#liz i am staring at u right now can u feel it

[cyanorhis]

they are so stupid

[mxlti-fand0m-imaginess]

Ouija Board // Tate Langdon

request: none

prompts: none

warnings: use of a ouija board, murder, crying, scaring people

a/n: i just used random names for the friends, so sorry if that’s your name :)

“Come on y/n, don’t chicken out on us now!” Liz said, dragging you towards the house.

“It’ll be fun! I promise,” Dylan said, grabbing a large rock to break the doorknob.

You were stood in front of the infamous Murder House. And stupidly, you let your friends talk you into coming here and using a ouija board. You never really believed in ghosts or anything like that, but you were still scared nonetheless.

“There are easier ways to get in you know,” Liz said, rolling her eyes as Dylan smashed the rock against the doorknob, knocking it to the floor.

“Yeah but this is more fun.”

“Should we really be doing this? We could get in trouble for breaking in. I don’t think I could survive jail.”

“Oh my god y/n, we’ll be fine. And Dylan knows what he’s doing. Besides, don’t you wanna talk to ghosts?”

“Nope, not really.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun.”

“Ok, I got the door open!”

The two of you looked towards the door where Dylan was. The door was now open, and he had already walked inside. You felt your stomach drop, wanting nothing more than to get out of there. But Liz had other plans. She grabbed your arm and began to drag you inside.

With a sigh, you gave up on fighting and figured you might as well try to have fun. When you vented the house, an overwhelming smell of mold filled your senses. It was disgusting. There was sheets over the furniture, and leftover belongings scattered everywhere.

“That’s weird, there isn’t any dust here,” Dylan said as he swiped his finger along the mantle.

“Maybe there’s a maid ghost who has to spend eternity cleaning. That sounds like an awful afterlife,” Liz replied, laughing softly.

“Can we just get this over with already? I’m getting bad vibes from this place,” you said, feeling as if someone’s eyes were trained on you.

“That’s kinda the point. This is supposedly the most haunted building in the world. So many people have been brutally murdered. I would give anything to live here.”

“Dylan, you are really fucked up,” Liz said while laughing.

You rolled your eyes at your best friends, and followed them deeper into the house, until you arrived in front of a door.

“Here it is, the basement. I’ve read online, that most of the ghosts like to stay down there.”

“Let’s go!” Liz squealed, pushing the door open and speeding down the stairs.

Dylan followed her, leaving you alone at the top of the stairs. You sighed and started to walk down the steps. The. you heard a noise from behind you. You quickly turned around to see that the door was shut.

You brushed it off, thinking you must’ve bumped it, and continued down the stairs to find Dylan and Liz setting the ouija board up. You sat down beside them and tried to calm yourself, knowing it would all be over soon.

“Ok, place your fingers on the cup, and then we can talk to the ghosts.”

You and Liz did what Dylan said, placing your fingers on top of the glass placed in the middle of the bored.

“Is there anyone there?” Dylan asked.

Nothing happened for a second, but then the cup started to move. It dragged itself over to the ‘yes’ and then stopped.

“Oh my god,” you murmured, starting to feel fear come over you.

“What’s your name?” Liz asked the ghost.

The cup moved again, and began to spell out a name.

H-A-Y-D-E-N

“Y/n, ask them something!” Liz said smiling excitedly.

“Is there anything you want to tell us?” you asked, not really sure that you wanted an answer.

R-U-N

The lights in the basement flickered off leaving you guys in the darkness.

“I’m pretty sure that’s our cue to leave,” you said, beginning to stand up.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Liz said.

The three of you got up and ran towards the straits, trying to get out of the basement. Liz and Dylan made it out, but the door slammed in front of you before you could follow.

You pulled on the door knob but it wouldn’t budge. You started to pound on the door, screaming for Liz and Dylan, but they were too far away to here you.

“They can’t hear you. They already left,” a voice behind you said.

You turned around and stared into the darkness.

“Who are you?” you asked, feeling your voice quiver.

“Wow, you forgot me already? Ouch. I’m Hayden, remember? I told you to run, but I guess you didn’t wanna listen.”

You didn’t get the chance to say anything, before you felt yourself being shoved down the stairs. You tumbled down them, before landing on the concrete floor of the basement.

You carefully tried to pull yourself up, but you were immediately pushed back down again. The lights turned on and you screamed at what you saw before you. A monster like creature hovered above you, and the next thing you saw was black.

~

You slowly opened your eyes and sat up, feeling your conscious come back to you. You looked around, panicking, trying to remember where you were. Then it all came back to you. The basement. Murder House. Liz and Dylan. They left you.

You wanted to be angry, but you didn’t have the time. Right now, you just had to get out of here. You wanted to go home and be safe in your room. You took off running, heading up the stairs and out of the basement.

You ran toward the front door, pushing it open and heading towards the street. But then, you were back in the house. You ran out again, only to end up back inside once more. You tried over, and over to leave, but you couldn’t. You kept ending up back inside the house.

You gave up. You let your weight fall against a wall behind you, and slid down it, curling into a. ball sobbing. We’re you going crazy? What was happening to you? Why couldn’t you leave? Why can’t you remember anything after entering the basement?

Then you felt a presence beside you. A teenage boy, with wavy blond hair and dark brown eyes. He was beautiful. You might’ve been feeling butterflies, if not for the overwhelming sense of panic that currently filled you.

“Hey, I’m Tate,” he said smiling softly.

“Y/n,” you replied hesitantly.

“So, I bet you’re pretty confused right now.”

“How’d you know?”

“Well, I saw you running around, trying to leave.”

“Why can’t I?”

He fell silent for a moment, and locked away.

“Uhm, you’re dead.”

Your eyes widened and you immediately stood up and backed away from him.

“What? I’m not dead! My friends and I came here to talk to ghosts and now they’re gone and I can’t leave. But I’m not dead! That’s crazy!”

“Y/n, I saw you die. I moved your body,” he paused for a second before continuing,” Do you wanna see it?”

“Wait so let me get this straight. You just watched me get murdered and did nothing about it, you moved my body, and now you wanna show it to me? You’re crazy! None of this makes sense! I’m not dead! I can’t be dead! I think I would remember dying!”

“You can’t. No one can. I don’t remember my own death. I’ve only heard what people told me.”

“Oh really? You’re dead too? Fine, then tell me? How did you die?”

He went silent once more.

“I don’t wanna tell you.”

“See, I knew it! You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying, it’s just-, if I tell you, you’re going to be scared of me.”

You laughed once more, not believing a word that he was saying.

“I doubt that. If you really are dead, just tell me!”

“Fine! I was shot by the cops.”

Then it hit you. Shot by the cops. You remembered hearing about that when Dylan went on one of his rants about the house. Wait, Tate as in Tate Langdon? The guy who shot up your high school in the 90s?

“Do you believe me know?” he asked softly.

“Oh my god. You were that guy who shot up my high school like thirty years ago right? Wait, so you are telling the truth. But I, I can’t be dead. There’s so much I still wanted to do. I’ve never even fallen in love, I’ll never have a future. I’ll never get to do anything with my life.”

You started to sob again, realization washing over you. He wasn’t lying. You were dead. You were really dead. You felt a pair of arms wrap around you, and you looked up to find Tate hugging you.

Slowly you wrapped your arms around him, desperately searching for comfort. But that said comfort was soon gone when someone else started to speak.

“Aw, am I interrupting something?”

That voice. You’ve heard it before. Part of it came back to you. It was her. She pushed you down the stairs. You pulled away from Tate and glared at the girl.

“You! You killed me!” you yelled at her.

“No, no, no. I didn’t kill you. I just helped that creature down there do it.”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“It was getting boring. I wanted someone new around here.”

“Go away Hayden,” Tate said, glaring at her.

“Ugh fine,” she said before disappearing.

“Well, I guess I’ll show you around?”

a few months later

It’s been a few months since you’ve died, and you’ve already adjusted to your new life. Things weren’t so bad. You were kinda friends with Violet, and you and Tate have been dating for a while.

Being dead didn’t really bother you anymore. You’ve started to see the bright side of it. No more getting sick. You didn’t have to take your finals. And you never had to see your so called “friends” who left you here to die.

At least that’s what you thought. You and Tate were sitting together in the basement when the door opened. You didn’t think much of it, until you heard a familiar voice.

“How do you even know she’s here?”

You gasped. It was Liz. And Dylan was walking right behind her. They were back. You were so angry at them for leaving you. They left you behind to die.

The two of them sat down next to you and Tate, setting up their ouija board. You looked at Tate and smirked. You were going to have fun with this.

“Is anyone there?” Dylan asked.

You walked over to them and pushed the cup to yes.

“Who are you?” Liz said, seeming a little more nervous than she was the last time she was here.

You moved the glass to spell out your name, laughing when you saw how scared the looked.

“Y/n, we’re so sorry! We thought you were behind us! And when we finally got outside, the door wouldn’t open,” Dylan said.

You moved the cup once more.

Y-O-U-L-E-F-T-M-E

“Y/n we’re sorry! No one believed us when we went to get help. Your parents thought you ran away. We tried! We really did!” Liz pleaded.

Y-O-U-D-I-D-N-T-E-V-E-N-C-O-M-E-B-A-C-K

“We were too scared. We’re so sorry. Y/n, please.”

You and Tate laughed at their pleas. You weren’t going to forgive them. You couldn’t. Not after what they did to you.

“Go mess with the lights!” you asked Tate.

He nodded and ran over to the light switch, flicking it on and off.

“Dylan, maybe we should get out of here!”

L-E-A-V-I-N-G-S-O-S-O-O-N-?

“No we’re not! Liz, come on we have to talk to her.”

“I don’t know Dylan, they seem angry.”

You decided to let them hear you. You kept yourself hidden, but let your voice be heard.

“Angry? Why would I be angry? It’s not like the only people I’ve ever trusted forced me to come when I said I didn’t want to and them left me to die. Oh wait? That did happen.”

When you finished speaking, Tate left the lights off. The door opened at the top of the stairs, and Dylan and Liz ran. They left the board and left the basement, heading for the open front door. Before they could get out, Tate slammed it shut. They both screamed.

“Aw, you’re leaving already?” you asked, before laughing.

Then you let them see you. You appeared in front of the door, and you made your wounds visible too.

They gasped when they saw you. Covered in scratches and dripping blood. Clothes torn to shreds. Bruises littering you.

“Y/n, I’m so sorry,” Liz said stepping closer to you.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I’m sorry,” Dylan said to you.

You didn’t say anything you only glared at them. Then Tate appeared beside you.

“You two should leave before you’re not able to anymore.”

Then you and Tate disappeared and opened the door, allowing them to run out, before slamming it shut once more.

As soon as they were gone, you both burst out laughing. Sure you’ve scared people who’ve tried to buy the house before, but this was the best reaction you’ve ever gotten. They were terrified.

“So do you finally feel like you got your revenge?” Tate asked, smiling brightly at you.

“Yeah, thanks for helping me,” you said, pulling him into a tight hug.

“You don’t have to thank me. I’d do anything for you.”

~

Taglist: @ahsxual @darlingkitt @1800-fuckbitchesgetmoney @horrorgirlx @jamespotterslover

[voguingtodanzig]

THE CELESTIAL JUKEBOX, PRESENT TENSE - 250 SONGS

Again, some of this is personal and sentimental, linked to time and place and experience.

50 Cent, “Many Men (Wish Death)”

100 gecs, “800db cloud”

10,000 Maniacs, “Candy Everybody Wants”

Bryan Adams, “Everything I Do”

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, “Spanish Flea”

America, “Sister Golden Hair”

Julie Andrews, “My ​​Favorite Things”

Animal Collective, “Brother Sport”

Aphex Twin, “Tha”

Fiona Apple, “Extraordinary Machine”

Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World”

Ash, “Shining Light”

Atlantic Starr, “Always”

Atlas Sound, “Washington School”

Autechre, “Vose In”

The B-52s, “Deadbeat Club”

Bananarama, “Cruel Summer”

The Beatles, “All My Loving”

Beck, “Girl”

Belle & Sebastian, “Seymour Stein”

Benoit & Sergio, “Boy Trouble”

Beyoncé, “Countdown”

Bikini Kill, “Alien She”

Bilal, “West Side Girl”

Bjork, “It’s Oh So Quiet”

Black Dice, “Pigs”

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, “Stop”

The Black-Eyed Peas, “Imma Be”

Blast Off Country Style, “Cutie Pie”

Blondie, “Heart of Glass”

The Bloodhound Gang, “Your Only Friends Are Make-Believe”

The Box Tops, “The Letter”

Brainiac, “I Am A Cracked Machine”

Michelle Branch, “Everywhere”

Laura Branigan, “Gloria”

The Breeders, “Off You”

Danny Brown, “Gremlins”

James Brown, “Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine”

Jackson Browne, “Somebody’s Baby”

Vanessa Carlton, “A Thousand Miles”

Harry Chapin, “Cat’s in the Cradle”

Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”

The Carpenters, “Yesterday Once More”

Julian Casablancas and the Voidz, “Human Sadness”

The Chemical Brothers, “Free Yourself”

Chixdiggit!, “My Restaurant”

Cibo Matto, “Sunday, Pt. 1”

Ciara feat. Missy Elliott, “One, Two Step”

Clipse, “Dirty Money”

Jim Croce, “Operator”

Crosby, Stills, and Nash, “You Don’t Have To Cry”

Christopher Cross, “Ride Like the Wind”

Cryptacize, “Mythomania”

Crystal Castles, “Air War”

Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”

Terrence Trent D’Arby, “Sign Your Name”

Daft Punk, “Around the World”

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, “Hold Tight”

Dead Kennedys, “Kill the Poor”

DeBarge, “The Rhythm of the Night”

Deerhoof, “+81”

Deerhunter, “Octet”

Depeche Mode, “Personal Jesus”

Dial, “Helium”

The Diplomats, “Dipset Anthem”

DMX, “Stop Being Greedy”

The Doobie Brothers, “Black Water”

Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg, “Nuthin’ But a G Thang”

The-Dream, “Love King”

Duran Duran, “Hungry Like The Wolf”

Bob Dylan, “Positively 4th Street”

The Eagles, “Lyin’ Eyes”

Eat Skull, “Cooking a Way to be Happy”

Elastica, “Connection”

The Everly Brothers, “All I Have to Do is Dream”

The Ben Folds Five, “The Battle of Who Could Care Less”

Eleanor Friedberger, “Stare at the Sun”

Eminem feat. Dido, “Stan”

Brian Eno, “Cindy Tells Me”

Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”

Extreme, “More Than Words”

The Fall, “Glam-Racket”

Roberta Flack, “Killing Me Softly With His Song”

Flipper, “Ha Ha Ha”

Dan Fogelberg, “Longer”

The Free Design, “The Proper Ornaments”

Fur, “Devil to the Lamb”

Garbage, “Only Happy When It Rains”

Judy Garland, “Over the Rainbow”

Kevin Gates, “Paper Chasers”

Ghostface Killah, “Shakey Dog”

Freddie Gibbs, “20 Karat Jesus”

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, “The Dead Flag Blues”

Gorillaz feat. De La Soul, “Feel Good Inc.”

Go Sailor, “I’m Still Crying”

Granddaddy, “A.M. 180”

Colleen Green, “I Want to Grow Up”

Green Day, “Basket Case”

Grimes, “REALITi”

Gucci Mane, “Break Ya Self (Brrrussia version)”

Guided By Voices, “Teenage FBI”

Harvey Danger, “Flagpole Sitta”

Helium, “XXX”

Keri Hilson, “Pretty Girl Rock”

Hole, “Malibu”

The Hollies, “All I Need Is The Air That I Breathe”

Michael Jackson, “Rock With You”

Jay-Z, “Hard Knock Life”

Henry Jacobs, “Guitar Lesson”

Jawbreaker, “Fireman”

Jeremih, “Oui”

Jewel, “Standing Still”

Jimmy Eat World, “Sweetness”

Billy Joel, “Uptown Girl”

Scott Joplin, “The Entertainer”

Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’”

Juelz Santana, “Mixin’ up the Medicine”

R. Kelly feat. T.I. & T-Pain, “I’m a Flirt (Remix)”

Kool and the Gang, “Celebration”

Lana Del Rey, “Off to the Races”

Lagwagon, “May 16”

The Libertines, “Horror Show”

Limp Bizkit, “Re-Arranged”

Lindstrom, “Where You Go I Go Too”

Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, “Lost in Emotion”

Lit, “My Own Worst Enemy”

The Lonely Island feat. T-Pain, “I’m on a Boat”

Lotus Plaza, “What Grows?”

Lower Dens, “Candy”

Courtney Love, “I’ll Do Anything”

Love As Laughter, “Idol Worship”

M.I.A, “Bamboo Banga”

Madonna, “Hung Up”

Madlib, “Mystic Bounce”

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, “Ramp of Death”

The Mamas and the Papas, “California Dreamin’”

John Mayer, “New Light”

Meek Mill, “Dreams and Nightmares Intro”

Men at Work, “Safety Dance”

George Michael, “Faith”

The Modern Lovers, “I’m Straight”

Modest Mouse, “Heart Cooks Brain”

The Moldy Peaches, “Nothing Came Out”

Chris Montez, “The More I See You”

Alanis Morissette, “Head Over Feet”

Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat, “Lucky”

MXPX, “Party, My House, Be There”

My Bloody Valentine, “You Never Should”

Nas, “The World Is Yours”

Johnny Nash, “I Can See Clearly Now”

Neu!, “Hallogallo”

New Order, “Subculture”

New Pornographers, “The Laws Have Changed”

Wayne Newton, “Danke Schoen”

Harry Nilsson, “Jump into the Fire”

Nine Inch Nails, “Wish”

Nirvana, “About a Girl”

The Notorious B.I.G., “Warning”

Maura O’Connell, “Summerfly”

The Orb, “Little Fluffy Clouds”

Panda Bear, “Mr Noah”

Pavement, “Harness Your Hopes (BBC Evening Session)”

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”

Liz Phair, “Shane”

Pinhead Gunpowder, “I Am An Elephant”

The Platters, “Only You (And You Alone)”

The Pointer Sisters, “Jump”

Michael Praetorius, “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen”

Elvis Presley, “A Little Less Conversation”

Primal Scream, “Keep Your Dreams”

The Prodigy, “Breathe”

Propaghandi, “Anti-Manifesto”

Brian Protheroe, “Pinball”

Psychic Graveyard, “No”

Public Enemy, “Fight The Power”

Aileen Quinn, “Tomorrow”

Radiohead, “A Wolf at the Door”

Gerry Rafferty, “Right Down the Line”

Bonnie Raitt, “Something to Talk About”

The Ramones, “Chain Saw”

Otis Redding, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, “In Motion”

Lou Reed and Metallica, “Junior Dad”

Rihanna feat. Jay-Z, “Umbrella”

Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream”

The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”

Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, “Somewhere Out There”

Rosemary Krust, “Private Amber”

Diana Ross, “Theme From Mahogany”

Roxy Music, “More Than This”

A Savage, “Eyeballs”

The Shangri-Las, “Leader of the Pack”

Shanice, “I Love Your Smile”

Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud”

Sightings, “Yellow”

The Silver Jews, “Blue Arrangements”

Alan Silvestri, “The Back to the Future theme”

Paul Simon, “Kodachrome”

Ashlee Simpson, “Pieces of Me”

Slade, “Cum On Feel the Noize”

The Smashing Pumpkins, “Here’s to the Atom Bomb (New Wave version)”

The Soft Pink Truth, “Do They Owe Us A Living?”

Sonic Youth, “Jams Run Free”

Jordan Sparks and Chris Brown, “No Air”

Spoon, “The Mystery Zone”

Starving Weirdos, “Land Lines”

Stereolab, “Plastic Mile”

The Strokes, “12:51”

Swell Maps, “Let’s Build A Car”

Taylor Swift, “Style”

Stylophonic, “R U Experienced”

Jazmine Sullivan, “Mascara”

Suicidal Tendencies, “Institutionalized”

Taco, “Puttin’ on the Ritz”

James Taylor, “You’ve Got a Friend”

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”

Throwing Muses, “Not Too Soon”

TLC, “Baby-Baby-Baby”

Tortoise, “Djed”

The Toys, “A Lover’s Concerto”

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, “Summer Nights”

A Tribe Called Quest, “Can I Kick It?”

UB40, “Red Red Wine”

Joe Walsh, “Life’s Been Good”

Scott Weiland, “Paralysis”

Steely Dan, “Do It Again”

Stiff Little Fingers, “Suspect Device”

Stylophonic, “RU Experienced?”

T.I., “What You Know”

Mary Timony, “Blood Tree”

that dog., “I’m Gonna See You”

The Tymes, “So Much In Love”

Ultimate Painting, “Out in the Cold”

The Unicorns, “Child Star”

The Velvet Underground, “The Gift”

Waka Flocka Flame, “Hard in da Paint”

Ween, “Even If You Don’t”

Weezer, “Endless Bummer”

Kanye West, “Devil in a New Dress (G.O.O.D. Fridays version)”

WHAM!, “Wake Me Up (Before You Go-Go)”

White Hassle, “Oh, What a Feeling”

Matthew Wilder, “Break My Stride”

Bill Withers, “Lean on Me”

Wolf Eyes, “Human Animal”

Stevie Wonder, “My Cherie Amour”

Wye Oak, “Siamese”

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Maps”

Yo La Tengo, “My Heart’s Reflection”

Zaimph, “Removing Bits of History”

The Zombies, “Time of the Season”

[chichirichick]

SoMa Week Day 3: Protect

I may have gone a little crazy with this one... it's sort of a lyric fic inspired by @macabremermaid sending me awesome playlists for my other fics.

Check out my @soulxmakaweek entry for Day 3 on ff.net, ao3, or after the cut! Also, feel free to listen to the playlist on repeat 😘

"What the hell is this?"

There were never more dreadful words strung together, but the fact that Maka was shouting them as she was unceremoniously plopping onto his stomach while he was lying on the couch added a blistering wave of anxiety to them. As Soul realized it was in fact his laptop in her hands, the utter panic was compounded as his heart threatened to entirely spew from his chest.

Had he perhaps left a porn tab open?

Had she opened his email and saw how much money he actually spent on the new sound system that he bought for the living room?

Had she found the chat logs between him and Liz where she dogged him day in and day out about the uncomfortable reality of his feelings for his meister?

"Soul, seriously- KPop?"

I wish it was the porn, he cursed out at the universe.

"Because I go to YouTube to find a video on how to fix-"

"Why are you on my laptop though?" He finally managed to squeak, even though that was most definitely not even close to raging; it was just the poor, pathetic squeal of a man entirely metaphorically stripped.

"Mine needs to charge," she spat back as if that was a stupid question in the first place. "Going back to my point- I open it up and on the top of your playlists is this one: Mix0903. Which is filled with Korean boy bands." She leveled her eyes at him with the playful accusation. "Does that mean you have nine hundred and two other mixes of Korean pop music or are the others at least filled with the snooty music you've led us all to believe you actually like? I think Miles Davis would be rolling over in his grave-"

"Give me that!" Soul finally let some of his panic feed action rather than frozen fear as he sat up and grabbed for the laptop. Regardless of the implications, part of him wished for it to take a skyrocketing, crashing fall, shattering to bits just as his coolness had moments prior, but Maka had an iron grip on the machine. The only thing his movements earned him was Maka settling in his lap, leaning as far forward as she could manage with arms outstretched to keep the laptop from his grasp.

Yes, this position was in no way, shape, or form comfortable as her ass ground into his crotch, but at least Soul's body was more involved with the hysterics of her hitting play, of that stupid first song starting the emotional rollercoaster that he sat on at least once a week.

"BTS, Soul, seriously," Maka teased through twittering giggles. "Dimple? Do you know the dance for this? Please, please, tell me you do!"

"There's no dance," he groaned as he attempted to wrap an arm around her waist, hugging her closer so that his other hand could hopefully stretch far enough to the spacebar to at least stop the torture. Instead, he was left cursing Maka's flexibility, the tuck of her waist still leaving it out of his grasp.

"OK, OK, next!" Maka clicked a button. "Who's WOODZ?"

"You wouldn't know 'im," Soul grumbled.

"Ugh, even with K-Pop you're an insufferable hipster. You wouldn't know him, he's so underground," she added as she put on her best Soul impression.

He sucked his teeth as he heard the click again.

"OK, Shinee's a classic, Soul," Maka interrupted herself for laughter again. "But this one's a little creepy, isn't it? With all my body baby- I'll crash into you- So that I can feel- Every little thing with you."

Soul huffed.

Another click.

"VIXX?" Peels of laughter left her again. "Oh, and look at the collars, Soul! Are you serious? Is that going to be a new fashion look for you?"

As if I need more jokes from Black Star about bein' on a leash, Soul sighed.

Another click. "Worship U?"

This was spiraling out of control and Soul's only hope with the insufferable length of her reach was to let his head fall in defeat between her shoulder blades.

"If you think giving up already is going to save you from teasing…" Maka started but the words trailed off, overwhelmed by the song.

"I won't stop, never

Until the end of my life

Don't stop forever

Without wavering like this

Now don't worry, worry, worry

I will protect you-"

The line cut off quickly as Maka clicked again.

Soul's hand tensed around her wrist.

"BTS again." She was trying to laugh but it came out a little too breathy.

"Why is it so dark when you're not here

It's dangerous how wrecked I am

Save me because I can't get a grip on myself"

The arm around her waist pulled, and Maka allowed her back to curl into his chest, the laptop now well within his reach. He moved his head to hover just over her shoulder, eyes on the screen. Instead of grasping for it, his hands were busy on her skin, trying to hold her as much as he was holding the words he'd listened to a million times.

Another click.

"Even though I like you, nobody knows

Even when I see other girls, nobody's like you

I'm sorry for having no courage

You can laugh at me all you want

I'm a loser who loves you

Yes, I'm a misery

To you, I'm a nuisance, I'm an outsider

But in this world, I only need you"

"Don't know why you'd listen to that," Maka murmured. "You're such a cool guy, right?"

Soul couldn't help but feel the sting of it, even if her voice was warbly and barely above a breath.

Another click.

"I won't ever let you go again

I'll hold you, we'll be together forever

I'll cover your beautiful eyes so you won't go anywhere

I'll trap you inside of me"

Say it, Soul wanted to spit out the venom from between his teeth. It's possessive. It's awful. It's too much. That's what it feels like sometimes. Too much. It's selfish.

Instead, in the silence that came with the song cutting off, he got one more click.

"It's the last one."

"After that," he barely squeezed out the words as he pressed his face into her hair, "you gonna leave me alone?"

"If a shadow covers your light

I can't see

I get confused again

It's not like me

But you still smile for me

It's you

Will I be able to protect you?

I'm afraid"

"That was…" Maka forced a long, slow breath. "Soul, it wasn't your nine-hundred-and-third playlist, was it?"

He let out a weak laugh as he started to loosen his hold on her, his hand trying to slip away.

"September third." Maka grabbed his hand on retreat, tangling his fingers with hers. "The day we met, right?"

"Yeah," he muttered.

"And I- I actually have a dimple?"

Soul cleared his throat. "Sorta."

"Sorta," Maka echoed. Suddenly her fingers were clacking on the keyboard, hitting the enter with extra vigor. "I don't have a list, but listen."

"How much time

are you gonna spend worrying? question

I'm preparing to go to war

with the things that bother you, yes sir

My mood changes according to yours

I get so mad when I see you sad

Like a wave crashing on sand, erase it all

Your worries are no more, now only happy days are left"

Maka pushed the laptop forward and out of her hands, the song still trickling along to the chorus as she turned her head over her shoulder. "So, are you going to look at me?"

Soul leaned, letting his eyes meet hers with a searching stare.

"You always protect me." She shook her head softly, tossing his ridiculous worry aside. "And I doubt GOT7 had the kind of protection you offer in mind when they wrote that song." Maka tapped her knuckle below his shoulder where his shirt hid that blaring white scar. "You shouldn't listen to some playlist of boy bands mourning how they can't have the girl they love or they're afraid about treating her right when you do." Green eyes hit his, a plea from them, her soul, and her mouth hitting him in the face, "Tell me you do."

"That I…?"

"Stop worrying, and tell me," Maka murmured, saturated in her own fears even as she was asking him to throw away his.

"It's not just…" He sighed as he flexed his fingers in hers. "It's not just because we're meister and weapon, Maka, it's not-"

"I know," she pressed. "Can you just channel their energy for just one second and be cute and romantic?"

Soul's eyebrows shot up. "But, I-"

"Am bad at this," Maka sighed. "Fine. Soul Evans, if you can't put it into words can you at least-?"

He quickly pressed his lips to her cheek, derailing the rest of her thought entirely. Before his lips had even disengaged, Soul was squeezing his eyes shut, ready for the standard Maka-chop to clobber him into next week. When it didn't come, he knocked his forehead against her shoulder, turning his face to rest it against the warmth of her neck.

Maka reached up awkwardly to run her fingers over his hair, letting out a sweet sigh in the process. "That'll work." She giggled to herself as she reached for the laptop again. "But I want a new playlist. It's better when we make music together, right?"

[just-jordie-things]

Jealous Much? - Peter Parker

word count: 2541 warnings: swearing summary: (y/n) is just a little bit jealous but Peter thinks it’s adorably unnecessary (a/n): this is really old lol

(y/n) was never really much for jealousy.  She trusted her boyfriend, she knew he’d never do anything behind her back, and even if he did he’d feel incredibly guilty about it.  It’s what made Peter Parker cute.  He was so afraid of hurting her feelings that it made his stomach twist up and he’d apologize profusely.  It happened just last week when they were supposed to have a movie night but he’d forgotten to but popcorn.

And of course she was never mad, how could she be? He was just so damn cute when he rambled on with ridiculous apologies and all she could do was smile and kiss him.

She was standing at her locker when the boy came up to her, smiling as soon as he’d seen her putting her things away.  The usual sleepy look on her face since it was seven in the morning, and he’d learned quickly she was not a morning person.

“Morning beautiful” He called, and she turned around to smile at him, allowing him to kiss her cheek quickly.  Public displays of affection made Peter nervous, but it was worth it to see her blush before looking down to hide her grin.

“Morning” She responded, her tiredness evident in her voice.  “How was patrol last night?” She asked him quietly before shutting her locker and holding onto the strap of her backpack.

“Nothing happened” Peter shrugged.  “Which I suppose is a good thing…” (y/n) giggled, shaking her head at him.

She’d only been dating Peter for a few months, but she’d known him since her and Ned met him in the first grade.  He had tried to hide his secret identity from her, but Ned found out first and couldn’t keep the secret to himself.  Though ultimately it’s what prompted Peter to tell the girl about his real feelings, and not long after the two of them became official.  And she’s never been happier.  But sometimes, the Spider-Man side of his life scared her to death.

“I’d say so” (y/n) replied, and Peter gave her that look.  That completely adoring one, where his eyes were swimming pools of hearts.  “You probably still got to bed late, huh?” She asked, looking over and seeing those eyes of his.  “What?” Her eyes narrowed just a little, wondering why he was staring at her like that.  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked again when he didn’t answer right away.

“N-nothing I’m listening to you” He shrugged innocently.  (y/n) smiled bashfully, and dropped the subject.  “But y-yeah I went to bed at like two in the morning”

“Jesus Peter” She sighed.  “Seriously, you need to pace yourself a little” Her voice was soft, so no one would hear, and so he didn’t feel like she was pushing him.

“I know” He breathed.  “Can’t help it” She smiled good naturedly at him, knowing he loved being a hero.

“Hey guys!” Ned came running up in between them, grinning happily at them both.

“Hey Ned” Peter said, giving him a slightly pissed off look for shoving him away from his girlfriend.

“Morning Ned” (y/n) said.  “Why’re you all perky?”

“The new girl!” He whispered yelled.  “Have you seen her?” He asked Peter, who shook his head.  “Oh dear God she’s hot- no offense (y/n/n)”

(y/n’s) brows furrowed, her head shaking slightly as she looked at her friend, but didn’t say anything before he started talking again.

“Her name’s Dana, or Diana, or something” Ned went on.  “And She’s gorgeous, like ten outta ten gorgeous”

“Cool” Peter mumbled, not really sure what to say.  “Is she nice”

“Don’t know, haven’t talked to her yet” He said.  “I’m hoping to, we have Chemistry together! I saw her schedule on Liz’s story so that people can be nice to her and stuff and man am I gonna be nice to her”

“Ned” (y/n) forced a chuckle, trying not to let on that her feelings were just  little bit hurt.  

“Go for it” Peter shrugged.

“Really? You think I could? I’m not like you”

“What does that mean?” Peter asked, clearly confused.  And if (y/n) was being honest, she didn’t get it either.

“You’re the one with the girlfriend” Ned shrugged.  “You know what you’re doing”

(y/n) held back a laugh.  Peter never knew what he was doing.

“What?” Peter still seemed confused, but they were already at class and Ned cut off the conversation.

“That’s her” Ned whispered, nodding his head to the girl in the back.

“Woah” (y/n) murmured.  Ned was right, she was hot.  “She’s gorgeous” (y/n’s) voice dropped, and Ned seemed to realize she was put down.

“Don’t be one of those girls” He said as Peter went in and sat at his usual seat.

“What?”

“The kind that thinks you aren’t good enough” Ned explained, before walking in.  (y/n) shook her head to get over it and came in to take her seat next to Peter.

“Everything alright?” He asked her.

“Yeah why wouldn’t I be?” She responded, clearing her throat and quickly trying to get out her Chem notes to et started in class and ignore the awkward feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“(y/n/n)-”

“Really, I’m alright.  Just tired as always” She said, glancing at him quickly then back to her papers.  Peter frowned, but didn’t want to push her so he let it drop.

“Alright everyone, get out your notebooks.  We’ll be taking notes and then running a quick lab” Their professor said, starting class off right off the bat.  (y/n) turned to look behind her at Ned, and behind him, Dana or Diana, she still wasn’t sure.

“Lab day” Ned said with a big grin.  (y/n) rolled her eyes, unsure why Ned loved labs so much.  Him and Peter always got so excited for them.

Notes went by relatively quickly, neither (y/n) or Peter talking.  She was using her ‘hardworking’ note taking to her advantage, avoiding any form of confrontation that could happen.  It was going fine until her phone buzzed on the desk.

[Ned] : oh no are u and peter fighting bc u haven’t talked

[(y/n)] : we’re fine

[Ned] : lies, why would u think he’d ever prefer some random girl over u

After that she put her phone in her backpack, turning to give Ned a look again.

“Miss (y/l/n)?”

The girl spun around, facing front again, her eyes wide as her teacher glared at her.

“Would you like to join the class now or are you in a serious conversation with Mr Leeds?”

(y/n) nodded her head quickly, cheeks blushing a bright pink in embarrassment as the class continued on.  Peter looked over at her, chuckling quietly.

“Same thing happened last week” He said, causing her to smile a little bit but she didn’t say anything.  This time not wanting to get into more trouble.

Once it was lab time, and she’d gotten her goggles on and ready to start ripping the tinfoil up to put in a solution, Peter was rambling about how he’d already known the observations that they were going to make.  He knew something was still up, because she still wasn’t responding much to him.

What had happened? Just that morning she’d hugged him and talked to him, and now it was like something had happened in a snap.  And of course he was worried and wanted to know what was going on, but he didn’t want to push her to open up either.  So he did what he id best and rambled about chemistry until eventually she cut him off.

“Peter!” She finally called out, looking over at him, being all cute in his lab goggles and his hair all messed up from them.  “I get it, the foil burns and the solution changes color” She chuckled quietly.

“Miss (y/l/n)”

Cursing silently, she looked back to her teacher after getting yelled at again.

“Mr Parker, back of the class with Dana for the day.  Miss (y/l/n) you’ll be working by yourself today since you can’t seem to focus on your own”

“Yes Mrs Adreille” She mumbled as Peter packed up his things and walked to the back of the classroom.  (y/n) turned around and watched as he got settled next to the new girl.

“Nice job” Ned snickered, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

She spent the entire last half hour of the class doing a lab all by herself, and listening to Peter’s distant laughter.  Kicking herself repeatedly her pencil nearly broke as she was writing down her observations.

But she’d never really been one for jealousy.

“I swear to God I swear to God” (y/n) grumbled to MJ as they got their lunches from their lockers together.  “She was batting her eyelashes Michelle, I’m gonna rip them out-”

“Okay breathe” MJ giggled to herself at the violent image in her mind.  Sweet, soft spoken (y/n) plucking out a girl’s eyelashes.  “Peter would never cheat”

“It’s not about cheating, it’s about some other girl hitting on my-”

She stopped speaking when she looked down the hall and saw her boyfriend walking alongside the girl she recently realized she despised.  Her eyes narrowed to slits as she glared the girl down.

“Wow” Michelle’s eyes rolled.  “Will you chill? You and Peter have only been dating a couple months”

(y/n) didn’t respond.

“I mean seriously, what’re you in love with-” MJ gasped loudly.  “Oh, my, God”

“Shut up”

“No way”

“Don’t say anything”

“(y/n)!”

“Please don’t do this” The girl pleaded.

“You’re in love with Peter Parker? And I thought he’d be a virgin forever”

“MJ!” (y/n) scolded.

“Oh come on.  You’re being crazy.  Peter’s legit smitten by you, have you not seen the way he stares at you like you’re a goddamn piece of art? It’s. Cause.  He.  Knows  You.  Are.  Art” She clapped in between her words.  “Some random new girl isn’t gonna change that”

(y/n) still stayed silent as they walked into the cafeteria together.  Ready to sit through an awkward lunch time only to leave and complain to MJ again.  But again, she was greeted with a sight that made her blood completely boil.

“She’s at our fucking table” She practically growled out.  Michelle’s bows shot up in surprise from her words, not having expected such a volatile reaction from her friend.  “That’s it! Hold my lunch” She blindly handed her bag to Michelle, swiftly making her way towards where Peter and Ned were sat in their usual spots at the table, Dana sitting across from them.  His eyes found hers, his face brightening as she sat in the seat next to him.

“Hey (y/n/n) how was Calc-”

He was promptly cut off by her hands grabbing his face and tugging his lips down against hers.  A muffled sound coming from his throat but he kissed her back nonetheless.  Sure it wasn’t the first time she’d kissed him this passionately, but no one else had ever been allowed to see it.  His hands had set on her jaw, their lips still moving together in a spontaneous makeout session.

“Holy shit!” Ned exclaimed from next to them, while (y/n’s) hands ran through his tresses of hair and her tongue swiped over the seal of her lips.  “They aren’t stopping! Pete! Hey Pete! Take a breather man!”

(y/n) pulled away with a small smirk on her lips, her eyes holding a mischievous glint that Peter had never seen there, but at this point he was fairly certain he loved it.  His girlfriend straightened out his shirt and fixed his hair up all nice again, and wiped her lip with her thumb before looking over at the girl across the table.

“Who’s your friend Pete?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow at Dana, who was now staring between Peter Ned and (y/n) in absolute confusion and awkwardness.

“This is Dana.  Dana, this is (y/n), the girl I was telling you about” Peter introduced awkwardly.  He looked back to (y/n) wish raised brows and a pointed stare.  She smiled bashfully, her heart fluttering at the idea of Peter telling someone about her.  “Dana’s new here”

“Hi” The new girl smiled and waved nervously.  After (y/n’s) very public affection there was a tension left behind that made everyone shift in their seats.  “Nice to meet you, Peter sure talks a lot about you”

“You too” (y/n) squeaked, extending her hand and offering the kindest smile she could

“Anyways, I’ll see you guys another time hopefully.  I’ve gotta meet my boyfriend in study hall” She smiled sweetly before getting up and heading off.

“B-boyfriend?” (y/n’s) voice nearly failed her as she looked over at Peter.  Who still had that dumb look on his face.

“Yep.  Dana was telling me in Chem how she was excited her parents moved here because this is the school her boyfriend goes to, and now she can see him more often” Peter said, a cocky grin growing on his lips.  “And meanwhile I was telling her how lucky I was to have you at this school cause it would suck without you here.  Cause… well yaknow.  You’re the best” He shrugged simply, but his grin was still there.

She felt like an idiot.

“So, what was with the little show?” Ned asked, making (y/n’s) cheeks burn.

“Yeah (y/n/n) what was with the show?” Peter repeated.

“Shut up I was jealous” She mumbled under her breath.

“What was that? I didn’t quite catch it” Peter said.  She mumbled again.  “You’re gonna have to speak up hon-”

“I said I was jealous!” She snapped.  “Sorry! It’s just… Ned kept going on about her and then- I just got in my own head and-”

Peter cut her off, kissing her lips chastely.

“You silly girl” He shook his head, the biggest smile on his face.  “There’s no other girl in this whole galaxy I could love as much as you.  Much less some random chick that just moved here” He said.  And if she wasn’t already blushing, surely she was now.

“Can we forget it happened?” She asked hopefully, but Peter shook his head.

“Nope I don’t think I’m ever gonna forget it happened” He said, making her rol her eyes playfully.

“Yeah.  Me either” Ned grumbled.

“Fine” (y/n) sighed.  “I promise not to be stupid anymore”

“You’re not stupid, you were just being ridiculous” Peter chuckled.  “Really, I can’t believe you let that get to you” He said, shaking his head and cupping her face in his hands.  “Absolutely ridiculous” He said, kissing her again softly.  She held back her smile, very much liking all the affection she was getting.

“I love you too, by the way” She told him, happy to be able to say it without her voice stuttering and failing her.

“You’re cute, but you made that pretty clear” Peter snickered, earning a jaw drop from (y/n) and a smack on the shoulder.

“Yeah.  Very clear” Ned muttered, but the young couple ignored it, kissing softly again.  “Very clear!”

taglist: @writings-and-stuff @rofromtheashes @tomshufflepuff @steve-avengers-rogers @vibhati123 @dark-night-sky-99  @hollandhours @drakonwild​ @imofficiallyobsessed​ @fussy-and-a-writer-sometimes

xoxo ~ jordie

[petersasteria]

Internet Friends - Peter Parker

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Requested? Nah. I thought of this while washing the dishes the other day lmao

Peter Parker Masterlist || Ultimate Masterlist

Tagging @tommysparker bc they said dO iT cOwArD HAHAHA lmao

* * * *

How do you feel every time you make friends on the internet? Do you feel happy? Do you feel scared? Do you feel accomplished, because you finally and successfully made a friend even though it's not in a face to face interaction?

Peter Parker felt all of those things when he made friends with you on Tumblr. He felt excited and scared, but the good outweighed the bad and now both of you are good friends.

He has a Star Wars fan account called "yoda-one-that-i-dream-abt-leia" and he's really proud of his username. He has a couple hundred of followers and he posts random video edits that he makes on his free time. He sees your account when one of his mutuals reblog your post about Spider-Man. It's not anything bad, but as soon as he sees it, he smiles. He knew he had to see what else is on your account.

"webmeupspiderdaddy" Peter reads your username. He chuckles at the username and stalks your account. He sees all of your Spider-Man edits and memes and he finds it entertaining. He even finds your fanfiction and he didn't know what to feel.

He saw every fanfiction that you wrote. Angst, fluff, and even smut. Peter blushes after reading one smutty one shot of yours. "This is insane." he mutters under his breath. He didn't know that people out there are writing about his alter ego. He didn't know they were fantasizing about Spider-Man; fantasizing about Spider-Man having sex with them.

Sure, Spider-Man gets girls by just swinging around and stuff, but he didn't expect some fans. Judging by your videos, you seem to be around Spider-Man a lot. So, Peter follows you and sends you a DM.

To: webmeupspiderdaddy Hey!! I love ur acc. I'm a fan of Spidey too and I  was just wondering where u got ur videos of him?? u know, from ur edits?

Peter sends the message and he's surprised when you reply immediately.

To: yoda-one-i-dream-abt-leia

Hello! Thank you <3 I'm from Queens and he's around a lot and he coincidentally swings near me whenever I'm out. I'm convinced that we're meant to be lmao

Peter giggles and blushes. No one has ever said that tom him before. Well, technically, this is about Spider-Man. But him and Spider-Man are the same.

From that moment on, you and Peter have been talking non stop. You talk after school, during the weekends, after his Stark internship, and sometimes during class hours.

One night, you're talking about Queens and you immediately had a thought that you just had to absolutely share.

To: yoda-one-i-dream-abt-leia dUDE WE'RE BOTH FROM QUEENS... WHAT IF WE BUMPED INTO EACH OTHER BEFORE WITHOUT US KNOWING??

Peter reads your message and thinks about it. There's a possibility that you two might have ran into each other. You could be anyone.

To: webmeupspiderdaddy

MAYBE WE HAVE. MAYBE WE HAVEN'T. Where do you go to school? Lmao we've been talking for like months now. We could at least know that. We both know each other's nicknames. Your nickname is Mickey as in like Mickey Mouse because you love hotdogs and that's Mickey Mouse's catchphrase.

Peter knew it was a long shot, but hey, if it fails at least he tried.

To: yoda-one-i-dream-abt-leia

I go to Midtown :)) wbu

Peter's heart stopped beating for a second and he could've sworn he could've died right there and then. Then there IS  a big chance that you guys have bumped into each other or maybe sharing a class.

To: webmeupspiderdaddy

yO SAME. I'M NOT KIDDING SKSKS

To: yoda-one-i-dream-abt-leia

OH YEAH?? PROVE IT.

To: webmeupspiderdaddy

THEY PLAY CAP'S VIDEOS AT GYM AND DETENTION LIZ ALLEN IS THE POPULAR AND SMART GIRL MICHELLE JONES IS VERY VERY OBSERVANT AND MR. HARRINGTON IS A SAD MAN

To: yoda-one-i-dream-abt-leia

WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE FROM MIDTOWN SKSKSK BUT WE HAVE TO SLEEP NOW BC SCHOOL TOMORROW. GOOD NIGHT AND SEE U HOPEFULLY.

Peter smiles at his phone and sends you a 'good night x' before yawning and going to sleep himself. The next day, he does his morning routine and catches the train to school. After a few minutes, he arrives at school and walks to his locker to get his things. He pulls out his phone and checks out your DMs from last night. He really likes you.

Just as he re-reads the part of you telling him that you're from Midtown, he bumps into, well, he bumps into you. Both of your phones on the floor.

"Ugh, watch where you're going, Parker!" you hiss. Peter rolls his eyes at you, "Good morning to you too, Y/N."

Both of you don't know that the other is your internet friend from Tumblr. However, you know each other at school. For some reason, you and Peter hated each other's guts. You were popular, a cheerleader, pretty, and smart. He was just smart.

Peter hated that you were perfect. You were basically a female version of him except that you're more popular and more attractive.

You hated that Peter was loved by the teachers and you hated that he had real friends. You envied that the most.

The mutual hate started years ago, but your ever growing love for the other's alter ego is present. Both of you just didn't know that you're standing in front of each other.

You glare at each other and both of you kneel down to pick up your phones. You take a peek of his screen and your eyes widen. He takes a peek of your phone too only to see his Tumblr account there. His eyes widen in shock.

You both stand up and stare at each other.

"Am I seeing things or is that my DMs with yoda-one-i-dream-abt-leia?" you whisper.

"Depends." Peter whispers. "Is that my account you're checking out?"

"Depends." you mock. Pete rolls his eyes and shakes his head, "Prove you're webmeupspideyrdaddy."

You stare at him intently and sigh, "My nickname is Mickey because I love hotdogs. Prove you're yoda-one-i-dream-abt-leia."

"...."

"Well?!"

"Mr. Harrington is a sad man." Peter says softly.

Your features soften and crack a small smile, "It is you."

"All this time, we've been in one place." you chuckle and he chuckles too. The hate on each other beginning to disappear.

"C-Can we start over, then? In real life this time?" Peter asks shyly. You giggle and nod, "Hi, I'm Y/N."

"Hey, I'm Peter." he smiles, the crinkles of his eyes, showing. It was then that you notice that Peter Parker is actually really cute.

"Quit staring." Peter blushes. You smirk at him, "Make me."

As if on cue, the bell rings and you just remain in the hallway as everyone scrambles to their classroom.

"So, uh, I'll see you later or talk to you later or something." Peter says nervously.

"Sure!" you grin before walking to your classroom. Peter just stands there with a stupid grin on his face before walking to his class.

* * * *

yuh yeet

[sunflowerkiwi93]

Now That We’re Done - HS

All Parts: HERE

Summary: A twenty year old dancer, Elizabeth Payne, is recovering from a traumatic past with the help of her older brother, Liam. The two of them have been yearning for peace for quite some time, and when a good friend comes to live with them for the summer they start their journey towards finding it.  Through ups, downs, relapses, and two albums- Liz fights through her own mind to get better.

Warnings: There are mentions of abuse, PTSD, and anxiety throughout every part.  Also- mature content. One of the guys doesn’t turn out to be so great- this story is not intended to give him this image.  This is all purely fiction.

Part Seven

Laying down across my couch the tv played meaningless sitcoms as I scrolled through my phone.  Twitter was alive as I interacted with some of my fans, and I watched the trending hashtags closely like I usually did.

Some people were tweeting questions about my sister, about my sister and Harry and about my sister again.  

Her name hadn’t been out in the world this huge since it happened.  She was posted all over social media, her face across nearly every magazine in the world with trashy articles written about her left and right.  There were a few that steered away from it and supported her, and I personally reached out to those companies to thank them and to help them work on any future projects.

Now that Elizabeth had been spotted three times in the same month, the world didn’t know how to act.

What happened to my sister didn’t die down until a year after it happened.  She went into hiding, we put her into hiding, and made sure she was completely out of the public eye.

A new tweet popped up to the top of my feed.

@julesstevens798: your sister sure knows how to run through your group of friends huh. #liampayneqanda

I stared at it for a moment and watched as a few replies followed it.

@onedxalways54: Shut up!!! U dont know her or them!! Leave her alone. She went through serious shit.

@julesstevens798: so she gets to whore around again with another one direction guy?! seems messed up to me. isnt she fucked up in the head anyway!?

I wanted to block her and throw my phone away, but instead I refreshed the page.  Torturing myself some more.

@camcam_ryannn: @julesstevens798 And Harrys entire album was about Kendall who are we kidding.  One D Always can shut her mouth. Harrys just looking for a fuck. #liampayneqanda

@julesstevens798: @camcam_ryannn and easiest way to get it is to use someone mentally unstable!!!! LOL!!!!

@camcam_ryannn: @julesstevens798 I bet she knows what shes doing too.  How long has it been shes had sex am I right?!?!?

@julesstevens789: @camcam_ryannn lol girl, who knows where shes been and who shes been with!!!!  they probably all slept with her when she lived with them before!!!  probably why she moved in!!!

I stopped myself from reading the thread between those two girls and tossed my phone to the side.  I buried my face into my hands and let out a scream.  Something I could only do when I was completely alone.  My heart was on fire and I could feel it through my entire body.  I jumped up and paced around my living room.  I tried reminding myself that those people online really have no idea what they’re talking about.  They don’t know what's on the inside.  They don’t know how many nights I held my sister as she cried herself to sleep.  

How two years ago I found her lying on my kitchen floor in a ball screaming that she did this to herself with tears streaming down her face.  I couldn’t get her up on my own, I could barely hold myself together. I knew I had to for her sake, so I called Harry.  By the time he got to my house Elizabeth was sitting up with her face against my kitchen cabinets still sobbing as I tried to hold onto her.  Harry ran through the front door, leaving it open behind him, and threw himself to the ground in front of her.  He tried to grab onto her hands and she fought him away.

“Don’t touch me!” She shouted at him, “Don’t come near me!”  Harry sat back and watched her.  He looked all over her and closed his eyes.

“Elizabeth,” He said in a soft voice.  She didn’t acknowledge him, “Elizabeth.” He said again, opening his eyes.

“Stop!” She shouted covering her ears.  I sat back leaning against the cabinet next her and covered my face trying my hardest to hold back my tears.  “Go away,” She demanded, “Go!”

“I’m not leaving,” Harry said in the same tone he spoke in before.

“Please!  Leave!” She shouted, sliding her body down to lay completely on the floor where she was before.  “You shouldn’t be here,” Her voice got quiet but still she cried.  I looked up to Harry who was looking at me with a sad expression and he quickly returned his attention to my sister.  “I shouldn’t be here,” She said quickly and stopped her crying abruptly.

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked, maintaining his gentle voice.  Normally I could handle myself in a situation like this, but it never got this bad.  My hands were shaking as I sat beside my sister unable to comfort her.  She sat up and glanced around the room, not looking at me or Harry.

“I shouldn’t be here,” She whispered.  Her lips were red, her eyes were bloodshot and her skin was pale and washed out.  Her cheeks were stained with tears and her hair was in the same bun it's been in for weeks.  It’d been a month since we’d been home from the tour.

“I don’t... deserve this,” Her hands started to shake.  She tucked her knees into her chest, “I don’t deserve him, he’s so much better without me.  I ruined his life.  I don’t deserve to be here, to have you or anyone,” She looked to me with sad eyes, “Why is life worth it, why should I even try?” I reached over to hold onto her hands a bit too fast and she flinched, jumping away, pinning herself to the cabinet with a crash.  She stared at me with her eyes wide open.  My hands, still out in the air, fell to my lap and I cried.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said clearly, “You know me, you know who I am.  I’m not going to hurt you.”  She stared at me, her eyes still wide, and she watched me cry.  We sat that way for a minute.

“No,” She said and swiftly stood up and hurried away from the both of us.  Harry jumped up and chased after her.  I took a deep breath and got up to follow them.  When I turned into the bathroom where they were, Harry had my sister in his arms.  He had his back pressed against the shower with Elizabeth facing away from him sobbing into her arms mumbling something I couldn’t even understand.  Harry, still somehow staying strong, nodded at me and closed his eyes for a second.

“We have to take her,” He whispered and she sobbed again clearly shouting and disagreeing with him into her arms.  I let more tears fall, swallowed my pride and left to grab the car keys.

Harry carried her out to the car clearly strong enough to resist her fighting and he held her against him in the backseat.  No one spoke until the car was in park.  Liz had stopped crying and uncovered her face to look at Harry.  He gave her a soft smile.  She sat up, looked out the window and let out a staggered breath.

“You should just leave me here,” She sniffled and wiped her face with her sleeves.

“We won’t be doing that,” Harry said firmly.  She looked at him, then to me, then to Harry and began to cry again.

“Come on,” She fell back toward his chest and with that we brought her out of the car and into the hospital and stayed with her there overnight.

I fell back into the sofa and sunk into the cushions directing my attention to the TV.  I did tap on my phone once to check the time.  It read 8:07.  I frowned at it, crossed my arms over my chest and looked at the TV again.  Tapping my right foot against the floor I did my best to fight the urge of calling Harry.  He and my sister had been out since about 10 o’clock this morning.  He told me they’d be home before the sunset, but that timeframe was quickly coming to a close.  I hadn’t heard from either of them all day.  I had actually planned for nothing to do for the sole purpose of being free to answer my sister's calls, but I assume she’s fine.  The moment I reached for my phone ready to call him, the front door swung open.  Harry waltzed in with my sister under his arm and they were laughing.  I watched them quietly.  Elizabeth twisted herself around and wrapped her arms around Harry's back, her face in line with his chest.  He was incredibly taller than her.  Her chin was tilted up and she was smiling at him.  His arms fell around her as he smiled back and touched his forehead to hers. He whispered something to her and she blushed.  He whispered to her again and she grinned.  Their eyes never parted.

She said something to him and he took a second to answer.  Whatever he said to her made her frown, but he quickly said something right after to make her laugh.  She pushed him away shaking her head.

“Harry!” She nearly snorted.  I clicked the TV off and their heads turned to me in shock, both their mouths fell open.

“Hi,” I said happily and a little uneasy.  Elizabeth hesitated a moment but then she hurried her way in the living room to hop on the couch beside me.  Her face was glowing and her smile was beaming.  Her hair and makeup weren’t as done up as they were when she left this morning, but she looked beautiful.  She leaned into me for a hug.  Pulling her in I saw Harry over her shoulder watching us with his hands in his pockets.  He gave me a small smile, and I pulled away from Elizabeth before I thought about returning it back to him.  My mind still influenced by Twitter.

“How was your day?” I asked giving her my full smile and attention.  Harry looked unsure to me as he slummed his way around the other couch to sit down.  My eyes didn’t deter from my sister.  Elizabeth talked for fifteen minutes about the day they had, Harry chiming in now and then to answer her questions and to clarify things for me.  The coffee they had, the records they bought, the hats they tried on, the drums that she played, the ice cream and the dinner they ate.

“I asked if we could walk the rest of the way home once we turned the corner to our neighborhood,” Her eyebrows raised.

“You know where that is?” I questioned pulling a face.  She nodded.

“Course I do.  I don’t forget Liam,” She poked a finger to my chest, “We got out of the car and walked,” She sighed, her eyes closing, “The air was wonderful.  To be outside at that hour surrounded by nothing but green.” Glancing to Harry, his elbow was on the arm of the sofa with his head resting in his hand.  He was gazing at her with a smile.

“It was so... ethereal.” She let out a breath as if she’d been holding it in.  Harry and I were both surprised by her choice of words.

“You’ve been spending too much time with him,” I joked pointing to Harry.  Elizabeth covered her mouth and laughed.  She looked over her shoulder at Harry, the two of them smiling, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.  I cleared my throat gently to break the silence and Elizabeth turned to me.

“I think I might go call Kens, is that okay?” She asked. I looked at her confused.

“You don’t have to ask,” I told her, “Are you okay?” My mind trickled back to Twitter.

“Yeah!” She breathed, “I just want to tell her about today that’s all.” Her smile was still on her face.  Harry and I both let her go off to her room.  Harry watched her all the way until she turned the corner of the hallway.

“So,” I started and waited for him to look back at me.  I took a much needed deep breath, “It was a good day, yeah?” Harry sat forward, elbows to his knees, and looked me in the eye.

“You have the greatest sister,” He said, his voice quiet, “She and I had the best day I’ve had in a long time.  Unbelievable to think of where she was just last year, mentally.” The use of that word threw my mind for a spin.  I looked down at my feet and continued to listen.

“She went a lot longer than I thought she was going to.  I thought after the record store we would’ve been done and coming back,” He scoffed, “I was very wrong.”  I nodded along my eyes looking at him again.

“Liam,” He leaned forward a tiny bit more, “She was singing in the car, she was dancing to the music in the car, she was acting like she was when she was eighteen.” His voice was low.  A smile snuck onto my face.

“I couldn’t tell you what’s happening,” I said truthfully, “She’s...” My voice trailed off.

“Getting better,” Harry finished my thought.  We looked at each other with a smile before his fell.  He sat back on the couch and looked at his lap.  He looked like he had something to say.  Now was my time to lean forward, elbows to my knees.  His eyebrows were low as his eyes flickered to find mine.

“What?” I asked softly with a hint of big brother in it.  Harry licked his lips and took a breath.

“We kissed in the park on the way home,” He spoke guiltily softly.  I felt a tinge of anger.  As a brother you don’t really want to hear those things about your sister especially from one of your good friends, and with the situation we’re in here at home I didn’t know how to take it.  We sat in silence.  The sound of Elizabeth's feet came barreling down the hallway.  Harry and I both sat up straight to see her.  She hightailed her way into me and nearly fell on top of me.

“Kens!” She exclaimed, “She’s so happy!  She’s calling you tomorrow, Liam.  I feel so great,” She held her chest breathing heavily, “Gosh, I can’t catch my breath.” She groaned, immediately looked to Harry and the two of them shared a laugh.

“Alright, well tell her I’m looking forward to it,” I grinned.  She said goodnight to Harry and I, and popped her phone into my hands without thinking twice about it and walked back toward her room.

“I was on twitter not too long ago,” I started.  Harry's head turned to me, “And I read some things I didn’t need to read.”

“Oh no, Liam,” Harry giggled a bit, “Don’t you remember the first rule from media training!” He joked and I could remember those days of sitting in a room for hours learning the ways.  I talked over my laughter.

“I do, trust me, but as a brother I had to forget that rule.”

“How long ago was it on there?” Harry asked, pulling his phone out.

“Harry, you don’t have to-“ I started to say but he found it quick.  He pulled a face.

“No, no,” He stated.  His eyes continued to read and they shot open wide, “This is disgusting!” He shouted.  I shushed him for Elizabeth’s sake.

“I know.  It’s terrible,” I agreed.  Harry tossed his phone on the coffee table not even bothering to lock it.

“Alright Liam Payne Q and A,” He scooted to the end of the couch he was on to get closer to mine, “What do you have to say about them, because I know something is coming.” Harry squinted his eyes.  I know he’s waiting for me to get angry, and for me to throw a fit.  He’s waiting for me to blame him.  To put all of this on him as if he wrote those tweets himself because that’s how I used to treat this stuff.  I brought my hand to the back of my neck and shook my head.

“It’s not her’s, nor is it your fault those tweets were written,” I said.  Harry scoffed, telling me I was right, “It just makes me upset that people could think those things about her... and you.”  Harry shrugged.

“That’s been our lives, Liam,” He explained, “Every person we’re seen with, every place we go, everything we say.  All of it is always twisted, always pulled out of proportion.  Everything everyone knows about us is not even half true.”

“Yeah,” I bobbed my head.

“Don’t let teenagers on twitter affect you or your life.  You’ve come so far with your sister and you know her heart.  You know who she’s been with and where she’s been.  Right?”  He schooled me.

“Right,” I answered.

“Right!” He exclaimed, “I kissed your sister, but I swear I won’t do it again nor will I lay a finger on her until I know you’re going to be okay.” He stated looking me straight in the eye.  I could see the heat in his face, the passion behind his words.  He spoke from his heart, he always has.  With everything in me I trusted him.  He’s stuck with us for so long, and he keeps coming back.  He comes back to see her.  He came back to help me take care of her on multiple occasions.  Looking at our past it was clear his heart was always there at the frontline.  He was just about to leave me and I stopped him in his tracks.

“Harry,” I said, lifting a hand to make him pause.  He sat back down and waited.  Folding my hands together I held them on top of my forehead, “I think... you need to...” Harry shook his head and shot me a crazy look.

“What?” He asked in a funny voice.

“I think you need to let it happen,” I said looking him in the eyes.  He stared back at me in shock, and I could tell he had a smile in there somewhere.

“Really?” He whispered, not making a move.

“Yes,” I answered swiftly ignoring the darker side of my mind, “It’s clear you’re both... in love.” I thought of another word to use but there wasn’t one.

“She is?” He was still whispering and had barely moved.

“Oh, she hasn’t said anything?” I questioned, but smirked, knowing what I just did.

“No, neither of us said anything.”

I ran a hand under my chin and nodded.

“Interesting,” I said mysteriously.  Harry still sat there frozen staring at me, “Harold, get it together.” I laughed, clapping my hands together.  He didn’t move but his smile grew larger and larger.

“Thanks Liam,” He said, and with that he left the room and started down the hall to his room.  He and Elizabeth both turn left at the end of the hallway to get to their rooms, and I’m the only one who makes a right.  Letting that information marinate in my brain for a moment, it actually didn’t bother me as much as I thought it was going to.  He got to the end and I’m pretty sure I watched him fist bump himself a ‘hell yeah’ as he turned the corner.  I found my phone and held it up to unlock it.  I quickly swiped out of twitter and went into my messages where I had two waiting for me from Kens.

K-Evening!  It seems as though our girl has had a lovely day.  I’d like to call you tomorrow for you and I to chat a bit about it.

K- Elizabeth told me you were okay with a call.  I’ll be in touch tomorrow!

I didn’t bother to explain why I hadn’t answered, she knew I was home with Elizabeth and Harry.  I sent her a thumbs up, locked my phone and started for my bedroom.  Glancing to my left when I got to the end of the hallway, Harry's door was shut but my sisters was open.  She always left her door open at night.  I stepped to it quietly and peeked my head in.  Instead of curling up into a ball like she usually did, she had both her hands over her head and she was laying on her back with her knees tucked in.  She looked insanely at peace.  I blew her a kiss and went to bed.

[tinycaprisun]

✨twenty questions✨

i was tagged by @freshlysqueezedmox !!! thanks summer i always get good and in my feelings when someone’s tags me in things 🧡

—

1. what do you prefer to be called name-wise?

uh, liz is cool but really u can call me anything, like i’ll respond to bastard if u yell it loud enough

2. when is your birthday?

february 29th & yes i am not joking i was born on leap year and my day of birth only exists once every 4 years

3. where do you live?

in super mega ultra hell. is that meme already dead bc idk i like the verbiage of it lmao- no but for real i live in missouri, and there isn’t much to do other than stare at a giant hunk of curved metal and eat barbecue that the locals tell u is the best thing since sliced bread & maybe it is i just don’t like it myself ahaha

4. three (3) things you are doing right now?

aside from answering this? well listening to 9 to 5 by dolly parton bc yeehaw, petting my cat who’s curled up on my foot, and slowly waiting for the day to end

5. four (4) fandoms that have peaked your interest?

oh god there r too many to count but as of rn? probs wrestling, buzzfeed unsolved, rupaul’s drag race & just drag in general, and achievement hunter

6. how has the pandemic been treating you?

um... if you would like the honest answer, not great... i lost my job in august so i haven’t been employed for a few months now. my dad hasn’t been making the money he used to so i’ve started helping paying the bills w/ the funds i had saved for going back to college from when i did have that job. sort of become a recluse again, where i almost never leave the house outside of small trips to the store or the literal once in a blue moon going and social distantly see a friend. it’s basically the life i lived in early 2019 while i’m very lonely all the time while trying to solve the problems of my family as the same time? whatever who cares i’m moving on

7. a song you can’t stop listening to right now?

oddly enough, ‘positions’ by ariana grande! i don’t listen to her all that often but for some reason this song really stuck to me! i especially like the versions of it where it’s slowed down and had reverb!

8. recommend a movie?

this might be out of left field, but ‘motocrossed’! it’s one of those disney channel original movies that i grew up with and it’s still pretty good to this day! the movie’s about (and this is in the words of the legendary nakeyjakey) girls pretending to be boys so they can ride dirt bikes

9. how old are you?

20!

10. school, university, occupation, other? 

as i said before i am now unemployed. and before that i did try to go to university once but failed out of all my classes due to never going to them because i couldn’t force myself to get out of bed. i want to go back to school so fucking bad for secondary education physics as a practical career. but recently i’ve been teasing the idea of becoming a ring announcer because my voice was build to shout really loud, but who knows, u know?

11. do you prefer heat or cold?

cold 100% bc i cannot function in environments above 75° (fahrenheit). like it can be -7° outside and i’ll be pleased as punch but as soon as it gets up there in temp? i melt like a popsicle

12. name one fact others may not know about you.

i used to be a gymnast! did all the flipping and the balance beam stuff & maybe thinking abt doing it again. idk i just want to do a backflip and have cool muscles

13. are you shy?

it kinda depends? i can be the most loud and unabashed son of a bitch if i want to, but sometimes i do get into my own head and go silent and nervous.

14. preferred pronouns

she/her and they/them! and they r not “preferred”, they r my pronouns! :D

15. biggest pet peeve?

okay this isn’t as profound or interesting as summer’s was, but people who scrape their forks against their teeth! it is one the worst sounds known to man and it hurts my already messed up ears

16. what is your favorite “dere” type? 

tsundere? i think? sure, i’ll go with that

17. rate your life from 1-10, 1 being crappy, 10 being the best it could be. 

5, and this calvin and hobbes comic explains why

18. what is your main blog?

this. she’s been through a lot and i feel sorry for her honestly

19. list your side blogs and what they’re used for. 

i used to have separate blogs a LONG time ago for art and writing, but as it turns out i’m shit at both so they got deleted and this is all i have now

20. is there something people need to know about you before becoming friends? 

if we aren’t counting the fact that i’m an asshole, i would say that i have the worst tendency to delete messages i send after a while. basically my brain goes into panic mode if someone isn’t responding back thinking “ur annoying them, they don’t want to talk to u. u should delete what u sent because u should have never of said anything in the first place! only speak when spoken to!” u know, the usual.

—

certified and honorary cowboys i’m tagging: @orangechuckiet @darbs @yellow----daisy @trent-heel-beretta and anyone else who would like to participate i realize this is over a day old, soz for bothering y’all

[edge-lorde]

hp update: its been a long time, boys. ud think that with this plague outbreak id have more time for shitty phone games, and ud be right! however, the time i normally might use to make tumblr posts has been taken up by reading lotr orc fanfiction non-stop for at least 1 full month. id still be in the thick of that obsession even now if only the fics would update. that is how i find you today folks, for the first time in many weeks i am staring at a screen with nothing to do. so come with me friends, theres no better way to fill the soulless void we are all in than reading a nice long tumbler post. 

disclaimer, first of all, a lot has happened, i prefer to keep these updates as plot spoiler free as possible but do to extenuating circumstances i feel like it is necessary to say, [SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER BELOW]

that rowan fucking died,

i wont say exactly how, but i will say that her death was animated as were animations of myself and a few others reacting to our friend fresh corpse. obviously meant to be serious moments but the animations made it seem almost comical. 

i saw at least one post going around right after this update that was like ‘how could the game devs do this to us..... how could they hate rowan so.... this is punishment from on high’ and its like.... u guys do know what a story is right? the events of  a story are not typically done to punish less faithful fans, im pretty sure they were planning to kill rowan off from the beginning. this isnt disney im pretty sure the writers are not writing each chapter the night before its released by popular vote. 

that little “are we drifting away..?” scene with rowan makes more sense now. there was a bit in one of the scenes where the kids all reminisce on rowans life and the mc talks about it being the last real one on one time they had with rowan. a nice bitter sweet moment. i dont hate this turn of events. its a good reminder that actions have consequences and we are way past they days of “should i wear a hat or scarf?” its YA time now. 

i did manage to take 1 screenshot from this time, i had commented that before that when rowan said she didnt have many friedns that barnaby seemed to be hanging out with her without be there as a friend buffer and here was his reaction to her death:

;_;

the funniest part in all of this however, was of course cedericks reaction to rowans death “but she was so young....” LOL fuckin RIP.

lets see... what else.... i forget a lot of what happened but i think there was a time sensitive quidditch event in there somewhere? if so i  dont remember it. what i do remember of the quidditch pals is that im gonna play beater now, skye is being weird and cagey about it, andre is involved.... the others are there.....

sidenote, i love the shitty b characters they throw in to be like yes you know this person but no they are not cool enough for u to even think about befriending. the first one of those is face paint kid, and now we have another, who is a former beater girl with horrible bangs named bean who didnt go to any classes for a whole season so she could just play ball 24/7 and got kicked off the team.  this is a character who only exists to provide an explanation as to why there would be a beater position open but i love them on principle. 

right now im in the midst of another time sensitive event, this one is a bother-your-brother-at-work-day event where recent hogwarts graduate bill weasley is bullied by myself and his younger brother charlie into letting us go with him on one of his curse breaking jobs. 

so for those unfamiliar, bill works for the magical bank of england.... and his job seems to be “retrieving treasure” for said bank. in the books, there is a bit where he takes his family on one of his trips to egypt, where his job seemed to have been tomb plundering indiana jones style for the posterity of the english bank :X. i wont explain here why thats bad but its bad. 

the game devs however in this instance, at least SEEM to be doing what jkr couldnt do by attempting to salvage what is left of gringotts bank and form it into not a super shitty implications factory run by horrible jewish caricatures. bills mission is to retrieve a goblin made artifact that was taken by dragons, so no going to foreign countries to steal things from other people! only going to a dragon reserve to rifle through animal nests. they even appear to be providing us with a likable goblin character, egad!  

my hope for this event is that we get a plotline about how maybe, goblins arent shifty human haters for no reason, and in fact they hate magic humans for very understandable reasons, like being forced to go into hiding with the rest of the magical world even though only the humans wanted to do that, and maybe despite running the bank in england they still dont have a lot of political sway in the world of wizards and witches, and have to rely on the faith that said wizards and witches wont fuck them over at every turn, even as they see how they treat other non-humans, such as house elves, which they desperately dont want to end up like. and maybe they DONT only care about gold... maybe thats a human stereotype based on the fact that theres a long history of humans not respecting goblin ownership customs.... which i could get into..... but i wont.... i just....... very badly dont want them to suck ;__________;

i know i said its ok to still like a piece of media as long as you recognize the problems with it, and i do, but once this game is done im gonna stop hp posting all together. ive been feeling more and more uncomfortable making these posts lately.  

GENERAL GAME NOTES; theres been some new layout changes and such. 

most notably the stairs screen has been changed from a bulleted list of all locations to a screen with tiles picturing an image of each location along with the name + icons of all classes at each place. there is one additional location that is new and yet to be unlocked, and the dragon reservation is appearing temporarily as its own tile as well. i prefer this method of getting in and out of a temporary location to how they did it with car during the last christmas special. the stairs icon also now stays in the corner when you scroll through locations, allowing you to open the stairs menu without scrolling all the way back to the left. 

they also moved a few of the buttons down into the lower left corner rather than the left side & combined the story button and sidequest button. they added a little camera button as well, just like in the dormitory, that makes all the icons in a location disappear and look better for screenshots. 

the daily special add offer thing now has its own button in the top right corner of the screen, and idk if i mentioned it before but now there are daily challenges that appear in the sidequest screen that offer small rewards for completing 3 tasks per day + a better one if u get all 3. the prizes are things like 4 energy, 75 coins, 3 monster food. the better rewards are usually either more coins, 8 energy, 3 gems, or 1 notebook. i think that it does all the different color notebooks but i cant remember for sure if i ever saw the gold one up as a reward. i like this addition in any case. if you dont pick up ur reward by the end of the day, the next time u log on it will force u to stop and accept them, and if one of the rewards is energy and ur energy bar is full, it does not seem to stack beyond the bar so watch out.

 the character stats page is now more zoomed out so you can see your full character instead of just from the waist up. no change to the leaderboard. rowans face in the friendship roster is now a still black and white image that says ur friend may be gone but friendship is forever u-u. 

rowan has been removed from all classes. in the classes where the minigames involved her, those minigames have passed the mantle onto other friends in the class. in potions that person is now liz helping u find stuff off the shelves and in tranfiguration that person is badeea. bless these girls for helping mc get through it. touched my heart. 

theres been a few fun little “i know u have more free time now so uhhhh have some energy” prizes like they do sometimes when they dont update on schedule so thats been nice. just a few days ago they gifted us 3 gold notebooks the same way. :O. 

theres also been a few instances of a energy happy hour where for a limited time energy takes less time to refresh. normally it takes 4 mins for 1 energy to do this but during happy hour its like 2:30 mins. :U its all very interesting.

and that will have to do it for tonight my friends, ill do a post for the dragon event when its done because i do like it so far and i do like getting to bully bill with charlie. 

until next time, remember.......

[lightningmastertrilogy]

Path of Lightning: Origins chapters 14 and 15: The alliance & the Knight

Summary: The wizards come to Aether for a meeting that would decide their relationship with Aether, and Aiko has to form a team for a mission that doesn’t go as well as expected.

Total word count: 5k words.

Read on wattpad: Chapter 14, chapter 15.

Read here:

Chapter 14: The Alliance

It was yet another day in Aether, one where everything was at peace and Liz could do whatever she wanted. And so she did.

She inspected the small rocks in her hand, then looked at her target. Tara's eyes focused on the same target. They shared a look of determination and nodded before throwing them with full force at Jun, hitting him on the head and knocking him out.

"Ah, he went down faster than I thought." Liz voiced her disappointment then patted her friend on the back. "That was great aiming, Terra!"

"Thanks! You too!" Tara said with a shy smile. "It's Tara actually..." She corrected, but Liz didn’t seem to listen, so she sighed.

Aiko and Nosaru were sitting at a table in the cafeteria, watching them. Aiko was amused while her sister was distracted. The younger Akina rested her face on her palm.

"I wanted to punish that idiot but it looks like your friends are taking care of him." Aiko said then took a sip from her coffee.

"They're not my friends." Nosaru stated, absentmindedly.

"Then why are you staring at them so fondly?" Aiko asked, her sister looked at her, slightly offended by her claim. She opened her mouth to argue but Aiko beat her to it. "I know you more than anyone. You get attached to people easily." She said before whispering the last part. "And you're also a big softie."

Nosaru resisted the urge to slam her face on the table, and rolled her eyes instead. "Are you done with your daily teasing?"

"Nope!" The older sister said with a big grin. Her smile faded, and she leaned closer to her. “Look, I know you’re keeping your distance to protect yourself, but you don’t have to.”

The younger sister sighed, and chose not to respond to her words.

She then noticed three figures walking in, and her eyes widened in surprise. The three who stood there were the end, copycat, and Malik.

Liz happened to spot them as well, and while she shared the same look of shock as her partner, it was replaced by a smile.

"Attention people! We have arrived! I am the end!" The end introduced himself, lowering himself to one knee and raising his arms up. Copycat was still standing, but he was leaning to the left on his knee, one arm raised up while the other was pointed towards their third member.

"I am Copy Cat! And this is-"

"MALIK!" Malik interrupted him and looked away in embarrassment. He didn’t bother to make a pose, just stood there with a slouch and a frown that seemed like it could be his default expression.

Liz grinned at the sight and approached them. "Endy! Kitty! Madoka! What are you doing here?"

"MADOKA?!" Malik’s eyes shot wide and he was about to argue with whoever called him that, until he saw who was in front of him. He took a step back, hiding behind copycat. "We just introduced ourselves! How can you make such a mistake?" He muttered.

The blonde stared at him for a moment before talking again. "So, Madoka, what's up?"

Malik wished he could die and save himself from this torture.

"Mr.Hiroshi said he'd overlook our crimes if we work here." The End explained.

"We'll have to work for free, or he'll throw us in jail." Malik added, frowning at the lack of options.

"And we get free food!" Copy cat jumped in excitement much to Malik's dismay.

"Of course he would do that…” Nosaru sighed, rubbing her temples. She couldn’t never understand what her father was thinking, and at this point she was too tired to try.

"This is entertaining but I have to go. We have a meeting with the wizards." Aiko chuckled at the scene, and stood up.

"Wizards?" Liz turned to her, curious. "Is Bo- I mean the author with them?"

"The author?" Aiko titled her head, trying to remember. "Yeah! The author is one of the brightest wizards of this generation. How do you know him?"

"He's my friend." Liz answered. Aiko hummed then left.

"How would someone like you know a wizard?" Nosaru asked, raising an eyebrow. Liz frowned, grasping her right arm, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"What? Are you saying that because I was a mercenary I'm not allowed to know respectable people?" Liz asked then scoffed. She buried her hands in her jacket's pockets and wore a somber expression. "Can't you see me as more than just that?" She asked the startled girl but didn't give her a chance to speak. "I'm going to look for Yuki..."

A heavy silence fell as the blonde walked away. The copy cat broke it with a remark that earned him few glares. "Women."

"That was u-uncalled for, Nosaru." Tara approached her, and if it was someone else, she would have snapped at them. The brunette was so sweet and pure that no one could be mad at her. "Liz is… Liz is nice and caring. She deserves a new start. Everyone… everyone does."

"I know." Nosaru said, feeling guilty for what happened. "I'm just not good with words." She realized she must have hit a nerve.

"That's okay! Just be honest and you'll say the right thing!" Tara said smiling, making the girl smile back.

                                           -P.O.L: Origins-

Aiko walked through the hallways, heading towards the meeting room. She almost bumped into someone, but luckily her reflexes saved her from it. The man blinked, and seemed startled. He had spiky raven hair, coffee colored eyes, and he had a bit of hair on his chin that was hard to see unless you were standing close to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He apologized. "I am the author and I came for a meeting, but I lost my way."

"I'm Aiko. I'm Hiroshi Akina's daughter. It's nice to meet you!" She said with a smile and reached her hand out for a hand shake.

"Likewise." Bob said and shook her hand.

"The meeting is about to start. I'll show you the way." She said, as they started walking, with her ahead to lead him. "So, what do wizards want with us? I thought they hated Penergy users."

"They still do." Bob said, smiling slightly. "If I tell you now, that would spoil the fun, wouldn't it?" Aiko looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then shrugged.

They walked into the meeting room. There was a big round table that had many men surrounding it. One of them was Hiroshi at the front seat, and the others were the wizards.

Aiko nodded to the author, then took the seat next to her father. There was an empty chair on his other side that she took notice of, but didn’t comment on.

"It is an honor to meet with you here." Hiroshi started, with his fingers interlaced and his gaze sharp. "However, I must say I am curious. Wizards have never been fond of us, so may I ask why are you here?"

The guests exchanged looks for a moment.

"We have a favor to ask you, Mr.Hiroshi. We might not be fond of Penergy users, but we respect them, and we respect you. You have a great reputation." One of the wizards stated. He seemed older than the others, and more experienced. His white hair showed, under the hood of his white and gold robe. "After long years, we finally found a treasure we've been looking for. That treasure belonged to our ancestors, and we're asking for your help. We need to get it to our headquarters to protect it, but we can't ask our people to transfer it there."

"What is this treasure?" Aiko asked.

"It's a necklace that was created after the war, thousands of years ago. It is said that our ancestors locked a huge amount of magic in it to protect themselves in case a new war happened." The author stated. "However, the object seemed to have a will of its own. It chooses its owner and that's how they lost it."

"Why would you ask us to do this ask?" Hiroshi asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Penergy users hardly know of its existence, but wizards do. Some would want to steal it. We might be peaceful and organized, but there will always be traitors." Bob answered.

"We have some places where we can transfer from to our headquarters, but we don't want to raise suspicions, and that's why we decided to ask you to lend us some of your members to protect it until it gets there." The old man explained. "Of course, they will be accompanied by a wizard."

The author raised his hand as if saying that he was the one for the mission.

"We know that you are trying your best to keep the world from losing its balance and that's why we're putting our faith in you." The author said. "The other reason is that we want to make an alliance. The wizards and Penergy users should work together."

"Wizards have been avoiding us for thousands of years. Why would you want this alliance now?" Aether's boss asked.

"Don't you think it's time for a new generation to rise?" Bob smirked. “There is always a first time for everything. We have had the same goals from the start, but our ancestors preferred to work on their own.”

“There is only so much we can cover on our own.” The older wizard stated. “And the same goes to you. We will give you full access to our areas and magic, if you give us help whenever we need it.”

Hiroshi and Aiko exchanged looks.

“So, what you need is for us to make up your lack of power?” Aiko asked, causing some of the wizards to glare, but the older one nodded.

“We are a peaceful organization as you know. We can’t engage in battles often, and our powers are more restricted due to our contracts.”

Hiroshi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Aiko, I want you to prepare a team for this mission. We will discuss the terms of this alliance.”

Aiko nodded and left the room. The author looked at the old wizard beside him, who gave him a nod. Bob smiled, and stood up. He wanted to meet a friend.

Chapter 15: The knight

The author sat in the cafeteria, drinking a cup of tea and studying his surroundings. The room was filled with people with different ages and races. Some were showing off their abilities, while others complained about missions. He closed his eyes and let the voices and the smells take over his thoughts. The places that involved wizards were usually bland and unwelcoming.

His train of thoughts stopped when he heard someone sit across him. Aiko handed him her tablet and he accepted it silently. What he found on the device was the list of the members chosen for the mission.

"May I ask why you chose these kids?" He asked after handing back the tablet.

"Giving this task to a known and experienced member might cause suspicions so I tried the smaller ones." She answered, and the author raised an eyebrow, obviously questioning her logic.

"This mission might not go as planned. Do you think these kids can handle themselves?" He asked intrigued by the choice.

"I heard Liz is your friend, so I'm sure you know what she's capable of. She uses all types of melee weapons with amazing skills, along with superior strength and speed. Tara is a master of stealth and sniping. Yuki is ruthless and uses his ability to create a fitting environment while fighting." Aiko explained with a wide smile. She loved analyzing members' abilities and their ways of using them. "They have so much potential. I'm taking this as an opportunity to improve them."

"So you're basing the future of our alliance on your analysis. That's a crazy move." Bob said then crossed his arms and leaned into his chair. A faint smile appeared on his lips. He started to notice how interesting the woman was. "You haven't mentioned the last member."

"Have you heard of the legend of the knight?" Aiko started and her question surprised the wizard. He nodded. He read about it in one of his books and found it very intriguing. "The knight was a prodigy. He learned to use all weapons, was one of the most powerful fighters, and was loyal and brave. He protected his people to the end, and fought an entire army on his own. He died standing, victorious over his enemies. They tried to hold him down with chains, but he kept fighting. His soul remained loyal to the end, and because of that, it fused with the flower that was once the source of all magic."

"Because his soul became part of it, it became a Penergy." The author said. "The knight's soul and power chooses its owner, one that holds similar traits to him. However not every brave soul can have him. Penergy has so many types. Only those who possess the life type can have the knight's powers." Aiko explained. "Life Penergy allows the person's energy to produce life. Other powers evolve, but they can never create life."

Bob smiled as he understood why she was telling him the story. He had high hopes for this mission now.

"Sending four people is unusual." Nosaru said. She was sitting in her father's office. He asked her to stay behind while the three others left.

"Aiko made this choice and I trust her instincts." He said and looked at her instead of busying himself with something. "You look troubled." He stated but she avoided his gaze instead of answering. "I don't expect you to tell me what's bothering you, but I hope you're being honest with yourself. Keeping it all to yourself will only make you feel worse."

"Have you tried being honest with yourself?" His daughter asked, not with hostility but there was hurt in her tone.

Hiroshi closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. "No, but perhaps I should start." He said then gave her permission to leave. "Be careful." He said and she looked at him, thoughtful. There was one question she needed an answer for.

"Why did you refuse to let Ryu become a member?" She asked, and didn't dare to look at him. She heard him sigh as he turned away, facing the window.

"I was wrong about him. The more I looked at him, the more I realized that he has no potential as a Penergy user." Hiroshi stated, and looked away, knowing that this would lead to another argument, but to his surprise, it didn't.

Nosaru simply walked away, without a word. It was pointless to talk back. It wouldn't change a thing. After all, this man only cared about potential, about power, and most importantly about running away from his problems.

There was a time when their conversations were simple and happy. Now they are full of sadness and wounds waiting to be reopened. What they would both give to go back to that time…

On the way to the cafeteria, Yuki accidentally froze half of the hallway because of his nervousness. Liz let out a sigh of relief when Tara separated from them. The guy couldn't control himself around his crush, and it was getting on her nerves.

"Can you calm down before you end up freezing someone?" Liz asked her friend. She was both annoyed and alarmed by her friend's mood.

"I'm going on a mission with Tara!" Yuki exclaimed with wide eyes and shaky hands. "What if I say something stupid? What if I DO something stupid and she would think that I'm a loser and hate me forever? I can't handle that!"

"You'll be fine!" Liz reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. "You're not a loser, you're a dork. Besides, she seems to like you, so it’s going to be okay."

The blonde smiled when she spotted the person she was looking for. She waved at the wizard who noticed her from a distance and smiled back. Aiko was still with him, and she didn't bother to look up from her drink to know who was walking towards them. Liz stopped by the table and she gave the wizard a high-five.

"How have you been, kid?" Bob asked, looking happy to see her. "It looks like we're on a mission together."

"Wait, you're the one coming with us? That's great! Do I get to finally see some magic?" She asked.

"Hopefully, not. That would mean we'd run into trouble." The author said. "However, the author might consider your request."

"Does he usually talk like this?" Aiko asked, amused.

"He thinks it makes him cool or something." Liz answered, with a shrug.

"The author decided to deny your request." Bob said, glaring at her.

"Oh, by the way, you never told me what I can do with this." Liz showed him the butterfly necklace he gave her. "You said it had some kind of spell."

"I forgot." Bob said, disappointing the girl. "I'll ask Feng." He said then turned to his side and his eyes widened due to realization. "I forgot Feng too."

"How can you forget a person?!" Liz asked with disbelief. She didn't even notice that Yuki froze a few more tables while she was talking.

                                            -P.O.L: Origins-

Few hours later, their mission started. The four Penergy users walked behind the wizard through a large building. From the outside, the building was hidden with a spell, but from the inside, it was a number of hallways leading to different transporting rooms. The building's colors were a mix of white floors and green painted walls, a color that wizards seem to love. There were some wizards around heading through the different rooms, and some of them were glaring at the team. They did not bother to hide their hatred for them.

The author stopped in front of one of the rooms then turned to them. "I'm going in. I need you to guard this room. If you notice someone suspicious, tell me. The wizards here think that you’re helping with something small, so don’t act suspiciously." He explained and the other four nodded to him.

Tara looked around then at her team. She tilted her head, thinking of something. She then smiled before grabbing Yuki's arm and dragging him away. She was of course oblivious to her partner's red face… and the poor wizard passing by them almost got frozen.

Nosaru closed her eyes tightly and felt slightly annoyed by the sniper's actions. She knew the reason behind them, and she really didn't want to deal with this right now. Why did she always find herself in these kinds of situations?

She didn't even have to say anything because her partner initiated the conversation.

"I'm starting to think you might be right." The ex-mercenary said. She wasn't facing her partner, so Nosaru couldn't tell what expression she was wearing, so she focused on the tone. It sounded unlike her, low and even sad. "Ever since I was a child I was taught to kill. Killing became so natural to me, that it was the only moment I felt alive. The smell of blood was refreshing to me. I became a monster. That's why I came to Aether, I wanted to erase that part of me."

Her shoulders were dropped and her hands were buried in her pockets. There was a pause but her partner could tell that she wasn't done talking, that there were words she needed to say, so she just stood there, waiting for them.

"Even now, my first instinct is to kill." Liz said and finally turned to her. Her once shining blue eyes became darker, a giveaway to how she was feeling. She remembered their fight in the desert, and how she had to stop herself from killing Malik. "I tried to fight it back, but the urge is always there. I'm a monster."

It was a statement she needed to say. It was the burden of being a demon. It was the reality she tried to escape but couldn't. Even if her actions and thoughts change, even if her heart changes, her blood would always be the blood of a monster.

"You're wrong." Nosaru spoke for the first time, surprising the blonde, who looked confused at the statement.

"I'm… wrong?"

"A monster wouldn't really feel this way, don't you think?" Nosaru said, and while her words sounded like a question, they felt more like a statement, a confirmation. One that the blonde couldn't accept just yet.

"Really…" Liz laughed, out of disbelief. "Then can you tell me how is a monster supposed to feel?"

"I wouldn't know." The blue haired girl answered. Her expression was serious as usual. "But I know you're not one."

"I can't just believe that…" Liz said and looked down. As much as she wanted to, she wasn't convinced. She looked up in surprise when she felt a hand gripping her arm.

"Then I'll keep saying it, until you believe it." Nosaru stated, while putting more strength into her grip.

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend." Nosaru said, shocking her partner.

She addressed the blonde as her partner before, but friend… friend was something different. It added a whole new meaning to the term partner. Liz just stared in surprise, unsure of how to answer.

She didn't need to, because suddenly felt the change in the building. The walls were shifting and closing in, and the hallway became a closed room. A man walked in as the last opening closed itself. He was tall, and had short black hair. His clothes were a mix of black and red.

"So they sent children to protect the necklace?" He said with a mocking tone. "Let me pass through that door, and I'll let you live."

"As if!" Liz ran towards him and equipped her scythe. She attacked but a wall appeared and blocked the weapon. "What?" She said, surprised, but before she could process what happened, she felt the floor beneath her move. She jumped at the last minute avoiding the shifting floor that was about to grip her.

"My powers allow me to change the shape of the room I’m in. So no matter how strong you are, your powers won't be useful, if your surroundings are against you." The shape shifter said and with a movement of his hand, he took away a part of the wall and he shaped it into spears and made the edges hard and piercing using his energy.

He launched them at the blonde, but Nosaru headed towards her and equipped her shield, blocking the attack. She equipped her free hand with a gun and fired at him, making him lose focus then raised her shield up. Understanding the meaning behind her partner's action, Liz jumped on the shield and Nosaru pushed her, making her jump higher and faster towards the shape shifter.

He raised his hands up, shaping a part of the floor into a cover, but the half-demon hit it strong enough to attach her scythe, and before he realized what she was doing, she used it to turn herself and land behind him. She changed her weapon into the two blades similar to the ones copy cat owns. The closeness put him at a disadvantage since he couldn't shield himself. So he shaped a weapon, blocking the blades.

However, Nosaru attacked him with a sword from behind. He shaped another weapon and blocked both attackers. He quickly shifted his weapon around theirs and held them together, he managed to jump away, but not before receiving a hit from the blonde's other blade, leaving a cut on his stomach.

The shape shifter then focused his hands on the floor and started to deform it as the girls unequipped their weapons.

Liz equipped her hammer then looked at her partner, giving her a sign to keep a distance. She then lifted the hammer in full speed and slammed against the floor, shaking her enemy's balance. However, he was a quick thinker. He changed the bits of floor that were shattered from the impact and used them against the blonde who equipped her scythe and moved it in circles to block the flying objects.

Nosaru took the opportunity and threw her chain, catching one of his hands and before she could catch the other, he used it and formed a giant fist that hit Liz and made her crash with the wall, then he shaped it to hold her limbs, making it impossible to escape.

She struggled, trying to escape her 'chains'. "You know, this is no way to treat ladies." Liz complained, as she tried to break free. She was stronger than others just by using her human side, but she didn't know if that was enough to break free without using her demon side.

"Excuse me, but I only see brats here." The shape shifter said, then frowned when he saw his second hand chained. Nosaru equipped a gun in her other hand and pointed at him, but what surprised her was that he was suddenly smirking at her. She turned her head and her eyes widened as she saw a shaped spear heading her way. He only needed one finger to shape it and use it. She couldn't make it in time.

In the blink of an eye, all she saw was blood, and her heart stopped for a moment. The blood wasn't hers. Liz used her own body to shield her, and the weapon pierced her shoulder. At the same moment, the shape shifter felt a knife piercing his back.

He yelled in pain and looked around, trying to understand what just happened while Nosaru set him free catching her partner in panic.

"What were you thinking?!" Nosaru asked. Her hands were shaking as they held into the blonde.

"I wasn't." Liz admitted and tried to pull the weapon away. She wasn't too worried because of her regeneration abilities, but it still hurt a lot.

The shape shifter watched in disbelief. He tried to put the pieces together and understand what happened, but he couldn't find a logical explanation. "Could it be… that she used her body strength to break free, summoned a knife, threw it at me, then jumped there to take the hit in the matter of seconds?!" He thought then groaned due to the pain. "There is no way a human could do that!"

He felt anger build up inside him then he moved his hand causing the 'weapon' that pierced the blonde to go further into her body. Liz yelled in pain as the spear changed its shape into a small knife that pierced slowly into her shoulder.

"Stop!" Nosaru turned to him as fear filled her heart. "What are you doing to her?!"

"I can make the objects I shape as sharp as blades. If you don't let me have what I want. That knife will cut its way through, and reach her heart." He explained then tightened his hold to show his point.

Liz started coughing blood as the object cut through. "Don't." She said to her partner. "I'm stronger than that… don't let me hold you back." She said, as she struggled to stay awake.

Nosaru gasped in surprise as she saw purple veins appear on the blonde's arm? But they seemed to go back and forth, as if something was holding them back. Liz didn't seem to notice due to the pain, but the necklace around her neck was glowing.

She felt so helpless and weak. She was put between two difficult choices. She couldn't let the alliance her father and his ancestors dreamed about break, but at the same time, there was no way she could let her partner die. It was the price of letting someone get too close. She knew it would bring pain, but she couldn't help but want someone by her side. She was selfish.

Those memories started flashing into her mind. She saw a grave, faces she couldn't remember, words she couldn't hear, a name written on a stone that was clearer than anything.

It was so painful.

She stood there, staring at that name, and slowly, the voices started to come back. She didn’t dare to look. She knew there would be nothing to see, just blank faces, covered in black. She slowly raised her hands, attempting to cover her ears and block everything out…

...But she didn’t.

The shape shifter smiled as he felt his mission coming to a success. However, The feeling didn't last, because in the next few seconds, he watched his hand fall down, creating a pool of blood. He screamed as the realization sank in. He inspected the place where his hand used to be in horror. Then he looked at the person who cut it.

Nosaru's face was emotionless. She held a golden sword that was attached to her gauntlet with a chain. But what stood behind her, made his heart stop.

Nosaru blinked, then looked at her sword in confusion. She felt a presence behind her, and when she turned to look at what stood there, she saw the upper half of a knight wearing a golden armor, and holding a sword identical to hers. He looked like a spirit, and he was so large that his ghostly body filled a big part of the room.

The shape shifter's legs shook at the sight. He heard stories, but he didn't believe them, and now he stood before a legend he thought never existed.

He was unfortunate enough to meet the knight.

Next chapter: The heat.

[50funny]

Mage- Chapter 4: Battle At The Ball

Written by 50funny:

Part 1- The Gate Crashers

Alex stood in the empty kitchen, furiously scrubbing dishes sending water and foam flying across the bench.

“Stupid Liz, making me scrub up dishes. What did I ever do to her? All I wanted was to come to this dumb party,” Alex ranted under his breath.

“Alex, please just let me out! It stinks in here,” Bip begged trying to get Alex’s attention.

“Huh what? Oh yeah right,” Alex said realizing Bip was still stuck in his cloths.

Alex grabbed his shirt and untucked it from his trousers. He held the base of his shirt open allowing Bip to fall out onto the bench top below. Bip took in a series of sharp deep breaths and scratched at his tongue trying to get rid of the taste.

“Yuk, it smelt disgusting in there. I’m never gonna forgive you for that,” Bip spat.

“Yeah sorry, guess I forgot you were in there,” Alex said unapologetically.

“You jerk,” hissed Bip.

Bip looked around the abandoned kitchen.

“Uhhh Alex, where is everybody?” Bip asked.

Alex looked around the kitchen surprised, having not noticed how empty the room had become.

“Huh? Oh yeah, where did everyone go?” Alex said.

“Were you really so worked up about Liz that you didn’t notice an entire room full of people leaving?” Bip questioned.

“Hey, don’t blame me, she was a real jerk. We’re supposed to be friends!” yelled Alex.

“You can’t be serious,” Bip sighed. “Get your head in the game Alex; have you forgotten why we came here?”

As Bip’s words echoed through Alex’s head his mood shifted becoming much more serious.

“Yeah, you're right. Sorry, come on let’s get going,” Alex said.

Alex began walking towards the door followed shortly behind by Bip. He swung open the kitchen doors and walked into the main ball room. What had previously been the scene of a loud and busy party had now been completely deserted save for a lone old man sweeping in the middle of the room. Alex and Bip looked around the hall confused as to what had happened. The old man sweeping noticed the pair out of the corner of his eye and looked over to them.

“What are you two doing here?” asked the man.

“What are we doing here? Where’s everybody else gone?” Bip retorted.

“Didn’t you two hear? The party was called off early and all the staff sent home. Well all the staff except for old sweepy,” the janitor complained.

“Called off? Why would it have been called off?” Alex asked as he and Bip approached the man.

“Well from what I heard Mr. Lance was feeling a bit under the weather. But if you ask me I think he just wanted some quiet time with that nice looking gal I saw him with, haha” said the man letting out a cheeky laugh as he returned to his chores.

Alex and Bip looked at each other.

“So, what’s the plan now then?” asked Bip.

“Well we should probably start by finding Liz,” stated Alex.

Alex took in a swift gasp as he had a moment of shocked realization. He ran over to the janitor and forcefully grabbed him by the collar.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” the man gurgled.

“The girl you saw Lance with, where were they and what were they doing,” Alex demanded.

“I don’t know, they were just walking and talking, they went into the main study down that hall, the tenth door on your left you can’t miss it,” said the man pointing his hand out towards the nearby hallway.

Alex dropped the man to the ground before running off down the hall followed shortly behind by Bip.

“Crap, we should have never left her alone” Alex said, coming to a stop as he reached his destination.

From behind the large wooden door the pair could hear Liz and Lance’s mumbled conversation. Alex walked up to the door placing his eye to the key hole.  His eyes darted around the study before finally landing on the two. Liz laid on the floor limply as Lance knelt above her, his hand around her head, emanating a red glow.

“Damn it, looks like she’s in trouble, stand back I’m gonna break the door down,” Alex stated.

“Damn it, she’s in trouble! Stand back” Alex stated pulling back his fist.

“Wait hold on a second, think this through first,” Bip pleaded to no avail.

Alex launched his fist  full force at the door sending it violently swinging open with a loud thud catching Lance off guard as he looked over to face the door.  Alex stood in the doorway staring at Lance with an icy glare.

“My oh my that was quite the entrance. You’re the boy from this morning aren’t you,” asked lance.

Alex remained stone faced as he slowly walked into the room.

“I take it you’re here to try and help your friend, would that be correct?” Lance continued grinning menacingly at Alex.

“Spose, something like that,” replied Alex taking up a fighting stance.

“How noble of you, but foolish all the same” Lance said standing. “But I don’t recall inviting you to this event, so I suppose I am obliged to remove you from the premises,” he continued taking up a similar fighting stance.

Part 2- Battle At The Ball

Alex and Lance began slowly circling each other waiting for an opening to strike the other.

“You can’t really expect to beat me can you?” Lance taunted confidently. “Come on then let’s make this fair. I’ll let you throw the first blow”

Lance put his arms out and gestured for Alex to attack him.  In an instant Alex sprung forward at an incredible speed, seeming to almost teleport in front of Lance. He pulled his fist back and prepared to launch it at Lance. Time seemed to slow down for Lance as he tried to comprehend what had happened. He began to pull back away from Alex’s fist causing it to fall short of its target by mere millimeters. Alex made a quick U-turn returning to his original position in an instant. Liz looked on from the ground shocked by Alex’s feat of athleticism.

“What the?” Liz exclaimed.

“Liz over here,” came Bip’s voice.

Liz looked over towards the door to see Bip flying swiftly over to her.

“Liz get up we need to get out of here! Now!,” Bip said urgently.

“I would if I could, Lance put some sort of poison in my drink, I can’t move at all,” Liz said looking over to her broken glass on the floor.

Bip flew over to the glass, knelt over and began to smell the remains of Liz’s drink.

“Red fang,” Bip stated.

“Red fang? What’s that?” asked Liz.

“It’s a an extremely potent paralyzing poison, it also goes by the name mage killer,” said Bip.

“Mage killer! Holy crap am I gonna die?” Liz panicked.

“No don’t worry; it just immobilizes the victim making it impossible for them to use magic” Bip said calming Liz as he flew back over to her. “The effects only last max 10 minutes, hopefully this we’ll keep us safe for that long.”

Bip landed in front of Liz and clapped his hands firmly together and began to tense every muscle in his body. Suddenly a shimmering translucent blue sphere started emerging from the ground, encapsulating the pair with in it. Bip continued to focus all his effort into maintain the field as he started to sweat.

“Let’s hope this holds,” Bip said.

Lance looked at Alex still surprised by his lightning fast attack.

“My my, you’re a speedy one aren’t you. Maybe I underestimated your ability’s somewhat… or maybe you just got lucky, either way I assure you that won’t work a second time,” said Lance.

As quickly as the first time, Alex launched himself towards Lance pulling his fist back preparing to strike him.  As Alex grew closer Lance prepared himself, learning from Alex’s previous attack. Lance sent his own fist flying toward Alex at full speed landing in the centre of his stomach just before Alex’s own blow landed.  Alex was sent flying across the room landing with loud crash, throwing a plume of dust bellowing into the air.

“Alex!!” Liz and Bip yelled in unison.

Lance turned around and began slowly walking towards the pair.

“Ha, well that was easy, now just to deal with the pair of you,” Lance said menacingly.

Lance’s attention was suddenly drawn back to the dust cloud. As the cloud settled Alex appeared standing completely unaffected by Lance’s attack.  Alex dusted himself off nonchalantly.

“Well, this is a surprise, that blow should have killed you, or at least put you in the hospital for a long while,” Lanced said. “There’s only one explanation for it… you used magic to protect yourself.”

“What, that’s not possible” Liz said in shock as she listened on.

“You… are a magic user,” Lance said as he raised his finger accusatory towards Alex. “But why didn’t I detect it sooner, I’m usually pretty on the ball when it comes to that,” Lance continued as he began to stroke his chin in thought.

“Maybe you’re just not as good as you think you are” Alex taunted as he returned to a fighting stance.

“Well maybe, or maybe you’re just such a weak magic user that I didn’t even sense it. Yes that must be it,” said Lance.

“Wanna try that theory out,” Alex retorted.

“Haha, I like your spirit! But unfortunately for you now I know you can use magic, I don’t have to go easy on you anymore,” Lance said. An evil smile formed on his face as he held his fingers out towards Alex in a gun shape. “Finger guns activate!”

Suddenly a loud bang filled the air as a small silver orb shot out from Lances fingertip at the speed of a bullet, sending his hand flicking back from the recoil. The bullet went flying inches away from Alex’s head and landed in the bookshelf behind him. They exploded on impact leaving a large hole wall. He turned to run away from the crater but was stopped quickly by a second bullet passing close by his face. Alex turned around to face Lance as another shot came speeding straight towards his head. He flicked his hand out in front of him causing a blue barrier to form in the air. The bullet hit the barrier causing it to shattering it like glass.

“Crap, that’s not good,” Liz panicked.

“Don’t worry Liz,” Bip said confidently. “Alex knows what he’s doing.”

Lance laughed maniacally as he continued fire his barrage at Alex who narrowly dogged in-between each speeding bullet by mere inches.

“Haha, you can’t keep this up forever, sooner or later you’ll slip up,” taunted Lance as drop of sweat fell from his brow. “You’ll tire yourself out at this rate.”

Alex jumped up high off the ground passing between two bullets. He grabbed onto the top of the bookshelf and with a strong kick launched himself off towards Lance causing the shelf to fall down shaking the room as it hit the floor. Alex passed narrowly by Lance landing kneeling down on the other side of the room.

“Damn it, missed,” Alex said nonchalantly as he stood back up.

Lance turned around to face Alex shocked and horrified as he noticed the short silver dagger he now held. Alex shook the blade off, sending a splatter of blood to the floor as a small cut opened up under Lance’s eye.

“What the hell was that? how did he see through my attacks, that shouldn’t have even been possible? And where did that blade come from, was he hiding it somewhere?” Lance panicked as he tried to wrap his mind around what had happened. “No I can sense it, that blade is of magical origin. But for a novice to conjure something of that strength?”

Lance raised his finger to point at Alex.

“Ju… just who the hell are you?” Lance yelled his voice quivering with fear.

Alex slowly walked towards Lance.

“What am I gonna do, I still can’t sense any magic coming from him. I have no clue how powerful he really is. Whatever the case, I can’t let him get close to me. One good strike from that blade and I’m done for. I just have to keep him far away until I figure out what to do” Lance thought, panicked as he raised his hand up pointing his finger guns once again.

“Machine gun modes activate!” Lance yelled.

Lance’s finger guns began to fire again much faster than before. Alex began dodging between the shots once again. moving so fast that he became a blur.

“Haha, you can’t keep that pace up forever. you’ll tire yourself out soon enough haha, then I’ll make you into Swiss cheese,” Lance yelled.

The wall behind Alex began to fall apart as it became more hole than wall, sending dust and debris flying into the air. Lance began to sweat profusely as he continued his barrage.

“Just give it up all ready, you can’t possibly defeat me” Lance panted in exhaustion.

The pace of Lances shots began to slow down as he became more and more exhausted giving Alex plenty of opportunity to counter attack. Alex once again launched himself forward pointing the butt of his dagger out. The dagger made contact with Lance’s knee sending a loud crack echoing through the air. Lance let out an ear piercing scream as his knees buckled beneath him dropping him face first onto the ground. He rolled himself onto his back to face Alex.

“You bastard!” Lance yelled pointing his fingers out once more.

Another small bullet went flying towards Alex, harmlessly bouncing off his shoulder blade and onto the floor.

“What the hell, that was a direct hit, why aren’t you dead?” Lance said in frustration.

“I’m surprised you don’t know, you’re a pro mage after all,” Alex sighed sarcastically as he turned to face Lance. “In its most basic form magic is just energy, an energy produced by all living things. Normal people use that energy up every day and replenish it at night by sleeping.” Alex began to explain “For magic users though, we harness that energy to preform our craft, that’s why we need to know how to conserve it, in case we run out and collapse from sheer exhaustion,”

Alex began walking over to Lance until he stood looming above him as he pointed his hand towards the destroyed wall.

“See, those little bullets you were using where strong… too strong. You poured way too much magic into each one than you realistically needed to in order to kill me. It was only a matter of time till you ran out of magic completely and passed out. All I needed was for you to drain yourself enough to start slipping up, and with how much magic you were wasting with that machine gun mode, your fate was sealed,” Alex said “You should really work on conserving your magic more. Take that as advice from a real pro.”

Lance listened on. Shocked by how knowledgeable Alex was.

“This boy is insane. To be able to come up with a plan like that, in the middle of a battle, takes years of training. But how? I still sense no magical presence about him, and yet he’s clearly a pro. How?” Lance thought as his eyes focused on Alex’s blade. “Wait, that dagger, I’ve seen it before.”

Lance’s eyes widened as he began to realize Alex’s true identity.

“You’re…” Lance yelled before being cut off as Alex stomped on his face.

“Shut your filthy mouth,” Alex said as a dark aura began filling the air.

Bip looked over to his friend knowing what was about to happen.

“Oh crap, Liz can you move, we’ve gotta get out of here right now” Bip panicked as he dropped the barrier around the two.

“I.. I think I can,” Liz said as she struggled to stand up.

“Here, I’ll help” said Bip, placing himself under Liz’s arm to support her weight as she began to shuffle towards the door.

The pair walked out into the hallway as Bip closed the door behind them with his tail, leaving Lance to an unknown fate at Alex’s hands.

_______________________________________________________________

To Be Continued

Thank you for reading chapter 4 of mage. if you like what you’ve seen please consider following my tumblr for a new chapter every Friday. Until next week, have a good day.

[loki-in-hogwarts]

The Yule Ball

Peter Parker x reader Summary : Each year your school organises a Christmas ball, and each year everyone is very excited about it. You only wished that a certain someone would invite you... Words : 3.6K oops Warning : none A/N : A major thanks to @double-leo as always she has amazing ideas ! This is part of the 12 days of Christmas writting challenge.

Winter. Christmas. Decorations. Snow. Tree. Gifts. Holiday. The Yule Ball.

You were in your Math class, being bored as always and writing all the things you loved about this time of the year. Winter, because it was your favorite season. Christmas because honestly who doesn't like Christmas ? The decorations because it was so fun to gather the family and spend time together to prepare the house. Snow because the snowballs fights were the coolest thing to do. The tree because you adored going to a shop to find the perfect one and the smell was sweet perfume in all the house. The gifts because either receiving them or offering them was amazing. The holidays because everyone loves a good vacation and being free from work. And finally, the Yule Ball, the best party that your school ever threw, after homecoming indeed. The Yule Ball was an event that no one wanted to miss, under no circumstances. It was a tradition of your school to do a party the last Friday before the holiday and every year was a success. This year, you were part of the organization team and you wanted it to be perfect. You turned the pages of your notebook until you found the one listing all the things needed for that night. You felt a pat on your shoulder and turned around. Peter Benjamin Parker, aka your biggest crush, aka the cutest and sweetest guy of the school.

"Hey y/n ! What are you writing that is more interesting than the Math class ?", he asked with a big bright smile.

"Anything would be more interesting than the Math class Pete !", Ned stated with a chuckle.

You laughed and answered : "I'm doing a list for the Yule Ball ! Everything I have to get ready, the dress I need to buy, the decorations I need to order online for the room..."

"That seems like a big organization ! I'm eager to see how it will be in the end", Peter gently replied.

There was a moment of silence then Ned elbowed Peter and asked you straight away : "Hey y/n ! Are you going with anyone this year ?"

Peter's eyes widened and he glared at Ned. You looked at them both, puzzled. "Well, no one asked me out already so no, not for now. But that's cool ! I'm going to be with my friends so...I don't care !"

You clearly did. And you clearly wanted to ask Peter out but since you had no gut when it came to this boy...no dates for the ball ! You had even wrote and crossed it multiple times on your list, not managing to decide whether or not to do it. But since there were all these rumors about Peter having a crush on Liz, you eventually just forgot the idea.

"Why ? Do you what to ask me out Ned ?", you added with a knowing smile, in an attempt to fill the awkward silence and glaring that Peter and Ned were exchanging.

"I know you're joking, but I am fine about going with Maria. And yes, I'm saying this to brag over the fact that I'm going to the ball with Maria"

"Dude, you asked Maria out ? Who would have thought you were into her ? Congrats !", you declared impressed.

Ned simply smiled and said : "Yeah well, there are people here that have nuts..." He gave a knowing look to Peter.

You felt concerned and awkwardly laughed.

"What about you Pete ? I heard you wanted to ask Liz out", you questioned with a fake smile.

"I-I, no I didn't actually I..."

Driiiiiing Saved by the bell.

"I need to go. See you after class ?"

You took your stuff and left with a wave to the boys behind you.

"Dude, what was that ?" Peter whispered angry.

"I should be the one asking that !", Ned replied, "That was the perfect moment to shut this stupid rumor down and ask her out ! What were you thinking ?"

Peter shook his head in desperation and sighed.

"She thinks I'm into Liz now ! You know what, it doesn't matter because she's obviously not into me otherwise she would have taken the opportunity to ask me out."

Ned widened his eyes and laughed.

"Honestly man, I can't believe you just said that. Can you sense the irony in what you are saying ?"

Peter shrugged.

"Maybe she's just stupid like you, or maybe she prefers it's the guy to ask out... It doesn't seem too much like y/n though. No, she's just shy and didn't dare to do it. Like I said : some have the nuts, some don't ! Handle that without me, you're both hopeless", Ned finished with a desperate gesture of the hand.

"Ned come on ! I need you here ! You're my guy in the chair !", Peter replied with an imploring look.

"I see what you are doing here and honestly I hope you feel bad about it because it's totally working. Alright, think about a moment when you are together."

"Math class", Peter interrupted him.

"Another one. Maybe some moment when you are closer ?"

"Lab class ?"

"That could haveed work but you don't have lab class before tomorrow, we need something else..."

"Wait, you want me to ask her out before tomorrow ?!"

Peter was freaking out -once again. Ned glared at him and put his hands on his friend's shoulders.

"Do you or not want to invite her to Yule ?"

"I do but what if I totally screw this u-"

"Peter ! When can you see her before tomorrow ?"

"No-nowhere, we don't have...anything planned together...", he muttered.

"Peter !", Ned called him back.

"Fine ! She is dropping at mine. This afternoon. I have to give her a book back."

"Perfect ! That's settled. You will give her the book, ask her to help her for your homework and boom-"

"Boom what ?"

Your head popped behind Ned's locker door and the guys jumped.

"Y/n...nice to see you !", Peter replied with a weird smile.

"Are you boys okay ?", you asked with a puzzled look.

"Yes !" "No !" They answered at the same time.

"Peter was telling me how bad he was in foreign literature. And since there is this test tomorrow, he wanted some help. I would have, but I need to cheer for my brother's football match", Ned justified, sorry.

"How sweet of you !", you started with a sympathetic look. You turned to Peter and added : "I can help you Pete, foreign literature is one of my favorite class ! How about I stay a bit longer at yours after school so we can study together ?"

Peter blinked and muttered : "Y-yeah, yeah, that would be cool. Thanks !"

You greeted them and left with a delighted smile.

"Ned, I don't know if I want to kill you or if I'm grateful."

"You'll thank me later", he said, patting his shoulder.

You were walking to Peter's house and were undoubtedly a little anxious and excited. On the way, all you could think was that you were going to have some alone time with him and you didn't want things to be awkward. You rang the bell and waited. A woman you recognized to be May Parker, Peter's aunt opened the door. She definitely looked younger than her age and displayed a gentle smile.

"You must be y/n ! Peter told me he was waiting for a girl. Come, come in !"

You entered in the apartment that you had already seen once or twice, and May showed you the way to the kitchen.

"Peter ! Y/n is here ! Would you like anything to drink or eat, dear ? "

"No, I'm fine, thank you !"

Peter showed up, out of breath, wearing weird clothes.

"Hi y/n... Sorry for the wait..."

"Peter, are you panting ? What were you doing ?", May asked.

"I was doing, hum, my work out ?", he answered sounding more like a question.

May frowned and then widened her eyes at her nephew.

"Oh right, hum, y/n, follow me to my room ?", he muttered.

You nodded and May declared : "If you want anything, just tell me dear alright ?"

You followed Peter and entered his room. It was simple, with a bunk bed and some photos pinned here and there on a board hung to a wall. You took a step closer and recognized him and Ned, him and May, May in flower field, Ned smiling, wearing a hat, etc. You knew you wouldn't find a picture of his parents because they were dead when he was little, but there was a man you didn't recognize on a photo with Peter, and you assumed it was Benjamin Parker, Peter's dead uncle. Thinking about it, Peter hadn't had the easiest childhood and you could only imagine all he had been through.

"Uncle Ben was always smiling. He was an amazing uncle."

Peter's voice coming from behind you pulled you out of your thinking.

"I'm sure he was. And he raised a very nice kid. He should be proud of you", you declared, staring at his doe eyes.

He cleared his throat and you noticed that his beautiful hazel eyes were a bit wet.

"Anyway, should we get the job done ?"

The truth was, that Peter wasn't bad in foreign literature. At all. In fact, there wasn't a single class he was bad in. So pretending to get nothing from a class he was rather good at was starting to become difficult. When you asked him what were the things he wasn't understanding, he just answered "everything", and you started to explain all the lesson. He loved watching you speak about something you liked. Your eyes were glowing and you were moving your hands to support what you were saying. The hard part began when you asked him questions to see if he had understandood and he was getting all of them correct. You were starting to have some doubts.

"Are you sure you need my help ? You don't seem to have any problems understanding this lesson...", you questioned.

"I-I just wanted to be sure about it and getting help from the smartest of the class seemed like a good idea !"

You laughed.

"Peter, you're the smartest of the class."

He rubbed his hair, embarrassed.

"Do you need help or anything while we're here ?", he asked, looking down.

"Actually, I wouldn't refuse to take a closer look to a lab lesson I didn't understand."

And that's how you ended up being helped by Peter instead of helping him. You were actually having fun and he was a very good teacher. You sometime stopped for some minutes, drank a Caprisun and laughed about everything and anything.

"Did you get it or do you need more explanation ?"

"I think I got it", you answered with a sweet smile. "Thanks, for this afternoon, it was really cool."

"I thought so too..."

He wanted to say something, you saw that, but whatever it was, he couldn't get it out.

"Y/n, I..."

"Yes."

Your heart was beating fast and you hoped what you thought was going to happen was really happening.

"You know about the ball..."

"Yes", you simply replied once again, full of hope.

"I was wondering if...you knew how to dance", he said all of the sudden.

"Oh...", you replied, disappointed before adding "Yes, I do...I can show you if you want !"

Peter wanted to slap himself. He was so close and he ruined it once more. Stupid stupid Parker !

"Let me just grab my phone...So, the mic is broken, and it only works with earphones, we'll have to share...", he declared, as he passed a hand in his hair awkwardly.

"That's fine. Hit it !", you exclaimed as he was looking for a song and he gave you a pod.

I'm not in love from 10cc started to play and you took a step closer to him.

"My mom loves this song, she danced on it with my father", you told him as you were clumsily playing with your hands.

Peter took them and gently pulled you against him. You wrapped them around his neck and you positioned his around your waist. You started to dance slowly, waddling from one foot to another. You were staring at each other and he tucked a lock of your hair behind your ear. May suddenly opened the door, carrying a basin of washed clothes, causing both of you to take a step back from each other.

"Oh my god ! I'm sorry, I'm interrupting. Continue as if I wasn't there !", she exclaimed, leaving the room.

You pinched your lips and smiled softly.

"I'm-I'm sorry. I told her to knock on the door befo-", he muttered, embarrassed.

"It's okay Pete, I should head back to mine anyway."

"Y-yeah right. Thanks for coming."

"Thanks to you !"

You walked out and he followed you to the door.

"I see you tomorrow ?", you asked.

He simply nodded and you walked away. You couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Even if the afternoon had been awesome.

You opened the door to go out of the building and found Peter in front of you.

"Peter ?"

"Would you go to the Yule Ball with me y/n ?", he asked you out of breath.

You blinked and exclaimed, surprised : "Yes ! I would love that !"

He sighed, relieved.

"Ned would have killed me if I hadn't asked you."

You chuckled.

"How did you manage to arrive here before me ?"

"Emergency stairs ?", he replied, passing a hand through his hair.

You laughed and grabbed his collar to leave a soft kiss on his cheek.

"I can't wait to be on Friday night", you simply said before leaving him amazed.

He made a fist and whispered : "I did it !"

It was Friday afternoon and all the students were impatiently waiting for the ball, you included. You had seen Peter a few times since that afternoon and he seemed just as excited as you. You had found the perfect dress and all the preparations for the night were ready, the room was entirely decorated and all the job was done. When the bell finally rang, delivering everybody from the torture, you headed to your locker and found Peter waiting for you.

"Hey ! What time should I come to pick you ?", he questioned, a bit anxious.

"8 should be good, what do you think ?"

He simply nodded and looked down to the floor.

"I'm really excited about tonight...", he said.

"Me too. Very !"

You wanted to hug him but you caressed his cheek.

"See you tonight, date", you declared closing the locker and leaving.

Since you were living near the school, you didn't need to take a car and you would just walk to the school with Peter. It was nearly 8 and you were ready. Your elder sister had came home just to help you get ready and because she wouldn't miss that for nothing. Your dress was long but thin, so you hoped you wouldn't be cold. It was a dark blue, shoulders uncovered and comfortable material. Your sister took charge of the makeup and you were delighted. The bell rang. Your sister opened the door and you rushed in the living room. Peter was beautiful with his black suit and his hair slicked back. He was staring at you, opened mouth.

"Hi", you greeted him.

"H-hey ! You look stunning !", he exclaimed, awed.

"Thanks. You're beautiful."

"This is for you", he said, giving you a wrapped up gift.

You opened it and found a small box with a necklace in it. The chain was in silver and there was a pendant shaped as a tree.

"The tree of life !", you exclaimed, moved.

"You told me that you like Celtic culture and I thought you might like that."

"I love it. It's perfect."

You tried to put it around your neck and Peter approached to help you. He moved your hair and closed the chain. You took the pendant in your hand and admired it.

"Thanks but, I don't have anything for you. I will find a gift, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry, you're my gift tonight", he replied but then noticed what he had just said and opened his mouth.

You stopped him by pressing a kiss on his cheek.

"Should we go ?"

"Yea-yeah", he answered.

You greeted your family after having taken thousands photos and left, followed by Peter. You were walking side by side, your hands brushing against each other. You eventually grabbed one of his finger than fit your whole hand in his. Your heart was beating faster. You talked a bit about how your day went and joked about school and teachers, your hands always into each other. You arrived in front of the school, where a lot of students were waiting for their friends.

"Where is Ned ?", you asked, giving Peter's hand a squeeze.

"He's already inside. Come on !", he exclaimed excited, pulling you.

You followed him in and reached the gymnasium, decorated as planned and many students already dancing or laughing with their friends. You looked around you and spotted Ned, with his date Maria. She was a sweet brunette girl, rather skinny, that everyone liked because of her kindness. He waved and you joined him.

"Hey guys ! Nice necklace y/n, you don't know how much I heard about it !", he declared with a giggle.

You and Peter flushed, and let go of your hands.

"I wanted to dance a bit with Ned, since we waited for you. If you want to join us, we'll be on the dancefloor !", Maria said, pulling Ned to the crowd of people dancing.

Peter rubbed his hair and looked at you.

"What do you want to do ?", he asked with a shy smile.

"I don't really like the music and I'm very excited to see all the activities we have imagined. Would you mind to take a look at them ?"

He laughed and whispered in your ear : "Thank God, I don't like this music either. Let's go to the activities then !"

You got closer of a stand where people had to say the words of a song while having multiple ice cubes i their mouth and their partner had to guess the song. It was a two against two. You played with Peter and all you could say was that you were a good team !

"That was fun ! Was it one of your ideas ?", he asked, his tongue still uncooperative because of the cold ice.

"Yes ! I imagined a new version of the Whisper Challenge. Come with me !"

You headed to a stand where people had to pose in front of a landscape of winter and the best photo was winning a price. You did some shoots with Peter more to keep them as a memory than to really take part of the competition.

The next stand was a Christmas calendar where people had to put their name in one of the day and they could get cool reward such as a TV or a phone.

The last stand was a game where there were different cords and you had to choose one and pull it. Then, there was a dare that you had to do to win a prize. You took a wire and pulled it. At the end, there was a mistletoe and a small paper. You took it and read what was written.

"Kiss the nearest person under this mistletoe", you read and immediately turned to Peter. You both flushed and the student in charge of the stand laughed.

"I suppose you are not a couple...Well, if you want to win this sweet plush, you have to do it !", she exclaimed as she handed you a reindeer plush.

You took a step and without thinking it twice, put your lips on Peter's for a small and very quick peck as you were holding the mistletoe on top of your heads.

You blushed again, took the plush and left the stand. Peter ran after you and grabbed your hand.

"Do-do you want to dance ?", he asked, without watching you in the eyes.

You nodded and let him guide you to the dancefloor. Obviously, the music playing was a slow. You stared at him and he placed his hands on your waist. You put yours on his shoulders and started to dance. You pressed your head on his breast.

"Hey, hum, about the kiss...", you started, "I'm sorry, it was inappropriate of me."

Peter stopped, surprised.

"Are you seriously apologizing because you kissed me ? I just wished you hadn't felt pressured to do so."

You rose your head, shocked.

"I thought you didn't want-", you were interrupted by his lips on yours, in a soft kiss. You cupped his face and deepened the kiss. You took your breath and place a small kiss on his neck, that gave him goosebumps and he held you tighter.

"You're amazing y/n", he stated as if he was talking about the most obvious thing.

"And you are made of boyfriend material, Peter", you replied with a smile. "You are so kind and sweet and beautiful and pure. I like you a lot."

His eyes twinkled and he grabbed a small branch of mistletoe from an inside pocket of his jacket.

"I know how to settle this. Y/n, would you be mine ?"

As an answer, you kissed him underneath the mistletoe.

"Were you carrying this branch hoping we would kiss ?", you asked with a mocking smile.

"Was I wrong ?", he replied as he kissed your forehead and you danced into each other's arms.

[a-walk-in-silence]

Summertime Melodies

Pairing: Peter Parker x college!fem!reader

Word Count: 1,478

Summary: Peter and the reader were friends their last year of high school but were split apart when you traveled to California for college. However, since it is summer, you’ve decided to head back home to Queens to surprise her friend in all of the things she’s learned.

Genre: Fluff, fluff, all the fluff.

Warnings: Barely edited so there’s probably a few mistakes, to dang much fluff, musical references ‘cuz I’m a major musical nerd so honestly? I’m sorry but also not so lol

Prompt: “I didn’t know you could sing like that”

A/N: This is for @madmadmilk and her 5k summer celebration writing event! Any criticism is appreciated but only constructive stuff, got it? Got it. Okay, moving on!

Song Links:

All That Matters

Sylvia’s Lullaby

Key:

Y/N - Your Name

L/N - Last Name

Y/N/N - Your Nickname

After leaving for college, you had to admit, you missed your friends like crazy. Peter and Ned and MJ, even Liz (although you two did have a small quarrel sophomore year over the notorious Peter Parker). However, you were exhilarated to finally get to come home for summer and leave your performing arts college.

Considering how you wanted to keep this trip a surprise, you only told your mother and May Parker. You wanted to make sure that Peter, seeing as how he became your best friend in your senior year of high school, would be completely unaware of the fact that you were coming home. So, to do this, you had to tell Aunt May so that she could make sure to keep him busy throughout the day.

And thus, you were now sitting on a crowded airplane at LAX, ready to take off and head to Queens, armed only with two suitcases and a carry-on bag. Most of your possessions would be staying in Los Angeles, but you made sure you had enough to get you through these next four weeks.

While up in the air, you messaged Peter over Facebook.

Y/N L/N: Peterrrrrrr :(

Peter Parker: Hey Y/N/N, what’s up?

Y/N L/N: Are you sure you can’t come visit me in LA? Your promised :(

Peter Parker: I’m sorry... May and I don’t have the money and I don’t want to ask Mr. Stark to send me all the way to Cali

Y/N L/N: Ughhhhh but you didn’t even show up for my performance! You missed seeing me as Sylvia in Finding Neverland!

Peter Parker: I’m sorry! I tried to make it Y/N/N! I swear!

Peter Parker: But in all fairness, you never sent me that video recording that you promised

Y/N L/N: The files too big! You’ll need to watch it in person, like on my laptop or sth

Y/N L/N: Well, I guess there’s always next performance... so much for a best friend :(

Peter Parker: I’m sorry...

Y/N L/N: Whatever, I gtg so I’ll message you later, ok Spider-Boy?

Peter Parker: Okay, see you later!

Peter Parker: Also stop calling me Spider-Boy! The spider stuff is supposed to be a secret!

You laughed at his last minute remark before you put your phone away and took out your iPod, choosing to listen to music to pass the time until you landed in New York.

Once you were off the plane, your quickly found your mom waiting for you by the luggage claim area. The two of you ran over and hugged each other tightly.

“I’ve missed you my darling angel!” your mother shouted, drawing attention to the two of you. “Look at my little muffin! You’ve grown so much since I’ve seen you!”

“Mom!” you shouted, cheeks burning bright red. You quickly pushed her away before going to collect your luggage. You glanced down at your phone to see that you missed several text messages from Peter’s aunt.

May: I’ve got Peter running errands!

May: When do you land?

May: Where are we meeting again?

May: Are you on the plane? Is that why you’re not answering?

May: Hmm... maybe I should text your mother...

May: Why am I still texting you?

May: So any way, Peter and I are heading out to a restaurant in the Bronx, I’ll text your mom the info!

You rolled your eyes, smiling at how excited May was to have you back home, so much so that she still continued to spam your phone despite the fact that you were clearly on a plane. Deciding it was best to answer her, you did so.

Y/N: Hey! I’m on my way there now! Just gotta grab my luggage and head out!

Before you could even turn the screen off, you got a response from May.

May: Hurry! Peter’s starting to get suspicious of why we’re just sitting at a restaurant, waiting to order

Y/N: OMW!

You turned to your mother, who happened to grab your suitcases for you. “Hey, May’s freaking out, we gotta head to that restaurant.”

“Sounds about right. Let’s get going.”

The two of you pulled up to the restaurant. The moment your mother parked, you practically jumped out of the car, barging straight into the restaurant. Your eyes landed on Aunt May who was motioning with her eyes for you to come over. Peter, meanwhile, had his back to you.

You silently walked over to the table, trying your hardest to not make a sound. However, you didn’t pause to think about the fact that Peter had his spidey-senses (as you affectionately referred to them as), which caused him to literally jump out of the booth and turn to look at you.

“Y/N?” His voice was filled with shock as he took you in. Suddenly, you were pulled into his arms in a very tight hug. “You’re here! You’re here! I can’t believe you’re actually- wait!” He pushed you away, suddenly glaring. “You were making me feel bad for not visiting knowing that you would see me! You’re mean!”

You giggled softly, reaching out to ruffle his curly brown curls. However, he leaned away, pouting at you. “Peter, I had to! I couldn’t let you know I was visiting!”

He huffed before sitting down. He motioned for you to join him. “Fine, but I won’t forgive you until I get to see that recording of you performing.”

“Deal.” You smiled brightly at him before joining him in the booth to order food.

“I didn’t know you could sing like that,” Peter said in amazement, watching your performance on his laptop. You giggled, causing him to look up from the screen. “No, I mean it. You sound amazing! Why weren’t you in any of the school plays at Midtown? You would have surely been the lead with those vocals!”

You simply shrugged, pausing the performance so the two of you could talk. “I was shy. It took getting accepted into this crazy school in LA to actually open up about singing in public. And then I was cast as the lead in Finding Neverland and I just... That’s why I wanted you to come visit me, you big ol’ nerd.”

Peter smiled up at you. “You should sing right now.”

His request gave you pause. You never really performed one-on-one unless it was an audition, and even then, auditions usually had a few other people involved. “I’m sorry?”

“Please?” he begged, his brown eyes getting big and his mouth forming a small little pout. “I want to hear you perform in person.”

“What would I even sing?” you asked, watching as his face contorted into his silly little thinking face.

A light bulb must have gone off in his head as he turned his attention back to the computer that had the professional recording of your musical on it. “The song you were just singing. What was it called?”

“Sylvia’s Lullaby? All That Matters? Which one? They do happen back to back, ya know.” Once again, he started thinking, hard. You laughed, causing him to lose concentration. He gave you a questioning stare, causing your cheeks to burn up. “Your face gets all cute when you’re thinking.”

It was now Peter’s turn to turn bright red, his eyes turning away from your face. “Y-You should... u-um... All That Matters. Yep, that sounds... um, pretty good.”

You subconsciously leaned closer to Peter, brushing a curly strand from his face. “Yeah... okay...” you mumbled, watching as he turned to look at you.

Before you knew it, he had a hand cupping your face, rubbing his thumb along your cheekbone. “Hey Y/N?” he asked softly, staring into your eyes.

“Hmm?” you hummed, your eyes never leaving his.

“C-Can I, um... ya know... I just think that maybe, um... maybe we could... kiss?”

You laughed as he stuttered over his words before nodding. “Yeah, I think that would be nice.”

A huge smile broke out over his features before he captured your lips with his own in a sweet and indulgent kiss. However, it was over much to soon for the both of you.

Before he could pull away entirely, you pecked him on the cheek before pulling back completely to start the video again. You cuddled up into his side, smiling up at him. “You know, I’m starting to think coming back for the summer was a smart idea.”

He laughed at you and kissed the top of your head. “You should sing for me.”

“I’ll sing for you every day if that’s what you want.”

He hummed in response before once again focusing his attention on your show that was playing on the laptop. You sighed happily to yourself, imagining all the summertime melodies you would perform for him.

Tags:

@starksparker @madmadmilk @thedaydreamingwriter

[venusparker]

falling in love — michelle jones

request: Can you do headcanons for falling in love with MJ?

im a shitty writer and this has taken forever i know, but i’m trying ok. this is meant for a fem!reader since i’m queer as hell but it’s gender neutral if you read it since i don’t use specific gender pronouns!! enjoy xo

michelle jones head-canons

🌷 you and mj are friends

close, but there’s still that small sense that she’s not fully letting you in (which she isn’t but that’s ok with you)

both of you definitely have that chemistry between you two but you don’t notice it and michelle never says anything when she does

everyone else can though

and it’s torture

not to you because you never hear them

but for mj? and everyone on the decathlon team?

t o r t u r e

hey michelle, where’s your girlfriend? she taking a break from following you around all day?

she doesn’t even have to say anything to flash because she just shoots him a sharp look and he shuts up

🌷it’s not until you take a look through her notebook when she asks you to hold her things while she goes to a photography meeting

that you start feeling...things 

you open up the pages and it’s papers upon papers of people looking stressed or upset

presumably from all those times where her mom was late to pick her up and she stayed in detention to sketch people

and you recognize a few of them

there’s some of cindy, old ones of liz allan before she moved away, even some of principal norita when he was mid-yell

there’s a lot of peter

but for the most part they all look the same

all the same similar expression of distress, discomfort, annoyance, etc.

usual expressions that one usually has in high school

and then you flip the page and––

it’s all you

at first you don’t think anything of it, because the first few are like the ones before

rough and messy sketches of you with your eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed

and you see mj has taken the liberty of adding a thought bubble with the words “what is math??” in it

but then, you’re a couple pages in

and it’s still all you

but different

albeit, they’re still rough and uneven sketches

but they’re happy and vibrant and more creative with more detail

there’s drawings of you halfway through a laugh, with your eyes crinkled and your mouth open

michelle even has a drawing of you that seems like nothing she would draw

it’s you with some sloppy flowers in your hair, a big smile on your face, and then there’s a self portrait of mj right next to it

and under

you have to ignore your heart skipping a few beats

there’s a drawing of two people holding hands

and they happen to look strangely like the both of you

that’s when you start falling in love

well, at least that’s when you realize it

🌷 you never tell her that you looked in her notebook

it’s your own secret and besides,

mj never asked

but now it’s awkward

because you like her

and you’re pretty sure she likes you

but what if she doesn’t?

this stressed you out even more and

oh shit! i’m falling in love with mj!

the way that you fall in love with mj is faster than you originally thought

you convinced yourself that you only liked her because she drew you so you tried to get over it

you didn’t think you actually liked her

plus you thought it was shitty of you to only be in love with her have a crush on her over something materialistic

but soon she distances herself from you

and honestly

fuck the drawings. you forget about them the minute michelle begins to not talk to you as much

and you know that you don’t just like her because of you found the drawings

if anything, the drawings just confirmed the feelings you already had for her

🌷 so one day

with the help of some friends (literally the entire decathlon team because they want you two together so bad)

you find the courage and confidence to just tell her

how hard can it be, right?

spoiler:

really damn hard

you end up staring at her after school as you two sit in the back of the library, in between shelves

mj calls this her “solidarity spot“

but goddamn do you think this is a shitty to confess your love for someone

but mj was never one for romance

so you were stuck with this

y/n are you going to stare at me all day or do i need to place sunglasses over your eyes?

what? oh right...uh. so michelle—you’re one of my best friends.

ditto.

let me finish, nerd. anyway you’re one of my best friends and...i don’t know how this can go, but, i really like you. i really love you. i think i am in love with you. i am in love with you.

she’s silent for a while and it’s scaring you

like she’s always quiet but this is a different level

is she even breathing––

...really?

you’ve never seen her like this

she’s trying to act like she doesn’t care

but you can tell she’s biting back a smile and a blush flushes her cheeks rosy

she’s trying to keep a straight face and so are you because she’s arching her eyebrows and chewing on her lips to remain serious

but soon

the BIGGEST grin breaks out on her face and on yours

i...i love you too. loser.

immediately after tho, she tries to hide her grin again and gives you a sly, smug look

don’t think i’m going soft on you, y/n

i wouldn’t dare think of it

wowowee i’m gay and i’m crying i’m so single

[oppapi-tae-blog]

insomnium - 01/??

insomnium: dream, bad dream, vision, wakefulness

demon!yoongi vampire!taehyung

"don't underestimate us darling.. for we are the spawn of satan himself. ."

warnings: eventual smut

   *yoongi and tae will be speaking in latin for this first part ♥

this is for one of my bestest of friends Americus,, ily💕

"What a pretty sight.." the eyes of the creature skim over my face and body. He speaks in a language I can't understand and calls out a name. His pitch black eyes travel to a figure behind him. "She's all yours. Have your drink."

Another man steps out, just as pale as the other and he smirks. "My pleasure." It comes out, almost hiss-like. He opens his mouth to reveal his fangs and runs his tongue over them.

I stand frozen, too scared to move. I try to open my mouth to speak, but it's almost like my body is no longer under my control. All I can do is stare.

The creature with the fangs comes over to me in the blink of an eye, arm wrapped around my waist, lips against my neck. My heart skips a beat due to fear. "Don't worry darling.. It'll only hurt the first 5 seconds," His voice sent shivers down my spine. "I promise." He smirks and pierces his teeth through my skin.

I wake up to a phone call in a cold sweat. I glance around the room and find myself in the same place I always find myself after that same exact dream.. on the floor, huddled up in a ball-like form. I reach up to my neck to make sure it's okay and I let out a breath of relief when I feel no marks.

The breaths I take are sharp and short-lived. I sit up slowly and grab my phone and answer. I take a deep breath and try to forget the dream.

•

"What the fuck?" I make a face of disgust and push my bestfriend, Emily, away from me. "What?" Emily laughs. "They're good I swear! Just try it! C'mon Liz, they don't look that bad. They're good brownies!"

"This is what you called me at 3am for? Emily, it looks like actual dog shit, why would you ask me to try this? I thought someone was dying." I shake my head and turn to walk away. "I'm going home, I'm tired."

She called me and told me that there was an emergency and that someone was going to die. Being a good bestfriend that I am, I got out of bed, at 3am to be exact, and came over. If it was any other person, I would've told them to fuck off and deal with it themselves, I'm not in the mood to save lives right now, sorry.

It's not really a problem that she called at 3am, because it wasn't like I was sleeping anyways, just taking a nap. I was fine with that, but what ruined it was her shoving her plate of dog shit in front of my face as soon as I walked in.

"But I need to make sure they actually taste good by tomorrow or my boss will fire me," Emily frowns. "Pleaassee?"

"No, goodbye. Ask your, so handsome boyfriend, Hoseok, to try them, I'm sure he'll lie and say they taste good to make you feel better." I smile and wave goodbye. She waves back, still frowning. "Love you, Emily." I blow a sarcastic kiss that she responds with a flipped finger and many, many "naughty" words, ready to spill out.

"Thanks for nothing!" She yells out and I laugh.

She shuts the door and I walk to my car to go home.

Once I'm in my house, I immediately feel a strange air around me. If I were feeling like my normal self, I would freak out and leave that house and call the Ghostbusters, but for some reason my mind decides to convince me that it's nothing and I go upstairs to get my laptop from my room.

entry #26 To say I'm an asshole is an understatement. Assholes are dirty, smelly, unpleasant, disgusting, and weirdly shaped? I consider myself more like.. a sarcastic-toe. Here's why: I don't take things seriously, which tends to make the sarcastic side to myself come out regularly, (I know when to make a joke and how to be serious when I need to) and toe because.. nobody likes them. They're kinda just there to keep you balanced, but they're ugly. They're also almost always covered by socks and shoes. You don't see them much, but they're there. Get it?

It's weird to compare myself to a toe and I'm pretty sure nobody calls themselves one. Especially a sarcastic one.

Of course, people use it to insult themselves, I do too. Anyone could. But I bet you can't tell me anybody who has described themselves the way I just did with a toe.

Can you?

•

After I'm done typing I get a text from my friend Jungkook.

up for an early morning ghost hunt? ;)) - 4:07am

wtf jk go to sleep im not abt to get possessed at 4am - 4:08am

thanks tho - 4:08am

u wont get possessed i promise - 4:09am

i have the equipment to save u if u do anyways - 4:09am

no. - 4:10am

:( - 4:10am

Jungkook was always really weird and liked to chase demons down, even after I told them they didn't exist. I told him this up until I started having those dreams. Now, I'm not so sure.

I go onto Youtube to kill time, and watch Degrassi. I grab my headphones and I'm about to put them in until I hear a glass breaking in my kitchen.

I groan and frown. "Rivada, what the FUCK are you doing?"

I wait a couple of seconds until I get a reply.

"I was thirsty!" She yells back.

Rivada is the girl I've lived with for 6 months in this house. She's one of the most understanding, loving, kind person I've ever met. But, she's also extremely dumb and slow. Of course, this doesn't make me love her any less.

I mumble, "Dumbass."

"I can hear you Liz." She walks in and plops herself beside me and takes an earbud.

I blink at her.

"What are you doing? I'm about to watch Degrassi, go back to your room. "

"No, the fuck, you're not my mom or my dad. I'm gonna watch with you." She smiles and puts the earbud in. "Fine. Just don't ask questions or say anything while we watch ,you know I hate that. Also, JK texted me a little while ago."

"He texted me too. He said he was going to go to this ugly ass cemetery and asked if I wanted to go, but I said nah because last time I did something like that with him I almost lost a finger so."

I nod. "He asked me if I wanted to go too, butI just didn't feel like getting possessed tonight."

She laughs. "He wouldn't let you get posses-"

Three obnoxiously loud knocks cut her short and I groan. "It's literally 4am, why is everyone up right now." I get up and go to the door.

"Who is it and what do you want?" I raised my head up to look through the hole thing, but saw nothing.

"Assholes." I turn and start walking back until I hear another knock. "I swear to fucking Gobble if they knock again I'm kicking somones crotch."

I put my hand on the knob and I yell, "Go away."

Again, three knocks. That's it. I yank the door open, yet there's no one. I poke my head out and look both ways. My eyes drift to my drive way and I see two people. I squint to see better.

No, no, no. Fuck this shit. I shut the door and lock everything. I press against the door then I jog over to the living room. "Rivada? Where are you?" I look over to the couch, and she's suddenly not there.

Okay..

I make my way over to the kitchen. Not here either. "Stop. Don't play games with me right now, Rivada it's not funny, you know I get scared easily around this time." I start to freak out when she's not in the kitchen.

I check on all the bathrooms to see if the light is on. The one in my room is on and I go to knock and see if she's in there.

"Rivada? You in there?" No one answers and I let my hand travel to the door knob and I open it. My mirror is broken and the water is on in the sink. My heart rate picks up and I run out of the room to hers.

I'm shaking as I go up to her door and I slam it open.

She's laying over her bed, not breathing. I walk over to her and shake her. No response.

"Haha, so funny, Rivada. You can stop pretending now." I speak half jokingly and half not-so jokingly.

She takes in a sharp, long breath. "Oh thank God you were only kidding." I laugh. "C'mon, we have to go though, there's people outside who I really don't trust."

Her eyes are still closed, but she giggles. "I'm being serious, we NEED to go."

"No.. we stay." Her eyes snap open and they're entirely black.

My breath gets caught in my throat. I push away from her as fast as I can. I glance over at her window that has the perfect view of the driveway and I see no one.

She slowly starts sitting up and I step away. "Liz, you know I wouldn't hurt you, why do you walk away so suddenly?" Her voice and dialect change. She speaks as if she was born thousands of years ago.

My blood runs cold and the color from my body drains.

Her body starts changing in size and it deforms and becomes one of the men I fear most. "Please wake up. Wake up." I tell myself. "Stop. Whoever you are. Leave me alone. I just want to leave." I step back until I find myself pressed against another body.

"Why leave so early darling? We just got here.. why don't you treat us?"

AYYE I FINALLY POSTED IT IM SORRY AMERICUS I LOVE YOU

[thatbluegibson]

CH 44

Dave reached across the bed for Liz, his eyes opening when he only felt the cold sheets beside him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, checking the clock on her nightstand that read two in the morning. He threw his shirt on and went after her, finally finding her on the tile floor of the dining room, staring out at the moonlit waves.

“You ok?” he asked expecting her to jump, but she just shrugged.

“Just over thinking my entire existence,” she smiled up at him.

He sat next to her on the floor and she threw the other half of her blanket over him as he put his arm around her. They sat quietly for a long time, listening to the muffled waves before Liz sighed. There was so much that Liz wanted to say, so many things she wanted to ask him, to get his advice on, but she was just too exhausted to ask. She wanted her quiet life back, but she wouldn’t have any peace for such a long time. She knew that someday she would be a has-been, just a “remember her?” segment on some garbage online news site, but at the moment it seemed so far away.

“I swear I’m a well adjusted, normal person,” she finally said, “You just caught me on an off week, I guess.”

“You mean you’re not always running from ex-husbands and photographers?”

She laughed a little at that, turning her body to face him when her smile faded, “Am I always going to be running?”

Dave sighed, “That depends. You can run from it or you can embrace it.”

“I want to run. Every part of me says run.”

“But they’re always going to be faster than you, Liz. There’s always going to be someone pounding on your door, interrupting your life, someone begging for a piece of you and once you realize that you can’t physically get away, you’ll turn to something… else.”

She examined his profile in the dark as he stared out to sea. He was right, she could easily see herself falling down the slippery slope of escapism when the pressure, the LA bubble and the world became too much, “How do I embrace it?”

He took a deep breath and leaned back against the table leg, “When Nirvana got really big, we weren’t even in the states. We were on some European tour, playing these little venues and just getting phone calls from people back home telling us we were on MTV and shit, and we thought it was hilarious. We thought it was a big fucking joke… and then we came home and it was happening. Krist and I just continued thinking it was all funny, but Kurt just couldn’t. They wouldn’t let him.” He cracked his knuckles and thought for a moment, “I’ve seen so many people destroyed by what they thought was their escape, something they thought they were in control of and… well, you either embrace the fame and learn to live or you run from it and it catches you eventually. Either way, it gets you.“

“Something gets everyone in the end, though,” Liz was starting to think he was talking about something else entirely.

“Yeah, but fucking hell what a way to go.”

She felt her heart constrict a little and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. She thought about her plan and timeline she had set in front of her just a few days ago. She would finish her commitments and then stop, just stop working for the film industry. She could walk away completely within a year and a half and luckily hadn’t signed any contracts or made any further commitments. She could just step aside and let the next girl take her place. Acting had been an accident, something she had fallen into when Kyle’s mom had gotten her a bit role in an indie just after Jack was born. She had loved that small supporting role and the ability to completely immerse herself into someone else’s life for awhile and forget her own. Kyle had been taking extended ‘business trips’ and she was struggling with depression, but somehow Jack was thriving. Very soon afterwards more studios began seeking her out and she became addicted to the separation of her own life and the script. She especially loved the historical period dramas where she could use her history degree in the construction of her characters, but also for the complete separation of time. It was easy to forget the real world when you’re riding around the countryside on horseback in amazing costumes. If she didn’t have that world to escape to, she didn’t know where else to go.

Dave turned away from the window and whispered into her hair, “Come back to bed.”

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” she watched him stand and walk towards the stairs, thinking he might be a pretty good place to start.

*

A day later, Liz sat in her first class seat, nervously fidgeting as her phone powered down for take off.

“What if I just don’t go?” she asked.

“Well,” Dave leaned back into his seat, “There would be an awkward silence when they announce you’re the winner and then some random B-list celebrity would have to claim it for you.”

“Great! Then it’s settled,” Liz moved to stand, but Dave dragged her back down.

“Seat belts, please!” the flight attendant chirped as she headed up the aisle.

“I fucking hate flying,” Liz grumbled, her eyes followed the flight attendant as she settled back into her seat.

“I used to hate it, too,” Dave leaned across her and lifted the shade on the window next to Liz. “Look at the wings.”

Liz raised an eyebrow at him, but did as she was told. It was dark, the only flight they could get back to LA was a red eye, but the wings were illuminated from lights on the airport.

“The outboard and inboard flaps will lower and once the plane gets up to speed, the downdraft creates the lift that raises the plane.”

“And if we don’t get up to speed?” she looked over her shoulder at him.

“Then we’re fucked. But we have pretzels!” he dangled a tiny bag between his fingers and grinned at her.

“Thanks, Dave. That helps a bunch,” she laughed and sat back, already feeling much less tense.

“I spent a lot of time reading about the physics of flight when I started touring a lot,” he said quietly, double checking to ensure the seats around them were empty. “I was so used to touring in a van that flying everywhere just terrified me. It seemed like we were tempting fate, you know? It didn’t matter what the odds were because we were flying so much. Then my mom sent me a book and I read that fucking thing cover to cover on a flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. By the time we landed, I wasn’t scared anymore.” He paused for a moment, glancing over at Liz as she listened. “I didn’t even tell my mom that I was scared, she just sent it. I still don’t know how she knew.”

Liz smiled at that, “Moms always know,” she said quietly.

The plane began hurtling down the runway and Liz took a deep breath as she was pressed into the seat back. Dave took her hand and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles, listening to the plane make the necessary adjustments and speed to achieve flight.

*

“So he wakes up out of a dead sleep and yells “Oh my god!” into this completely silent and fucking booked airplane and every one turns around and looks at me like I’m the asshole!” Dave was explaining why he hated flying with Josh Homme while Liz was doubled over in her seat laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face. “He asked me to fly with him to Hawaii next month and I told him to go fuck himself. I’ll never fly commercial with that man ever again.”

“Did he even say what he was dreaming about?” Liz managed, trying to keep from laughing too loudly.

“I don’t fucking know. It was a goddamn nightmare,” he shuddered at the memory of hurrying off the plane while nearly two hundred people glared at him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at the flight attendant who had a worried look on her face.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but there’s a bit of an issue back in coach and since you’re the only ones up here, I wanted to ask before bringing anyone up.”

Dave glanced at Liz, who looked just as worried as the attendant now.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s a mother with a few kids and they’re having a tough-“

“Bring them up,” Liz said, waving her arm towards the front of the plane. 

The attendant visibly slumped in relief and hurried back to coach while Liz craned her neck to see where she went.

“I thought she was going to say someone was drunk. It’s fucking three in the morning,” she muttered, “that poor woman.”

A wailing sound drew nearer; increasing to stress inducing levels when a young woman with three little boys were ushered passed the dividing curtain.

Liz immediately stood and tapped Dave’s knee. “Move,” she demanded, her eyes on the youngest who was only about a year old and screaming wildly.

He did as he was told, moving into her window seat and watched her hurry up to the woman as the attendant sat them in a row a few back from theirs. The middle boy about three was so sleepy that he immediately threw his head into his mother’s lap and the oldest boy about five looked around, terrified. Liz spoke quietly to the mother before taking the baby from her arms and reaching for the five year old’s hand. She led the boy up the aisle and sat him next to Dave while continuing up the aisle with the screaming baby. Dave looked down at the little boy who was staring up at him, just moments away from bursting into tears as well.

“Hey, buddy,” Dave said quietly.

“Hi.”

“What’s your name?”

“Cooper.”

“Hey, Cooper. I’m Dave.” He shook his little hand and noticed he was wearing a Nirvana shirt. “I like your shirt.”

The little boy instantly went from terrified to excited. “They’re a band from the nineties,” he said, his eyes widening as if it were millennia ago.

“Oh yeah?” Dave chuckled a little, feeling his age. “Do you play any instruments yet?”

“Santa brought me a drum kit, but I’m not very good at it,” Cooper said, looking a little deflated.

Dave smiled at him and bent down, retrieving his bag from the floor and pulling out a set of drumsticks. He handed them to Cooper who looked at them in amazement.

“Are you a drummer?” he asked.

Dave glanced back down at Cooper’s shirt, “I was… way back in the nineties.”

Liz snorted a laugh as she walked passed them up the aisle.

“We can practice on the seat here,” Dave said, tapping the seat back in front of Cooper. “Hold the sticks like this…”

 *

The baby’s tears increased slightly as Liz tried bouncing him in her arms, but stopped just as quickly once she cradled the baby’s head against her own and began singing softly against his skin.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly…

There was something magical about that song had worked on her when she was a baby and continued to work on her own children. She met eyes with Dave and smiled brightly, proud that she had conquered over the screams. As soon as the baby was sound asleep against her shoulder, she walked back to his mother.

“Try to sleep,” Liz whispered to her, receiving a grateful nod in return.

She headed back up the aisle and sat across from Dave as he taught Cooper how to hold the sticks.

 *

By the time the aisle lights flickered on signaling their descent into LA, Cooper had learned the American and Traditional grip, how to twirl the sticks and the first few basic rudiments.

“Here’s your sticks, Mr. Dave,” Cooper said, holding them out.

“Keep ‘em, buddy,” Dave smiled.

“You should make him sign them,” Liz crouched next to Cooper’s seat already having handed the sleeping baby back to his exhausted mother.

“Yeah, they’re already signed,” Dave muttered, a little embarrassed that he carried signed sticks with him when he travelled.

Liz took Cooper back to his mom and helped him with his seat belt while Dave listened to her quiet conversation with the mother.

“Thank you so much,” she gushed.

“It was really no problem,” Liz insisted, pulling Cooper’s belt tight.

“It’s my first time flying with all three of them alone. Usually their father is here to help, but he’s in the service. We’re on our way to see him during leave.”

“Marine?”

“Yes, Staff Sergeant now.”

Liz smiled at that, “Mine was at Twentynine Palms for a few years.” She caught Dave turn to her out of the corner of her eye when the seatbelt light came on.

“Good luck tomorrow,” she called as Liz turned away, “and thank you again!”

Liz just smiled, a little sad that she had been recognized and returned to Dave.