#look hear me out: SHE'S FUCKING PERFECT I'D RISK EVERYTHING

[notsosecretlyalesbian]

"Nothing like the smell of cigarettes and vinegar. I don't smoke or nothin'. Just, I like being around it. It reminds me of my chidlhood"

Lisa Ann Walter as Melissa Schemmenti in Abbott Elementary | 02×01: Development Day

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Imagines: Light My Fire*

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Summary: Flashback. You and Joe are at LSU and so in love. Joe’s win of the National Title turns into a night you two will remember forever…

Warnings: smut

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine universe: Into The Mystic

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January 13, 2020

He did it. Joe fuckin’ did it.

After everything I’d watched Joe go through, from high school football to not starting at Ohio State to transferring, I got to witness Joe become a National Champion.

I'd never felt so proud of my boyfriend before, watching him hoist that trophy in the air as I cried in Robin’s arms.

“He did it!” - you cried

“He couldn't have done it without you sweetie. You're his everything.” - Robin

——

When Joe came to the family area, he first hugged his parents, him and his dad sharing such a sweet moment.

After their embrace ended, Joe turned to me, and in a matter of seconds, I was in his arms as he spun me around.

“I love you so much!” - Joe

“I love you more! You did it, Joey! I'm so proud of you.” - you

My words were mumbled as I was yelling them into his neck, but Joe understood every word.

“You know I couldn't have gotten this far without you? Thank you for everything, baby.” - Joe

“Thank you for letting me be a part of this journey. I'll follow you wherever you go.” - you

I pulled away and looked into his eyes, seeing that they were a little misty.

“I love you more than life, y/n.” - Joe

The embrace with Joe lasted longer than anticipated, like a whole five minutes, and I could sense eyes on us.

When I pulled away from Joe, Robin had a slight eyebrow-raised expression, wondering why Joe hugged me longer than her. She understood a little bit because she knew Joe saw his future in me.

“Hey, you're still spending the night with me, yeah?” - Joe

You'd be able to hear the smirk in his voice without even looking at his face like I was now.

“Yes. Why?” - you grinned

“I'm feeling some celebratory…” - Joe

My eyes went wide when Joe whispered the word sex.

“Joseph! Your parents are right behind us.” - you

Joe laughed at my worriedness and looked around to make sure his parents weren't watching us. The next thing I knew, Joe slipped his hands down to my ass and pressed his lips to mine.

When we broke apart, Joe licked his lips and showed me a devilish grin.

“You might wanna take a power nap when you get to my place, it's gonna be a looong night for you.” - Joe

Soon, Joe was walking away and back toward the locker room entrance, leaving me stunned.

——

I didn’t know how long I'd been asleep or the fact that I'd been asleep at all when Joe walked through his apartment door.

“There's my girl.” - Joe grinned

Joe dropped his bags and made his way over to the couch, quickly crawling on top of me with a smirk on his face.

“My national champion.” - you smirked

I watched Joe’s eyes turn dark as the nickname left my lips.

“Say it again.” - Joe

“My national champion.” - you

“Fuck.” - Joe grunted

He dropped his hips to where they were against mine and slowly started grinding himself into my hips.

“Wait-” - you

Joe immediately stopped.

“What?” - Joe

“Do you… have a cigar?” - you

“I got a whole pack of ‘em, why?” - Joe

“It sounds weird to admit out loud, but you looked so hot smoking it earlier.” - you

The smirk that formed on Joe’s lips was purely cocky.

“You want me to smoke one while we make love, huh baby?” - Joe

“Please, Joey.” - you

Joe nodded and crawled off of me. I watched him walk over to his bag and pull out a box of cigars. He sat them down on the kitchen table and quickly pulled all of his clothes off.

The sight of Joe putting the unlit cigar in his mouth while completely naked might be the hottest thing I've ever seen. With his perfect arms, torso, shoulders, thighs, and hard-awaiting length, my eyes didn't know where to look.

If I could grab my phone and take a picture of this sight, I would, but there were too many risks.

Joe laughed without even looking up at me.

“Take a picture, it'll last longer.” - Joe

Did he read my mind? What the hell?

Doing as Joe said, I picked up my phone off of the end table and snapped a picture.

“You're a work of art.” - you

“Thank you.” - Joe smiled

Joe walked back over to the couch and plopped down next to me, handing me the lighter in the process.

“Light it.” - Joe

“I- how?” - you

My brain was scattered just by the pure sight of Joe. He was like a drug.

Delicately, Joe reached out and grabbed my hand, directing it toward his throbbing cock. My pulse reacted when he spit into my hand and wrapped it around his length.

Next, Joe directed my other hand - the one holding the lighter - to the cigar held loosely between his lips.

“Atta girl.” - Joe

Now the cigar was lit, and Joe looked more perfect than ever.

“You know how to stroke a cock, baby. I don't gotta show you how to do that too, right?” - Joe

“N-no…” - you

“Then get to it.” - Joe

Feeling kinda awkward for some reason, I slowly started moving my hand. Joe seemed to appreciate it, though.

The look of Joe’s head thrown back with the cigar in his mouth had a gush of wetness seep into my panties.

“Oh god.” - Joe groaned

By now, I was feeling more confident and was able to stroke him faster.

“Use your mouth- please.” - Joe

His please came out as a whimper, and I gladly did as he said. Moving my head down to take Joe in my mouth, he was gone in just a matter of minutes.

“That was so good.” - Joe 

I was out of breath and already feeling pain in the back of my throat from Joe’s swollen cock hitting the back of it.

“You okay, beautiful?” - Joe

“Mhm.” - you

“You sure? Was I too rough?” - Joe

“No, you were perfect like always. I want you so bad.” - you

Within seconds, Joe was on top of me, his cigar only inches away from my face.

“God, I want inside you.” - Joe

“Please do.” - you

Joe didn't waste any time, and soon I was getting lost in the feel of his thick cock moving inside me.

“You feel so good- so fuckin’ wet.” - Joe

Nothing was better than this, being able to be so vulnerable with someone and yet feel so confident. Joe made me feel so many different feelings.

“You do- too. Joey.” - you moaned

Joe came first, which never happened. He was always making sure that I finished before him because my pleasure was the only thing on his mind. Tonight, though, was Joe’s night, and I was trying my hardest to make him feel like the champion he was.

Basking in the post-sex bliss, Joe lay on top of me, his head on my chest as my hand rubbed over his back.

“I'm so proud of you.” - you

“Thank you for always believing in me. Throughout high school, at Ohio State, and when I transferred. You were always there in the stands and on the sidelines. You've been one of the biggest reasons why I didn't give up. I know nothing I can say will show how appreciative I am, but just know I love you so fuckin’ much. More than the championship win.” - Joe

I ran my fingers through Joe’s hair and repeatedly kissed his forehead, my throat tightening and heart soaring at each word leaving his mouth.

“I've been there since the bleached blonde hair, seen you through two mullets, and I'll be there till you're fully grey or bald.” - you

“I hope I don't go bald, I'll get a toupée.” - Joe

Busting out laughing at his less-than-serious statement, Joe and I’s laughs joined together to make a beautiful soundtrack of the night.

At one point, Joe was almost asleep, but a knock on his apartment had us both wide-eyed in panic.

“Joey!” - Robin

“Your parents are here?!” - you whisper yelled

Joe jumped off of the couch and started putting his clothes back on, I ran into the bedroom when I heard keys jingling on the other side of the door.

“They're probably already sleeping. I forgot I had a key.” - Robin

Thankfully, I was in Joe’s bedroom with the door shut when Robin got the door open.

“Oh, hi son…” - Jimmy

“Hey guys! Didn't know you were coming…” - Joe

“Surprise! Where's y/n?” - Robin

“She's, uh… just got out of the shower.” - Joe

Jimmy laughed, and Joe looked at him with a narrowed eye look. His face saying, what are you laughing at?

“So you two were celebrating?” - Jimmy

“Uh… what do you mean?” - Joe

“Son, your shorts are on inside out and your shirts backward.” - Jimmy

My shoulders dropped in annoyance as I listened to the conversation from the bedroom. So much for not getting caught.

I facepalmed as Joe stuttered out an excuse, but Jimmy and Robin only laughed. If his parents didn't know we had sex before, they sure as hell do now.

Damn it, Joe!

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Authors note: idk what to put

Requests for this fic;

Hope you enjoyed! 💕

[gigabyte-flare]

Follow the Stars | Part 1

Summary: Pixel is a Proxy with a rather unconventional way of entering the Hollows: a battle android that she controls with her H.D.D.. When her best friend goes missing, seemingly lost in a Hollow, Pixel jumps at the chance to rescue her, but not before meeting a mysterious wolf Thiren that catches her eye.

Word Count: 4.3k

Pairing: Von Lycaon x Original Character

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. You are responsible for your own content consumption. If any of the following warnings trigger you, please read at your own risk. Minors do not interact, this story is 18+ only.

Warnings: Strong language, graphic depictions of violence, depictions of PTSD, domestic violence and emotional abuse (not perpetrated by Lycaon), masterbation, unprotected p in v, oral (m and f receiving), size kink, knotting, creampie

More warnings may be added in future entries

A/N: I had originally planned for this to be a reader fic, but the more I was plotting it out in my head, the more I realized that New Eridu is the perfect place for my OC, Pixel. This is very likely going to flop but I don't care; I'm very excited about this series. Based loosely on Chapter 3, Lycaon's Agent story and his trust events, I will be trying my best to not write the existing dialogue word for word, but in some instances, it can't be helped. This will be my first time introducing Pixel to you all and I hope you all love her as much as I do!

Title inspired by Come Alive by San-Z and Hoyo-Mix

Divider by cafekitsune

Pixel: Hey Rain it's me. Is everything ok I haven't heard from you

Pixel: Rain it's Pixel again, call me when you get this

Pixel: K Rain, this isn't funny please call me

After reading through my chat history from the last few days with Rain, I put my phone to my ear; Rain's phone just rings and rings and goes to voicemail, "Rain, it's Pixel. Please call me, I'm worried about you."

I hang up, gently tossing my phone aside as I put my feet up on my coffee table. I knew in my gut something was wrong. Rain and I have been best friends for years now, she would never just blow me off like this without telling me why. A part of me wanted to get PubSec involved but where she is one of the best hackers in the Proxy business, it wasn't worth the risk. That's not even mentioning that I, too, am a Proxy. That's just asking to get burned.

I turn on the TV to the news only to find that the trial against the Vision Corporation is just about to begin. Supposedly they had cut cost in the Metro expansion project by failing to relocate the residents of Canvas Street, leaving them to the mercy of their explosives and the Dead End Hollow.

Fucking money hungry pricks.

The camera pans over to the individual that is representing the residents of Canvas Street and my mouth unconsciously hangs agape. I'd recognize the pinked haired loud mouth anywhere: Nicole Demara of the Cunning Hares.

"What kind of mess did you get yourself into this time, Nicole?" I ask myself as I take a sip of the can of soda in my right hand.

Just as I set the soda can down on the coffee table, I hear my phone vibrate next to me. I reach to grab it, my stomach dropping upon seeing Rain's name in my Knock Knock notifications. I couldn't open it fast enough, however the wave of relief that had been rushing through me is cut short when I am greeted by what appears to be a completely blank message.

"… the hell…?"

Before I can even process what I'm looking at, another message from her comes through; blank just like the previous one. Followed shortly by another. Then another.

Then another.

Knowing Rain's skillset, I take my phone over to my computer desk, plugging my phone into it to inspect the messages. I was expecting to find encrypted messages, but to my surprise, the messages were truly blank. Just as I unplug my phone from the computer, another message comes through, only this time, it's not from Rain. It's from the last person I would ever expect to get a message from:

Phaethon: I need to call you

I scoff as I stare at the message in disbelief. I'm a decent enough Proxy, but Phaethon is legendary. They were one of the first Proxies to master being able to directly sync to their Bangboo to communicate to their agents in the Hollows; although if they saw what I'm running with these days, they'd likely shit themselves. Regardless, I'm friendly with Phaethon. For me, we have a friendly rivalry.

Still, I'm puzzled as to why they want to call me; I need to be cautious, this very well could be a PubSec trap. Unfortunately for me, my curiosity gets the better of me.

Pixel: Go ahead

Immediately after sending the message, Phaethon calls. I accept the call and put the phone to my ear.

"Phaethon, for what do I owe the pleasure?" I ask as I walk over to the sliding glass door to the balcony of my apartment.

"Listen, I need to make this short. I need your help."

I raise an eyebrow at the man's voice on the other end as I open the sliding glass door to step out on my balcony, "… go on."

"You know the Cunning Hares, right? We need you to meet up with them outside the--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold on," I cut him off as I shut the door behind me, "do you have any idea how many Dennies they owe me? I'm not doing jack shit for the Cunning Hares!"

"Pixel please. Phaethon will pay you, now let me finish. We need you to meet up with them outside of a Hollow. Can you do that?"

I fold one of my arms across my chest, using my hand to rest my elbow on as my other hand continues to hold my phone up to my ear, "what's this about?"

"We've been trying to track down a hacker named Rain to decrypt a flash drive for us--"

"Wait a minute! Did you say Rain?! I've been trying to get a hold of her for days, do you know where she is?!" I frantically ask.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Nicole's been getting these weird blank messages from her."

"I've been getting them, too," I reply, turning around and leaning against the balcony railing, "I tried to see if they were encrypted or something, but they're truly just blank."

"That's what we found out, too. We were able to trace them back to the Ballet Twin Towers."

"The Ballet Twins?" I once again raise an eyebrow, "that's impossible, they were engulfed by the Hollow years ago. She wouldn't be able to send any messages out if she's there."

"That's the thing, the top of one of the towers is coming out of the Hollow because it shrank at some point. We believe she's there."

"So where do I come into this? Isn't Phaethon perfectly capable of handling an operation like this?"

"Normally yes, but currently, PubSec is at my place."

Flashes of red and blue catch my attention from the corner of my right eye and I turn my head to look. I live in one of the apartment buildings just outside of Sixth Street, giving me a clear view of it and I can clearly see several PubSec vehicles in front of the Random Play video store.

"They're there right now?" I ask.

"Yeah… we helped a couple of PubSec officers in a Hollow not too long ago and somehow they were able to trace our Bangboo to our place."

Well, son of a bitch… the owner of Random Play is none other than the legendary Phaethon.

I can't help but let out a short chuckle, "well that was certainly a rookie move, Phaethon."

"Shut it. We should be able to throw off their trail, but we won't be able to meet with Anby and the others outside of the Ballet Twins Hollow in time. Hence, why I'm calling you, Pixel. Can you meet them over there at 9:00pm?"

I look at my watch, it's just past seven, that should be plenty of time to prepare.

"Yeah I can do that. Listen, Phaethon. I'm only doing this because of Rain, got it?" I reply, my voice firm as I stand up straight and walk back into my apartment.

"Thank you, Pixel. Anby has the flash drive we need Rain to decrypt once you find her. I gotta go. We owe you big time."

Before I could even reply, Phaethon ends the call. I slip my phone into the back pocket of my jeans as I reach down to the remote on the coffee table, turning the TV off before setting it back down.

"You sure as hell owe me, Phaethon," I say to myself as I walk into my bathroom.

I stand in front of my bathroom mirror, scrutinizing myself for a moment until I run one of my hands through my short hair. I'm nothing remarkable; brown hair, blue eyes, average height and unfortunately on the overweight side, tactfully hidden by my baggy t-shirt, complete with a faded print of the Starlight Knights. I honestly hate how I look, so I try really hard not to focus too much looking at myself in mirrors.

Knowing I'm going to have a headset strapped to my face for several hours, I lather soap into my hands and rub it onto my face before rinsing it off. I finish my business in the bathroom and walk back out towards my computer. Standing next to my computer is a large form that has a white sheet covering it. Phaethon has their special Bangboo they use to dive into Hollows, I use this.

I pull the sheet off, revealing what's beneath it. This is Pixel and she is an android. Having found her in a Hollow a couple of years ago, I believe she was dumped there by the Marcel Group. With her human appearance, synthetic skin and internal hydraulic fluid that even looks like blood, whoever made her wanted her to look as human as possible. I dressed her in trendy techwear with a neon blue jacket with hot pink accents and dyed her short white hair into a brilliant neon blue. Her eyes are blue as well, however that's hard to see with her eyes being closed.

The only clue to her true identity that I have is the barcode on the back of her neck and beneath that is either a model number or serial number: P1X3L. And that is where my Proxy alias came from. I had used a Bangboo like most other Proxies right up until I found Pixel and after Rain helped me program her to assist me in diving into Hollows, I took up the name of Pixel and never looked back. As far as anyone is concerned, this is Pixel, not my sad excuse of a human husk. Although, now that I think about it, I don't even remember what I was going by before I started going by Pixel; must not have been that cool if I can't remember it.

In addition to Pixel's hyper realistic features, both her arms are equipped with mantis blades. She's loaded to the brim with sensors and data regarding most of the nearby Hollows, although the data I have on the Ballet Twins Hollow is severely out of date; not a lot of Proxies go there. This will give me an excuse to collect updated Carrot data. Strapped to her thighs are two Ether pistols for when I can't use the mantis blades.

Placing my hand onto her shoulder, I give it a gentle squeeze, "ready to get to work, Pixel?"

I sit down in front of my computer, booting up my HDD system. I grab a series of wires with nodes on the end that I then proceed to stick all on my forehead, temples and behind my ears; these are neutral transmitters that I use to control Pixel remotely. I then grab my headset along with my headphones, putting them on.

Pixel is activated by my voice, so I say the command loud and clear, "Pixel, engage."

The headset on my face whirls to life, going through it's start up sequence before the words "Welcome back, Pixel" come onto the screen. Pixel opens her eyes and I can see the inside of my apartment through her eyes, including me sitting at my desk. Seeing myself used to really freak me out, but I've gotten used to it. I also used to get really motion sick when controlling Pixel, but thankfully that's no longer a problem.

I take a couple of steps forward, lifting my harms and flexing my hands, making sure my synchronization with Pixel is completed before I really start moving around. Once I'm confident I'm synced up, I ball my fists, grinning.

"Let's Rock!" Pixel and I exclaim in unison.

"UgggggghhhhhaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Billy cries out, throwing his hands into the air, "Anby, where's the Manager?! Didn't Nicole say he'd be here by now?!"

Anby glances down at the clock on her phone before looking back up at Billy, "yeah. It's not like him to make us wait like this."

Did something happen? Anby thinks while pacing back and forth.

Nekomata seems completely unbothered by the situation as she's currently grooming her cat ears, her two tails twirling absentmindedly. Anby lets out a deep sigh and continues to pace. She surely hoped that nothing happened to Wise; recently a soft spot had begun to form for him, their mutual passion for movies often bringing them together. His sister, Belle, is equally as nice; always full of energy and positivity. Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone's voice, a female voice.

"Hey, sorry I'm late!"

Anby turns around, unable to hide her shock upon seeing Pixel approach them, her asymmetrical neon blue hair and unique clothes unmistakable. Didn't the Cunning Hares owe her an exorbitant amount of money?

"Don't worry, Phaethon is covering your fee this time around," Pixel says, seemingly reading Anby's mind.

"PIXEL!" Billy shouts, running over and wrapping his arms around her, "It's good to see you but… where's the manag--"

Anby quickly shoots Billy a glare.

Realizing his slip up he corrects himself, "I mean Phaethon, are they alright?"

Prying herself from Billy's grasp, Pixel brushes herself off before answering, "Phaethon should be fine. They found themselves in the crosshairs of PubSec so they sent me over in their stead."

A lump forms in Anby's throat at the mention of PubSec, but she recomposes herself, "we appreciate you coming, Pixel, even if Phaethon is paying you."

Pixel gives Anby a nod before walking towards the railing overlooking the Ballet Twins Hollow placing her hands onto the railing and leaning forward, "so, what's the situation?"

"We're looking for a hacker named Rain inside the Hollow. We believe she's in there somewhere. Most likely on the piece of the roof sticking out of the Hollow," Anby explains, gesturing towards the Hollow.

Pixel nods in acknowledgement, "I have a personal stake in this as well. Rain is my best friend. Do you have any Carrot data on the Hollow?"

"No. The one we have is severely out of date," Anby replies as she stands next to Pixel, crossing her arms.

"Same here… we'll make due. It's better than nothing; I can try to record new data while we're in there."

Pixel pushes herself away from the railing, turning around and putting her hands on her hips. Her gaze shifts to Nekomata, raising an eyebrow.

"Who's she?" Pixel asks, her gaze scrutinizing.

Nekomata stands at attention but approaches Pixel cautiously, "Nyah! I'm the newest member of the Cunning Hares. The name's Nekomiya Mana, but you can call me Nekomata!"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Pixel," Pixel replies before turning back around to gaze up at the Hollow, "now that introductions are out of the way. let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

I never envy the Agents that risk their lives in the Hollows. Even through Pixel's android body, I can feel the pressure of the Ether inside the Hollow. Just as we enter the Ballet Twins Hollow, I bring my right hand up and press a hidden button that's behind my ear, engaging my holographic glasses. They tell me a wide range of information; including etheric levels, heat signatures and Carrot data for the Hollow I'm in.

"So… where is your Bangboo? I've never heard of a Proxy entering the Hollow themselves," Nekomata asks me as she bounces to my side.

"These glasses are my Bangboo," I reply, the lie coming out smoothly has it has so many times in the past, "I reverse engineered them from bangboo technology."

That part isn't entirely a lie. When I found Pixel in Hollow Zero, it was Rain that helped me equip her with Bangboo technology so that I could use her to dive into Hollows. In truth, there wasn't a lot of work that had to be done; most of it was programming the glasses. Pixel was already corruption resistant and had a ton of Carrot data in her system. Pixel remains a huge mystery. With a few keystrokes at my H.D.D. back at the apartment, I begin recording new Carrot data.

"Do you think the rumor about the Ballet Twins is true?" Nekomata asks, moving in front of me and walking backwards.

My gaze shifts up to her, "what rumor?"

"That this place is haunted."

"Don't be ridiculous," I immediately rebut, walking around her to follow behind Anby and Billy, "there's no such thing as ghosts."

"Aww come on, meow! You have to admit it's a really interesting rumor!"

In that moment, one of my sensors goes off for a split second: an unknown heat signature coming from behind us. I stop in my tracks, turning around. Nekomata dramatically skids to a stop upon seeing me stop and turn around. She follows my gaze before darting and cowering behind me.

"What is it?!" she whimpers.

I don't see anyone and my sensors aren't picking up any other heat signatures. Despite this, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck and arms stand on end, suddenly very thankful that Pixel can't portray that. Anby and Billy quickly join our side, looking around.

"I don't want to alarm you all," I begin before turning on my heel and continuing forward, "but we're not alone."

"Is it a person or an Ethereal?" Anby asks, walking beside me with her sword at the ready.

"Hard to say, whatever it is tripped my sensor for only a second. Still, we need to stay alert."

We make our way through the Ballet Twins building, taking out an Ethereal or two along the way. That random heat signature from earlier is still fresh in my mind, making me uneasy. I can tell it's making the others uneasy, too. Eventually we come upon a large room, our steps echoing the expansive space.

"Does anyone else find it odd that we haven't run into that many Ethereals? You'd think a place where the Carrot data is so out of date would be crawling with them." I ask, stopping in the center of the room.

"I was thinking the same," Anby replies as she stops and addresses me.

Billy and Nekomata stop and turn to me as well. Billy scratches the top of his head and glances around while Nekomata takes a moment to groom her hair. I'm startled when one of my sensors goes off again; another heat signature. Same as before, it only popped up for a moment. I glance around myself, but I don't see anyone.

"We're being watched. Stay sharp guys," I say, rolling up the sleeves on my jacket.

Billy, Anby and Nekomata nod at me in unison, all of them taking out their weapons and looking around the room. A flash of movement catches my right eye and I immediately turn to it, deploying the mantis blades in my arms.

"We've got company! Ethereals!" I shout, charging at the Ethereal, leaping into the air and coming down onto them; one of my mantis blades coming down and piercing its core.

Despite my annoyance about the Cunning Hares not paying what they owe me, we fight together in perfect harmony; even with their newest member, Nekomata. We make very short work of the Ethereals, rendering the large room silent once more.

"That presence you felt before…" Billy begins, turning back to look at me, the anxiety in his voice heightening, "that was the Ethereals, right?!"

I shake my head as I approach them, "I'm not sure, something doesn't feel right. Don't let your guard down."

Standing in front of me, Nekomata looks down at both of my arms, the mantis blades still deployed, "are your arms fake?!"

"They're prosthetics, yes. I lost them in a Hollow years ago," I reply, another lie rolling easily off my tongue.

"Neat!" she says as she once again starts to groom her hair and her ears.

A flash of light from behind Nekomata catches my attention and I quickly realize something is hurtling towards her.

"Nekomata look out!" I shout, shoving her aside and bringing my right arm up to deflect whatever it was that was flying at us with my mantis blade.

A large spear-like weapon makes contact with my blade, however there is so much force behind the weapon, as I move my arm to deflect it, the various components of my mantis blade immediately shatter. The weapon spins in the air, impaling itself into the ground behind us. My arm sparks and makes whirling sounds as I try to move it.

"Shit!" I curse to myself as I look down at my busted arm, dark red hydraulic fluid dripping from it.

"It's a giant pair of scissors," Anby points out, pulling her sword out and taking up a defensive stance.

A loud clanging noise begins to reverberate through the large room, causing my breath to hitch. Anby and I spin around, my left arm returning to its normal state as I pull out one of my Ether pistols, pointing it at the source of the sound; a set of stairs leading into the darkness. As Billy and Nekomata cower behind us, I see someone come out from the darkness, stopping at the top of the stairs. From where we stand, I can tell he's a Thiren, admittedly a handsome one; his large bushy white tail swinging behind him. He's wearing a vest with a white shirt rolled up at his elbows, black dress pants, fingerless gloves and a mask that covers one of his eyes, his other exposed eye seemingly glowing a bright crimson in the darkness. What really catches my attention are his powerful looking mechanical legs. This is not someone to mess with.

"A wolf Thiren?" Nekomata whispers from behind me.

I tighten my grip on my pistol narrowing my eyes at him.

"You're all quite skilled. It's no surprise you were able to get through the building unhindered. However, I must ask you to leave. This is private property."

"Who are you?" I ask, my stance unwavering despite his smooth voice giving me chills.

"You are not in any position to ask such questions. I'll give you thirty seconds to explain your presence here before I--"

"WAAAAHHHH OH NO!" a female voice cries out before the sound of something crashing is heard.

A circular saw blade rolls out from the darkness behind the wolf Thiren, rolling down the stairs. All of us watch as the saw blade rolls before tipping over in front of us. There's a moment of awkward silence before our attention is back on the wolf Thiren.

He clears his throat before continuing, "in summery, the Ballet Twins are not open to the public and--"

More crashing sounds cut him off again, causing one of his erect ears to twitch towards the direction of the sound. He closes his eye and groans as a young girl steps out from the darkness, holding what appears to be a staff in her hands. Her green hair is in pigtails and she's wearing a maid outfit.

"How many times do I have to stress that the floors and one's weapon are to be kept in pristine condition," he growls, looking over at the young girl.

"I'm sorry Mr. Lycaon, I'm so sorry!" the girl whimpers, giving the Thiren and apologetic bow.

Lycaon… why have I not heard of him? I think to myself; I make a mental note to look him up later.

"Ugh… I'm so tired…" I hear another female voice from behind the Thiren.

"Ellen," he snaps, turning his head slightly to the left, "some professionalism, please!"

"Okay, okay…" she says as she walks up to his side; she's a shark Thiren with black hair with touches of red, also wearing a maid outfit; the giant scissors must be hers.

"Wait a second…" Nekomata suddenly says, stepping out from behind me and looking at the green haired girl, "Corin? Is that you?!"

"Nekomata! Anby! Billy! It's so good to see you!"

"Do you know them, Corin?" Lycaon asks.

"I don't know the blue haired lady, but I know the other three! They're the ones that saved me from the Hollow that I told you about!"

"This blue haired lady is our Proxy, her name is Pixel!" Nekomata exclaims as she gently places her hands onto my arm that's pointing my pistol, "it's ok, they're friends!"

I glance over at her, furrowing my brows before hesitantly lowering my weapon and putting it back into its holster.

"The Proxy that enters the Hollows herself. Your reputation proceeds you, Master Proxy," Lycaon says, his crimson gaze locked onto me; causing my heart to race.

He knows me? I swallow hard.

His gaze shifts from me to just behind me, "Rina, you may stand down."

My gaze follows his and I turn around slightly to be met with a woman that's floating in the air with long dirty blonde hair. Unsurprisingly, she's also wearing a maid outfit. She's accompanied by two floating Bangboos.

"Holy shit!" I cry out as I jump away from her.

She giggles, floating away from me, "your powers of perception are impressive, Master Proxy, you almost saw me!"

"She means you weren't even close!" one of the floating Bangboos follows up before both laugh wildly as they follow behind the woman who is now floating towards Lycaon and the others.

"Since you're not trespassers, that makes things easier," Lycaon says, descending the stairs, "allow me to introduce ourselves."

Rina joins them and they all stand at attention, facing us. Even through my headset, I can feel the immense regal aura coming from them. Lycaon clears his throat once more.

"We are Victoria Housekeeping."

Part 2

[yakool-foolio]

Nobody could see the Professor's face, not even the prison wardens? Hmm... sounds strangely familiar. What do you think, mystery man? Ring any bells?

OOOOOOOOOO TUSSPELLS IS SNITCHIN' ON DREBBER! GET 'EM! Now I need to see a Tusspells Takedown on Drebber with the assistance of Van Zieks.

Alright yeah I can safely kick my 'Asman is the Professor' theory under the rug since the Professor got shot after crawling out of the grave, and that'll certainly seal anyone's fate. So long, my theory, you lived a fulfilling life. OHHHHHHHHH WAIT ASMAN WAS THE REPORTER/ILLUSTRATOR OF THE ARTICLE I SEE NOW!

Perfect dodge, mystery man!

Everything went immediately downhill for Enoch as soon as Asman's article entered the public eye. Goes to show how powerful journalism is, especially when in disregard of the privacy of those affected by the traumatic, life-altering events they went through. Poor guy's lying to himself because his talent was completely wasted and he could never recover from hitting rock bottom. He messed with something he shouldn't have and paid the price for it.

At least Sithe has the guts to admit her guilt, but Enoch's a tough one to crack. But hey we absolved Harebrayne of a guilty verdict...! Probably... Most likely... there's a catch, isn't there?

Van Zieks is on his Edgeworth arc! I'm sure he's just as curious as we are to what's really going on behind the curtains of this cursed play. Aaaaaaaaand it looks like Sithe is the one that actually killed Asman, she fucked up big time. Rain Code chapter 1 prepared me for the bloodstain direction question!

Damn, no breakdown even when she confessed? Is there even more to this?! Enoch pulled the exact same treatment to Harebrayne that Asman did to Enoch; oh to become what you sought to destroy...

Awww Van Zieks consoling his buddy! Genuinely made me smile warmly, that's such a sweet thing for him to say. Ayyy an indirect compliment to the defense, I'll take it! Aw man Van Zieks doesn't want Harebrayne to die to the Reaper's curse and he's not risking him staying any longer.

Van Zieks wants a word with Ryunosuke? Alright, let's hear ya out! OH IS HE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE JAPANESE PERSON THAT WRONGED HIM THAT HE MENTIONED BEFORE? Finally! 'THE PROFESSOR' IS NOT SOMETHING I THOUGHT WE WOULD START THIS LORE DUMP OFF WITH AND I'M SCARED. PLAIN SIGHT? I DON'T LIKE WHERE THIS IS GOING! I'D LIKE TO GET OFF THIS TRAIN PLEASE!

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT

SUSATO RECOGNIZES HIM?!

KAZUMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YEAH FUCK UP THAT MODEL KAZUMA SCREW YOUR HORRID DAD AFTER YOU HAD TO LIVE WITH THAT AGONY FOR SO SO LONG! TAKE HIM DOWN WITH YOUR SWORD, EMPOWERED BY THE COMPANY IT KEPT WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND! FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE SURGE OF AWFUL MEMORIES THAT CRASHED AGAINST YOUR SKULL LIKE THE WRATHFUL WAVES OF A HEARTLESS TSUNAMI! FLOW WITH THE TIDE OF ANGER TO PROVE THAT YOU'RE IN CONTROL OF YOUR OVERWHELMING FEELINGS! YOU ARE NOT YOUR FATHER!

There are tears in my eyes right now. Welcome back, Kazuma. I missed you dearly. My mental state right now:

(To Whom It May Concern - @raymondshields)

[lgbthequarry]

So Werewolf!Dylan and Kaitlyn brainrot, yeah?

(Thank you to @envy-ghost for indulging me and making this sick fanart!)

So Dylan's up in the crane, seconds away from turning. He can feel it, like something clawing away inside him, vicious and terrifying, ready to rip free and consume. And he fights like hell to keep himself human for as long as possible, even when he knows it'll beat him in the end. But he's not even worried about what's about to happen to him, he's worried about what might happen to Kaitlyn.

And Kaitlyn, fuck, she doesn't even know what to do, doesn't seem to even register the immediate danger she's in. All she can think is 'dylan in pain' and 'help dylan' and 'don't leave him', and it takes Dylan yelling (which I fully believe is what spurs her the most; not his physical state or what he says, but the fact that 'go-with-the-flow, super-chill-guy Dylan' is screaming for her to book it, and its so out of character for him that its what jars Kaitlyn into motion).

And can you imagine the fucking gut twisting, heart wrenching chase sequence that would follow?? Like Kaitlyn barely makes it down the steps b4 she hears a squelching explosion followed by a deafening roar/howl behind her.

(I think the gameplay would look something like:)

Kaitlyn gets the option to run or hide (Doing nothing prompts a combat scene where you'll get the chance to shoot Dylan and then she runs. Failing leads to death. Hiding prompts a 'don't breathe' that'll then lead to the run away option and a series of qte's to duck and dodge your way thru the scrapyard. Failing to hold your breath leads to combat, and failing that leads to death.) While running thru the yard, missing a qte can lead to Dylan biting Kaitlyn and a recovery qte (Kaitlyn can kick Dylan in the snout or use the butt of the shotgun to knock him aside. Failing that leads to death). She keeps running, looping back around and getting to the shipping container held up by the beam (see: Kaitlyn alone in the scrapyard for how that plays out, including her possible deaths).

Succeeding everything Kaitlyn traps Dylan beneath the container and goes to make her escape. (And something i'd love to see to add a lil flair) Kaitlyn stops when she hears Dylan whining behind her, turning around and slowly lowering the gun as she watches him struggle beneath it and shelter himself as it starts to rain. And you just see the pain on her face, the empathy she feels for her friend. Bcuz regardless of the attempts to eat her, he's still Dylan, she knows that much, and it physically pains her to see him being put thru this. She gives a soft "i'm so sorry Dylan" b4 turning on heel and running back to the lodge.

(And look, personally, game play notwithstanding and universe exclusive, I don't know if Kaitlyn would have had the heart to ever shoot Dylan. The girl was up in the crane and ready to stay by his side as he changed, there's no way Kaitlyn would ever have it in her to shoot the guy who risked his life and saved her. She would have tried to find another way b4 even thinkin of using the gun on him (but game mechanics ya know.))

Later, when Dylan changes back, he wakes up in the scrapyard (having pulled himself free of the container) and his first thought is Kaitlyn and if she made it away. In a perfect world (and better ending) they reunite later and he crushes the shit out of her in a tight hug cuz holy fuck, thank fucking god, she made it (but hooboy...imagining an end sequence where it cuts to Dylan just sitting in the scrapyard, half naked, tears running down his bloody face, as the next clip changes to Kaitlyn's dead body right beside him. Oof.)

[proposalanonaita]

Well, that's... definitive.

In all honesty I'd forgotten about this by now, but I'm sure you'll all be very happy to know my fiance actually checks tumblr, and is being completely insufferable about the fact that 700-odd strangers think that I'm an asshole. I WILL concede, the risk to reward ratio involved in sending the rich ex an invite is probably more trouble than its worth. Probably.

On everything else, however, all of you are so comically wrong I'm about to spend the rest of this post responding to questions I'm seeing crop up in the comments repeatedly. To that end:

Why do you hate the groomsmen/Why are you uninviting the groomsmen/&c. - When I said that uninviting everyone I hate would take out half the groomsmen, that was a technique called "exaggeration" I and many other people use when arguing. I certainly don't LIKE several of his friends, but he's well aware of that fact already & we're perfectly capable of interacting politely when needed. This isn't a legitimate grievance, they're just loud and don't really 'get' me. The rest of his side of the aisle is lovely.

Do you even like him/Why do you talk about your fiance like that, I would never insult my partner in public - I wanted to mention this one specifically because I was completely baffled about it for so long. To me, the COMPLETE opposite is true; I would sooner film a sex tape, show it on the jumbo screen of a sport arena, and provide director's commentary throughout than admit to loving my partner in public for anyone to hear. It would be much less revealing.

Anything heartfelt I have to say about him I am going to say TO him, behind a closed door, with no one else around. The ONLY exceptions are the time I had an appendectomy (which involved MANY drugs and SHOULDN'T count), our vows, and if he dies in public.

You are toxic/Both of you are toxic/You shouldn't be getting married at all/&c. - Oh damn, you're right. Let me just call this whole committed relationship off real quick, obviously you know everything about me and my partner from reading a few words online!

I don't respect you and I'm going to find a way to marry him even harder specifically to piss you off.

Why are you making a seating chart before you have your RSVPs back - You're the only one asking the right questions on here, congratulations. The venue has several rooms we can pick from, arranged VERY differently, and I needed to get an idea of what each set up would look like at maximum capacity to choose between them. I'll admit making a full chart was going a LITTLE overboard, but spending an afternoon methodically calculating who should sit with whom is surprisingly effective for excising the jitters. Also, it was an excellent bonding moment with my mother, who is a fellow hater at heart and had insane amounts of intel on the extended family's beef. I think she was more choked up watching me put labels on my magnet board over FaceTime than she will be seeing me in my suit, frankly.

Stop doing mind games on your partner/Don't manipulate your fiance/WTF is wrong with you quit it - No. It's VERY effective foreplay. Also, he is genuinely quite bad at event planning. I'm not about to let him blunder into a subpar special day when I could just do it CORRECTLY and give him the perfect wedding instead. Duh.

To that point, no one asked specifically but I think it would help assuage some worries to reiterate that AS STATED IN THE POST I am NOT pulling any strings when it comes to his actual stated wants, this is ONLY about the minutiae of planning for a very large event.

He wants all his younger siblings to play a role? Absolutely, I will find jobs for all SEVEN of them to do, including the kindergartner who curses at me. His best friend moved abroad and can't afford travel fare? She can now, because I'm chipping in to get her here as a surprise. He really wants Thinking Out Loud by Ed fucking Sheeran on the playlist since it was on the car radio when he realized he loved me? I wish to GOD I were a crueller man because that tacky garbage will be our first dance song so my basic bitch of a betrothed can get all weepy about it.

He thinks orange and pink "works fine" for a color scheme?????? Objectively deranged, someone needs to save him from himself.

To conclude, I have ACCEPTED that I shouldn't invite the ex, I will be taking NO further criticism at this time, and now that that's all settled I'm going to leave this be and go talk over my fiance's TV shows. He hates it so much <3

I am not the asshole, and I think this whole thing is stupid, but I was promised that if I sent my side of things to this blog I could pick the hotel for our honeymoon, and I am marrying a man who once tried to take me BACKPACKING of all things, so this ask has become a necessity. In light of that:

AITA (I'm NOT) for planning the seating for our wedding in a logical way?

I got engaged in June, apparently in part because of my partner writing in to this blog (I don't know how to find or link to his posts, but I'm the man who got the cat to bite him, if that rings any bells?). At any rate, for the past ten weeks, I've been in the beginning stages of planning our wedding with my fiance, whom I have been secretly attempting to remove from the planning process as much as possible. I have ALREADY been given a list of his must-haves, and I AM incorporating as many of them as our budget allows. This has NOTHING to do with the emotional side of the event, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that this is an idiot with no real planning experience or taste who thinks he knows more than me.

For the most part, this has worked very well. I'm the one who's been collating all the contact information for things, so I just replaced all the emails for the tacky companies with false addresses, responded to his inquiries as the companies to say the date was already booked or the price was outside our budget, and let him filter his way to the ones I DO like on his own. I also made a fuss about being "willing to compromise" on the few things he's picked I'm completely fine with in the hopes I can use it to make him compromise later, and have been humming portions of the songs I want on the playlist in the hopes he'll think he came up with the idea to include them himself.

None of this is the real problem. The PROBLEM is that he is deliberately ruining my seating chart, by moving our horrible friend's seat when I'm not looking.

The man in question dated both of us at one point in our VERY early 20s (both ended BADLY), is generally the messiest person we know, and will almost certainly get sloppy drunk and try to make a speech IF he does make an appearance. I'm banking on the fact that he won't, because he's also ridiculously wealthy, and will almost certainly send us some very lavish gift in lieu of coming.

He is SUPPOSED to be sitting beside my fiances aunt, at the same table as his grandmother, his work friend, and her girlfriend, because all four of these women are stone cold terrors who I believe are more than capable of keeping him in line on the slim chance he does come. My fiance INSISTS they won't be able to have any fun if they're running interference all night, and keeps moving him to sit at the head table instead. You know, where WE are. I finally caught him switching the label magnets on my planning board last night, and confronted him.

I tried leveraging how much I've been compromising already, that he's almost certainly going to RSVP no, and that I shouldn't have to deal with him on our big night. My fiance said he knew about all the fake emailing and such, and told me, and I QUOTE: "Look, the mind game shit was hot when it was just about the colour scheme or whatever, but I actually care about this. So you can suffer with everybody else, or you can do the normal thing and not invite a guy you hate to our wedding, you weirdo."

I said that if I did that, it would take out half his groomsmen, he called me an asshole and said I should go explain this to "literally any rational adult" so they could tell me I was in the wrong, and now here we are.

Would you recommend calling my fiance's bluff, since he doesn't want the man sitting near us either? Or should I focus on ensuring he'll turn down the invitation no matter what, so the matter of where he WON'T be sitting can be a moot point?

What are these acronyms?

Original post

The update

[theglitterypages]

Title: Potty Mouth

Pairings: Levi x fem! Reader

Summary: (Just Guess how this would go LOL)

Warnings: 18+ language

Word Count: 1000+

°°°°°°°°

“Woah Levi! I can smell you from where I stood! You're risking it all now, are you?” Hanji teased as she saw Levi came out of his room all dressed up, he's not wearing his uniform but he's all fancy.

“Where is she?” Levi asked as he fixed his collar anxiously, Hanji laughed out loud and tapped his shoulder lightly, “With her brother, Erwin is probably telling her to pass some papers to Pixis, she'll be leaving soon. Better take your chances, Levi." After that, Hanji left Levi alone, she knew she had to give him time to prepare himself today.

Levi's chest was pounding as he made his way to Erwin's office, he's silently praying that she's still in Erwin's office because if she's already gone then everything that he prepared for a week would all be wasted.

When he knocked at Erwin's office he straightened his posture and he stood so stiff to the point that he looked awkward as he stare at the wooden door.

“Oh, it's just Captain Levi. Come on in, Cap.” You smiled as you saw the Captain outside but your mouth gaped open when your eyes settled in the clothes that he's wearing, he's not wearing his usual casual clothes, did he buy these new clothes or this is just the first time you've seen him wear these?

When you realized that you've been staring at him for so long you blinked twice and opened the door wide enough to let him in, “Do you have something to say to Erwin?” you whispered as you glanced at your brother whose back was facing you and Levi.

After closing the door you gestured Levi to sit across from you, “Erwin, Captain Levi is here.” you spoke, trying to get your brothers attention, Erwin has been spacing out a lot these days it may be because of what's happening but you gotta help your brother keep his sanity.

“Oh Levi, what brought you here?”

“About this...mission.” Levi meaningfully looked at Erwin as he licked his lower lip, his commander is the first one to know of his feelings for you, at first Levi was scared of what Erwin would think but Erwin was not surprise at all when Levi admitted that he has feelings for you, Erwin even laughed and told him that he already knew and ever since that day Erwin was generous enough to purposely let you and Levi work together.

“You gave him a mission?” you asked your brother and Erwin grinned at you as he hummed while tapping he fingers in his table, “Captain Levi started this mission by himself, I'm just helping out because he's having a hard time.” there was something off with his tone yet you chose to ignore it, instead you stood up and looked at Levi.

“Seems like the two of you are gonna have a long talk, I must go to Mr. Pixis now.”

“You don't have to lady Smith, your brother himself summoned me. Oh Captain Levi, you're looking good, finally going for it?” Pixis suddenly entered the room with a grin as he looked at Levi.

Levi shifted on his seat uncomfortably, hating how everyone's teasing him right now, this made the whole situation much worse, he's embarrassed and his mind is blank! “Can I take your seat lady Smith? Just seat beside the Captain, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't mind.” Pixis told you, his cheeks are crimson red, the old man is drunk again.

You sat down beside Levi and you felt yourself shiver when your knees met.

“We're actually fixing schedules for trainings again, do you have any suggestions?” your brother asked.

“I'd have to take your sister with me Erwin. Her skills would be useful in teaching new recruits.”

Erwin tried his best not to laugh at Levi, his ears are getting red while you are oblivious of everything happening. Pixis crossed his arms over his chest as he observes the two of you, he thinks that you and Levi are an interesting pair, he's wondering how the two of you would work as a couple.

“Would you mind that?”

“Not really, I'd be glad to be in Captain's service.”

“I'm glad too.” Levi said as he tried acting cool, Erwin internally shook his head, this whole thing is ridiculous. Levi is so bad at flirting, he couldn't even say anything and that was when an idea popped into his mind.

“Sunny.” Erwin calls you using your nickname, and your eyes immediately shot up, your brother has a devious smirk when he looked at you and you'd be glad to punch him in his perfect teeth.

He knew about you having crush on the Captain, he was at first professional all about it but lately He's been teasing you a lot and you hated him for that.

“Captain Levi looks good today right? I wonder what's gotten into him, he's all dressed up, he even showered his new perfume.” you narrowed your eyes at Erwin as you cross your legs, your gaze landed at Levi then, you looked at his whole before looking back at your brother with a smirk, if this is how your brother would plan to humiliate you in front of your crush you better turn the tables.

“He always look good but heck yeah, he looks better today but—”

“But what?” Levi immediately questioned, curious of what's going on in your head. Did he mess up? Did he did his haircut badly? No that's impossible he already perfected the art of cutting his own hair what went wrong with his get up today?

“I prefer your old perfume, Captain.”

Levi frowned while his adams apple bobbed up and down as he look at your eyes, he could hear his own heart go beat crazy fast while you look at him. “I wear no perfume, this is my first time to use one.” you almost choke in your own saliva while your eyes widened.

Goddamn all this time that scent you've been searching for doesn't exist because it was Levi's natural scent?!

You loved his scent so much that you spent some of your days looking for perfumes that would smell like him, creepy yes but can anyone blame you?

“Oh my bad, I gotta go Captain, Sir Pixis and brother mine. I have stuffs to do.”

You stood up as you flipped your hair over your shoulder but Pixis called you before you could even leave the room.

“How good looking Captain Levi is?”

You eyed the old man with suspicion, Pixis has been teasing you too about the Captain but you highly doubt that Erwin told him about you crushing on Levi but if he did, then Erwin is the shittiest brother ever.

“Do you guys want me to be honest or...”

“BE HONEST.” the three men answered.

You pursed your lips together and playfully looked at Levi, you're gonna make sure your brother would be the one who's embarassed and not you. He might scold you later but seeing his face once you do it would be fucking beautiful. “Can you stand up for me, Captain?” Levi immediately complied but his hands were secretly shaking that's why he stuffed them inside his pockets.

You walked towards Levi and let your fingers played with his collar as you tilt your head side by side as if inspecting his face, those gray eyes would be the death of you and that jawline could cut your fingers once you run them on it but you won't mind.

“Captain Levi looks so good, Id let him tie me up on his bed, he looks so damn good I'd drop on my knees and I'd gladly let him ruin any other man for me. Is that enough for you guys to hear?”

Erwin's jaw literally dropped on the floor when you suddenly grabbed Levi by his collar just to press your lips on his.

“Yummy.” you whispered teasingly.

When you let Levi go, he immediately felt his knees weakened while you made your way towards the door.

“SUNNY! OUR MOTHER DID NOT RAISE YOU LIKE THIS!” Erwin yelled.

[zafirosreverie]

I already had it all (Carla x reader)

For @midnight-lestrange i hope you like it!

a/n: i didn't put the smut scene here because this was already too long. But let me know if you want me to write it!

a/n 2: I...I really didn't watch Ty's scenes. I just skipped them so, I'm sorry if this was OOC for him. But I won't apologise for anything else bc we all know Carla deserved a girlfriend.

#GiveCarlaAGirlfrendChallenge

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

You rolled your eyes and sighed when Carla came into the house crying. You didn't even ask, you already knew the story.

Isis looked at her daughter, then at you and subtly took her grandson's arm to leave you two alone. Jackson didn't even bother to look at his mom as he got up. They said goodbye to you before disappearing into their rooms. You didn't turn to the woman until you saw Jackson close his door.

Carla looked at you for a moment, feeling like a stranger in her own home.

"What did he do now?" you said.

Usually, you'd run to her side, hug her, and let her cry for a while while she sobbed and told you whatever it was that made her fight with Ty at the time. God, how you hated that man.

Not only did he have an amazing woman like Carla at his feet, but he also had the door open for a beautiful (if a bit messy) family. And the only thing that seemed to matter to him was how good was his girlfriend in bed.

Hell, the guy hadn't even bothered to properly introduce himself to the son of the woman he was fucking!! Isis had told you how he had shown up at Christmas, making out with Carla while Jackson just waved from the table.

It made you want to throw up.

Although, the woman was not helping either. Carla was your best friend, she had been for years! She was the first to welcome you to the spa, the one who made you laugh at your worst and made you do stupid things when she took you to the bar.

You loved spending time with her.

But Ty...he had changed her. You didn't want to be unfair to him, but since he hadn't bothered to introduce himself to you either, you'd still hate him. Well...you would hate him even if he turned out to be a nice guy, because he had what you couldn't.

You weren't sure exactly when you started falling in love with your best friend, but you did. For months you had become aware of how much you loved her, how much you wanted to be with her at every possible moment, how butterflies flooded your stomach when you heard her laugh, how your cheeks would blush when you were too close to her. You loved everything about her.

And everything that came with the woman. You got along wonderfully with Isis, who was seriously trying to be a better mother to her daughter. And you couldn't even begin to describe the love you felt for Jackson. That boy was a treasure! And it broke your heart that most seemed to prefer to ignore him.

"Y/N, are you even listening to me?" Carla's voice brought you back to the present.

"No" you admitted, looking straight at her "Not really"

Carla looked at you as if you had grown another head. She didn't expect you to say that. The woman didn’t know what was happening with you lately, you were usually tender, kind and supported her in everything. But in the last few weeks, you have become more distant and cold.

Although only with her. It seemed that the further you got away from Carla, the closer you got to Isis. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt a pang of jealousy and fear that her mother was stealing her...her best friend. It didn't make a lot of sense, but...

"Break up with him" you said suddenly

"What?" she blinked

"Break up with Ty" you repeated "Carla, he's not good for you. He's hurting you."

"That is not true"

"Then why did you come crying?" you crossed your arms

"You would know if you had listened to me" she told you, crossing her arms too

"I'm not talking about just now and we both know it" you said "This has been going on for weeks Carla!"

"It's not true" she insisted

"It's a routine at this point. You go out with him, disappear for hours, Jackson calls me to go get him, I stay here until you come back with tears in your eyes, I listen to you, you ‘break’ with him for a few days and then he smiles and you fall again. We all know the routine Carla! Isis doesn't even risk burning the kitchen anymore! She just waits until I get home to make dinner"

"Mom dines with you?" she asked, feeling that terror and jealousy build up inside her.

"And with Jackson" you reminded her.

"Since when?"

"Since you started ditching them for Ty, but that's not the point!" you frowned "The point is that you are no longer you, Carla, and it's his fault"

"That is not true!" she growled "I'm as me as ever"

"No" you said to her "The Carla I knew loved herself, wanted to rebuild a relationship with her mother and loved her son above everything else. The Carla I knew made jokes about Jackson, but it was to prevent others from doing it. My Carla would never have let a man make her cry. "

The woman froze a bit when you called her "My Carla." The heat in her chest returned, like every time you said something nice about her.

"Y/N-"

"No" you interrupted her "You're going to listen to me Dunkler! Because I'm sick of seeing you arrive like this! I'm sick of that idiot using you for your body and you letting him. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he really feels something for you, but until he does a better job proving it, I won't change my mind. I'm also sick of seeing him take you away from your family. You said you wanted a better relationship with your mother, but Isis hasn't seen you properly in days. Ty hasn't even tried to get closer to Jackson, the SON of the woman he supposedly loves, to get to know him better! "

Carla looked at you in surprise. This was a whole new side. You have never lost your cool this way. And she hated herself for finding it a little hot.

"He's the only one who has really stayed with me for more than one night, Y/N" she said weakly. She knew it was a terrible reason, but it was the truth.

"So you will just let him do what he wants because you're afraid of being alone?!" you asked incredulous

"No! I-I really like him!" she said but it felt like a huge lie and that...that surprised her

"It's not fair Carla" you continued "It is not fair that you offer him all this! It is not fair that he has at his disposal a child as wonderful as Jackson and a mother-in-law as great as Isis. It is not fair that he has such a wonderful woman like you, a beautiful, hardworking and brave woman. He doesn't deserve you "

"You keep saying that because you don't know what it's like to be alone for so long! You don't know what it's like to feel like you're not enough for anyone!"

"I DO!" you yelled

"No you don't!" she yelled back at you "You are so perfect and cute and you have everyone at your feet! You can have whoever you want! So no, you don't know what it's like not to be enough for someone!"

"I do it because I've never been enough for you!" you growled "Because you've never seen me as anything more than a friend! And I hate you for that! I hate you because you come and flirt with me and then you go with him! I hate you because you gave him everything I've ever wanted! I hate him because he has what I can't have! AND I HATE YOU BECAUSE I CAN'T REALLY HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN LOVE YOU AND YOU DON'T EVEN NOTICE IT!!!"

Carla froze in her place, staring at you. Her mind had gone blank. It took you a few moments to realize what you had said and you gasped as the realization hit you. You had confessed your feelings to her in the worst possible way. Shit.

"...I'd better go" you said hastily

You took your bag and took advantage of the fact that the woman still looked surprised to quickly pass her, almost running out of the house and to your car.

Carla just watched you go, not knowing what to do or what to think. What the fuck had just happened?

_________________

You cried all the way home. You cursed yourself a thousand times for being such an idiot. How could you do that? You had promised to always be there for her and now you had ruined everything! There was no way in the world that Carla could forgive you for this.

_________________

"Still here?" Isis asked, making her daughter jump "You've been staring at the wall for the last hour."

Carla frowned and turned her gaze away.

"Come on, get your fucking ass up and do something!" Isis insisted

"About what?"

"Oh don't play dumb with me. Jackson and I heard everything."

"What? Did you spy on us?" Carla asked a little angry

"Of course not! Your screams were heard throughout the house. I'm sure the neighbors heard too"

Carla blushed and looked at the ground before taking another gulp of her beer. Isis rolled her eyes and snatched it away.

"Ey!"

"Get out of here!"

Carla sighed "What do you want me to do? All that doesn't change anything"

"You're a terrible liar" the older woman scoffed "You've been drowning in your own misery since before I came back. You settled for that idiot just to not be left alone and now that you have a chance to have someone better, you will stay here getting drunk? I'm disappointed "

"Disappointed? It's something you would do yourself" Carla scoffed

"It's not true" Isis said, not bothered by her daughter's words "I would at least fuck her first"

"Mom!"

"What? She's pretty, she has a good body and-"

"Stop it! I don't need to hear my mother talk about how sexy my best friend is"

"Then pick up your sorry butt and go get her" she said, smiling at her daughter's jealous tone "You have the key to her house, use it"

"Mom-"

"I'll keep talking about her body if you don't. Did you know that she has a couple of moles near her right boobie? I loaned her a blouse once and-"

"And I'm leaving" Carla jumped up, taking her keychain

"I'm staying with Jackson, don't come back later" Isis winked

_____________________

You frowned when you heard the front door open. You were sure you had locked it. Your heart raced and you felt fear wash over you as you came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around your body.

You grabbed a baseball bat that was near your bedroom door (thank goodness you were training with Jackson) and walked slowly down the hall to the living room.

"Y/N?"

You froze before frowning.

"Carla? What are you doing here?"

The woman looked you up and down and you blushed when her eyes stopped for a moment on your chest. She cleared her throat before speaking again.

"I wanted to talk to you but maybe I should wait until you don't have a bat in your hand" she teased lightly

You noticed that you were still holding the wooden stick tightly in your hand. Blushing even more, you leaned it against the wall. When you turned around again, you saw that your friend had approached and she was a few inches from you. You swallowed audibly.

All the way here, Carla had thought and gone over the words she would say to you, she had planned a whole speech for you, and god knows she hated speeches. But she had got her entire cassette erased by seeing you like this.

It was the first time she had admitted to herself that she really found you attractive. A part of her began to wonder if the whole Ty thing hadn't also been in part not to acknowledge her feelings for you.

"Carla?" you mumbled after a while 

"Sorry" she jumped a little "I-"

"No, no. I'm sorry" you said "You didn't have to come here to tell me to stay away. You could have sent a message-"

"Why would I tell you to stay away?" she asked with a frown.

You blinked. An hour and she had already forgotten what you had said? You should be grateful, but it honestly hurt you.

"What I said at your house, I...I shouldn't have done it" you sighed

"So it wasn't true?" she asked carefully "Was everything you said a lie?"

"No!" You almost screamed "I just...it wasn't the way and I- I didn't mean to-"

Carla smiled slightly as she watched you babble in front of her. God, how had she not realized how adorable you were? Your lower lip was even trembling.

But she knew you. She knew that once you got flustered and started babbling, there was no stopping you. And she didn't have the time for that, no matter how beautiful you looked doing it. So she only had one option.

You gasped when your friend pounced on you, pressing you against the wall and kissing you deeply. Her hands immediately went to your hips and you moaned against your will when she pressed her chest against yours.

It took you a few moments to recover, but you wrapped your arms around her neck when you did, returning the affection. You didn't know what would happen when you’d ran out of air and had to talk, but to hell with that. You would enjoy the fact that she was kissing you, as you had wanted for so long.

If there was one thing Carla hated more than people themselves, it was having to talk about her feelings, especially this kind. So when you broke the kiss, her mouth immediately traveled to your neck.

You moaned a little when you felt her tongue on your skin. You wanted to continue, you needed to feel her, let her take you right there, but there was still a hideously rational part of you. So you pushed her gently, making her look at you.

"I love you" you whispered "...but I can't be another one of your one night stands"

The woman's heart broke a little when she looked into your eyes. She saw the fear you were feeling, but she also saw love. Love directed at her. No one had ever looked at her like that, not her ex husband, not Ty, no one.

"You aren’t" she promised

"Carla-"

"I swear you are not" she interrupted you. Suddenly, her brain seemed to wake up and the words she had practiced in the car fell out of her mouth "I'm sorry it took me so long, I'm sorry I was so stupid. I was so afraid of being alone, of not deserving of anyone, that I ended up accepting the first thing I could. But now I know that I love you "

"You're lying" you whispered "You...don't feel that way about me"

"I do" she promised

"And why didn't you say anything before?"

"I was scared. I took you for granted, because you were always there for me, no matter what. I ignored my heart, the butterflies in my stomach, the jealousy when I saw you too close to my mother. I didn't want to admit how I felt about you. And I didn't realize that I already had everything I ever wanted in front of me. I'm sorry. "

You looked into her eyes, searching for any trace of lies or mockery. But you didn't find it. She was telling the truth, she reciprocated your feelings.

You smiled at her and pulled her to you for another deep kiss. This time it was she who moaned against your mouth. The two of you poured all your feelings into that kiss, all the tension that you didn't even know had built up between you two.

Carla pulled away and felt a twinge of pride when she saw your swollen lips and the blush that ran from your cheeks to your neck. God you were beautiful.

"Carla I-"

"Shhh, no" she shut you up "you know I suck at this and that I hate romanticism. I already used up what little self-control I had"

You laughed a bit and she wiped away the tears you didn't even know had started to fall down your cheeks. She kissed you again and her hands lifted the towel a little over your thighs.

"Carla-"

"My mother has unsettlingly clear ideas about your body" she said abruptly "Something about lending you a blouse?"

"Oh...that" you laughed nervously "Yeah.. maybe I tried it on in front of her" you admitted

"Well, thank you very much, now I have to live with the knowledge that my mother has seen more of my girlfriend's body than I have."

"Girlfriend?" you smirked

Carla froze. Her cheeks quickly turned red and her eyes couldn't meet your face.

"I-I, w-well, I mean, m-maybe I should have waited a little longer, I-I just thought that-"

You cut her adorable and nervous babbling with a deep kiss that she happily returned.

"Take me to bed, then we discuss the status of our relationship" you said

"Deal"

_________________________

Isis smirked behind her beer when Carla groaned as you and Jackson yelled at her to run. She had no idea how you had managed to convince her to play with you, but here you were.

She suspected that it had little to do with being a "good mother to her son" and more to do with the shorts you were wearing. Either way, Isis was happy that her daughter found what she had been searching for so long.

You laughed when your girlfriend came back to your side with the ball in her hand. Her face was red from exhaustion and she was already sweating. She grunted a little but you pecked her lips to calm her down.

"I really hate this game" she muttered

"It doesn't matter, your girlfriend and your son love it. You'll get used to it" you joked.

You were about to kiss her again when you saw a figure walking towards you. You frowned and your grip tightened on the bat. Carla looked at you confused before following your gaze. She froze when she saw Ty walking towards you two with a bouquet of roses.

"I guess we got to the part where you forgive him" you whispered.

She looked at you and frowned. She intertwined her fingers with yours and kissed you on the cheek.

"Never again" she promised you.

You smiled at her and the two of you waited for Ty to be in front of you. The man looked at Carla, then at your hands and then back at Carla, completely ignoring you.

"We can talk?" He asked her

"No" she answered firmly

"Listen Carla, I made a mistake-"

"Me too" she cut him off "I made the mistake of being with you. To forgive you several times when I knew you would fail me again. No more. Get out of here"

"But-"

"You listened to the lady, buddy. Get out!" You grunted.

"Uh...and you are?" he asked, finally looking at you.

You felt his eyes run up and down your body, stopping a little on your legs. It made you want to throw up and by the way Carla squeezed your hand, you knew she hadn't liked it either. Not one bit.

"My girlfriend" she told him

"Girlfriend?" he scoffed "I thought you didn't want to see more vagi-"

You pointed the bat at his face before he could finish the sentence.

"Unlike you, I know how to use this" you growled "Get out of here before I use your head as a ball"

"You wouldn't" he smiled at you "Hey, there's no need to fight, you two are beautiful and I'm fabulous. Why don't we just put this in bed and be happy?"

You were about to insult him when Carla took the bat from you and used it to hit him hard in the balls. The man doubled over in pain before falling to the ground. You didn't know whether to laugh or feel bad for him.

"This butt is mine" Carla growled, releasing your hand and grabbing one of your buttocks to draw you closer to her "And nobody else's. If you get close to me or my family again, I'm going to hit a home run with your balls"

You held back your laughter and let her drag you out of there, leaving the poor man lying on the ground.

Carla yelled something about going for ice cream, causing Jackson to run to the car. Isis, unlike you, laughed the whole way. You smiled and took one last look at the roses that were now on the ground.

“That was hot” you whispered to her. Carla smiled and pecked your lips.

Her hand never left your ass until you got in the car.

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

KH’s tags: @midnight-lestrange​ @emilyprentissslut @mochiadria

[miss-smutty]

The Destructive Secret

Chapter 4

Summary- You've got a secret to hide and it's going to cause complete and utter devastation. It's only so long until your lies are going to catch up to you.

Pairing- Chris Hems x Reader x Liam Hems

Word count- 2,211

Warnings- Smut, swearing, angst, cheating

18+ Only!!

Disclaimer: This is an entire work of fiction/AU and has no affiliation to real life what so ever! This is a fictional story about fictional characters who happen to share names and faces with some real people.

Posted: 29th June 2021

Taglist:- @innerpaperexpertcloud @pandaxnienke @chickensarentcheap @mostly-marvel-musings @longlostinanotherworld

>The Destructive Secret Masterlist<

"No not married but you do know her. You know her really well actually." Chris says while avoiding your gaze purposefully...

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife, silence so acute you could hear a pin drop. Liam waiting for an answer, Chris looking at his feet and you looking visibly anxious. Chris had drank way too much and now he was about to let all of your secrets loose. This isn't the way you want Liam to find out, surely Chris wouldn't be so cruel.

"I suppose you're not gonna tell me who it is?" 

"Not just yet, see how we go." He looked at you, if he so much as even looked slightly smug you would have slapped him right across his face. Instead you could see the hurt in his eyes, tears welling in the corners. You're both faced with an impossible dilemma, Chris wants you all to himself but doesn't want to lose his brother in the process and you want it all over and done with but don't want to hurt Liam. The latter of both is inevitable but you would take all the blame just so Chris didn't have to lose his brother, given the choice you would lose them both just so that didn't happen.

"Well on that note, I need to go to bed. I've gotta be up early in the morning." You avoid Chris' gaze, you're angry with him but you don't want to cause him more pain. 

"Yeah me too. I better get going. Thank you for dinner Y/N, it was lovely."

You risk a short glance at him, you're eyes softening when they meet. The moment broken when Liam speaks, reminding you where you are and who you're with right at this moment in time.

"Are you for real? You're really going to drop a bombshell like that and then leave? Fuck man." Liam runs his hand through his hair, letting air out of his cheeks exasperatedly.

"Sorry bro, I'll save the excitement for another night. I've said too much already." Chris apologises with his eyes as he passes you, his hands twitching by his side's with the need to touch you.

                             ******************

The next morning when you wake, your heart sinks knowing all the turmoil you're going to have to go through just to make it to the hotel without being spotted. All the messing about and hiding you have to do, checking in under a false name at different times. Making sure nobody follows you to the hotel and especially no one follows Chris. Getting caught checking into the same hotel would be dreadful, it wouldn't take a genius for the press to put two and two together, they wouldn't even care if it was true or not as long as they sold copies.

"Right babe, I'm ready to go." You pull your suitcase towards the door, stopping to wrap your arms around Liam.

"Have a good time, I'll see you soon." Wrapping his arms tightly around your waist and lifting your feet from the ground in a squeezy hug. "I'll miss you." 

"I'll miss you too, bye babe." 

"Bye. Love you. Let me know when you get checked in." He kisses you goodbye before watching you leave.

"Will do, Love you." You say over your shoulder, climbing into your silver, Audi convertible.

This is the part you hate the most, the part that made you question whether it was all worth it. It was, of course or you wouldn't be doing it, you wouldn't put yourself through having to pretend to be somebody else and praying your not caught by anyone. It only takes one person to notice you and Chris in the same hotel and it's over. You imagine having an affair is hard work whatever your circumstances but when your boyfriend and your lover are as famous as they are it becomes impossible. It's terrifying. 

You spent the car journey constantly checking your mirrors and making sure you weren't being followed. A huge sunhat and even bigger sunglasses covering your face as your heart beated faster than you thought was possible. A couple of laps around the hotel, making doubly sure you weren't being followed before you finally pulled into the carpark.

You had to constantly think, you couldn't let your guard drop for even a moment and it was exhausting. You were ready for it to be over and done with now, this just isn't fun anymore. Maybe you could run away together and start a new life somewhere else. Which one would you pick though? Who are you ready to give up? Would there even be an option to choose? Would Liam even be willing to forgive you if he knew you were sleeping with his brother? In love with his brother.

Your heart beating out of your chest, your fight or flight well and truly kicking in now as you walk up to the front desk. If there's any recognition in the receptionists eyes you're ready to turn right around and leave. The girl behind the desk, with long blonde hair has her eyes on the computer In front of her, thankfully not paying you much attention as you stand and wait for her to finish.

"Hi I'd like to book a room for two nights please." You stutter nervously, subconsciously checking over your shoulder while you spoke.

"Of course, is it just for yourself?" 

"Yes please, I'm just here for a work conference. I'd like a double bed if possible though, I haven't been able to sleep in a single since I was young." You giggle nervously, embarrassed that you'd told her information she isn't even slightly interested in.

"No problem, I'll see what I have for you." Her eyes barely left her computer as she spoke, she definitely didn't recognise you. The tension in your muscles relaxed a little as your eyes scanned the lobby.

"What name is it please?" She asked, one of the moments you'd been dreading. You hate lying but luckily you'd already come up with the fake name you were using, one you'd already used many times before in the exact same situation. It never gets any easier.

"Jessica Crawley." The names tumbled from your lips, names that had absolutely no meaning to you. 

"Room 101, floor 5. Is there anything else I can help you with?" 

"No thank you, that's great." The overwhelming feeling of relief at completing step one without any problems, rushes over you. Adrenaline spiking, making your legs feel like jelly.

"You're welcome, enjoy your stay. Don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions." The girl says, smiling sweetly at you before going back to her work.

The elevator seemed to take forever to make its way down to you, your feet shuffling as you watched the numbers above the door, counting down. The overwhelming need to get to privacy and away from the many prying eyes of the people in the lobby was severe. Most were business men and women, that were so consumed in themselves they weren't paying special attention to anyone around them. There were also young couples, making their way through the lobby, probably on their way for lunch but the people that worried you the most were the random loners sat in the armchairs scattered around the lobby. They'd chosen the perfect place to watch, some pretending to read newspapers while their eyes discreetly scanned over the top.

They were much more inquisitive, much like yourself they paid more attention to the people around them. People watchers you liked to call them, these are the sorts of people that make you nervous. They see everything, noticing any minor details, you'd spent a lifetime perfecting 'people watching' which is how you knew to be wary. You could pretty much judge a person's personality just by watching them for a couple of minutes. If anyone was to spot you it would be one of these people. You felt thankful you weren't Chris, there is absolutely no way he was going to make it to the elevator without being seen at least once.

                             *******************

Chris didn't feel quite as nervous as you, this was a every day occurance in his life, avoiding paparazzi was near impossible for him. As long as you weren't seen going in to the hotel then it wouldn't matter about him being seen. Still, he'd worn his baseball cap and sunglasses to at least try and hide his identity. He wasn't nervous about being seen but more about having to face you after his fuck up last night. Now that thought was way more intimidating to him.

Casually strolling into the hotel, he tried to ignore the whispers of the people around him. People questioning if it was really him, young girls barely out of high school giggling at the sight of him. Chris quietly prayed that he would make it up to the room without anyone asking for a photo, not that he usually minded but today all he wanted was to spend every possible minute with you as he could.

The receptionist tried to make a fuss when his identity was confirmed during check in. The pale skin of the same blonde girl who'd checked you in, had turned a rather bright shade of red when she heard Chris' sexy Australian accent. You wouldn't blame her, it still makes you swoon whenever you heard him speak.

"I'm fine honestly, I don't want any special treatment. Actually if I could get away with going completely unnoticed during my stay, I will speak to your boss myself and tell them how accomodating you'd been." 

"Oh wow, really? Thank you so much Mr Hemsworth. I will make sure nobody bothers you and if you need anything at all just give me a call, I'll make sure you won't have to leave your room for anything." Chris smiled, pretending not to notice how she seemed to be flirting with him, badly. Tossing her hair over shoulder as she insinuated not so subtly for him to let her know if he wanted any 'special' treatment. Again, you don't blame the girl, infact you would've commended her confidence.

She handed over the keys to the penthouse, watching bright eyed as he walked to the elevator, pulling out his phone as he stepped straight in. 

"Hi babe, I've booked the penthouse suite, meet me up there?" Smiling a tight lipped smile at the girl behind the desk, who was still watching him intently as the elevator doors closed.

"Ok, it isn't very inconspicuous staying in the penthouse is it?" You shouldn't be surprised, he does it everytime. You remember the first time you ever saw a penthouse and how amazed you were that it was actually bigger than your own home at the time. That was a memory you shared with Liam, all of your first times had been with Liam, the thought made your heart sink.

"I mean they knew who I was as soon as I walked in, I think it would look more suspicious if I didn't stay in a suite." Chris answered, pulling you from your thoughts.

"I suppose that's true, I'll be up soon." You could hear the sadness in your voice, something you had to snap out of before meeting Chris.

"Good because I can't wait to get my hands on you." 

Sinking back onto the spongey mattress of your bed, tiredness washing over you already. The mental exhaustion of constantly having to play games and be on your guard at all times, catching up to you as you're finally alone.

Maybe that's what you need afterall, a chance to be alone to gather your thoughts, to workout your own needs and wants without spreading your attention between the two brothers.

You make a mental list of the pros and cons of both of them knowing deep down if Liam were the one for you, you'd have never have looked twice at Chris. They were so similar in a lot of ways but completely different in others.

Liam was the sweetest man you knew, so gentle and caring, attentive to your every whim and being so young when you first got together he was everything you were looking for.

Now being a woman that has gone through so much trauma in her life that had tainted your soul, darkened it with a lust for more.

Then Chris came along, he was still sweet and caring but less attentive to your needs unless it was in the bedroom. He was cheeky and funny, drop dead gorgeous and oozing manliness effortlessly. He was fire and passion. He was more. 

If you let yourself admit it, you wanted excitement, which is how you ended up here in the first place. You didn't want perfect anymore, you wanted a man who could do wrong and then make up for it in the most fulfilling way he knew how. Just thinking about it made your pulse race, Chris had put you through hell last night and now it was time for payback. You imagined Chris only a couple of floors above you, worried about the way you were going to act when you saw him and lord knows how much you're going to make him sweat.                    

[sagehqs]

Happy to hear their suggestion was welcomed, they carried on, "shit, I'd love to learn to throw. It's a big art in Appalachia, too -- I was just never close enough to any classes, or they were stupid expensive to attend." Having many different interests, they didn't know if they would be any good at it, but trying it looked like a lot of fun. It also seemed a bit spiritual in a way -- not that she was sure how her friend felt about that, they just kept that thought tucked away for the potential experience. As she listened to them speak on their previous relationship and healthy attachment, she just nodded, a little concern coming across at just how healthily it was actually being handled. That would be a question for another time. Instead, she hummed quietly and gave a pout. "It sounds extra hard with a furbaby involved. I couldn't imagine not having shared custody or something, but I guess those are the risks of letting a person in, getting close to them, and whatever extra lives that might contain." It was almost as if they had a real knack for finding the flipside to nearly anything and everything. Managing to remind herself of her whole Owen situation, she sighed softly and shook the thought away as quickly as it came. Instead, she focused on Ayanna's words, "Oh! I thought you were just lettin' a whole-ass stranger pierce your ears with no qualifications. I was shook!" As she listened, she let her eyes widen and herself let free a giggle. "Ohhhhhh, you think he's cute." She gasped, gave a dramatic groan, and laid back in the grass, "Eye candy?! C'mon. What's wrong with exploring your mess with someone else?" Romantics running through her mind, she huffed, "Not even a little bit of fun? I, if you're asking me -- and I know you're not -- think you should have a little fun."

"Oh, being a vampire would be so dope, let's be real, yes." Sage replied amusedly, fully enjoying Ayanna's response. "Uhm, kinda, yeah! L-O-L," they spelled the acronym accompanied with a giggle. "It's so badass. There's such an appeal to being a vampire and I'm just like... do people realize they're saying there's an appeal to being gay? It's perfect." Appreciating the way they just understood, she gave a lazy grin, "It would have been so fun to have a class with you in college or something. I think we would have made such an interesting dynamic in a classroom." It would have been fun to give a professor hell with them, but they were happy they had gotten to know them in the short time they'd been in Denver. Eyes tracing clouds in the sky, sage's face flushed a deep rouge. "I-I had originally thought it was so small, but now it's just fully fuckin' fleshed out and I'm dying." The barrage of questions only kept their face heated, hands snapping up to cover her in protection from more feelings. "K-Kissed? Oh my god. I-I... ah. I don't wanna fuck anything up and if I do literally anything else, I feel like it's all gonna crumble." Biting on their lip, they slowly peeked from behind their hands, quiet as they spoke. "I uhm, he's a nurse and comes into the library all the time -- Do y'know Owen, by chance?" Even saying his name made her stomach flip, a surge of excitement at his preoccupation in her brain.

the offer made their heart feel entirely too big for their chest, feeling cared for in a way they hadn't in a while. "yeah," their eyes darted quickly between the blade of grass and the pair of green orbs watching them. "that sounds really nice actually. i don't know what i'll make but i'm sure together we can think of something. it's always helpful to have an extra pair of hands in the studio." the vulnerability they'd managed to achieve in their friendship made ayanna feel a little bit too big for their own skin. it wasn't often that they let others in, but when they did they found it impossible to mask the platonic intimacy they craved. "no and i think i'm starting to make peace with it, healthy detachment, y'know?" the concept had never been their specialty, preferring good ol' avoidance over the former. moving was supposed to be the turn of a new leaf for them, though. even if it didn't happen overnight, they were sure they'd master the art of it eventually. "i would say it's also been about a year? we didn't end on the best terms, so we stopped talking pretty soon after we officially ended things. sometimes when i ask to see waffles she'll say something snarky, but i don't really consider that talking, so." she shrugged, happy to move on to the lighter bit of their conversation, nerves settling just a bit only to transform into new ones. "they do look really good! and they better, he's a piercer by profession so i would be a little concerned if they didn't, even if i got them done drunk and in his bathroom." they laughed at themselves as they said it, nerves making their way to her cheeks in a flush at the question. they did their best to hide it, brows furrowing and a small scoff falling from her parted lips. "noooo," they dragged, huffing at themselves and sitting up to face sage. "okay, who am i kidding. yes, he's really cute but he's also really cool and i'm really a mess so i think it's better to leave it at eye candy and call it that."

watching the way she lit up while talking about the lore, ayanna listened intently, sure not to miss any bits that might be important. knowing themselves, they knew they'd have lots of questions. "okay, yeah, that makes sense. i think it would be cool to be turned into a vampire but that's completely not the point of what you're saying," she laughed. "so what exactly do vampires represent in the sociopolitical scheme of things? are you saying that vampires are actually just gay people that drink blood? because i know this is gonna sound wild but that only strengthens my reasonings for it being cool to be turned into one. gay and i get to live forever? sign me up!" it was a rudimentary version of what sage had been trying to convey, but it was the best they could do themselves without doing research of their own. next time they went to the library, they knew what they'd be checking out. her ears perked up at her mention of butterflies, lips widening into a bright smile. "crushes are always little until you realize they're there. little bitches like that," she chuckled, finally dropping the now crushed blade of grass she'd been fiddling with. "what are you gonna do about it? i'm guessing you haven't told them yet, since you were asking, but are you gonna? actually, let's back it up a few steps. who is it? tell me everything, i want all the details. where did you meet, how did you meet, have you kissed?"

[fakeloveaskblog]

Hi Logan, how do I even start? Save this number, if you want to. I have been supporting Remy through texts for a bit. They have revealed to me some very troubling things in the past. Things like, their boyfriend kicking their cane from under them as a ‘joke’? Those kinds of things.

Virgil, that's his name by the way, also kind of yells at them a lot at times, and tells them they're worthless except for the use he can give to their body and that nobody else will ever love them. They believe they are horrible. They believe they deserve it. They appear to think their disability makes them only a burden to him and nothing else and while I have tried to convince them to the contrary I honestly don't believe I can when they're still trapped by choice in such a toxic environment.

I have tried to help and give them the tools to better their self-esteem and combat that, and send them nice text messages in general, but that hasn't helped in anything more than a superficial level. If you can do something, anything, or could take their case to someone who can something, I'd really appreciate that.

(Words: 2088)

(Talk of U!Virgil)

Logan: "That is...That is" He took a moment to gather himself "That is even worse than I had estimated"

"This must have been happening the other times we met them too right? And we didn't notice anything. We should have- we-" Patty mumbled out. Her voice was shaky.

She had just gotten home half an hour ago or so, she wasn't even fully out of her cosplay makeup. Logan had immediately pulled her into a hug which wasn't uncommon but he'd held onto her so hard it hurt and he’d been close to collapsing into the hug.

All it took was her asking if he was alright for him to tell her everything. He couldn't keep a secret from her even if he tried.

Now they sat in the couch. Logan had his head leaned on her chest and she had moved her arms around his waist. All they'd eaten was some of the leftover pie from Lo's date a few days ago because both of them were far too worked up to even think about cooking.

Patty pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to think "Okay well if they're being emotionally abused as what we know suggest then...I..is there even anyone we can contact that could help. I mean there's no- there's no evidence right? Or well- it's just- it's their word against Virgil's and if they won't even say Virgil is abusing them then there's nothing!"

"We can kidnap them" Logan pointed out.

"That we can"

Logan sighed “Do you think talking to them would even make a difference? They seem to already hate me so now it’s even less likely that they’ll listen”

“Well honey you can always try. They go to the same therapist as Janus right? So you can just casually ‘run into them’ right?” She gave him a loving kiss “I know my lil smarty-sweetheart can help them”

He sent her a tired smile “I’ll try”

--

Remy wasn’t as upset from the therapy session as they usually were. It had mostly been discussing how they felt about maybe being poly. They still thought they deserved a smoke break afterwards though so now they sat on bench right outside the entrance, they were on their third cigarette.

They had their head leaned against the back of the bench and was looking up at the greying sky and falling leaves so they didn’t notice when Logan sat down. He kept his distance to not startle them but cleared his throat to get their attention.

“Are you also waiting for someone?” He asked.

They glanced over to him “Girl go fuck yourself with a rake”

“Noted. I will put it in my calender. I for one am here to pick up Janus after his therapy is over for the day. Mayhaps I will show him some more star trek”

“Okay great gal. Then I’m just like waiting for Remus I guess” They pressed the cigarette into their leather jacket to put it out so they could leave as soon as they saw their cru- friend.

Logan inched closer “Is your bruise healing well?”

“Just ‘cause we’re in the same place doesn’t mean we have to talk to each other!” They snapped back.

“Exscuse me, I was simply worried about your physical health”

They rolled their eyes and crossed their arms before mumbling out “It’s fine. It’s whatever. I haven’t done it again so like forget it” 

“I am relieved to hear that”

Silence fell over them. Remy refused to look at him. Logan tried to figure out what was the best way to ask them about Virgil.

“....Your boyfriend did not insult you once you came home right?” He asked them in such a soft tone as if any slight wrong saying would make them implode on themself.

“Girl there you go again with your stupid fucking bullshit. I don’t wanna like talk about it!....Not ‘cause anything happened but ‘cause I hate you! You don’t- we don’t- we’re not friends! Why are you just like forcing yourself in on my private life! It’s like- it’s like fucking stalking!”

Logan reached out his hand to comfort them but quickly stopped himself “I am sorry. I don’t know how to best formulate this but I sincerely don’t mean to upset you like, neither do I know how to not upset you. All I know is that I want you to be okay and that if my partner treated me like yours seem to do I wouldn’t be able to stay”

Remy’s hair fell in front of their face as they leant their head in their plams “You don’t get it” They muttered.

“I am sure I don-”

“IT’S NOT THAT FUCKING EASY! It’s not like I have any savings an-and I’m not able to keep a job and without Virgil I have no way to buy medicine and- Like do you just want me to walk out and become homeless and like starve to death? Is that it? Like even if I wanted to leave, which I don’t, It’s not like I have a choice!”

A quiet sniffle came from them. Logan gave them a moment to gather their breathe.

“I...I didn’t mean to make it sound like leaving was easy” Logan murmured “I understand that you have probably been forced to think like you have no choice but to stay. I am aware of how crippling manipulation like that can be” 

He leaned closer and even though they didn’t look at him he still sent them his most caring look as he continued.

“But I promise you that there are other options. You aren’t stuck. I am willing to let you stay at my apartment for however long you need and if you aren’t comfortable with that I am sure Janus or Remus would let you stay as well. I can even pay for a motel if that would be better. Depending on what part of your disability is making you unable to work I am sure that could be fixed. For example a wheelchair could help! My point is that you do have a choice, even if it’s very understandably hard to think that”

Remy’s shoulders were shaking. Logan gently placed his hand on top of their bony shoulder. Every vein was visible through their light skin.

At just the hint of his touch they flinched away. They stumbled up from the bench and took a few steps away. They looked at him with reddened eyes.

“No. No. Girl you- you just don’t get it! That’s all!” They spat out, their voice was shaky as well “You haven’t like lived with me. Once you or Remus o-or anyone spends enough time with me you’ll realize what an annoying overemotional burden I am! An-and then I’ll get thrown out! Okay!? So-so it’s not really- I don’t actually have a choice ‘cause I’ll just get thrown out. Virgil is the only who will ever bother to deal with me for this long! ‘cause he loves me! And no one else will love me like he does. S-so just shut up!”

Logan stood up as well and took an unsure step towards them. They looked so weak, as if a single push from the wind would make them crumble. 

“It’s okay. I hear what you are saying” Logan assured.

“An-and it’s like- Virgil needs me! And I need him! That’s like how it works! I can’t just leave him! What if- who will calm him down from his panic attacks?! And if I leave what if he gets s-so upset and like anxious he hurts himself! He’s said there was a chance he would!! I can’t risk it! I have to stay! He needs me! I-I need- I can’t- I can’t leave”

Logan nodded along “It’s okay. I understand. I understand”

“You don’t! You’re a idiotic bitch! I hope all your stupid fucking ties get destroyed in the washer!” Remy was close to yelling.

“Harsh but I see your point. To be honest everything you have said has made me even more worried. From my experience a relationship shouldn’t make you feel this way! It shouldn’t make you come up with reasons to stay! It shouldn’t hurt you!” Logan reached out to comfort them once more. “I promise it shouldn’t hurt”

“It’s not hurting me! YOU are hurting me!”

Logan was taken aback. He didn’t know what to say. His arms moved to hang helplessly along his sides. Remy opened their mouth to say something more but then

“Hey uh what’s going on? Are you roleplaying a death match?” Remus stood in the entrance to the building. He glanced between the two of them.

“This idiot is trying to destroy my relationship!” Remy exclaimed.

“While it is not my place to explain the full situation without their permission I can assure you that I am merely worrying for their mental and physical health and I am unsure if their relationship is good for them from what I’ve heard” Logan explained.

Remus barely even hesitated before moving in front of Remy. He moved his arms out and let them lean against him to catch their breathe, like he was a human shield protecting them from Logan. 

Logan hadn’t seen Remus angry before and he didn’t look fully enraged, but there was a hint of anger in eyes as he sneered at him.

“Well I’m sorry Loganson but not every relationship is totally perfect and works without any arguments like you and your wife relationship apparently does!” He spat out.

“I can assure you that me and my wife’s relationship hasn’t been argument free but that doesn’t mean I have ever even thought about insulting her like Remy’s boyfriend seemingly ha-”

“You’re not Remy!” Remus snapped “You’re a guy who dresses like a 40 year old math teacher who is losing the children in the divorce! Leave them alone!” 

Remy was bordering on cowering behind Remus. Their whole body seemed to shake as a few tears spilled down their cheeks. They met Logan’s eyes.

“If the bullshit you’re saying is true, which it like isn’t but if it was that- that means I’ve spent my whole life being abused” They forced out through tears “How can you Ever you expect me to live with that?”

Logan didn’t have an answer to that. He watched on as Remus placed his hands on Remy’s shoulders and gently guided them to turn away. He bonked their foreheads together and wiped their tears away.

“C’mon beanie-boo I can take you to the amusement park to cheer you up! Or we can find some lsd and get high so you can hallucinate beating the shit out of the stinky Log guy!” Remus exclaimed as they walked away.

A headache began to form in Logan’s head as he slumped back down on the bench. He stared out at the nearly empty parking lot. He didn’t understand what he did wrong. 

He wished he could talk to Virgil. He wished he could see him eye to eye and chew him out for ever making Remy feel like a burden, for ever making them feel trapped. A part of him wanted to punch him.

He was so zoned out into the overthinking he didn’t realize how much time was passing until Janus got out from his therapy session. As soon as Jan saw his boyfriend he let up into a shining smile and hurried over to him.

“Hi dear! Aww did you miss me so much you had to come pick me up! How charming!” Janus hesitated before kissing Logan on the lips. It still made him all giggly.

Normally seeing him so giddy would have made Logan overabundant with happiness....but now all he could think about was if he should tell Janus about Remy’s situation or not. They were friends right? Could it help? Would they listen to their friend?

Logan’s head hurt so bad. None of it made sense. There was no logical answer. How Janus reacted could make everything worse. He didn’t want to ruin everything more than he already had.

“Darling? Are you feeling alright? Has something happened?” Janus asked while taking his hand.

“I....I....” Logan looked over to you.

Logan: “I am so sorry to do this but do you have any idea what to do? The human emotion and it’s reactions are so illogical I don’t- I don’t understand- I don’t know what to do. I’m sorry- Should I tell Janus about the suspected abuse or should I lie?”

[pjoseries]

hi! congrats on reaching 600 followers!! i'm a brand new follower and i'd love to request ✨ a drabble for percabeth and soulmate (born with a tattoo of soulmate's last words) thank you and congrats again!

✨ soulmates are born with a tattoo of their soulmate's last words (ao3 link)

(***post-canon, major character death, some violence)

══════════════════

The ocean is quiet today. The waves skirt passed her ankles like it’s afraid to overwhelm her. It won’t. Nothing about the water can—too many memories steeped in sunlight, gold dripping through her hands until all that’s left are remnants of the shine she once experienced. She should try to thank Poseidon for taming the sea for the day, but she thinks he needs it too. He’s always been fond of Percy and despite knowing him for years, the death of his son will still weigh heavily on him. 

Annabeth curls her knees up to her chest and she settles her head down, one hand drifting mindlessly through the sand. It takes her a minute to realize she was doodling Percy’s features, nothing really distinct. Just the sharp line of a jaw, the swoop of his hair, the curve of his smile. It hasn’t been long since the funeral, since she gripped Percy’s shroud in her hands and watched as everyone bowed their head and spoke a prayer when it caught flame, but she’s so scared of forgetting his face. She wipes away the sand on her bare calves, letting it stick to her even if the coarseness of it makes her itch under her skin. 

She can’t help but remember the last time his funeral happened, years ago when they were both just teens, and Percy barged in on his shroud burning. Gods, the anger left as quickly as it appeared, too busy drowning in relief at the sight of him. She remembers those weeks after she left Percy to die on that mountain, remembers how she thought with a bitter tinge of regret that he wasn’t her soulmate, but he was her best friend and she lost him and it took everything in her not to break down because it was her fault. 

Then he came back. But he’s not coming back this time. Not even if she begs the gods, travels down to Hades to bargain for his soul herself. She’s not Orpheus and he’s not Eurydice and they’re not a tragedy or some messed up story that can be solved with a few tricks and pretty words. 

Percy’s dead.  

He said the last words etched into the fabric of her skin. That’s more permanent than death. 

His words ache on the side of her ribs, burning a little. It’s nothing she hasn’t dealt with before, so she just shifts quietly to ease the pain. 

There’s a crash of a wave that’s louder in her ears and somebody sits next to her. She doesn’t turn her head from her view of the sea. Bits of sun peaks through the gray skies and it hits the water, bouncing the light back up to her own gaze. The ocean today is a few shades off from Percy’s eyes. 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Poseidon says, something caught in his throat. Annabeth ignores it and nods in acknowledgement. 

She coughs. “I’m sorry for yours too.”

They stay silent and the waves recede even more, not like when Percy does it. He restrains it so much when he’s emotional, it roars back at him, a perfect representation of his own thoughts. Today though, it’s not suppressed and bubbling and ready to strike out again. It’s just sad.  

“He’s probably waiting in Elysium.” The for you is implied, but she hears it all the same. 

“You knew?” she asks, spreading her legs out in front of her. She risks a glance at Poseidon and, fuck, it hurts so much to see Percy in him. She adds, almost casually if it’s not for her eyes stinging from the tears she’s holding back, “That we’re soulmates. Were soulmates.”

“It’s not a known fact, but we can sense soulmates. Not to the extent that Aphrodite does, but the stronger the bond, the more apparent it is.”

“How long have you known?”

“Oh, early on,” he says, giving her a gentle smile. “Perhaps when you were dancing back in Olympus. The first time, mind you.”

The laugh that leaves her chest is a little wobbly. She wipes her tears away swiftly. “I miss him. So much.”

“I do too.”

“I don’t know how I’m gonna do this without him,” she says, her hands trembling. “He had so many years left, so many left—” with me. “A-and now I have to live without him? Stupid Seaweed Brain. He could’ve at least waited a few more damn years! Demigods don’t live long anyway, I’d probably get killed by some rogue monster.” 

In a fit of childish anger, she throws some sand at the sea. It doesn’t help. She huffs out an exasperated breath and lays down, throwing an arm over her eyes. The sand tickles at her scalp and she can feel a lump of slimy seaweed near her arm. 

Stupid seaweed. 

Her chest shakes with silent sobs and Poseidon taps at her shoulder, giving her time to grieve. And she has time. All the time, without Percy. 

Annabeth sends a prayer to Percy and thinks, I’ll see you later.

It must’ve been the wind, but she can almost hear a voice call back: Take your time. I’m not going anywhere. 

━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━

Annabeth finds Percy in the crowd and jumps into his awaiting arms, ignoring any odd stares that’s sent her way. He lifts her up off her feet and twirls her around before kissing the tip of her nose. He grins widely, his dimple widening and she presses her lips to it. 

“Missed you,” she says into his cheek. 

“Missed you too, baby,” he says, then whispers, “How’s Olympus holding up?”

She rolls her eyes and threads her arm through Percy’s, gripping at his elbow as they start walking down to their apartment. “You’d think after fifteen years, they’d finally stop arguing about statute placements. Anyway, forget that. Who are we meeting today for dinner? Is it Demeter’s kids or Apollo’s?” 

“Neither, it’s Nike’s kids today.”

Percy makes it a tradition to bring some of the kids out one day of the week to Sally’s for a wellness check-up and ask if they need a place to crash while some transition out of camp back into the world. Annabeth thinks it’s sweet that Percy’s such a caring camp counselor. She knows if someone ever did that for her back when she was a year-round camper, she’d cry. As much as she loves it (and she does, enough to share some of Percy’s camp duties when she has some free time during summer), it’s rather isolating. 

While they’re walking, they hear the sound of metal and hissing and they take one look at each other before they run towards the alleyway. 

It’s one of the kids, bruised up and bleeding, but her sword’s still up despite her whole arm shaking. The kid’s eyes catch Percy’s and her body relaxes slightly, but enough for the empousa on the far right to begin striking. 

Percy quickly uncaps riptide and intercepts it. His movements are sure and steady, moving his body in front of the kid’s. Annabeth flicks her wrist and her knife comes down easily in her hand. She circles the next two empousi on the left and manages to kill one by surprise. Annabeth’s lucky she’s wearing a simple tee and jeans instead of her usual outfit whenever she goes up to Olympus. There’s way too many for one kid and her mind whirs with hundreds of possible answers as to why there’s a hoard near Sally’s apartment tonight. Despite her thoughts, she manages to gut another one while Percy’s fighting off two more and the kid another. 

In what seems like a split second, the kid screams and Percy turns around and blocks the attack that would’ve gone through the kid’s heart. But as he does so, his back turns against the other two and Annabeth rushes to fight them off because, dammit, she should’ve had his back. In a panic, she throws her knife and it lodges into one of their heads, leaving her knife clattering on the ground surrounded by dust. But she’s too late. Gods, she’s too late. 

Annabeth picks her knife back up, but the empousa tears a whole through Percy’s side, just as he kills the one targeting the kid. Annabeth yells, feral and wild, and slits the empousa’s throat, the last of their gurgling laugh dying as they turn to dust. 

Percy slumps to the floor and Annabeth rushes to him. She pats at her pockets for her emergency stash of ambrosia, but they’re flat. She turns towards the kid, frantic, and orders, “Run back to Sally’s and grab the ambrosia.”

The kid’s eyes were flickering towards Percy’s stomach. Frightened. Annabeth doesn’t have the guts to admit that she’s frightened too. “Go.”

The kid runs and Annabeth’s attention is back to Percy who’s shivering. They have no water, no ambrosia, and they’re in the middle of a damn alleyway and he’s bleeding out so fast. Shit. 

“Percy,” she says, trembling. “Can you move? We have to move, baby.”

“Can’t,” he grits out. He lets out a forced laugh. “Think my insides are gonna pop out.”

Annabeth’s vision is blurry and she can’t fucking see anything. She shudders in a breath and tries to gently hold Percy together. “Percy, please. Please, this can’t be how it ends. You’re supposed to be with me forever.”

“Sorry,” he says. “Sorry, baby. My—fuck, my forever isn’t that long. Glad I spent it with you.”

“We have to get out of here,” she mutters, leaning down and pressing her forehead to his. Her tears fall on his cheeks. She repeats, “We have to get out of here.”

There’s something unbearably sad in Percy’s gaze. The hand that’s not pressed to his stomach reaches up and tucks her hair back. It falls back down, too weak to hold itself up any longer. “Everything will be alright. It’s okay, Annabeth. Everything will be alright.”

She shakes her head and sobs.

Those are the words tattooed on her ribs. When she reaches up again to say more, Percy’s eyes were glazed and distant, staring up at the gloomy sky. 

━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━

When they find her, she’s still crying, holding her dead soulmate to her chest.

[fulcrum-agent]

012. Promises [FFXIVwrite2021]

She seems to be packing up some things into a small pack, many different articles of light clothing.

The Bozjan enters the bedroom by passing through the curtain threshold. Upon seeing her packing something into a small pack, he'd speak up and ask, "What.. are you doing?"

"The Outlaw's got a contract from Dalmasca," she explains as she looks over her shoulder. "We're going into Golmore to rescue a bunch of Rava the Empire's been using as...living incubation chambers."

He crosses his arms over his chest and cants his head curiously. "Living.. incubation chambers..?"

There's a slight nod as she finishes packing.

"Yeah...for clones of a hypertuned sharpshooter named Novinius," she clarifies for him. "The guy we killed in Velciff. They were apparently manufacturing more of him."

"Hmph... If he is.. someone that you've killed before," he considers aloud, "then making sure that.. he doesn't come back in a sense would be.. a priority."

He's given another slight nod in response.

"He broke an oath made to the Creed, a group that some of the crew trained with," she continues as she ties the satchel closed. "Everyone was relieved when he was killed, but now..."

Frowning, the Bozjan notes as he uncrosses his arms, "Now.. you will all need to just.. prevent him from returning."

"Yeah, and kill of the bastard who's doing all this," she adds as she turns to face him. "Who also was thought to be dead. Guy called the Butcher. Friend of my Father's. That should tell you enough."

This gives her lover pause before he quietly asks, "... You have a sense of.. responsibility to this, don't you? Because of this Butcher's connection to your father."

She nods a little.

"So does Lio. The...woman who came to ask for our help was..." her voice trails off as she shivers a little, "...she was more bits and pieces than a whole. I dunno how they got her back into the shape she's in now, short of a Padjali hiding somewhere in the crew."

"I see," he intones before asking, "Will your brother.. be joining you on this mission?"

"This is a whole crew effort, yeah," she explains to him as she nods. "We're...going so far as to take the Arcadia instead of the Outlaw," she confirms for him. "It's...possibly a suicide mission if any of us fuck up."

She sets the pack down on the ground. "If this Butcher's anything like Father...the place is more well-guarded than most castrums are."

He frowns a lot when she says that this is possibly a suicide mission. "Are you... serious?"

"I am. Novinius could shoot a man down from malms away, perfect headshots," she answers quietly with a nod. "His clones may or may not be capable of the same. Variants could be even more dangerous than the original - just look at Merrick."

The Bozjan takes a few steps closer to her, staring directly into her blue eyes with his almost-luminescent green eyes.

"I did not.. ask about a dead man's clones. I asked you... if you are serious about this mission," he gently corrects before asking more questions. "A suicide mission? And Liocyon is going as well..?"

She reflexively reaches down to grasp both of his hands, nodding a little.

"Yeah, I am. So's Lio," she answers, now that he's clarified the question. "It's dangerous, but as long as everyone plays their part...we'll make it back alive...I think."

In a tone that reveals his disappointment, he asks, "... And you were not.. thinking of asking me.. to join you, were you?"

"I...don't have a choice, Leth. Locke's not against you joining the crew, but this isn't just some slaver run," she quietly explains to him. "We got the request last night, not long after getting back from Coerthas. If there were more time, he might agree to it...but..."

"You have just returned from Coerthas.. after spending a lot of your still-growing aetherpool, and now.. you are being sent on a mission.. that is highly dangerous," he shakes his head, and not realizing that his hands had been grabbed yet. "This is.. ridiculous."

She fidgets a little at that.

"I've gained most of it back, and the rest was made up for with aetherwine," she assures him softly, gently squeezing his hands. "We don't always get the luxury of a full recovery."

Sighing, the man relents a little, "No... No, we are not. Not on a battlefield and not even... at home."

Letting go of one of his hands, she reaches up to touch his cheek as she speaks, "You went off to Zadnor alone and came back. I'm sure I'll be fine in Golmore with an entire crew beside me."

He narrows his gaze and opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out besides air. She's got him there. The Hyur closes his eyes and lowers his head, slightly leaning into the touch of her hand.

"... Promise me that.. you will return." He murmurs.

"I-- at best, I can promise I'll do everything in my power to," she replies to the request, frowning, "but there's no way I can promise I will, not with how many unknown factors there are, on top of the known risks."

"... That is.. a fair point," he admits before falling silent for a long moment.

A very long moment.

"If you do come back to me..." he softly states, almost shyly, "then... then..."

Her head cants as she murmurs, "Then...what?"

The Bozjan raises his head and opens his eyes to look her directly in the eyes as he states, with conviction, "...I will promise...that we will...marry."

His declaration causes her to blink a lot. Then, her mouth falls open, and for a moment, the troubadour is quite speechless. The best she can do, at first, is nod faintly. Then, her mouth closes, and she leans her forehead against his, biting her lower lip to keep her emotions in check.

"...I'll fight like hell to come back to you, Leth. Promise."

He took one step forward before leaning in to press his forehead against hers. When they are met, Byleth closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath.

"That...is what I wanted to hear. And I promise you...as well, Quil," he states with a soft smile.

She enjoys the moment briefly, shifting to embrace him as she sighs softly.

"...that aside...why were you upset yesterday?" she asks quietly.

The Bozjan embraces her also but would hesitantly answer her question.

"...I was...upset yesterday because...you were claiming to be...a Bozjan Blade." He keeps her in his arm, but he pulls back enough to look at her. "The title of Blade is...not so easily or freely given, Quil."

"Blades are...given a badge of...honour to show that...they are indeed Blades. You...are not a Blade. You do not...have a badge. If the knight had...called you on your bluff and...you could not prove yourself, then we...might not have been able to enter the castle," he explains quietly. "Carrying Talekeeper...isn't enough to persuade others that are...not knowing of Bozjan traditions. No one but us...would understand the weight of both Talekeeper and... Crownsblade."

She blinks several times, frowning a little as she gazes at him.

"It was just a bluff, though I've always been willing to help continue Jeralt's legacy," she explains to him. "But...we really didn't have many options, and I could have glamoured something to look like the badge they carry."

"It's quite possible, with how far out Lucine was, that he doesn't have any idea what all a Blade would have," she adds as she reaches up to gently brush some of his hair out of his face. "I'm sorry if doing such upset you, but I couldn't think of another way they'd let a Garlean commanding a squad in."

"T'was...a bluff that did work in our favour in the end, but 'twas also dangerous if they did not...believe us and instead...attacked us," the Hyur sighs as the Garlean brushes some of his hair out of his face. "I know...that you wish to...honour and continue my father's legacy. I would not have...given you Talekeeper if...I thought otherwise."

"I did not...understand why I was...upset at first, but...I later realized that...I may have...developed...hm, developed...Ah, a sense of.. pride. As a... Bozjan, I suppose. The title that I now carry.. like the one that.. my father also carried..." he states, nodding here and there before adding, "I'm sorry, Quil."

"You...were made a Blade? Officially?" she asks as she blinks, confused. "When?"

He nods in confirmation before answering with, "Before the campaign in Zadnor...there were other Blades of Gunnhildr before we...had arrived to meet my father. In my father's passing...in the betrayal of a resistance member, the remaining Blades were tempered and transformed...into monsters. Or so...I have read in reports. The ranks of the Blades of Gunnhildr...were incredibly low to empty. New Blades...like myself, had to be...recruited during the...Zadnor campaign."

She just stares at him for a long moment.

"Do...they have any idea that I have Talekeeper?" she asks, rather plainly as she starts to get fidgety again. "Are they going to be okay with that?"

"They...do not know that you are in possession of Talekeeper. Talekeeper and Crownsblade were...entrusted to me after...Bozja was liberated, and...I do not know how they will react...to you having it. But...that is not for them to decide," he says with a shake of his head.

Again, she goes quiet and stares at the Bozjan for a long moment.

"...but it's a Blade's weapon...I'd think they'd have some say over it?" she asks, concerned. "I mean, if they get upset, I'm okay with giving it back. If they don't and still need help, I'm willing to do that too. I just don't want you to have this stripped from you over me."

"...Aquila, you...do make some fine points. I find it hard...to protest against what...you are saying, but...It is okay...that you keep using Talekeeper," he insists to her. "If we ever return to Bozja...and meet with the Blades, then we can discuss it with them...about this."

"When I get back from Dalmasca," she suggests to him, smiling softly. "So that no one loses their shit when I'm carrying Talekeeper down the aisle instead of flowers."

He blinks once at that last bit before canting his head slightly. "You'd carry Talekeeper.. because of Jeralt?"

In response, she nods a little. "It's not like my Father's gonna be walking me down the aisle, so Lio and your father should."

"Hmph...Not that we...would allow him to be there.. in the first place," he comments before smiling softly down at her.

There's a nod of agreement to that.

"Yeah. I doubt he'd show up anyways, even if he was invited," she agrees before deprecating, "I am the 'disappointment' after all."

He frowns for a brief moment when she self-deprecates. Then, he would raise one of his hands up to cup the side of her face, and he tells her, "That...is what he may call you... But it is not.. what I see you as. You.. are more valuable and.. precious than you could ever know, Quil."

"I know, Leth," she murmurs in reply, smiling just a little. "Just...in case...always remember that I love you..."

And with that, she gives the Bozjan the most passionate kiss she's ever given him.

"And I love you-" he started to say before he's rudely interrupted with the most passionate kiss he's received yet from the Garlean. A kiss so from out of left-field that it leaves him stunned afterwards.

She lingers in the kiss for a very long time, though there's not much time left before she needs to go - not enough to do more than kiss him. So when she finally withdraws, it's slowly and with hesitance.

He is hesitant to let go of her as well, though he has faith, trust, and her promise that she will return to him...he cannot help but feel, huh.

She's now making him feel again, as she constantly has since introducing him to the concept. Finally, after they both withdraw from the kiss, he says the signature phrase of the Bozjan Blades he's been citing lately.

"For the Queen... Return."

"For the Queen," she echoes, having cited the phrase frequently since receiving Talekeeper, "I shall."

[desiringparadise]

Hi, I know this gonna sound weird but I'm here thanks to A03, I read "It's A Terrible Love And I'm Walking With Spiders" again (idk why), Let me tell you something: It's fantastic. But I realized that you haven't update for four or five years, well I'm not gonna ask you to do it, that's in you, but I'd like to ask something, could you tell me what was the plan with tha fic, and how will it end, just a summary because I'm dying in my curiosity, well only few words left, so thanks and be careful

Omgggg thank you!!! It isn’t weird at all, I sometimes re-read old unfinished fics too because they stuck with me for some odd reason. I was at a bad mental space when I wrote this story and I feel like my issues manifested in the atmosphere of the story. Maybe readers can relate to some of it?

As to how the story was supposed to end. I didn’t remember and I actually had to look through my old notebook lol. I actually found the unfinished fifth chapter in my folders, so I’ll post it here.

Keep in mind that I wrote this in November 2016 and I never finished editing it. I didn’t post it because I was unsatisfied with the result. I’d rate it T/M.

Chapter 5

Miserable, Stiles focused on the silhouette of naked feet, his eyes never straying any higher. Luckily, the shower glass was milky, so even if he couldn’t have resisted satisfying his own curiosity, he wouldn’t actually have seen much.

After the Sheriff had left, Theo had asked to take a shower. Stiles had let him under the condition that the door would remain open and Theo under Stiles’ scrutiny. Under no circumstances would he have let the other boy roam around in his house without checking what he was up to. There were meds in the cupboard, something he wouldn’t risk leaving him alone with.

Unsurprisingly, Theo hadn’t objected. “Be my guest,” he’d said instead, an extra smarmy grin on his face.

That’s why Stiles was sitting against the wall, knees drawn to his chest while trying not to fall asleep. The sound of water spraying had become lulling white noise, making it hard to keep his eyes open. Maybe he should take some Adderall to shake off the drowsiness. It wasn’t like he would get any sleep tonight anyway. Not while knowing that Theo Raeken was under the same roof as him.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the spray of water stopped, the shower door opened, and Theo stepped out without an ounce of hesitation. You’d think he’d at least pretend to be a little embarrassed about showing his naked body.

Not that Theo should be ashamed, Stiles realized. He had known before that the other boy was built, but the naked view of him - well, he couldn’t lie, it was a sight to behold. Perfect, unreal. The shoulders, the arms, the chest – everything about him was broad without being too bulky. His flawless skin only added to the look of a retouched Men’s Health cover shoot. Stiles felt entranced to follow his abs, down to the wonderfully defined V of his hips, before stopping himself. Yeah, he had just seen Theo’s dick, it had been kinda inevitable, but there was no reason to scrutinize it any further. None.

Quickly, he moved his gaze up to look at Theo’s face instead, the usual smirk somehow looking even more smarmy than usual.

“Like what you see?”

The question was so cliché, just like this whole goddamn scenario, that Stiles felt the desperate need to break the spell.

“I prefer chest hair.”

For the first time since Theo had arrived in Beacon Hills, he was dumbfounded. It left Stiles feeling satisfied, before his face froze, his heartbeat quickening. Did he just seriously tell Theo that he was interested in men? He resisted the urge to smack his palm against his face.

Theo did the unexpected and actually came up with an answer.

“I could let it grow, if you wanted me to.”

Stiles squinted. “What the hell would you do that for?”

Theo shrugged his broad shoulder, still unperturbed by his own nudity. “Just trying to win you over, that’s all.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, finally rising up and to look at Theo’s face and ignore everything that was going on below. “Well, your lack of chest hair wasn’t the deciding factor that kept me on the other side. Why don’t you put on a towel?”

“Don’t have one,” Theo answered with an innocent smile.

Stiles sighed and motioned for the other boy to follow as he walked to his room. When he opened the door, he felt uncomfortable letting a naked Theo into his personal space. Hurriedly, he drew the curtains and searched for a large towel in the cupboard. When he found one, he threw it over to Theo without sparing him another look.

“Can you borrow me some clothes?”

Stiles was inclined to say no, let Theo sleep in his uncomfortable jeans instead. There was something strange about giving Theo his clothes to wear. But he wasn’t sure when his father would return from the station. When the man arrived, he would go through the living room and see Theo who’d be sleeping on the coach.

He sighed and searched his closet for something that’d fit. Theo wasn’t taller, but much broader than him. (Un)fortunately, Stiles usually wore clothes that were a few sizes too big anyway. He found some sweats. He was painfully reminded that Theo wouldn’t be wearing underwear underneath. No way he’d be wearing those pants before washing them at least five times.

“Long or short sleeves?”

“Don’t need a shirt.”

Stiles frowned, pulling his too long sleeves even further down. “It’s freezing.”

Theo grinned. “I’m running hot. Want to see it for yourself?”

Stiles rolled his eyes and walked past him. “Whatever, I’ll be fixing you the coach.”

Theo followed him in an easy stride. He didn’t even seem a little uncomfortable to casually stroll through a stranger’s home without a shirt on. Completely relaxed, he sunk into the coach and watched Stiles as he spread clean sheets over the sofa.

“Do your parents know you’re staying over?” Stiles couldn’t even remember the Raekens’ faces anymore.

“Sent them a text.”

Stiles nodded, too tired to investigate any further.

.

Except he was unable to fall asleep. For about roughly an hour he had been tossing and turning, his anxiety back at it again although he had forewent his Adderall. Then, for a couple of minutes, he stayed still, not moving a muscle while waiting to hear any sounds come from downstairs.

But there was only silence.

About half an hour ago, his eyes started tearing up from exhaustion. It was annoying. He wasn’t really crying, but the stream of tears didn’t stop. Now his eyes were swollen and aching.

He was unable to come to rest. He took a deep breath. Maybe if he’d open the door and take a proper listen, he’d finally relax. Feeling ridiculous, left the warmth of his bed and softly padded towards his door. But he was only met with frustratingly familiar silence.

He sighed and returned to bed when- Wait, was that a sound? He froze and listened, eyes wide open as if waiting for an assault. Looking down, he noticed that he had stepped on a creaking floor board. The noise could have come from him. But what if it hadn’t?

He shook his head. He was being paranoid, utterly ridiculous… Yet, what if there had been something? He took a deep breath and held it, wanting his heart beat to slow. Okay, he’d go outside again, just this once, and take a look around house, and most importantly, check whether Theo was doing something sketchy.

He left his room, slowly descending the stairs. From here, Theo’s form was still, he seemed to be sleeping. Just to be sure, he told himself as he gradually closed the distance between them. He stopped just before the sofa and leaned down to inspect his face. His eyes were closed and his breathing was calm. Everything about him indicated to be asleep.

But the ugly voice of his paranoia ordered him to look more closely, check whether Theo wasn’t faking it.

Suddenly Theo’s eyes were wide open, an unnatural light shining in them. Stiles startled. He stumbled backwards, his feet hit agianst the coffee table, and he fell on his ass.

“Stiles?” Theo blinked, the strange light in his eyes gone. Had he imagined it? He must have, there was no other explanation for it. He was going crazy. “Why are you up? Did something happen?” His voice was groggy from asleep, but otherwise he seemed alert.

Stiles felt ridiculous. His thought process hadn’t made any sense to begin with, spoken out loud, they’d sound like he’d lost his mind. This paranoia, it wasn’t normal. He liked to tell himself that it was the Adderall, the ADHD, but when he was honest with himself, he knew it was him. He was fucking crazy. No wonder he didn’t have any friends, no wonder Erica had ditched him the first chance she got. He wouldn’t be his own friend either. There was nothing to gain from this cynical, insecure, anxious mess that he was.

His uneven breath catch in his throat, the last drop for his straying nerves. His mind collapsed in itself and he pathetically started to cry.

If Theo hadn’t been awake then, he probably was now. He stumbled out of the sheets and approached Stiles, putting both hands on his shoulders. His eyes were wide with concern. “Hey- hey, Stiles, come on. What happened? Did you hurt yourself?”

Stiles shook his head, his chest heaving with sobs. He was such a goddamn mess. The more he wanted to force himself to calm down, the more he worked himself up. The rational part of his mind told him that this wouldn’t pass until he calmed down. But he was too upset and Theo’s presence made everything worse. He wanted to crawl into a hole and wait till the panic was over.

But he knew that wasn’t possible. “I can’t sleep,” he managed to ground out between the ugly sniffing and sobbing.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Stiles snorted, as if Theo’s suggestion had been completely ridiculous. Actually, it wasn’t that far off the truth though. He had nightmares, more often so recently. To some of them he woke up silently, heavily breathing, the panic constrained in his chest, but without a sound. Sometimes he screamed. But only his father knew that.

“No. I just – I can’t sleep with you here, not knowing what you’re doing.”

He expected Theo to be confused, demand an explanation, maybe even laugh. Instead he said, “I could go.”

“What?” He shook his head. “No.” How would he explain that to his father? He wouldn’t be able to stand another discussion with him about seeing a professional about his problems. Yes, he had problems, he knew that – but none some shrink could help him with. The only thing he had going for him was that he wasn’t labeled crazy by the public yet. “You’re staying,” he said with finality.

For a while, there was silence. Theo must be put off by Stiles acting like a freaking lunatic. Any normal person would’ve left by now. Hell, he would’ve ran out the house if the roles were reversed. Instead Theo asked, “Do you have any handcuffs?”

For a few seconds, Stiles didn’t say a word. But when he had finally gathered himself- “What the fuck?”

“Real ones,” the other boy recuperated nonchalantly.

“Why in the hell would you-“

“Because, obviously, I’m kinky, if you haven’t guessed it by now,” Theo answered rolling his eyes. Stiles wasn’t sure whether that had been a joke. “”You wanna sleep or what? Go get me some handcuffs.”

Normally, he wouldn’t have obeyed simply on principle, but he was curious where this would go. And as he rummaged through the drawer, where he knew his father kept a spare pair of handcuffs, he realized that the suffocating panic in his chest was gone.

“Now I’ll go outside and you hide the keys somewhere,” Theo ordered. Stiles wanted to question him, but before he could, Theo had already left the house, still shirtless in the cold night. Not knowing what else to do, Stiles went up to his room and hid the little key in his pill bottle.

When he opened the door for Theo to enter, he didn’t seem affected by the freezing weather. There weren’t even any goosebumps on his skin.

“All done?” Theo asked, the blue-green eyes open and honest. Stiles nodded.

Unceremoniously, Theo cuffed his own wrists together.

Stiles stared. “Okay… What is this about?”

The boy shook his wrist, the metal of the cuffs making clinking sounds. “See? I won’t be able to do much without you hearing. No need to worry about what I’m doing. So are we taking the bed or the couch?”

Stiles should be horrified, but frankly, the plan made sense. It could actually work. And really? It was some crazy shit that he would’ve come up with. The sort of solution that people would raise their brows at but that would actually work. “How do I know you won’t do anything to me while I sleep?”

Theo rolled his eyes. “Stiles, no offense, but if I wanted to harm you, I wouldn’t have to wait until you’re asleep. You’re not exactly what I’d call a physical challenge.”

Fair enough...

“There is no way we’d fit on the couch.”

.

Stiles had ordered Theo to lay on the side of the bed that faced the wall so that there would be no chance of leaving the bed without alerting Stiles. Theo was happy to lie on his side and watch the other boy’s peaceful face. For once, his breathing was even, but he was still twitching and moving in his sleep, restless, even in his most relaxed moments.

When they had first lain down, Theo had feigned sleep. He knew that Stiles wouldn’t have been able to calm down if Theo had openly watched him. Now though, he stare at him to his heart’s content. He’d watched Stiles without his knowledge before. There were some perfect angles from the outside from which you could see Stiles rummaging in the kitchen. Sometimes he forgot to draw the curtains and Theo could catch glimpses of his sleeping form.

But in never had been like this. Stiles, only an arm’s length away, the ever-present scent of anxiousness enveloping him.

He mumbled something in his sleep, tossed and turned and eventually scooted closer to Theo. It probably was due to Stiles’ weird sleeping positions and the unconscious urge to scoot towards warmth, but nonetheless, Thep was elated when the boy’s head almost touched his chest. He could feel his breath on his naked skin.

Theo wondered whether he could get away with stroking his hair, just running his fingers through the dark hair for once, but he refrained. He still was desperately trying to get Stiles to trust him.

At first glance, Stiles seemed like easy prey. He was isolated and defenseless. He should’ve soaked up all of Theo’s affections and begged for more. But Theo had underestimated him vastly. Stiles wasn’t playing hard to get, he simply was too smart to fall for something as simple as charm.

It only made Theo want him even more. Stiles would be the perfect person to stand by his side. Clever, loyal, and absolutely ruthless.

But he had to get Stiles to trust him first. The boy couldn’t see it yet, but once all circumstances molded to Theo’s wishes, Stiles would find himself in a much happier place. Theo just had to give him a nudge into the right direction and make him realize how much of a glorious team they could be under Theo’s rule.

His father was the only important person in Stile’s life. Eventually, Theo would insert himself as a part of his life. Stiles was his centre already, now he had to make himself Stiles’ centre.

.

This is were this document ended. I think I planned to end this chapter at this point. I hadn’t planned the future chapters in every detail, but here’s how I planned for the story to roughly go:

Stiles and Theo were supposed to get closer, Theo eventually gaining Stiles’ trust and helping him over his issues with anxiety. They’d slowly become friends, but their relationship would always have a sexual undertone because it’d always been clear that Theo wanted to be more than friends. The sexual tension would escalate and they’d hook up and become an official item.

They would share a toxic dynamic. While Theo is devoted to Stiles, he’s also extremely controlling and possessive. He would watch Stiles, trying to keep constant tabs on what he was doing, going through his phone, getting pissed when Stiles was acting friendly with anyone. They would have big fights over this in which Theo would tell Stiles that he cares too much for him to just let him be.

While Stiles would know that this is an extremely unhealthy relationship that can’t end well, some part of him (the part that had been ignored by the people around him for all his life and was starving for a semblance of affection) loved that he was this important to Theo. And while his relationship was anything but normal, he liked that he got to experience something as normal as having a boyfriend, something he’d never envisioned before.

So they’d have fights, Theo would apologize with some grand gesture, and Stiles wouldn’t be able to stay mad (because some part of him wasn’t actually mad at all). This pattern would repeat itself.

Meanwhile, Scott and his friends would try to make Stiles see reason. By now, they would’ve noticed Theo’s and Stiles’ dynamic because of how explosive Theo can get in public once his jealousy is triggered. Stiles, however, can’t stand Scott and his friends to begin with. He thinks that nobody but his father and Theo, in his own twisted way, cares about him and that they’re only trying to provoke Theo through Stiles.

I don’t think the whole Dread-Doctors thing had been all the way revealed when I was plotting this, so they wouldn’t have been included in this story. But eventually, some danger would befall Beacon Hills again. Amidst everything, everyone’s supernatural identity would be revealed to Stiles. He’d feel vindicated to have his suspicions finally confirmed. He and Theo would work together on overcoming whatever enemy they’d be facing off against. 

At some point during all of this, Theo’s behaviour would escalate and would cause something disastrous to happen. Someone would be killed. Stiles can finally no longer ignore Theo’s issues as he fights his desire to stay with Theo against his morals. He’d tell Theo that they needed a break.

Theo would beg him not to break it off, promise to change, and confess his love. Though Stiles would know that Theo wouldn’t really change because of the numerous times he’s promised before, he’d be too moved by Theo’s confession to resist. Eventually, he’d decide be selfish and put his own wants before the needs of others. He’d decide that he’d rather have his toxic, obsessive, passionate relationship with Theo, than to return to the bleak void that he was in before Theo entered his life.

Eventually, they’d graduate and move away to live in some big city like L.A. or NYC. 

The End.

[wedreamerz]

I've had this AU Spiderfrost in my head so long I thought I'd throw the prologue out here... as a teaser...maybe the first chapter... and see if anyone wants me to continue... No underage stuff. But eventual relationship/explicit.

Post IW - After Loki saves Tony's life they become best friends. Before Tony leaves to save the world he asks Loki to keep an eye out for Peter if anything happens to him.

In the aftermath of Tony's death, Loki becomes Peter's unseen guardian, friend and eventual lover. Soonafter, a gift they receive the Ancient One makes Loki believe there's more to the relationship than Tony's machinations.

Thinking of calling it As The World Falls Down.

"It's the boy. Peter. You do this for him."

~~~~♡

"It's the boy. Peter. You do this for him."

Tony considered Loki’s question as he swirled the whiskey in his glass, questioning his motivation for the millionth time.

"And the friends we lost," Tony shrugged.  "But yeah. Peter was…" Tony sighed and smiled to himself.  "Peter was an amazing human being, Lokes. So fucking smart. He had so much potential. And it just blew away in the wind. I feel responsible for that."  

Tony closed his eyes to the sting of tears, breathed deep and let the song of the insects and nightbirds calm him.  It was so dark down by the lake. Nothing like the bright lights of New York City. But he'd found contentment here, happiness in the wake of such devastating loss.

Out of the ashes, he and Pepper had managed to build something so perfect.  Nothing he had ever created would live up to the perfect little life they were raising.  Morgan was brilliant and beautiful, everything he never thought he'd have. Everything he didn't deserve.  When his friends had come to him for help, he'd turned them away, sent them packing. How could he risk everything he'd found in the little slice of Heaven they'd carved out for themselves? 

But Peter's face, his smile, and the memories they'd conjured.  They had inspired him. Could he really raise his daughter in a world in which Peter Parker wasn't there to help with her homework or teach her about Star Wars?  And then he’d seen the photo of him and Peter holding that Stark Industries certificate, held upside down. They’d had such a good time at that photoshoot, done for the sole excuse of having an official picture for May.  Tony couldn’t remember who had flipped the certificate. But that had been the key to key to everything.

Tony looked at Loki over the rim of his glass.  Loki sat with his back to the house and the porchlight shone around his head like a halo.  He sipped his own drink, a wine that he’d found in town and prefered to Tony’s whiskey. Loki - his once upon a time enemy, turned saviour, turned friend.  Tony wouldn't be alive if Loki hadn't saved them from that ship. Now he needed help again and there wasn't anyone on the planet he trusted more to do this job.

"Ask it," Loki said softly, crossing his long legs at the ankles, one eyebrow raised in query.  "Ask me anything, Tony Stark."

Tony heaved a breath.  I need you here while I'm gone," he said, finally.  “I have no idea what sort of Pandora's box we'll open with time travel. I need you here with them in case a fight comes to this door."

Loki pressed his lips together and nodded.  "You know I will protect them with my life. But there's more. I can feel it."

Tony smiled and took a sip of his drink.  “You know me too well,” he said. “Alright, look, if this goes sideways, if I...if I don't come back...I need you to watch out for Peter. I need you to make sure he's okay.  Sometimes...sometimes he'll need you to kick him in the ass and remind him he's not responsible for all the evil in the world...that he can't save everyone. But…" Tony took a shuddering breath, eyes hot with unshed tears.  "Mainly just...be there. Pepper's gonna have her hands full with Morgan and Peter...he's gonna want answers. He’s gonna need someone to tell him that whatever happened...wasn’t his fault. Because that’s exactly what he’s gonna think. And he's gonna need someone to help him out with the super hero gig."

Loki didn't argue or try to tell Tony he was being silly - of course he would make it. Loki merely smiled and took Tony's hand.  

"It will be my privilege to know him," Loki said.

And that was why they’d become so close.  Because Loki was a realist. He saw things like they were and not how he wanted them to be.  Would he fight against it? Of course. But for being the God of Mischief, the God of Lies - Loki did not blow smoke.  He called Tony on his bullshit and if things were going to shit he didn’t waste time telling you everything was fine. He just found a way to help in the most unexpected, sometimes illegal and morally sketchy ways.     

Tony nodded, relieved.  The knot of anxiety in his gut unraveled just the slightest bit.  He sighed and stared across the lake, Loki's comforting presence beside him.

"Do TRY not to die though," Loki said dryly before taking a sip of his drink.

Tony chuckled.  "You know better than anyone how the best laid plans can get away from you."

"Daddy?"

Tony wiped his face and turned to find Morgan, feet bare and in her nightgown.  Pepper stood behind her, with that guarded smile. That smile Tony remembered from before.  She knew that Tony planned to leave in the morning and she was afraid.

"Morgan wanted to say goodnight to Uncle Lolo," Pepper said, holding Tony’s gaze.

Morgan climbed into Tony's lap and hugged him.  "Mom said if I go to bed now you'll make pancakes tomorrow for breakfast."

"Did she now? Well then I guess you better run off before that offer expires," Tony said.

Morgan's eyes widened.  She tried to hop down but Tony held her till she giggled, "Daddy! My pancakes are expiring!"

"Sorry, baby girl, my arms seem to be broken. You're gonna have to push a little harder," Tony teased until finally she wiggled free.

"I still gotta hug Uncle Lolo," she said to Pepper with her hand on her hip, pointer finger up.  “Daddy took up all my time."

Pepper pressed a smile between her lips and nodded.  "Make it quick."

Morgan flung herself into Loki's arms and squeezed him hard.

He groaned with feigned exertion, "Norns, child. You grow stronger daily. It will not be long before you can best even the mighty Thor in battle."

Morgan grinned and made a muscle which Loki felt at her insistence.

"Truly impressive," he said and then bent to whisper in her ear.  "Have you been drinking the magical elixir I hide for you in the back of the refrigerator?" 

Morgan nodded, eyeing Tony and Pepper, who pretended they couldn't hear them. Loki's magic elixir was a smoothie he blended for her that tasted amazing but was full of the vegetables she refused to eat at meals.

"Can't you tell? My muscles are bigger."

"Indeed. Continue as I said. One serving after every meal."

They nodded together, conspiring a few more moments before she hugged him again.

"Night, Lolo."

"Goodnight, Lady Morgan." 

Morgan turned back to Tony but stopped, that pointer finger out again, this time aimed at Tony.  "Are your arms okay?"

Tony moved his arms around.  "Yep. They're working just fine, baby girl. One more hug and off to bed. I'll be in in a minute for story time."

Morgan hugged him quick as though she were afraid his arms might break again and then ran back to Pepper.  He watched them walk up the path to the house, hand in hand. As they disappeared through the front door, he sighed.

“This is my only shot to make this right, Lo. Not just for Peter, but for everyone.”

“Just as we planned, my friend,” Loki said said softly.  “I will not leave Morgan's side. And if something should happen to you, I swear that I will be here for your family - including Peter. Let the past and the future take care of themselves for now, Tony. Spend some time in the present.”

Tony smiled and got to his feet.  “I think I’ll do that,” he said and then bent down to hug Loki.  Loki hugged him back, just a little too long and a little too tight.  But Tony pretended not to notice. Because although Loki didn’t blow smoke, Tony knew a goodbye hug when he felt it.  

[destiel-love-forever]

Hello! I saw your post about wanting prompts.... As a cheerleader in the midst of my competition season, I've recently been itching for some kind of cheerleading au, but it's kind of hard to find. I love your work and if you find time to write something like this, I'd def give it a read!

Thank you Anon!! Here it is (: 

Dean Winchester is the Angel's star quarterback. It's his senior year and he should be focused on one thing: getting a college scholarship. That's what his dad - and coach - has been telling him. Then a distraction in the form of a new cheerleader with bright blue eyes and a gorgeous body comes along and things change. Will Castiel ruin Dean's chances at a future, or will he turn out to be his lucky charm?

AO3 link:

Lucky Charm

The warm sun falls on Dean’s exposed back as he leans over his extended legs in the grass, stretching them out. He holds the position longer than necessary because of how good the lingering summer heat feels on his skin. Any day now, autumn will sweep its way into the small town and even though it’s his favorite time of year because of football, he’ll still miss the hot days out on the lake and the warm nights around bonfires with friends.

Nothing compares to football season, though. The freedom he feels out on that field. How everything melts away. And the cheerleaders. Oh boy, does he love the cheerleaders.

“Winchester,” his best friend Benny grunts, flopping down onto the field with him and beginning his stretches.

“Lafitte,” Dean says back in acknowledgment, looking over at him and grinning when he sees his best friend’s bare chest and neck is covered in scratches and hickies. “Better put a shirt on or coach will be pissed.”

Benny rolls his eyes. Dean’s dad is the coach and he’s a total hardass, but he has a soft spot for Benny. John Winchester gets a kick out of Benny, the young boy from wealthy parents, destined for greatness, no cares in the world. Sure, he gets pissed when the boy drops passes or shows up to practice hungover or late, but it’s always a few extra sprints and he’s letting it go.

Unfortunately, Dean doesn’t have the same privilege. John Winchester puts the weight of the world on Dean’s shoulders, the young boy with a widowed father, no money to send him to college, not intelligent enough for good grades, so many cares in the world he could suffocate on them. Dean’s father planned his future before the boy could even throw a football. The rage that comes out when Dean fucks with the plans is violent and terrifying.

“Where the fuck is Ash?” Benny asks, referring to their other best friend. The three of them are captains this year and John wanted them to come do drills and review plays before the first practice of the night tonight, when the entire town is welcome to come watch the season officially begin at midnight.

Dean pulls himself out of his anxious thought tornado and shrugs. “Probably getting laid. Or napping.”

“Fuck both of ya. I’m right here.” Ash throws his bag down and sits beside it, not bothering to stretch yet. Instead, he lays on his back with his four limbs spread out, soaking up the sun. “Can you guys believe school starts in a week? Senior year. I can’t wait.”

“We’re going to be kings of the school,” Benny adds.

Dean just looks over at the two of them, snorting. “We already were. But, yeah, it’ll be fun.”

Benny rolls his eyes and looks at Ash. “Someone’s being grumpy today.”

“This should cheer ya up,” Ash says with a smile in his voice. Dean looks in the direction he’s pointing and straightens his back, puffing out his chest without meaning to. It’s only a group of five cheerleaders but all five are scantily dressed and gorgeous. Especially the one with black hair and bright blue eyes, his strong legs sticking out from short-shorts in the blue color of their school. His belly button shows beneath his t-shirt he’s made into a cut off, the hem stopping where he cut through the team’s logo.

Fucking gorgeous.

“Who is that?” Dean half asks, half demands. Both of his friends just shrug, neither having any information on the new guy.

The group comes closer, since they’re sitting right next to the table set up with the water jug and the stereo. Jo, the squad’s captain, goes to the stereo and plugs her phone in like she’s going to play music. Benny, her nearly permanent on again/off again boyfriend, hops up and waves his hand in the air. “Woah, woah. No. We’re using that today during warmups.”

“Well, you can have it then, Benjamin,” she spits over her shoulder. Dean wasn’t aware they were off again, but it’s looking like that’s the case. “We have the field for the next forty minutes. We’re practicing our routine for Midnight Madness.”

“Right. Midnight Madness.” Benny walks toward her with a goofy smile as he talks about the kick off practice they have tonight. “I could drive you to that. Pick you up. Drop you off after.”

“Oh, you think so?”

They continue going back and forth, Benny’s flirting softening her up. Dean stops listening though. He can’t concentrate when blue eyes starts stretching. The boy brings an arm behind his head, grabbing his elbow and pulling, his gaze falling somewhere off in the distance. His shirt rides up and with Dean sitting on the ground he can see his rosy nipples. He licks his lips.

Something hard hits him in the side and he jumps, grunting before yelling, “What the fuck?”

Ash has a knowing smile as he wiggles his eyebrows at him. “Careful there. You’re popping a hard on.”

Blushing, Dean grumbles something generic about Ash’s mom giving him a hard on as he hurries to adjust himself. His friend laughs at him and he’s seriously considering punching him until he glances up to see blue eyes looking straight at him.

Act cool, Dean. Act cool. You’re the star quarterback of a team who won the State Championship last year. You can handle a cute boy. Act. Fucking. Cool.

“Hey,” he says with a - if he does say so himself - very casual head nod.

The boy’s cheeks turn pink and he looks at the ground. “Hey.”

High on the fact that he made him blush, Dean pushes further. “What’s your name?”

“Oh. Um.” The boy fidgets, looking at him with wide eyes. “Castiel. Cas. Castiel.” He laughs nervously. “Either works.”

“Alright, Cas. I’m Dean.”

“Hi, Dean.”

Dean gives Castiel the smile everyone tells him is charming. “You must be new? I’d remember a face like yours.”

He hears Ash whistle and say under his breath, “Smoothe.”

Ignoring his idiot friend, he waits for Castiel to respond. It takes the boy a minute. He rocks on his heels and looks at the grass instead of Dean before nodding and saying, “Yeah. New.”

“Where ya from?”

“New York.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah. Cool.”

Dean tilts his head, having decided this is definitely his conquest for the school year. There’s an irresistible pull to the boy and they’ve known each other for five minutes. Hell, he’s not even thinking about just hooking up with him. He’d bring this boy out on a date. Dean Winchester’s first ever date.

“So, you’re a senior?” The boy nods. Dean smiles. “Nice. Me too. And you’re a cheerleader. That’s exciting.”

Castiel blushes. “Yeah. Uh, are you a football player?”

Dean laughs softly. Understatement of the year. “Yeah. Quarterback.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah. So, I guess we’ll be seein’ each other often.”

The boy bites his lip and looks over at his new friends. They’re all staring at him in wonder, probably because they’ve gone to this school long enough to know Dean’s reputation. Castiel looks back at Dean with a nervous smile. “Great.”

“Great.”

“Yes. Great,” Ash says with a dramatic eye roll. “How about we put an end to the most boring conversation I’ve ever had to endure?”

“How about the football idiots stop talking to the cheerleaders?” Jo snaps, grabbing Castiel’s hand and tugging him. She tells a girl sitting in jean shorts and a shirt, presumably a friend not on the team, to start the music when she gives the signal. Then the group all heads out onto the field.

Free to look without any risk of getting caught, Dean tilts his head to the side and appreciates the view of Castiel’s ass bouncing slightly as he hurries with the others. “Fucking hell,” he whispers in amazement.

“Oh, boy,” Ash laughs. “You’re fucked.”

---------

Castiel’s thankful that the only obligation he has for Midnight Madness is the team’s dance routine. The rest of the time he can sit with his new friends and zone out on the hot as fuck quarterback that’s prancing around in a shirt with the sleeves cut off, the slits going to the bottom of his ribcage to reveal the tanned skin beneath the fabric. His black shorts hang loose on his hips and skim the tops of his knees. He’s the opposite of Castiel. Huge muscles, flirty smile, high confidence, extremely attractive, and popular. At his old school, Castiel wouldn’t have even been on the cheer squad. He was far too shy and geeky. But he promised himself at this new school he’d reinvent himself. So here he is. And now the quarterback was flirting with him. Surely only for fun, not because he’s actually interested, but it still has Castiel flustered.

“Popcorn?” his new friend Chuck offers, pointing the bucket in his direction.

With a thankful smile, Castiel takes a few kernels and pops them in his mouth. He’s not sure how he got so lucky. Chuck’s his neighbor so when he moved in earlier this month he had an almost instant friend. It was him who convinced Castiel to go out for the cheer squad. He had great logic. It was something Castiel actually thought he’d enjoy, and their school was the perfect place for a guy to be on a cheer team, because the popular kids at the school didn’t put up with any jokes about being a fag or whatever. At the time, Chuck had said it was because the most popular guy at the school is openly gay. Now he’s burning to ask if Chuck meant Dean.

The coach blows the whistle and all the boys hurry over to the sidelines for water. Castiel watches as Dean takes off his helmet and squirts his water bottle over his head before tilting his chin back to squirt some in his mouth. Once he swallows, he shakes his head, wet hair going wild. One of his friends - the one Jo claims she hates but Castiel thinks she loves - says something, and Dean laughs. Hard. It carries through the air and Castiel shivers at the sound.

“Damn, that boy is hot,” Chuck mutters, looking in the exact same spot as Castiel.

Castiel’s stomach drops. The way Chuck said that was wistful, a tone Castiel’s used himself multiple times. The sound of a gay man appreciating a straight one. Since there’s no harm in agreeing with Chuck, though, Castiel sighs wistfully himself. “Yeah. He is.”

“Great kisser too. God, his mouth, man. I’m tellin’ ya - you haven’t been kissed until you’ve been kissed by Dean Winchester.”

Nearly choking on his second bite of popcorn, Castiel coughs and asks in a squeaky voice, “You’ve kissed him?”

“Well, jeez. Don’t act so shocked. I’m an attractive guy.”

“No. I mean, yes. You are.” Castiel doesn’t bother being embarrassed by admitting that. Within days of knowing each other, Castiel knew nothing was going to happen between them. Ever. They’re just great friends. “Dean’s gay?”

“Yeah. Well, he’s bi, actually. But yeah.”

Castiel turns his gaze to the field, stunned by the revelation. The swirl of possibility makes him ten times more nervous about Dean Winchester. It was one thing getting flustered by a straight boy being flirty but an entirely different thing if Dean is someone he could realistically be with. That makes the fear of rejection so much worse.

“Did you guys date?” he asks quietly, eyes tracking Dean as he backs up with the ball in his hand, then throws it across the field in a high arc. The ball goes toward some other boy but Castiel keeps his eyes on Dean.

“No. We were just fuck buddies for a while.”

“Why did you stop?”

“I wanted to be exclusive, to maybe try and date. Dean Winchester doesn’t do that.”

“Why?”

Chuck shrugs. “He claims he doesn’t believe in love but he’s a great guy and I don’t believe that for a second. Once you know him, you’ll see what I mean. He loves everything. One of those people that’s just completely full of life, you know? Always smiling.”

Castiel nods, still watching Dean. He can definitely see that, yes, but he has a feeling there’s much more to the story. Dean stands in front of his coach now. His helmet is on so Castiel can’t see his face, but his hands are in a constant state of clenching and unclenching by his sides. He notices that when the coach begins to yell, Dean takes the slightest step back, a shiver running through him.

“Why do you think he doesn’t date, then?” Castiel asks, wondering out loud.

“Everyone thinks it’s because of his dad. Relationships are a distraction.”

“Distraction from what?”

Chuck gestures to Dean and the coach. “Football.”

“God forbid,” Castiel mutters, rolling his eyes.

“Really god forbid, though. Dean’s getting scouted by Division 1 schools. People think he could one day make it to the NFL. A long shot, but a possibility. He’s good. Wait until you see him play.”

The coach advances on Dean and grabs the front of his jersey, yanking him forward and screaming into his face. Castiel leans forward, alarmed. “Oh my god. He can’t do that, can he?”

“Who? What?” Chuck looks in the same direction as Castiel and cringes, his frown deep. “Oh. Actually, he can.”

“Dean’s parents don’t get upset?”

The look Chuck gives him is incredibly sad. “Cas, that is his parents. His mom’s dead and his dad is right there.”

“His dad is the coach?”

“Yup. Real loving guy, hey?” Chuck shakes his head. “Wait until you see him during a real game.”

Castiel looks at the field. Dean’s getting a drink again, along with the others, but this time he doesn’t laugh afterward. He just ducks his head and places his hands on his hips, glaring at the grass in silence. Everyone gives him a wide berth. They must know better than to bother him.

Castiel knows for sure now. There’s something else lingering beneath the surface of Dean Winchester. A version of himself that’s not happy all the time. That doesn’t smile. That believes in love. That desperately wants love.

In seconds, Castiel has fallen for the boy. The boy beneath the surface.

-------

A hand hits the back of Dean’s head and he snaps his head in the direction of the person hitting him, cheeks turning red as he worries he got caught. His dad looks at him with a scowl and his eyebrows pulled in. Dean prays he didn’t notice Dean watching a certain cheerleader on the sidelines. When his dad’s eyes look over his shoulder at Castiel, he deflates.

“Somethin’ more important than the game, boy?”

“No, sir. Of course not.”

“You sure?” His dad turns to gesture at the field, where the other team is only ten yards from scoring a touchdown and tying the game. There’s only three minutes left and the Angel’s defense is exhausted. It’s not looking good. “Because the game is this way. Not that way.”

Dean bites the inside of his cheek and tries to remain calm so he can play this off. “Someone was shouting. I looked over there quick. Sorry.”

His dad just stares at him, unimpressed and probably not believing him either. The ball is snapped and a play begins. His dad leaves Dean alone to start coaching. It takes everything inside the young boy not to look at Castiel again. He gets closer to the white chalk of the field’s official edge and tightens his fists at his sides. His dad is right. He has to focus.

The opposing team scores on the next play and Dean’s gut sinks. He glances at the clock. Now there’s only two minutes and ten seconds left. It’s not impossible but it’ll be hard. As the players start to switch, Dean’s dad grabs him and yanks him close before he can run off. “This is your fault. That interception in the first could cost us this game. Go out there and fucking fix it.”

“Yes, sir.”

His dad shoves him toward the field and Dean stumbles for a second before jogging to his position. The other players start to line up. He feels sick as he waits for the ball. His dad is right, this is his problem to fix now. They can’t start the season off with a loss. Especially when the loss would be his fault.

His throat clenches and makes it hard for him to breathe. He hears the crowd shouting and the cheerleaders cheering and his dad screaming at them. The cheerleaders. Dean sucks in a breath and takes a chance, glancing over at the sidelines. The cheerleaders are facing the team right now instead of the crowd. Castiel’s in the front, right next to Jo in the center. He’s shaking his pom poms but his mouth is closed as his eyes bore into Dean. When he realizes the quarterback is looking at him, he gives a wave of a pom and a nervous smile.

The anxiety in Dean’s chest unfurls and he’s left with a floaty feeling. When he turns back to the game, he feels invincible.

-----

Castiel stands on the sidelines, anxiously waving his pom poms. His knees are wobbling in anticipation as he keeps his eyes glued to Dean’s every move. The clock is winding down and Dean’s managed to push the team down the field a good amount. They’re only thirty yards from the end zone now. The problem? There’s also only twenty-four seconds left on the clock.

The coach calls a time out and Jo orders them to spin around and do a certain cheer. He goes through the motions, forcing his eyes to stay on the audience, forcing his mouth to stay in a perky smile. The second they’re turned back around to watch the game, his face is serious again, his heart racing.

“Come on, Dean,” he whispers below his breath. “You can do it. Come on.”

The ball is snapped and Dean takes his steps backward, arm cocking in the air. His head swivels and Castiel scans the players, trying to find an open spot, praying there is one. Praying wherever it is, Dean sees it.

Castiel holds his breath when the ball is launched through the air. He watches it’s slow descent, realizing it’s heading for Benny Lafitte. The entire stadium turns quiet. It’s as if the air is charged with electricity.

When the ball lands on the ground, two or three yards further left than Benny, the opposing team cheers and the whistle blows as Dean’s dad calls another timeout. From his left, Castiel hears Chuck suck in a breath and whisper, “Shit.”

He doesn’t have to ask what’s wrong. The second Dean’s within reach, the coach is grabbing his face mask and yanking him to the sideline. The boy’s neck twists in a way that must have been painful - and quite honestly dangerous - and then the coach’s bright red face is pressing right up against the face mask as he screams. They’re close enough to hear parts and bits but too far to make sense of much of it. Castiel hears something about a ‘goddamn failure’ and ‘home.’ Something else about ‘embarrassment’ and ‘benched.’

Castiel’s eyes burn as he watches the scene. He glances around, astonished that no one cares that this coach - this father - is manhandling his son and screaming at him. When he looks at Chuck, his friend gives him a sad smile. Castiel just shakes his head, still shocked, and looks back at Dean and his dad. The whistle blows to signal the timeout is over and Castiel wonders if the man even had time to tell Dean a play or what to do. It seems he spent the entire time berating him. He says something else, something not yelled, then slams the palm of his hand twice against the side of Dean’s helmet and sends him off.

Six seconds. Final play. Too far away still to kick a field goal. “Come on, Dean,” Castiel shouts without meaning too. His cheeks burn with embarrassment but the other cheerleaders join him with words of their own. Then the Angel’s side of the bleachers start shouting encouragement at the young quarterback. Dean glances at the crowd, scanning it, then his helmet drops lower and he looks at Castiel like he did earlier. Instead of getting flustered this time, Castiel nods once, reassuring, and yells, “You can do it!”

The boy’s shoulders straighten and he turns to the team. The ball is snapped. Dean falls back. His arm is cocked. The crowd goes silent. The air becomes electric.

The ball flies through the air. Toward Benny again.

This time, it lands right in the boy’s arms. Three steps and he’s in the endzone. The crowd freaks out, jumping up and screaming. The boys on the sidelines storm the field to celebrate. The other cheerleaders are yelling and kicking their legs up in excitement. Castiel sees Jo fly away from the squad, heading straight for Benny, and something idiotic takes over his own body. One second he’s wishing he could hug Dean and the next second, he’s sprinting toward the boy with the number one on his blue jersey.

He launches himself at the boy, taking him by surprise. Dean releases a soft grunt before chuckling and returning his hug. His large arms wrap around Castiel’s bare waist, huge hands spreading across the small of his back, and he shivers at the calloused touch. One of the hands leaves so Dean can pull his helmet off. His hair is all over the place as sweat clumps it together, and sweat is rolling down the side of his face from his temple. Castiel’s mouth goes dry watching it travel down to his strong jaw. He wonders what it would taste like it.

Staring up at him in awe, Castiel accidently whispers, “You’re amazing.”

Instead of the cocky or flirty response he expects, Dean smiles softly and holds him tighter. “I’m pretty fond of you, too, Cas.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Dean leans down, slowly, making sure Castiel understands his intentions. When the cheerleader does nothing but lift up on his toes to make the journey shorter for him, he smiles and closes the distance, molding his lips over Castiel’s. Dean drops his helmet to the field so he can use the hand to cup the back of Castiel’s neck and hold him steady, his other hand increasing pressure on his back to pull him in closer. When he breaks the kiss off, he stays with their lips almost touching, so he can breathe him in. He whispers against Castiel’s mouth, “I think you’re my lucky charm.”

Castiel leans back to look him in the eyes, grinning like a total idiot. “Then I guess you’ll just have to keep me around.”

“Yeah.” Dean nods, feeling dizzy with happiness. “I guess so.”