#like yeah i could probably get a fucking phone app. but that sounds so fucking stupid. why would i do that.

[rubberbandballqueen]

sending out like four-ish letters/packages to different people Soon(tm) and i'm suddenly starting to Understand(tm) why address books used to be a thing.

[rottenblur]

Post workout pump|A.ANDERSON

Abby x fem reader 2.3k

Summary: Your gym rat Tinder date isn’t one to not kiss on the first date, a coffee date is much more interesting with her.

WARNINGS: public shit, public fingering??? Dirty talk, Abby being bold as hell, head!! Fingering, quick mention of that liquor. Fucking on the first date.

Abby’s Tinder profile was simple, a couple of gym rat pictures, and a couple cute candid ones someone had taken of her with a background of beautiful scenery. The one that made you swipe on her was a picture of her smiling in the forest, normally you wouldn’t go for “outdoorsy” people, you wanted someone you could comfortably rot away with.

It was her fucking smile. The way that her hair practically glowed in the sunlight peaking through the trees, how her freckles complimented every feature on her face. It wasn’t just her looks though, you weren’t that shallow. Her bio was simple, simple in a way it didn’t seem like she was faking it for people to like her.

“Will fight for you.” And you believed it with every inch of your body, she looked like fought off bears for a living. She could break you in half, part of you wanted her to.

Your conversation on the app was short, you gave her your number pretty fast, I mean she asked for it.

You got a text from a random number quickly after you gave it to her.

(7xx) 8xx-6xxx: Hey beautiful.

You replied quickly.

You: Hey.. this abby?

The typing bubbles popped up immediately, she responded fast and used punctuation, which was rare. In your experience, and probably rare to everyone on dating apps. To be honest, this was your first time on a dating app, you had too much on your plate to even think about dating since high school.

Abby: [IMAGE ATTACHED]

Abby: Sure is.

The picture was a live photo in a gym mirror, she had dumbbells resting by her feet, her body covered in a tank top and loose basketball shorts. Her muscles were huge, you didn’t think someone could be that strong, the sweat making them shiny didn’t help how hard you were staring right now.

You: oh my god…

That’s all you can get out, you have no thoughts.

You: i’m blushing

You throw your phone, you’ve only been talking to her for maybe an hour and yet she already has you wrapped around her finger.

The text bubbles pop up, she’s typing.

Abby: Aw, such a sweet girl, already blushing for me.

If you weren’t blushing before, you were now. You couldn’t stand another minute not being with her.

You: are you busy today? I need to see you

Text bubbles pop up, then disappear, come back then disappear again. Read, for ten minutes. Were you moving too fast? You put your phone down, tidying up your room to distract yourself from the stress. You get into the shower, your phone on the sink counter for music. You wash your hair when your phone starts ringing, fuck.

You grab the towel hanging up, drying off your hands and step out of the shower to pick up your phone, it’s her. You press the green accept button and put the phone up to your ear, pushing your wet hair out of the way.

“Hey.” She says. Her voice, oh my fuck, her voice. It was gentle but so heavy with intent, she sounded like she only spoke if she meant it.

“Hi.” You respond back, wrapping the towel around your body and stepping out of the bathroom to make sure she heard you well.

“God, you sound adorable. I’m not busy, just at the gym right now but I’m free in thirty minutes if you wanna go for coffee.” She says, you can hear the dumb bells banging in the back now.

Your mouth falls open, she really wants to see you? A date? Today? You forget to speak.

“Yeah, yeah please. Where to?” You respond back.

You hear her laugh slightly, then take a breath. “I’ll text you the address beautiful, you’ll like it I know you will.” God people making decisions for you was suddenly so hot.

You agree and giggle, uncontrollably. “Bye bye.”

“See ya.” She says then hangs up. Fuck you were nervous.

You get a text from her, the address was a small locally owned coffee shop just down the street from you, maybe she lived close. Surprisingly you had never been there before, maybe you could have met her sooner if you stepped out of your comfort zone more often, you would have met her sooner.

Twenty minutes had passed, you got back into the shower, finishing it and getting ready. Drying your hair and throwing on a cute fitting outfit, something easy, or just easy access, hey you weren’t against doing stuff on the first date, especially not with her.

You walk to the coffee shop, texting her when you arrive at the front doors, her assuring you she was already there. She was early, you liked that.

You walk inside and that's when you see her. She was in the back, in a booth manspreading under dimly lit lights. You walk over towards her, her hands set on the table, fiddling with a stir stick. She looks up and sees you, her blue eyes light up. She stands up, she towers over you. You look up at her, her freckles are even cuter in person.

“Hey beautiful, you look you know..beautiful.” She says looking you up and down. You smile at her muttering a greeting back. You were almost shaking, she was perfect, everything you could have ever wanted.

“You want a drink? I’ll order, just finished mine.” She says, placing a hand on your upper arm, it engulfed your arm in full. You nod and tell her your order. She smiles at you and walks off to order, you sit down scooting to the inside. A one-sided booth, leaving no choice but to sit right next to her, her boldness was attractive.

She comes back, placing your drink on the table in front of you, scooting herself right next to you placing hers next to yours. You pick up your drink taking a sip, as she lays her arm on the booth behind your back spreading her legs, getting comfortable. “Was that picture from today?” You refer to the picture she sent you earlier. She nods turning her head to look at you.

Her strawberry blond hair slightly damp presumably from a shower, her blue t-shirt clung to her arms, her jeans tight to her legs. God.

“You like what you see?” She says tilting her head at you, looking you up and down in return. You nod shyly looking away as you fiddle with the end of your skirt. She catches that, flicking your hands away, replacing them with hers. “You wear this for me? I like it, looks really good on you sweetheart.”

God the pet name, her hands on you, on your clothes. Her compliments, she has you melting. “I wore it for you Abby.” You say looking at her, she looks up from your legs to your eyes. She smiles, rubbing your cheeks, keeping one hand on your thigh. “God you’re adorable, I got you blushing already.” She takes her hand off your cheek and takes a sip of her drink.

“What made you want to talk to me?” She says as she rubs her thumb on your engulfed thigh. You’re fighting to not squeeze your thighs together. You look at her lips, and her eyes then respond. “You’re pretty, I mean you’re hot, you’re intimidating it’s attractive.” You say. She nods, humming a response to you.

“Well, I thought about how fucking cute you’d look with my head between your thighs.” She said it so innocently, her hand moving up under your skirt, you couldn’t handle it your trap her hand by squeezing your thighs together.

She clicks her tongue at you tapping your thigh with her free thumb for you to open your legs. You submit to her order, opening your legs for her. Her finger grazes your clothed clit, your panties wet from her teasing. You look at her and finally respond. “I’d like that, alot.” Your cheeks were burning up, your whole body was burning up with need.

She leans in closer to you, whispering into your ear. “You’re so perfect, so fucking ready for me, so beautiful.” A whine falls out of your mouth, uncontrollably. Her fingers continue dancing from your clit to your slit, teasing you no, torturing you.

You place one elbow on the table, the other gripping Abby’s thigh, you were dripping onto your skirt it was unbearable. You finally mutter out exactly what you need to say.

“I need you Abby, I need you.” You say. She pulls her hand away, awwing in response, turning your head towards hers with a grip on your chin. She smiles and shakes her head. “Ask nicely beautiful.” You lick your lips and nod. “I need you please, please Abby.

She lets go of your face, standing up and holding out a hand for you, you take it letting her pull you up out of the booth. Your legs were weak, even trembling, she noticed this and smirked at you.

She drove the two of you to her apartment, so fucking close to yours, her hand on your thigh the whole way there, her glances never made you blush any less each time. She parks her car and guides you up to her apartment with your hand clutched all the way there.

She unlocks her door, leading you in first, she walks in behind you, and kicks off her shoes. She grabs you, pushing you against the door connecting your lips with hers, locking the door with one hand, the other wrapped around your waist.

She pulls away, looking at you with those lustful blue eyes, they looked much brighter when you first met her but now there's nothing darker. She locks lips with you picking you up and carrying you towards her bedroom, her hands full of ass.

She’s mirroring your whimpers into the kiss with grunts, your arms wrapped around her neck. As she enters the bedroom with your legs wrapped around her, you fiddle with her braid, undoing it and running your fingers through the loose strands.

She throws you down onto the bed, the plush duvet sinking behind your back. Your quick breaths are loud in the quiet room, Abby stares are you eating you up with her eyes. “What do you want beautiful?” she says to you, stripping her jeans off revealing her grey boxer briefs, a wet spot that catches your eye. Apparently, you're not the only one worked up.

When you don't respond she hums a “hmm?” to you pulling you from your thoughts. “I want you, I want to feel you everywhere Abby.” A quiet grunt comes from the back of her throat. She leans to you, putting her knees on the bed and caging you in with her arms. She kisses you, her tongue tangled with yours. She pulls away to strip her shirt from her body, tossing it aside.

You admire her body, stripped from her tight t-shirt her muscles look even bigger. She places your hands on her shoulders pulling your shirt off. She leans down to unhook your bra and kisses you.

She scans your body, her eyes make you want her even more. She kisses your lips, pushing her knee in between your thighs applying the perfect amount of friction as she moves to make out with you.

She kisses down your bare chest sucking purple spots all the way down your stomach, your neck to your hips littered in hickeys. “So fucking good for me.” She mutters out as she flips the hem of your skirt up onto your stomach. She kisses the inside of your thighs, whines and whimpers falling out of your mouth with need.

She leaves marks leading up to your panties, now even wetter with want. She pushes them to the side, taking a quick lick and sucking on your clit then looking up at you. Her eyes, her face from the angle could make you cum right there and then.

“You taste so fucking good beautiful.” You were melting. She attaches her mouth back to your clit spiralling circles with her tongue, holding your hips down with one hand.

She rubs your hip as you fight to ride her face, take control. She sucks your clit and pushes two fingers inside, filling you so well. Her fingers found places inside you, you never knew existed.

Her tongue quickens it's pace as so does her fingers pumping in and out of you. Moans fall from the back of your throat, you can hear Abby’s grunts vibrating against your clit.

She disconnects her mouth, pumping and curling her fingers to the perfect spot at a brutal pace, she looks up at you, arched back gripping the blanket. “Such a good fucking girl.” Her praises push you over the edge. She connects her lips back pulling you quickly to your climax. You look down to her, as your thoughts dissapear.

You pulse all over her fingers, and she pulls them out, kissing your thigh. She looks back at you, as she sucks you off her fingers. “So good sweetheart, so goddamn good.” She crawls her back up to your lips kissing you gently.

She whispers into your ear. “You make such pretty noises for a slut.” That shocked you, after all those praises, she degraded you. It had you ready for round two all in eight words.

She lays next to you, looking you up and down. “Want a drink?” She asks.

You nod, she gets up tossing you her t-shirt and a fresh pair of underwear from her drawer, a pair of black boxers. They were loose resting on your hips as the shirt went to mid thighs.

She walks out of the room, and you follow her sitting on the couch as she pulls a bottle of dark liquor from her bar cart. You lay down, she sits down placing your legs on top of hers passing you the drink. She tucks her hair behind her ear and looks at you, placing her hand on your thigh.

“Wanna stay the night?”

A/N: AHHHH I wrote this really fast if there are any spelling mistakes/ grammar mistakes LOOK AWAY. I love Abby thank you.

[joonipertree]

tags: fluff, just fluff, kenma being a #streamer. i love streamer kenma it scratches that itch in me that craves a parasocial kind of love.

"Kenmaaaa" you drawled while opening the door, leaning heavily against the doorframe of your boyfriend's office room.

It took you five seconds to register where Kenma was sitting, which was in front of the computer unsurprisingly, and the camera that had a red light on. The second monitor to his left was showcasing Kenma on the screen while the third one had an onslaught of comments popping up.

oh shi--

You jumped back, mostly out of surprise.

"Yes, honey?" Kenma spoke, one side of his headphones off as he turned towards you. "The camera won't pick up on you, don't worry."

You crept back in, feeling nervous even though the camera wasn't even on you.

"Sorry, I didn't realise you were streaming."

"Nothing to apologise for. What's up? Need me for something?" He urged you forward and you padded your way inside, the only comfort being in proximity to your boyfriend.

"I-uh- didn't feel like cooking so I thought we could order something?" You were halfway through your sentence when Kenma picked up his phone. He was nodding along, opening an app in it.

"What are you feeling?" He murmured, completely ignoring the eruption of comments blasting on his screen. There was a lot of yelling. You tried not to look at it but it drew you in, most of it was gibberish and question marks. You could make out the words 'WHAT' and 'DATING???' a lot.

"I'm not sure? Feeling indecisive today." You probably had an idea but it had vanished a couple of minutes back.

"Want burgers? Pizza?" Kenma didn't even seem to care at that point, solely focused on his phone. He did take a hold of your hand though, running his thumb through your knuckles.

THAT caught on camera and the gibberish got louder and faster.

"Burgers sound good." You snapped back to him, letting his hand ground you.

"That burger place you like?"

"Yes please."

"Honey mustard one?"

"Yes."

"Mh-hmmm." Kenma dragged out the sound before placing in his own order.

"Wanna get ice cream? Been craving it." He worked quick to add it in, knowing what you wanted but still asking in case you changed your mind.

"I can pay for the---"

"Shut the fuck up." Kenma murmured with only an upward glance at you, a small smile on his face when you pouted.

You finally took a look at the main monitor, a pretty sunset with the main character looking off into the distance on the screen. "What game you playin?"

"It's a fantasy game. Pretty new, haven't even started yet. You'd like it, it's very pretty." Kenma turned the monitor a bit so you could see it, pressing play so some more of the graphics would come on screen. You let out a little gasp, taking it all in.

When you realised that there were a lot of people waiting, you blinked out of your revery and threw an apologetic look at Kenma.

"Sorry, you were busy and--"

"Never too busy for you." Kenma murmured again and scooted towards you till he was just out of frame, his lips puckering up while he craned his neck upwards, too lazy to stand up.

You laughed and gave him a peck on the lips, then the nose and then the forehead. He grinned widely, adjusting back into the same position he was in before.

"I'll talk to you later, okay?" You call out and walk back.

"Okay, baby."

You were about to close the door when you head a very disgruntled, 'shut the fuck up.' from Kenma. Curious about what he would say, you listened in from the hallway.

"Yeah I am dating someone. No, I'm not saying their name....we've been dating for a while now. I am not soft for them....okay chat keep the screenshots between us....what do you mean they're already on twitter??? Ya'll are annoying. No, Kuroo I'm not buying you food. Yeah, they are special, dumbass."

You grinned so wide your cheeks hurt, already scrolling through twitter to see if people actually posted anything...

.....Kenma's name was trending

And oh the thread of pictures after pictures, of his eyes turning into liquid, his smile, the hand holding yours that. It was enough in the frame for his thumb to be seen. The person that posted it was SCREAMING about how soft he is.

Then there was a screenshot of him tilting his head upwards and your hair was the only thing that showed up as you kissed him. There was a fire hazard in the comments. It made you chortle. You saved all of them to use as leverage. Seeing as Kuroo was retweeting some of them, he had them too.

A/N: second day in a row im posting kenma hehehehehehhehehehhe hyperfixation tyme

[bbyseok]

bakugou katsuki is not a lovesick fool.

he’s better than that, he swears. he swears with his entire being. he’s not one of those down bad people who gets butterflies from the simplest of things.

but as he walks out of the shower, feeling refreshed and clean from his daily workout in the school’s gym, his phone dings with a notification on his nightstand.

normally, he mutes the damn thing with how often the group of extras (aka, his friends) blow up their shared group chat they forced him to join, but things have been different lately.

katsuki is clad in one of his famous black tank tops, paired with a loose pair of shorts of the same color. his towel rests around his neck as he grabs the device, fingers automatically tapping on the notification and taking him to the messages app.

when he sees who the text is from, he can’t even resist the grin thats tugs on the corners of his lips.

it’s from you. it’s blunt, no more than three letters, but it’s enough to have him fucking smiling.

you: wyd

his fingers tap away in order to reply, using one hand and the other to use an end of the towel draped over his shoulder to keep drying his damp hair.

bakugou: what do you want

okay—yeah. he’s curt and not answering your question. but it’s too late now; he already sent it.

the three pending dots that appear almost immediately that indicate you’re typing has him blinking at the small screen in faint surprise. you’re fast.

you: i couldnt find you in the commons area or the gym :(

oh, with the frowny face he could just picture the pout you were probably wearing on your lips right now. he responds.

bakugou: so you were trying to fucking stalk me?

you: no!! ofc not

bakugou: sounds like something a stalker would say

you: >:(

he snickers out loud at your banter and finishes drying his hair, flinging the towel towards the hamper in the corner of the room.

bakugou: to answer your question, i was in the gym actually. you probably just missed me leaving

you: aw man :(

katsuki can’t help but roll his eyes at your antics.

bakugou: you act like you didn’t see me in class today dummy

you: is it a crime that i want to see you outside of class?

when you say—or in this case, text—things like that, he isn’t too sure how to respond. it has him scowling, all flustered for no reason.

bakugou: yeah yeah

he’s sure his sarcastic tone can be heard even through his text. you simply send a smiley emoji in reply.

katsuki hesitates, his fingers hovering over the screen. and then he types.

bakugou: you can join me in gym tomorrow after class then if you wanna see me so bad

his breath stills when he sees those dots again.

you: ok!! it’s a date then yeah?

what? a what? his head is spinning just from reading your text. is he reading this right? you’re actually making a move on him? and then you’re already sending your next message, giving him no time to gather his thoughts and reply back.

you: good night katsuki!! 😘

oh.

he finds himself sliding down onto the floor right next to his bed, cheek resting on the side of the mattress. his knees curl to his chest as he stares at his phone, blushing like a madman.

“fuck.”

okay. maybe bakugou katsuki is a lovesick fool.

[kithtaehyung]

would u? (3tan717) | myg

3tan717 drabble #1: would u? pairing: 3tan!yoongi x reader(f) series: masterlist | three tangerines | 3tan717 rating/genre: pg (18+) ; fluff ; brother’s best friend au, implied age gap au summary: you see a certain fruit-centered trend online.. and decide to test it on yoongi note: i am so so so sorry this is out on the very last day of feb but things have been absolute bananas lately! tbh i’m surprised this is even getting posted on time and i have even more to do after this is shared but eff it shibal!!! note 2: as promised, this is dedicated to the people that submitted the answers i’m using for this drabble: anon, grapes / @yoongrace, and apryl @aprylynn for this idea hehehe! also i literally just finished this so it's legit unedited so i'm sry for any mistakes! off to go prep for events now! warnings: 3tan yoongi as always, working yoongi??, kitchen, period cramps suck but yoongi to the mf rescue drop date: feb 29th, 2024, 10:03pm est word count: 2.3k

-

-

Ugh. 

Why does this have to happen every fucking month. Why can’t it happen every three? Or six? Or never ever ever? 

Groaning, you roll over, burying your face into the pillow on Yoongi’s side. 

To some degree, you feel placated, probably due to his scent still lingering next to your dismay. He had to get up early to finish a track, but he assured you can be in the room. 

You can hear a little bit of what he’s working on as it bleeds through his headphones, and even just this sliver of sound gives you chills. Not just because of what it sounds like, but the sole fact that Yoongi’s letting you even listen in the first place. 

Huffing out a bit of amusement, you remember the last time Yoongi let you stay while he worked—albeit at his place while he went to the studio. 

Damn, how much you’ve grown since then. All those memories, those quiet times and tumultuous times, everything leading up to now. How time has molded you with knowing hands. 

However, no matter how much has changed all these months, some things have not wavered, like the fact that you needed to be sure he was okay with it—and his answer making you absurdly shy. 

Did he really have to say that you’re either staying or he’s gonna leave? That scheming motherfucker! 

Some drum beats hit your cheek before you realize the menace himself is playing multiple different ones. It’s only a couple hits before he moves onto the next, and you’re about to lift your hea—

“Fuck, where the hell is that kick?” 

Your laugh is stifled by cotton. As tickled as you are to hear Yoongi like this, you don’t wanna do anything to distract him. 

But by doing so, that causes your body to tighten and fuck, it hurts. It hurts to move, it hurts to laugh, it hurts to just exist. God, you want him to come back and join you so bad, but you don’t wanna be that person. 

…Yet. Maybe if it gets so bad you can’t even sleep? 

“Found you! Fucking finally. Thought you could hide from me, huh?” 

Oh, fucking hell, he’s adorable. 

Yeah, there’s no way you’re making him drop everything right now. This is too precious of an afternoon to stop. 

Exhaling a mile long breath, you fight through your pain and feel for your phone, groaning as you shift yourself. When in position under sheets and warm sunlight, you cycle through apps as a distraction. 

Scrolling. Scrolling. Smiling at some animal videos a bit before scrolling again. 

After all of five minutes, you start to see a trend on your feed, and suddenly get the idea to try it on Yoongi. It’s simple and harmless, right? 

You [3:30pm]: would u peel an orange for me 

Yoongi doesn’t say anything, and you lift your head slightly to see if he looks at his phone. 

When he does, he checks it really quick before setting it back down on his desk, back to clicking on his screen. 

Ah. Damn. He must really be in the zone because… 

Uhh. 

Blinking, you watch as Yoongi rolls his chair out to get up, setting his glasses down and heading out of the room with a light swing of his chains. 

Uh. What just happened? Did you upset him? You’re so stunned that his swift exit has you wanting to get up and follow him.  

But ow. Ouch. It’s maddening how much your cramps are getting to you. 

Bearing the punches to your gut, you start sliding out of the bed, straining and sucking in sharp breaths just to stand and pull Yoongi’s comforter over your tension. 

Padding out the bedroom, your worries make your steps tiny and heavy, and you regret sending that text because you literally just said you weren’t… gonna…

On the dining table—quiet—lie three tangerines, peeled and placed next to vibrant scraps while your lover peels a fourth with diligent, devoted hands. 

And you can’t even form words that match how you feel. 

Your vision swims right as Yoongi looks your way, his body stilling before he puts the fruit down. 

When he approaches with concern, you answer his silent questions through hiccups, “I—I thought you left cus—you were mad.” 

“Huh?” 

“I don’t even know,” you swallow, gesturing to all of your lower half and feeling him hold the slipping blanket. “It’s just… this, I guess.”

“Does it hurt?” 

“Like a motherfucker.” 

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry, doll. Hold up.” Handing you the comforter, Yoongi goes to his cabinets in the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of medicine before walking it over. “You gotta take something as soon as you feel it. Don’t let it get this bad.”

“I know,” you groan, resting your head on his shirt and inhaling his healing presence. “I didn’t wanna bother you.” 

Your forehead is kissed. “You’re not bothering me. Especially with something like this.” 

“Okay.” 

He walks away again to grab some water, and you watch as he pours some into an electric kettle before starting it up. 

Glancing back at the fruit, you sigh, clutching the bottle of pills while feeling the weight of his comforter. He’s probably not pleased with the way it might drag on the ground, so you gather it and pick the end chair to sit on. 

And then you sigh, “Sorry for making you peel those. I didn’t even plan on eating anything.”  

“Too bad. You’re gonna eat what I make you anyway.” 

Wait, he’s cooking? He has work to do! “You’re working, though. Don’t worry about me right now.” 

“It’ll be quick.” 

“What are you making?” 

A glass bowl and pan are procured from random places before Yoongi blinks in place. “Uhh.. You’ll see.” 

As he clunks them onto his counter and stove, you watch with hearts for eyes as he bustles around the kitchen space. Even doing things as simple as washing his hands, opening his fridge, and simply grabbing a knife gives you pause. 

And this is when you realize that you can watch Yoongi do absolutely anything and be amazed. 

Even when he stands, watching you with a look that’s wait why doesn’t he look—

“Take the medicine, baby girl.” 

Oh. 

Snapping out of your trance, you nod. “Sorry.” 

Yoongi continues to give you glances until you swallow down the painkillers, satisfied enough to continue his cooking venture when you take the second one. 

As the sun paints the apartment in marigold and light, you keep watching with a smile as he brings the kitchen to life. Butter sizzles in a pan, tangerines are getting halved on a board, and something is getting mixed with a whisk. 

Who knew that the neighborhood fuckboy would have a whisk on hand? Not the younger you, that’s for damn sure. 

But here Yoongi is, in the flesh, whisking away with veiny forearms that have you thinking the most absurd thoughts during this time of the month. The only thing that would cut through the raging horniness would be getting up to see what the hell he’s making. 

It’s starting to smell familiar though. But he put the tangerines in the pan so you don’t even know what to expect right now. 

Walking up—blanket left behind—you observe the kitchen before peering over his broad shoulder. “Mm.. Smells like pancakes.” 

Yoongi doesn’t answer, but when you see the consistency of the batter, you realize you’re correct. “Oh, it is! I’m smart.” 

“You are,” he laughs. “But you didn’t get it all the way right.” 

“No?” 

“Nope.” Yoongi then gently gets you to move before he pours the batter over the slices, and you crane your neck to watch as he evens it all out. “Just one tangerine pancake.”

“Oh, okay,” you scoff, earning a laugh at your side. “Whatever, chef.” 

“We’ll see what you say in a bit.” 

Is he gonna leave it or flip it? Probably the latter. 

“K. Gonna flip that once it’s done.” 

Nice. You smile to yourself, loving how you’re starting to really be on the same page. Nudging him, you keep watching as he lowers the heat and sets the lid on the pan. “What now?” 

“We wait,” he responds, dusting his hands together before cleaning up his mixing bowl. “And I’m gonna see if we have any sugar.”

Damn it, Yoongi cannot keep saying that two-letter word. It’s starting to be detrimental to your health. “I can help.” 

“S’ok,” he assures, nose upturned. “Just watch me work.” 

“Oh, I’m very good at doing that.” 

At this, Yoongi turns and gives you a smile that immediately reminds you of summer, and you almost feel like crying again. 

“I’ve actually never tried this, but. We’ll see if this works.” 

With nothing snarky, or teasing, or fake to say, you reply with a smile and a genuine, “I’m sure it will.” 

When he keeps staring, his eyes lower to your lips, and you don’t care that you probably look like a wreck, or feel like one. Because the way he’s looking at you now makes you glow. 

If only the kettle didn’t decide this was the moment to stop boiling. 

You were probably about to get the kiss of your life. 

But Yoongi halts in his tracks before shifting to get a mug, setting it down with a thud before checking on the pancakes. Pancake. Whatever that delicious-smelling thing is gonna be. 

“There’s some tea packets in that right drawer. Help yourself cus I’d rather you pick.” 

Chuckling, you oblige before scooting over. After seeing a small jar of granules on the counter, you start rummaging through the drawer, exploring the various options while hearing the sound of a plate behind you. 

Ah, Yoongi’s flipping it. 

As you turn, you’re just in time to watch the muscles in his back protrude through his shirt as he flips the pan, impressed as he sets the plate down because holy hell that looks great. 

“Sugar, sugar, sugar… Suga, suga, suga.” 

Laughing, you interrupt his silly search as you grab the jar you just saw. “Suga suga, how you get so fly?”

Yoongi stops to see what’s in your hand, and he huffs through a grin before grabbing it. “Thanks, doll.” 

You keep humming the song that’s now wedged into your head as you watch him sprinkle bits on the pancake. 

“I don’t have a blowtorch,” he admits, “But I do have this.” 

Rolling out a drawer, Yoongi takes out a long lighter before holding it to the sugary top, humming the same song you were just singing without even knowing it. As the sugar slowly but surely heats, you both keep humming and basking in a calm afternoon. 

And you don’t even feel the pain anymore. 

“Go ahead and sit, babe.” 

“You sure?” 

“Uh huh.” 

Following instructions, you make your way to the table, cocooning yourself in his comforter again as you await the cutest meal you’ve had in weeks. Months. Lifetimes. 

Speaking of lifetimes… You hope every version of you meets every version of him. No matter when. No matter where. Because you want every version of yourself to find happiness, and Yoongi has been the one to help you finally find it. 

And he certainly passed whatever the hell this orange theory thing was supposed to be. 

Plates are set down to break you out of introspection, and you glance up with eyes sparkling. 

When Yoongi raises a brow, you just smile. When he asks what’s gotten into you, a chuckle escapes before you shake your head, 

“Nothing, baby. Just didn’t expect all this from that text.” 

As he plops into the next chair, you love the way the sun settles on his skin. Highlights his hair. Shimmers in his eyes. 

“Don’t even need to ask, babe.” He captures your attention with a calm look. “I was waiting for any distractions anyways.” 

So this was for him, too? Good. 

Grabbing your fork, you giggle. “Sounded like you were having a little trouble over there.” 

“I was! This is what I get for not saving my shit.” 

Both of you sit back in laugher as you throw your hands out. “Do that!” 

“I’m lazy!” 

“Tough shit!” 

“I know!” 

Grinning, you loll your head before waving your fork out. “You’re gonna save those sounds, and you’re gonna remember this day and thank me.” 

Yoongi just tightens his lips in a smile, eyes creased and glimmering. “Maybe.” 

“Yes. I’ll stand there and watch you until you do it.” 

"Really.."

For the rest of the afternoon—with full bellies and clear minds—you rest on the edge of Yoongi’s bed, forcing him to find the files he needs and watching him groan his way through saving everything. 

Constantly laughing at the ridiculously random names he’s assigning them.

When he’s done, you watch as he spins around in his chair, heart thumping with anticipation as you’re met with a waiting pair of eyes.

Breathtaking. 

When he leans in, you feel incredibly shy. Always, always, always. This will forever remain the same.

And—just as well—Yoongi's kisses will forever taste like tangerines. 

Three of them, to be exact. 

-

-

fin. :)

-

how did the first 717 drabble go! | join the discord hehe

a/n: nothing much to say other than i love y'all so much! i will try responding to anything when i can (there's literally still all the 3tan12 feedback to get to) but i do read all the commentary sent in and it keeps me going strong :'))) so thank you again for being here and being amazingly patient with me. off to work on more things but i shall be back once the wild weeks are over!

a/n 2: suga suga how you get so flyyyy hahaha

[asbealthgn]

(i am not immune to peer pressure so here's a continuation. part one here)

It’s so rare that Steve meets anyone nice anymore.

It’s just hard to find people. Dating apps suck, and ever since Robin and Nancy got together, they hardly ever want to go to bars together. And what’s he supposed to do, just drink alone and hope he stumbles across someone? 

Well, that’s exactly what happened today, sans drinking. He was heading for the bus stop, a tiny bit lost but he had a map and was pretty sure he could figure it out. He realizes he’s a tiny bit directionally challenged, and he’s still relatively new in town, and Robin and Nancy just moved to a new place, so it all came together to mean that getting there would take some puzzling out. All the same, he was prepared to figure it out on his own right up until he saw the super hot guy sitting at the bus stop and figured a little help couldn’t hurt.

And that’s how Steve ended up with an unexpected date (sort of) to Robin and Nancy’s baby shower (not a real baby shower).

Robin answers the door and smiles, then does a double take when she sees Eddie. Whoops, Steve probably should have texted her that he was bringing someone. He’d gotten a little caught up in the moment.

“Hey, hope you don’t mind I brought a plus one,” Steve says, hugging her before walking inside. Eddie follows him.

“No, no, that’s fine,” Robin says, voice a little strange as they take their shoes off and she shuts the door. “We’re all in the living room.”

They follow her through the kitchen and into the living room where half a dozen calico kittens and several adults are on the floor.

“Oh my God, they’re adorable,” Eddie says, leaving Steve’s side to get down next to the kittens. Steve gets a huge smile watching him. Fuck, he’s super hot and he’s now holding a tiny kitten, cooing at it? Steve might just get on one knee right now. Or both knees. Honestly, either one works.

If he were paying more attention to literally anything other than Eddie, Steve would notice that nearly everyone else in the room is also staring at Eddie. The only exception to that is El, who’s sitting cross-legged on the floor with the mama cat in her lap, both watching the kittens with the same wide-eyed intensity.

There’s a tap on Steve’s shoulder, and he turns to look at Robin. “Can we talk for a sec?” she asks, voice still odd.

“Yeah,” he says and follows her back into the kitchen.

She crosses her arms and leans back against the counter. “So are you gonna tell me what Eddie Munson is doing in our living room?”

“Oh, have you already met him?” Steve asks.

Her eyes widen. “Are you being serious right now?”

“Uh. Yes?”

“Steve, that’s Eddie Munson,” she says, “From Corroded Coffin?”

“From what?” he asks, though as she says, it does sound a tiny bit familiar. 

“Corroded Coffin?” she says, “It’s that band the kids love. Along with like half of America if they’re not completely scandalized by them.”

“So what, you’re trying to tell me Eddie’s famous?” Steve asks. Robin nods. “Hold on, this isn’t like Paul all over again, is it?” Paul was a guy Steve briefly dated a few years ago, and Robin had somehow convinced Steve that he was an Olympic athlete. In his defense, she had mocked up some seriously convincing news articles.

But Robin is shaking her head. “No, I’m serious this time,” she says. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. After a second she turns it around to show him the Google results for Eddie Munson. There are a lot of red carpets and pictures of him onstage. And damn, Eddie seriously is so hot.

“Alright, well, you definitely didn’t have time to photoshop these,” Steve mutters. Robin nods, patting him on the shoulder. How did he accidentally bring a famous guy over?

Just then, Eddie comes into the kitchen, a kitten in his hands. 

“Stevie, look at her,” he says, holding the kitten up.

Stevie? Robin mouths. Steve kicks her as he reaches out to scratch under the kitten’s chin. It mews at him.

“I asked Nancy—she’s terrifying, by the way,” Eddie adds to Robin, “And she said I can keep her.” He lifts the kitten to his face and it purrs as it rubs its cheek against Eddie’s. Steve is actually going to combust.

“Alright, well, I’m heading back in,” Robin says, voice back to that strained quality as she escapes the kitchen. Eddie doesn’t seem to notice, too busy whispering praise to the kitten.

Steve scratches under its chin again and it purrs at him. “What’re you gonna name her?” he asks.

“Don’t know yet,” Eddie says, “Isn’t she per—oh, hold on.” His phone is ringing, so he moves the kitten to one hand as he reaches into his pocket and pulls it out. “Hey Gar….Yeah, ‘cause you abandoned me….No, I’m in Japantown getting a kitten….No, that’s not a euphemism….Listen, I’m kinda busy, I’ll call you later, alright?…Yeah, see you, man.”

While he was talking, the kitten clawed its way up Eddie’s shirt and into his hair. “What’re you doing in there, sweet girl?” he asks, tucking his phone back into his pocket and reaching for the kitten. It’s gotten very tangled in his curls, though, and apparently really likes being there. 

“Lemme help you,” Steve says, stepping closer to Eddie and extricating the kitten. Eddie’s hair is very soft. Good to know. “Here you go,” he says, holding the kitten out for him.

“One sec,” Eddie says. He ties his hair up quickly (also hot, fuck) before taking the kitten back. He boops noses with it. “Such a mischievous little girl.” 

“Well, can you blame her?” Steve asks. He brushes a loose curl behind Eddie’s ear. “Your hair seems like a nice place to be.”

Eddie smiles at him, a dimple appearing on his cheek. “I’ll be honest, Stevie,” he says, voice getting a little lower as he moves closer, boxing Steve against the counter. “At first I just came along because you’re gorgeous, but I think I’ve fallen in love.” He holds up the kitten in one hand.

“You think I’m gorgeous?” Steve asks, feeling his face heat. 

“‘Course I do, big boy,” Eddie says, leaning closer and putting his free hand on the counter by Steve’s hip.

Maybe this is stupid and way too forward, but Eddie is so dreamy with his eyes and his dimple and his hair and the kitten in his hand, so Steve leans in and kisses him. It’s a little relieving when Eddie kisses him back, free hand lifting to his hair while Steve wraps his arms around his waist.

Steve doesn’t notice the front door opening or a new group of people that includes Dustin Henderson coming inside. He doesn’t notice them entering the kitchen and freezing as they take in the scene.

That is, not until Dustin shouts, “Holy shit, is that Eddie Munson?”

tagging a few people who asked for a continuation/asked to be tagged (sorry if i missed anyone!): @nburkhardt @stargyles @csinnamon-fox @manda-panda-monium @silly-jellyghoty @lifeisnotsobadonceyoustopcaring @starquirk

edit to add that this ficlet is complete and the last part is here

[nvrsaidiwasinurcloset]

Cinderblock Garden - Ethan Landry x Fem!Reader

This was a request that I got, but after talking with the person that requested it, I made a few changes and didn't want to use the request in the fic lmao. It's LONG AS FUCK and I've been working on this for four days now. There's a lot in this, from events in Scream 5, leading to New York stuff.

*to the sweet soul that requested this, I hope things are a little better for you now, and I hope you like this and that it was worth the wait lmao*

This contains SMUT -Minors DNI

Summary: You're the child of Gale and Dewey, and after losing your dad and almost dying yourself, you struggle with day to day life. When you meet Ethan, he just wants you to let him in, but after your ex, Amber, tried to kill you, you struggle to do that.

Contains: Over 10k words, jesus. Angst, mentions of death, mental health struggles, some fluffy smut tbh. Virgin!Ethan and Virgin!Reader -p in v, oral(f recieving).

A/N: In this fic, Ethan is simply Ethan Landry and has no relation to Richie.

When your parents split, you had the option to move to New York with your mom, Gale, or stay in Woodsboro with your dad, Dewey. You decided to stay with your dad because your mom’s main priority was always her career. Even when you’d go out to visit her every now and then, she’d never take any time off, always leaving you alone in her condo. You couldn’t stand her new boyfriend, either. You hated how quickly she could just move on from your dad when he still loved her so much.

You had your doubts about love after watching your parents’ marriage fall apart, until you met Amber. It started off as a friendship, the perfect distraction from your less than perfect home life. Especially when your dad started drinking, she was always there. You realized that you had feelings, she did, too. Everyone else in the friend group was a little surprised by it, but they were all very accepting of it, wanting nothing more than for you to be happy.

When Tara got attacked, your dad wanted to put you on the first plane to New York. Your mom agreed with him, but you refused. You weren’t going to leave your best friend while she recovered, and you really didn’t want to leave Amber.

“Please, this is what’s best for you,” your dad said, pleading with you to get out of Woodsboro. “You’re the child of two people that have been through this several times. If they went after Tara, they’ll probably come after you. I can’t let that happen.”

You sighed, noticing the whisky bottle in his hand. “You put me through so many self defense classes…I think I can handle myself.”

“I was the sheriff, with far more training than you’ve had. I’ve been stabbed several times…you’re not invincible.”

“I’m not saying I am. If I really am a target, don’t you think they’d find me regardless of if I’m in Woodsboro or not?” you questioned, as he took a swig out of the bottle. “I’m safer here with you.”

He sighed, looking over to you. “Fine, but the tracking app on your phone…if you turn it off so I can’t find you, you’re going to New York. If you don’t come straight home after school, you’re going to New York. If you have a run-in with Ghostface-“

“I’m going to New York. I got it,” you said, rolling your eyes. “So, I’m not allowed to do anything other than go to school or be here?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m not going to lose you,” he said, his tone stern.

“Okay, but what happens when you’re at the bar getting wasted and I’m here by myself? Isn’t it safer to have people around me?” You didn’t expect your question to come out as harshly as it did, his face wincing as you spoke. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“No, you’re right. I’ll be home more, I promise,” he said, feeling guilty for making you doubt him. “Just…if you do go out with your friends, please be smart about it. Someone you’re close to is probably a part of this…just remember that. And I meant what I said about the phone tracker.”

You nodded, as he pulled you into a side hug. “Your mom is probably coming out here, just so you know.”

“Ugh,” you groaned, “The boyfriend isn’t coming with her, right?”

“I don’t know. I hope not,” he sighed, the sadness in his voice obvious. “You better get to school.”

Everyone in your friend group was on edge. Tara was alive, but her condition wasn’t great. As you joined your friends at the picnic tables outside, Amber wrapped her arm around you.

“Hey, babe,” she said, “Did you get questioned, too?”

“Yeah, I was interrogated for all of five minutes. I guess that’s the perk of being a former sheriff’s kid,” you said, as Wes looked over to you.

“How is your dad? We haven’t seen him in a while,” he asked, as you shrugged.

“He’s still the same. He tried to convince me to go to New York after what happened last night,” you sighed, as Wes gave you a confused look.

“If you had the chance to get far away from here, why the fuck wouldn’t you take it?” he asked, the paranoia that his mom instilled in him apparent as you just looked at him.

“I’m not leaving Tara…or you guys. It’s better to have more people here if this is going to be another huge thing like it’s been before.”

“Yeah, but is it a safety in numbers thing, or will it just add to the body count if you stay?” Mindy asked, as Chad sighed.

“Seriously? We’re all freaked out enough,” he said, as Wes’ phone dinged in his pocket.

“Hey guys, Tara just woke up.”

When everyone got up to leave, you looked around at your friends, thinking back to what your dad said. You saw them all in such a positive light that you couldn’t even begin to suspect any of them.

Once you made it to the hospital, Tara was so happy to see everyone. Or it could’ve been all the pain meds she was on. You sat down at the foot of her bed as she sleepily smiled.

“How are you feeling?” you asked, starting to tear up as you looked at her.

“I’m okay, still shaken up, though,” she sighed, “They have police protection for me, but you guys need to be careful.”

“We’ll be fine,” Amber said knowingly as Tara smiled.

Then you saw someone you hadn’t seen in years walk into the hospital room, with whom you assumed to be her boyfriend when he called her ‘babe’.

“Hey, this is Richie,” Sam said, introducing him as he awkwardly waved.

He gave you the creeps from the start. You couldn’t shake the thought from your mind that he was guilty of something, but your parents always told you that you needed to be cautious of everyone.

“Hey, can I talk to Sam alone?” Tara asked, as everyone nodded. “Thanks for coming to see me.”

“Of course, we’ll be back tomorrow,” you said, standing up to leave.

When you made it out to the hallway, you checked the time and saw a few missed calls from your dad.

“Fuck, I need to get home,” you said, typing a text to him before putting your phone back in your pocket.

“We were going to go have some fun, though,” Amber said, “Is this how it’s going to be? Ghostface comes back and I don’t get to spend time with my girlfriend?”

“You really won’t spend any time with me if I get sent to New York,” you said, as you hopped on the elevator with everyone.

 “This is annoying,” she huffed, “Wes is allowed to go out with us, and you know how his mom is.”

“Hey,” Wes said, “I have a taser and pepper spray, I’m good to go.”

“And I’ve got these hands, but dad doesn’t think that’s good enough,” you laughed, as you made it to the bottom floor. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Your dad was a little annoyed when you got home, but he was just happy to know you were safe. As much as he hated your decision to stay in Woodsboro, he thought you were a pretty good judge of character and you always paid close attention to your surroundings.

Things just kept getting crazier. When Wes and Judy were killed, you and your dad ran into Sam at the crime scene. You were making small talk with her, when she nudged her head in the direction behind you.

“Isn’t that your mom?” she asked, as you turned around.

You noticed she had a camera crew with her, as you felt anger start to build up. Your dad went over to talk to her, as she kept peaking around him to look at you.

“Typical. Something happens in Woodsboro and she has to get the fucking story on it,” you said to Sam.

She was about to respond when she noticed the cop that was supposed to be watching Tara’s room standing outside of the Hick’s house.

“Who’s with my sister?” She questioned as he looked at her, confused.

She started to yell, getting your dad’s attention as he ran back over to you, your mom hot on his heels.

“I need to get to Tara,” Sam said, running towards her car.

“I’m coming with you,” you said, following her.

“I don’t think so,” Gale said, “You’re staying here, around people so you’ll be safe.”

You scoffed as you turned to look at her, “So now you decide you want to be a parent?”

She was taken aback at your words, as your dad stepped in. “I’ll go, too. She’ll be safe.”

He hopped in the passenger’s seat as you got in the back, your mom just standing there in shock as the three of you sped off.

“You shouldn’t talk to your mother like that,” Dewey scolded, as he noticed Sam’s high rate of speed. “and you should probably slow down.”

“Tara’s by herself. I’m not going to let anything happen to her,” Sam snapped, as she turned onto the road that led to the hospital. “Richie’s on his way, I hope someone gets there in time.”

She got out her phone to call Richie, as she pulled into the hospital parking lot. She was frantic when she realized the call was picked up, but she was terrified once she heard Ghostface’s voice. She stopped the car as she talked, quickly jumping out with you and your dad as you ran inside of the hospital to the elevator to get to Tara’s private floor.

She just kept talking to the killer as you and your dad silently stood beside her. He pulled out his gun, waiting for the doors to open. As soon as they did, he fired a shot, the loud bang making you jump. The masked person scurried away, when everyone piled out of the elevator to save Tara and Richie.

“Tara!” you screamed, running up to her. Your dad ran to Richie as you and Sam helped Tara off the floor.

Your best friend was very emotional and shaken up as her sister hugged her, but you were still on edge. You had a gut feeling that something was about to happen.

Then, you saw Ghostface charge towards Richie and your dad. You grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall and ran towards the figure that was trying to attack your dad. You hit the person over the head, but you felt a sharp, burning pain in your side as you did. Your dad was able to fight back thanks to your distraction, getting in a few shots as Ghostface fell through the glass case against the hallway wall.

“Fuck,” you cried, holding your wound. Your dad’s arms wrapped around you as he walked you towards the elevator, when Richie walked over to help.

“Thanks,” Dewey said, as he walked you inside. “Shit, I didn’t shoot him in the head.”

“Does that really matter right now?” you asked, as he nodded. He stepped back out of the elevator, a sad smile on his face as he looked at you, doubled over. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to finish this,” he said, as you craned your neck to look at him.

“Dad, no. You can’t do that!” you cried, as he started to walk down the hall.

“I need to make sure you’re safe. This is how I can do that,” he paused, “I love you.”

As soon as those elevator doors closed, you started screaming, begging to go back to your dad. Sam wouldn’t let that happen. She just kept trying to assure you that he’d be okay, and that you and Tara both needed medical attention.

He wasn’t okay, though. You soon learned what happened to your dad when your mom somberly walked into the hospital room, her sad eyes meeting yours. To say you were emotionally destroyed would’ve been an understatement. You expected your mom to be a little more comforting, and she was trying, but she seemed more interested in getting details on any new leads the detectives might’ve had.

For safety reasons, they moved Tara to the same room as you, making it easier for the police to keep an eye on the both of you.

“She’s really starting to piss me off,” you sighed, as Tara looked over at you. “I’m in here, absolutely fucking devastated, and she’d rather talk to the cops.”

“Maybe she’s just trying to do what she can to keep you safe,” she suggested, “Have you heard from Amber?”

“Yeah, she’s having a party for Wes tonight. Not that you and I will be attending,” you laughed a little, as she smiled.

“Sam wants to get me out of here as soon as possible. I don’t know where she wants to go, but she just wants us to be somewhere safe.”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea…maybe I’ll sneak out of here with you guys,” you said, half-joking as Tara started to nod.

“If your mom’s distracted, and the cops are busy talking to her anyway, we could sneak you out.”

“Fuck it, let’s do it.”

Your mom walked back in the room, looking back and forth between you and Tara.

“Do what?” she questioned, as you glanced back over to your friend.

“Oh, um, we were talking about college. We’re both going to apply to Blackmore,” you lied, as your mom started to smile.

“Are you warming up to the idea of New York?” she asked, as you shook your head.

“Not at all, but I want my best friend there with me,” you said, a defeated look appearing on her face.

“It’s not as bad as you think it is.”

After the police finished questioning Richie and Sam for the second time of the day, they joined you, your mom, and Tara in the room. Sidney walked in not long after, a sad smile on her face as she saw you in the hospital bed.

“You’ve grown up so much,” she said, walking over to you, “I’m so sorry about your dad.”

“Thanks, Sid,” you said softly, “How are the kids?”

She smiled at you, “They’re fine. They’re somewhere safe.”

“I wish I was somewhere safe,” you joked, as your mom rolled her eyes.

“You had the chance to come to New York,” she sighed, “If you would’ve just listened to me and your dad then maybe we wouldn’t be in here right now.”

“What, and dad wouldn’t be dead, too?” you snapped, looking towards her.

“I didn’t say that…this whole ‘you hating me’ thing isn’t going to work. We need to be there for each other.”

You were about to respond when a detective came in to talk to your mom. She stepped out with Sidney, walking to the next hallway over so you wouldn’t hear the conversation.

“Now’s our chance,” Tara said, as Sam looked between you two, confused.

“Chance for what?”

“We’re sneaking her out with us,” Tara said, wincing as she pulled her IV out.

“What the fuck are you doing? You haven’t been discharged yet,” Sam sighed, looking over to see you doing the same. “I’m not kidnapping you, I’m sorry.”

“Look, we want to be somewhere safe. She isn’t going to be safe if she stays here and we go. Her mom’s barely paid attention to her since we’ve been in here…if you want me to go, she’s going too,” Tara said, as Sam sighed, looking over to Richie. He shrugged, walking over to the door to peak out.

“No cops, no Gale,” he said, as Sam rolled her eyes.

“Fuck it, fine. You both better hurry up though.”

You did as Sam said, the both of you quickly changing before sneaking past the nurses’ station towards the exit.

After your mom and Sidney finished talking to a detective in the next hall over, she came back to see your bed empty. She started to panic, noticing your IV line resting on top of the bed and most of your stuff gone. She looked over to the other side of the room, realizing that Tara was gone, too.

“Excuse me, where did they take my daughter?” Gale asked one of the nurses that’d passed by the doorway.

He grabbed an iPad off the nurse’s station, trying to pull you up. “She doesn’t have any testing or anything scheduled…she’s not in her room?” He craned his neck to peak around, noticing the empty bed.

“She’s a minor, isn’t there some kind of alert you guys have for this?!” She yelled, as the nurse nodded.

“I’ll take care of that right away.”

It didn’t matter, though. You’d already made it out of the hospital by the time the code was called.

“Where do you think she went?” Sydney asked, as your mom tried to rack her brain.

“I’m not the mom of the year, okay? I barely know her anymore,” she sighed, as Sidney sympathetically smiled at her.

“Whatever happened, now that Dewey’s gone, you’re going to have to fix that relationship,” she said, as your mom nodded. “She’s a good kid.”

“I know, I just hope she’s okay.”

When you were in the back seat with Tara, her asthma was flaring up as she tried to find her inhaler.

“Fuck, I don’t have it,” she panicked, as Sam looked at her in the rearview mirror.

“Can you wait until we’re in the next town?” she asked, as Richie glanced back to see Tara’s breathing getting worse.

“No…this is getting bad,” you said, trying to search Tara’s purse again. “Do you still have the spare one at Ambers?”

“Yeah, Sam, we need to go to Amber’s,” Tara said, as Sam shook her head.

“I don’t think so,” she said, her lack of understanding for how bad the situation was starting to piss you off.

“She’s going to be dead by the time we get to the next fucking town. Go to Amber’s,” you yelled, as Sam hesitantly nodded. “Turn left up here.”

As your mom and Sidney searched around the hospital hoping to find you, she remembered the app Dewey put on your phone so he’d always know where you were. He gave her the log-in too just in case she ever needed it. She quickly pulled her phone out, checking to see what your location was as Sidney looked at her.

“She’s not even here,” Gale said, as she and Sidney bolted towards the exit.

Once they made it in the car and started to drive, your mom was looking at the tracking app, noticing that you’d stopped.

“Turner Lane, why does that sound so familiar?” she asked, as Sidney’s eyes grew wide.

“Please don’t tell me that’s where she is,” Sidney said, pressing the gas a little harder, “Stu Macher used to live on Turner Lane.”

“Oh fuck,” Gale said, as she tried to call you.

Your phone was on silent in your pocket as you went up to Amber’s room. The party downstairs was in full swing as you tried to help your girlfriend search for Tara’s inhaler.

“Are you okay?” Amber asked, “I’m sorry about your dad.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” you sighed, thinking about him as you dug through a box on top of Amber’s dresser. “Found it!” you held up the inhaler as she smiled.

“Can you please call me when you make it to wherever you’re going so I know you’re safe, please?” she asked, as she stepped towards you.

“Yeah, I just need to get the fuck away from my mom for a few days.”

She nodded in understanding as you ran out of her room, down the stairs to find Tara.

“Stupid bitch,” Amber muttered, once she knew you couldn’t hear her.

After you gave Tara her inhaler, you pulled your phone out of your pocket to see twenty missed calls from your mom.

“Jesus, someone’s freaking out,” you said, showing Tara the screen.

“Maybe you should call her back. Just let her know you’re okay.”

“Fine,” you sighed, but before you had the chance to call her, she was calling you again.

You answered, “Hey mom, I’m fine-“

“You need to get the fuck out of that house right now!” she yelled, the second she heard your voice.

“How do you know where I am?” you questioned, annoyance in your tone as she started to yell again.

“You’re in Stu Macher’s house,” your heart started to race as you looked over to Sam, Tara, and Richie. You’d heard that name many times before. You started to look around, thinking about how the party at his house was the finale of the first Woodsboro Massacre where your dad was stabbed.

“We need to get out of here, right now,” you said to them, as Richie started to smirk.

“Did someone finally figure it out?” he asked, the psychotic excitement in his voice making your skin crawl.

“What are you talking about?” you asked, jumping as you heard a gunshot coming from the living room, accompanied by several screams. “What the fuck is going on?”

Sam and Tara started to back away from Richie as you looked at him.

“God, you know, you guys really are the perfect victims. Serial killer dad,” he said, looking to Sam, “oblivious little sister,” he said to Tara, before turning to you, “and the child of the sheriff that tried to take down Billy and Stu. It’s hilarious. You get to die where he should’ve.”

“Fuck you,” you said through gritted teeth, as he started to step towards you.

“You want to know what the best part of this whole little fucked up scenario is, though?” he asked, as Amber walked into the room. “I’ve been fucking your girlfriend.” Sam glanced over to you, the obvious look of disgust and betrayal painted on both of your faces.

Your mouth dropped as you looked over to Amber. “Sorry, baby,” she said, so nonchalantly that your blood was starting to boil. You shook your head as you thought back to your dad telling you that you probably knew who was responsible for everything.

“Did you kill my dad?” you asked Amber as she shrugged, muttering “Maybe,” as you stepped towards her.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Richie said, pulling out a knife and pointing it at you as Sam and Tara started to back away, looking at you. You nodded towards the side door as Amber walked up to kiss Richie.

While they were distracted, you glanced along the counters to see if there was anything you could use that would be helpful. You saw the knife block, and as the rage started to build up even more towards Amber for stabbing you and killing your dad.

You subtly grabbed a knife from behind you, and started to step towards them as you held it firmly in your hand behind your back.

“Where did the other two go?” Amber asked, pulling away from Richie as he turned around to look.

“I’ll go find them,” he said, waving his knife around. “Don’t try anything. She doesn’t love you enough to save you.”

As soon as he walked away, you looked at Amber. “Is that true? You don’t love me enough to save me?”

“I never fucking loved you. God, I only wanted to get close to you and your friends. It amazes me how stupid you are,” she scoffed, as you stepped even closer, “What are you going to do? I was stronger than your dad, you dumb bitch. Do you really think you’re going to win in a fight against me?”

“I don’t need to be stronger than you,” you smiled, “Because you’re the one that doesn’t have a knife right now.”

As soon as you pulled the knife from behind your back, she darted towards the gun on the kitchen island. You were quicker though, stabbing her before she was able to grab it. She dropped to her knees as she held her stomach. In that moment, she looked weak and helpless. You couldn’t shake the thought that she had your dad feeling that way when she killed him.

“Baby, why would you do that?” she asked, her psychotic eyes pleading with yours.

You looked down at her, the fury in your eyes obvious as she tried to plead with you.

“How the fuck could you do this to me? To my fucking dad?!”

“Oh, please. You knew he was a shitty dad,” she scoffed, before whining again at the pain she was feeling. “I got him good, too. I just wish you could’ve seen it.”

“Shut the fuck up,” you screamed, as you stabbed her again.

 Richie ran back in the room with Tara and Sam, noticing Amber on the floor and the large, bloody knife in your hand. You started to run towards him, thinking you could finish all of this. You didn’t though, because as soon as you made it to Richie, he plunged his knife into your stomach several times.

“No!” Tara screamed, as you dropped to the floor, blood immediately pooling beside you on the floor. You heard Tara’s cries as your vision started to get fuzzy.

“You really thought you were going to do something with that, didn’t you?” Richie laughed, “I’m sure your mom will be here soon, and you’ll get to be with both of your parents after I’m finished with her. Now’s a good time to thank me.”

“Fuck you,” you said weakly, as you started to lose consciousness.

“Oh, look at all that blood,” was the last thing you heard before blacking out.

You woke up in the hospital several days later with your mom and Sidney sitting beside your bed. You groaned as your eyes tried to adjust to the fluorescent lighting.

“Hey,” your mom said, “They weren’t sure when you’d wake up.”

“Lights,” you choked out, your voice raw.

“Try not to talk a lot, okay?” Sidney said, as she got up to flip the switch. “You almost didn’t pull through. They had to intubate you for surgery.”

You laid there in silence for a few minutes, like your brain was trying to process everything that happened. The heart rate monitor started to beep faster as you thought about your dad and the rest of your friends. Your breathing got heavier, as you started to shake your tingling hands.

Your mom went out to grab a nurse, who rushed in to check on you.

“Let’s give you something to help you calm down,” she said, pulling out a syringe. She injected medication into your IV as you tried to take deep breaths in comparison to the shallow ones you kept sucking in.

“What’s going on?” your mom asked, as the nurse turned to look at her.

“She’s having a panic attack. It’s normal after trauma like what she went through,” she said, before turning to you, “Would you like some water?”

You nodded, as she stepped out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with your water and one of the doctors.

“We’re going to suggest lots of therapy,” the doctor said, as she looked over at your dazed expression from the meds. “Physical and mental. It’s going to be a long road, just be patient with her.”

“I’m going to take her back to New York with me. If you have any recommendations for doctors out there, I’d appreciate it,” Your mom said, as the doctor nodded.

“I’ll be right back.”

As you sipped the water, it started to soothe your dry, irritated throat. After the doctor walked back in with the list of doctors in New York, you tried to speak.

“Tara?” you got out, as your mom smiled.

“She’s okay. Sam is too.”

“Chad and Mindy?”

“They’re okay. Chad was a little touch and go at first, too. He’s in the next room over,” she said, as you started to smile.

You were devastated about your dad and Wes but knowing that most of your friends survived gave you an ounce of hope that everything would be okay.

Once you’d healed enough to leave the hospital, you had a tearful goodbye with everyone as you prepared to go to New York.

“I hope you were serious about Blackmore…we all kind of applied,” Tara said, as Mindy nodded.

“Seriously? That would be so cool,” you said, smiling. “I’d love to have you guys close by.”

Your mom stood by and watched as Sam walked up to talk to her.

“I know Tara will most likely get in, she’s a smart one,” Sam said, with a small laugh. “If you can think of any safe areas for us to live, let me know.”

“You’d be coming with her?” your mom asked, as Sam nodded.

“I’m never letting her out of my sight,” she sighed, “I’m so sorry for your loss, with Dewey. If it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t have made it through the attack at the hospital.”

“Thank you…I’m just sad he won’t get to see all the great things I know she’s going to do with her life.”

After a few months of living in New York, you started to get adjusted. You had physical therapy three times a week and had to see your psychiatrist at least once a week, but you felt like you were starting to find yourself again, aside from struggling with anxiety and PTSD. Your mom’s boyfriend, Brooks, was even starting to piss you off a little less. You’d had several conversations with him about your dad, and he was trying to step up. He didn’t want to take your dad’s place by any means, but he was trying so hard to be a trusted male figure in your life, aside from Chad, who was still on the opposite side of the country.

On your eighteenth birthday, Tara FaceTimed you. You were smiling so big when you saw all of your friends, their own version of a surprise party making your heart swell. That’s the day they told you they all got into Blackmore, and you started to count down the days.

“Mom, don’t you think I should get the full college experience?” you sighed, as she rolled her eyes.

“You’re not staying in a dorm, and that’s final,” she said, as you glanced over to Brooks.

“I can’t help you with this one. You know your mom has her mind made up,” he said, as he leaned against the kitchen island.

“Whatever,” you huffed, walking towards your room.

Your mom and Brooks just looked at each other as she sighed in defeat.

“She might be annoyed with you right now, but she’ll get over it,” he said, wrapping his arm around her.

“I hope so, I’m getting sick of all the teen angst,” she said, laughing a little.

“How’s her therapy been?”

“She said it’s going well. They’ve really been unpacking the Amber stuff…I just hope she’s able to trust someone again someday.”

“She will.”

Once your friends made it to New York, your mom let you go out and explore the city for the first time without her. She was nervous, regularly checking her phone just to make sure you were okay. She knew your therapy sessions were helping, but you still had your panic attacks and your body wasn’t the strongest yet.

As you walked along the sidewalk with your friends, Chad noticed a comic book store a little further up the street.

“Can we check that out?” he asked, as you nodded.

“This is the same dorky shit you did in Woodsboro. Don’t you want to do something else?” Mindy asked, as her brother scoffed.

“Nope. I’ve already gone into three different clothing stores with you guys AND found my perfect foundation match while you guys were shopping for makeup. You owe me,” he said, making you and Tara laugh.

“Fine, let’s go,” Tara said, before turning to look at you. “Let me know whenever you need to sit down, okay?”

“I will. Let’s get food after this. I can rest while we eat,” you said, as Tara nodded.

When you walked inside, you all went your separate ways as you started to browse around the store. Chad was in heaven, while everyone else was just there to kill the time. As you were walking along one of the rows, you started to get one of your reoccurring abdominal cramps from where you were stabbed. You leaned over, holding your stomach as you tried to breathe through it.

“Hey, are you okay?” you heard a male voice speaking to you, as you groaned out a “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” he said softly, as he squatted to talk to you. “Do you need something? Can I call someone for you?”

“I promise I’m okay. Just a bad cramp.”

You soon heard Tara mumble “Oh shit” as she and Mindy ran up to you.

“What happened?” Mindy asked, looking over to the boy.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know. I just saw her doubled over like this.”

The pain started to ease up, as you tried to stand back up.

“Fuck, that was a bad one,” you sighed, as your eyes connected to the person that was trying to help you.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, looking you over. You couldn’t form words after you saw him. He was your type, and his sweet, shy demeanor was just a plus. Mindy and Tara noticed you checking him out as he kept staring at you, a small smile on his lips. “I’m Ethan, by the way.”

“Hey,” you finally spoke, as Tara and Mindy inched away from you so you could talk to him. “Thanks for trying to help.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said, as he started to flip through some of the comic books. “Do you go to Blackmore?”

“I’m about to,” you said, as he turned to you and smiled.

“You’re a freshman, too?”

“Yeah. I’m a little nervous, but I have all my hometown friends with me, so I know it’ll be fun,” you said, as you started to point them out.

“Chad? That’s what my roommate’s name is,” he said, looking towards him. “Wait, that’s him!”

“Oh, small world,” you said, “Hey, Chad!”

He turned around, smiling when he noticed his new roommate standing there.

“Dude, I didn’t know you were into stuff like this!” Chad said, as he walked up.

“Yeah, I’m a little bit of a dork, I guess,” Ethan laughed, as they started to geek out over stuff they’d found.

“How do you two know each other?” Chad asked curiously, as Ethan smiled.

“I just met her. She seems cool,” he said, “Have you guys been friends for a long time?”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since elementary school. We grew up in this crazy, fucked up little town,” Chad said, as your eyes got wide.

“It wasn’t that bad,” you said, trying to play it off as Chad looked at you in disbelief.

“Yeah, Woodsboro was a walk in the park,” Chad said sarcastically, as you tried to change the subject.

“Can we go get food soon? I’m starving,” you said, as Chad nodded.

“Sure. Ethan, you want to go to lunch with us?”

“I wish I could, but I have to run by the book store. Maybe some other time, but I’ll see you later,” he said to Chad, before smiling at you. “It was nice to meet you. Hopefully I’ll see you again soon.”

“I hope so,” you said, your tone flirty as Chad looked between the two of you.

Ethan walked up to the counter to pay for his stuff, as Chad turned to you.

“What was that all about?” he asked, as you jokingly glared at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a hot roommate?!”

After that day, Chad made it his personal mission to get to know Ethan as well as he could, because he didn’t want you to go through another traumatic relationship. Once he realized that Ethan truly was this shy, dorky guy, he started to bring him around the friend group. The two of you immediately hit it off, and he loved to spend time with you.

Once the relationship started to get a little more serious, he began asking about Woodsboro. After that day at the comic book store, he did his research, but he still had so many questions. He knew you were hurt in some way, because of all the appointments you had, and the random sharp cramps you’d get from time to time. He noticed that you’d always try to push through pain, and he just wanted to have a better understanding of everything.

The last thing you wanted to do was think about what’d happened the year before, let alone talk about it. You had several insecurities about yourself, the scars all over your abdomen being one of the major ones. But you hated feeling weak. You hated that you were struggling to keep up with the high energy your friends and boyfriend had. You hated feeling like you just slowed everyone down.

Ethan didn’t care, though. He was always comforting and okay with taking breaks, or even cutting a date night short if you started to get anxious. He knew he loved you, but he was too shy to say it. He didn’t want to pour his heart out and you say it’s something you weren’t ready for yet.

Your mom was a little skeptical of Ethan. It wasn’t that he’d given her a reason to be, she just wanted you to always be cautious, especially after your last relationship. It got to the point where you’d have to sneak Ethan over whenever your mom and Brooks weren’t home.

“Hey, baby,” Ethan said, as you opened the front door.

“Hi,” you smiled, as he leaned in to kiss you. “Let’s go to my room.”

What was supposed to be the two of you just hanging out led to him on top of you on your bed, your hands in his hair as he kissed you. Your shirt was starting to inch up, his hand roaming over your stomach when you pushed him away.

“Stop,” you said, once you noticed him leaning back down to kiss you again.

“What did I do?” he asked, as you scooted away from him. “Baby, I don’t want to pressure you into talking about things you don’t want to, but you need to tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t want you touching me like that,” you said, your eyes not meeting his as he tried to understand.

“You’re my girlfriend…this is what people in relationships do,” he sighed, running his hand through his hair. “If you’re not ready for sex, that’s fine. I just don’t get what the big deal is with me touching you. You never talk to me about it.”

“I think you should go,” you said, as he rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” he said, standing up. “You just keep shutting down whenever there’s something we need to talk about. You’re so secretive about what you’ve been through. I feel like I barely know anything about you.”

“Are you saying you want to break up?” you asked, your eyes watering as he shook his head.

“No, babe. I care about you so much…but you don’t trust me. I know something horrible happened to you in Woodsboro, and all I want is to be the supportive boyfriend that you deserve, but I can’t be that for you when you won’t talk to me. I’ve even tried to ask Chad, just so I understand, but he’ll only talk about what happened to him.”

“So, you’ve been trying to get stuff out of Chad because I won’t tell you about it?” you questioned, the pissed expression on your face making him tense up. “I’m not ready to talk to you!”

“Call me when you are,” he said, walking towards your bedroom door.

You felt a panic attack creeping up the second he walked out. You grabbed your anxiety medication and took a pill out, hoping that it would kick in soon. Your hands were shaky as you tried to take it, the water you were trying to drink spilling all over your shirt.

“Fuck,” you muttered, your breathing heavy as you jumped up to grab another shirt to change into.

The second you got the wet one off, Ethan walked back in the room.

“I forgot my phone,” he mumbled, before he saw you. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scars all over your abdomen, feeling sick to his stomach that someone could ever do something like that to you. “Baby…”

“Get the fuck out!” you screamed, as he scrambled to grab his phone off your bedside table. “Now, Ethan! Go!”

You quickly pulled the dry shirt over your head, as he glanced back over to you once more. You were sobbing as he tried to step closer, wanting to comfort you.

“Don’t come near me, Ethan! Go!” you yelled again, as he hesitantly turned around and walked out.

You followed him to the front door, slamming it behind him. You put your back against the door before sliding down it, as you pulled your knees to your chest as you cried.

When your mom got home later in the day to take you to your psychiatrist, you didn’t feel like going. You were still upset from the situation with Ethan earlier in the day, so once she started to argue with you that you needed to go, it got explosive.

“What is wrong with you today? You’ve been making such good progress!” your mom yelled, as you started to pace the floor.

“What’s wrong with me?! I was almost killed, mom! I have these fucking scars all over me that remind me of what I went through every fucking day!” you screamed, as tears started to run down your cheeks. “I have a great boyfriend, someone who really cares about me, and I can’t fucking trust him because of what Amber did to me! Then, he saw my scars earlier and looked at me like I was a fucking victim and I’m sick of feeling that way!”

“Wait, how did he see your scars? What have you been doing when I’m not here?” she questioned, as you stopped your pacing.

“That’s what you took from all that I just said?!” You asked, as Brooks walked in. “I’m not having sex, if that’s what you’re thinking. I want to, though! I want to be able to trust Ethan enough to do that, but I’m too fucked up for that to happen!”

Your mom just looked at you as Brooks tried to calm you down.

“Hey, I know this is none of my business, and I’m sorry for putting my nose where it doesn’t belong…but have you talked to your therapist about Ethan?”

“Not really. He’s only come up a few times,” you sighed, wiping your tears. “I was hoping I could work through things with him on my own, but I still haven’t told him anything that happened. He’s trying so hard, too. He doesn’t deserve this.”

“That kid really cares about you. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about the best way to open up to him,” he said, as you nodded. “I don’t want you to feel like everyone that comes in your life is going to do what Amber did to you.”

Your mom smiled at the interaction, loving how close you were getting to him. His calm demeanor helped so much in diffusing your anxiety.

“Can we still make it to my appointment in time? Or is it too late?” you asked your mom, as she pulled out her phone to check the time.

“We can still make it, we need to leave right now, though.”

“You two get out of here, I’ll have dinner ready when you get back,” Brooks said, pulling you into a side hug as he walked you towards the door.

During your appointment, your doctor recommended that you take a week off from school, just to focus on your mental health. Your professors were very understanding, you just hoped your boyfriend would be, too. You needed to clear your head as you tried to think of the best way to unpack all the trauma with him. You decided to leave your phone off, only turning it on every now and then to let Tara know you were okay.

Ethan was freaking out. When all his calls went straight to voicemail, and you stopped coming to school, he started to think the worst. He knew that you were upset with him, and he felt awful that him seeing you without a shirt affected you as much as he did. Regardless of the scars, he still thought you were beautiful. He finally brought it up to the rest of the friend group and was relieved when Tara said that you were okay.

That’s when he thought about doing something sweet for you. He wanted you to feel better, and he desperately wanted you to forgive him. He went to the mall with Chad, wanting to find some of your favorite things to bring to you.

“What about this?” Chad said, as he walked with Ethan through the party store. Ethan wanted to find you the sweetest card to go with the things he’d bought you, but Chad had other ideas when he pointed to a huge balloon. Ethan rolled his eyes as he looked over to Chad. “What? I don’t think anything says ‘I love you’ like a massive balloon that literally says ‘I love you’.”

“Dude, I don’t want this to be cheesy. I want her to know how I feel without making her cringe,” Ethan said, “Do you think she’ll even answer the door when I try to take this stuff to her?”

“I can’t say for sure. She hasn’t spoken to me in a week.”

“At lease she talks to Tara, so we know she’s alright.”

Ethan was nervous as he walked into the elevator and selected the floor that your mom’s condo was on. He knew your mom and her boyfriend’s work schedule from the times you’d invited him over, so he knew you should be home alone, if you’d even open the door for him.

He stood outside the door and took a deep breath before knocking. After a few minutes of you not answering, he sat the stuff outside of the door, hoping you’d want to talk after you eventually saw it. He went back to the elevator and pressed the button, waiting for it to come back to the floor he was currently on.

Once the door opened, he saw you standing there.

“Ethan? What are you doing here?” you asked, as he stepped to the side for you to walk off the elevator.

“Oh, uh, I just dropped some stuff off for you. It’s in front of the door,” he said shyly, as you smiled at him.

“That’s really sweet, Ethan. I was actually going to call you and ask if you wanted to come over. I just left therapy, and I’m in a good head space right now. I think I’m ready to talk,” you said, reaching over to grab his hand. “It’s a little heavy, and I might not go too far into detail, but I want you to know some of what I went through.”

“I’m here to listen,” he smiled, rubbing his thumb against the top of your hand as you walked towards the door.

“Aww, this is so cute!” you squealed, looking down at the basket before you unlocked the door. You were about to bend down to grab it before he beat you to it. “Thanks, babe.”

You walked with him to your room, noticing the card. You grabbed it out of the basket as soon as he sat it down, but he took it from you before you could open it.

“Hey!” you laughed, trying to take it back from him.

“This card has some things in it that are important, but not as important as you telling me what you need to tell me,” he said, smiling as he sat it back in the basket. “You can read this after we talk, deal?”

“Deal,” you said, flopping back on your bed as he laid down beside you.

You both stared at the ceiling as he waited for you to start talking, but you didn’t know where you wanted to start. You were almost scared of what he’d think after you told him everything, but you knew in your heart that he’d still care about you regardless.

“So…I know I told you about my dad dying. He was killed last year when my ex and the guy she was cheating on me with went on a killing spree,” you said, as he sat up on his elbows to look at you as you spoke. “She killed my dad after she stabbed me. Her boyfriend really did the most damage to me though. I’ve been really self-conscious about all the scars I have. That’s why I stop you whenever things start to get a little handsy.”

He stayed silent for a minute, just soaking in all the information you’d told him. He was furious that anyone would ever hurt you, but he was hiding it well.

“It’s no wonder you’ve been a little hesitant to trust me,” he sighed, looking back at the ceiling. “I’m sorry I walked in on you. I really thought you were done with me after you yelled at me like that and didn’t want to talk to me.”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to you, I just wanted to get my feelings and my thoughts together. I knew I needed to open up to you, especially after you saw everything.”

“I just wanted to understand, you know? You’ve just been so vague about everything. I’m happy you’re opening up,” he said, laying back down. “I’m sorry if you ever felt pressure about the sex stuff, too. I promise you that’s not what I was trying to do, and I’d wait forever if I needed to.”

“I don’t think we need to wait forever,” you said, rolling over to your side to look at him. “I’m ready now, actually.”

He curiously looked at you, before he started to shake his head.

“Baby, I want you to fully trust me before we do anything like that.”

“I just gave you the short version of everything that caused my trauma. I trust you,” you said, leaning in to kiss him.

He kissed you back, the sweetness of it making your heart swell, like you knew he was the person you were meant to lose your virginity to. Once the kiss got more intense and your hand started to run under his shirt, he gently pushed your hand away.

“Wait, I need you to read the card,” he said, before you connected your lips to his again.

“Right now?” you asked, pulling away.

“Please. You’ll want to read it before we do this.”

You slid off the side of the bed and walked over to the basket and grabbed the card. Ethan wasn’t nervous at all as you sat down beside him and opened the envelope that contained his true feelings for you. He knew if you were ready for sex and felt comfortable enough to finally tell him about what you’d went through, that you probably felt the same way he did.

“This is really sweet,” you said, reading through everything he wrote. “Wait…”

You turned to look at him after you’d made it to the end of what he wrote, as he smiled at you.

“I love you, babe.”

“Seriously?” was all you said, your eyes starting to water as Ethan suddenly felt like maybe it was a little too soon for him to say it when you didn’t say it back.

“Yeah, it’s how I feel. If you aren’t ready for that-“

You cut him off my kissing him. “I love you, too,” you mumbled against his lips.

He pushed you back on the bed as he smiled down at you.

“You are sure, like one hundred percent sure you want to do this?” he asked, as his hand started to rub your thigh over your jeans.

“I’m positive. I want to do this with you.”

He leaned down to kiss you as his hands just kept rubbing against you. You didn’t feel self-conscious like you had before, and you were excited to share this experience with someone that loved you.

“Is it okay if I take your shirt off of you?” he asked, waiting for you to consent before he did it. The last thing he wanted was to make you uncomfortable.

You paused and took a deep breath. “Yes.”

The second your shirt was over your head, you noticed Ethan’s gaze on all your scars. You tried to cover them with your hands before he pulled them away.

“Stop, baby. You’re beautiful,” he said, running his hands across them.

He leaned down to start kissing your neck, his curls tickling you as you started to giggle.

“Am I absolutely awful at this or something?” he asked, as your fingers started to run through his hair.

“No babe, you’re tickling me, but it feels good,” you said, squirming a little underneath him once he found your sweet spot. “It really feels good.” He smirked against you as you started to let out heavy breaths. “I think your shirt should come off, too.”

He pulled away to take his shirt off before he leaned down to kiss you again. Your hands started to run along his back as he melted into your touch.

You leaned up a little as you felt his hands try to snake around you to unhook your bra. He fumbled with it for a minute, making you laugh into the kiss.

“I’ve never done this before,” he said, jokingly glaring at you as you smiled at him. He finally got it unhooked, sliding the straps down your arms as he pulled it off you. “Are you going to laugh at me the whole time?”

“No, babe,” you said, biting your bottom lip to hold in your giggles. You didn’t have to for long though, your mouth falling open as you gasped when he took one of your nipples into your mouth. He alternated between licking and sucking, before he moved to the other side. “That feels so good.”

He pulled away and smiled at you, “If you want to stop at any point, let me know. I’m not going to get mad, I just want you to be okay.”

“Thank you, baby. I know you won’t hurt me,” you smiled, reaching up to run your hand through his hair as his eyes fluttered at the feeling.

He leaned down again with your fingers still tangled in his hair, as he started to place kisses along your stomach. He paid extra attention to your scars, now knowing the dark story of how you got them. You looked down at him as he started to unbutton your jeans.

“I love you, baby.” He said, as he started to pull them down your hips. “Your body is so beautiful. Please don’t ever think that it’s not, okay?”

“Okay,” you sighed, as his hands started to run up your bare thighs.

“Can these come off?” he asked, rubbing your panties along your hips.

“Yes,” you said, as he smiled at you.

“You know I have no idea what I’m doing, so please let me know if anything I do hurts.”

“Ethan,” you sighed, as his eyes connected with yours. “Just do what you think feels right, and I’ll let you know how it feels.”

“Okay, baby,” he said, as his hand ran up your inner thigh, and over your pussy. You whimpered at the feeling, as he kept rubbing you. “Can I taste you, babe?”

“Please,” you said, as he leaned in. His tongue gently licked your clit, as your hand started to run through your hair. “That feels…fuck.”

His mouth started to move faster when your moans got a little louder, loving all the sounds he was pulling from you. His cock was straining against his jeans, but that was the last thing he wanted to focus on. He just wanted to keep making you feel good.

“Can you use your fingers, too?” you asked, your chest heaving as his finger started to brush against your entrance. You gasped when he slid it inside of you, pumping it in and out.

He pulled his mouth away to watch you, “Fuck, you’re so wet.”

You whimpered at his words as his fingers started to curve a little. “Oh shit,” you whined, as he slowed his fingers.

“You okay?” he asked, trying to ready your face, scared that he’d hurt you.

“That felt good, keep doing that,” you said, gasping as his finger moved quicker. “You can use two.”

He added another finger and moved them against that spot as he leaned down to focus on your clit with his mouth.

“Fuck, a little faster, baby,” you moaned, feeling that coil in the pit of your stomach getting tighter.

He did as you said, before he switched from licking your clit to sucking on it.

“Oh fuck,” you whimpered, your legs starting to jolt. He gasped as your pussy started to contract around his fingers. He didn’t want to stop his actions too quickly, so he just kept going until you started to pull away. You were letting out shaky breaths as he sat up to look at you, the blissful expression on your face making him smile.

“Did that feel good?” he asked, as you smiled and nodded with your eyes closed.

“That was perfect, babe.”

He curled up on the bed beside you, caressing everywhere he could reach as he waited for you to tell him it was okay to go further. He noticed the gasp that slipped past your lips when his hand ran over one of your breasts, so he started to massage it.

“Baby, I’m not trying to rush you, but my mom will be home soon,” you said, smiling at him. “I really don’t want this to get interrupted.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said, sliding off the side of the bed to take his jeans off. You giggled at him as he smiled at you. “Sorry, I’ve been hard for so long.”

“It’s okay, babe. I love that you’re so excited,” you said, as he nodded.

“Yeah, I’m excited to experience this with the person that means the world to me,” he said, as he grabbed a condom out of his wallet before he slid his boxers down. He was mumbling something to you, but you couldn’t focus as you stared at him, starting to get a little anxious. “Did you hear what I said?” he asked, as you shook your head. “I was just reminding you that if it’s too much, let me know.”

As he stood in front of you, you started to question if it would be too much. He opened the condom and rolled it on before he crawled back on the bed to hover over you.

“Can you go slow?” you asked, as he lined up with your entrance.

“Of course, baby. As slow as you want,” he assured you, as he started to push himself inside of you. He noticed you wincing at the pain, and even tensing up a little. He stilled, looking over your face. “Try to relax, baby.”

He didn’t move, he just waited for you to give him the okay. He leaned down to kiss you, as the pain started to ease.

“Keep going,” you said, as he slid in a little further. You tensed up again, so he just kept kissing you. He wanted you to know that this wasn’t just about him enjoying the experience. He wanted to take care of you. It was starting to get to the point where the pressure of him stretching you started to feel really good. “Can you move?” you mumbled against his lips.

“Uh, I’m almost all the way in…are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, as your lust-filled eyes looked into his.

“It’s not really hurting anymore,” you said, as he started to smile. He slid the rest of himself inside of you, a soft moan slipping past your lips. His hips slowly started to move as he looked down at you. He was internally screaming but was trying to play it as cool as you were. “Can you go a little faster?”

“Yes,” he said, but it really came out as a whimper as he started to move a little faster. You were just so warm and tight. It was better than he ever thought it would be. “You feel so fucking good.”

“So do you,” you moaned, as the tip of his cock started to hit the spongy spot inside you. “Fuck, Ethan,” you whimpered, as your hand reached down to rub circles on your clit.

“I love you so much, baby,” he whined out, as he started to go even faster. He didn’t know if it was going to be too much for you to handle, but the way you started to moan helped ease the anxiety he had about it.

“I love you, too,” you whimpered, feeling your second orgasm creeping up.

He started to get even more confident, angling your legs so he was able to go a little deeper. Your hands held on to his biceps as he looked down at you. He was trying so hard not cum, but the expressions on your face and the sounds you were making made it a lot harder for him.

“I’m gonna cum,” you whimpered, as he sighed in relief, knowing he didn’t have to hold back much longer. He groaned out the second your walls started to tighten around him, your hands shaking as the grip you had on his arms got tighter. He got you though it, speeding up a little as he chased his own orgasm.

His thrusts started to falter as his mouth fell open and his eyes began to flutter. You watched him though your post-orgasm haze, smiling as he opened his eyes to look at you. His chest was heaving, a goofy smile on his lips.

“That was a million times better than my hand,” he joked, making you laugh.

“It better be,” you said playfully, as you heard the front door open. “Shit.”

You and Ethan both jumped off your bed, your legs wobbly as you tried to find your clothes. You slid your panties back on as Ethan got his boxers and jeans back on. The second you got your shirt over your head, your bedroom door opened.

“Hey, there’s some people out here to see you,” your mom said, looking down at her phone as she walked into your room.

“Uh, mom,” you said, as she looked up at you.

“What the fuck is going on here?” she asked, noticing you without pants, Ethan shirtless, and the condom wrapper on your bedside table.

“Can we talk about this in a minute?” you asked, desperate for her to leave the room so you could finish getting dressed.

She huffed as she walked out, slamming the door behind her. Once you got your jeans back on, you heard your mom yell “I’ll kill him,” as Ethan looked over to you, terrified. You giggled as he slid his shirt over his head.

“It’s okay, babe. Hopefully Brooks will back me up,” you joked, as the both of you walked towards the door.

Your mom walking in was embarrassing enough, but when you walked out to see all the friends you hadn’t seen for a week sitting on the couch curiously looking at you and Ethan, your cheeks started to turn red.

“Oh, uh, hey guys. What are you doing here?” you asked, as Mindy pointed to the take-out bags on the kitchen island.

“Yeah, we wanted to surprise you and bring you food,” Chad said, before directing hit attention to Ethan. “I tried to text you a few times to invite you to come with us, but I understand why you didn’t respond.”

Ethan awkwardly laughed, before he noticed your mom glaring at him from the kitchen.

“Babe,” Brooks said, walking up beside her. “It’s okay.”

“You think me coming home to see my daughter and her boyfriend trying to put their clothes back on is okay?”

Mindy was trying to hold in her laughter, Chad was, too.

“Can’t we all just be happy that I trust Ethan, and finally told him everything?” you said, trying to play it off as a joke as your mom rolled her eyes.

“That’s a good point,” Brooks said, “That’s something she wasn’t able to do before.”

“Are you just going to back her up on everything?” your mom sighed, looking up at him.

“I just want you to see the positives,” he said, before gesturing over to Ethan. “He’s a good kid. He cares about her.”

 “I really do,” Ethan said, finally speaking up.

“See? I know you’re still going to worry about her, but let her be happy,” Brooks said, as your mom started to walk over to you.

“You are going on birth control. And you,” she said, turning to Ethan, “If you hurt my daughter, I’ll kill you.”

“I won’t hurt her,” Ethan said, as she stared him down.

“You better not. Let’s eat before the food get’s cold.”

[punktactical]

⋆୨୧˚  PERVERT !

sanji ; catches his roommate taking photos of him, proceeds to get turned on.

⋆ " hello!! okay, so, I got OBSESSED with the perverted sanji and perverted reader fic😫😫 I wanted to request kind of the opposite ?? reader getting caught getting off to photos of sanji, and they end up doing it ?? sorry if it's generic ANYWAYS I love your blogggggg <3333 "

WARNINGS ; fem!reader , pervert!reader , virgin!reader, first time , unprotected , dirty talk , dacryphilia , praise , vaginal sex , shower sex , sanji is also a perv lawl ..

A/N ; srry for the hiatus ,, im back tho hehe. thank you for the request !!

⋆

THIS HAD BECOME A ROUTINE.

a very wrong routine.

long story short - you'd sneak photos of sanji in the shower and then go get off to them. simple as that. yeah it was wrong, but you couldn't help it. he was hot but he was also your roommate so it could never be anything more.

today was nothing new, sanji came home from work, exhausted as usual. you'd go 'prepare' dinner as he took a shower.

waiting in the kitchen, you'd listen attentively for the sound of water running, before grabbing your phone and sneaking into the bathroom. you were seriously starting to feel bad, but you were in too deep now. twisting the doorknob ever so slowly, you pushed the door open, not a lot so he couldn't feel the cold from the outside rush in.

through the foggy glass of the shower, you could barely see his lean figure, water running down his shoulders, all the way down to his ankles. you shuddered, shaking your head quickly before opening the camera to your phone. you always made sure to silence the shudder sound on your phone, to avoid being caught, of course. if you ever got caught, you'd probably jump off a building.

climbing onto the toilet seat, you peeked over the shower just enough to catch a glimpse of sanji. god, you almost had a nosebleed. gasping softly at the sight, you turn away quickly, looking away in shame. how could you do this? to your roommate? you had to be some sick pervert to do this.

which is exactly what you are.

with a shaky hand, you hold your phone up over the shower, making sure that sanji's eyes were closed at the time. sucking in a breath, your fingers pinch at the screen, zooming in on him. biting your lip, you click the capture button, heart sinking the very next moment.

CLICK ! ⋆

if god existed, he was cruel.

cruel to perverts like you.

scrambling off of the toilet seat, you trip, falling onto the floor quickly. catching your breath, you try to get up, failing at the sound of the shower being turned off. crawling over to the door, you're about to open in until sanji opens the shower door.

you couldn't make out his expression, tears covering your vision. maybe you would've come up with an explanation if it weren't the heat beginning to pool between your legs. "s- sanji, i can explain!!" you squeal, jumping to your feet. you began to blabber about stupid things, excuses that made no sense, all while your phone was still open on the camera app, lying on the toiler seat.

sanji gulped, sniffing back a nosebleed. you're expression, paired with the nervous tears, made his cock stir. he bit his lip, watching as you rambled. he was literally exposing his body to you, why were you apologizing? he knew you were taking photos of him, he just could never bring it up to you.

your blabber died down as the tears finally rolled. you sniffled, your gaze now wracking sanji's whole body. his toned muscles, v-line, and a hardened dick made you red in the face. smacking a hand over your face, you squeak. "fuck- i'm so sorry! i'm such a freak!" turning around, you hand slams onto the doorknob, trying to pull it open. unfortunately, it seemed it was jammed.

"it's fine."

you shriek as you feel sanji's hands land on your shoulders, the water sinking into your shirt. "i like that you were taking photos of me, 'kay? and as you saw, i have a problem." you gulp, his hands moving from your shoulders down your arms, rubbing them lightly. the 'problem' pressed up against you, rubbing against your ass. you both gasp at the contact, sanji bit back a moan while you fight off the urge to whimper. "just fucking help me already." he groaned, already lifting up your shirt.

-

which is how you ended up in the shower with sanji, one leg lifted over his shoulder while the other was held up by his arm.

clothes were scattered on the tile floor, long forgotten. water slid down your back, glistening in the light.

his cock teased your clit, sliding back and forth between your slick folds. fat tears rolled down your cheeks, red from all the crying. "fuck- i forgot you're a virgin.. so fucking hot." he whispered the last part, biting his lip as he slapped his dick on your pussy. you sobbed, head hung low. he nestled his face into your neck, kissing along your jawline. "shh.. i'll go slow, such a pretty little thing .." he muttered, kissing your tears away. his hand gripped his cock, guiding it inside of you.

your breath hitched at the stretch, watching as his cock slowly sunk into your pretty pink pussy. sanji watched your face attentively, adoring the way your round eyes were wide with wonder. he almost felt bad he was your first.

he can't wait any longer. sanji grumbles, finally thrusting all the way into you.

you threw your head back with a sob, crying incoherent things. sanji sighs at the feeling of your gummy walls squeezing him, hiding his face in your neck. "sssanji, it's hurts..." you sniffle, wrapping your arms around his neck. you can feel him smile against your skin, making you shudder in delight. "shhh, you just need time to adjust.. you can take it."

over the course of a few minutes, you have been reduced to a whiny and whimpering mess, pathetic.

sanji sighed, rocking his hips back and forth slowly. he watched your expression of pleasure, teary eyed and drooling, just barely being able to take his cock. he wanted nothing more than to just fuck you deep and good, show you what you've been masturbating to. alas, he knows you've never taken real dick before and you need time.

it seemed you noticed his frustration though. you try to move your hips, but he clicks his tongue at you. your eyes meet and he smiles softly, leaning down to kiss your forehead. "i don't think you can take it." he chuckles, moving his hips slowly, watching his cock move in and out of you. with a frustrated whine, you move your leg from his shoulder to his backside. you do the same with your other leg, wrapping around his torso and pulling him in closer. "please fuck me, sanji. oh god- please.." hearing your words turned him on. "shit- are you sure?" you nod frantically and that was enough for him.

his pace was steady at first, pumping himself inside of your velvety walls. your choked sobs and cries made him dizzy. he wanted to cum later, to make this experience special for you, but god he could barely hold back with the way you cried, begging him to fuck you deeper. the longer he went, the sloppier his pace got. you felt this funny feeling in your tummy, whining into sanji's neck. "sssanji! i'm gonna- i think i'm gonna cum, oh fuck!" sanji practically busted inside of you right at that moment. his hand quickly traveled to your clit, his thumb rubbing the senstivie bud in swift circles. the pressure against your clit and the way his cock nestled deep inside had you cumming in a matter of seconds. "cum, please cum on my cock, god you're so beautiful-!" he pleaded, pressing himself deeper into you. 

"please cum, gorgeous. i need to feel you cum on my cock- oh fuck!" the funny feeling in your tummy snapped, making you shriek in delight. sanji growled, fucking you through your orgasm. "just like that- shit...!"

he pulls himself out of you quickly, gripping his cock and pumping it swiftly. you watched with teary eyes as he pumped his load out onto your stomach, drizzling down your wet skin. you both huff in silence, trying to regain your breath. "i-i'm so gross, sorry sanji.." you start, sniffling. he shushed you, pulling you into a sloppy kiss. mumbling against your lips, he grins.

"i knew you were taking pictures of me, i guess i should've made a move first."

⋆

[tryingtograspctrl]

LUNCH: JENNIFER CHECK X BLACK PLUS SIZE READER

SUMMARY: When Jennifer wants something she doesn’t hesitate to do everything in her power to get it. When she sets her eyes on you, making you hers is a no brainer.

Warning: Mentions of killing and blood. Otherwise it’s pretty fluffy.

Note: Reader is a shy and a stereotypical nerd, also super oblivious.

Jennifer had her head down as she walked through the halls, texting away on her phone.

You were walking in the opposite direction in front of her, nose deep in a book.

She gasped as the two of you collided your drink spilling all over her, her purse falling to the floor and most of her belongings falling out of it.

"Ugh what the fuck!" She squealed.

"I'm so so sorry, i should’ve been paying attention." You apologized scrambling to pick her things up.

"Damn right you should’ve." She growled watching you toss her items back into her bag.

She paused as you stood up again, getting a good look at you, her anger quickly fading.

You were adorable, big e/c eyes, a chubby face with the softest cheeks that she was just dying to pinch and the cutest pouty lips that you were currently nibbling on nervously.

"I can't get the stains out here but i dont want you walking around all sticky because of me, come on." You spoke softly, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her to the bathroom.

You took a few paper towels from the dispenser, wetting them in the sink and squeezing out the excess water.

Jennifer shrugged her jacket off, throwing it on top of one of the stalls.

She watched as you scrubbed her skin gently, removing all the sticky residue.

"Sorry again for ruining your clothes." You mumbled.

She melted as you looked up at her through your lashes.

"That's alright. Here, put your number in my cell and i’ll text you my address, that way you know where to drop off my jacket after you clean it." She explained handing you the pink device.

You nodded, typing in the digits quickly and handing her phone back to her.

"Thanks cheeks." She smiled at you before exiting the bathroom.

After school

You started up the washing machine, pouring some laundry detergent inside and watching it bubble up in the warm water.

To your relief the stain remover you bought had actually worked, now you just had to get rid of that coffee smell.

You tossed jennifer’s jacket inside closing the lid, then walking to the kitchen to make yourself something to eat.

You pulled out the ingredients for a sandwich, placing them all on the counter.

You perked up at the sound of your phone dinging, a small red icon beside the message app.

You clicked on it, a text from your friend popping up.

Mel: Party 2nite!!! You coming?

You shook your head, smiling fondly as you could practically feel her excitement radiating through the screen.

You: Can’t, busy tonight :(

Mel: Yeah yeah busy sticking your nose into one of those books like always BORINGGG

You rolled your eyes placing you phone on the counter.

Hours later

Night time rolled around fairly quick and you were so busy studying that you had almost forgotten about the jacket.

“Shit.” You ran downstairs praying that it didn’t shrink in the dryer, though you were sure if it got any smaller it’d probably just disintegrate.

You sighed in relief seeing that it was still in the same condition it was when you put it in there, only now it was cleaner.

You pulled your phone out of your pocket, looking over the address that Jennifer had sent you once more before grabbing your keys and heading out the door.

The drive there wasn’t very long, surprisingly she lived just a few blocks down from you, honestly you could’ve walked.

You knocked on the door a couple times, stopping when you heard shuffling on the other side.

“Oh hey, come in!” Jennifer perked up at the sight of you, pulling you into her house.

You looked around for a moment, taking in her home, noticing a few baby picture of her hanging up on the walls.

“You want something to drink?” She questioned opening to fridge.

“No i’m good.” You fiddled with the ends of your sleeves.

“Loosen up a bit i don’t bite, unless of course you want me to.” She smirked getting into your personal space.

You inhaled sharply taking a step back.

She laughed going to sit on the couch, grabbing the remote and flicking through channels.

You took a seat beside her awkwardly.

“You didn’t wanna go to the big party tonight?” She eyed you, taking a small sip of her soda.

“Parties aren’t really my thing, plus i had to study.” You spoke quietly staring at your shoes.

“You’re really cute.” Jennifer cooed scooting towards you, cupping your face in her hands.

“Thanks.” You smiled shyly.

“I mean it, you’re adorable.” She booped your nose sitting back on the couch to give you some room.

The two of you watched tv, chatting every once in a while, mainly her asking questions, getting to know you better.

You were surprised at how nice she was, you didn’t like to feed into gossip or listen to rumors but you had seen with your own two eyes how nasty Jennifer could be and yet the girl sitting beside you was like a completely different person, soft spoken, sweet.

“It’s getting late, i should head home.” You spoke up after a while, glancing at the clock on the wall.

“Aww so soon?” She pouted intertwining your hands.

“Maybe we can hangout some other time.” You suggested.

“Yeah i’d like that.” She smiled standing up to walk you out.

You slipped your shoes on, heading out to your car.

She waved goodbye once you got inside, waiting for you to pull out of her driveway before closing the front door.

You smiled to yourself on the drive back home. She wasn’t as bad as she seemed, hopefully you could call her a friend.

A few days later

You and Jennifer had gotten a lot closer over the past week, spending nearly all of your free time together. Watching movies at her place or yours, going shopping, playing video games, karaoke, you name it. Where one of you went the other wasn’t far behind.

You were in your room one night, textbooks sprawled out on your bed. Jennifer was supposed to be coming over but after an hour had passed with no sign of her you were starting to get worried.

You decided to call her, sighing in relief when she answered on the first ring.

“Hey cheeks, what’s up?” She asked.

“You were supposed to be coming over to study, remember?” You questioned furrowing your brows in confusion.

“Sorry i went out to grab a quick bite to eat, guess i just lost track of time.” She stared down at the lifeless body of the boy she just feasted on.

“Oh well that’s alright, just let me know when you get here and i’ll come down and unlock the door.” You responded.

“K babe i will.” She hung up, stuffing her phone in her pocket and wiping blood from the corner of her mouth.

She had arrived nearly 10 minutes later, tossing her purse on your desk and plopping down in the bed beside you.

What was supposed to be a study session for the math test that you two had the next day quickly turned into a night of chit chat about everything under the sun.

You shifted uncomfortably when the topic of discussion turned to boys and hookups.

“You mean to tell me you never had your first kiss?” Jennifer stared at you in disbelief.

“No i haven’t.” You ducked your head, embarrassed.

“Aww i didnt mean to make you feel bad cheeks, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m just a little shocked that’s all, nobody has tried to kiss someone as cute as you?” She placed her fingers under your chin, tilting your head up.

“Nope.” You fiddled with your fingers, avoiding her gaze.

She looked at you for a moment, eyes scanning your features, eventually landing on your mouth.

“Fuck it.” She mumbled before crashing her lips against yours.

You yelped in surprise before relaxing, despite it being your first time kissing someone it didn’t take you long to get the hang of it. Your lips moving in sync with hers.

She pulled away after a few minutes, the both of you panting trying to catch your breath.

“You didn’t have to do that.” You looked at her slightly in a daze.

“I wanted to.” She shrugged, fingers tracing patterns on your thick thigh.

“Why?” You questioned.

“Isn’t it obvious? I like you y/n.” She huffed slightly annoyed.

You blinked a few times, brain trying to process what she just said.

Jennifer check liked you.

“Is it really that hard to believe? I’ve been flirting with you since i met you.” She rolled her eyes.

“Flirting with me?” Your face scrunched up in confusion.

“The girl i told you i liked and was the describing the other day was literally you.” She stared at you in disbelief.

“I thought you were talking about that girl in our chemistry class, she has some of the same features as me.” You spoke defensively.

“If i liked her i definitely would’ve made a move already. I don’t even know her name.” Jennifer responded.

“God to be an academic genius you sure are an air head when it comes to picking up on social cues.” She laughed.

You frowned, nudging her with your foot.

“Come here idiot.” She grabbed your shirt pulling you in for another sweet kiss.

A/N - Was thinking about Jennifer’s body today and decided i wanted to write a fic. The title is inspired by Lunch by Billie eilish and that song is Jennifer through and through. At first this was gonna be smut but i decided to turn it into fluff. I really hope you enjoy this. 🌻

[kimbapisnotsushi]

i was feeling shiratorizawa + semiten and kawashira hcs so y'all know the drill LET'S GO

goshiki has 100% forgotten that he sleeps in a bottom bunk bed and consequently has shot up awake at the sound of his alarm only to bang his head on the underside of the top bunk bed

or the ceiling if he has the top bunk it's the same either way

also for some random reason i really enjoy thinking about semi and peach green tea. idk he feels like such a peach green tea person

fun fact when i first got into hq i made a list in my notes app where i could keep track of what i thought EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (organized by team) would order at a boba shop/cafe so i could reference it for fics. i just looked at it for the first time in years. i apparently put down strawberry black tea for semi which still remains a pretty good choice i think

you know what. semi can be a strawberry black tea AND a peach green tea person. he goes for peach green tea when he feels like straying from his usual strawberry black tea. there i fixed the problem we're back on track

tendou uses the excuse of going on boba runs for the team to get alone time with semi. he'll be like "haha i can't get ALL the drinks by myself!! eita come with me :3" and semi just sighs but is honestly secretly really pleased that tendou would choose him out of everyone to run errands with

the greatest love language of all: running errands together

i actually think that, all things considered, semi was probably a little bit insecure and a little bit shy when it came to performing

like yeah he doesn't mind BEING in the spotlight. but he had to work on thinking he was good enough for it at first if that makes sense??? and i think being benched for shirabu probably exacerbates that

he's not used to showing other people his songs and his music!!! he's not used to being vulnerable!! he's not used to believing that he's skilled!!! because obviously that didn't work out in volleyball!! what if semi isn't actually as good at music as he thought himself to be?

tendou of course is determined to make him throw all these thoughts out the window

furudate please give us the secret cultural festival arc where semi gets a chance to shine because of his musical talents . . .

actually since shiratorizawa is a bunch of rich kids i wonder if yamagata has a smartphone bc i just think that'd make him constantly losing it 100x funnier

yamagata: "can everyone shut the fuck up for like five minutes i lost my phone and need help listening for the vibrations"

honestly why do i feel like half the times yamagata has "lost" his phone was really just tendou messing with him

like he's in the foreground running around looking for it while tendou is in the background snapping selfies with it or whatever

reon, ushijima, and yamagata like to go jogging together early in the morning. semi tried it once and then promptly decided never again

i actually think soft quiet early mornings are reon's favorite time of day!! he gets some peace to himself and he gets to see the sunrise bleed into the sky and he gets that crisp sweet air of fresh dew in the dawn and it's so so comforting to him

god i don't know how he does it i could never be that much of a morning person

however this does also mean reon goes to bed at like nine pm at the latest which tendou is personally offended by

reon the early bird riser who probably does yoga or some shit before meeting ushijima and yamagata vs tendou the night owl who stays up til three reading manga in the dark

genuinely how is tendou functioning at practice he probably stays up til three like four out of seven days of the week

(sorry i know i'm dunking on tendou a lot i'll stop now)

kawanishi will never admit it but he is so incredibly fond of the height difference between him and shirabu

it allows shirabu to fit his head perfectly in the crook of kawanishi's neck during bus rides and such and it makes kawanishi's heart flutter every time

but also kawanishi is MISERABLE during spring because shirabu can't comfortably do that when kawanishi is prone to sneezing like every five minutes

shirabu, teacher's pet that he is, is really good friends with the school librarian

oh my god . . . kawashira blue sky complex au . . . i would actually cry . . .

okay anyways shirabu kenjirou is really good friends with the school librarian and that's how he finds out that the school librarian used to know ushijima's dad

wouldn't that be crazy tho????? i'm thinking it was either the same librarian that utsui had or it was a close friend of utsui's who became the school librarian after they graduated and stuff. i'm kind of leaning towards the second one bc i feel like that makes more sense

i just. can you imagine how alone ushijima had to feel. can you imagine how suffocating it had to be. like there's plenty of reason to assume that his mom's side (and perhaps the mom herself) ended up disliking utsui and i wouldn't be surprised if they tried to scrub him out of ushijima's life

new idea guys utsui comes back and gets with the shiratorizawa librarian

i'm KIDDING

(mostly)

honestly i just think this scenario would really show off how much shirabu and ushijima mean to each other because i think that gets underestimated a lot

they trust each other!!! they respect each other!!!! they understand each other!!! ushijima who knows that he is to be used for his pure raw strength and that that's all shirabu wants to do for him and shirabu who wants to bring out the best in ushijima and thinks of himself as someone who serves ushijima!!!!! shirabu and ushijima who both think they're being used by the other but they don't care because that works best for them!!!! it's their way of showing respect!!! by handing the reigns over!!!!

okay that's a really serious oversimplification of what i'm actually thinking but i got like five hours of sleep and i'm running on two mugs of some strong ass lotus green tea i trust you guys y'all get what i mean

like idk i think ushijima wouldn't really know what to do with shirabu when they first meet in their second and first years. quiet upperclassman who is occasionally a jerk but mostly does not mean to be and his equally quiet underclassman who IS a jerk and DOES mean to be. they'd be so fucking funny together. they back each other up in ways they don't even realize. they could leave entire crowds in tears on accident

actually . . . the poor third years back then who had to deal with this first year they thought was quiet and composed and unassuming and totally chill. but was, in fact, completely unchill

shirabu's gone to bat for every single member of the team at some point btw. soekawa ushijima reon yamagata semi tendou etc etc. none of them have ever witnessed it though word just gets passed around to them like shirabu is some honor-defending ninja who only works in the shadows

and then it really surprises shirabu when they come to bat for HIM

i mean i just. i think shirabu is really used to being independent. is used to doing things by himself. he's not used to other people sticking up for him or other people trying to guide him (which could be another reason why he clashes with semi). it's not that he thinks he's perfect but like. he's never had people who wanted to do that for him before!!

but now he's got goshiki who WANTS compliments from him and he's got kawanishi who loves him for whatever reason and he's got the upperclassmen who ruffle his hair and swing an arm around his shoulders and tell him ot text when he needs help and he's just like ???? like a system error.

give it up for shirabu kenjirou everyone i love him

[dreamcatcher92]

Chapter II: New Life Choices

Summary: Reader falls head over heels in love with her neighbor after a bad break-up. Will he also turn out to be her knight in shining armor as well?

Warnings: smut, language, sex, alcohol use. 18+ only!

The next morning after receiving the Facebook notification, you decided you were going to take a break from social media. You went through your phone and deleted every social media app that you had. You wanted a fresh start and wanted to get back into the dating scene, although you were extremely nervous about it. 

You are not an outgoing person, so you were definitely going to have to challenge yourself. You wanted to try flirting with the hot neighbor. This was going to take a lot of planning because you are not the smoothest person in the world.

You thought that it would be easiest to try and talk to him when he comes back into the coffee shop. So, you grabbed your bag and purse and headed out the door. When you walked in Johanna was leaning against the counter scrolling on her phone. 

“Hey you!” Johanna excitedly said as she put her phone down onto the counter and ran over to give you a hug.

“Hi! How are you today?” You replied as you hugged Johanna.

“I’m okay! You want your usual?” 

“Yeah, sounds great! Hey, has that guy come back in at all?”

“Nope! Not yet at least.” Johanna said with a wink and huge grin on her face as she walked away to make your drink. “Why’s that girly?”

“Uh…no reason really. Just curious.” You sheepishly said then headed to your table that you love to sit at. 

You took out your computer and began to work on things for your marketing job. A few minutes pass, and Johanna brings over your scone and iced drink. Johanna headed back to the kitchen to bake more pastries and you were trying to concentrate on work, but all you could think about was when he would show up. You let out a deep sigh and kept typing.

About two hours had passed, and still no sign of him. Every time someone would walk in, your heart would skip a beat. Then you were immediately let down when you saw that it wasn’t him. Finally after waiting about forty-five minutes, you decided to call it a day and finish things at home.

For the next few days, you did the same routine, but still nothing. Each night you watched when he would come home and pour himself a drink at his minibar. You’d watch him loosen his tie and undo his cufflinks. After turning all your lights off and drawing your curtains, you would peek through to see if he was looking into your windows like you were into his, but he wasn’t. Not at least when you would check. 

Then one evening, you decided to enjoy a glass of wine on your tiny porch. You were listening to music and just enjoying the breeze of the evening air. Something caught your attention and you quickly looked over. There in the doorway was the man. He stood leaning against the doorframe and holding a glass of whiskey. 

Shit! Do something! Say something you idiot! You took a drink of wine and smiled towards him. He smiled back and your heart fluttered.

“Nice weather we’re having right?” You yelled over to him, but immediately felt dumb for saying what you did.

You cleared your throat as you felt a pit in your stomach. You wanted to curl up under the chair. Seriously?! The weather? The fucking weather!? What the hell were you thinking? Talking about the weather is one of the lamest ways to start a conversation. 

“Yeah! It’s pretty nice out tonight.” he replied with a grin.

Holy shit! He’s seriously talking to me!

“I’m Y/N, I moved in not too long ago.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Billy.”

You could not believe that this was actually happening. Now you know the name of the man that you have been lusting over for about a week now. You were trying to think of something else to say, but nothing was coming out of your mouth. 

“I should probably head inside, it’s getting late.” you finally said.

“Okay! Have a great night!” Billy said finding your nervousness comical. 

You turned to go inside, but stopped and turned back around, “um, hey, so I was wondering if I could ask you something.”

Billy smiled and replied, “What’s up?”

“Would you…would you like to have coffee with me sometime? If not, it's totally cool! I just - I just wanted to ask and…” you were stumbling over your words, but he interrupted you.

“Sure! Tomorrow morning sound good to you?” 

“Oh uh, yeah! Sounds great!”

“Alrighty, then I’ll see you in the morning at the cafe.”

“See you then!”

You went inside and let out a squeal. You were so excited and could not believe that this just happened. Tomorrow?! Panic started taking over and you began running the what if questions through your head. What if he doesn’t show? What if I say something stupid and he never wants to talk to me again? What if he comes and it’s so awkward that he just gets up and walks out? What if…

“STOP!” You yelled to yourself while grabbing your head. 

You took a deep breath in and took your wine glass to the kitchen sink. As you rinsed the cup, you got lost in a daydream of how it would be if you and Billy were dating. You smiled and tilted your head as you let out a long sigh.

However, you quickly came back to reality when you dropped the glass into the sink causing it to shatter into pieces. You weren't paying attention to what you were doing, and it slipped right out of your hands. As you were picking the shards of glass out of the sink, a piece sliced your palm open. Blood instantly began to gush from the wound.

“Ow! Fuck!” You yelled as you grasped your hand with the other.

You turned the water back on and ran cold water over the cut. Finally the bleeding slowed enough for you to run into the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit. You quickly wrapped your hand tightly with gauze. After securing your now mummified looking hand, you walked into your room and fell backwards onto your bed while letting out a loud sigh of frustration.

How were you going to explain this if he asks? Of course he is going to ask, why wouldn’t he? You kept running all sorts of things through your mind until eventually, you drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, your internal alarm clock woke you up around 7:00 a.m. Normally this annoyed you to no end, but this morning you were grateful because you had fallen asleep without setting any sort of alarm. You knew Billy didn’t mention a specific time, but you wanted to be sure to get to the cafe soon just in case he gets there early and thinks that you stood him up.

You took a quick shower, styled your long brown hair into big loose curls, and walked over to your closet. Oh God. What the hell do I wear? You grabbed a few things out and laid them onto the bed. Eventually you settled with black leggings, a white top with big sunflowers covering it, and a pair of black flats. You didn’t want to overdo it. After all, it was just coffee. Right? 

You sat in the booth that you normally do and was bouncing your feet on the ground in anticipation for Billy to arrive. You had gotten to the coffee shop around 8:15 that morning. Just to be sure you didn’t miss him, you checked with Johanna to see if he had been in already. Johanna told you that he hadn’t come in yet and wished you luck this morning while squealing and giving you a tight hug.

About thirty minutes goes by, and you start to feel like you've been stood up. Your eyes begin to fill with tears from disappointment, but then, someone walks in. You look up quickly and see that it’s Billy. You hurry to dry your eyes and sit up straight to look at Billy with a big smile.

As he is walking over, he smiles back at you. Billy was a very confident man and always loved to impress the ladies. He could tell that you were nervous, but that made this all the more exciting for him. 

Billy walked up, grabbed your right hand, and gave the top of your hand a gentle kiss, “I’m sorry I’m a bit late. I had something at work that needed to be dealt with before I came.” 

Butterflies filled your stomach as you held onto his hand, “That’s okay. To be fair, we didn’t really set a time.”

Billy agreed and giggled as he looked down at your hands still joined. You realized you were still holding his hand and let out a gasp as you quickly let go. You immediately felt your face feel like it was on fire from embarrassment. 

“I’m so sorry. I’m…” you stammer.

“Nervous?” Billy said with a grin on his face.

“Is it that obvious?”

“A bit, but it’s cute.”

Suddenly your face was on fire again and you couldn’t believe that he just called you cute. You giggle and the two of you begin to have an actual conversation. During the conversation, Johanna brought you both your drinks and tried her best to eavesdrop on what was being said. She was so happy for you.

“I hate to do this, but I have a meeting in half an hour.” Billy said while slowly running his thumb over the top of your hand as he held it.

You gaze into his dark eyes, “It’s okay, I understand. You do run the business after all.”

Billy smiles and bites his lower lip, “How about dinner tonight?”

You were in shock, but quickly answered, “Absolutely!”

He chuckled at how excited you were, “I’ll come by and get you around seven?”

“Sounds great.” you agreed.

The two of you exchanged numbers and before Billy left. He leaned down and gave you a soft kiss on the cheek.

“See you at seven sweetheart.” he whispered into your ear.

You couldn’t move. You watched him leave and could hear Johanna talking to you with pure excitement, but you couldn’t hear anything that she was saying. You were in awe and could not believe what just happened. This kind of thing does not happen to you, but it was, and you were beyond excited. Now, it’s time to go get ready.

[heythrrdelilah]

timmy Timmy Timmy Timmy! Everithing about this lovable man

This man actually owns me. He’s #1 on my list and will forever be. So please request more Timmy y’all 🤣 I haven’t written smut in forever so please be mindful of that when reading.

Warnings: 18+ minors DNI, oral manipulations, sex

Pairings: Timothée Chalamet x F!Reader

Neighbors

The sound of bustling New York traffic filled your small studio apartment as you lay in your bed. You had a particularly rough day at work and you were wanting nothing more than to lay in your dark apartment, binge watch Love Island while you mindlessly scroll on your phone. Your air conditioning in your apartment went out a week ago so the window behind your bed had been open in an attempt of temporarily relieving some of the heat. The busy New York streets have become your sleep ambiance.

In the middle of the re-coupling of the episode you were watching, your finger stumbled upon your dating app folder in your phone. You were scrolling on Instagram before, but something in the Love Island air had you wanting to use Hinge like it was a phone game. You were never looking for anything serious, or anything in general. You never messaged your matches back. It was more like you had the apps for the option.

Scrolling to pass the time, you stopped on one profile that seemed a bit too familiar. The man had curly dark hair that fell over his face. In most of his pictures, his phone covered the majority of his chiseled features but showed his green eyes. It wasn’t until you looked at the name that it struck you where you knew him from. He lived next door to you, well across the hall. He was attractive, tall and lean. You’d never spoken before, just saw each other in passing, he probably hadn’t ever actually seen you before if you really thought about it. You still felt like you couldn’t swipe on him. The likely hood of you matching would probably be impossible, but in the off chance you did match, you lived right across from each other. You’d have to see him every day. If you matched and ignored it like all of your other matches, there would still be the lingering of the known fact you at least find him attractive.

In the deep thought, the show got good and you lay your phone down for a moment, allowing yourself to give your brain a break to dive into the drama of the show. When you looked back down at your phone you saw a giant ‘MATCHED’ across your phone screen. You must have accidentally swiped while putting your phone down. Your heart paused for a second and your eyes widened. The next notification across the screen was a message. He had already messaged you.

Timothée: hey neighbor.

That was it? What were you supposed to respond to that? You tossed your phone to the side and continued to watch the show again until your phone buzzed again.

Timothée: is your AC out too?

Is that why he matched with you? To see if your apartment was in the same condition as his? You could only find out one way.

You: yeah. I talked to the super last week but he just said he would get to it when he gets to it. Glad to know im not the only one.

An hour had passed and no response, so you assumed that had been exactly what he wanted, to ask about your AC. You were on your third episode into the binge when your phone buzzed again.

Timothée: I have a window unit but I have some extra fans. I’ll come bring you one if you need one. This summer is hot as fuck

You rolled your eyes as if it was habit. You’d be crazy to accept. Because he just wanted to know about your ac, but you obviously found him attractive and he knew it because you matched with him. His was information based, yours was attraction based, how embarrassing.

You didn’t respond. You turned your alarm for the morning on, just in case you fell asleep and continued watching your show.

Until a knock came at your apartment door. You huffed out a sigh and flung your legs off the side of the bed. The oversized shirt covering your shorts but you didn’t care. It was one in the morning and whoever it was, didn’t need to be knocking anyways. You opened the door and saw the curly haired man standing in a white t-shirt, black shorts, sneakers, holding a white oscillating fan.

He smirked down at you, “you didn’t answer so I brought it over anyways.” His voice was low and raspy. It added to his attraction. You felt suddenly aware of your messy appearance. “Thank you. I can return it to you when they fix it,” you reached for the fan but he pulled it back. “I can bring it in for you. It’s heavy and the button is finicky,” he informed. You moved to the side and let him in. You pointed to the bed area, “there would be great.”

“You swiped on me. Was it weird knowing I’m your neighbor?” He asked as he plugged the fan in. You turned bright red. When you didn’t respond, he broke the silence, “I am only asking because I swiped on you weeks ago. When you moved in? I told my buddy how beautiful you were.” Your heart was beating fast and you were definitely bright red at this point. “Really?” You asked, too nervous to tell him you basically told your best friend he was hot when you moved in. He nods and looks over at you, his eyes looking slowly from your feet to your head. You managed to find the courage, “I told my best friend basically the same.” He took a step towards you and now there was just inches between you.

He looked down at you, you up at him. The tension was rising. “The fan definitely is helping in here already. It feels cooler,” you croaked out, not breaking eye contact. He smirked, “let’s use the cool air to our advantage and make it hot again?” In that moment he leaned down and his lips met yours. You allowed yourself to sink into the kiss. His hand was on the back of your head, moving your head with his. His other hand was on the small of your back ever so gently. You placed both of your hands on his chest and gripped his shirt to pull him closer. The two of you stumbled back and fell to your bed.

Your hands moved to grasp his hair as his kisses went down your neck, his hands up your shirt gripping your breasts. You pushed him up so that you were in a sitting position. You slipped your shirt off to expose your breasts completely. He kicked his lips in his smirk, throwing his head back and groaning “fuck” before taking his own shirt off and laying back over you. His lips pressed against yours once again and his left hand trailed from the center of your chest, his middle finger just barely grazing your skin, down your shorts and circled your clit slow and gentle.

You instinctively clenched your thighs but he backed away from the kiss and used both of his hands to remove your shorts and push open your legs. He knelt down beside the edge of the bed, gripped your thighs, and pulled you to where you were placed perfectly at the edge. He placed his head between your thighs and began working his tongue and finger in unison. You wiggled and flexed your thighs, arching your back in pleasure. When you couldn’t take it anymore, you moaned out a simple demand, “fuck me.” He looked up grinning at you wickedly, “all you have to do is ask politely.” You looked back at him with pleading eyes and used the sweetest voice you had, “please fuck me.”

He removed his shorts and boxers quickly, grabbing his condom from his shorts showing that he had this planned all along and the fan was most likely just an excuse. A helpful excuse. He lined himself up and slowly inserted himself. He was being a tease. He thrust slowly until you were begging for more.

Six positions and 45 minutes later, you were both lying on your bed, out of breath, listening to the noises of New York. “Nice to finally meet you, neighbor,” he chuckled wrapping an arm around you. You nudged his side jokingly, “likewise,neighbor.”

[spatialwave]

Jordan and Marie doing tiktok challenges????? Like the “saying my boyfriends favorite things during a phone call” on- Marie could be like “oh yeah?? A party?? With coke????”

omg, i am crying this has so much potential. okay... hear me out! jordan totally falls for it.

- emma, probably the world's biggest tiktok fan, decided to teach marie how to use it. once marie had spent a few days completely absorbed in the short-form video app, oh she was obsessed. that's when she decided it was time to include jordan in one of those trends. something about pretending to be on a phone call and saying your partner's favourite things, recording their reactions.

marie wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot.

as she sat next to jordan in their dorm room, she pretended to call someone. oh, how it was hard to keep a straight face when she spoke, seeing their reactions out of the corner of her eyes.

"a party? where?" she asked in feigning surprise, jordan unaware that their glances at marie were being recorded. they stared at her for a moment, only to glance back at the laptop on their lap and acting disinterested.

marie gasped, "no way! you bought molly and coke off of andre? the party sounds like it'll be crazy." she grinned.

that's when jordan's attention fully turned to marie, their laptop already closed and tucked away. "what fucking party?" they whispered to marie, trying to grab her arm so they could get her attention. jordan was completely flabbergasted that marie knew about a party before they did, a bit disheartened that no one told them about it.

marie was so close to losing it, but she persisted because she could only imagine what the recording looked like. she looked at jordan with furrowed eyebrows, holding a finger up to try to quiet them down. "marie-" jordan hissed out a whisper, relentlessly trying to find out more information. a frown forming as they tried listening in on the phone call.

"yeah, dusty's house sounds fun." she said, smiling and covering up a laugh as she tried to push them away gently, much to their dismay, "oh, yeah. that's fine. jordan will be cool with staying back, they don't need to be there."

"marie... what the fuck?" jordan's eyes widened, those big brown eyes filling with disappointment as they sat up straighter and looked around the phone at marie.

that's when she had to stop, those puppy-dog eyes were too much.

"i'm kidding! jordan, it's a joke. a tiktok trend." she laughed, feeling bad as her partner stared at them, blinking as they took in the information, "emma told me i should try it and see what you would do. i sorry, i promise i won't post it." she said through a fit of giggles she tried to stifle, stopping the recording and wrapping her arms around jordan to comfort them.

"wait, so there's no party?"

"oh my god, jordan."

[linddzz]

@seadeepspace tagged me in the last line game like. months ago. and I'm finally getting enough done on the next chapter that I can put out more than a single line!

So here's proof that Audacity isn't abandoned, and a small teaser on the nonsense that'll get started up.

--

-I'm trying to figure out lucid dreaming, you know. It seems like the sort of thing I could probably just ask you for help with, but you get fucking weird about that stuff.-

Understatement of extraordinary proportions.

-How does it work anyway, when someone dreams about you but you’re not actually there? You said you’re made up of all dreams, but you also won’t go rummaging around in mine. How the hell does that work?-

It’s not like he’s planning on asking Morpheus all this. Christ no. It’s just…nice to pretend. It isn’t the first time he’s kept some notes of things he would like to talk to his old friend about, but it feels less like a pleasantly distant fantasy and more like an ache. Phones are fantastic these days. He barely got past his giddiness with electronic mail before instant messaging took off, and then became available at any moment. Long romantic letters are one thing, but sometimes he just wants to chat.

-I miss you.-

He winces, seeing the words laid out plain is somehow worse than just thinking it constantly.

-Which is stupid. I see you more than I ever have, and half that time you’re fucking me up in the most supreme ways.-

The tension from the nightmare has bled from him, and he shuffles himself back under the covers with a yawn. The world feels slower, heavier. Now he thinks what it would be like, if he could text Morpheus. Not with all this embarrassing shit of course. That would all get typed up and quickly deleted without hitting send, his heart frantic the entire time. He would send pictures of the black cat that’s always staring at him with reproach when he tries to lure it over with nonsense sounds. Or he’d send lyrics from every stupid silly song about dreams and snicker to himself imagining the faces Morpheus would make at them. He’s smiling to himself as his eyelids begin to sink, picturing the messenger instead of his notes app.

-So are we going to try dinner again, or were the oyster nightmares too traumatic?-

Yeah. That’d be a safe one. Something teasing and friendly that he could picture Morpheus huffing at on the other side of the screen. Maybe he’d even get a response about how nothing traumatizes Morpheus, because he is steeped in trauma and nightmare. Or something like that; grand, dramatically grim, and stupidly self-serious.

The screen is still lit when it falls from his limp fingers. Hob sinks into sleep, already far gone enough that he thinks it’s part of his dreams when the phone gives two short buzzes against his pillow.

[gh0stsp1d3r]

Ooo can I please request a Dad!Tangerine x daughter!teen!reader where when he was younger, he had a daughter but he didnt/doesn’t know she exists until she goes looking for him and finds him and Lemon on the Bullet Train. Lol imagine Y/n nonchalantly (but also excitedly) running up and sitting across from Tan and Lem, Tan being like, “Who the f are you??” And y/n being like, “I’m glad you asked… Hi Dad!” I imagine the Twins being SHOOK… Anyways, later on Tangerine being like “What are you doing here???? You can’t be here!! It’s not safe!!” When Tan is confronting The Prince and Ladybug intervenes, instead of Tan getting hit by the bullet, Y/n gets hit because she pushed him out of the way after it was accidentally set off? (She lives but it’s all super emotional and Tan is a panicked dad) Tan being like, “Why would you do that??” Y/n just didn’t want to lose her Dad after only just finding him + Lem being the best, most fun Uncle🥺

I kinda based her off of nimona, I’m obsessed with that movie rn omg 😭

Readers adopted so everyone can read!!! (: Blood, gun wounds

Chance

You quickly boarded the train, looking down at your phone again. It was quite easy to hack into his phone.

You followed it, until you bumped into a tall man.

You looked at him, back at the app, and then him.

“What the fu-“ he started, until he realized that you were a girl, a young one, probably around a teenager. “Excuse my language. You alright? You should really watch where your going.” He said.

“I’m- Im fine. Yeah. I’m fine.” You said, with a small smile.

“Right well.. sorry bout’ that.” He said, and continued to walk. You followed him, beaming in excitement.

You followed him and another man as well, then they both sat down. You sat on the other side, watching them with a large smile.

“You? What do you want?” Tangerine asked, jumping when he saw you.

“Well, I want you to know something.” You pulled out the rolled up papers in your pocket, when they both pointed guns at you.

“Relax.” You rolled your eyes, showing him the paper in your hands. You handed it to them.

“The… freak is this?” Tangerine asked, grabbing it. He stopped himself from cursing.

“You can say fuck you know. I’m not like 10.” You sat back and rolled your eyes.

“Right.. the fuck is this?” Tangerine said.

“It’s adoption papers. You and my mom adopted me.” You shrugged.

“What.. I didn’t agree to any of that shit-“ he said.

“Well that’s not fucking creepy.” Lemon said, looking at you.

“Oh no, it is. But he’s my dad! My adoptive dad technically… If you couldn’t understand all the smart people language on the paper.”

“I’m not your damn dad.”

“Your name is Aaron, you live on 78th street in-“

“Look, lady, I don’t know who the fuck you are honestly, and I don’t know why you’re stalking me-“

“The both of you technically.”

“That don’t make it any better.” Lemon said.

“Right.. well don’t know why you’re stalkin’ us, cause I’m not your damn dad, but if you don’t get away and off this train-“

“You’re gonna stab me? Blow my brains out? Poison me and make it so only a hot way older prince could save me like in Snow White? Cause if you’re gonna do any do the third one. It sounds more fun.” You said with large eyes.

“You’re a fuckin’ nutcase. Jus’ please, let us get out jobs done-“ tangerine started, when Lemon showed him something on the adoption papers.

“That is your signature. Right there. Aaron-“

“I didnt… did I?” He said.

“Not that I remember.” Lemon said.

“My mom said that you left us after you adopted me. I was a baby but… yeah! And she then gave me the papers, and she didn’t want me to go find you but I did anyways. I hacked into your phone, got your location and followed it.” You shrugged.

“I didn’t sign no fuckin’ adoption papers. They must’ve been forged.”

“Well, whether you wanted me or not isn’t why I came. You’re still legally my dad. Your signature on that paper, no?” You pointed to it, and pulled out your phone and showed him a picture of him and your mom.

It was high school prom. And then you scrolled and showed him a picture of her holding you as a child, father not in sight.

“Fuck. She forged my signature? Fuckin’ course she did.” Tangerine mumbled, rubbing his temple in frustration.

“So, dad, what are you doing on this train?”

“We’re working. Where’s your mom? You should really get off. It’s not safe-“

“Oh, relax. It’s a train, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Tangerine and Lemon looked at each other knowingly.

————————————————————

“We needa get you off this damn train.” He mumbled when the white death had hung up, grabbing your hand and pulling you along. He stopped when he came across a girl. He quickly pulled you behind him.

“Oi, I know you! You’re that girl, aren’t ya?” He said, pointing to her.

“Oh my god.” She whispered.

“I never forget a face, me.”

“I’m so happy to see you both. Please.” She said as he walked towards her, gun still in hand. You quirked an eyebrow and peaked your head out from behind Tangerine.

“There’s this man and he was holding me hostage, he was wearing glasses and… he killed my uncle, and he also killed this other man who I don’t know, just kept talking about Thomas the trains and-“

“Tank engine.” Tangerine corrected, remembering how his brother had always corrected him.

And even though you just met Lemon, you really liked him. He was fun, and he labeled you a character even.

“Right, he killed them both, and then he said he was going to get away with some sort of money. I don’t know.”

“I’m- Im sorry darling, I don’t know who the fuck you are.” He said.

“I’m just a girl who was supposed to get off at Nagoya and then this man-“

“That was fuckin’ ages ago!”

“I know but this man, he just said that he would be a good backup plan and a pretty girl makes a good hostage.”

“Yeah, well he ain’t wrong there, but look keep your fucking knickers on alright?”

“Please just help me, please!”

“Alright, alright, calm down. Get off or do whatever the fuck you like, you’re free to go. Don’t know what you’re doin’ here anyway.” He moved past her when you noticed something on her back.

You looked at the sticker and then handed it to Tangerine who was about to leave.

“It was on her.” You held your hands up in defense when he gave you a weird look.

He looked back at her and turned around.

“Diesel. The absolute fuckin’ worse. Lil’ shit stirrer.” He sighed, you were behind him again now. “Lemon, God rest his soul, could read people, see em’ for who they really are. He was right, there’s been a diesel, running up and down this train, causin’ all sorts of fuckin’ havoc, and it was you the whole time! You dirty little diesel!” He pointed the gun at her. “You made lemon bleed, and lemon never bleeds.”

“Oh my god mr please help me!”

Ladybug looked at you then Tangerine, quickly pulling out his gun and pointing it at him. You looked at Tangerine and back at Ladybug, and you quickly pushed tangerine out of the way, before you could get out of the way, the bullet hit you. Your arm had a fiery pain, and blood seeped through your shirt.

You groaned and sat up, Ladybug staring in shock.

“Oh fuck. I didn’t really mean to do that-“ he said when he noticed Tangerines angry face. As much as he didn’t really want you, or even know you existed, he was responsible for you and he was technically your dad. He quickly attacked Ladybug, and the prince made a run for it.

“You bellend! She’s the one who did all of this!” He said, as he pinned Ladybug down.

“The girl?”

“Yes- obviously the fuckin’ girl!” Tangerine said, you groaned in pain, and that quickly interrupted his fighting. He stopped what he was doing, and turned back to you.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to shoot you, shooting kids isn’t really my thing. Or anyone for that matter anymore.” The man shrugged, sitting across from you. Tangerine was looking around for anything to stop the bleeding.

“Here.” Ladybug mumbled, handing him a roll of guaze he just happened to have.

Tangerine grumbled something under his breath.

“This might hurt, yeah?” He said, looking at you.

You nodded and squeezed your eyes shut, he as carefully as possible, wrapped the guaze around your arm. He tried to stop the bleeding first, then when he found things to, clean the wound, and hopefully get to a hospital or something to get the bullet out.

You held your arm, and he looked at you, sitting next to you.

“Why’d you do that?” He said, trying his best not to sound angry.

“I… I dunno. I just.. didn’t wanna lose you after I just found you.”

Ladybug stared as if it was a movie, a very interesting and heartwarming movie. You both just ignored his existence.

And you missed the way his eyes softened, it was almost as if he was a kid again.

He stared, not knowing what to say.

“Well it was dumb. Don’t do it again.” He paused. “But thank you.”

You smiled widely “So you’re not mad?”

“I’m mad that you would do that-“

You shrugged “You’re my dad whether you wanted me or not.”

“I’ll give you a chance.” He shrugged, you smiled again.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I guess it’s not your fault that your moms a psycho.”

You laughed quietly.

“Does that mean we can get ice cream after this?”

“After a hospital, you mean?”

“Yeah, I guess.” You sighed.

He laughed quietly and stood up again, grabbing your hand and helping you up.

[huffle-dork]

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 2: Stitched Revisited

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

Alt feels that same jolt as he passes through darkness as he did last time. The blackness is very short. When it clears up, he's standing in a kitchen/dining room combination. There's an old floral wallpaper on the upper half of the walls, the bottom half being wood paneling. A window in the dining room shows a street of townhouses outside. No doubt he is in another townhouse. The whole place seems vaguely old-fashioned, in a sort of cozy way. 

"Alt?" The voice, crackling with static, comes from his pocket. No, wait. It comes from his phone in his pocket.

Alt can’t help but stiffen a bit as he hears static come from his phone. Couldn’t the red Anti talk through phones? He shakily reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.

The screen is on, and... Anti is there. Not the red one, the one with the green scarf. He stands in front of the home screen, on top of the task bar at the bottom. It's like one of those programs where you get a little companion to walk around on your computer screen. But with a phone instead. Anti raises his hand and makes a motion like he's knocking on the glass of the screen. "Okay good you can hear me. Seems it's easy enough for me to manipulate your phone speaker." 

Alt relaxes as he sees its the other Anti and he smiles. “oh h-hey! Dude that was… I-insane back there! Is that why you’re in my phone?” He laughs, “you look like a shimeji-“

"A what? Oh, one of those browser pets? I mean... I guess I could be?" Anti idly taps the edge of one of Alt's apps, making it wiggle. "Well. Yeah. That was insane. And the most insane part of it... is that the fucker managed to drain a lot of my energy. I... don't think I can be physical right now. So... shimeji it is."

“Jesus…” Alt sighs, keeping his phone open in his palm. “He’s as bad as Mag… I-i don’t get why he can’t drain my power but I-I guess that’s a blessing for now…” He looks outside the window, “And at least this is another world we’ve been to… but I don’t know who’s house this is…”

"Probably something about you being either a Glitch or from another world," Anti says. "Maybe both. As for whose house we're in..." He turns around on the screen, and Alt's camera function opens up, showing the view to Anti. "Hm... looks like a JJ-style place. But I think he has a shop in this world, so it can't be him." 

“…you know you controlling my screen like this is like- prime horror game fodder,” Alt comments with a light laugh. 

Footsteps come from the hallway. "Ah, well, maybe you can go ask, then," Anti says, hearing them.

Alt then freezes a bit at the sound of footsteps- ah fuck…! He hates intruding like this- it always freaks people out. “U-Um… hello?” Might as well bite the bullet-

A man pokes his head into the dining room doorway. He's wearing a red hoodie, and has brown hair long enough to pull back into a small manbun. There's some sort of amulet around his neck, clearly magic but cracked, non-functional. His eyes widen. "What the fuck?! Who are you?!"

Alt glitches back and holds up his hands, which means he ends up holding up his phone too. “Uh hi! I-I’m Alt? I… I’m looking for uh- S-Schneep?” The red hoodie has him thinking this is a Jackie… but… 

oh- 

His eyes widen, breath hitching. 

"Alt? I don't know an--" The man stops, his eyes also widening. "W...wait a minute. You're the third one--I mean, you're one of those visitors, f-from the other world. And Schneep--he was with you, he--oh." 

Alt’s stomach drops- that confirms it. He glitches back even more, trying not to panic. “Y-you were him- you… w-we were-“ 

A moment passes. Then the man notices the movement on Alt's phone screen. He laughs a little. "What the hell? D'you have a little guy on your phone?" 

Anti waves.

Alt blinks and holds back up the phone. “o-oh yeah uh- that’s Anti- a good one! I mean- he… he needs to rest in here.”

"Anti?" The man goes a bit pale, but shakes it off. "Well, uh... hi, Anti. I'm... Jackie. Good to... meet you." Jackie looks at Alt. "And, uh... nice to... meet you too?" He's not sure how to address this. After all, they've already met each other, in a way. 

“Y-Yeah good to… o-officially meet you, Jackie…” Alt says quietly.

"Um. You were looking for Schneep? I can text him or something. Tell him you're here."

“Uh d-does texting work for Schneep? Cuz uh… eyes…?”

"He has a screen reader app. But, uh, yeah. Probably better to call him." Jackie takes his phone out of his pocket. "Um... do you want to sit down in the living room? Or, uh, I could get you something to eat? Since we're in the kitchen?"

“I-I’m okay on food, t-thank you though…” Alt says. Then he laughs a bit, “Huh I… I appeared in a kitchen the first time I was here too…”

Jackie laughs. "Yeah, Jack told me. That's weird, isn't it? Guess something about you just screams 'kitchen' to the universe." 

Alt laughs a little more, “Y-Yeah I guess so…” 

Jackie starts to dial a number on his phone--then stops. "Oh, I should probably tell Marvin that you're here. He's upstairs right now. Oh yeah, this is our house, by the way." 

"Ahhh, that makes sense," Anti says from Alt's phone.

Alt stiffens a bit but nods, “Oh yeah uh- whatever you need to do. But uh… it’s a nice place-“

"Right. Yeah. Thanks." Jackie smiles a bit, trying to be reassuring. "This whole neighborhood was refurbished recently. Jameson pointed it out to us. Nice place. I'll, uh... be right back. Make yourself at home." He disappears from the doorway. 

Alt tries to smile back- and lets its drop as soon as he’s gone. 

After a moment, Anti speaks up. "Not exactly comfortable with him, are you?"

Alt cringes a bit as Anti calls him out and he glares at the screen. “Look, it's… complicated. Last time I was here we… I-I got fused together with him and Marvin and… I-it wasn’t a great experience…” He closes his eyes and lets out a shuddery breath, “I… I still have nightmares about it… but that’s… not necessarily exclusive to here…” he mumbles quietly, leaning against the wall.

"I remember. You told me about that." Anti's voice softens a bit. "If it helps, it was just as bad for them, too. And they were stuck as Stitches even after you left. They'd understand."

Alt stays quiet for a beat, fiddling with his mask idly. “Yeah I know… t-they had it worst… it’s just… hard. I’m sure I’ll get over it…” he sighs.

"Well. Don't force yourself. They definitely feel just as awkward around you." Anti sits down on the taskbar. 

Footsteps soon echo outside the hallway, and Jackie returns--with Marvin in tow this time. He's wearing a long-sleeve blue shirt and has an identical broken amulet around his neck... a neck which has a long scar across it. "Holy shit, it's actually you," he says, eyes wide. "What're you doing back here?" 

"He's looking for Schneep, I told you that," Jackie says, nudging him slightly.

Alt can’t help but flinch as Marvin comes in but tries to give him a smile. “Y-Yeah uh.. S-Schneep was helping us find something we need so we can fix our traveling device.”

"Yeah, he mentioned something like that." Marvin nods. "Well... guess we'll call him." 

"Y-yeah, I can do that." Jackie is already dialing. 

Marvin shifts awkwardly. He was a bit slow to catch up on Alt's flinch, but he's there now, and he's starting to feel the same thing Jackie is. "S-so uh... This is our house. Welcome. Uh... Schneep and Jack have apartments, and Chase rents a house, and of course JJ has his shop and the flat above that. We, um... all... yeah. So... if anyone else came with you, they'll probably be at those places."

“Thanks- Oh yeah uh… my brother is here, Bro uh… so m-maybe I can call to see where he is.” Alt says timidly. He then blinks and looks down at his phone, “…can I still use my phone like normal if you’re in there?” He asks Anti.

"Should work," Anti says, shrugging. 

"Gah!" Marvin jumps in surprise. Jackie reaches over and puts a calming hand on his shoulder. "Sorry. I just--I know Jackie said there was a--the voice--sorry." 

"...Didn't mean to scare you," Anti says in a slightly softer voice.

Alt jumps with Marvin jumps and then looks apologetic. “oh right uh.. sorry-“ He then pulls up his speed dial and goes to call Chase.

Meanwhile, Jackie pulls his phone away from his ear and frowns. He dials again. 

----------- 

Bro appears in a living room. No, wait. This is a shop of some kind that just happens to look a lot like a living room from the early twentieth century. What gives it away is the counter with a cash register. That, and the price tags on the various knickknacks scattered on the tables. It looks pleasant, pastel blue in color and well-lit with yellow lamps. A front window lets in some sunlight. 

Bro blinks and looks around the space, whistling a bit. “oh- this is a nice place!”

A door behind the counter opens, and a man walks out carrying a box. He's wearing a snapback cap and a purple bandanna around his neck. He starts walking, then stops when he sees Bro. His eyes widen. "Whoa! Hey!" He puts the box down on the counter and points at Bro, making a perfect pog face. "You're that other me!"

When Chase comes in and pogs- Bro copies him then bursts into laughter. “Hello again! How’s it going?”

"It's going great, Bro! It's so good to see you again!" Chase smiles. "Oh, hang on." He goes back to the doorway and shouts, "Jack! JJ! The other me is here again!" 

There's the sound of feet on stairs, and Jack and JJ appear from the doorway. "Hey!" Jack smiles. "You're here!" 

Henrik said you might be here some time! JJ's eyes crinkle in a smile--the actual smile being hidden by the mask he always wears.

Bro brightens as he sees the others. He gives them a two fingered salute and a cheeky grin. “Yo! Good to see you guys!”

"Yeah! Feels like it's been a while." Jack laughs. "I mean--like JJ said, Schneep told us you might be here some time. It's been about... two weeks since he showed up again after that disappearance of his?" 

“Oh wow- it’s been two months for us!” Bro laughs, “Time differences between dimensions are always so weird!”

You're here to see if Henrik found that thing, right? JJ says. And I'm guessing your brother came with you?

“yup! sure Alt is around here somewhere… and Schneep! We’re excited to see him again!”

"Nice!" Chase grins. "So, if you guys appear near people who are like you or your friends, then he's either by Schneep right now, or he's at Jackie and Marvin's house." 

JJ winces slightly. If it's the latter... that will probably be... well, awkward. 

“Oh… yeah-“ Bro says with an awkward smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh. Right." Jack nods. "Well... I'm sure they'll figure it out." He takes out his phone. "Hang on, I'll text Schneep, ask if Alt is with him." 

“That’d be great, Jack, thanks!” Then, the hero blinks slowly, “…wait, Schneep can read texts…?” He frowns, making a confused face. “…he can do lots of stuff but I didn’t know he could do that…”

Jack laughs. "He has a screen reader app. If he gets a text there's a voice that reads out the notification. 'Message from: Jack', stuff like that." 

“Ooh! Like Siri!” Bro laughs. 

"Are you guys gonna stay for longer this time?" Chase asks. "Schneep will be so excited to see you again--metaphorically, of course." 

“I dunno how long we’ll stay but,.. maybe longer this time? Uh- we kinda got chased down in the last world though so I dunno…” Bro says. 

JJ sighs. Looks like we'll have to put inventory on hold, no matter what.

Bro blinks and waves his hand, “oh! This is your shop then?? And I interrupted sorry!!”

JJ's eyes crinkle some more. Yes, this is my shop! he says proudly. I built it up myself. Well, my grandfather left me the building, but the business is all mine. 

"We came here years ago to ask for help with Anti, and that's how we met Jays," Chase says. "Man... meeting you was one of the few good things to come out of that." 

Oh, thank you. JJ blushes a little behind his mask. Don't worry about it, other Chase. We were just moving some things from my storage in my flat down here for sale.

“Oh okay- as long as it’s not a big deal-“ Bro says, smiling. “man- it’s so nice to see you all… happy! You guys were… not in the best place last time we were here. But look at you all now!” He grins wide.

"Yeah, it's great to be back." Jack smiles. "Things were crazy there for a while. We had to process what Anti was, and then Schneep disappeared for a while, we stayed with Chase's ex, then we finally got rid of Anti only for some magicians to show up and start asking us about him! But it's all over now." 

"You should meet Marvin and Jackie, Bro," Chase says. "I think you'd like them. Probably get along really well with Jackie, haha." 

“Oh damn yeah that’s a lot!” Bro laughs, “But I’d love to meet them! Typically Jackies and me just click heh-“

JJ leans over to Jack. Has Schneep replied yet? 

"Nope." Jack shakes his head. "He must be busy; he usually replies fast."

Bro blinks at Jack then tilts his head, “Huh… wonder what he’s busy with… you guys know where he is? Maybe we can just pop by! Or maybe the uh- other Anti we brought is with him already.”

Jack blinks. "You brought another Anti?" 

Of course, it must be that one who helped you out when you were stuck in that place between worlds, right? JJ asks. 

“Yes! Schneep apparently met him a while ago too!” Bro says brightly. 

"Schneep is probably at his apartment," Chase says. "I can drive us over there--I got a rental car lately, using my license again." He smiles proudly.

Bro smiles at Chase and laughs. “Sure thing bro, that’d be great!”

"Alright, let's go, then!" Chase claps his hands together. "We should all fit in there."

As the group walks outside onto the street, Bro's phone starts to ring.Bro starts to follow then pauses and pulls out his phone. “Oh one sec! Maybe this is Alt.” He perks up when he sees it is. “Hey bro! Where did you end up?”

 "Tell Alt we say hi," Chase says. 

Bro laughs, “The others say hi-“ 

“Hey- I’m with Marvin and Jackie in their apartment and Anti is with me. The other one apparently drained him so he’s hanging out in my phone.” Alt’s voice answers. 

Bro stops in his tracks again, “…Anti’s with you? …huh- then… is no one actually near Schneep then?” 

“Huh? You’re not with him?” 

“No I ran into everyone else though - Jack, other me and JJ.“ 

No one is with Henrik? JJ repeats, a feeling of dread pooling in his stomach. 

Back on Alt's end of the phone call, Jackie slowly lowers his own phone. "Uh... Schneep's not picking up. He usually picks up." 

Marvin frowns. "He's probably just busy." 

But static crackles from Alt's phone speakers as Anti frowns.

“Yeah uh-” Alt listens to Jackie and feels a bit of anxiety in his stomach as he hears the static from his phone. “Have you guys heard anything from Schneep yet?” 

“No… Jack said he tried to text him. Thought it was weird he didn’t answer right away… we’re driving over to his apartment.” Bro says.

Jack checks his phone again. "Yeah, no, he still hasn't replied." He frowns. 

Marvin leans to the side. "Did I hear your Chase say they were going over to Schneep's apartment? That's probably a good idea. We can head over there, too." 

Jackie tries calling Schneep again, but shakes his head, now looking worried. "It's entirely possible that he put his phone in the other room or something, but...it's been ringing for a while. And he doesn't wear headphones. So he probably should've heard it by now."

Alt frowns, “yeah l-let’s head over there too… I-I’m worried.” 

“I’m sure he’s fine, Alt.” Bro tries to reassure him. “But, we’ll meet you all over there okay?” 

“Okay- s-see you soon…” Alt says before hanging up. He frowns at the phone, “…I-I have a really bad feeling…”

Marvin nodded slowly. "I, uh... I can probably teleport us. Not all the way there, that's a bit too far for my range, but if we take a bus halfway I can get us the rest of the way there."

“If you all have been there before then- I can glitch us there.” Alt says sheepishly. “I-if that’s okay with both of you…”

"Oh! R-right, yeah." Jackie nods. "I... Yeah, you can do that." He hesitates, then looks at Marvin. "Are... you okay with that?" 

"I did just suggest the teleporting," Marvin says. 

"Yeah, but... glitching..." 

"It'll be fine, Jackie," Marvin says softly. 

Jackie took a deep breath. "Right. Yeah." He nods and looks at Alt. "We'll do that. Chase and the others will have to catch up."

Alt nods. He hesitates then holds out a hand- “um… f-for me to take you with me we gotta uh… touch somehow.” He says awkwardly, looking away. 

"'Course. That makes sense." Jackie grabs Marvin's hand in his left, then reaches out with his right and takes Alt's. His grip is loose, hesitant. "Let's go."

Alt tries not to jolt at all when Jackie takes his hand. “Okay just- picture what his place looks like… that helps.” He then closes his eyes and in a quick flash of green- all 3 of them glitch away to Schneep’s apartment.

The next thing they know, the three of them are in a living room apartment. It's fairly expansive, modern in design with a wall that's entirely windows, leading out to a balcony overlooking the street below. The lights are off--though, since Schneep is blind, that's to be expected, not a sign of anything wrong. On the wall opposite the windows is the front door and an ajar door showing a bathroom. To the left is a small steel kitchenette and a table. To the right are two closed doors. 

"Schneep?" Jackie calls out. "You home?" 

Silence.

Alt let’s go of the others and starts to glitch around, “Schneep? I-it’s Alt! We’ve been trying to reach you! Are you okay??”

More silence. 

Marvin hurries over to the two doors, opening them up one at a time. One is a bedroom, the other a small sort of office. "He's not in here," he says, looking back at the others. "Not unless he suddenly decided that he likes pranks and jumpscares." 

Jackie takes a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. That's--He could just be out on errands or something." 

"Out doing errands and not answering his phone?" Marvin says doubtfully. 

"I don't know! Maybe? Or maybe he has a job interview?" 

"He'd tell us about that."

Alt can’t hide how worried he is now as he glitches back other to Marvin and Jackie. “Well then where is he? He can’t-“ then he pauses, eyes widening as he pulls out his tracker from Sam. “Wait h-he has the other TRVLR piece! Maybe this can help us find him!” He places a finger over the iris of the tracker.

Alt instantly knows that the TRVLR piece is underground, beneath a building at the address 380 Harbinger Street. 

Alt’s eyebrows furrow, “…it’s underground…?” He says quietly. 

His phone crackles. "You know, there's no guarantee that he has the piece right now, right?" Anti points out. 

Alt snorts at Anti. “I mean I-I know but-“ 

"JJ knows a great tracking spell, h-he can find him if Schneep doesn't have that piece thing," Marvin says. "But--it's a lead, I guess? What is that thing, anyway?" He points at the glass eye tracker. "Some sort of talisman?" 

Alt blinks and then holds out the tracker for Marvin to see. “it’s a tracker our friend Sam gave us to help us find the pieces we’re looking for. Cuz They know where they are… They just need some help getting them. And Schneep offered to help Them too… ” 

Marvin leans down to look at the tracker, eyes wide and sparkling with fascination. 

Alt hums and looks at Jackie and Marvin better, “Do you guys know what something on 380 Harbringer Street might be?”

"Harbringer Street?" Jackie leans back, thinking. "That's sort of north-center in the city. Back when I was a vigilante, the area was known for being vaguely shady. There were a lot of businesses that were fronts for things. You know. Underground organizations." He pales. "That's... Is this TRVLR piece there? If Schneep is there too..."

Alt catches on, his eyes widening. “..h-he could be in trouble…!” He stuffs the tracker back in his pocket, his shoulders shuddering with glitches. “W-We should check there next then! Have you been in that area before, Jackie?”

"Yeah, but... it's... been a while," Jackie says slowly. "And, uh, my memory hasn't been the best ever since..." He trails off. 

"If we can get close, we can walk the rest of the way, it's fine," Marvin says. "This is urgent. Shit, we should call the others and tell them to meet us there!"

“We can do that once we’re there!” Alt says, taking Marvin and Jackie’s hands quickly and concentrating on glitching them over to that side of town.

Suddenly, they're outside, standing on a sidewalk. This part of the city looks a bit more run-down. There are a lot of closed shop fronts, and even the ones that are open have peeling paint and dirty bricks. A storefront nearby is blocked up with plywood that's been spray-painted with graffiti. 

Jackie looks around. "I... don't know if this is the right place," he says slowly. "We need to find a street sign." 

"Use your GPS on your phones," Anti's voice says. 

"Oh, right." Jackie takes out his phone, opening up Maps. After a bit of typing, he frowns. "We're a couple of blocks off. We need to walk for a while then turn left."

Alt shakes himself off then nods, “O-Okay… that doable I guess- better than nothing.” Alt starts to walk, pulling out his phone to text Bro: Schnepp not there. Tracker says address for TRVLR is 380 Harbringer St. heading there now.

----------- 

"Is that Alt? What did he text you?" Jack asks, turning around in the passenger seat to look at Bro in the backseat as his text tone rang out.

Bro pulls out his phone to read and then looks confused. “Schneep isn’t home… Alt says they’re searching on …Harbringer street?”

"Ohhhhh." Chase purses his lips. "That's not a...good part of town..." 

"Really?" Jack looks over at him. 

"It's in the north, and I'm sure you remember Jackie complaining about that place back in the vigilante days." 

"Oh." 

Growing up, I was always told to avoid that area, JJ says. 

"I'm gonna put on some speed, 'kay?" Chase is already pushing on the gas. "I've never been happier that people don't drive a lot in this city." 

“Oh- Jesus… do you guys think Schneep ran into trouble there??” Bro says with worry.

"That's possible," Jack says. "If it's a bad place, I can imagine a lot of assholes messing with him—or worse." 

But Henrik can handle himself, JJ says. Especially with his abilities. He pauses. Do you think I should use a tracking spell?

“…probably better safe than sorry,” Bro nods, “even if Schneep is capable… I feel like he would have told all you guys about going to a place like this… right?”

"Yeah," Chase mutters. "He definitely would've." 

JJ closes his eyes. He makes a gesture like he's holding an invisible plate, and a glowing blue disk forms in his hands. He pulls an arm back and throws it like a frisbee. The disk passes through the windshield like it's not there at all and continues down the street, staying within eyesight but still far ahead. It turns right up ahead and Chase follows it.

Bro fidgets a bit with his jacket. “God… I’m really worried- this… doesn’t seem like Schneep- right? I mean you all know him better than me but… “

"No, you're right, it really doesn't." Jack shakes his head. "He told us he was looking for that TRVLR thing, and he told us where he was looking, but... it wasn't anywhere in the north of the city..." 

Chase and JJ don't say anything, an uneasy silence surrounding the two of them. The car continues north, and the buildings slowly become more and more rundown. There are no pedestrians around... but, as they turn a corner, they see three people waiting in front of a building, a business of some kind. A business with a symbol on the glass window... a symbol that looks a bit like an eye, with three circles forming three irises. 

Bro looks even more worried. Once they pull up in front of the building- Bro’s stomach drops fast as he sees the symbol. “O-Oh no-!” He hurries out of the car and rushes to the others, “Alt! And oh- Jackie and Marvin right? I’m Bro-“ he says quickly. 

"Yep, that's us," Jackie says. 

Marvin raises a hand. "Good to meet you. Wish it was better circumstances." 

“Likewise,” Bro mumbles. Then he gestures at the symbo, looking at Altl. “Um???” 

Alt nods gravelly, “I-I know… t-this isn’t good…”

"What is this place?" Jack gets out of the car, reading the writing on the sign above the door. 

"IRIS Technologies...?" Chase frowns. "I've heard of these guys. They make cameras and shit." He looks at Bro and Alt. "Why... isn't it... good?" The disk from JJ's tracking spell goes straight through the door. 

Alt’s eyebrows furrow, “Cuz as far as we know… IRIS is a fucked up company who has hurt some of our friends… and it could mean Schneep is in a massive amount of danger..!” Glitches fizzle across his skin as Alt looks ready to tear apart the building to search for him. 

Chase pales. "Well... shit. I-I mean... other worlds and all that, but if there's even a chance that he's in danger, we got to look into it." 

JJ looks through the front windows. My tracking spell went through that door at the back. He points it out for the others to see. 

The interior of the business is a waiting area, very plain and generic, with a circular desk where a young woman sits, typing at a clunky-looking computer. Posters on the wall advertise IRIS products. This isn't a store; it looks like a place where you'd go if you had an appointment. 

Marvin grabs the door, testing it. And it opens up. He looks back at the others. "They're open, I guess." 

"Let's go," Jackie says. 

“Alright… let’s see what we can find out then.” Bro mutters, heading inside. Alt looks at the door JJ pointed to, tempted to just go ahead and glitch past it.

"Hi!" The young woman at the desk says in a chipper customer-service voice as everyone walks in. "Wow, big group today. How can I help you?" 

"We're just, uh... checking this place out," Jack says. "Heard about it from a friend." 

"What's behind that door?" Marvin asks, pointing at it. 

"Oh, you'll need a booking to go past there," the woman says. "Do you have a name I can get?" She puts her hands on the keyboard, ready to look things up.

Bro hesitates and then leans on the counter by the woman, grinning charmingly, “Hey~ yeah, you can just put uh… Kieran Brennan. That’s me- you doing okay today?” He puts on the charm big time, briefly glancing at Alt before looking back at her. “And can I just say? Wow- you’re like, stunning…! What's a girl like you doing working in this part of town?” 

"Oh! Oh, um..." The woman blinks in confusion. "I, uh... Mr. Brennan, alright." She types it into her computer. "Thank you very much, sir. I do enjoy this job, it pays very well." She laughs nervously. 

Alt blinks and then nods subtly and while Bro is distracting the woman- he tries to see if he can glitch past the door.

As Alt glitches through the door, he finds himself in a staircase leading downward. The walls are made of a strange white material, and the floor is a dull gray carpet. There's a clunky-looking camera with a blinking red light facing the door--that he just glitched directly in sight of.

“Well that’s good to hear!” Bro grins, trying to keep up the facade. “I’ve had a couple jobs like that- pays good but the area around is kinda shit you know?” He laughs. 

"Haha yeah. It's worth the commute." The young woman quickly finishes typing. "Hmm, I'm not seeing your name coming up. Are you sure you booked it properly?" 

Alt looks around quickly then freezes as he sees the light- he quickly reaches out to see if he can try to destroy it before it captures anything-!

But Alt's magic just bounces off the camera, not even rattling it. And immediately, an alarm goes off, red light flashing. 

“Shit!” Alt curses and then he quickly starts to glitch down the stairs, looking for any sign of Schneep.

"H-huh?" The woman looks over towards the door, alarmed and confused.

"Well--no more time for subtleties!" Jackie declares, and rushes for the door, trying to open it but finding it locked from this side.

Bro’s expression changes on a dime as he now vaults over the counter and goes to try to kick the door open.

The door slams to the side. Most of the group hurries after Bro, but Jack quickly approaches the woman, leaning close. "You should probably get out of here, just in case," he says. 

"U-um--okay!" She grabs a backpack from under the desk and hurries out the front door. As soon as she's gone, Jack hurries after the others. 

The stairs end in an intersection. Three white hallways extend forward, left, and right. Two more branch off left and right at the end of the forward hallway. Doors line the walls. There are small signs on the wall right by the corner. 

TECHNOLOGY STORAGE > 

^ STAFF QUARTERS ^ 

< POSSIBLE ALTR HOLDING

Alt looks between all the options then quickly chooses to go down the possible ALTR holding- that feels like a place that could have Schneep. He’s panicking, the alarm making him glitch and run as fast as he can. “Schneep!! SCHNEEP!” 

Bro hurries down the stairs and is momentarily confused before he hears Alt and scrambles to follow after his voice. “this way guys!”

The others quickly catch up and keep pace with Bro. The hall continues for a while before turning right at the end. The doorways lining these walls are metal, shiny and solid-looking. Each one has a light above it. Most of them are green, but there are two that are red, one before the corner, one after. 

"Hey--maybe these are like--availabilities?" Chase says, pointing at the lights above the doors. 

"Alt, did you hear that?!" Jackie shouts after him. "The red light ones probably have stuff in them!"

Alt looks up to notice this and nods quickly skirting to try to glitch inside the first red light door.

The room beyond has more blank white walls and another camera in the corner. There's a bed with attached straps--how menacing--but nobody is in it. But there is something on the table nearby. A small glass terrarium, like one you'd keep a lizard in. The inside isn't decorated at all. Leaving the small thing inside perfectly visible. A golfball-sized eyeball with a green sclera, blue iris, and long tail-like optic nerve. It hops over to the glass wall of the terrarium as Alt appears, checking him out.

Alt’s eyes widen as he glitches over to the terrarium, “S-Sam?!” He whispers.

The eyeball hops. 

Outside, the group stops by the door Alt glitched through. Jackie tries the door, but of course, it's locked. "Fucking hell!" he curses. "Alt, can you open it from this side?!" 

"Probably not," Marvin says. 

Hang on. Jameson steps up, conjuring up another glowing blue disk. It slides into the crack in the door behind the handle, and there's a CLUNK of a lock undoing. Jackie tries the door again, and this time it opens up. 

"What's in there?" Jack, at the back of the group, tries peering over the others. At the sound of his voice, the little eyeball hops faster. "Huh? Who said that?!" 

"Who said what?" Chase asks, looking back at Jack in confusion. 

"You guys didn't hear someone say my name?" 

Bro hurries in and then his eyes widen, “What?? There’s a Sam here too??” 

Alt looks at the others and then back at the eyeball- until Jack started talking. He blinks back and then shakes his head. “No dude we… didn’t hear anything-“ he looks back at the eyeball and then pulls out his pocket knife and tries to use it to crack the glass.

"Someone is saying my name really excitedly," Jack says, pushing through the others. He gasps. "Eyeball?!" He blinks, confused. 

"Is it talking in your head?" Chase asks. 

"I-I guess so??? It--they're saying that they're my eye?" 

Marvin gasps and goes a little pale. 

“What the hell does that mean?!” Bro asks.

"J-Jack... lost an eye," Marvin says shakily to Bro. "A-A-Anti... did it." 

Jack blinks. "...huh?" 

"He didn't... get rid of it," Marvin whispers. "But... when that weird place collapsed when Anti... d-disappeared... I thought the eye was... taken down with it..." 

Meanwhile, the glass is too solid for Alt's knife to even make a scratch. 

"Here, can I try, Alt?" Jackie asks, walking over. He holds out his hand... and in his grip appears a curved blade made of red light. He brings it down on glass, cutting a hole in it.

Alt blinks and lets Jackie try- then whistles a bit at the blade. “woah- that’s wicked.” He grins. Then he remembers why they’re here and looks to Bro before hurrying out and glitching into the other cell. “you guys help Sam!”

“Wh--dude you can't just keep going without us!" Chase calls after Alt. He looks at Jameson. "Open that door to the other room?" JJ nods and hurries after Alt. Marvin, looking shaken by this whole thing, also heads that way.  

The other occupied room does not have a terrarium... but it does have a man lying on the bed, strapped down, seemingly asleep. His sleeve is rolled up, and an IV feeds into his forearm from a bag hanging on a pole nearby.

Alt stumbles into the room, breathing heavily and then freezes when he sees Schneep lying on the table- strapped down. Anger fills up his whole body rapidly, and lightning crackles around him dangerously like live wires. It snaps and tries to crack at the walls and ceilings as Alt’s magic reacts wildly to his emotions. “These fuckers-!” He growls and then glitches over and quickly tries to cut through the straps holding Schneep down.

The straps are made of the same sort of material as seatbelts are. His magic slices through them easily. While he does that, there’s another CLUNK behind him as JJ unlocks the door. He and Marvin pour into the room. 

Marvin gasps in shock. “These bastards! I-is he okay?” 

Schneep is still asleep.

Alt has to take a couple calming breaths to get his magic to die now from how badly he wants to just explode. 

After a few seconds he glitches back over and tries to shake Schneep awake. “H-Henrik! Hen it’s- it’s us! Alt and all your friends! Can you hear us?!”

Schneep still doesn’t wake up. 

“Maybe it’s this IV thing?” Marvin says. “Maybe it’s keeping him asleep?” JJ immediately springs into action. He nudges Alt aside so he can get close to the spot where the IV goes into Schneep’s arm. He presses down on the spot and slowly withdraws the needle. 

“Okay, try again!” Marvin hurries over. “Schneep!” He looks at Alt. “I-I don’t know any wake-up spells anymore, can you do something?”

Alt nods and gently takes Schneep’s wrist and then whispers, “Sorry Schneep-“ and gives him a little shock to try to wake him up. 

Back in the other room, Jack walks forward, a bit in a daze, and reaches out a hand. The tiny eyeball hops through the hole Jackie cut, landing in Jack's palm. "...huh. So... you're alive now."

 He pauses. 

"Um... they're calling you Sam. Is that your name?" 

Another pause. 

"Well, I think it suits you, so if you want to be Sam, you can be." 

Bro looks freaked out but he sticks with Jack. He walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder. “…you’re taking the ‘finding out I have a sentient eye’ thing really well-“ he tries to laugh. 

“I… think I’m in shock,” Jack says slowly. 

“Yeah… we’ve been through a lot but that’s weird,” Jackie agrees. 

“Can you just like… put them in your pocket?” Chase asks. 

Jack tries, but Sam’s nerve-tail wraps around his fingers as they hold tight to him. “Uh… clingy, I guess. They’re telling me they don’t want to be in a small space. That’s fine. I’ll just carry them, I guess.” 

“Uh yeah- whatever makes the little guy- comfy I guess? Not fun they’ve kept something… alive like this in a cage.” Bro mumbles. Then he turns to hurry out the door after the others. “C’mon let’s see if they found Schneep!” 

“Right!” Jack nods, and he, Chase, and Jackie hurry after Alt—

“Halt!” But, coming around the corner are two… guards, that’s the only way to put it. They’re wearing black military-like uniforms with the IRIS logo on their shoulders in white, and helmets with mirrored visors hide the upper halves of their faces. Each of them are armed with something that looks like a stun gun—which are now pointed at the group. Mainly Bro, as they’ve clocked him as the biggest threat. “Put the creature down and leave, otherwise we will be forced to engage.”

Jackie stops, throwing his arms out in front of Chase and Jack and glaring. His eyes flicker with red light. Chase mutters something about how he should've brought his gun. 

Bro skids to a stop too and holds a hand out to protect the others, moving to be in front. His eyes spark blue, “You have our friend so- we’re not leaving!” He puts his fists up and gets into a fighting stance. He smirks crookedly, “You dudes don’t wanna fight me, so stand down.” 

"Intruders are being hostile, using force!" one of the guards says, and they both fire their weapons, launching stun-gun-like wires at Bro and Jackie. 

Jackie yelps, the wires sending a shock into his system. He falls back, and Chase catches him.

“Alright, sorry not sorry for this!” Bro shouts as he just barely dodges the wire and leaps at one of the guards, sending a super powered punch towards his face. 

The guard withdraws the wires back into the stun gun and aims at Jack next--only to get punched in the face by Bro and knocked to the ground. The other guard swivels around and tries to fire at Bro again. 

Bro yells out as he gets shocked- and falls to the ground. 

Back in the room, Schneep jerks, gasps, and his eyelids flutter. "W...was?" His eyes move randomly beneath the eyelids. "Was passiert?" He tries to get up, but his arms are too weak to lift him up. 

"Schneep!" Marvin gasps. 

"M-Marvin?" Schneep's soul sense finally kicks in. "A-and Alt? Jameson? Alt?" He faces Alt and smiles weakly. "I-I found your thing..."

Alt quickly helps support Schneep and tries to help him up. He tries to smile back. “T-That’s great Hen- l-let’s get you out of here, okay?”

"J-ja." Schneep nods slowly. JJ hurries over and helps support Schneep from the other side. 

Marvin looks back out the door. He hurries out and shouts, "Holy shit! There's guys!" His eyes glow blue and he lunges forward. Blue magic wraps around the guard that Bro knocked down, tying him up.

Now, Alt hears Bro yell and almost glitches out there but he tries to keep Schneep back, “F-Fuck- I… I can try to glitch us out of here!”

Schneep's eyes widen. "N-no, wait, I--I th-think these people took the item! W-we need to find it!" 

“Of course they did… fucking hell-!” Alt growls.

Jackie shakes himself awake again. "Hey!" His eyes flash red, and a handful of curved light, sharp as blades, flies towards the guard that's still up. Some of them miss, but the ones that hit just seem to lodge in the armor. 

JJ rushes out of the room and throws his hand out, conjuring a shield to block the two guards off from the rest of the group.

Alt hobbles Schneep out into the hall once the shield is up and starts to go to the opposite hallway- he remembers the sign said something about technology that way. 

Bro shakes himself awake and pushes himself up- blinking in confusion at the shield. He shakily pulls himself up using the wall and tries to push the others away. “l-Let’s go, hurry!”

"How long can you keep that up, JJ?" Chase asks as they hurry down the hallway. 

A long while, assuming they can't break through, JJ says. But there might be other ways to us! 

The whole group circles around, turning another corner and following the signs to a different section where the doors are plain wood, some with windows in them. 

"Schneep, wh-what exactly is this thing you found?" Marvin asks. 

"It is a small red chip, like something for a computer or a phone," Schneep says. 

"How are we supposed to find something small like that?!" Jackie cries. 

Bro fumbles into his utility belt and pulls out the tracker- maybe it can give him a more exact place where it is? He touches the pupil-

He immediately knows that the chip is behind the door labeled 08, in a small box on a shelf.

“Got it!” Bro says brightly, “Door says 08- it’s in a small box on a shelf!” 

Alt laughs, “God bless Sam oh my god those trackers are amazing??” 

Bro laughs too then tries to speed ahead to look for the door. …god why does it feel like he’s slower than before?

"There!" Jack spots it first, pointing at a door down the hallway. Once they reach it, Jameson immediately does the same unlocking spell he'd done before, and everyone spills into the room. The walls are lined with shelves, full of random computer-like parts--but there is only one box, white and about the size of a phone.

Bro hurries over to the box and opens it to look inside. “Small red chip??”

Yep, there it is; a small red microchip. 

Jackie looks over Bro's shoulder. "That has to be it!" he says. "Damn, Schneep, how did you find that?" 

"Oh, it took a long time," Schneep mumbles. "I might not have found it if I did not notice these strangers digging through the trash." 

“Is that how they found you?” Bro asks quietly. 

Schneep doesn't say anything, simply nods slowly. 

"Okay, we got it, let's get out of here now!" Jack shouts.

Alt quickly grabs the chip and puts it in the bag before shoving that back in his pocket. “Okay uh- everyone link up! I think I can get us back to… to Schneep’s house?”

"Great, let's all think about it and we should get there," Jackie says, grabbing onto Marvin and Chase. Everyone else slowly joins up from there. Heavy footsteps echo down the hallway. 

Bro rushes over to grab on and Alt closes his eyes and in a bright flash of green they all disappear-

-and arrive back in the living room area of Schneep's apartment. "Holy shit, what a rush." Jackie shakes his head. "Fucking insane." 

Alt sways a bit then crashes to his knees, blinking spots out of his eyes. “T-That could have gone s-so bad…” he mumbles. Bro kneels down next to him and pats his back.

"We are... home?" Schneep asks. 

"Yeah, we're home," Jack says. "Your couch's over here." 

"Ah. Good. I am going to sit down." And Schneep does so, stumbling over to the sofa and immediately collapsing onto it. "My head... f-feels... fuzzy."

Are you okay, Alt? JJ asks. Is there anything we can do to help? 

Alt smiles at them weakly, a bit dizzy, “I’m fine… just a lot of glitching… I… m-maybe some food would be good…”

"You need energy for magic, right?" Marvin says. "Schneep, can we use your food?" 

Schneep laughs at Marvin's comment. 

Bro looks back at Schneep, “Do you remember anything Schneep? Like how long you were there or what they did or… if they put anything like… in you I guess?”

Schneep becomes serious again at Bro's questions. "I... do not remember much. I fought the strangers, but there were too many of them a-and they put something in the air that I breathed... everything since then is blank." 

"You can't have been there that long," Chase says. "We talked yesterday normally enough. Oh, it's the ninth, by the way." 

"Hmm. I think... it was late at night on the eighth when I was caught..." Schneep says slowly. 

Bro sighs a bit in relief, “G-Good- I mean not good you got caught but I’m glad it wasn’t for too long!” 

A voice crackles from Alt's phone. "That seemed like an outreach base," Anti says. "Not a main compound. They were probably holding you and Sam there until they could determine where to put you. You're all very lucky. It wasn't nearly as secure as it could have been." 

Alt pulls out his phone to hear Anti better and nods, “Yeah I… I was worried it would have been worse… t-they had a… an Iv in Schneep though… how are you feeling, Hen?”

"Fuzzy," Schneep mumbles. "Tired. Must have been... some sort of drug. Might feel... bad later. But just fuzzy now. You all can use my food, by the way." 

"Right." Chase hurries over to the kitchenette. "What are your snack foods? You have like... cheese and crackers and shit. Not really a sweets guy. Oh, I can probably make a sandwich. Is that okay, Alt?" 

“Y-Yeah that’s good, thanks-“ Alt replies. 

"That IV was probably to keep him unconscious," Anti guesses. "IRIS wouldn't want to take risks with him getting away." 

"Bastards," Jackie mutters. 

"Fucking bastards," Marvin agrees. 

"So that Anti is here too," Schneep says idly. "I could not sense you. Cannot sense your... soul." 

"Oh, I don't have one," Anti says casually.

“It probably doesn’t help that he’s in my p-phone right now,” Alt says. 

Bro blinks at Anti, “I’ve never heard someone say they don’t have a soul so nonchalant-ly… that’d be worrying to hear from anyone but you, Anti.” He laughs. 

Anti grins on Alt's screen. "I'm unique. There's nothing like me in the world. Though there are things like me in the multiverse." 

Alt rolls his eyes slightly but smiles at Anti, “Don’t get a big head about it-“

"Can you sense Sam, though?" Anti asks Schneep. 

"Uh... I am not sure." Schneep pauses. "There is something... small... with Jack, I think." 

"Yeah." Jack holds up Sam in his hand. "That's... them."

“Oh by the way Schneep… Sam is… is an eye- like the big Sam. This guy is real little though… reminds me of a baby Sam.”

Schneep blinks. "...oh. So... there is... that now." 

"Apparently they were the eye that Anti took from me," Jack says quietly. "I... don't know how they're alive now. And they don't know, either. Here." He walks over to the sofa and sits down next to Schneep. "Hold out your hand. 

Schneep does so, and Sam hops onto it. "Oh!" Schneep's eyes widen. "That feels so strange. I was expecting something... sticky." 

"Nope. They do seem squishy, though, so be careful," Jack says. 

"Don't worry, I will be." 

“Yeah they feel weird huh?” Bro laughs. 

"If your Sam is like the Sam in my world--which I'm guessing they are," Anti says. "Then they're just an anomaly. They happen sometimes. Strange shit happens for no reason. Though... I do wonder if the smaller Sams exist because of the larger one somehow." 

Bro listens to Anti and nods, “Like- Sam’s their parents and has lots of baby Sams! …that helps me forget that this was once Jack’s eye-“ 

Chase walks over with a plate. "Here, Alt. Turkey sandwich and crackers. Hope that's enough."

Alt blinks but then smiles gratefully at Chase, “This should be plenty, thanks.” He digs in, sitting cross legged on the floor.

"...you can sit on a chair, you know," Schneep says. "I do not mind." 

"Sometimes people are more comfortable on the floor, dude." Jackie laughs. 

“I would but I wasn’t sure if my legs would make it-“ Alt comments as he eats. 

"So... you guys have your TRVLR part now," Jack says. "Does that mean you're good to go whenever?" 

Bro shrugs, “Probably?”

"Oh, put that in the bag with the others, by the say," Anti suggests.

“Already did!” Alt says in between bites. “‘M not risking losing a single bit of this-“

"Great," Anti says.

“I uh- don’t know how we’re getting to the next world though- are you taking us Anti?” Bro asks. 

 "... I should still be able to contact Sam. We've built up a connection while I was searching for the other parts." He pauses. Alt's phone screen is briefly covered by colorful static before turning normal again. "Yeah, I can reach Them. When you all are ready to go I'll let Them know and They'll open up a rift to the next world." He pauses. "They also said that They managed to push out that other version of me, but... that he might still be looking for us."

Alt pauses in his eating and shivers, hunching up a bit. “G-Great… I love being chased down by an evil version of myself…” he grumbles. 

“Well- at least we can hang out for a bit?” Bro tries to say cheerfully.

"Not much to do in my apartment, I'm afraid..." Schneep says, slowly closing his eyes. 

Jack nudges him awake again. "If you guys want to, uh, hang out, we can," Jackie says. "I'd like to really get to know you guys. But uh... yeah, I'm not sure what we'd do, other than just chill and talk. We need like, a plan for this thing." 

"We could play cards?" Marvin suggests, and suddenly there's a puff of blue smoke and he's holding a deck of cards in his hand. 

JJ looks impressed. That's a new spell! 

"Thanks, I've been working on it." 

Alt can’t help but laugh, “Man- Marvins are obsessed with games I’m learning-“ 

"Really?" Marvin blinks, then smiles. "H-hey, good to know that that's... a thing for Marvins."

Schneep chuckles. "That other Jameson, the magician one? While we were by ourselves, he told me that his Marvin enjoys card games. So it definitely seems a trait." 

Bro looks at Jackie, Marvin and Schneep sympathetically. “It’d be real cool to get to know you guys… but I think Schneep needs to rest… he’s just been through a lot.” He sighs but then tries to brighten up, “But! We’re going to get the TRVLR fixed! Which means we can come back again real soon! To properly hang you know?”

"Yeah, that'd be great." Jack grins. "I think we have to adjust to some stuff, anyway. Like this little guy." Sam bounces into his hand again. 

And that IRIS place, JJ says. 

"Yeah, I had no idea they were fucked up like that," Chase mumbles. "I thought they just make tech."

“That’s how they get you,” Alt sighs, finishing up, “These companies usually hide like this… underneath these seemingly innocent projects and tech and.. hospitals. It’s sick-“ 

Bro smiles, “yeah… lots to deal with- but uh- now we can make sure we actually have a good meet up next time! No antis, no Iris- just chill~”

"I would like that," Schneep says softly. "It has been... good to see you two again. If only for a few moments." 

"D'you think we could pit the ABIM against IRIS?" Marvin wonders. "They'd probably take issue with someone kidnapping magical people." 

Worth contacting them, I suppose, JJ says.

“Oh fuck yeah- pit them against each other and watch the chaos,” Alt grins. His face then softens and he sighs, “I wish it could have been longer Schneep but… you need your rest… I’m so glad we found you before… anything really bad happened.”

Schneep nods. "I do remember Jamie--the other Jamie--talking about IRIS. If... this place was like the one in his world..." He shudders. 

"You're safe now, Hen," Chase reassures him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll make sure they don't bother you. Or the rest of us." 

"Hell yeah." Jackie nods firmly. "We've been through a lot, we're not gonna let these guys scare us."

Bro smiles, “you guys can handle those fuckers- I believe in you.” 

Alt nods with a bit of a smile. Then he frowns, “Next time I go to one of those places… I’m looking for a way to inter dimensionally talk… that way you guys can call if you’re ever in trouble. Cuz- we’ll be there.”

"...thanks, Alt," Marvin says quietly. "That's... that's so nice of you." The others all look touched as well. 

A moment passes in silence, then Jack clears his throat. "Well. You guys should probably head out soon. I mean, it sucks, but you guys have a job to do, and I'd hate to delay you." 

"Faster would be better," Anti says, voice crackling through Alt's phone speakers.

“Alright alright-“ Alt sighs. He glitches to his feet and adjusts his backpack, checking to make sure he has everything. “I’m ready.” 

Bro hops to his feet too and smiles at the others, “Thanks for helping us, guys. But we’ll see you again soon, alright?”

It'll be nice to see you again! JJ says, smiling. 

"Yeah, what JJ said!" Chase laughs. "We'll look forward to it." 

"And we will stay safe until then," Schneep promises. 

"Sam says thank you for helping," Jack reports. 

"We can get to know each other more next time," Jackie says. Marvin nods in agreement. 

Alt smiles and nods, “Yeah, I’d like that.” 

Alt's phone screen becomes static again for a moment. Then some green electricity flickers over by the window wall. A black rift forms as the lightning opens up a way out of this world.

“We’ll have a proper blast next time!” Bro says happily, throwing up his hands. “It’ll be great! Until next time!!” 

Alt laughs and starts to pull Bro into the rift. He waves to the others before they walk through.

The others all wave back. 

"Goodbye!" Schneep says. "Until next time."