#made this for Halloween because I knew I’d be dragged into our travels but that’s okay since we’re home now

[your-royal-villainess]

I hate packing.

Okay, hate’s a strong word; maybe I don't hate it that much? Let's just say my dislike for packing may vary in context.

For some reason this reminds me of that time we worked so hard on decorating our classroom for an event then tore the whole thing down at the very same day. *sighs* Memories <3

[fallingappleshurt]

Swept Away Sheets

YES I KNOW ITS NOVEMBER 22 BUT I WANTED TO DO A HALLOWEEN STORY AND FORGOT

Yeah here it is, I spazzed about this in the fd au server awhile ago and this isn’t that good but like- I’m already late

Wilbur is 13, Tech, 12, Tommy is 10? I don’t know

This AU was created by antarctic bay!! Anxiety is brrrrring so not tagging sorry 

Anyways hope you enjoy!

“And you’re sure you remember the route you’re taking,” Phil asked, grabbing his key off the counter, “I want you guys to be safe, even though you are running around at night without adult supervision.”

“Phil we’ll be fine,” Wilbur insisted as Techno poked at his vampire fangs and Tommy thrashed around, the sheet draped over top of him flapping wildly.

“I don’t wanna be a ghost!”

“That’s on you, you didn’t pick something else before tonight, ran out of time to get a different costume.” Phil said, rolling his eyes.

“The sheet of shame,” Techno teased, pushing Tommy lightly.

“No!”

Wilbur grinned, “Tommy’s in the shame sheet!”

“No!”

Wilbur cackled, “It fits, I’d say you deserve it-”

“No I don’t you guys are just mean!”

“Alright, it’s almost 6:00, I’m going to be late and they guys at the store are already freaking out. You guys need to get to the neighborhood. Call me if anything goes wrong or you need help,” He pointed at Wilbur’s flip phone, “I mean it.”

“We’ll be fine Phil,” Techno said, “There will be other kids out,”

They walked out of their apartment towards a nearby neighborhood, it was a better bet then trying to do it in their apartment building.

The bones on Wilburs skeleton costume started to glow as the sun dipped below the trees. They had merged with a group of other kids, there was another ghost, a witch, a dog, an angel, and someone dressed as a lollipop. They traveled down the street together, the kid dressed as a witch urging them to go faster.

The houses were decorated with fake cobwebs and plastic skeletons, a few people just left a bowl of candy on their porch with a sign; ‘Please take one!’

They all took more then one, Tommy took three.

They had been trick or treating for over an hour as Techno followed Wilbur up to a creepy house with fake gravestones in the front. Wincing slightly as one of the other kids laughed loudly,Techno was growing tired of being around other people.

They knocked on the door and the women who answered cooed over everyone’s costumes and gave them candy. As they were walking back down the driveway something shifted behind a car.

A bloodied Freddie Krueger leapt out at the group, slashing at them with long rusty claws. Techno jumped back and tripped over someone else's feet as the other kids screamed and scattered in different directions, a few of them sprinting down the street.

The masked man cackled as Techno got to his feet, heart pounding, he was indifferent about horror in general but he did not like to be jumpscared.

Wilbur ran up next to him, threw a stick at the masked man, grabbed Techno’s arm and pulled him away.

“What the hell was that?” Techno asked as Wilbur looked frantically up and down the street.

“Hang on, I lost Tommy-”

“You what!” Techno whipped to the side, hoping it was a joke.

“He was right next to me- right next to me! I looked away for a second and now he’s gone!”

“Phil’s gonna kill us!”

“I know I know now help me find him!”

Techno scanned the surroundings, trying to spot Tommy’s dusty sheet but coming up short. “I don’t see him,”

Wilbur swore, “We gotta find him, right now-”

“No shit!”

They rushed up and down the winding neighborhood streets, houses and people started to blur together as Techno searched for a little kid with a sheet over his head. At first he had been more annoyed then worried, mentally grumbling about how Tommy shouldn’t have wandered off but after ten minutes of running around, calling for him, it started to shift more into panic.

What if he had gotten kidnapped or hurt? What if he was really hurt and laying by the side of the road? He could have lost his sheet and then Wilbur and Techno might have missed him-

His thoughts were cut off when he heard;

“Wilbur! Techno! Look!”

Techno skidded to a halt, sneakers sliding against the asphalt, he looked over to see Tommy running up to them, pillowcase crackling and bouncing.

“I found like three houses that give out full size candy bars!”

“Where were you?” Wilbur yelped, throwing his hands out, “Tommy what the fuck!”

“What?”

“Wilbur and I have been looking for you for like 20 minutes!” Techno said, anxiety and adrenaline starting to wear off.

“Oh yeah I saw you guys,” Tommy said nonchalantly.

“You-what, you- you saw us? And didn’t approach us until now?” Wilbur snapped, “Why!”

“Cause you guys were being mean earlier, I am not wearing a shame sheet!”

Techno slapped his forehead, dragging his hand down his face, smudging his glasses in the process.

“I’m going to kill you, you little shit!” Wilbur lunged at Tommy. Techno made no move to stop him.

“I’ll tell Phil you lost me while we were trick or treating!” Tommy shrieked, jumping back.

Techno grabbed the back of Wilbur’s shirt, pulling him back. Wilbur sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. “Okay, I won’t kill you, yet, but you gotta promise not to tell Ph-”

“I’m still gonna tell Phil,” Tommy said, even though his face was covered, Techno could see the shit-eating grin on his face.

“No, you can’t tell Phil, or I’ll tell him that you ran away and didn’t even try to get back to us.” Techno said, “It’s our word against yours.”

“I’ll cry,” Tommy said smugly. He knew Phil would side with him if he cried about being scared and then had his older brothers yell at him.

“Fuck.” Techno turned to Wilbur, looking for some kind of help. Wilbur sighed, “What if we give you picks of our candy when we get home?”

“Half of each,” Tommy stated.

“No! You can’t even eat that much candy!” Wilbur shot back.

“I think I���m being pretty fair,”

“You’re not-”

“Tommy what if you got a 1/3 of each of ours?” Techno cut in, biting his tongue as Tommy considered it. A literal two minutes later Tommy nodded.

“Okay!”

Techno sighed in relief as Wilbur checked the time on his flip phone.

“We still have like 20 minutes before Trick-or-treating ends, we could hit more houses on the way home.”

“Oh! Come with me and I’ll show you the houses with the big candy bars!” Tommy grabbed at Wilbur's sleeve, pulling him down the street, Techno followed, anxiety gone now that they found their brother and ensured that he wasn’t going to snitch, everything was fine.

Then they got home.

Phil was waiting for them, Techno guessed the crisis at the store had been fixed, he was sitting on the couch looking tired.

“Did you guys have fun?” He asked as they pushed open the door. Techno nodded, nudging his shoes off.

“Yeah!” Tommy said, “But Wilbur and Techno lost me halfway-”

Techno whipped around and jumped at Tommy before he could finish his sentence. He pinned him to the floor as Wilbur jammed his hand over his mouth.

“Wait, they what?” Phil asked, sitting up from the couch, going to untangle his brothers. Normally he didn’t bother because it was a semi-normal occurrence but this was different.

“What the hell,” Techno hissed under his breath as Wilbur, unconvincingly, said, “Nothing! He didn’t say anything, he’s just- just really hyped up on candy! That’s all!”

“Uh huh,” Phil walked over, shoved Wilbur away and hooking an arm around Techno’s chest, pulling him off of Tommy.

“Oh you’re strong,” Techno said under his breath as Phil grabbed Tommy and pulled him up.

“They what?” He asked.

“Wilbur and Techno lost me while we were Trick-or-Treating,” Tommy stated simply, ignoring the daggers his older brothers were glaring at him.

Phil turned to Wilbur and Techno, “You lost him?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, well, it was a complicated situation-” Techno started,

“There was a guy with a mask and another kid and-” Wilbur butted in until they were both talking over each other, both dancing around the point.

“You lost your brother?” Phil reiterated slowly.

“Uh, yeah,” Techno looked away nervously, Wilbur scratched the back of his neck nervously.

Phil took a deep breath, putting his face in his hand, “I’m too tired for this, I’ll deal with this in the morning, I’m taking a shower,” He walked down the hall then looked back at them, “But consider yourselves on notice.” Then he disappeared into the bathroom.

The moment the door closed they both pounced back on Tommy, words jumbling together as Tommy laughed.

“You said we had a deal!”

“Why did you tell Phil!”

“I’m gonna kill you you little gremlin, come here!”

They wrestled, Tommy v.s Wilbur and Techno, they pushed and pulled at each other, pulling at clothes and hair before collapsing back on the tile, gasping.

They sat in silence when Tommy asked, “Do I still get 1/3 of your guys’s candy?”

“No!”

[13dead-ends]

Option Two

Devil!Tom Hiddleston x witch!reader

Summary: You fucked up your summoning spell and The Devil has plenty of ideas of how to punish you.

Word Count: 4K

Warnings: SMUT, name calling (slut mostly), teasing, rough sex, unprotected sex, NON-CON just in case, it is a deal with the devil, but you enjoy it, dom/sub, fingering, orgasm denial, forced into submission, lots of choking, taking you from behind, (if i missed anything let me know!)

A/N: So this is the most intense thing I’ve written so far, hehe. I really hope you like it! I wanted to do something freaky for Halloween and I’m obsessed with Tom Hiddleston as the Devil. And @hellcaster901​ read this first and helped me get some ideas going so thanks girl! ilysm. Happy Halloween!

I stared at the pentagram drawn in chalk on the dirty floor. The abandoned hospital I choose was chilly and smelled musty and damp, but it was the only place secluded enough. Candles were set at each point and were lit. They were the only light besides the full moon shining through the broken window behind me. I took a deep breath. My coven was going to kill me. No. They’d bind my powers and then banish me. We were white witches, they said, we practice good magic. I rolled my eyes. They didn’t understand that magic was magic. I don’t buy the white magic, black magic crap. I’d use whatever type of magic I want to get what I want.

              The spell book was on a broken gurney, open to the summoning spell, but I had the words memorized. This was an old spell, and it was difficult to say the least. I’m just glad there’s no bathing in pigs’ blood or something messy. I’ve never done anything like this though. I hadn’t harnessed this kind of magic alone before. I took a deep breath and started reciting the foreign words. I held out my hands over the circle, one holding my own ceremonial dagger. I cut the other hand and winced at the sting. I watched as my blood fell onto the circle. Time seemed to stop as the blood splattered. A gust of wind blew in a whirl around the room. My hair whipped around me and my ears popped. I fell to my knees as the wind disappeared, the candles blown out, the only light was from the moon. I felt blood trickle from my nose and the cut on my hand burned now. I tried wiping the blood off my face, but I felt it just smear on my cheek. I caught my breath, looking around the room for any sign of the demon I was summoning. It was pitch black except for the shape the window made on the floor. I fumbled for a candle and my matches. It took a few tries, but I lit the match. I held it up to the candle and saw a face in the light. Green eyes and sharp cheek bones, a slight grin on his lips. I screamed and flung my body backwards, the match going out and the candle rolling away.

              “Who the fuck are you? Where the hell did you come from?” I yelled into the dark. I couldn’t make him out with out the match. “Come into the light!” A few footsteps and a man in a sweatshirt and jeans came into the moonlight. He was tall and on the skinnier side, dark curls on his head.

              “I was dared to come in here. Haunted hospital and Halloween and all that.” He crouched down and picked up a candle, no doubt noticing the pentagram under his feet. “What are you doing?” He cocked an eyebrow. I cleared my throat and stood, feeling shaky. A simple memory spell wouldn’t hurt him. I��d just send him back out to the friends who dared the poor guy. I whispered the spell, but felt nothing. “And how about you come into the light. This better be some stupid prank.” I whispered it again. He should be running away. Why isn’t my magic working? The spell. It must’ve drained me, but nothing happened. I heaved a sigh.

              “It is a prank, actually-“ He began to chuckle, shaking his head.               “Oh, little witch, you really believed this?” He held his hands out.

              “What?” I swallowed.

              “Poor thing can’t even manage a little memory spell.” The candles all relit, one by one. I stepped back, feeling a chill run up my spine.

              “You’re the demon I summoned.” I whispered.

              “Not quite, witch.” His eyes changed to red, and horns grew out of his head. I heard a ruffle of feathers and his wings sprouted from his back. They were charcoal black and touched both walls beside him they were so large. They were covered in layers of feathers, looking soft, yet strong. I could see tendons flexing underneath the skin. I gasped at the site.

              “No. I didn’t mean to-“

              “Oh, I know what you meant, dear, but that doesn’t really matter anymore.” I took another step back, eyes wide with fear. He changed back into his human form and grabbed my face, fingers pressing into one cheek and thumb pressing into the other. Suddenly I saw an image of my mother leaving me on a church doorstep, then she changed into the nun from my Catholic school who splashed me with holy water and told me the devil was in me. Then it was girls from high school, calling me a freak, they changed into the women in my coven, shooting down my ideas, boxing me in.

              “No!” I yelled, not wanting him to know, not wanting him to see. I was-

              “Pathetic. You’re pathetic.” He pushed me back into the wall so hard it hurt the back of my head, his hand squeezing my cheeks. “I don’t care about you; I just want to know how you did it.” The last twenty-four hours replayed in my head. “Hm, interesting.” His face came back into my vision, he stared into my eyes and I couldn’t look away. “What am I going to do with you?” He whispered. I was shaking now, my heart racing in my chest.

              “I’m sorry, I was just trying to-“ He squeezed harder

              “Look at you, blood on your face,” He turned my head violently to the side, looking closer at the smear of red. “Drained of your power, weak.’ He spat the word. “It gives me plenty of ideas.” His hand slid down to my neck, his long fingers wrapping around it easily. He was going to kill me. He clicked his tongue. “I’m not going to kill you, not tonight.” He chuckled lowly. “You’re not getting off easy though.” My breath was blocked by his grip on my throat. My hands came up to clutch his wrist instinctively, and he only laughed at me. He snapped his fingers and an old chair slid into the center of the room. He took me by the neck and sat me down in it. My hands and ankles felt bound to the chair, but there wasn’t rope tying them there. He let go of my throat and I took a big breath.

              “What are you going to do?” I muttered as he walked in a circle around me.

              “If you really want to defy your coven so badly,” He was behind me now and his voice was a whisper in my ear. “We can do something that’ll really make them talk. What do you think they’ll say after tonight, after you make a deal with the devil?”

              “I’m not making a deal with you.” I stated. “I didn’t mean to summon you.”

              “Sure you will. I’m going to punish you for messing with forces you can’t handle.” I inhaled to tell him I could handle it but my mouth wouldn’t open. “Don’t try and tell me that you can, witch. Sure you had the power to summon Satan, but you barely managed that, and it wasn’t even on purpose.” I tried to speak again but he was making it impossible. “Because it was a mistake I will let you choose your punishment.” He walked around to face me. He leaned down, pressing his hands over mine that were gripping the chair arms with white knuckles. His face was level with mine and his red irises flickered like flames. “Option one: I claim your soul. Classic choice.” He smiled. “Oh, and I bet your soul would taste immaculate.” I clenched my jaw as he licked his lips. “Option two: you’re mine for the rest of Halloween night.” I shuddered. What does that even mean?

              “It means, I get to do whatever I please with you for the night. He pushed his face closer to mine, our noses almost touching. “Anything I choose. Anything I want.” I gulped. “It’s your choice completely, my dear.” He raised an eyebrow and leaned back, still staring at me. The force keeping me from speaking ceased.

              “I-I want to keep my soul.” He smirked, lips curling into a grin.

              “Then you get to be my play thing for tonight.” I shook my head. “It’s either one or the other, witch.”

              “Alright fine. I’m yours for the night.” He laughed out loud, almost cackling.

              “Since there isn’t a pad and paper around, I’ll have you sign the deal another way.” He wink and came close to my face again, I flinched away, but he grabbed my face in his hands, holding it still. He pressed his lips to mine and they were hot, almost tingling on my own. I heard a whooshing in my ears and I knew the deal was sealed. I pulled away from him and he gave me a wink. My heart thudded in my chest as he stepped back, stroking his chin.

              “You will only do as I say from now until sunrise. Any disobedience will be punished.” I pursed my lips together. “Now be a dear and stand up. I want to take a good look at you.” The pressure on my hand and legs disappeared and I stood slowly. I was bathed in moonlight and I felt naked under his gaze. His eyes dragged down my body and I wanted to cross my arms over my body, but I was too afraid to move. “Take off your clothes.” I hesitated, but his eyes narrowed at me, so with shaking hands I undid the button of my pants and slid them down. Goosebumps rose all over my skin as the cool air hit them. As I stepped out of the jeans, I saw him bite his lip. My fingertips found the hem of my shirt and I pulled it off. It had a few drops of blood on the collar.

              “Oh you pretty thing you.” I felt more goosebumps rise as he spoke. I wasn’t sure if those were from the cold or not. He cocked an eyebrow at me, now only in a bra and panties. He let a finger trail down my neck, I’m between my breasts and stopped at my belly button. “Have you ever fucked a demon before?” My heart stopped and my voice caught in my throat so I shook my head. “You’d be surprised how many witches summon my incubuses just to see what it’s like.” He smirked. “Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, you got me instead.” I inhaled deeply as his hands began to travel my body. They were hot like his lips, sending heat over my skin every time he touched it. I held back a gasp as he gripped my waist, pulling me to him. I flinched away as he came closer, turning my head to the side and squeezing my eyes closed. He turned my head back, pushing my chin with his finger. His lips pressed into my mine again and this time it felt like fire was underneath his skin. I was completely still, but something inside me wanted to kiss back. His lip massaged my own and I felt his hands move up my body and to my breasts, still covered in a bra he held them in a painful grip and I gasped at the feeling. He stuck his tongue in my mouth and I held his shoulders.

              “If you stop resisting,” He pulled back, letting go of on breast and taking my neck in his hand, palm pressing on my throat. “This’ll be much easier for you.” The hand on my breast began kneading and pressing. My jaw went slack at the shockwaves it sent through me. “You like this. You know you do.” He turned my chin again and began devouring my neck, sucking and grazing his teeth against my skin. My hands gripped his shoulders and my knees felt like jelly. “I love how your body reacts.” He muttered in between kisses. “If you’d only give in.” I shuddered and before my knees could give out completely, he slammed us into a wall, and I saw dust and pieces of the ceiling fall over our shoulders. My entire back side hurt with the impact, but his lips crashing into mine distracted me from the pain. I let my lips react to his and I felt him smirk. His hand gripped my throat a little tighter and I could barely get air in. He moved my head to the side and kissed my neck again, this time traveling all the way down to my bra. I felt the metal hooks begin to come undone on their own, and the straps slid off my shoulders. As the fabric slid off his mouth landed on my nipple and I whimpered. He flicked his tongue over it and then bit it harshly.

              “Ah,” I cried out, but the pain was mixing with the heat of his lips and the touches of his wandering hands. It was all pooling in the pit of my stomach.

              “Are you enjoying it, little slut?” I bit my lip. “I can tell.”  He switched breasts and let his hand take over the other one.

My nails scratched at the wall and he gripped my waist, pushing me harder. He traveled back up to my mouth, not waiting to tangle his tongue with mine. My hands moved on their own, sliding up his chest and lacing behind his neck. He hummed in my mouth.  “See what I can make you do?” Was he making my hands move? I almost thought- Him harshly biting my lip cut into my thoughts. He chuckled lowly as he watched my lip snap back against my teeth. His lips latched on to my neck again and I couldn’t help but lift my chin to give him access. One of his hands traveled down my body, pausing for a moment to roll my nipples in his fingers and then slowly he slid them down over my hot skin of my stomach and then stopped completely at the top of my panties. My hands had found there way into his curls and the tugged when he stopped.

              “The little witch is enjoying it.” He said into my neck, his hot breath hitting my skin.

              “I can’t-I-I don’t-“

              “Don’t lie to me.” He took my neck again and slammed us on the ground. I cried out in pained, tears pricking my eyes, he just squeezed my neck tighter. We were on the second floor and I felt the weak boards below me give a little, as he straddled me. “I can read your mind, feel your feelings. There’s no use in trying to hide.” I choked under his grip, my legs kicked and I held his wrist, my nails cutting him. He loosened up and I inhaled, the fuzzy feeling the lack of oxygen gave me only went straight to my core. He dragged a thumb over my lips. “Don’t bother speaking if you’re only going to lie.”

              “Okay,” I whispered and he started kissing me again, keeping his hand away from my panties. He kept one on my neck, and let the other wander back to my breast. He worked me up again, just like before, only slower. I squirmed as his lips moved to my nipples again. His fingers tickled over my skin, feeling like little sparks against me. I took in in a shaky breath and it came out as a moan. I scrunched my eyes shut, biting my tongue.

              “Yes, moan like the slut you are.” I held back as he let his fingers dance over my thighs. “Do as you’re told, witch.” He leaned over me, staring down at me. “Fine, I’ll make you moan myself.” He trailed his hand up to my panties and snapped the band against my skin, I squirmed at the feeling of him so close to my now dripping pussy. He smirked at me as he dipped a hand into my panties, letting a finger slid through my folds. I did moan at the contact, louder than before. “Soooo wet, darling.”

              “Yes, moan like the slut you are.” I held back as he let his fingers dance over my thighs. “Do as you’re told, witch.” He leaned over me, staring down at me. “Fine, I’ll make you moan myself.” He trailed his hand up to my panties and snapped the band against my skin, I squirmed at the feeling of him so close to my now dripping pussy. He smirked at me as he dipped a hand into my panties, letting a finger slid through my folds. I did moan at the contact, louder than before. “Ha, so wet. You’re loving this.” He slowly moved his finger up and down, with the lightest pressure possible. I felt my back arch, but he only moved his finger with me, teasing me. “You think I’m going to give it up that easily? This is still a punishment remember?” I whimpered at his words. He continued with the same slow motion for what felt like hours. I was gasping and moaning, sometimes choking whenever he decided to grip my throat. My eyes shot open and I whined as his hand left my panties. “Shh, let me get these off.” I heard the fabric rip and he pull my panties off. The cold air on my pussy made me shiver. He moved so he was in between my legs and he pushed my knees apart. He leaned forward and dragged his hands up my thighs. “I think you’ve earned a little more this time.” His finger came back to my slit and this time he pushed it inside and I moaned, arching my back again. “Fuck, you feel so good.” I gripped his shoulders, and he pressed his lips on mine. He pumped his finger in and out and he muffled my noises with his mouth. He was still taking his time, working me out as slow as possible. Without warning he pressed his thumb on my clit. I pulled away from his lips to toss my head back into the floor. I squirmed as he rubbed slow circles into my clit, and I couldn’t catch my breath. I felt a coil build in my stomach and I reached a hand down to grab his wrist. I clutched it as he went faster with his fingers and I felt my whole body tighten. Then he stopped. My chest heaved up and down and I stared at him.

              “You should really see yourself, desperate and absolutely at my mercy.” His hand pulled away from me and I tried pulling it back, but he just grabbed my wrist instead pining it above me. “I haven’t decided if I’m going to let you cum yet.” I clenched my jaw and squirmed at the lack of contact. He sat back and stared at me again. “Maybe I’ll taste you, maybe I won’t.” He trailed his fingers up my thighs again and leaned over me, whispering in my ear. “But maybe you could convince me to.” He bit my earlobe. “I’d love to hear you beg, slut.” I took a shuddering breath.

              “Please,” I whispered.

              “What was that?” He kissed along my jaw.

              “Please taste me.” I said louder. “Please, I want you to.” He laughed at me.

              “That’s my witch. Say it again.” He was down to my shoulder now, and he bit into it.

              “I want you to, please.” I sounded whiny and breathy. “Please, I need something-I need you to-“ I could barely form sentences.

              “What do you want? Tell me.” He traveled down to my breast, never forgetting to play with my nipples.

              “I want you to-“ I shivered as his kissed down my stomach. “I want your mouth on me, please. Please, please I-“ He hovered his lips over my pussy and I held my breath. It felt like hours he stayed there, not moving, just letting me wait.

              “Sorry, I’m not convinced.” He sat up and flipped me over onto my stomach. My face hit the floor and I tried to get up onto my hands and knees, but he knocked my hands out from under me, and my cheek smashed against the floor. He kept my as up though and I heard a zipper being pulled. I quivered as he pulled me by the hips, dragging me to the right position. I felt his cock press against my ass and I bit my lip. He chuckled, placing the tip at my entrance. I moaned out loud, he was huge. I wasn’t sure if I could take it all. “I’ll make you take as much as I want.” He gripped my neck and pushed inside. I was splitting down the middle as he went deeper and deeper. Tears rolled down my cheeks as he stretched me out. He grunted as he buried himself to the hilt. I was choking out sobs and groans at just the feeling of him. “What were you so worried about? You’re taking all of me like a whore.” He pulled me up by my hair and my back pressed into his chest. He wrapped his hand around my throat again and tightened his grip. He thrust into me as I clawed at his hand. I couldn’t move or breath as he moved in and out of me. My walls clenched around him, almost sucking him in farther. “You’re tight little cunt wants me deeper.” He growled in my ear, then slammed me down. He held the back of my neck with one hand and held both my arm behind my back with the other. He pounded into me relentlessly and I was seeing stars. He was grunting behind me and I was whining and squirming underneath him. I felt my cheek drag on the floor when he really slammed into me. I felt his cock pulse inside me, only adding to the pleasure.

              “I’m-ah, ah.” I felt the coil tighten again and my walls kept clenching. “Please, let me-“

              “Oh, she’s learned her manners now.” I felt his cock twitch at my words though. He only chuckled, and thrusted faster. It didn’t take long for me to climax. I screamed and cried as my body convulsed and shook. He didn’t stop though and couldn’t do anything about it. He only pounded me faster and went deeper. I couldn’t see through the tears in my eyes now and I was so stimulated that it was more painful than pleasurable, but his hips stopped when he went as deep as he could go and I felt ropes of cum filling me up. He let me go, letting me slump into the ground. My throat burned and it felt like my body was pulsing. He pulled out of me and my pussy clenched on nothing.

I fell over on my side, my body going limp. He buttoned his pants up. He hadn’t removed one piece of clothing the entire time. I looked past him at the window and saw the dark sky was lighter now. I winced at an ache in between my legs as I curled up, covering myself with my arms. He began to walk out of the room, and I shivered as the cool air settled over my sweaty body. “Y/N,” The only time he called me by my name. I didn’t even realize he knew it. “That coven of yours,” He sighed. “You’re too powerful for them.” He disappeared and I wrapped my arms around my knees, feeling my eyes close.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #387

“today i woke up, & i hate myself”

What common problem have you never experienced? The loss of a close family member (that doesn't include pets). Alternatively, what's an uncommon problem you have experienced? Homelessness. Do you know anyone who opposes marriage equality? I sure do. What was the last thing you got really emotional about? Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty premiering. What's the longest amount of time you've been ill for? I don't really know. I don't get sick a lot at all. Who is your closest male friend? Girt. Do you know anyone who hunts for meat? Sadly. I say "sadly" because it's not like they need it. Have you ever lived with a boyfriend/girlfriend? Yes, although I wasn't a technical resident. I was there all the time, though. What do you wash dishes with? Sponge, scrub brush, rag, something else? A sponge. Is there anything you prefer to do the old-fashioned way? There's probably something, but I can't think of anything. Do you put your glasses and mugs right side up or upside down on the cabinet shelf? Upside-down. What was the worst part of your childhood? My parents fighting. Have you ever seen a high school relationship last long-term? (like 10+yrs) Yeah. Do you know any cancer survivors? Quite a few. Leftover pizza for breakfast... yay or nay? Good shit, man. Do you personally know anyone who's a psychopath or sociopath? I don't think so. What is your most used kitchen appliance? Lately, it's been the apple slicer. I've been on a real apple slices + peanut butter kick lately. What is something that you would personally like to be remembered for? For being a caring person towards all living things. Have you ever been diagnosed as clinically depressed before? Yes. Do you like bowling? Yeah, it's fun. Do you own binoculars or nonoculars? What do you use them for? No. Do you ever wish you had a telescope on the roof or attic to stargaze? Yeah, that'd be cool. Have you ever had to deal with someone close to you going off to war? No, thankfully. Who do you feel you have the most in common with? Sara, easily. Who in your life causes you the most stress or negative feelings? My damn self lmao. Have you ever had a teacher that also taught your parents? No. My parents didn't grow up in NC. What’s one thing that people definitely CAN’T count on you for? To remember like... anything. What about something they definitely can count on you for? Someone to listen to encourage them. What’s one food that you want to try but haven’t yet? I've always thought macaroons look good. Do you have anything planned for the summer? No. Do you walk fast or slow? Slow. Would you consider yourself an adrenaline junkie? No. What is a common slang word from where you live? Plural "you" does not exist. It's "y'all," lol. What’s the scariest thing you’ve accidentally found on the internet? *shrug* Probably something as a kid, going on those sketchy websites with loads of games and stuff. Thinking of every Halloween costume you’ve had, which one was the most creative? I don't think I've had any creative costumes for Halloween. What’s one random city you want to visit? It's not exactly "random" as it's a popular location, but anyway, I would love to visit Venice. What subjects do you or did you get the worst grades in? Math. When was the last time you ate cake and what type of cake was it? That's a good question, actually. Maybe my niece's birthday in February? I don't remember what kind of cake it was. Do you have photos to go with all of the contacts in your phone? No; I don't have any. Do you like snowy winter days or do you prefer rainy days? SNOWY! Name 3 things you find most beautiful in nature: Mountains, large waterfalls, and desert dunes in the wind. If you could ask one person one questions and get a completely honest answer who would it be and what would you ask? Jason. I'd ask if he thought I was emotionally abusive. What is your favorite winter activity? Building snowmen. Who is the greatest singer who is no longer living? Freddie Mercury. What is your idea of heaven? I don't know, really... I have to ask myself IS there a heaven in eternity? Living forever just... doesn't appeal to me. "Living" is an odd word to use there, but hopefully you get it. Existing on and on and on and on seems like it'd just be a drag, but at the same time I do like the thought of feeling relentlessly happy and peaceful with my loved ones. I guess that would be my definition of it, if it does exist. What’s one of the scariest things you’ve ever done? ODed. Have you ever watched the Superbowl all the way through? Just once, on my 16th birthday because I was at Jason's place and all of his family was watching it. I had absolutely zero interest, but we wanted to hang with the family. If you had to move to another country, where would you move? Canada. Do you watch American Horror Story? I haven't in years. It was Jason's and my first "show," and the first season was excellent. I lost interest in the second one, honestly. I'd be up for watching other seasons, though. How many relationships have you been in this year? None. What's your favorite cereal? Probably Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That's also the only cereal where I can happily drink the milk afterwards. Twitter or Facebook? Facebook. Do you like to paint your nails? No. What's the coolest place you've ever been to? Disney World, probably. Have you ever punched anyone? No. What's something you wish you knew how to do? Cook. :/ I really need to make an effort to learn. It'd be great to not rely on a microwave for the rest of my life. What's a celebrity that everyone likes but you don't? *shrug* What food do you eat the most? Probably bread in some form or another. That really needs to stop. Green or purple grapes? Either one, but they have to be firm. I cannooooooot with soft grapes. Have you ever cried over a text? Yeah. What's the background of your phone of? My lock screen is this pretty, simplistic periwinkle color with "work on you for you" written on it. It's one I plan on keeping for probably a long time because I connect to it so deeply with my stupid damn head frequently demanding I have to improve "for Jason" to prove him wrong. Which is a very unhealthy mindset to have, I know. My home screen is a cute lil Mark edit someone made with a very similar pale blue background, so my phone is just currently an #aesthetic. Do you have a Snapchat? No. What's your favorite sports team? (if you like sports)? I don't like sports, but I'm biased towards the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team because of my dad. Last thing you ate? I had Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast. Do you take a lot of selfies? Definitely not. I just hate how I look so much; it takes way too much effort for me to get an "acceptable" one. Do you prefer strawberries or cherries? Strawberries. I hate cherries. How many hours of sleep did you get last night? Maybe like, three. -_- Our A/C is still out, and it was like, 87 in the house last night. It was impossible to sleep. Do you listen to music daily? Not EVERY day, but usually. Biggest insecurity? My weight. Do you play video games? Not as much as I used to. I'd probably play way more if I actually had a PS4 + the games I'm DYING to have. Do you consider yourself lazy? "Yes, but a lot of it is also health related for my lack of energy and motivation." <<<< This for me as well. What recently made you laugh? I was watching a bit of The Nanny with Mom yesterday. We love that show. Do you like gummy bears? Yep. What was the last song you listened to? I'm randomly hooked on "My Nocturnal Serenade" by YOHIO. Like, I've known the song for a long time, but NOW I'm bingeing it???? Describe your mom with one word. Selfless. What's the biggest turn-off? Probably being misogynistic. But being a cocky ass is definitely high up there, too. What fish scares you the most? Mfkng whale sharks terrify me. How do you feel about snails? They're cuties!!! What's your favorite app? Pokemon GO. Would you rather time travel into the past or future? The future, to see what's coming. I feel like you could come back with some pretty valuable information. What is the saddest song you've ever heard? I think "Terrible Things" by Mayday Parade has to come on top. What insect do you hate the most? I was reminded that stag beetles exist last night, and omfg those. Well, "hate" is the wrong word, really, I'm just terrified of them. Would you ever have a wild animal as a pet if possible? I 110% want to rescue an opossum, emphasis on "rescue." I'm not plucking one from the wild or anything like that. I would be in HEAVEN raising one of those angels. Are there any decorations that makes you happy? (lights, candles, plants..) I love those beds decorated with fairy lights, and just Christmas lights in general. Halloween and Christmas decor tend to give me sparks of happiness when I see 'em. Does race matter to you when it comes to dating? Not at all for me. When was the last time you painted something? Not since I was still in school and took a Painting course. When was the last time you really felt alive, and what were you doing? I have NO idea. What is one question you would like an answer to? Why the worst things tend to happen to good people. Name one favorite thing to do with kids while babysitting. I don't babysit, but if I was to be in charge of a kid, I'd love to teach them to play video games from my childhood. Playing Pokemon with my niece and nephew is always a blast, ahhhh. Name one flavor you like. Strawberry is pretty consistent. Name one thing you are hoping for. Venus' new terrarium soon... big sigh. I can't for the life of me find one that's a reasonable price and also adequately sized. I'm willing to put the rest of my cash into it, but Mom is helping, so I can't just buy the first one I see. Then I'd need more substrate, I seriously want a temperature gun and hygrometer, a cool hide, sticks and stuff for cover... It's going to be expensive, but I want Venus to have a truly proper environment she can thrive in. Write the name of one of your imaginary friends from when you were younger. Oddly enough, I can't remember the imaginary wolf that was my "friend." I say "oddly" because his whole idea was important to me as a weird-ass kid. Name one girl's name that starts with a "J" that you like. "Justine." Name one boy's name that starts with a "J" that you like. Maybe "Jaxson." Have you ever been kissed? Yeah. Have you ever feared that you would be killed? It's never been like, a fear I actively worry about. I just acknowledge it's always a possibility for anyone. What is the last great opportunity you missed? This was quite a while ago by now, but I'd say by dropping out of school, I really let photography opportunities slip since I became the newspaper photographer...

[solaceinprose]

Black Witch Magic - Mila Nicks: A Review

Librarian by day, cursed witch by night: Selene Blackstone spends her days camped out in library corners with her nose glued to books. In a town like Brimrock, where she’s an outcast, she prefers her book friends to her real-life enemies. They’re a lot less judgmental. The rest of town believes she descends from a family of witches—including her evil witch grandma, Luna. In this case, the truth is stranger than fiction. She is a witch, and she’s cursed for all of eternity. Good thing her to-be-read list is pretty long… Prickly Paranormal Investigator Aiden O’Hare speaks two languages: sarcasm and more sarcasm. He travels the country—and sometimes even the world—investigating strange phenomena with his best friend, Eddie. Their investigations bring them to a cozy New England town called Brimrock, home to fabled evil witch Luna Blackstone. Armed with his dry wit, his bibliophilic love for books, and far too much free time, he’s determined to find out just what happened to Luna… When Aiden meets Selene, he decides he must get to know her. When Selene learns Aiden is in town investigating her grandma, she knows she must stop him. He’s out to expose the truth. She’s out to keep it a secret. Neither expects to fall under each other’s spell, but sometimes love is supernatural.

Expected Publishing Date: October 30, 2020 on Kindle only

First, I'd like to thank Netgalley for the ARC for an honest review.

This is my first novel by Mila Nicks, so I can't compare it to anything else of hers, but I have to say that I really enjoyed this. It had a mystery within the novel as well, so it wasn't just a contemporary romance. I thought the book blended both elements together, and I'll be honest the twist towards the climax of the book actually surprised me.

In Black Witch Magic, we have Selene Blackstone, granddaughter to the infamous Luna Blackstone who the whole time despises. We don't ever actually know why, just that there is a curse on the Blackstone family made back back in the late 70s by either a jealous or jilted lover. I couldn't quite figure that part out. I wasn't sure if it was some white hag of a witch who was beyond delusional, or if her fiancé was having a legitimate affair with Luna. I do think that could have been fleshed out a little more, but perhaps that was the point, that there is never just two sides to a story, but the truth somewhere in the middle. Anywho, due to said curse, Selene is destined to live her life in Brimrock, a fictional small town in New England. Everyone hates her or thinks she's weird. They don't know that she's a lunar witch except her best friend and sister from another mister, Noelle who is a green witch. She's just trying to live her life with the crappy people of this town, and honestly, the fact that she hadn't decimated them all by this point was a miracle in itself.

In comes Aiden O'Hare, paranormal investigator part of a duo with his best friend, Eddie. Eddie's aunt and her family live in Brimrock, so they decide to go there for the holidays before investigating into Luna Blackstone's history as they said the town is haunted by her ghost. All these strange happenings are occurring, mainly to the male sex, so this would be prime footage for their 50th episode of their little YouTV (Youtube) channel. Aiden doesn't particularly like Christmas, and he finds Eddie's family, especially his Aunt Priscilla overwhelming. He wasn't far off because they are a lot, especially the aunt. She's a Hallmark Christmas movie made flesh, and even I hated her by halfway through the book.

Due to a rideshare mishap, our two lovebirds meet and eventually keep meeting until they decide to go on a date. Aiden lies about who he is, Selene doesn't completely tell the truth, but this all comes to a head pretty early on in the book. Soon enough, our Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew are doing their own investigation into the unfortunate happenings to two men in town. The whole town believes Selene is responsible, and Aiden just isn't having that.

I really enjoyed Selene and Aiden together. I felt that they complimented each other well despite the fact that they were both awkward turtles when it came to dating or people in general. They had some snafus throughout the book, but they actually sat down and discussed them like healthy adults, especially after their first go around in the bedroom left Selene very dissatisfied. I loved that Mila went there. She made the first sexual experience a total dud, complete abolishing the trope of a wonderful, orgasmic first time. It was embarrassing, mortifying, hilarious, and real. Yet, our lover boy Aiden was not going to go down without showing her that he knew how to take care of a woman, and boy did he ever. There isn't a lot of steaminess in the book, but that makes the sexy times even better.

The story itself is nicely paced. I don’t think there were any particular moments that dragged on. I don’t think there was any insta-love, just a very deep connection based on mutual respect, admiration, and fondness for each other. There were no “I love you” tossed around after knowing each other for less than a month. I also really really loved Selene’s friendship with Noelle. These two were ride or die, and they meant it. I could have read a whole book of just them being best witch friends together and breaking the curse themselves.

I will say that if you are going in thinking this is set during Halloween, it isn't. It's set during Christmas, but the mystery of the book does provide a certain spookiness to it. I think this is start of a very cute series with these two, and I can't wait to read more about them.

Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

[ghost-in-the-hella]

Since you wrote this beautiful Valentine's story a while ago, are you gonna do the same thing for Easter maybe? :) Greetings, Doe

Thank you! If you only knew how many unfinished holiday amberprice and/or pricefield fanfics I have sitting in my google drive... I’ve been sitting on an amberprice Thanksgiving fic and a Halloween fic for something like two years now, plus I’ve got bits and pieces of other Halloween ones, a couple of Valentine’s ones for both amberprice and pricefield, a post-Bae ending pricefield multi-holiday fic, and on and on and on...

But here’s an Easter amberprice (I’m assuming that’s what you’re asking for) I just cranked out in, like, an hour or so. I haven’t so much as reread it and I normally agonize over my holiday fics for days if not weeks (or even years) so it’s very probably riddled with typos, repetitive phrases, and other nuisances. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless. (Oh, incidentally, it’s supposed to be a phone conversation between Rachel and Chloe, which I don’t think I made at all clear in the fic itself)

---

“I thought you were the one who’s all into holidays and stuff. I mean, you dragged me out to that Blackhellaween party, you made me celebrate Valentine’s Day for the first time since I was a kid, you--”

“I like Valentine’s Day because it’s romantic, and Halloween is all about costumes and drama. Easter is just… boring.”

“A giant rabbit travels all over the world breaking into people’s houses and crapping out eggs and candy, and that’s boring to you?”

“...Chloe. You’re seventeen years old. Are you seriously telling me that you still believe in the Easter Bunny??”

“Uh, no, but I seriously believe in candy! And breaking into people’s houses.”

“Well, that would definitely make Easter more exciting around here…”

“I gather your folks aren’t the ‘dressing up as the Easter Bunny to surprise the kid with candy’ types.”

“Um, what? Is that a thing??”

“It was a thing when my dad was alive.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god, you’re not serious.”

“Hella fucking serious, cross my heart and hope to die. Every year we’d stay up past midnight watching Saturday Night Live together, right?”

“Uh-huh…”

“So every year a little before midnight, my dad would start yawning and stretching, and then he’d claim he’s too tired to watch the rest and he’d go off to bed. Then, like, fifteen minutes later there’d be a knocking at the door.”

“Oh my god. You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not creative enough to make something like this up.”

“Untrue, but go on.”

“Okay, so my mom would act all mystified about who could possibly be knocking on our door so late - she’s a shit actor, by the way - and would ask me to get the door. Y’know, like any responsible parent would ask their young daughter to do after midnight when a strange knocking sounds on the door.”

“You were how old?”

“I don’t remember when he started; I was probably, like, four. He kept doing it until he died, so I was, like, fourteen the last time.”

“Holy shit.”

“Anyway, so I’d open the door, and there would be this-- haha-- this-this fuckin’... giant rabbit-- ha, god, he was such a dork…”

“Ha-ha-h-holy shit, no way--”

“Yes way; there’d be this fuckin’ huge, like, six-foot-- hah-- pink bunny with a --hahhh-- basket full of candy--”

“Hahahah, oh my god, Chloe--”

“Hahhhh… ahhh… God.”

“Holy fuck.”

“Yeah…”

“That’s amazing. He was still doing that when you were fourteen??”

“Yeah, he’d probably still be doing it. I’d be, like, begging him not to - I’m too old for this, you’re such a dork, blah blah blah - and he’d just… do it anyway. And then, of course, the rabbit would leave, and my dad would come back downstairs ten minutes later to ask us if anything strange happened.”

“He did not.”

“He did.”

“Wow. Yeah, I cannot imagine either of my parents ever doing anything like that.”

“James Amber in a bunny suit is something his political rivals would probably pay good money to see.”

“I’ll bet. I don’t think the stick up his butt would fit into one, though.”

“Hah, good point.”

“So did your dad, like, rent the costume every year, or did he actually own an Easter bunny costume?”

“No idea. I think it was the same one every year, so he probably owned it. It’s probably in a box in the attic somewhere, assuming it hasn’t been donated or trashed to make room for Step-dick’s stuff. He just loved doing stuff like that, though. He’d dress up as Santa, too. I believed in Santa for probably an embarrassing amount of time because of that.”

“That’s adorable.”

“Adorably dorky.”

“Just the way I like it.”

“Lucky me. So what does your family do, then?”

“We go to church.”

“Oh.”

“Yup.”

“‘Kay. I mean, we used to do that, too, but we also did, like, Easter egg hunts and stuff.”

“And bunny costumes, apparently.”

“You know it! So, like, no baskets, no candy, no dying eggs, nothing? Just church?”

“My mom makes pysanky.”

“...She what now?”

“She uses wax to make really ridiculously elaborate and ornate Easter eggs with traditional Ukranian designs.”

“Uh, wow. That sounds… cool?”

“They’re beautiful. She’s really, really good at it. She taught me how to make them years ago, but mostly she just does it herself. It takes a lot of patience and a steady hand. I usually lose patience.”

“So not exactly a fun family bonding activity.”

“Not exactly, no.”

“I’m guessing they don’t hide them around the house for you to find…”

“They sit in an artfully arranged row on the mantel.”

“Ah.”

“And then we dress up in our ‘best’ clothes and go for the traditional family photo op at church. James hobnobs with his political frenemies, Mom and I do our best to look like the perfect, happy family, and then we go home and I try to scrub the dirty feeling of lies out of my skin.”

“That’s… Wow. Fuck, Rach.”

“You guys did Easter egg hunts?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, we did. Max would come over the night before and we’d dye eggs together and make a huge mess. Then she’d have to go home because her parents wanted her home for Easter, but she’d come over again the next day after church. My dad would’ve hidden plastic eggs all over the house and yard, and Max and I would spend at least an hour looking for them. They were full of toys and candy and stuff. It was awesome.”

“That sounds really nice.”

“It was. So, wait, you’ve never had an Easter egg hunt? Like, ever?”

“Never.”

“That’s hella tragic, dude.”

“It is what it is. I rock the shit out of Halloween, at least.”

“I mean, yeah, you do, but--”

“It’s fine, Chloe. Seriously, not every holiday has to be a big deal.”

“Yeah, that’s true, I guess. Last few years have been hella boring, to be honest. Like, your Easter sounds exciting compared to mine these days. Mom and the Step-douche gave up on even trying to drag me to church, so I’ll just be hanging out here all day. I’d probably just embarrass them, anyway.”

“That sucks. But hey, I’ll come see you after church tomorrow, right? So that’s already better than our last Easters.”

“...Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. Hey, you wanna meet at the junkyard tomorrow? Trash up your best clothes?”

“Fuck yes. I’ll see if I can smuggle some wine out of church.”

“If anyone can do it, you can. I believe in you, Rachel Amber.”

“Ha, like you still believe in the Easter Bunny?”

“...Fuck, you’re never gonna let me live that down, are you?”

“Aw, what kind of a friend would I be if I did?”

---

(As a personal side note, no, my dad did not dress up as the Easter Bunny. My older cousin did, though. Every year she’d go out to sleep over at a friend’s house, and then in the middle of the rest of us watching SNL together we’d get a “surprise visit” from the Easter Bunny. We’re Jewish, btw.)

[kitten-keith]

Bad Blood (Pt1?)

Bask in my SUPER ORIGINAL TITLE RIGHT?

Whatever. Wrote this on Halloween while in the tub immediately after seeing this post on Instagram by @genelpan (I’d share the link  to Instagram as it isn’t on tumblr at alllll but my computer is acting all kinds of stupid atm and I’m pretty sure Gen’s on private now anyway)

Point is, I saw vampires and couldn’t be stopped.

Klance. Vampires. Implied lime-y things but not much.

---

They meet by accident, caught in each other’s sights, recognition in each other’s scents.

Lance smiles, and neither of them know if it’s a challenge or sincere given the look in his eyes, but Keith is gone.

It’s a summit meeting, a new ruler is to be chosen and all the higher ups have been called to witness the ascension of their superior.

Keith knows his sire, Lotor, will most likely be chosen. He’s done much to protect their kind from prying eyes of inquisitive but destructive humans. He renounced his claim years ago, an attempt at penance for the monstrous reign of his father, but Keith knows that doesn’t matter in the long run.

His actions speak for him, not his lineage.

On the other hand, there is a woman, Allura.

She has just as much claim to the position as her family held dominion prior to Lotor’s coming to power, but she’s been gone from court so long (doing lord knows what) that it would be absolutely ludicrous for her to take over.

Perhaps if she’d had more time, she could be a valid contender. She seemed to have a level head on her shoulders, she seemed strong enough.

But once again, what counted were her actions, and she had nothing to show.

He glanced across the court floor to where his sire sat, almost nestled in by the rest of his chosen kin. He smiled and kept his voice small but Keith could still feel his worry.

Lotor would ascend or there would be blood.

Whether he liked it or not.

Keith himself would drink his fill of the blood on tap and await the inevitable.

And that was when he saw him. Dark hair on sun browned skin. A day walker, surely.

Keith had never seen one besides Lotor. The rest of them had enchanted items worn when the need to wander in the day was necessary. Keith had a blade in his back pocket for the occasion but he was fine traveling by night.

Still, it was intriguing to see a man who looked so human standing here in this room full of high level vampires.

The day walker turned at Keith’s attention and there was a long moment of pause. A moment where Keith could take in his full countenance and try to remind himself to breathe.

A moment for a small but clear smile to spread on lightly blood stained lips and Keith can’t help it.

With the blood in his system what little remained in his own veins started to thrum.

He’s stunning.

And it’s been some time since Keith has wanted so badly for anything.

The day walker raises his brow, a request for an invitation and Keith can feel the faint rush to his cheeks before quickly turning away.

Because who is he? Some prepubescent child? Blushing at a suitors attention?

Keith was two hundred years old, he was better than that.

“Well aren’t you something…” says the day walker, now close enough to whisper into Keith’s ear.

Keith grits his teeth. He’d been aware of the other’s movements but had tried to ignore it with everything in his being, wanted to pretend he wasn’t keyed up for any and all interactions with the man.

That said, couldn’t he have said something else? Anything else?

“The names Lance.”

Better. Not great. But better.

Lance.

Lance….

It… suited him.

Keith keeps his face pointed away, toward the old archivist who’s been holding the required ceremonies far toward the front of the grand hall to the disinterest of all those attending.

Still, he peers at Lance from the corner of his eyes, “...Keith.”

“Huh. That’s unfortunate.”

Keith blinks.

Twice.

That was an insult wasn’t it?

“Excuse me?” He turns and faces Lance directly, mentally preparing for a fight whether the man was lovely or not.

Lance laughs then though, completely disarming him.

“That's it. Wanted you to look at me.” He reaches forward and casually holds Keith’s chin between his thumb and forefinger.

“Your eyes are beautiful… needed to get a look at them myself.”

Keith should pull his face away.

Keith should dismiss this wayward child.

Because now that they’re touching, Keith can tell, Lance is a fledgling at best. How he’s even here is anyone’s guess. Someone high on the food chain must have sired him to bring him along.

Keith can’t be interested in a fledgling, they’re messy and stupid and always getting into trouble.

But he can’t pull away.

Doesn’t want to.

“Your eyes are probably your most redeeming feature though, what with that hair and your name? Yeesh.”

Keith grits his teeth.

Okay, he can pull away now. And he does so quickly, a growl in his throat as he steps back and away.

“And what’s wrong with my hair?”

Lance’s smile is constant.

“I mean I survived the 80s too, but the hair didn’t need to Mr. Mullet.”

Keith cannot believe what he’s hearing.

Then Lance leans in again, “but at least it would give me something to grab on to. Would probably look much nicer tugged between my fingers, don’t you think?”

The image plays in his head, far too detailed and scintillating for his own imagination.

Keith’s legs wrapped around his waist, Lance’s fangs in his neck, an intimacy Keith has shared with no one to this point, long brown fingers digging into the hair at the base of his scalp and yanking—

Lance’s eyes gleam.

Keith already hates him.

Hates him.

Grabs him by the collar and he hates him. Tugs him away from the grand hall even though he knows the time is coming, but he hates him and he has to.

He has to put this fledgling in his place.

Has to make him squirm and beg his superior for repentance.

Beg him.

They end up in a storage room when the announcement is made.

They miss it.

They miss it somewhere between the grind of their hips and Lance’s hand slipping past the zipper of Keith’s dark leather pants.

Keith can’t believe it. Can’t believe he let himself get swept away like this for— for—

“Oh come on, we knew who was going to ascend anyway.” Lance offers, fixing his coat.

Keith rubs at his neck where he almost, but absolutely DID NOT, allow Lance to bite harder than a light pink mark, “while true, I should have been out there! He’s my sire and will need the support—“

“He? You mean Loturd?”

Keith feels his blood start to burn for a new reason now.

“What did you just call him?”

Lance rolls his eyes, “oh man, hold on, you really thought Lotor was going to be new lord of vampires?”

Keith has his hand on the doorknob but is quickly weighing the pros and cons of killing the man he just made out with first.

“Come on, Lotor, little lord death, child of the tyrant??”

Keith is seeing red.

“Dude, didn’t he have a bunch of halflings on tap like ninety years ago?”

Oh this again, Keith throws his hands down to educate this little fledgling brat, “six hundred and ninety, and that was to handle a pureblood revolt with the least casualties, if you knew anything about our people—“

“Oh I know plenty, and I know my sire, the true princess, is more than due her crown!” Lance runs his hands through his hair, looking put out, “man, and here I thought you were actually kind of hot.”

Keith is furious.

Livid.

His eyes are violet to denote the magic he acquired when he became a vampire, and everything in him is screaming to burn this infant to ashes.

But also, with those last words in the air and the memory of their actions so recently in mind and hell, even on his body, Keith decides psychological warfare will suffice.

He reaches forward, lightly clawed hand tapping quickly along Lance’s chest as he pushes him harshly against the vacant wall Lance has just had him lifted against.

He presses his body in close, sliding up Lance’s front with his eyes half lidded and his bottom lip between his teeth.

“Oh please, Lance…”

The fledgling’s breath catches. His hand hovered over Keith’s hip, unsure how to handle the mood change, of course.

But Keith doesn’t care.

“You and I both know how hot I can be.” Keith smiles, knowing for damn sure that Lance is torn between terrified and turned on, and that’s exactly where he wants him.

Keith drags his claws down Lance’s front as he pulls away, just a touch of fire there to burn through his clothes if Lance isn’t fast enough to stop it.

Keith leaves before he can figure it out.

Lotor is the new lord of the vampires, much to his frustration, but his followers are rejoicing and Keith decides to follow suit. He’s not too big on parties, but for this he’ll try.

It also helps that he can’t stifle his giggle when one of his chosen kin starts talking about the half naked fledgling in the storage room trying to put out a fire.

[ladykeane]

Bertie and Reg dress up for Halloween at Dahlia's!! and the party!!!

To the lovely Nonny who sent this, I profusely apologise if you’re not the massive weeb/animation geek that I am. But this idea stuck, and I couldn’t help myself!

Fair warning, it’s quite silly, most definitely cracky, and completely self indulgent…

There was a lesson given to me by my drama teacher at school, Mrs Irving, that has always stayed with me. The gist of her teaching was that a good actor must have a sort of dual consciousness. I suppose what she meant was that a chap should have the power to transform his mindset into that of the character he plays - and then just as easily slip back into his usual mental space, once the curtain falls. There must co-exist a Bertie-the-Wooster and Bertie-the-Prince-Hal within a single animal. Well, I suppose I have put this lesson to good use in my adult life, as I can attest that Bertie-the-Drone, Bertie-the-obedient-nephew and Bertie-the-seducer-of-certain-Jeeveses manage to be conjured at the drop of a whatsit.

A particularly surprising example of this dual consciousness wheeze occurred just recently, on the night of Aunt Dahlia’s annual Halloween bash. I suppose the lifted veil to the spirit world aided this shift of the Wooster disposish. (Well, the costume probably helped too, not to mention my dear auntie’s insistence that her party guests never drop out of character for the whole of the evening. That can make certain things a tad awkward, such as bathroom ablutions. One must ask: does Superman use the lavatory at all?)

I was given the scoop on the event by my ancestor over the phone, as I sat digesting a fourth-or-fifth slice of Reg’s birthday cake. (This year he had requested a Black Forest, and I have to say that I outdid myself. The leftover kirsch was also a boon.)

‘Super-groups?’ I asked. ‘You mean like the Travelling Wilburys?’‘No, young clot, I mean super-groups like the Avengers, Justice League, and their lycra-clad ilk. The group with the best costumes and most convincing delivery will receive a prize from your Uncle Tom and myself.’‘Ooh! And what is that?’‘For one, a cooking lesson with Anatole. Apparently he owed Reg a favour, and your man generously donated said favour to me.’I glanced an appreciative glance at my beloved, who sat perusing the W.H. Auden anthology I had given him.‘Secondly, a near-pristine Nintendo Gamecube, complete with controllers and a collection of best-selling game cartridges.’‘You mean the one you confiscated from Angela and myself? I still think that was an unfair punishment.’‘I say, it was entirely fair! Do you forget that I got stuck with the bill to clean your old headmaster’s office!? I am told that the stench of baked beans can still be detected throughout the school halls, to this very day! Anyway, I would advise you to get cracking. The competition will be stiff, I hear Angela’s little friends have been working on their costumes since August. Perhaps you and Reg could go as Batman and Robin!’‘Perhaps, auntie.’‘Well, pip-pip then. I’ve got many a fake tombstone and skeleton to haul down from the attic.’

As I hung up, Reg raised his head from his book. ‘I believe Mrs Travers has briefed you on this year’s Halloween festivities?’‘Indeed. She’s never offered a prize for the guests before. They’re real plums, at that. I reckon it would be well worth the splurge to get some first-rate togs.’‘May I ask what this year’s theme is?’‘Super-groups. By which I mean, groups of superheroes. She suggested we go as Batman and Robin! We’re already quite the dynamic duo, anyway. What d’you think?’

As I uttered these words, the Jeevesian brow began sinking south, until the look on his face chilled the lukewarm cup of tea sitting at my elbow.‘I should say not, Bertram.’‘Oh. Well… what about Danger Mouse and Penfold? You could be DM, of course.’‘I regret that I shall be unable to attend this year’s festivities. I have much to do to complete the Earl of Rowcester’s living will.’

Of all the paper-thin excuses! ‘Oh, don’t give me that Reg! What is it? You don’t care to be in the same room as all that brightly-coloured spandex? You fared just fine at last year’s “Stranger Things” soiree, and we were surrounded by a multitude of eighties fashion, at that!’(He made quite the dashing Steve Harrington, actually. Aunt Dahlia cast this Bertram as Dustin, so while I was able to tag after him all night there was an unfortunate dearth of snogging.)‘I am afraid I must insist. I do not care to be dressed in the bright, garish apparel that is requisite of superheroes.’

Given that it was the lowly rotter’s birthday, I held on to the flames that should have escaped from my nostrils. ‘Oh, very well, Reg. Have it your way.’ To ensure that none of my internal invective against him slipped past the Wooster lips, I left the flat for a sullen trudge about Mayfair.

***

That very evening, Bingo Little summoned self and several other Drones to dinner. He was in town with his husband Randy, to look for a property where they could spend their Winters. While the reports given indicated that all was spiffy within their NYC townhouse, Randy wanted to ensure that his paramour did not lose touch with his British roots. And I think I remembered him saying that his next novel was to be set in South Kensington, inspired by the likes of Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant. All rather convenient, no?

‘That Gamecube and cooking lesson with Anatole is as good as ours, lads. I have the perfect idea for our super-group.’ Here Bingo took a long sip of tea, leaving us in a state of eye-boggling suspense.‘Christ and his disciples?’ suggested Stinker.‘The Bloomsbury Group?’ queried Boko.‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?’ asked Gussie.

‘Better,’ Bingo finally replied, a rivulet of tea dribbling down his chin. ‘Do you know “Sailor Moon”?’

‘Sparkly schoolgirl with the pigtails? Yes, I recall watching the English language version with Angela sometimes. Quite a cheesy romp, that.’‘Oh, you ought to read the original manga ,’ said Boko. ‘A perfect blend of costumed superhero action and romantic high fantasy!’

For the next half hour, we were subject to Boko and Bingo giving us a full synopsis of the dratted space opera, complete with character studies, mythological references, and feminist overtones. Now, I have known my fellow Drones to sometimes possess hidden depths, but I was unsure whether this encyclopedic grasp of a Japanese super-girl-group was more of a mild pathology instead.

‘So,’ Bingo announced, ‘I believe I’ve figured out the perfect casting for each of us. I shall be Sailor Venus, of course, the soldier of love. Randy does call me his golden love god, after all.’ (Pause here for requisite retching.) ‘Gussie can be Sailor Mercury, given his general… wateriness. Boko’s love of house plants is perfect for Sailor Jupiter. And due to his spiritual calling, Stinker will be Sailor Mars, the shrine-maiden.’

I was trying to picture each of my chums kitted out in a colour coded schoolgirl costume. Perhaps we would score points for comedic effect, if nothing else.‘And what about me?’ I asked.‘Well, you’ll be our Sailor Moon, naturally.’‘Golly! I must say, Bingo, I’m quite chuffed to be given the starring role. I assume that it’s due to my former experience with drag, not to mention my theatrical prowess and general heroic gravitas.’‘Well… I suppose. It’s also because Sailor Moon is supposed to be a ditzy blonde crybaby.’‘Ah.’The judicious nods that the others gave were a tad insulting.

‘Does this mean that I’ll have to wax? ’ asked Gussie.

***

Now, if you’ve ever seen the much-celebrated cartoon, you’ll know that one of the highlights of every episode is the spangly transformation sequences, where each heroine morphs from humdrum schoolgirl into celestial warrioress. Our first go at donning the famous fuku was much less glamorous.

Boko knew a chap who knew a lass who worked at a highly-regarded fancy dress company. Apparently, many a masquerade-goer and cosplayer has raved about their beautifully crafted goods. As we trundled our way out their HQ on the tube, we were all in high hopes of scoring the perfect outfits. As it happens, the fitting session that followed made me appreciate just how inadequate the standard sizing of womens’ apparel really is.

Bingo and I had the best luck, but the costumes closest to fitting us were narrow in the shoulders and wide in the hips. Gussie managed to squeeze into one of the larger sizes, but resembled more of a wrinkly chicken sausage than a cute superheroine. (The skirt was appallingly short on him, and when he bent over to grab his phone from his bag I was quite traumatised.) Stinker, who is built akin to a silverback gorilla, utterly utterly destroyed the costume he attempted to yank on. I offered to foot the bill for that one, as a vicar’s salary can only cover so many breakages per month.

‘It’s no good, boys,’ sighed the seamstress who had patiently assisted us, ‘you’ll need to get these custom-made.’‘And how long will that take?’ asked Bingo.She put on a brave face. ‘I’ll do my best to get them ready for Halloween, but bear in mind I’ve already got a backlog of orders to finish.’‘Chin up!’ I replied. ‘I can probably ask a favour of the drag queen who did my costuming for “Legally Blonde” - Reg cut her a sweet deal with a new agent at the time. I’ll ask if she can source the shoes and wigs and things.’

A level of relief washed on to the girl’s face at this. I’d feel the same, if I were freed from the task of cobbling a pair of Stinker Pinker-sized red pumps.‘Even so, we’ll be cutting it close with this order. I doubt I’ll be done before the morning of the 31st.’‘Send me the bill for your energy drinks,’ I offered.‘It’s a deal.’

***

Time ticked on, and All Hallows Eve drew near. While I did my best not to harbour any full-on wrath against Reg at his blowing-off of the party, I couldn’t help but act a tad pipped towards him. Were lurid leotards and shiny accessories really so horrid?When he snuggled close to me on the sofa, I scooched away. When he dropped a kiss upon my map, my only response was tight-lipped disinterest. The blighter refused to compromise, so wherefore should this Wooster succumb to his entreaties? I took a lot of cold showers that week.

The big day came, and still nary a costume was yet received.‘5pm, she said,’ Boko told me, ‘and we’ll have to go and pick them up ourselves.’‘Hm, that is cutting it close. Well, bear up, old fruits! Leather Smalls will be along this arvo to do our make-up and hair.’‘Leather Smalls?’‘Didn’t I tell you? She’s part of an all-drag M People tribute act.’

If I can impart to you the experience of tubing it across suburban London in a long blonde, pigtailed wig, a full face of makeup, and masculine civvies, accompanied by four other similarly styled blokes, you probably wouldn’t doubt my claim that it was one of the more surreal experiences in my life. Halloween is not quite the big deal here that it is across the pond, so we got quite the share of wolf whistles, disapproving auntly glares, and ‘yaaaas, queen’s from our fellow travellers.

At last, at last, we arrived at Brinkley Court, freshly finished costumes in hand. The coloured lights, costumed crowd, and strains of ‘Monster Mash’ from within indicated a party already in full swing.As we entered the front door, I grabbed for the first bowl of sweets I could find, given my lowered blood sugar.‘That’s it!? Gawd, Bertie, you could have at least made an effort!’

Angela had grabbed one of the sweets from my hand and popped it in her mouth. I wasn’t quite sure who she was supposed to be, but her costume was really quite the thing.She was caked head-to-toe in light purple body paint, with a long wig in a paler shade of the same colour. A brilliant gem was affixed to her chest, and she wielded a long double-headed whip. I did not feel inclined to backtalk her.‘So who’ve you come as?’‘One of the Crystal Gems, obvs. Anyway, you need to go easy on those. Mum says that some neighbourhood bullies have been stealing sweets from the trick-or-treating kids, and she’s promised to recompense them.’‘What!?’My blood was now boiling - what lowly cad felt the need to scam helpless rugrats out of their jelly babies and smarties?

‘Oh, it’s awful,’ said Aunt Dahlia, swiping the remaining sweets from my hand and depositing them back in their bag. ‘I just saw Captain America crying his poor little eyes out, being comforted by Bucky Barnes. A whole evening’s worth of trick-or-treating swag, stolen from them by three nasty teenagers!’‘She means Thos and Edwin,’ Angela translated.‘What teenagers?’ asked Stinker.‘Some of the nastier upperclassmen from Eton, apparently. Captain America tells me that they have a reputation for bullying even the house masters and head teachers. Great brutes.’‘Rum,’ I said. ‘But, Aunt Dahlia-’‘Who?’I took in my auntie’s costume.‘But, Catwoman, hasn’t anyone tried to pull them up for it?’‘They’ve been too wily. I was told that they also egged the Emsworths’ place, running off onto Ham Common before anyone could catch them.’‘Travesty!’ cried Boko. ‘They can’t get away with this!’‘Too right!’ I said.‘Well? You lot are supposed to be the Sailor Senshi, aren’t you? You fight for love and justice, yes?’‘Er…?’‘You must transform, and thwart the damned villains!’

The Drones and I shared a look askance. ‘Um.’‘May I remind you, Sailor Moon, of the video games and French cuisine that are up for grabs for the group who best embodies their chosen superheroes?’‘Right ho. Moon Prism Power Make Up, then!’

***

We stampeded upstairs, bottlenecking on the landing, and Stinker stumbled noisily upon the top step. Into my old bedroom, and our everyday trappings were cast off in favour of our splendid, sparkly sailor ensembles.It was a bit of a muddle - the others needed help donning their padded brassieres, not to mention adjusting their skirts to preserve modesty. But after a few fumbling minutes, we were ready to go, as resplendent a team of magical girls as Brinkley Court had ever seen.

I allowed myself an indulgent linger before the full-length mirror. I really did look cute. The big pink bow was quite flattering to my proportions, and the blue skirt and collar set off my eyes nicely.‘Come on, Sailor Moon! We’ve got a contest to win!’With a flick of my pigtails, I was off.

Bursting out of Brinkley’s front door again, we charged into the gloaming. The place looks directly out over Ham Common, and on the great stretch of lawn, it did not take us long to spot the perps.

A juvenile, quivering Wallace and Gromit were surrounded by three of the largest, most grotesque teenage boys that I’d ever beheld. Though a good decade younger than myself, they looked to be twice my height and about four times my body weight. Most ghastly of all were their choices of costume: the ringleader was dressed as Pennywise the Clown, with his two lieutenants cast as Thanos and a zombie version of Napoleon Dynamite. I admit that the hint of rotten green brain showing through his blonde afro was an impressive use of make-up, but it did turn my stomach a tad.

Just before they could rip the trick-or-treat bags from the youngsters, I put a solid, heeled boot forward.‘Leave those beloved icons of childrens’ entertainment alone!’‘Hurrr,’ slurred Thanos, ‘check out the anime drag queens.’‘Wanna come party with us, girls?’ said Pennywise. ‘We got heaps of sweeties for the sweeties!’I puffed out my padded chest. ‘Never! I stand for love and justice! And… by the Code of the Woosters, I shall punish you!’

And so it began. We swooped upon them. Wallace and Gromit scarpered, and we were met with a barrage of large humbugs. When thrown with enough velocity, those things can leave a bruise.

Behind me, Gussie boldly came up bearing a large garden hose. He turned the nozzle on the head, but instead of dousing the monsters, the force of the spray was a bit too much for him, and he clung on for dear life as the hose thrashed about in his arms. He quickly went down in a self-inflicted mud puddle.

Stinker managed to plant a shiner of a right hook on Thanos. The brute staggered away, doubled over in pain. He threw off his plastic infinity gauntlet, upon which Stinker tripped magnificently, going pumps over skirt into the turf as well.

Boko fearlessly leapt upon Napoleon’s back, wrapping his noodly arms about an equally noodly neck. Napoleon bucked about like a bronco with a bad itch. Boko did his best to hang on, but the slippery satin gloves ultimately betrayed him, and the poor soul was flung off into a nearby rose bush.

The three monsters continued running from us. It was just me and Bingo now. We exchanged a silent glance of Sailor Senshi solidarity, as we pursued them towards a clump of oak trees.With a well aimed stomp, Bingo got Pennywise right in the oversized foot, with the heel of his pump. However, before I could back him up, the two lieutenants grabbed my chum and snatched his wig by its red ribbon, hurling it up into the branches of one of the trees.‘NOT MY VENUS WIG!’Abandoning the skirmish, Bingo pathetically began clambering up the branches to try and retrieve the thing. (I mean, it was a nice wig. And if it came back damaged, I would be owing Leather Smalls big time.)

And so, the beasts turned their attention to me. Three cruel grins bore down upon me like vultures on a dying wildebeeste. They looked like they could easily pummel me into a boneless mush, and not even feel it the next day. I’m not too proud to admit that I quivered in my heeled boots.‘What was that about punishing us, sweetie?’‘Let’s hang her from the branches by those stupid pigtails!’‘Yeah! And then we’ll-’

All of a sudden, something sleek and sharp came whistling through the night air. It popped Pennywise’s balloon, and struck Thanos right between the cheeks of his ample bum.‘Ow!’‘What the…’It was a fine, thin blade, attached to a deep red rose.

The four of us whipped our heads towards the source of the floral projectile. Imagine my total astonishment to perceive, perched upon a high stone wall before the radiant moon, none other than Tuxedo Mask. Gosh, he was splendid, with his billowing black cape and aura of general rakishness.‘How dare you blackguards steal from innocent children and assault these brave soldiers. Sailor Moon, I know you can defeat them.’‘But how, dash it!?’

He tossed me a bright pink plastic object. It took me a moment to discern that it was an external hard drive. It bore a little decal of one of those colourful cartoon pony characters.I looked back at the monsters, to find Pennywise agog.‘Wh… WHERE DID YOU GET THAT!?’‘Uhm…’‘Dude… is that what I think it is?’ said Napoleon.‘GIVE IT BACK!’ cried Pennywise.

Tuxedo Mask and I shared a single silent, meaningful glance, and I dropped the thing to the grass, raising my heeled boot above it, primed to smash.‘Well… I might, if you agree to apologise to every last child you terrorised, AND return their sweeties.’‘But we already ate some,’ said Thanos.‘Alright… maybe just give them a few quid, in that case. AND you’ll be cleaning the egg off Mrs Emsworth’s front stoop.’‘Anything, ANYTHING!’ begged Pennywise. ‘Please just give me back my-’‘NIGEL!!!’

A robust, sour-faced Jean Grey was stomping across the grass, her fiery gaze fixed on Pennywise.‘You have a lot of explaining to do, young man!’‘But Mum-’‘I should confiscate your little pony stories this instant!’‘No! Please…’‘Instead, you will do exactly as Sailor Moon says, and apologise to all the people whose Halloween you have ruined! You too, Cyril, Edgar! Don’t think I won’t be telling your mothers what you’ve done!’

The clown was dragged off by his ear to begin his penance, but not before he could snatch up his pink hard drive. Now that the leader had fallen, his two henchmen slunk along in his wake.

The Sailor Senshi had regrouped, and Angela, Thos, and Edwin (sorry, Amethyst, Captain America, and Bucky) had also dashed up to join us.‘You know who that was?’ said Angela, ‘Little Nigel Belfry. I went to St George’s with his big sister Diedre. Rotten little punk. One of the worst trolls in the online “My Little Pony” fandom too.’‘He bullies us all the time,’ said Thos.‘Well, dangle the name “Eulalie” in front of him. That’s his username on all the major MLP forums. Not sure he’d like that info getting out at Eton.’ Here she thumped me on the back. ‘Well done, Sailor Moon, you gave him the punishment that he sorely needed.’‘Oh, but I couldn’t have done it without…’I turned towards the stone wall. Of course, Tuxedo Mask had already biffed off. Probably to go hunt down the Silver Imperium Crystal or something.

***

Now that the drama had wound down, we finally had a chance to mingle. I got to take in the costumes of Angela’s group: Honoria was some sort of giant magenta woman with sunglasses and boxing gloves; Florence looked lovely and delicate in a gossamer tutu, and gleefully swung about a rather frightening spear; while Madeline was surprisingly dressed in drag - some charming little chap by the name of Steven, I think. The craftwork of their outfits was simply matchless, and they were clearly the ones to beat for the contest.

After Time-Warping and Thriller-ing and Caramelldansen-ing the night away, as well as quaffing some questionable looking cocktails with names like Chemical X and Radioactive Sludge, it was time to announce the winners of the costume competition.Uncle Tom (sorry, the 4th Doctor) killed the music, and tapped a fork against his glass of Chemical X to call for silence.Dahlia-or-Catwoman hopped up on the coffee table, to better survey the throng. ‘The door prize goes to Winnie the Pooh, who clearly misunderstood the assignment.’Spode-the-Pooh shuffled up to grab his bag of humbugs, and Madeline-or-Steven applauded wildly.

‘The runners-up are Wario and Waluigi, who regrettably stayed true to their despicable characters all evening!’Claude and Eustace collected their swag of Quality Street and Jack Daniels, fighting over who would get to carry them.

Angela and I exchanged a tense side eye. Could one of us really have been left out?

‘And the first prize… is a joint win, between the Crystal Gems and the Sailor Senshi! Come on down, ladies!’Well, everyone pooh-poohs nepotism until they benefit from it. Angela and I joined hands, and led our respective groups to their shared moment of glory. (And after a little bartering, we agreed to let the girls take the cooking lesson, while we scored the Gamecube. I know that Angela has long been an avid fan of Anatole’s show ‘Cuisine Inferno’.)

***

After a little more merrymaking, the music changed from novelty festive monster songs to the cheesy fodder of slow dancing. As couples began to pair off and pitch woo, a thought occurred to me: where the devil had Tuxedo Mask gone?

At the very least, I wished to thank the fellow. It was anyone’s guess as to how he had picked up on Nigel-or-Pennywise’s little secret, but he had truly been my saviour.

I squeezed through the waves of slow dancers, trying to keep my eyes peeled for a top hat or a black cape. Alas, the only capes I could spy were of bright and garish hues.

I escaped to the quiet of Brinkley’s large, rambling back yard, in the hopes of getting a little air. As I ankled along the gravelled drive in my heeled boots, I couldn’t help but let a little melancholy sink in. Despite my search for Tuxedo Mask, I well knew who I really wanted to spend this night with.I reached the fountain, ornamented by Aunt Dahlia’s favoured statue of Artemis, and plonked my sorry self down upon its edge.‘Sailor Moon… we meet again.’

He emerged from behind the shadow of the trees, and I leapt right up.‘Tuxedo Mask! Ah… I really did want to thank you for your help back there. Awful solid of you, old chap.’

He did not come closer. ‘You are most welcome. I had been charged with organising the family affairs of the Earl of Rowcester. I encountered his youngest son, who proved to possess a most malicious and scheming temperament. I felt the temporary acquisition of the lad’s most prized digital information would prove a useful bargaining chip at some juncture.’‘And right you were, Tuxedo Mask! What a bally stroke of genius you…’

He stepped forward, and removed his eyemask.

‘Bertram, I am sorry that I was so intractable about tonight.’‘Oh… Good Lord… Reg, I hoped so dearly that it was you!’

I flew to his arms. And Angela, the sneaky brat, managed to get a good number of happy snaps of Sailor Bertie and Tuxedo Reg locked in a passionate embrace.

‘Reg?’‘Yes, my moonbeam?’‘Keep the cape.’

[pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles]

Many Shades of Black (Girls Talk Boys Part 23)

Let it out, let it all out Say what's on your mind You can kick and scream and shout and say things that are so unkind Yeah-see if I care, see if I stand firm or if I fall Cause in the back of my mind, and on the tip of my tongue Is the answer to it all

Everybody sees And everyone agrees That you and I are wrong And it's been that way to long Take it as it comes And be thankful when it's done There's so many ways to act And there's many shades of black

Calum was almost to the kitchen when he heard the voices. His mom must have company. He should go put on a shirt. He started to turn back down the hall when he stopped. He frowned listening carefully. When he realized what was going on he hurried back to his room. Rummaging through his bag before changing his mind and snatching up the shirt he'd discarded on the bed.  Checking his reflection he took a deep breath and headed back out.

Laughter floated towards him as he approached the kitchen. His mother's voice as well as the two women talking to her. Two women? This might not be quite as bad.

Conversation stopped as the women saw him come in. He made him way to his mother first. “Good morning” he tried to sound cheerful giving her a kiss on the cheek.

He nodded towards the two seated at the table with his mom. “Morning ladies” and went to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“That's an interesting shirt. Where'd you get that?”

Calum looked down at the pink t shirt he'd slept in. It was loose on him and had Snug Life printed across the chest.

“Thank you. It's Camille's” His face broke into a wide grin and he took a sip of coffee to try and hide it.

“Isn't it sweet she's big enough for you to wear her clothes” Ameena said almost lightly enough to conceal the venom but not quite.

Calum took another sip his jaw tensing with anger. She knew him well enough to see it and he saw the triumph in her eyes.

Both mothers exchanged glances surprised at the animosity that suddenly filled the room.

An awkward pause followed as Calum didn't rise to her bait when her mom spoke up.

“Tell me Cal, how's your little man Duke? Is Roy watching him while you're away?”

“Actually Camille has him until the 17th, then Roy is coming up to watch him for a few days while she has to work” Calum answered her politely.

“What did you do just give her my key?” Ameena cracked.

Calum chuckled “no I had the locks changed later that week. She has her key.”

Ameena glared at him and now it was his turn to feel smug. However Calum had no intention of ruining his day by having out with his ex in his mother's kitchen

“Mom I'm taking off for a bit. Text me if you need anything while I'm out. You ladies have a good afternoon.” Calum gave his mom a hug and made a quick exit.

Luke picked him up 20 minutes later. Cal all but threw himself into the passenger seat.

“Eager to get out of the house?” Luke laughed.

“Woke up to find Ameena and her mother in our kitchen” Cal grumbled.

“That's a shit way to start the day” Luke shook his head as they pulled away.

“I knew I was going to have to deal with her. There was no way Ameena would pass up a chance to be nosy. Her mom and mine always plan out her family's big New Year's Eve party. Which I am dreading this year.” Calum closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest.

“You're actually going?” Luke was surprised.

Calum opened one eye at him “are you kidding? My mom puts so much into it she'd be crushed if I skipped out. You guys need to come with me so we can travel in a pack. I don't need to be a lone target. It's not like any of us can have dates anyway.”

Luke sighed “True, I wish I could bring Summer out here for New Year's. We're both always so busy it'd be nice to get away. When I get back I'll have to take her away for the weekend.”

“You really like her don't you?” Cal grinned at him. “I was a little surprised when you guys for together. I really thought you were falling for Cher.”

“I thought I was too. Being with Cher was an experience rather than a romance. Don't get me wrong I like Cher, absolutely love her to bits, but as a friend. The sex was amazing, she's a gorgeous girl but let's be honest I was in over my head. For a minute I thought I was falling in love but it turned out to just be the euphoria from her fucking my brains loose.” Luke paused and waited for Calum to stop choking with laughter.

“When I realized she was attracted to Ashton I expected to be hurt or at least bothered but it just made sense. Of course they'd be attracted to each other. They're so much alike. She'd get bored with me eventually anyways. It seemed easier to end it on a high note so we could still be friends.”

Calum nodded “So what you have with Summer is serious?”

“It seems to be headed that way. We can't all be as loved up as you and Camille.” Luke teased. “If Summer could just relax around the girls that would be great.”

“She doesn't like Cher? That'll take time.” Calum assured him.

“I think she dislikes Camille more, but I don't know why.” Luke shrugged.

Calum frowned but let it slide. He had enough on his mind.

They stopped for sandwiches and Calum had to laugh when he recognized the person behind the counter. Apparently the universe decided to truly put the Ex in his Xmas. Val had been his first kiss back when they were 13 and at camp. They'd all been playing Truth or Dare and Val's friends dared her to kiss Calum. Ameena's friends had the exact same plan but weren't quick enough, and Ameena had never forgiven Val for that. Calum chatted for a few minutes getting caught up before they started to get noticed. After taking a few pictures with fans they decided to get the food to go. He gave Val a hug before kissing her quickly on the lips.

“A kiss every ten years” he winked as she blushed furiously.

As they got in the car Calum shot Camille a quick text just in case his interaction with Val popped up on social media.

“So you've been gone four days. Are you missing her yet?” Luke asked.

Calum rolled his eyes and sighed “I miss them both terribly and it hasn't even been a week.”

“You've got it bad Cal. Don't you worry you guys are moving to quickly?” Luke asked trying to sound casual.

“I'm equal parts scared and sure. I really like Camille.” Luke raised his eyebrows and looked at him over his sunglasses with a smirk. “Don't look at me like that Luke. I like her leave it at that”  Calum continued. “Camille makes me laugh. She's smart and challenges me all the time. Cher might be the freaky one but Camille knows some tricks.”

“I'm not surprised by that at all. She did have sex with you in a public bathroom.” Luke laughed.

“You guys are never gonna let me live that down are you?” Calum was laughing too.

“No way not when I had to listen to the whole thing” Luke told him.

“Nobody made you listen.” Calum checked his phone and saw a text from his mom. “Oh seriously Luke thank you for getting me out of the house today. I needed a laugh. I guess I should head back. Mom is wanting to have a serious talk with me and I think I know what it's about.”

When Calum got home his mom was sitting by the window drinking a cup of tea and jotting down ideas in her notebook. She put it down when she saw him walk in.

“Come sit with me sweetheart. I think we should talk.” Joy smiled at him but her eyes were serious.

Calum got a drink and sat down beside his mom. He felt like he was little again about to get a scolding. He hated confrontation as much as he hated seeing his mother look so disappointed in him.

“Ok mum” Calum sighed and forced himself to meet her eyes. “Let's talk about Camille and Ameena.”

“I'm just worried sweetheart. I don't want you making a mistake. Now I know I've only heard one side of the story. Ameena came to me very upset hoping I could talk to you. I'd like to hear your side.” Joy sat back her eyes filled with concern

“It was an ugly breakup. A breakup that got dragged out for far too long. I'd like to know what Ameena has told you so I know what I'm being accused of.” Calum tried to keep his voice steady.

“I'm not accusing you of anything. Do you feel guilty about something?”

He looked his mom in the eye. “No I don't feel guilty at all. I didn't cheat on her with Camille. I didn't leave her for Camille.”

“Yet you started dating this girl immediately after your breakup. Can you see how that looks?”

“Just because I didn't cheat on Ameena doesn't mean I didn't understand that Camille is an amazing person.”

“Ameena has told me that Camille is older than you and a professional gambler. Is any of that true?”

“Camille is 27 and works for a website called ProFantasySports. She plays and advises people how to play fantasy football. It's a type of gambling but one that relies on skill and strategy as much as luck. I can't explain it better than that because I don't fully understand it. What I do know is she works all the time and has made a name for herself in a male dominated field.”

Joy nodded thinking and Calum was frustrated he couldn't better explain to his mom what a badass Camille was at her job.

“Who's Quentin?” Joy asked.

“How did that come up?” Calum tried not to get angry.

“Ameena showed me a video of some porn star who was dating the same guy your Camille was”

“Hold on, did Ameena tell you that she was dating Quentin when she first met Camille? In fact he was at the pool party where Ameena insulted Camille's weight in front of everyone?”

Calum paused to let his mom process that piece of information.

“Ameena embarrassed herself, me and Camille that day. It was a shame Quentin was cheating on Camille because he seemed like a decent guy when I met him.”

“What about her and Ashton doesn't that bother you?”

“She really brought Ashton into this? I've seen those pictures. That was the Halloween party Ameena crashed and went after Camille. Did she fill you in on all the details? ” Calum sat back in his chair crossing his arms across his chest, fuming that Ameena had taken it this far.

Joy switched tactics. “Are you sure you want to throw away a relationship that's been built over ten years for a stranger you've known a few months? I'm sure you and Ameena could work things out. You two have always be so good together.”

“Have we though? You know how rocky things there for a while. Most of it was my fault being dumb and immature out on tour but Ameena retaliated and it got nasty.”

“You guys worked through it and moved on. That's what being in a relationship is all about.”

“Except she's held it over my head ever since. Anytime we argue she drags it all back up again. The past year or so it got to where we were not getting along and fighting all the time.”

“Is this before or after you started seeing Camille.”

“Before” Calum said through gritted teeth. “I didn't start dating, seeing or sleeping with Camille until we'd broken up.”

“Ok, ok” Joy sighed not wanting this to turn into an argument. She took Calum's hands in hers and his expression softened when he looked at her. “I'm just concerned you haven't thought this through. That you're jumping into a serious relationship with someone you barely know. I don't want you to do something you'll regret later.”

Calum pulled his hands away and rubbed his eyes trying to think of the right words to say. He took a deep breath and folded his hands as if he were in prayer. Meeting his mother's eyes he spoke quietly “I've spent more sleepless nights thinking this through, more than I could count. I felt I owed it to Ameena, to you and everyone else to see through the rough with the smooth. It became too draining. We were fighting all the time. Anytime I'd try to talk to her and suggest anything other than what she wanted she would just cry and refuse to talk. It became pointless to try” Joy could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke. “We were going around in circles right down the drain.” Calum sighed and sat back in his chair turning his eyes to the ceiling. “After everything that's happened there's no going back. Ameena and I aren't getting back together.” Calum saw his mom's dismay but behind that the beginning of acceptance. Then she asked him “and Camille? Where do you see that going?”

“So far everything is wonderful.” Joy saw his face light up and his smile return as he talked about her. “ We are dating. I'm getting to know her better, and we aren't rushing into anything serious right now. The age difference doesn't bother me and really shouldn't bother you. When you meet her you'll realize how wonderful she is.”

“When?” Joy was a little surprised.

“I love you, mum. I want more than anything for you to approve of my choices and be proud of me. I understand you love Ameena in your own way, but I dont, and there's no way I'm giving up on Camille.”

He leaned in and gave his mom a hug. Both knew that the issue wasn't fully resolved but progress had been made.

Joy told him she'd call him for dinner and he went back to his room to call Camille.

About fifteen minutes later she went back to ask him a question but before she could knock on the door she heard him telling Camille about their conversation. Camille's response surprised her.

“Be serious babe, your mom doesn't know me how can she like me? She's only heard Ameena's side, and she hates me. Spend time with your mom and she'll see how happy you are. She'll come around eventually.”

Joy went back into the kitchen rather than interrupt.

Calum stepped out of the shower and was taking a quick selfie to send Camille while he was still dripping wet. After a couple snaps he picked the best one and fired off a text

missed u in the shower tonight ;)

Calum got dressed for bed when he heard his phone notification.

Meet me at the apology tree in 20 mins

Calum stared at his phone not believing what he was seeing

PLEASE

Calum shook his head this should be interesting

Fine I'll see you in 20

@biba3434 @babygirlcashton @happycrimiscalum @vfdsstuff @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @slimthicccal

[solangelover]

Happy Halloween!

Read on AO3 or FF.Net or Wattpad

“Why does everyone keep asking if I’m excited for October?”

Will looked across the table and found his boyfriend pouting at his plate of food. He chuckled and went back to eating his own lunch, contemplating the question. “I dunno, Neeks. What do you mean?”

Nico glanced at Will. “Like, people just randomly say ‘are you happy it’s finally October?’ or ‘ready for full spook mode?’, which, what is that, or ‘it’s your time to shine’ and weird stuff like that. What the Hades is up with that?”

Will now understood what people were referring to. He found it adorable that his boyfriend apparently didn’t catch on, though he did feel a little bad about it. He knew Nico didn’t love the extra attention. But at least people weren’t afraid to approach him, which should be a good sign to Nico.

“Oh, I see,” Will said, turning to fully face Nico. “It’s nothing bad, Nico. It’s just because you’re a son of Hades.” Will cringed slightly at his own word choice - being judged because of his parentage was something Nico still struggled with. “Not in a bad way,” he amended quickly when he saw his boyfriend’s frown deepen a little. “In an ‘appreciate your father and powers’ kind of way.”

Nico looked at Will, confusion written all over his face. “That didn’t help at all. What does this have to do with my father and my powers? What makes October different?”

“Um,” now Will appeared a bit confused. “Halloween?” When he received nothing but a raised eyebrow in response, he leaned his elbows on the table and looked intently at Nico, all serious business.

“Nico,” he paused. “Do you not know what Halloween is?”

Nico narrowed his eyes at Will, suspicious this was some kind of joke. “Hallow-ween?” The word was foreign coming out of his mouth. “Sounds fake.”

Will’s eyes widened comically, and he threw his hands up in the air, overdramatic as ever. “NICO! Halloween is real! It’s a holiday on October 31st. Everything is decorated all scary-spooky-like, everyone dresses up in costumes and goes trick-or-treating, basically walking around and asking people for candy. It’s a kid’s dream!”

Nico blinked as he tried to process all of that information. It all sounded pretty sketchy. “Costumes? Candy from random people? Still sounds weird.”

“It IS weird, darlin’. That’s why we demigods love it.” Will laughed and began to explain the general Halloween traditions and monsters, from pumpkin carving to Dracula. Nico sat and listened dutifully, slowly becoming more intrigued as Will went on.

“So,” Will breathed after his rant. “That’s Halloween. See why people asked you about it? It’s dark and scary and skeletons. People don’t know that you’re a total softie and the most adorable boyfriend in the world, like I do.” Will winked at Nico, making him blush and slap Will on the arm playfully.

“Shut up, Solace. I have a reputation.” He tapped his chin in thought. “As much as I want to be offended by people’s assumptions, this definitely sounds like my holiday. Everyone expects the weird and creepiness on Halloween that they expect from me every day.” Will was ready to contradict Nico, restating his age-old argument of why no one thought that, when Nico cut him off. “So, what do you do for Halloween here?”

“Well, some people go out into the city, but Chiron advises against it. It’s harder to pick out real monsters in a crowd of mortals dressed as monsters. So, we usually put together a big Halloween party in the pavilion. Some cabins throw their own after-parties too, or set up games or haunted houses for people to go through.” Will shrugged. “The Apollo cabin always sets up a few trick-or-treating booths for the younger campers. And we avoid the haunted houses because the darkness is not our friend. Usually.” He chuckled, giving Nico a pointed look.

“Hm,” Nico considered all of that, a mischievous grin slowly spreading across his face.

Will began to get nervous. “What, what is that ‘hm’? Don’t smile like that - I know you’re up to something.”

Nico winked at Will, which only made Will more nervous. “What, scared, sunshine?” Nico stood up and reached out for Will’s hand, dragging him up from the table and pulling him towards Cabin 13. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

—

“Nico, I hate this!”

Will was standing precariously on a ladder in the Hades cabin, hanging fake cobwebs and spiders.

“Will, they’re not even real, calm down.” Nico didn’t even glance up as he mapped out his haunted house. He was prepared to scare the whole camp halfway to Hades. If this was the one time of year where people would appreciate his affinity for darkness and death, he was going to milk it for all it was worth. “How many skeletons should I have? Ooh, maybe I’ll take a trip to an old war graveyard or something, those should have some cool ones.”

“Why do I have to help?” Will whined, pointlessly so, in Nico’s opinion. “I specifically told you that I hate haunted houses and darkness and such.”

“Actually,” Nico turned in his chair to face Will as he descended the ladder. “You said children of Apollo hate it usually. But you’re dating me, a child of darkness, so,” Nico shrugged, as if the rest was obvious and a perfectly valid reason for dragging Will into his schemes.

Will pouted as he dragged his feet towards another box of decorations, this one filled with little hanging bats. “Ugh, ew, why,” he said as he gently picked one up.

“Will, I already told you, they’re not even alive.”

“Not YET, losers!” Lou Ellen burst through the cabin doors with Cecil in tow, a maniacal grin on her face. Will groaned loudly.

“He roped you in too?”

“Roped us in?” Cecil laughed incredulously as he slung an arm around Will. “Dude, when we caught wind of a Hades cabin haunted house, we practically begged him to let us help. Forget our own cabins, we’re about to pull off the greatest haunted house in demigod history!”

“Yeah, come on, Will,” Lou Ellen plucked the bat decoration out of his hand. She muttered something under her breath and waved her hand around the bat. It suddenly screeched to life and flew out of her hand and up into the rafters. Will screamed and covered his head as Lou Ellen cackled. “Oh YES, I am pumped!! Di Angelo is finally embracing the spook.” She held out her fist and Nico bumped it, wondering if he was ever this buddy-buddy with Lou Ellen and Cecil before. It felt really cool, reigniting Nico’s desire for his Halloween project.

“Hell yeah,” Cecil bounded over and fist bumped Nico as well. “So, what’s the plan, boss? If you need more ideas, I’m chock full of them.”

Nico smiles so wide, he couldn’t help it. He was genuinely excited for once. “Well...” and the three of them dove into planning.

Will watched them from behind, at first out of horror that the three of them were so thrilled about this, then out of fondness. He was really happy to see Nico so invested in something, with his two friends coming alongside him. They were all so excited, and it really seemed like they were friends for years, not months. This is what Will wanted for Nico, though maybe in a less terrifying way.

“So, what’s the max number of skeletons you can summon? And how much stuff can you shadow travel with?” Will heard Cecil ask.

“Well, considering I brought the Athena Parthenos over the ocean, I’d say quite a bit.”

“NOPE, you are not doing that again, mister!” Will marched over, deciding he would be a part of this disaster and try to keep everyone alive until November.

—

Needless to say, the haunted house was a huge success in terms of it being a good haunted house. Everyone hated it so much because it was so scary that Nico panicked, thinking he officially got everyone to hate him, until Will assured him that it would be fine. Which it was, because the next day, everyone was raving about the haunted house and praising Nico for it. It was a bit much for the son of Hades, but Will had never seen him smile so much and look so proud.

A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN FREAKS! I’m really sorry this little thing is what you get, but here it is. The Coffee Shop AU I started is not forgotten! I’m really dumb for starting it in my busiest semester of school, but I promise I work on it when I can. The plan is to write a lot so I can have a more consistent upload schedule. Unfortunately, that means you’ll have to wait awhile for an update, but I will try to upload small one-shots in the mean time (I have too many one-shot ideas not to share them) :) Love you all, have a safe and happy Halloween!

[maevefiction]

Your Light in the Mist - Chapter 34

We spent the remainder of our summer and early fall in London living like normal people and doing normal things. I’d get up and head into work each morning, my main focus having shifted to overseeing Trudy’s progress on the app and delving into creating pages on the Prosper site for all our clients, while Tom kept his social media activity at the level we’d agreed upon, in conjunction with working out, running lines for Skull Island, meeting with BFI and UNICEF, as well as reading the rest of the Vampire Chronicles.

Each night, we’d either eat in or go out to one of Tom’s favorite spots for dinner, and each weekend he’d take me to what he considered a ‘cannot be missed’ landmark or locale. Sundays were usually cinema day, my personal favorites we viewed being The Man From U. N. C. L. E. and American Ultra. Tom was fond of Before We Go, but I pointed out that he had to like it otherwise Captain America would kick his sorry ass, because he already had it out for him over the whole Loki wearing his suit thing. Interestingly, other than a random pap here and there in the heart of the city, we were essentially left to our own devices. No one seemed to care that we were walking around Regent’s Park drinking tea and coffee, having pizza, or grocery shopping. There were fans on occasion, and Tom was always gracious, stopping for a selfie and/or a chat, with me waiting in the wings or taking pictures. I had known it was possible to maintain some degree of anonymity no matter the level of fame involved, and now I’d come to the conclusion that it had a lot to do with the behavior of the celebrity themselves and directly proportional to the size of their entourage. Which we didn’t have, nor wished to have. Granted, Tom had yet to achieve rock god status, but still…if we smiled, waved, and moved on, so did everyone else. People being people.

Two weeks after his sisters had been informed of their father’s infidelity and misdirected their anger at Tom, Emma came over to our flat and they Skyped Sarah, talking through tears and shouts for two hours before apologizing to each other and realizing that the blame lay with no one other than Diana and James themselves. It was a huge weight off his shoulders, and it allowed us to move forward, both of us having dealt with our pasts as well as we could for the time being. Healing, learning, and discovering more and more of each other with every day that passed. Mundane things, like what kind of toothpaste either of us preferred, when we’d learned out times tables…the feeling that I’d always known him becoming increasingly prevalent and so very welcome. While I’d recognized that we were not only lovers but friends as well that night when I willingly shared my Ben and Jerry’s with him at the beach house in Hawaii, I couldn’t have imagined how deep that friendship would become. We lived, we loved, we laughed, and it was astounding to me that I could feel such…peace.

In mid-September the insanity began, both of us going on the road for the promotion of not one, not two, but THREE projects, High-Rise, I Saw the Light and Crimson Peak. The San Sebastian Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival (where we ran into Norman, there promoting Sky, whose premier he invited us to and we attended), the BFI London Film Festival…it seemed endless, the screenings, Tom doing interview after interview, photoshoots and photo calls, Q & A sessions. How he managed to keep which project he was promoting at which event was a mystery to me, and I found myself asking him ‘dude, what’s this one for again’ more than once, and I spent nearly every moment behind the lens of a camera.

Nights were when I edited what I’d gathered and emailed it to Tom, who’d then post it all across his social media accounts. Then came updating the website, followed by fast and furious fucking, then sleep. At some point in all the chaos he‘d dragged me into a coatroom and fucked me from behind, but the when and where wasn’t the slightest bit important at the time so determining its actual geographical occurrence is now impossible…but other than that, we behaved ourselves, acting like grown-up professionals with jobs. I enjoyed just fading into the background and watching him shine. His performance in all three films blew me away, but High Rise was my favorite story. The abortion scene in I Saw the Light made me cringe, especially when I considered how he must have felt filming it, so soon after what he’d been through in his personal life. As soon as it was over, he’d leaned over and kissed my cheek, his hand in mine, both of us squeezing gently.

October twelfth found us in New York City, staying at my apartment, me packing up boxes to be shipped to London that week. My books, the rest of my clothes, and my computer. The rest would remain for when we visited, and while I knew I’d never sell the place, I also knew London had, in an obscenely short period of time, become home. The New Orleans house had been completely cleaned out, the August estate sale netting upwards of one hundred thousand dollars, and Tom made good on his promise to donate a matching amount to the women’s shelter while the actual proceeds were delivered to Will’s wife anonymously. I wasn’t sure what to do about renovations, but was hoping to stop in at some point during the holiday season and think it through.

The fourteenth was the NYC premiere of Crimson Peak, and we’d agreed that while I’d attend, I wouldn’t walk the carpet. He’d balked, at first, but I’d convinced him that doing so would allow everyone to focus on him and his co-stars, which was exactly where the focus BELONGED. I wore the black version of the red dress I’d worn to Daniel, and spent the entire limo ride back to the apartment following the after-party with his face buried in my breasts.

We flew to Nashville on the seventeenth to prepare for the premiere of I Saw the Light…Tom’s anxiety level ratcheted up to a nine, dreading the possibility of an appearance by Claudia. I steeled myself as best as I could, but, thankfully, it was completely unnecessary. The director wanted the venue to be small and down-home, so only bare-bones cast invites had been extended. Meeting his co-star Lizzie was a blast…she was friendly, funny, dorky and gorgeous. The two of us hung out in front of the stage as Tom performed for the crowd, dancing like a couple of idiots and singing along. He was incredible, those damn hips distracting me to no end, and his SMILE, my lord. He’d tried to teach me some guitar chords while we were on the road, but, as expected, I sucked in a way that no one had probably ever sucked before and decided once and for all that being able to sing was enough musical talent for one human being.

Principal photography for Skull Island was slated to start on the nineteenth on Oahu, but Tom wasn’t needed on set until November second so we decided to take a holiday the two weeks prior on Kauai. He’d even managed to sweet talk the reservations gal into giving us the same room…the one I’d been staying in when we met, number 203. As soon as we arrived, we both changed and headed out to put our toes in the sand, which is how we spent most of our time for the next ten days. At long last, my ass was on the fucking beach and it was pure, unadulterated bliss. The nights…that’s when we made up for lost time, screwing each other senseless until we passed out from exhaustion.  

Luke and Simon joined us on the twenty-ninth, a short birthday celebration jaunt for the latter. On the thirtieth we all went out to Nawiliwili Tavern to celebrate him turning thirty-eight, and I karaoked so much my throat hurt the next day. And really, it was just from singing. Really.

On the morning of my birthday, I left Tom snoring in our bed to watch the Halloween sunrise from the balcony, a knee-length tropical print satin robe wrapped around me. I’d become a fan of robes…easy to slip on, even easier to rip off. Both of us slept naked, and with all the hotels, room service and sex whenever we could squeeze it in while traveling, it was an excellent way to prevent me from answering the door in the buff. I leaned on the railing, listening to the waves crashing, watching the three joggers heading down the beach leaving sand flying in their wake. Thirty-eight. I wasn’t sure how the fuck this had happened, yet here I was, two years away from forty, the biological clock that had been silent before meeting Tom now ticking away loudly. We both baby goggled, and while we were still back in London we’d had lunch with Ben and his wife, each taking turns holding their baby. I’d caught Tom staring at me, his expression making me want toss my birth control pills in the garbage…full of adoration, love, want and so much more. And him holding such a tiny being in his huge hands…too precious for words.

Last year on this day I’d been working, giving a seminar in Chicago, and my celebration had consisted of six donuts at eleven-thirty PM in my hotel room while I watched the Matrix. This year…other than a costume party at Rob’s Good Times Grill in the evening, I had no clue what was in store for me. I reflected on how much my life had changed, and how I was so incredibly blessed, realizing that I’d be perfectly content to spend the entire day in our room, talking, laughing, dancing…all those simple things that made me genuinely happy. Me. Happy. Something I never thought I’d be, yet here I was. Standing on the balcony of the room where we’d first been intimate, on the island where we’d fallen in love. Grateful tears welled up, spilling over and running down my cheeks, and as I wiped them away I felt hands on my shoulders, followed by a kiss on my neck.

“Good morning, birthday girl.” I turned to face him, and he immediately noticed that I’d been crying. “You okay, love?”

“I’m amazing. Happy tears. Actually, grateful tears. Just thinking about how different things are from last year, and…”

He pulled me to his chest, smoothing my hair as he placed a kiss on top of my head. “I love you, my Maude.” He let me go, hands sliding around and down to grasp my forearms, grinning. “So, ready for your present?”

I poked his chest with my index finger. “Dude, you PROMISED me, NO PRESENTS. The time we’re getting to spend together here before you start filming is my present, and every day with you is a gift ANYWAY so…”

Several beats of uncharacteristic silence followed. “Well look at you, leaving me at a loss for words.”

Wrangling free of his grip, I clapped excitedly. “That’s like a whole ‘NOTHER present, man. WOO HOO!”

He laughed, a drawn out ‘ehehehehehe’, ceasing only when we thought we heard someone yell for us to shut up. We ran back inside and closed the balcony doors behind us, sat on the bed and perused the breakfast menu. I opted for scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon, and Tom decided upon an egg and cheese omelet. After eating quickly, we showered together, and as we dried off in the main area of the room he cleared his throat nervously.

“So, um…I was wondering if maybe you’d like to take a ride out to Talk Story today? I thought perhaps you’d want to pick up some new reading material for while I’m shooting?”

The man knew the only time I had to read these days was when I was on the toilet, but I went with it because, BOOKS. And I’d wanted to go there before we moved on to Oahu anyway, even if it was just to look around. The origin of us. A huge grin spread across my face.

“That sounds fucking epic, babe. What time is it now, like eight-thirty? They open at ten, and the trip there is an hour…”

“Shall we see if Luke and Simon want to join us?”

I snorted. “Ha, if Simon’s even awake yet it would be a bona-fide fucking miracle…but sure, why not? It’d be cool for them to see where we met. God, I’m such a romantic saphead asshat. Gross.”

He laughed, wrapped his towel around his waist and grabbed his phone off the desk. I returned to the bathroom to brush my teeth, only hearing bits and pieces of the conversation. After hanging up, he joined me, eyes on my reflection, and the memory of him fucking me right there four months ago made me shiver, goosebumps pebbling my flesh.

“Believe it or not, they’re not only awake, they’ve had breakfast. Or at least Luke has. Simon appears to be on a liquid diet so far today.”

I spit a final time then spun around, brows raised, and he chuckled.

“What I MEANT was he’s too hung over for food, little miss filthy dirty mind.”

I slapped his ass as I walked out of the bathroom to get dressed. “You fucking love it.”

“Oh, I absolutely do.”

Black bra and panties, grey hiking shorts…but I figured I should ask what he was wearing before I picked out a shirt.

“Babe, what are you....” I’d turned around so my voice would carry better to the bathroom only to find him right THERE, his cock at half-mast. I coughed, then continued. “Wearing. What are you wearing? Fuck, the naked sneak up is NOT COOL, Hiddleston.”

He smirked. “My khaki shorts and a white V-neck, I think.”

“Good. Then I can wear a black one.” I finished dressing while he began, then went to stand before the mirror so I could put my hair back in a ponytail. I’d had it cut and styled before we left London, the ends brushing just below my collar bones. For some reason, even just a few inches and a tiny bit of layering made it much easier to manage. As I was strapping on my Birkenstocks, a quiet rapping on the door began. Tom opened it, and when I saw Simon was wearing giant Kardashian-style mirrored aviator sunglasses indoors, I shouted. Loudly. Even though it hurt my throat to do so.

“Good morning, Mr. Ahlberg. How are we feeling today? Looks like you may have had too much birthday, am I right?”

His voice was raspy as he pulled the Panama hat he was sporting further down his forehead. “Fuck off, bitch.” He was wearing a dark green Polo shirt, white shorts and white loafers.

I rose as he and Luke entered the room, and Luke grinned as he embraced me briefly.

“Happy Birthday, Maude.”

“Thank you, Luke. You look none the worse for wear.” He’d paired khaki shorts with a medium-blue faded T-shirt and Teva sandals, also khaki with blue stripes.

He snorted. “One of us had to behave responsibly. He was up half the night with his head in the bowl…”

Simon shoved him out of the way, wrapping his arms around me to support himself after placing a quick kiss on my cheek, whispering in my ear. “Please kill me. I know it’s your birthday, but it IS Halloween so it’s sort of apropos and I really need to die. I beg you. Put me out of my misery.”

I squeezed him tightly and whispered back. “Not a chance, asshole. I enjoy your snark entirely too much to let it slip from my grasp so easily.”

He sighed, releasing me. “Fine, fine. On with the hour long car ride then. Followed by staring at some books. Then an hour long car ride back. All during which I could have been resting up for tonight.”

We used their rental car, as I’d demanded to have a Jeep Wrangler again and thought Simon might puke if we took that instead. Much like Luke had thought he’d do when we’d gone to our Hula class. Ah, life’s fun parallels that arise from excessive alcohol consumption. Tom had gone back up to the room to retrieve his forgotten phone, and when he came back we were off. Luke and Simon sat in the back, Simon resting his head on Luke’s shoulder, moaning from time to time when Tom took a turn too fast.

He parked us a block down, and we jumped out of the vehicle, excited to be back, and he picked me up and spun me around as we waited for Simon’s slow-ass self.

I rolled my eyes as Tom set me down. “Christ, Simon…you’re like a little old man. Fucking move it along, won’t you?”

I got the bird in return, but the corners of his mouth turned up in a tiny smile. The ibuprofen I’d given him in the car must have started to kick in. Why he hadn’t thought of it on his own…no clue. As we reached the red doors, Tom took my hand, smiling as he opened the door for me. It was exactly the same, which wasn’t really a surprise as only four months had passed, but a feeling washed over me at the sight of it anyway, one of pure joy. His hand squeezed mine as we walked inside, and behind the counter was Roger Marshal, still bearded, same glasses, different Hawaiian shirt, this time red with green leaves. He grinned widely and came around to shake our hands.

“Aloha, Mr. Hiddleston, Ms. Gallagher. Welcome back.  I see you brought friends with you on this glorious Halloween day in paradise.”

Tom introduced him to Simon and Luke while I wandered down to the stacks where we’d met. The place was relatively empty…I didn’t see anyone, but assumed customers were just quietly browsing elsewhere. Music was playing, something by 10,000 Maniacs, the name of which always escaped me. Almost instinctually, I went right for the ‘K’s, looking for my white whale…and…THERE IT FUCKING WAS. Not three feet away from me, the spine of the dust jacket unmistakable, silver-grey with a long black tower and yellow text. I stood, frozen in place, listening to footsteps approaching just as I had on that day back in June. Tom’s hand touched my shoulder gently.

“You okay? You didn’t move a muscle while we walked down here.”

I pointed. “It’s there. Do you see it? Tell me you see it.”

He looked. “See what?”

“THE BOOK. THE GUNSLINGER. Yellow text. Black tower. TELL ME YOU SEE IT.”

“Oh, okay…yes…I see it. Wait, isn’t that…”

I nodded, still using my indoor voice but enunciating so strongly they sounded out in all caps. “YES. MY WHITE WHALE. THAT IS A FIRST EDITION COPY OF THE GUNSLINGER.”

He laughed, squeezing my shoulder. “And you’re not over there pulling it off the shelf and holding on to it for dear life, why, exactly?”

Reaching up, I patted his hand gently as I whispered. “Because I’m afraid that if I move or even if I blink it will disappear, having only been the cruelest of mirages.”

“If I can see, it, it MUST be real, yes?” His other hand patted my ass. “Best grab it before someone else does, don’t you think?”

I turned to him briefly, eyes wide. “YES. Excellent idea.”

One step, two steps, both very slow, and I noticed that the song had changed. Tilting my head to make sure I wasn’t hearing things in addition to possibly seeing things, I listened closely, turning back around to face Tom.

“Is it me or…is that Tigerlily by La Roux?”

His own head tilted, and he nodded, smiling. “You’re right, it is. What a fantastic coincidence!”

I nodded again, then turned back to my prey. Another two steps and I was there, reaching out my hand to touch the spine gingerly, then quickly pulling back as if I’d been burned.

“Oh my god it’s REAL. And not only is it REAL I think it’s in, like, MINT FUCKING CONDITION this is…I just…” I carefully slid it off the shelf, turning it over in my hands, then back again, opening the cover ever so gently. Much to my horror, there was something written on the flyleaf. I was about to stomp my foot when I noticed my name.

Happy Birthday, Maude.

You hold in your hands not only a first edition, but one from my personal collection…and out of the first box the publisher sent to me. The God of Mischief asked me to do him a solid, and I figured it might be a good idea to go the extra mile. Thanks for being a Constant Reader all these years, and may the wheel of Ka always move forward for you.

With love,

Steve

PS - CONGRATULATIONS!

Tigerlily was still playing, and I re-read the text again, realizing that Tom had planned all of this, for ME, for MY birthday, and I nearly burst into tears but the last bit of what Steve…STEPHEN FUCKING KING… had written confused me and I focused on that in an attempt to keep my shit together. I began speaking, still staring at the word as I turned around.

“Tom, why did he write congra…” I looked up from my precious treasure but didn’t see him, just Luke and Simon, their phones held up and pointing at me. “…ulations?” My gaze moved lower, and there he was. Tom. Down on one knee. Right arm extended. And in his hand was a small black box.

I’d like to say the world around me grew silent and time stopped and the angels began to sing, but that would be lying and, if nothing else, I’m an honest woman.

What really happened is that I blurted out “Ohmygodthefuckareyoudoing?” followed by my right hand flying up to cover my mouth, trying to shove what had just come out back in.

His eyes met mine, peering up from under his brows, lashes so long and soft and glistening with tears, his smile shy and kind and beautiful and I could see his hand shaking just the tiniest bit and my knees got weak and I had to uncover my mouth so I could breathe otherwise my big ass was going to hit the fucking floor.

He cleared his throat, then began to speak. “One hundred and twenty-five days. That’s how long it’s been since I walked through those red doors, down these stacks and saw you, my light in the mist. All of those days that came and went before…they all appear in shades of grey in my mind now, as if I never truly saw the world around me in color until the moment my eyes met yours for the first time. And however many more days we’re blessed with on this earth, I want to spend each and every one of them with you. I know I’ve said this bit already, when we first arrived in New York, but…I’m going to say it again, because it’s the truth, the only truth I know, the only truth that matters. I will love you all of this life, and in each and every one that follows. I will love you as the world turns to ash around us. I will love you as the universe collapses into itself, and in the blackness of the eternity that awaits, I will remain, with you, at your side, holding your hand, never to let go. This love…it knows no bounds. It is forever. Two souls made one, together unto infinity. Maude Gallagher, will you do me the honor…the most extraordinary honor that could ever be bestowed upon me…of becoming my wife?”

I’d stopped breathing at some point, inhaling with an audible gasp at his conclusion, then answering.

“Absofuckingloutely. Yes. Yes yes yes yes YES!”

I threw myself at him, and he rose to catch me just in time, both of us laughing and crying, his forehead resting against mine, Simon and Luke whistling and shouting as we kissed, murmuring ‘I love you’ over and over when we came up for air. Tom pulled back, grinning holding up the black box and shaking it back and forth.

“Aren’t you curious to see your ring?”

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “I guess so. Whip it out.”

He opened the lid, and what I saw nested inside the black velvet made me feel faint for the second time in mere minutes. The ring was sterling silver, with an oval cut and polished black stone set in raised parenthesis shaped sterling silver bars, one to each side, perfectly mimicking of the style of the necklace given to me by my father. My voice eluded me, and he mistook my silence for displeasure.

“It’s not traditional, I know, and if you’d rather have a diamond we can…”

My head shook back and forth as I reached out and touched it with my right index finger in disbelief, then met his gaze.

“That’s black tourmaline.” He nodded, and I recalled the conspiratorial glance Luke’s mother and Tom’s sister had shared after I’d tried on a ring back at the Cube gallery. “Phaedra made this.”

He nodded again, eyes questioning. I bit my lip, then inhaled sharply before speaking again. “Will you put it on me please?”

His voice was timid, soft. “You like it, then?”

“No, Tom. I love it. It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Everything’s perfect. Put. It. On. Me.” I grinned. “Please.”

As Simon sidled over and took the Gunslinger away from me, Tom slipped the ring out of its slot, put the box in his pocket, then took my left hand in his right and slid the first tangible symbol of our commitment to one another home with the other, a huge, beautiful smile spreading across his face as I brought both our hands up to stare at my latest jewelry acquisition. He watched me, silently, and all the other moments that I’d pushed aside over the past four months formed a slideshow in my mind’s eye. Ben smirking at us as we looked through his wedding album, nudging his wife in the ribs as she giggled…what I’d overheard at Diana’s house, that he wanted something to be ‘perfect’…and, finally, the afternoon at Greenwood Cemetery back in New Orleans when I’d said goodbye to my father. Tom had gone to the crypt, introduced himself and told my father how much he loved me, then asked him a question, cupping his hand to his mouth and whispering against the stone, waiting for an answer, then nodding as he said ‘thank you, sir’. When I’d asked what his question had been he’d refused to tell me, though when I inquired as to whether my father had answered, he’d replied ‘I’d like to think he did.’

Gasping, my hand again flew to my mouth as my breath hitched and the tears flowed. “Tom…my god…how long…when did you decide…was it back in…Tom, that day in the cemetery…my dad…is that what you…”

He nodded, weeping as well. “Yes. I asked him for your hand in marriage.”

Choking back sobs, I reached out and placed my right hand on his shoulder. “But…when did you…when…”

His fingers grazed my temple, then my cheek, coming to rest on my jaw. “When did I know that I wanted to marry you?” I nodded. “That moment in the hotel in New Orleans when you said that if you really, truly love someone you accept them just as they are…and that you accepted me, all of me, every bit. As I took you in my arms, it hit me…I wasn’t just holding the woman I’d fallen in love with any longer. I was holding my wife.”

My sobs broke free, and I wrapped myself around him and buried my face in his chest. He rocked me, smoothing my hair, his chin on the top of my head. “I’m sorry it took me so long to ask. I just…I wanted it to be…perfect.”

Pulling away, I snorted. “Mission accomplished, you glorious bastard. This was over the top, ridiculously romantic, Clint Eastwood and Rob Reiner co-directing a love story PERFECT.”

His eyes widened. “Oh, I almost forgot. The ring…there’s an inscription…”

I yanked it off and held it up to my face. Around the solid portion of the band, flanked on either side by two tiny books was written in a teeny, tiny font, two lines, one on top of the other:

Talk Story - 6/29/15 - Our Story

My Light in the Mist

“Thomas William Hiddleston, I hope you realize that now we have to get MARRIED here. Like, right here. In this very spot. Bridezilla has come ashore and she won’t have it any other way.” I turned my attention from the ring to his face. “I’m serious. Can we? Is that cool with you? Getting married here? I mean, I guess we need to ask…” His smirk resulted in an epic eye roll and heavy sigh from me as I slipped the ring back on my finger. “Aaaaand…you already asked, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “Roger’s fine with it. We just need to let him know a few weeks in advance so he can arrange to close the shop.”

For some reason, that solidified what had just occurred. Tom had asked me to marry him. I’d said yes. I was now his fiancé, the future Mrs. Thomas Hiddleston. And there was now a wedding to plan. Which was exciting and amazing but I had no idea what to do next so I just stood, like a deer caught in headlights. He leaned in, nose touching mine.

“You okay?”

I nodded hard, attempting to clear my head, letting the euphoria take over. “My god, we’re getting MARRIED. Maude Hiddleston. I’m going to need to start practicing that. Gotta say, it sounds pretty fucking great. Nice ring to it. Maude Hiddleston. Yep. Sold.”

His jaw had dropped open, then closed again, eyes full of surprise. “I…you…you want to change your name?”

“Uhhh…yeah. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, if you don’t want…”

He took my hands in his. “Oh, no, no…I…I’d love for you to take my name. See, that sounds awful. Archaic. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to or that I expected you to because, I mean, you’re known a certain way professionally and…”

My lips found his, tongue pushing into his mouth, silencing him the best way I knew how. And, other than pushing his head down between my thighs, my favorite way. As we broke the kiss, he grinned, and so did I.

“Tom. I know some women are very much against changing their names or like to hyphenate, and that’s totally cool, but I’m not one of them. To me, it’s part of joining with someone. Being a family. If that makes me old-fashioned, too fucking bad. Plus, what happens when your kid with the hyphenated name marries another kid with a hyphenated name? Chaos, I say. Chaos.”

His expression was so earnest, so thankful that it caused me to take pause, during which I become cognizant of all I had to be thankful for as well. And that I hadn’t even said thank you, for anything he’d done, which resulted in waterworks yet again as I let go of his hands to place mine on the sides of his beautifully chiseled countenance.

“I’m so sorry…I didn’t say thank you, for any of this…but I’m telling you now. Thank you, Tom. Thank you. I’m going to remember this forever and tell it over and over and our kids and grandkids will be like SHUT UP WE HEARD THAT STORY A HUNDRED TIMES ALREADY and it’s just…I love you, so much, and I’m so blessed to have you in my life and my god, I can’t believe you want to MARRY me because I mean I’m ME and…”

It was his turn to cut things off with a kiss, and as he pulled back I heard Simon’s voice, realizing I had completely forgotten that we weren’t alone and wondering exactly how much they’d filmed.

“Yay, yay, you’re engaged, that’s super, who isn’t though, you know? Anyway. I’m going to create a diversion because if Maude cries again I’m going to lose all respect for her and, frankly, I don’t have that much left TO lose so…” He wrenched me from Tom’s grasp and turned me to face him. “SO, I assume that I’ll be your maid of honor? Because honey, you are REALLY going to need my help…”

I rolled my eyes. “Actually, you’ll wind up being my MATRON of honor because you’ll probably be MARRIED by then, you big fucking dumbass. And…and…” I started to sniffle, tears welling up again.

He covered his eyes with his right hand, having taken the shades off to film, and groaned. “Oh. My. God. Are you going to cry from now until whenever it is you get hitched? Because if that’s the case feel free to go before Luke and I do.”

When I didn’t reply, he uncovered his eyes, saw the look on my face and placed both hands on my shoulders. “I’m sorry, gorgeous…talk to me.”

Taking a deep breath, I wiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of one hand, then attempted to speak. “Will you…I…my…I don’t have a…my dad…isn’t…will…will you walk me down the aisle?”

He, Tom and Luke burst into tears at that, Simon’s hand over his mouth as he nodded repeatedly and pulled me to his chest. His voice was deep but soft in my ear when he was able to talk again. “Of course I will, honey. Of course I will. I’m so sorry your father won’t be there. And you know I’m, like, SO not religious so I’m not going to give you the watching over you nonsense, though I guess who the fuck really knows, but in a way he WILL be there, because he’s part of you. And we need to talk about something else now because crying is making my headache IN-FUCKING-TOLERABLE…”

He released me and Luke took his place immediately, warmly embracing me for the second time that day. His quiet authority was what I saw most of…it wasn’t until we were off the clock that he became himself, and even at that we were only moderately affectionate. Drunk Luke, though…that was an entirely different story. After a few pats to the back, we let each other go, and I pointed at Tom.

“This is some stunt you pulled here, young man. I hope you realize that.”

He grinned from ear to ear, tongue peeking out from between his teeth. “Oh, I do.” His brows rose. “Were you truly surprised?”

“Um, YEAH. No clue. Well, not exactly NO clue. I mean, I picked up on a few things along the way that I seemed odd but I just pushed them aside because…” My eyes turned skyward as I thought of the best way to phrase what came next. “Because as much as I wanted it to be what I thought it was, I couldn’t be sure and I didn’t want to be disappointed if it never happened, I guess. But. Yeah. So, do we need to fill anyone in on the news or am I totally the last one to know?”

“If it never happened. You’re a silly, silly girl.” His lips grazed my cheek. “And yes, there are still plenty of people to tell. Anyone who was privy to my plan was purely essential.”

My left eyebrow shot up. “Oh, how did Ben and Sophie factor in? Do tell.”

He blushed adorably. “I may have tattled to Chris and Elsa too. But…Anne’s still in the dark, so maybe start there?”

Simon had set the Gunslinger on the nearest table, and I started at it and sighed happily. “I cannot BELIEVE you not only managed to find me a first edition copy of the Gunslinger, but you got Stephen King to sign it, and it’s ONE FROM HIS PERSONAL COLLECTION. You are such a complete dork, and I am the luckiest woman alive, Thomas William Hiddleston.”

He walked to my side and slipped an arm around my waist. “So, should we take a photo to post online? Or would you rather do something more formal?”

I snorted. “Fuck formal. Picture, please.”

I held up my left hand at face level between us, the back of it towards Tom’s phone, which Luke was holding, then pointed at the ring with my right and posed with my mouth stretched wide open in a gleeful grin. Tom pointed at it as well, and three clicks later we were good to go.

Taking the phone back from Luke, he typed, then stopped. “Do you want to call Anne before I post this?”

“Nah. I’ll wait for her to call. It’s more fun this way…and honestly, I have no idea how to tell people without sounding like an asshole, so…yeah. Post it.”

He clicked, then turned the screen so I could see it. There we were, his expression mimicking mine, his Twitter message short and sweet.

She said YES!!!!!!!!!! #thefuturemrshiddleston, #iamsoveryblessed,  #luckiestmanintheuniverse

Chuckling, I passed the phone back to him. “Um, actually what I said was ‘absofuckingloutely’. Shit. That’s like, filmed and recorded as my official reaction to being proposed to in the most beautiful and perfect way possible. Nice one, me.”

Luke cleared his throat. “So, not to be a killjoy…” Simon snorted. “Do we have a date in mind for the blessed event? Tom’s schedule is…”

I raised my hand. “Oh, oh…I know what Tom’s schedule is…it’s an insane MESS. Gee, wish there was an app for that or something. HA! Anyhow, you’ll have to double check, but I’m pretty sure that there is zero room for it to happen until late April or early May.”

Scrolling through his phone, Luke nodded. “You’re right. After the I Saw the Light press tour and premiere he’s got Night Manager promo until it airs in the states on April nineteenth. Really, the best month seems to be June.”

Tom spread his hands wide. “Well, that makes it simple. Let’s do it on the first anniversary of the day we met. June twenty-ninth. I think I can even squeeze in time for a honeymoon before heading to Australia to start in on Ragnarock.” He turned to me, brows raised, questioning. “Okay with you?”

My eyes met his, then roamed up and down over his form. This breathtakingly beautiful, kind, compassionate, intelligent, gifted, hilarious being…he was going to be my husband. I felt the tears creeping up on me again, but shook them off, breaking myself of the habit lest I, as Simon feared, kept crying every time I thought about marrying the man for the next eight months.

“Oh yeah. Totally okay with me. And shall I assume you had that planned all along as well?”

He laughed, throwing his head back, one hand on his abdomen, smirking adorably when he’d managed to compose himself. “No, actually…that one was totally off the cuff.”

“Sure it was.”

Laughing again, he grabbed my shoulders. “It was. I swear it.”

I sighed. “Well, if you swear it, I guess I should believe you. So…I know this will come as a shock, but …I’m STARVING. Birthday girl needs lunch. Feed birthday girl NOW.”

Tom pulled me close and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “How’s Kauai Pasta sound?”

“It sounds like you made reservations for four is how it sounds.” He smiled, licking his lips. “Which is awesome, because I am such a slut for Alfredo…”

Simon’s face appeared over Tom’s shoulder. “Oh, oh…can we please go over the list of things you’re a slut for? THERE ARE SO MANY…”

I flipped him off. “Please. Your list is so long it wouldn’t fit on my 32 gig USB drive.”

His eyes widened in mock horror. “My, my. She becomes some hot guy’s fiancé and her rudeness trebles. Unacceptable.”

Grinning, I turned my gaze back to Tom. “So, are we, like, done with surprises for the day? Because I’m not sure my heart can take another one. Though I do have a surprise of my own for YOU…”

“You do, do you? And what would that be?”

I patted his chest. “That would be my Halloween costume, babe. I fear you may not survive.”

He placed his hand over mine, leaning in so his face was inches from mine. “You do realize that you have not the slightest inkling as to what I’m wearing, don’t you?”

I didn’t. I’d been so focused on keeping mine under wraps I hadn’t considered HIS. And I was afraid to imagine, because the party now seemed an eternity away and if I let my mind wander…my mouth dropped open, then closed, opened, then closed again. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I am so, so fucked.”

A whisper in my ear. “Oh, you are indeed, my darling. You are indeed.”

[roadtripwiththewinchesters-blog]

S1E3 - Dead In The Water (Chapter 1)

A/N: I’m posting again after taking a really long break. My apologies, I had a bit of a family crisis. Everything’s all good, time to get back to my preferred universe. 

Word count: 3,080

Summary: It’s been over week since you took the wendigo case in Blackwater Ridge. With no new leads on their father’s whereabouts, the Winchester boys are getting antsy and clash about what to do next. A newspaper article sends the three of you to Wisconsin, where something stirs in the dark waters of Lake Manitoc, responsible for the disappearance of a young girl. 

“And last night, Joni invited Mrs. Lieberman over for dinner and she brought one of her tuna casseroles-”

“Oh no...” I groaned, having had a firsthand experience of our neighbor’s cooking skills. 

I had spent the past ten minutes of my Wednesday morning in one of Wyoming’s finest payphone booths, as my little brother Gus filled me in on the latest events back at home. 

“I tried to get her cat to finish it for me, but even he wouldn’t touch it.” 

Despite how much I loved hearing about the things going on in his life, right now my stomach was growling, egging me on for some breakfast, making it increasingly difficult to pay attention to him. My eyes trailed to the hotel diner behind me, where Sam and Dean had occupied the counter - their heads were practically butted together and I rolled my eyes at the thought of them arguing again. It had been over a week now since we had left Colorado and we had found no new leads on John’s whereabouts, which made everyone tense. Dean had started looking for cases elsewhere, to Sam’s annoyance. Sam didn’t think we should be doing anything else but searching for their dad. I knew he was worried, but I had to agree with Dean - although I didn’t tell him so. The last thing I wanted was for Sam to think I was taking his brother’s side. I only agreed that until we had something real to follow, taking cases was all we could do. 

I said my goodbyes to Gus and headed inside. Sam saw me come in, holding up a hand to wave me over. It seemed their squabbling had simmered on its own - I couldn’t help but notice the vacant seat that was now left between them.

With a small smile of greeting, I hopped onto the middle seat, eyes skimming the menu suspended on the wall. The smell of pancakes and bacon was almost intoxicating enough to make me forget we were looking for a job. 

“So, got anything?” I asked, eyeing the newspaper spread out in front of Dean.

“Think so,” Dean placed the page in front of me, the article he had circled in red capturing my attention. 

“Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin.” He began, paraphrasing. “Last week Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn’t walk out. Authorities dragged the water; nothing.”

I stared at the photo they had used of Sophie. It struck me that she was only a few years younger than I was. I remembered taking my yearbook picture like it was yesterday. Dean continued, “She’s the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either.”

I admitted it sounded like our kinda gig, but more than that, Sophie’s life was over before her senior year was and nobody had a clue what had happened to her. I felt like her family was owed the truth.  

“Alright, Lake Manitoc,” I said, nodding. “I’ll get breakfast to go then.”

We made the thousand miles from Wyoming to Wisconsin in about two days. We made an overnight stop at a motel for what I knew was my sake - despite Sam’s protests that he and Dean were tired too. We both knew they could’ve made the trip in half the time without me, but Dean insisted I was doing them both a favor for coming with them. I was grateful regardless, I wasn’t used to living on the road like they were. Apart from Sam’s hiatus to college, this was the only lifestyle they had ever known, and it seemed old habits really did die hard, as he had adjusted back to it with ease. If my aunt Joni hadn’t taken me and Gus in when my mom died, we probably would have faced the same upbringing.

Since I had hit the road with the Winchester boys, I had thought over my decision profusely. There wasn’t much else to do on our travels but listen to the radio and think, until the ever-moving horizon turned my brain to jelly. 

I realized I might have been a bit rash, tossing my college degree aside to come with them, but I had convinced myself it was the right thing to do. Their dad was missing, and Sammy was grieving, and whilst I could never imagine myself completely embracing hunting as a lifestyle, it offered me the kind of freedom I had been craving my whole life. 

I had decided that I would stick with them at the very least until we found their dad, alive and well. I owed John that much considering all he had done for my mom before she passed. 

It was around midday when we reached town and we didn’t plan on wasting the day. Sam and Dean took off right away to talk to the Carlson’s. I didn’t have an ID for the Wildlife Service (I’d have to get that one made for the future), so I checked us into a motel and began digging through website after website for anything on the history of the lake. 

I didn’t mind being left alone for a while. I had been stuck in a car with them both bickering for two days so I rather appreciated the silence. I sat cross-legged on the bed in my room, Sam’s laptop propped up on my lap. I really hadn’t been snooping, but I had saved a document to the computer and when I searched for it in his recent items, I stumbled across a picture of him and Jess. I was compelled to click on it. From the costumes and the date on the file, it was from Halloween, just days before... 

Jess was dressed as a nurse, but I wasn’t surprised to see Sam not in costume. He had never liked the holiday - too much crazy in his life already, I supposed. She was in his arms, and they were both beaming at the camera. That wasn’t for me to see, and it only infuriated me. I closed the file, slammed the laptop shut and pushed it aside, suddenly feeling very guilty. Sam had been happy. He was doing what he wanted for the first time in his life. I had been so proud when he was accepted into Stanford, I had even been the one to send him off. But now it was back, the thing that had killed his mom, and it was fucking with his life once again. Maybe I was going to have to stick around to see the thing dead after all. 

I jumped at the sound of my ringtone. It was Dean. 

“Hey, what you got?” I asked, nonchalant. 

“We’re on our way down to the police station now,” he informed me. I could hear the rumble of the Impala’s engine in the background. “We were just at the Carlton’s house. Sophie’s brother Will says she was a hundred yards out, when she was dragged under.”

“Well, what did he see?” I inquired, sitting upright as he peaked my interest. So far, we really had no clue as to what we were dealing with. 

“He wasn’t there.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “But if he didn’t see anything, how can he be sure she didn’t just drown?” I had to ask the obvious, we had to be certain this was our kind of job. 

“Sophie was a varsity swimmer.” Dean said shortly.

“Oh.” That was good enough for me. “I think I have something too.” I began. “It’s a good thing you called before, I looked into the area. Manitocs’ dam is falling apart and the town can’t get a grant to repair it-”

I heard him and Sam discussing something in low tones so I wasn’t sure he was really listening. “Dean? Listen, this is important. It could blow your cover with the Sheriff. The lake’s gotta be the source of this thing, but it’s going to be gone in a few months, so I was thinking that might explain the increase in bodies, right?”

I waited for his judgement, but all I got was some feedback on the other end of the line. He was distracted. “Alright, good job, we’ll be back soon.”

I busied myself with reading John’s journal the rest of the day. Dean had left it with me for research, but, naturally, I was distracted by the vast knowledge it contained. I soaked up page after page of notes on creatures I didn’t even know were real, some I hadn’t ever heard of. John’s sketches were terrifying. I noted down a few phone numbers scrawled in the margins that caught my eye - I presumed they were family friends so I set them aside for Dean to call later. It didn’t feel like my place to follow them up myself, but I thought maybe one of them may have heard from the eldest Winchester.

A couple hours passed, I had exhausted my resources and was staring idly out of the window, consumed in a daydream, when I caught a glimpse of the Impala turning into the motel lot. 

There was a knock on my door a minute later, I called out that it was open and Sam stuck his head through the gap to tell me that they were back. I was still a little dazed, and he must’ve noticed because he frowned at me slightly before coming to a stop at the foot of the bed. 

“You okay?” He asked, shrugging off his jacket.

I gave him my full attention, suddenly burdened by a surge of guilt as I remembered how I had invaded his privacy earlier. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. What did the cops say?” I said, turning our focus back to the case. 

“We talked to the sheriff,” he informed me, the bed dipping slightly as he sat on the edge. “He did a sonar sweep of the entire lake.”

“And?” I prompted, hopeful, as there was another knock on the door.

“And nothing.” Dean interrupted his brother, shutting the door behind himself. “Lake was clean.”

“Well I dug up as much as was on public record...” I scooted down the bed, to present my finds to them. I flicked through the disordered stack of paper that was my research until I found what I was looking for. “Turns out there’s been six more victims over the last thirty-five years, and none of those bodies were recovered either.” Dean paced the length of the room in thought, his arms folded. “The most recent three were all only in the last couple of months.”

Dean scratched his chin before deciding, “I think you were right about the dam. The lake’ll be gone soon so it’s upping the body count.”

“Whatever this thing is, it’s running out of time to get what it wants.” I concluded grimly.

“So, what?” Sam interjected, setting the records aside. “We got a lake monster on a binge?” 

We exchanged glances - all three of us skeptical. “The whole lake-monster theory- it just bugs me.” Sam said, not yet satisfied with the verdict.

“Maybe a water spirit?” I offered half-heartedly.  

“We have to find out more about this thing before somebody else gets hurt,” Dean decided.

“Dean, we don’t have any leads.” Sam said shortly. He turned to me to elaborate. “Will wouldn’t let us talk to his dad.”

“I mean, the poor guy...” I muttered at the thought of Sophie’s father.

“I don’t know,” Sam said unconvinced, glancing at his brother. “Did you get the feeling he wasn’t telling us everything?”

“You should’ve seen the look on his face,” Dean told me. 

I glared at him. “Yeah well, next time we need to pose as Federal Wildlife I’ll have my ID ready.” 

“Barr.” Sam interrupted suddenly. He was peering at his laptop in thought, eyes tracing the screen as he read. “Barr. Where have I heard that name before?” 

Christopher Barr was one of the three recent victims. I learned he had been married to the Sheriff’s daughter, Andrea, who the boys had met down at the station along with their son Lucas. Sam mentioned there had been some shameless flirting on Dean’s part, of course, but I cut him some slack - he hadn’t realized she was a widow. A year ago, Christopher had taken Lucas swimming when he disappeared just like Sophie Carlton. The poor kid was left floating on a wooden platform for two hours before he was rescued.

“Maybe we have an eye witness after all,” I muttered, exchanging grim glances with the pair of them. None of us wanted to drag a kid back into this mess but it was looking more and more like the only lead we had. 

“No wonder that kid was so freaked out,” Dean remarked. “Watching one of your parents die isn’t something you just get over.”

I skimmed my eyes over him. 

Damn. I had forgotten hunts could get like this; really fucking personal. 

My mom had been dead for almost nine years now. It was an accident; I was thirteen. That’s how I had really met the Winchesters. My dad had been out of the picture for years, so when she passed we fell under the care of my aunt Joni, as my mom’s only living relative. Joni had the funeral once we moved to Oregon so Gus and I could still be close to her. I got my first glimpse of Sam and Dean at the service. Even among crowds of people I had never met, the pair of them stuck out like sore thumbs. I didn’t know it then, but they had come to attend in the place of their dad, an old friend of my mom’s, who was... otherwise unavailable. 

 As if high school wasn’t brutal enough, I had to start freshman year, not once, but twice. Had I not bumped into Sam underneath the bleachers on that very first day, my life would probably be very different now. It had been his first day too, Sam and Dean had enrolled for a couple of months, and we quickly found we had more in common than just that. Dead moms, annoying brothers, and the like. I had never had a friend like Sam before, but with the Winchester’s arrival in town, so came the sudden presence of the supernatural into my life. 

It hadn’t really been their fault, it was just a coincidence. In fact, had they not realized a poltergeist had latched itself onto my brother and I, we probably would have died. They said it was attracted to the negative emotions surrounding my mom’s death - the grief, the anger. When everything was over, Sam told me what he’d been hiding from me, his family secret; the truth of what was really out there - and it scared the shit out of me. I had just been a kid, trying to wrap my head around the concept of death and the loss of my only parent. But what was the existence of the supernatural after dealing with all of that?

I hadn’t realize that there were other ways for death to cripple a kid until I saw Lucas. I didn’t think it was such a good idea - going to a playground without a kid - but Dean insisted we play it cool. With a bit of subtle stalking, we found Andrea and her son on the grass - the kid a few feet away, his head down as he drew with a fistful of crayons. Sam and I let Dean take the lead on this one.

“Can we join you?” he asked Andrea, casually.

Dean was undoubtedly a people person, though he didn’t always come off that way. He was also good with kids, which didn’t take me by surprise like it did everyone else. I knew he had practically raised Sam himself, but sometimes when he wore his aloof attitude for too long, even I could forget this side of him. 

Andrea looked up. “I’m here with my son.” She was pretty, I noticed. 

“Oh. Mind if I say hi?” Dean said, already making his way across the grass.

“He’s harmless, I promise,” I smiled sitting beside her. I held out a hand, “I’m Y/N by the way, we haven’t have the chance to meet.”

She introduced herself politely, still looking uneasy about Dean approaching her son. Sam interjected with some timely small talk. 

“Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing is not gonna work on me,” Andrea said, eyeing him stubbornly. I suppressed a smirk as I realized she was attracted to him.

“I don’t think that’s what this is about,” Sam told her, sitting next to me.

“He seems wonderful,” I said, watching Dean kneel beside the small boy. “Lucas, is it?”

Andrea smiled warmly. “He’s a real good kid.”

I nodded. “I have a kid brother,” I felt compelled to tell her. “He’s a little older than Lucas.”

“They grow up fast, don’t they?” Andrea remarked.

“Just wait ‘til he starts bringing bugs into the house,” I warned her, earning a laugh from her. 

Andrea seemed more comfortable after that, as I had hoped. She eyed Sam and I for a moment. “So, how long have you two been together?” 

“Oh no-” I shook my head.

Sam cleared his throat, “We’re not-”

Despite the same assumption being made incessantly over the years we been friends, we had never learned how to deal with it.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Andrea said, and the three of us sat in an awkward silence broken only by Dean’s return. 

Before he said anything, she began explaining her son’s disposition to us. Since his dad’s accident, Lucas hadn’t said a word, not even to her. Doctors had said it wasn’t an uncommon result of post traumatic stress when it came to kids. 

“You know, he used to have such life.” Andrea sighed, watching Lucas with the kind of softness only a mother could harbor for her child.

“He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there. Drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish...” Her sentence trailed away from her as Lucas approached us, a picture in his hand.

Andrea smiled at him.“Hey sweetie.”

But Lucas stopped in front of Dean, his head down, holding out one of his drawings . 

“Thanks.” Dean looked taken aback, swiftly accepting it. “Thanks, Lucas.”

Lucas quickly returned to his mother’s side, but Dean seemed troubled as he stared at the page. He flipped it over for Sam and I to see, whilst Andrea’s back was turned - it was a simple picture of a house, but it left the three of us unsettled. Was this Lucas trying to tell us something?

GIF CREDITS

1. @always-keep-writing

2,3. @gracefuldean

TAG LIST 

@be-with-me-for-evermore

@a-little-bit-of-everythin

@puppies-make-me-extra-happy

@for-a-brothers-love

@that-was-scary

@sherlock44

@dean-is-my-favorite

@blxrrytylxr

[duhragonball]

what don't you like about Hocus Pocus as a movie?? :O i'm just curious!

Okay, so it’s 1993, I’m sixteen years old, and my dad wants to see a movie.   I miss my dad, but sometimes he’d get these ideas to do something and it made no difference if I wanted to participate or not.   He wants to see a movie, so we’re all going to go see a movie, never mind that there’s nothing playing that I want to see.   I’m not sure that he really wanted to see Hocus Pocus.  It’s just that this was what was playing on the day he got the urge. 

Now, keep in mind, he didn’t insist on us all seeing the same movie.   We could watch something else if we wanted, but the choices were extremely limited.   Apparently Weekend at Bernies II opened that month, but I doubt it was playing at the theater we went to.    This was a small town theater, and they couldn’t run every show at once.   I’m pretty sure our only choices were Hocus Pocus and Son-In-Law, starring Paulie Shore.  

Like, okay, so Paulie Shore was this guy who became kind of famous for being a dork on MTV.    I can’t remember if he was a comedian or what exactly, but I’m not sure he was ever really considered “cool”.   By 1993, the backlash against Paulie Shore was in full effect, and Son-In-Law felt like a crass attempt to cash in on what little star power the dude had before the bottom finally fell out.   The movie looked like a paint-by-numbers story about a family of farmers who have no idea what to do with this wacky party dude who married into their family.   My brothers confirmed that the movie was exactly as bad as I thought it would be.   But they picked that movie because we knew Hocus Pocus would be even worse.

As for me, I thought about it and decided, “You know what, I’m not going to enjoy tonight no matter what happens, so I’m going with Hocus Pocus.  Let’s see just how bad it can be.”

I realize that it has gone on to become this beloved Halloween classic, and I’m pretty sure that’s only because Disney runs this movie constantly on TV whenever October rolls around.   At 16, I pretty much had that all figured out.   Disney made the movie so that years later they could use it as Halloween-themed programming on their TV networks.   I knew this because the trailer looked like every other corny movie Disney aired on their TV networks.    I watched the trailer a minute ago, and as soon as the voice over guy started talking I thought “I knew it was gonna be this guy, I can’t stand him.”

“Back in sixteen nointey three....”  I can’t express how irritating that voice is.    He did saccharine voice-overs for so much terrible Disney programming throughout my childhood.   “Get ready... to watch a terrible movie.”  

I just don’t like Disney stuff very much.   I know they own Star Wars and Marvel Comics, but my tolerance for their animated films is very low, the Bugs Bunny cartoons are funnier than the Mickey Mouse cartoons, and their live action “fun for the whole family” movies are the worst.   This trailer can’t decide if it’s scary or funny, and it ends up being neither.   Bette Midler looks ri-friggin-ridiculous, and I’m pretty sure that’s the idea, but everyone in the movie takes her dead serious.   She’s the leader of the witches, the townsfolk in the flashback are terrified of her, and the kids in the present day know that she has to be stopped at all costs.    But she looks like Queen Elizabeth I wearing fake novelty teeth.   Did the props department not have any of those Groucho Marx glasses with the nose and mustache on them?

The only thing that sort of appealed to me was the idea of them time traveling to the 20th Century, my century, and being completely confused.    I think there was a brief clip in another trailer where one of the kids takes a swing at the witches with a baseball bat, and I thought “Yeah, that could probably work.   I’d watch a movie where a 90′s kid takes down a crappy witch with nothing but pluck and a handy weapon.”    Sort of like, I don’t know...

Sadly, this did not happen.    All the adults made bad jokes and stared at Sarah Jessica Parker’s boobs, and the kids only beat the witches because they’re too goofy to be effective at killing people.  It just really had nothing to offer me.   So I sat in the theater and stewed in my own juices, probably thinking about Batman comics that I could have been reading at home if I hadn’t been dragged out to see Hocus Pocus. 

I suppose that, aside from the inherent badness of the movie itself, part of what bugs me about Hocus Pocus is that watching it felt like being punished for something I didn’t even do.  I feel like too much of my childhood was spent holding still and waiting patiently so someone else can have a good time.  I guess I could have thrown a fit and gotten out of it somehow, or snuck out of the theater and waited in the lobby to go home, or watched Son-in-Law, but none of those choices appealed to me either.  No, I have to be big about it and waste two hours doing something I don’t want to do, and no one even appreciates it.  Why should anyone appreciate it?   It was just me passively putting up with nonsense.  It accomplished nothing, just like the movie, which really doesn’t land any good jokes or say anything particularly interesting about the subject matter.  Maybe I’m getting too deep into this, but honestly, I can’t remember that much about the movie itself.    I watched clips of it to refresh my memory and they’re all bad, but I don’t remember any of them.    I just remember being really mad the whole time. 

In the interests of fairness, I’ll include the one work of Bette Midler’s that I actually enjoyed.

“Oh no, Bette Midler!”

[choisgirls]

Could you write a scenario where RFA + V and Saeran decided to prank MC (because it’s haLLOWEN) by scaring her while she was wandering around 707’s bunker? Sorry for disturbing you. ^^"

A/N: You aren’tdisturbing me, love!!! hhmm im gonna do my best here! ^^ I’m gonna mix it upand do a fic for this because can you imagine all of them trying to do it ~atonce~

Words: 3,830

Pairings: None!

Theme: RFSpook!

Warnings: Um, slight gore mentions? But it’s all costumes, I swear! But it’s here as a warning!

Under a cut due to length!

Masterlist~

Of course Saeyoungwanted to have a personal party at his bunker, and of course he had to go allout and completely decorate it for Halloween. I’m talking the dark ambiance,the skeletons, the spider webs you were positive were real and probably droveVanderwood crazy- you were positive he even had his bunker renovated solely forthis party. You don’t remember him having a literaltrap door in front of his door before- password yes, trap door no.

When you arrived tothe front door, you knew better than to stand right in front of it. That doorin the floor was not subtle, not even in the slightest. You rang the bell andhoped he would hear it, considering you could hear his Spooky Mix Soundtrack, Tape 7 (you knew that was its name becausethat’s all he would mention in the group chat for weeks) blaring throughsurround sound speakers. The door seemed to creak open enough to show it haddone it on its own. You sighed, knowing that agreeing to this “party”was already a mistake. You pushed the door open all the way, peeking in andcalling out for Saeyoung. When there wasn’t an answer, you stepped in andclosed the door behind you. You debated turning around and leaving, honestly.

The inside of hisbunker looked nothing like it normally did. It looked like a completely newhouse. You thought he only decorated intensely outside- you were wrong. Youstood in the entryway, taking in the scene before you. The music switched tosomething ominous and a terrifyingly echo of a laugh traveled through thehouse. Saeyoung, what the fuck?

And with that, thescreen turned black and retracted back into the ceiling. You blinked inconfusion and shook your head in annoyance. ‘Why? Why can’t we have a nice,normal get together?’ You thought to yourself. You loved them all and normallyhad fun, but you weren’t the type to scare easily. Not to mention, you wereready from some treats, not this trick.

You moved forward,walking down a hall lined with old portraits. The eyes followed you as youwalked- but you paid them no mind. You figured it was Saeyoung attempting tohide his cameras to watch you. How long was this hallway? You’ve been walkingfor around 5 minutes, this is way too long. You stop and watch as you movebackwards without your feet lifting. You look down to find the floor had beenturned into a moving walkway. You give an unamused look to the closest paintingbefore taking large steps to make it to the end, jumping off of the walkway toventure on.

The room beyond thehallway held nothing but a large standing mirror in the middle of it and a dooropposite the one you came in from. You looked around, turning quickly when thedoor slammed shut behind you. Why would there just randomly be a mirror inhere? What kind of joke was this? Looking behind it, you see nothing and noone. After a few minutes of trying to open either door and trying to find anysort of clue on how to get out, you stand in front of this mirror.

You check out youroutfit- should you have worn a better costume? Did you make it too simple? Yourmundane thoughts were cut short when you start to notice the room filling withfog. The once clear image of yourself was quickly becoming a blur as the mirrorfogged up as well. Suddenly, a hand smacked from the other side of the mirror,dragging down to leave behind streaks- you watched as it fogged back up. ‘Isthat it?’ you thought to yourself, ‘Is it really just some weird projectionscreen? Do they think fog is gonna scare me?’ Words started to scribble out onthe mirror, you read them each out loud as they showed up.

“'Hello, MC. I’mwatching.. you… Would you… like to see… me? Just.. close your eyes.. andstep.. through.. I won’t.. bite…’ Wait- I know that handwriting,” yourealized, shooting a disgruntled look behind the mirror quickly to watch acertain small, blonde boy in a creepy, bloody monster costume jump and squealat your movement.

“MC! You weresupposed to be scared, not scare me!” he whined, “Were you even alittle afraid?” When you shook your head, he threw his hands up inexasperation before dropping them to cross his arms and curl his lip into apout. “That isn’t fair. I looked on the internet for weeks on how do this!I had to ask Saeyoung for help! ….Really, not even a little bit?” Youoffered him a sympathy shrug and had to pat the back of his head gently when hethrew his forehead against your shoulder to pout and cry a little about. Youheard mumbles of 'I’m a man’ and 'I can be scary too’. He sent you on your waythrough the door to move on to the next room. You had to give it to Saeyoung,he went all out in renovating just for this haunted house.

The next room was setup like an old school library- books lined the walls, floor to ceiling. A deskwith a large, cushion chair pushed towards the side of the room. Like theprevious room, the door slammed shut and you assumed it was already locked. Youlooked around, watching for the next so called 'scare’ so you could move on.The lights started to flicker and shut off. The window to the room screeched asthe wind and rain pounded against it. Lightning illuminated the room for meremoments, you knew how this was going to play out, so you stand and wait untilyou see a large, dark figure in front of you. With each crack of light, thefigure came closer and closer, until it was right in front of you and threwtheir arms open, revealing themselves from under their cape, letting out aloud, deep “boo”.

With the flick of yourwrist, you turn on your phone flashlight and find yourself face to face with acertain Jumin Han, with his tongue out between his face vampire fangs, lookingas unamused as you did.

“I will, uh, suckyour blood, MC. Bleh bleh bleh.” he said, bringing his hands up to make aslight 'rawr’ action. You stared at him, dead in the eye, face void of allemotion. He gave a soft shrug before standing up straight. “I made myattempt. I didn’t wish to really participate in this, but we know how Saeyoung canbe,” he elegantly produced a key from the sleeve of his shirt, offering itto you before gesturing to the large door behind him. “Feel free to keepgoing, MC. You’ve got quite a few to get through before we can have our party.I’ll make sure to keep a glass of wine just for you.”

The next room was setup like an eloquent dining room. A table dawned with a crisp white table clothand silver cloche in the middle of it, shiny and inviting. That would be whereyou’d have to go- but maybe they were tricky and did it to throw you off.

You don’t even botherwith the doors, anymore. You know you need to find the key to get out. The fasteryou’re out, the faster this party and go on, and the faster you can make ithome to eat that candy you tried convincing yourself you would share.

Looking through all ofthe napkins that lined different tables, you found nothing- you sighed. Youwere going to have to take it upon yourself to look under the cloche. Who’sroom was this? What was waiting under there?

You lifted it upquickly, already expecting something to jump out at you. Instead, you take alook at Jaehee’s head- bloody, pale, and a fountain pen right through her eye.You blinked, frowning a little bit. Reaching out, you touched a little bit ofthe blood dripping down her face.

Her hand shot out fromunder the table, grabbing onto your leg. You didn’t even flinch.

“Really, MC? Eventhat didn’t frighten you? Hmm. Was it the makeup? Was it not scaryenough?” She removed her head from the hole in the table and popped outfrom under the tablecloth. She was dressed in one of her older work suits.

“It’s hard tobelieve it when it smells like strawberry jam,” you remarked, licking offthe jam from your finger, “Dare I even ask about your costume? You’re in adining room, shouldn’t you be in more.. food related attire?”

“I have to workon paperwork after this party. I figured I’d make my costume realistic to whatmy emotions will be later on,” she answered without skipping a beat. Younodded in understanding and asked for the key to move on, which she was happyto supply if that meant she could go sit in an actual chair rather than crampedunder that table.

The next room held aring of full length mirrors- you had a feeling you knew who’s room this was.

“Zen!” youcalled, standing in the center of them, “Come here! I want to just getthis party going!” You watched as he walked up, in all 3 mirrors, tostrike a pose in his prince costume.

“MC! How did youknow it was me?” he asked, flicking his hair over his shoulder, “Wecan go to the party later! First! Let’s play~” he shot you a wink beforemoving closer to the mirrors, all four of them seemed to be looking you in theeye. “Time to play, Which is the Real Zen! Choose wisely,sweetheart~” he sang. You looked closely at all of them, stepping closerto the one in the middle- you stretched your hand out, reaching for him, whensuddenly his arm flew out of the one to your left, wrapping around your waistand pulling you through to a completely dark portion of the room. You sighedwhen the lights turned on and you found the room completely packed with fullbody, and extremely accurate, wax models of Zen. You knew he was taking theseall home at the end of the day- that is if Jaehee doesn’t get her hands on themfirst.

“I suppose I haveto come find you?” you ask loudly, hearing your voice echo- but were metwith no response. Great. This could take a little while. 'Everyone else triedto be scary,’ you thought to yourself, 'But nnooo Zen has to be overdramatic. Ijust want some pizza.’

Carefully examiningeach figure you pass by, one of them near the door catches your attention.Squinting in suspicion, you walk up to it, eyeing it up and down. You lean inclose as he jumps, throwing his hands out to grab you, yelling a loud 'boo’.You just stared at him, crossing your arms and tilting your head slightly tomatch the frown on your face.

“…MC do youhave a soul, at all. Does anything scare you? Anything?” you shook yourhead as he threw his hands up in exasperation before leading you through thenext door. With a swift bow, he closed the door behind you, leaving you in aroom decked out in children’s decor.

You have to admit toyourself that this room gave you the creeps- but only because it looked sosimilar to your own childhood bedroom… wait.. the.. the stuffed animals onthe bed, the stickers on the wall- this was completely a replica of yourchildhood bedroom. Well, isn’t that creepy. Who would recreate your bedroomjust for this stupid joke?

Out of the corner ofyour eye, the rocking chair started to move and a small shadow darted aroundbehind you. Turning towards the area where the ruckus had been, you ended upface to face with a creepy baby doll, suspended from the ceiling- it started togoo and cry, until the voice box started to die and it’s once sweet voiceturned more demonic. You frowned and yanked it off of its suspended wires,tossing it over your shoulder.

“Just come outalready! I’m so tired of all these stupid-” you started, before you werecut off by your knee giving out suddenly from a hard impact. You whipped yourhead around to find a tall figure sitting on a tiny tricycle, their face lookedporcelain and broken. A creepy, child-like laugh came from the person, as theysuddenly lunged at you, knocking you down and sitting over you. Leaning closeto your face, the creepy laugh continued as the person grabbed hold of the tearin their face, pulling down both sides. All that you could hear is a maniacallaugh, and the ripping sound of this person’s 'skin’. You could see the gluetearing and as the 'blood’ fell to your face, you could smell it was strawberryjam- Jaehee must have helped out there.

“Hi Vanderwood,”you stared completely unfazed by the scene above you. He finished taking offthe glued on mask and wiped part of his face off with his sleeve, shooting youa disapproving look.

“I spent thiswhole time trying to get the damn mask on. Do you know how sticky this is? Theglue and the jam? It’s fucking sticky, MC, this isn’t fun for me,” hespat, getting up and offering his hand to help you up. “I’m starting tothink you’re some sort of robot instead of human, we could use you in theagency,” he mused, crossing his arms and watching as you dusted yourselfoff, sneering at his offer.

“That’s probablythe scariest thing I’ve heard all day, thank you,” you held your hand outexpectantly, “give me the key and I’ll keep going so we can actually eatsomething.” With a roll of his eyes, you’ve got the key in the palm ofyour hand and you’re on your way to the next room.

This room had acomplete wall of screens, and you knew it was bound to be one of the Choitwins- now which one was it?

Deep, creepy laughtererupted from the screens, causing you to sigh for the forty seventh time today.Looking at the monitors, you’re met with the mask from earlier in the night-you definitely know which Choi it was this time.

“Saeyoung, youreally went all out for this party. I can’t believe you  spent all this time even renovating yourhouse-”

“I KNOW NOT OFTHIS 'SAEYOUNG’ YOU SPEAK ABOUT. MC, TELL ME, WILL YOU PLAY A GAME?” hecut you off, yelling into his voice changer. You crossed your arms and mutteredsome choice words under your breath before turning around to address the soundyou were hearing.

In the center of theroom, a single table rose from a secret floor compartment, dawning a clear boxwith a hole large enough to stick your arm in- the other end of the box heldthe key to the next door.

“The game issimple, MC- stick your hand inside the box, and answer a few questions. Youwin, you get the key!” he followed his explanation with a creepy, darkgiggle. You looked at the screens and raised an eyebrow, sticking your arm intothe box.

“And if Ilose?” you asked, watching him clap with glee.

“THEN YOU REALLYLOSE, AHAHAHA!” A locked clamp attached itself to your arm and your eyesfocused on the box as small saws in the side of the box activated and waited tomake their move. You frowned a little bit and turned back to him.

“Are you ready MC?No? Too bad!” he giggled, leaning close to the camera, “QUESTION ONE!We’ll keep it easy on this question- WHAT IS THE BINARY FOR 'SAEYOUNG IS THEBEST’? YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS!” You stared at the screen, spacing outcompletely- you didn’t know this. If you did, five seconds wasn’t long enoughto recite it. He imitated an annoying buzzer sound before telling you time wasup- the saws in the box moved a bit closer to your arm as you just stared atthem, wondering just how much time this boy had on his hands to make this.

“ROUND TWO, DINGDING! What part of fish-shaped bread do I eat first?” he tapped hisfingers together, expectantly. Hell- you don’t remember! Most of the time, youforget he actually eats anything else besides chips…

“The…head?” you guessed. He’s a sadist, maybe he gets pleasure from ripping offthe poor fish-bread’s head off.

“DING DONG, YOUARE WRONG!” he yelled followed by an evil giggle, “The belly, MC! Thebelly is the best! You know that!” you sighed- you did know that. Whydidn’t you guess that? The sound of the saw got louder as you watched it dropeven closer to your arm.

“ONE MORE CHANCE,MC. OR YOU’LL HAVE TO WAVE GOODBYE TO YOUR ARM! Oh, but wait, you won’t be ableto, AHAHAHA!” Your previous frown deepened- he’s enjoying himself too muchhere. “FINAL QUESTION! What, in this world, makes our very own Jumin Hananxious?” Oh! You knew this! You looked him straight in the eyes andanswered.

“Diagonals insuits,” You answered with confidence, yet he hit the error button anyway.

“YOU’RE CORRECT!But, due to the circumstances, I’m going to deny the fact that you are correct.Say goodbye to your precious hand, MC!” You turned back to the box towatch the saws drop, almost touching your skin. You didn’t even flinch. Youknew he would never actually hurt you. You turned back to the screens, raisingan eyebrow at the redhead as he removed his mask. “Aw, MC! Not even a blink?Seriously? Those are real saws!” he sighed in defeat and turned them off,allowing you to remove your arm and open the other side that held the key.“I worked so hard for all of this and you haven’t been scared once! Not atall! You’re a robot. That’s it- I’ve cracked the code!” With a roll ofyour eyes and a flick of your hand, you waved him off and ventured to the nextroom.

Taking in the decor ofthe next room- it was almost as if you were outside in an actual graveyard. Younotice a ghostly figure walk through the wall- how did they set that up?

You looked above you-a projector, of course.

Opening above groundcoffins, looking at tombstones for any tricks, you searched for the key. Youwere getting real fucking tired of these ghosts screeching and walking throughyou. You felt a tap on your shoulder and sighed.

“I don’t know howyou got the projectors to actually tap me but I’m no longer in the mood forthis shit,” you called before taking a look over your shoulder. You sawSaeran dressed as a skeleton with an annoyed look on his face that rivals yourown- he was holding out his hand to help you off of the ground where you hadsat to think things through.

“Look, I’m not inthe mood either, I just fucking want some pizza,” he said pulling you toyour feet. Yes, finally, someone agrees with you. “Just take this and beover with it, please. Saeyoung will not let us eat until you walk through thatdoor and I’m real close to fighting him.” He held his other hand out toreveal a- dare you say it- skeleton key. You took it and turned, headingtowards the door, when a hand shot out of the dirt of a grave, grabbing yourankle and yanking you to the ground hard, as it starts to try and pull youthrough the dirt itself.

You look up at Saeranwith an unfazed look marking your face, as his expression mirrors yours beforehe kicks the hand off of your leg.

“I forgot to turnthe robots off,” he gave the lame excuse as you put your hands to yourhips, mocking him with a ridiculous imitation of him.

“I forgot to turnthe robots off,” you stuck your tongue out at him before walking towardsthe door again, this time avoiding the graves between. He followed behind,mumbling something along the lines of, 'You’re lucky I just want food,’ and, 'Ishould’ve pushed you into one of those graves’. Someone was hangry, but thenagain, so were you. Please, let the food be on the other side of this door.

Throwing the dooropen, you were greeted with the scent of the pizza that has been promised,amongst various other foods. Your friends stood around the room, welcoming youto the end of the line and congratulating you on your journey. You all spent atleast half an hour eating, describing how their pranks went, and how you seemedto not be afraid of anything. Laughter erupted from your chest, waving offtheir assumptions. You opened your eyes because you felt something crawling onyour arm.

With your heartbeating out of your chest and your eyes as wide as saucers, you slowly lookdown at your arm as everyone looks with you. There, crawling slowly to yourshoulder, was a gigantic spider. You stared for a moment, trying to processyour thoughts.

A loud, shrill screambubbled out of your throat as you swat at the spider to get it off. Yourepeatedly jumped in place, shaking, doing anything you could to make sure thespider was truly off of you. You even jumped into Jumin’s arms, knowing he wasthe tallest and therefore the furthest away you could get from that evil thing.

Everyone ran away fromthe furry thing, hiding behind any object they could. There was a soft gigglefrom under the food table. You watched as a familiar head of mint hair poppedout from under the table cloth, shooting one of his award-winning smiles at allof you. He gently coaxed his eight-legged friend back into his container andstood up, laughing again.

“You guys triedso hard to scare MC.. but you should have stuck to the classics,” he said,now shoving a cookie into his mouth to hide the sly smirk that spread acrosshis face. You looked at him, amazed that Jihyun, this sweet yet devilish man,could scare you. With a spider, of all things.

The good title of the“Undefeated Scare” was ruined. You have been bested by a mint man andhis spider companion. You couldn’t believe it.

Your heart was stillracing, and you could still feel the ghost of the creatures legs running upyour body.

Well, Happy Halloweento you.

[chryseis]

25 bookish facts about me! I was tagged by @violaeade ♡

1. Found families and ensemble casts are my favourite things! Especially when they go hand-in-hand.

2. When I was in grade 5 our teacher made us keep these ‘reading logs’. You had to record everything you read and how long you read. If you didn’t read the minimum weekly amount (I think it was half an hour or something), you received a 15 minutes detention on Friday. Even though I read all the time, I was-- for some reason-- really against filling out the sheet. I spent a lot of Fridays in detention in 2005. 3. One of the times I did fill out my log was after I read Art Spiegelman’s Maus I and II for the first time. This same teacher refused to count them because they were ‘picture books’. I got detention for not reading enough ‘real books’ that week. She really sucked. Call out post @ Ms. Stockton. 4. My go-to favourite book is The Secret History. 5. Shortly after The Goldfinch came out, I served this handsome guy at work who was holding a copy. I told him that I hadn’t read it yet, but that I loved The Secret History, and we chatted for a bit. A few weeks later he came back  and asked me if I remembered him. I said yes, and he asked if I’d read The Goldfinch yet. I said no, and he took his copy out of his bag and... gave it to me. He started talking about his favourite parts, and a few of his criticisms, and how he hoped I’d like it. I was speechless. When I went home that night, I started it immediately. It was kind of beat up, as if it was a couple decades old, instead of a couple months. I never saw him again, but I hope he’s doing amazing. 

6. The one tattoo I have is book related (a ley line, from The Raven Cycle), and most of the future ones I get will probably have the same bookish theme. I’m currently thinking about one that is a bit of a Lynburn Legacy/In Other Lands crossover. 7. I always, always have a book in my bag. If I don’t it’s because it’s an e-book on my phone. 8. I love book signings! I’ve met Scott Westerfeld 3 times, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, and Justine Larbelestier twice, and Sarah Rees Brennan and Suzanne Collins once. 9. I travelled from Toronto to Montreal last month (a seven hour bus ride out of province) to go to Sarah Rees Brennan’s book club and signing. I booked a cheap hotel for a night, and a round trip bus. That was extra, even for me, but her writing is incredibly important to me, and she’s such an awesome person. It was honestly one of the greatest two days of my life. 10. The second most extra thing I’ve done for a book signing was in 2010 or 2011 when Suzanne Collins came to Toronto. The event was free, but ticketed, and so my friend and I lined up outside the bookstore at 4:30 AM the morning they were releasing the tickets. It was freezing, but worth it. We were third and fourth in line, and a ton of people started showing up not to long after we got there.

11. Another bad school story: My teacher in grade 1 & 2 had ‘book bins’ that kids could read from. The thing was, everyone could only read from the bins with their names on it. We were grouped by reading level, so basically the kids with the ‘lowest’ reading level in the first bin were publicly shamed?? The bin with the ‘highest’ reading level was the last one, and mine was the only name on it. I was so smug about it at the time, but holy shit, that’s a terrible thing to do to kids.  12. For Halloween 2000 I was a tiny, pixie-haired Harry Potter. My mum had read the books to me, and I was obsessed. The film series hadn’t started yet, and no one knew who I was. Tiny Hannah was so sad! 13. My mum has worked in art galleries my whole life, so I was dragged to contemporary art shows through out my childhood. I’d frustrate her sometimes because she’d try to get me to look at the art, but I’d have my nose in a book. I think she eventually started to think it was pretty funny. 14. I think the first book I absolutely fell in love with was The Thief Lord in 2004. 15. I rarely read contemporary fiction unless I’ve heard amazing things. I’m a SF/F kind of girl. Except... 16. I’m in a book club! Long story of how I joined, but I’m the youngest by at least six years, and they all like contemporary fiction and romance, so that’s what I read... Still, they’re all really lovely women, and we have nice wine-and-potlucks. 17. I always get nervous starting thrillers/mysteries because the endings often don’t quite pay off. On the same note, I get super excited when they do! 18. I hate leaving books/series unfinished. I try my best to find something (a character, a plot detail) that helps me make it to the end, but sometimes I just can’t. 19. (I had to abandon Mara Dyer part way through book 1, ToG after book 3, and ACoTaR after book 1... I know people love those series, but they just aren’t for me). 20. The first book series I ever wrote fanfic for was The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. The stories are long-lost, but that series was stunning. 21. I was absolutely obsessed with the Warrior Cat books between 2003 and 2006. 22. And even more obsessed with Twilight between 2006 and 2009. I loved Alice so much. 23. My Goodreads TBR is currently 556 books long, and always growing. 24. I want to be published on day, so bad. 25. I never shut up about books, so shout out to my friends for dealing with that. Particularly @modesthubris​ lmao

No pressure to do this, but I’m tagging @kayascodelorio @mynamesdrstuff @modesthubris​ @hotdamnilton @ava-lavender @libraryleopard @displayheartcode​​ @roryglimore @alekszova​ and anyone who wants to do this!

[whenisitnottimeforbed]

Tricks Before Treats (Ichabbie Fanfic)

Well, I haven't done this in a while... I'm kind of excited, I guess- I finally have a new trope that I want to incorporate and I haven't been able to think of one till literally this night. I hope everyone can read this and think kindly back upon something from the show fondly.

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

It had been as far back as June when Abbie and Crane had gone out drinking with Jenny and the young Master Corbin, let the revelry take them and became more focused on the moment than the future, but Abbie was beginning to suspect Jenny hadn't been quite as inebriated as she'd made it seem. At some point during the night they'd made a bet on a game, she couldn't quite recall which one, but the prize had been to pick a costume for the loser come halloween. It had seemed like a drunk rambling kind of wager, the kind that made no sense before or after and would probably fade away with the memory of the night, and yet, without missing a beat, Jenny had showed up at Abbie's house with two hangers covered in travel bags giving both the the house's residents their task for the night.

Not only did they have to wear them, Jenny had further explained, but they had to go out and be seen in them. Not at a bar either- they always went to a bar or bowling, or a fright fest movie marathon of the old classics. This year, they were going to a Halloween fair, complete with a corn maze, apple bobbing, haunted houses, hayrides, pumpkin patches, and costume contests. Jenny also informed them they'd been entered in the couples division of such an event and she had money on their success.

Face heavy with makeup, Abbie could hardly stop smiling- a begrudging and duplicitous kind of smile- as she strode through the night in the field between all the other fairgoers in her large glittering pink dress with so many skirt layers that if puffed up a bit just below her knees. It had all the glittering satin overlay, puffy chiffon-like sleeves that bulged like orbs around her bicepts and a strapless corset bodice with magenta-purple ribbon and detail work. Her face was nearly bereft of visible skin, instead covered in eye shadow that went up to her eyebrows and out to her temples, and cheek contours all in glitter filled shades of pinkish or purplish with a few tiny glued on rhinestone assets at the corners of each eye, and dangling pink stoned earrings with multiple pieces. The only thing about the outfit she'd been allowed to use of her own choice were her boots, and only because Jenny had gotten the heel size wrong and there wasn't time to go out and get another pair. Ichabod thought she looked quite cute, but he'd thought twice about using those words and instead complimented her as looking delightful when they'd left.

Compared to her, Ichabod's couple of lines down the corner of his mouth and light 'wood' looking detail work down his face was nothing. He also wore... well, he actually wore something he was quite familiar with in style, though not color. While she'd been dubbed The Sugar Plum Fairy, Crane had been dressed as the red jacketed Nutcracker himself, complete with giant drum major hat and a real, working sword that he'd really bought off the internet some time ago when he'd learned such things could be done. Abbie always thought he looked good in uniform- and he filled it out well. Even if he didn't like the coat, she made sure he knew he was pulling it off. There was this look she'd give him, this one that he liked, and it had quelled all complaints about his implied patriotism.

"Jenny says the contest isn't till near the end of the night, so we just have to hang around till then." Abbie told him as they walked through throngs of witches, zombies, sexy "insert  prosaic noun here"s, Trump satire, wearable puns, and t-shirts that read "this IS my costume". A small group of teenagers came shoving by dressed in their best, most costume-less trappings and in such a rush that they neglected an 'excuse me' as they headed past the glaring fairy cop in their backpacks.

"If you'll excuse my ignorance," Crane began, redirecting her attention, "as I haven't seen the play these costumes seemed to be based on in any capacity more than televised advertisements and references within other works-"

"-I'll take you come Christmastime."

"-Appreciated- but, isn't the character whom I am portraying in love with a ballerina?"

"It's a ballet- everyone in it is a ballerina."

"Of course, but isn't my love interest some sort of music box statuette or toy?"

"Nope. She's a 10 year old girl, Crane."

"-...?"

"Yeah."

"And your Sugar Plum Fairy?"

"Just a benevolent character with a popular song."

"This doesn't seem to be a particularly well thought out 'couples' costume."

"Did I pick it out?"

"You're right, we're in this together."

"Always."

"Hey there, you two-" A man not unlike a carnival barker called to them, "The haunted hay ride's about to leave and we've got two spots just waiting for you, come on over- we promise a 'Frightfully' fun time!" The two of them stood for a moment, figuring whether or not they'd go, but what was the harm, it was still a while before the contest, and what else were they gonna do?

"Shall we, Ms. Fairy?" Ichabod asked, extending his arm with a teasing smile.

"Why, of course, Mr. Nut." She responded in kind, taking the offering.

"That's Mr. Cracke-"

"I'm not saying that."

The two of them were led back through the lane of stalls and to the edge where a few pumpkins had been arranged to create a line holding pattern, which they stepped over as no one was in line. Well, he 'had' needed to come out and grab people for it. When they arrived at the vehicle, though, it wasn't empty.

"Hahaha!" Jenny immediately began to laugh, "Man, you'd think I'd be done laughing about this by now."

"Yes- I would." Abbie agreed with a snide smile while Crane assisted her up on the lifted vehicle.

"Are you the Nutcracker and the Sugar Plum fairy?" A woman asked, she was was doing one of those sexy vaudevillian cigarette girl style costumes, "You guys look so cute together- way to play up the height difference."

"Oh, we got this contest in the bag." Jenny smiled, reaching up to compel a high five from the woman before leaning back with her arms over the back of the wooden railing holding in the hay on which they could sit.

"Alright, everybody, strap in for the most haunted hayride this side of Salem!" The man called from the truck, and then into a walkie "Cue it up, Dewey."

All at once lights flashed once at them, and some metal music blasted from speakers Abbie now noticed were attached to the sides of the truck. Up ahead, the sounds of screams rang out. The man inside laughed into a mic attached to the speakers, which did not cut out the music to let him speak,

"Listen to that? That's the sound of any who get taken away by the 'real' frights of our genuine haunted hayride! There have been some REAL mysterious happenings in our little town these last few years, and it's all for tonight!"

"Profiteering off of our work-" Ichabod leaned in to muse into his companion's ear as quietly as he could over the motor, the mic, and the music. As they rounded a curve, a spring loaded zombie jumped at the vehicle complete with it's own speaker sound effect, an orchestral screech, and a weird moan-scream. The only scream in the vehicle came from the vaudevillian woman who also reacted by ducking toward and clasping onto Ichabod's arm. Abbie glanced across Ichabod at the woman, and though she couldn't bring herself to say anything, as she had no real place to, it was clear she was upset. She harrumphed quietly, biting her bottom lip and sitting back with this posture and face that just begged what gave vaudeville the gall? There was a small bubble of nervousness from Ichabod, but it was easily overtaken with bemusement. He reached over with the offending arm, and tucked some of Abbie's neatly ringleted hair back behind her ear and gave her a smile. Glancing up at him, she immediately softened, relaxing again. She leaned into him and the woman on the otherside easily scooted a bit over, a light blush on her cheeks, but a little grin as she watched them.

"The undead walk our world tonight," The man in the truck began again, "led by denizens of the damned demons who torture them behind the gates of hell every other day of the year to come and drag down souls to take their place-"

Just then a giant pillar of fire exploded from up ahead, lighting the faces of everyone in the vehicle as they stared up into the sky at it.

"Who-ho-hoa-" Jenny smiled in awe.

"Impressive-" breathed Crane.

"Yeah, that's the best effects I've ever seen- Pyrotechnics went all out, huh?" Abbie agreed as the whole vehicle began to clap.

"Uh-" The mic cut out before the man talked into his walkie, barely audible beyond the music, "Godd*mnit, Dewey! Didn't I tell you to stay away from the 4th of July stuff!... Dewey-.... Dewey!" Crane turned to look at Abbie- his instincts were flaring up and if the look on her face was any indication, her's were too.

"Hey, is everything-" It was a good thing the lieutenant had gotten up to lean over the railing and speak to the man because if she'd stayed where she was, the super sped projectile that burst through his windshield and out the back window would have smashed right through her too, instead of just slamming the man's head into his door, exploding the sludgiest black mess on the windshield, the seat, and splattering it all over the bed of hay they rode on. The events managed to set the truck to speed forward with their driver's dead foot on the gas.

"Abbie!" Jenny called as soon as they lurched forward, having to catch the vaudevillian woman who was clearly terrified, her face splashed in the foul smelling liquid, and her eyes dilated in the kind of horror that you only see in movies.

"He's done!" She shouted back, reaching for him to try and wake him up, pull or knock him over and get him off the gas but she couldn't get the right force of strength from this angle and with the bouncy jostling of the unsteered vehicle, and they were headed right toward a stack of hay that'd been made into wall. A witch toy jumped out as they approached and was quickly smashed to bits over the broken windshield, rolling up over the top. The apparatus would have clipped Abbie if Crane had not yanked her back into the bed of the truck. Long arms wrapped around the purple-pink bodice of his partner leaning over to protect her from the stacks of hay that exploded against the chevy's grill, rolling over the top or under the wheels. The woman screamed from where she ducked and covered on the small floor drowning in the sounds still blasting from the speakers.

"I got him!" Jenny called out once they were around- they were headed for a hill. While she climbed onto the side of the runaway vehicle, thrusting herself in feet first through the passenger's window, Abbie and Ichabod quickly scanned their surroundings and as she swivelled around to the front, they crested the hill. Down below, right where the pillar would have been, there was a searing black spot in the ground, like the edges of a paper burned by a cigarette, and out from it flew ugly, black as ink winged gargoyle looking things and jostled ugly, melted, fleshy human forms.

"It's never been so dramatic before!" Abbie called.

"You heard the man! The only place we've ever opened was purgatory- That was supposed to be hell!" Just as she answered back, Jenny got the door open and safely rolled the man out, and their ride, going somewhere over 60 mph to be sure, ran up the hill and sailed high into the air. The group was left without gravity just long enough for the scene of madness below to be burned into all of their eyes. Familiar uncostumed teenagers screaming and running, things flying like bats or pterodactyls after them in dives, and ghouls tackling the living to the ground in a cacophony of screams, inhuman screeches, and gurgling snarls.

The vaudevillian woman wheezed, clearly dealing with an attack, and sprang from the bed in panic, disappearing in all her black into the night behind them. Something overhead circled back that direction, though it didn't seem to be able to find her once she made it into the corn.

"Abbie!" the car slammed back down onto the earth with a squeal of chassis and suspension.

"Lieutenant! We need to get down there!"

"Agreed! Jenny-"

"Oh, we're going whether we want to or not- we got no brakes, guys! But we do have this-" And she pushed the nozzle of a hunting rifle back through the hole in the window to her sister. Abbie pulled open the lever to check and found it loaded and ready.

"Well, alright-"

"I believe this just turned into a business event." Crane noted, relieving his scabbard of its cargo, the unused metal glinting in the moonlight.

"I guess so." Abbie agreed, "Jenny! Let's go to work!"

The engine revved hard, the younger Mills sister flooring the gas pedal and kicking up dirt behind them and all at once it was the music, a change in song after a brief pause, that filled Abbie's ears. The growing feedback and hard crashing drum beat adding to the channelled adrenaline of the moment. The car swerved in the loose dirt and grass, but Abbie, standing on a hay bale, lifted her leg and steadied herself on the roof of the black truck, zeroing in down the sights of the firearm at the winged demons above and began to fire. Behind her, Crane moved from one end of the bed to the other, clinging to railings while he thrust his blade out at any and all ghouls and undead husks that were not mowed down with fleshy smacks and underwheel thuds by the road warrior in the driver's seat.

Though they might be in the middle of battle, there was a quiet kind of tension among the people underneath the blanket of screams and electric guitars. In fact, Abbie and Ichabod fell into step so quickly and comfortably that somewhere under the drive and focus, there was a glimmer of fun. When she spun around, he was right at her back with no warning or word, spinning too, out of her way and her out of his, delivering fatal blows one after another. When she swiveled, he ducked under, and when she leaned, he slid around. Each step she took in this contained space, he matched  with ease and grace, as hay continued to be thrown out of their way. A hand reached out at her hair, from a being that had managed to grab onto the vehicle and yet Abbie felt no fear. The limb was separated from it's body no less than an inch from her and it's owner was impaled while Abbie's boot planted firmly into the face of another and she used it to thrust herself into the air and use the gun's butt to smash another enemy from the sky.

The truck swerved, and Abbie landed on the edge of the roof, the metal sliding out from under her, but when her hand thrust out in instinct, another grabbed it just as thoughtlessly, fingers curling around each other's thumbs. For a moment, Abbie and Ichabod stared into each other's eyes while the dichotomy of fear for each other, and yet the utter trust that nothing could ever happen to them because they would always be there to protect each other washed over them. She lifted her gun though and unloaded a round into a demon that thought it'd get the drop on her partner from behind, and the feeling broke with smiles.

Abbie did not lack confidence, not for quite some time, but fighting side by side with Crane bolstered it. What she would have avoided, viewing as 'reckless' or 'dangerous' when she was alone, she could do without hesitation with him. Ichabod knew she could take care of herself, and it was because of that that he could fight so freely- he did not have to constantly be worried or leading his Lieutenant around. She did not require coddling but instead room to do her job, and that was something he could do with, not for, her.

"It's kinda like a dance isn't it?" Abbie chuckled, pulling ammo from where her sister thrust it back at her to reload her weapon while the bumps tried to unsteady them.

"Not the music I would have chosen, but-" Ichabod began, but in concentrating on the pass, Jenny now needed to quickly course correct and threw the truck into a hard turn, and Abbie slammed into Ichabod, her face pressed into his shirt. She peeled herself off him and though they both smiled, clearly about to say something, the truck made it evident that it was not meant to handle a corner in this manner and began to tip up onto two tires.

"Gimme a boost!" Abbie called grabbing his hand and turning around. Ichabod planted a food on the floor of the now empty truck bed, and without releasing hands, Abbie used it as a springboard to go jump onto the edge of the fence with only him to steady her while she leaned herself out as counterweight, and he planted his own foot on the inside of the wooden bars to accommodate her weight and press on the side.

Floating on a wicked guitar solo that poured from their speakers like a crashing storm, time slowed as the adrenaline coursing in their bloodstream heightened their every sense. Abbie's dress sparkled in the moonlight and her face glittered like a diamond. Her dress, dirty and torn, fluttered like a flag of her own independence and ability, a reminder to Ichabod of what he fought for, and who he cared about; what really mattered in times like these. Her hand clasped his with admirable strength and he gripped her so that she would never sail away even as she was slanted dangerously off the high, precarious edge of the border against the wind with ripped satin overlay fluttering behind her like the Winged Nike of Samothrace. She was beautiful. Even as her face curled into a snarl and she shot one handed with her rifle braced against her shoulder at the oncoming threats.

He had seemed to be distracted, but when Abbie glanced back down she saw his long fingers wrapped around her wrist, and his strong arm reaching out the other way to swipe his gleaming, silver sword down the face of one nearby ghoul, spin the blade around and push it back through the gut of one that tried to climb their ride. It was in moments like these she was absolutely sure she could not do this without him. Who else could she trust so completely? Who else could be an asset as opposed to a liability? Who else knew her in battle so well? No one. There was only him. She smirked, and turned back around as Jenny took the truck back the way they'd come apparently, using the hill to help them get back onto four wheels.

With another squeal, the heavy vehicle came back down and Ichabod pulled Abbie back into the bed, where she snapped around. There out in front, just above the reach of the headlights, was the last of their problems.

"Keep me steady!" Abbie called and the truck straightened itself out once again climbing this hill, but now the passengers realized what they were headed for. Crane's hands gripped Abbie's hips and as the truck lifted off once more her feet remained planted to the floor and in one shot, the monster exploded it's black sludge from the head and fell like a stone where they landed on it and headed back into the fairground. There was still no pedal brakes, but plowing through crowd ahead was not an option. Jenny reached down and quickly clicked up the emergency brakes as high as they would go and braced as the truck's tires stopped spinning but the momentum carried them forward, crashing to a final stop in a tailspin while they clung to each other, against one of the other vehicles, destroying the sound system to end the ride.

"Are you alright? Abbie, are you harmed?" She was practically in his lap now, at the end of it, and he lifted her face to look quickly for injuries.

"I'm fine, I'm fine- it didn't even hurt- what about you?" She shook her head, feeling around his sides. He winced once, and took her hand. He'd managed to put as much of his body as possible between her and the collision, and the look her eyes were giving him were telling him that she recognized it. He had not lost her yet, and he would not tonight. She stared at him, her hand reaching up to his cheek, but there was a bit of a ruckus starting up behind them.

"I'm fine, but we should check on Jenny and the others-"

"You're right."

Abbie and Crane quickly jumped out of the truck, and after being waved on by Jenny- fine after the impact- ran around to the people who'd all gathered together in the middle of the fairground. The two of them hopped up on some boards laid across some hay for a higher vantage point with attention grabbing thuds of their boots,

"Is everyone alright?!" Abbie shouted over the crowd who had watched their crashing stop in fear.

"Are there any more of them among you?!" Ichabod demanded after her, his sword at the ready. Several dozen wide eyed and injured faces stared back up at them, now with no music from the smashed speakers on the truck, in the silent kind of confusion that follows a group trauma. Then a sound broke the silence- the sound of clapping. It was singular at first, but soon joined by a partner, and then a couple more, and it became clear among the applause and whistles, that the trouble was over.

People threw themselves at the pair's feet on stage with thanks and waves and shouts of pride and compliment, and someone thrust a trophy at them. Ichabod tried to deny it but Abbie took it up from the crowd with a thanks and a laugh. The relief and the sound of her laughter lightened his heart, and before the group of them, he leaned down and placed a peck on her cheek- the best he could do considering he felt fairly giddy right now, but thought better of kissing her outright in front of all these people. Seemed he didn't need to worry though- she'd been surprised at first, but turned back, pulled him down by his neck and pressed her lips to his joyously, smiling widely when she released him and staring into his sparkling, laughing eyes. In their tattered and black splattered costumes, messed hair and weapons wielded in hand, the held each other, and Abbie lifted the trophy up for the both of them among the second crashing  wave of cheers.