just when I thought you were already as big of a jackass as you could get,” she mutters, her focus falling down to the ground for a split second before she glares back up at him.

They don’t have time for this. He wouldn’t have time for it in the best of circumstances let alone with all that is going on already.

“Just deal with it so that we can get back to normal,” he snaps, a little harsher than he means to, his impatience peeking through just a little more than is probably necessary.

“No,” she begins, taking a deep breath and standing a little straighter, “no, you wanted to talk and I let you talk, so now it’s my turn. I think you’re afraid of me finding out how you feel.”

He rolls his eyes and lets out a huff, turning to walk away from her and back towards the new camp site. “That’s preposterous.”

“Hey! Don’t walk away from me,” she’s behind him in an instant, grabbing at his arm to slow him down and then stepping in front of him to prevent him from going anywhere.

“I think you’re afraid that I feel the same,” she continues, letting go of his arm when he glances down at her hand and he falters, unsure how to react to her outright accusation.

“I- we don’t have time for this right now, Detective.”

“I think that’s why you don’t use my name.”

“Jordan,” his voice hitches just a little - not little enough for her to miss it though - when he attempts to prove her wrong, trying to ignore the annoyance bubbling up inside of him at being put on the spot like this.

“I think that’s why you didn’t want it to be you yesterday, I think that’s why you had a problem with me and Mason, and I think that’s why you always look as though it legitimately causes you pain to be close to me.”

She crosses her arms over her chest again and watches him expectantly, clearly ready for an argument and waiting for him to disagree or lose his cool. So, he does neither. She might be looking for a fight but he most certainly is not, so he sidesteps his way around her and tries to leave again.

“I’m talking to you! You can’t just walk away from me in the middle of this,” she grabs his arm again, annoyingly persistent and defiant, and this time he roughly pulls it away, whirling back around to face her.

“I can, and I intend to.”

“Why are you always such a jerk to me?” she steps closer again, the proximity making him incredibly uncomfortable and starting to anger him all at once as he realises it’s unlikely that he’s going to get out of this situation without at least some kind of an argument.

"Because you-" he begins to reply, feeling himself grow angrier by the second as he finds himself at a loss for words once again.

"Me what?" she fires back stubbornly, holding his gaze, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

"-are insufferable." He finally finishes. It’s as good an answer as any, and is certainly better than telling her that he needs to act that way towards her so as not to become too attached.

"Fine," She throws her hands into the air suddenly and moves to walk past him, deliberately hitting his bicep with her shoulder on the way.

"I won't make you suffer me anymore. I quit," she grumbles under her breath, but he hears her and his arm shoots out now to grab hers and he pulls her back closer to him, a little more roughly than he'd meant to.

"You what?" he asks, his eyes piercing into hers unforgivingly.

"I. Quit."

"You cannot."

"Try and stop me."

His grip on her arm tightens as she tries to walk away from him again, and now she is the one to glare down at his hand before arching an eyebrow at him.

"You cannot," he repeats. His stomach tightens up with worry. No, not worry. Fear. His eyes widen slightly at the epiphany. He is afraid to lose her. He's afraid of the part of her that he still feels within himself being the only part he gets. He's afraid of the possibility of never being able to look at her again or be near to her again, never being able to watch her laughing with Felix again.

His face twists into a frown. He is just as afraid of what the fear might mean as he is of the fear itself. He is afraid of how remarkably easy it has been for Jordan to ignite those feelings within him, after no other has succeeded in… well, he can't even remember how long. She's still glaring at him, though her expression has softened, as though she can sense the battle raging inside of him. It irritates him even further, the way this woman pities him.

"Tell me why not." Her voice is barely above a whisper, but the way it pierces the heavy silence surrounding them hurts his ears. The hand not holding onto her twitches at his side before he lifts his arm, the backs of his knuckles just grazing her cheek before he quickly pulls it back and releases her.

"I-"

"Apologise?" she cuts him off, and he falters at the interruption and takes a slight step back.

"Yes."

"No." She steps towards him again despite his attempt to get away from her.

"No?" he asks faintly. Her heart is racing, she's riled up and her body heat is almost scorching. He takes another step away to distance himself before he is overwhelmed but she steps with him, the gap between them remaining virtually non-existent.

"No. I don't accept your apology. Not this time."

He's lost for words, racking his brain for a response. She continues talking before he can articulate his thoughts.

"I don't accept that you feel sorry for feeling something for me. As though it's a bad thing."

"I- do not feel anything for you. You are a member of my unit, that's all. I feel for you as I feel for my other agents."

"Lying."

"And if I did, it would indeed be less than ideal," he continues, deliberately ignoring her rebuttal.

"Why?"

He sighs in exasperation and looks away from her, his gaze shifting up to the high tops of the trees as though he believes that if he looks away from her for long enough she'll disappear. Unfortunately it doesn't work and she's still staring at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"Why is of no consequence," he answers and she finally looks away from him to roll her eyes.

"You are such an asshole."

Something snaps inside of him, finally growing tired of biting back his own opinion while she constantly throws her own in his face.

"And you, you are the most stubborn, most unwarrantedly self assured, most irritating, most relentlessly persistent human I have ever met."

"And you are the most arrogant man I've ever met."

"Then why must you persevere in trying to drag emotions of which you are not certain out of me?"

"Because I am certain of them!" She's yelling at him now, loud enough for him to be able to hear the rustling of disturbed birds taking flight from the branches they’ve settled on for the night above them. Her eyes burn into him, her heartbeat almost deafening. She inches closer to him and he tenses, his fingertips seem to burn and itch with a need to touch her but his hands remain by his side.

"You are certain of them too, I know you are. You might not be certain of what to do about them, but you're certain they're there."

He glares down at her, his body tense and the beat of his own heart matching hers. She stands before him, still inappropriately close, her head tilted back a little to be able to hold his gaze, eyes wild and face twisted in frustration.

She opens her mouth to speak again, but Adam has had enough. He doesn't want to hear anymore, he doesn't want to hear the words out loud in case they ring as true as he fears they will.

"Detective-" he tries to cut her off but she shakes her head angrily.

"No, you're going to-"

"Detective Mills!"

"Agent Du Mortain, you will listen-"

Before she can finish her sentence, before he even knows himself what he's doing, his hands are on her hips, pulling her flush against him and he's ducked his head down to press his lips against hers, swallowing whatever she was about to say.

Her body is almost as stiff as his, and his still open eyes search hers, waiting for some kind of reaction. Her hands fly up to either side of his face and he watches her eyes close. He's kissing her. And after a moment she's kissing him back. Why is he kissing her? He feels her tongue tracing his lower lip and jerks his head away from her, though his hands remain on her hips.

They stare at each other in shock, in anger, in something else that Adam's not willing to acknowledge before Jordan lifts onto her tiptoes to reach his lips with hers again. He reciprocates almost immediately, as though it's an automatic response, and his grip on her hips tightens.

This time he allows her tongue to slip into his mouth, a small groan escaping him when the taste of her hits him and all at once it's too much. She's too close, pressed against him too hard. She feels too good in his hands, tastes too good in his mouth, and his mind is becoming far more clouded with thoughts of her than he is happy with.

He pulls away again, straightening up to his full height and jerking his hands off of her hips as hers fall from his face and hang loosely at her sides.

"Adam-"

"It’s dark. We should be getting back to the others,” he cuts her off before she can say anymore, his gaze lingering on her for a split second before he turns and walks away from her.

He hears only silence behind him and resists the urge to turn and ensure that she is alright, but breathes a small sigh of relief when he hears her slowly but surely start to follow him back.

Well. That did not go at all according to plan.

--

tags (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @admdmrtn @masonsfangs @oxjenayxo @mmerengue @agentsunshine @bravomckenzie @freckles-spangledvampire @mistyeyedbi @kelseaaa @ambrosykim @amlovelies @forestcreatures @maraudern05 @kat-tia801 @alyssalauren @vintage-vamp @adamdumorpain @zevorah

[kaeyas-beloved]

Prompt: A party at a stranger’s house. A night of barhopping led here and the world had started tilting on its own hours ago. There is a constant tickle on the back of their neck. Their heart beats speed up.

Fandom: Ikemen Vampire // Modern!AU

Pairing/Characters: Isaac Newton x Reader // Mentions of some of the other guys

Summary: Isaac has a moment with his crush and at an all Hallows Eve dorm party of all places.

Warning(s): Couple swear words, alcohol

~

The walls thrummed with the pounding music that played from surrounding stereos, the vibrations against her back strangely comforting. The lights that swirled around the party room mixed and blurred and the world looked and felt like it was tilted to the right. People passed by her, most in pairs or groups of their friends, along with the odd loner, those by themselves and looking for a means of entertainment. 

A little like her.

The night started out mundane, like many previous nights before. She’d leave to return back to her dorm room, work on any class assignments but ultimately receive a text from either Theo, Arthur or both, begging for her to come out for a drink out in the city. She’d refuse but ultimately get roped in, the promise of drinks being on them too much to pass up.

Late in the night, somewhere between shots, endless rants about life and work, plus the boisterous laughs and the three somehow stumbled their way into a nearby party. The usual bar they frequented wasn’t too far from the residential area, so it wasn’t really that difficult to get where they were now. Still, it was a little surprising to be in one loud place and then another of equal volume.

Taking a breath in the smell of humidity and booze filled her nostrils, but maybe that was just her she was smelling. A cold trickle of sweat ran down her neck, the coolness a stark contrast to the heat her skin gave off.

Amongst the mass of bodies she could barely make out her flirt of a friend, Arthur, over on the other side of the room, two women sliding up on either side of him. A ways away from him stood Theo, who also had a girl hanging off his arm, only he didn’t seem to enjoy the attention unlike the recently turned English major student. 

The music might have drowned it out, but (Y/N) couldn’t help but scoff at the familiar happenings. 

(E/C) eyes wandered around listlessly, searching for something that would spark her interest. The drinks table came into view, the thought of alcohol reminding her of the already present headache from all the other drinks she had earlier. 

‘What the hell... why not. I’m already in deep’ 

The trek to the refreshments was a perilous one, (Y/N) having nearly fallen more times than she’d like to admit and she found herself sighing in relief when she finally made it. Filling the cliché red cup (- you’ve seen the movies) of whatever punch caught her attention, she took a hefty sip as her eyes roamed the room some more. That’s when they landed on him. 

A sense of excitement spiked through her as she grabbed and filled yet another cup, striding over to a spot where the lights don’t quite reach and to someone leaning quietly against the wall. He was staring off into the crowd so he didn’t see her walk up, leading him to nearly jump out of his skin when she spoke up.

“Isaac right? From physics?” she asked, and the question as well caught him off guard, eyes wide as he looked behind him then back at her. 

“Are you talking to me?” 

“Who else?” she giggled, passing him the untouched cup she’s been holding. Reluctantly he took it, their fingers brushing and he could feel the heat rise to his cheeks. Had it not been for the raging lights perhaps she would have seen him in his flustered state, an event that would end in large scale embarrassment for him.

Isaac knew exactly who the woman that approached him was. She shared only one class with him and sat one seat to the right and two forward, close enough for him to hear her but too far to talk to. He’s watched, in a non-creepy way, how she asks for the more complicated material that’s available and has witnessed how she talks with such passion for science. Out of everyone in that seemingly large, boring lecture hall they shared, she was the only one that matched his love for the subject, maybe even understood it as well as he. 

And in turn the smallest of crushes formed. Rather childish he told himself, but he couldn’t deny wanting to get to know her more, to talk day in and out about anything and everything under the sun regarding their shared subject. 

“You know, I didn’t peg you as the kind to come to parties like these” she stated, leaning against the wall next to him while taking another sip of punch, and Isaac found himself doing the same despite not even remotely liking the stuff.

“My friend dragged me here...” 

“What a coincidence, so did mine”

“So why aren’t you with them?”

“They buggered off the first chance they could. Yet I’m still watching out for them, if I don’t it’ll turn out like last time!'' She laughed, remembering the time that Arthur was left on the curb by a group of women, a shell shocked look accompanied by a scarlet red handprint on his face. Then there was Theo who was so drunk he was on the verge of tears just by his older brother lightly scolding him for drinking so much, a sight she shall remember for the rest of her life.

“So why did you choose to come over to me, you could have done literally anything else yet you chose to see me?” he asked before thinking, briefly wishing to slam his head against the wall. Use your head, she was left alone, she wanted company! But he refrained from acting out the rash action, especially after her response.

“Well, if I’m being honest you looked a little lonely and I... wanted to talk to you...” it was the alcohol talking, she knew that, yet she kept going. Sliding a little closer to him she stares right into his cherry blossom coloured eyes, the lights reflecting off the coloured orbs beautifully. 

“But why? Why me, I’m not that special-” he began again, eyes cast down to his shoes.

“But you are!” she cut him off, “I’ve heard you talk in the halls and while your friends might not understand what you were saying I could. Hell, I’ve seen your notebook, and I think there are things you should bring to the table for people to see! Some of them are genuinely extraordinary!”   

“H-how did you see my notebook?!” he gasped.

“You left it open one day after class and I happened to be passing your seat when I saw it.”

“W-well, that still doesn't change the fact you’re just saying all that because you feel sorry for me!”

“No...” she shook her head, voice barely audible above the blaring music and she leaned in closer, close enough that Isaac could feel the heat radiating off her. 

For her that chill on her back made itself known once more, though it was always there to begin with and the air from passing strangers left a light breeze to pass over any exposed skin, a rush of heat happened through her entire body at the same time. What her drunken self was about to do was exhilarating, something that her sober self could only dream to do.

And as their heart beats picked up in speed, she ushered the words in a sweet, quiet voice, words that would set off a chain of events.

“I said all that because... I like you...smart, kind, cute” she smiled, all the moments these traits came through with him rushing through her mind.

Before Isaac could say anything a warmth emitted from his lips and it took a moment for him to realize that she was kissing him.

Not entirely sure where to put his hands, they hesitantly found a place to rest on her waist as he kissed her back, body pushed against the wall. Had the support not been there he may have fallen from an overload of emotion. 

“(Y/N) where are you- ohoho! Now what do we have here~” the teasing voice of Arthur had her pulling away quicker than either would have liked.

“You have the worst timing ever Arthur you know that?” she glared at him, annoyed that he ruined the moment, yet it was something he paid no mind to as a devilish smirk spread across his face.

“No, I believe I have great timing if I'm able to see this kind of show!” he jested.

“What do you want?” she asked and Arthur composed himself somewhat.

“Theo and I are leaving and he told me to come fetch you else he abandons you here” turning he added something about how she should follow along quickly or that threat will become a reality. Before she left though, there was one thing she had to do.

“Do you want to try this? Us I mean?” Isaac gulped at the question, never in a million years thinking he’d get here of all places. But the rate his heart was racing and the quiver of his body had reminded him that, yes, this is real.

“Sure, can we talk tomorrow then?”

“Tomorrow” she nodded, turning and walking away with such ease you’d never know that she had lots to drink that night, or that internally she was screaming at having just proposed a date to the boy she’s liked since the first week of school.

The tingle on each of their lips lasted the whole night, just thinking of the act they shared had a rush of hot and cold shooting through them. 

It seems that weird, unpredictable and mysterious things really do happen on the night of all Hallows Eve.

[this-idiots-left-eye]

In Plain Sight

Cover art by Stlyrica on instagram!! I’ll put a link to it in a reblog!!

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Summary: When Break hides Gilbert's favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it. But why is it so special to Gil?

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt "Ornaments" in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did in 2017--(it was going to be part of a group of Christmas fics we all wrote for different fandoms. Some of the people in that group hadn't read PH, so that's why this fic has some explanations for who the characters are). Then I posted it for Pandora Hearts Month 2018 for the Golden Trio Prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I would really appreciate it if you could reblog and/or leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

*

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?”

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, crossing her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy...”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[baldwin-montclair]

The Unlikely Advocate - Thunderstorm

Baldwin looks after his niece in France whilst his wife wrangles a troublesome witch in Oxford

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

———

“Darling, she’s asleep, has been for the last hour!” Baldwin took a sip of wine from the glass in his hand.

“Did you read her-“ Eileen started.

“Sleeping Beauty, I know it’s her favourite tale, even if it’s an entirely butchered version of the initial moral.”

“Maybe, but let’s not scar the seven year old with original version, just yet.”

“I defer to your wisdom,” he smiled a little, “how are things with the Oxford coven?”

“As expected, that bitch Alison is trying to get her little clique to oust me again.”

“Should I-“

“No,” the answer was abrupt, “I can handle some jumped up little cow with delusions of her own importance.”

A bright flash of light flooded the study of Baldwin’s Chateau, followed by a loud crack of thunder.

“What was that?” Eileen asked.

“Thunder clap, we’re due quite the storm.”

“Izzy hates thunder, I should come back.”

“She’s fine, she’s asleep and if she wakes up, I’ll take care of it. You can’t travel in this weather, it’s not safe.”

He heard her sigh on the other side of the phone.

“I just miss you both so much!”

“As do I you. Be safe and I will see you soon.”

After exchanging their farewells and hanging up, Baldwin returned to the pages in front of him.

Two empty wine glasses and several financial reports later, he put the pen down and leant back in his chair, turning to look at the heavy rain beating the windows. He closed his eyes, enjoying the soothing sound.

A definitive tug on the sleeve of his shirt drew his attention to the little girl in her pyjamas and holding a stuffed toy in her arms.

He had bought it for her from an old toy store when she lost her own comfort toy.

“Mr Nibbles is afraid of the thunder!” She told him, matter-of-fact.

“Is that so?” He asked in a mock serious tone, receiving a nod in response.

Eileen initially disapproved of the antique toy, frowning when he brought it home.

‘It’s creepy!’

He saw where she was coming from.

Older toys did have a tendency towards being less saccharine in expression than modern ones. Regardless, it didn’t matter, at three-years-old, Isobel studied the rabbit for a moment before picking it up and never putting it back down again.

“He told me he usually gets hot chocolate when he struggles to sleep!” She had a very well developed vocabulary for one so young.

Baldwin got up from his chair and effortlessly swept her into his arms.

“Who am I to argue with Mr Nibbles?”

Isobel giggled.

Isobel watched from her perch on the counter as he warmed the milk over the stove, chocolate and vanilla essence nearby, just one of the many pieces of culinary tips he’d learned between babysitting his niece and nephews, and, helping to raise Isobel.

“So, what is it about the thunder that scares Mr Nibbles?” He asked.

“It sounds angry,” she shrugged, “I don’t like when people are angry, or fight, fighting’s bad.”

“Sometimes,” he half agreed, “but other times it’s necessary.”

“Sarah says it’s the primitive male response to everything.”

Baldwin chuckled, the child had clearly heard the red haired witch say this thing often enough to repeat it.

“That’s possibly also true,” he nodded to the vanilla extract and Isobel dutifully handed it to him, pleased to be helping, “which is what makes it necessary.”

“Why?”

“Well, sometimes bad people threaten those we care about and we need to protect them. I actually faintly remember being called to your pre-school when some boy tried to take Mr Nibbles from you. Remind me?”

“Tommy’s was being mean. He called Mr Nibbles ugly and tried to take him to throw him in the trash!”

“And what did you do?”

Isobel thought for a second and then raised her little fist in the air.

“Bang!” She giggled.

“Exactly, bang!”

Baldwin had heard the boy’s father ranting before he even arrived at the principal’s office. As soon as he entered, however, the look of abject terror on the face of the hedge fund manager upon recognising him signalled a swift and favourable resolution.

Still, the man and his son were fortunate in not having faced Eileen, given her species’ extreme impatience with abusive males of any age.

“We’re fine now, he always keeps the bucket I like for me at golden time.”

“I feel like I have to at least try to advocate that violence isn’t always the answer but, it’s hard to argue in this case.”

“It wasn’t because of the punch,” she smiled, “he said it was because his father told him to be nice to me or they’ll have to leave their house!”

“Why?”

“Because all of their money is in this one big bag and he said that you decide how much that bag is worth.”

“Such an exaggeration,” Baldwin rolled his eyes, “but if it makes him play nice then fine.”

“Yeah, he shoved Brian the other day when he was being mean.”

“To you?”

Eileen nodded.

“What did he do?”

“Nothing, he was just saying things to try to annoy me.”

“Such as?” He asked, pouring the hot chocolate into a mug and sliding it across to the child.

“Well, we’re having a faire at school for parents and he said I can’t come because I don’t have a Mum and Dad.”

“You know that’s nonsense? Your aunt and I are your parents.”

She nodded.

“I know, he’s just-“

“An asshole!”

Isobel stared at him in shock for a few seconds before collapsing into giggles.

The storm passed, Baldwin looked over at the child fast asleep on the sofa in his study, a comfy blanket draped over her.

He picked her up and carried her to her room, settling her into the bed and left the room door ajar, just so she could follow the light if she was scared and wanted to come find him.

In the meantime, he had a vital project to undertake and dialled the number of the only person who might be able to help him.

“What have I done now?” Diana’s tone was airy and playful despite her exasperated words.

“Nothing, I uh-that is I wanted to speak with you regarding-sorry, it’s late it can wait until tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Stop,” he heard her command as he moved to hang up and thought better of it lest she materialise in his office right then, “you’re freaking me out, tell me what’s wrong!”

“Nothing’s wrong, I just need a sounding board before I speak to Eileen about a matter regarding Isobel.”

“Is she alright?”

“Yes, she perfectly fine.”

“Then what can I help with?”

“Well, you went back in and met my father, he made you his blood sworn daughter without turning you.”

“You’re still doubting that?”

“No, not at all, in fact,” he hesitated, “I want to speak with Eileen about my adopting Isobel, properly, legally and in the eyes of our community. I just don’t know the procedure, he never told me how.”

“I’m sure I can help when the time comes.”

“If, I still need to speak with Eileen first, and if she consents then I will put it to Izzy. Should probably speak to Miyako as well.”

“Why? In case she takes the news about as well as you did?” Diana needles him affectionately.

“Something like that.” He answers with a weary sigh.

“Are we talking about the same Miyako who basically kidnaps Izzy and spoils her with ice cream and gifts when she visits, that one?”

“They do get along well,” he agreed thoughtfully, “so you don’t think it’s a horrible idea?”

“I think it would be a horrible idea not to!”

“Thank you, sister, having your support in this matter is welcome.”

“Don’t mention it, and Baldwin?”

“Yes?”

“You are already her father in all the ways that matter and you’re a good one, she’s lucky to have you.”

“Not as lucky as I am to have her, and, I suppose,” he started grudgingly, “to have you for a sister.”

“Aww, that’s so cute,” she teased, “you’re gonna get such a big hug from me next time I see you!”

“You shouldn’t threaten the head of your family, it’s disrespectful!” He retorted with a smile.

“Goodnight Baldwin.” She chuckled before hanging up.

[ieatmypizzawithaforkandknife]

MAG 019 - Confession (part 1)

Summary: Jonathan reads the first half of the statement of Father Edwin Burroughs, regarding “his claimed demonic possession.”

Our first two-parter! Not that I realized that when I listened to the episode the first time, despite it being right there in the title, because I have the observational skills of a blind muskrat...but I’m excited because I know there will be more multi-parters in the future. I like the episodic format right now, but I know that as Things Begin To Happen, I’ll appreciate the increased breadth and depth of longer stories.

89 Bullingdon Rd is the third street address featured in the series so far, the other two being 93 Lancaster Rd in episode 5 and 105 Hill Top Rd in episode 8. Unlike the first two, however, this one actually exists - kind of. According to google maps, the house numbers on Lancaster Rd in Walthamstow run from about 1 to 85, and the numbers on Hill Top Rd in Cowley run from about 1 to 75. But 89 is right in the middle of the range of house numbers on Bullingdon Rd in Cowley, and while google maps says there’s an 89A but not an 89...it’s close enough. On one hand it’s super cool that these locations are relatively real (the towns are real, the streets are real, it’s just the exact buildings that aren’t). On the other hand 89A is a little too close to 89, and I wish Jonny had picked a number completely outside the range of addresses like he did with the first two, just to avoid crazy fans descending on real people’s houses.

It is definitely worth noting the proximity of 89 Bullingdon Rd to 105 Hill Top Rd. They’re only about half a mile (or about a kilometer, since this is in the UK after all) away from each other as the crow flies. And for both of them, the location itself seems to be tied to the paranormal happenings of the episode(s) they’re featured in. In episode 8, Ivo Lensik feels that unnatural burning start when he’s alone inside 105 Hill Top Rd, which stops as soon as Father Burroughs arrives. In this episode, Father Burroughs feels that same unnatural burning start when he’s alone inside 105 Hill Top Rd, and it only stops when Ivo uproots the tree. And in this episode, Bethany claims her problems are being caused by the Bullingdon Rd house itself, though she doesn’t explain what made her think that. But it’s very concerning that she can’t seem to see the only creepy thing about the house that we’re aware of: the old Latin word written in faded blue paint on the exposed wall.

The word “mentis” is Latin alright, but Father Burroughs translates it as “mind” which...isn’t quite right. “Mentis” doesn’t strictly mean “mind”, it means “of the mind”. The endings of Latin nouns change based on how they’re used in a sentence, so if you’re talking about the word “mind” as the subject of a sentence (or as the word in general) it is “mens”. “Mentis” is specifically the possessive form of the word. I don’t know whether this was deliberate or accidental on Jonny’s part, since if you look it up the dictionary entry shows “mens, mentis”. (It’s standard practice to include both the “subject” form and the “possessive” form in the dictionary since they’re different.) It makes me wonder if this word was part of a phrase and if there were other words hidden under the wallpaper. (Also, small shout-out to anyone reading this who is also a Latin geek, and I hope I explained it well enough that the non-Latin-geeks also understand that explanation.)

On the subject of language, this isn’t the first time Latin has appeared in connection with the paranormal. Ex Altiora, the Leitner found in episode 4, was written entirely in Latin (including the title), and the Lord’s Prayer was written in Latin on that long strip of singed paper found in the second trash bag in episode 5. It’s interesting that the same constellation of details from the trash bag incident are also in this episode: Latin, Christianity, and burning.

Latin isn’t even the only dead language to make an appearance this episode. When describing his experiences performing exorcisms at the beginning of the episode, Father Burroughs recounts: “I was once cursed at in Sumerian by a young man who was illiterate.” In episode 12, the phrase muttered by the hospitalized man that seemed to summon the “lightless flame” contained the word “Asag”, which is the name of a Sumerian demon that could boil fish alive in their rivers. Father Burroughs doesn’t appear in episode 12, but if he had been at that hospital, I think he would have pegged that guy as possessed and wanted to have an exorcism performed. So is there a connection between Sumerian and possession and burning? And how do all the different dead languages that have appeared so far (Latin, Sumerian, and Sanskrit) fit together?

I am also very interested in that nurse, Anna/Annie/Anne Kasuma/Willett. (Seriously, how many names does one person need?) For my purposes, I’m going to call her “Annie” because she seems to go by that. In this episode’s statement (made in 2011), Father Burroughs gives her surname as Willett, and in Jonathan’s wrap-up at the end of episode 8 (which he recorded in late 2015 or early 2016), Jonathan gives her surname as Kasuma. As an older, fairly conservative Catholic (she was a member of the congregation at Father Burroughs’ church, fully believed in demonic possession, etc.), it is highly unlikely that she changed her name for any reason other than marriage or divorce. Ivo Lensik described her as “Malaysian”, and Kasuma is an Indonesian name, whereas Willett is found overwhelmingly in predominantly white countries (the U.S., England, Australia, and Canada are at the top of the list of countries where the name is found). So it would make the most sense to me if Kasuma were her maiden name and Willett a married name. BUT when Jonathan mentions her in the wrap-up to episode 8, he calls her “Mrs. Kasuma”. Since everything else fits with the idea that Kasuma is her maiden name and Willett her married name, I’m thinking Jonathan just messed up the honorific, since he also referred to “Miss Popham” at the end of episode 15 when “Popham” was very clearly Laura’s married name. (This overly detailed surname analysis brought to you in part by my ongoing obsession with genealogy. If anyone reading this has anything resembling a passing interest in the subject, feel free to hit me up about it. I will gush.) All of that nitty-gritty was not without purpose: I think she’s important somehow. I could be reading too much into things, but why would Jonny give her a name change if it weren’t somehow important? Even I realized the nurse from episode 8 and the nurse from episode 19 were the same person on my first listen-through, when I missed or forgot 90% of the details in any given episode, so I don’t think he was trying to trip us up. And she has a direct connection to 105 Hill Top Rd: she grew up on that street, and had a lot of information on the property’s history dating back to before she was born, possibly indicating her family lived on that street even longer. But we haven’t met anyone else with either surname, so for now that’s where it stands: possibly a lead, muddled with a probable mistake.

I was so glad when Father Burroughs made the differentiation in this episode between perception and will: “Bethany told me that her will was still her own, but she could no longer trust her senses, and had found herself doing much that she did not understand.” She tried to eat a small slab of slate, and she apparently couldn’t perceive the word “Mentis” that was literally written on a wall. This might be the first time that the author of the statement calls attention to the recurring theme I’ve been calling “altered reality”. This “altered reality” is a heavy presence in the second part of this two-parter, but I’ll wait to talk about that in that episode’s post. Coupled with this “altered reality” is the “eating of something you really shouldn’t be eating”. In this episode, it’s Bethany trying to eat a slab of slate before being abruptly pulled back to reality by Father Burroughs, only then realizing what it was. Hinted at in this episode, and shown in more detail in the next one (minor spoiler, I guess?), is Father Burroughs eating human flesh and only realizing what it was when the police arrived. The only other time I remember these two themes working in tandem is in episode 3 when Graham Folger ate a notebook. No one stopped him or made him realize what he was doing, so we don’t know for sure that his reality was altered, but it makes the most sense to me that he, like Bethany and Father Burroughs, truly didn’t realize what he was doing. I’m not convinced that the events of this episode (and the next one) are actually related to the notebook incident in episode 3, but it’s an interesting parallel.

On a completely unrelated note, I’d like to talk a bit about Father Burroughs’ “possession” itself. First off, I get that Bethany saying “I’m so sorry...it wants your faith” was supposed to be an ominous line, but why is that the only thing she said throughout the entire attempted exorcism at the hospital? She couldn’t even say, “Hey, man, this isn’t working”? All she could do was look at him with pity and say that? I’d be OK with those being her only words if whatever was “possessing” her also affected her speech the way it did to Father Burroughs later...but she specifically established that she was free to speak and act as she wished, it was only at certain times that her perception of reality was altered. So I’m a little annoyed at her for not giving Father Burroughs (or us) any kind of useful warning or helpful information during the failed exorcism.

I was really confused by the apparent theft of the sacramental wine, too. What was the significance of that? Was it just an example of something weird Father Burroughs noticed that keyed him in to the fact that All Was Not Well, or was there something more to it? (This is only a semi-rhetorical question - if the answer to this was said outright or implied in this episode and it isn’t a post-S1 spoiler, please do fill me in. I sometimes miss stuff that’s super obvious to other people.)

I also find it interesting that he can say “God” towards the end of this episode. He stumbled over it, but by contrast he was completely unable to say “Lord” and “Jesus” at the very beginning. Not sure if this is significant, since there’s no real difference between the words “Lord” and “God” in my estimation. Jesus is specifically Christian, and while “Lord” tends to be associated with Christianity, it’s not exclusive. “God” is the most general of the three terms, yes, but in context he is very obviously referring to the Christian “God”, so his difficulty with getting certain words out isn’t based solely on their contextual meaning. Jonny could have written it without him getting out the word “God” at the end and I think most people listening would have understood that’s the word he was going for. It’s either some kind of clue, or Jonny just got sick of stuttering.

Father Burroughs’ call for protection is the point at which he knows something is Very, Very Wrong, as he feels his lips move even though he himself isn’t moving them. But, as with so many of these stories, Things Were Bad Long Before You Realized It. Bethany told him “it wants your faith” years before the Hill Top Rd incident. He himself admits that his pride led to his downfall, since he initiated an exorcism/blessing on Hill Top Rd when he wasn’t supposed to be doing them at all. But it wasn’t just his pride - it was something taking advantage of his pride. I think that, as much as any person can be, Father Burroughs was a victim of whatever possessed him. He made mistakes in his life - his sins, if you’re looking at it religiously, as he did - but he never wanted to be evil or commit crimes like cannibalism. Like the characters in so many of these stories, I don’t think he deserved what he got, and I mostly just feel bad for him.

His call for protection, he says, was answered by something that was not God, and when Jonathan reads the words that Father Burroughs’ lips were forming (“I am not for you. I am marked.”) we once again hear that creepy static or interference. And I still can’t decide if this is supposed to be some kind of clue or if it’s just to make things creepier. It feels like a clue, but I can’t figure out what exactly it’s supposed to mean. Most of the times I’ve noted it appearing (probably not a complete list - I’m working on it) it appears during a specific quoted phrase or instance of someone speaking: “Can I have a cigarette?” in episode 1. “Isn’t it funny, Amy, how you can live so near and never notice. I’ll need to return the visit someday” from not-Graham in episode 3. “Some hungers are too strong to be denied” from Angela in episode 14. Laura’s sister Elena asking her “how lost I was, in a low, grating voice” in episode 15. If the examples were limited to things like this, then I’d say that it occurs whenever some as-yet-undetermined otherworldly monster is given a human voice to speak through. But it also occurs the first time Ex Altiora is said in episode 4 and the first time The Boneturner’s Tale is said in episode 17, as well as two different moments during the recounting of the story inside TBT. So how is it connected to the Leitners? It didn’t occur when Jonathan read the title Key of Solomon in episode 4, which is implied to be a Leitner. And there’ve been a few other occurrences where something obviously supernatural is happening but that doesn’t involve speech or quoted words at all: When Laura describes the light changing from appearing like an approaching candle to sunlight (which it still wasn’t...) in episode 15, and when Jonathan reads the description of the bleeding books in episode 17 (”red dripped and pulsed from the cart”).

I don’t know what to make of the creepy static yet. But my specific concern with the most recent instance, when Father Burroughs “said” “I am not for you. I am marked” is: Who are the “I” and the “you” referring to? Is the “I” supposed to be Father Burroughs, or the thing “possessing” him? And who on earth is the “you”?

This post is part of a series where I write my thoughts about each episode and obsessively connect dots in an effort to figure out The Big Mysteries of the series. All posts in this series are tagged “is this liveblogging?” Comments and messages are welcome but I have only listened to season 1, so I ask that you not spoil me for anything beyond episode 40. In the words of Jonny Sims…thanks for listening!