#my angel flung out of space moment... ok sorry.

[falsenote]

Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)

[grownups-are-the-real-monsters]

Please Come Home For Christmas

Summary:  Carrie giggled, waving her hands to get the girl to stop. The fear of her Mama waking up to a teenage girl serenading her outside was a nightmare she’d like to avoid. She could see Sue’s nose wrinkling from the bitter chill and ached to pull her inside just so the warm air could hug her in a way Carrie herself just couldn’t manage yet.

Fandom: Carrie 

Ships: Carrie White/Sue Snell

Word Count: 3,012

Not a sound beat it’s living heart in the White household on a Saturday night. 

There would be nothing to ease Carrie into sleep until dawn broke and the only ambiance then would be her Mother’s small footsteps atop the lonesome hardwood. But as times turned to Winter and soft flakes of snow hurtled to the ground, Carrie White orchestrated her own performance.

Kneeling in-front of her mirror, she dug a thin brush a bit too harshly into a tube of mascara she’d yet to wear once without crying it off before even leaving her bedroom. Her mother wanted for her to be celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ but the young daughter was just realizing she’d been born with the will to celebrate herself. 

So she sat, blinking her eyes at the glass while allowing herself to admire the reflection. Her head bounced...words coming and going with the same speed as distant hail. ‘Spastic’ and ‘weirdo’. She frowned, clawing at the velvety pink fabric of her shirt. ‘Scary White’.

Carrie flung the tube of makeup against the wall...it thumped but gave her no satisfaction. Her eyes followed it as it rolled back towards he folded legs and rattled there against the skin for a few seconds. Mama remained still in her sleep downstairs. Thank goodness. 

Pebbles hitting the window like a headache to her right temple awakened Carrie from her thoughts. She crawled across the floor and gently threw open the window with something like a smile playing at the corners of her lips. 

A stray pebble came through the corner as she popped up...getting her first peek at the lovely Sue Snell who was bouncing (partly from the cold) to get her eyes on her. But young Carrie’s attention was got from her first tease of Sue’s sweet voice...singing...

“Carrie, Carrie, baby

Carrie baby

Carrie, can you come out tonight?”

Carrie giggled, waving her hands to get the girl to stop. The fear of her Mama waking up to a teenage girl serenading her outside was a nightmare she’d like to avoid. She could see Sue’s nose wrinkling from the bitter chill and ached to pull her inside just so the warm air could hug her in a way Carrie herself just couldn’t manage yet. 

“You stop that!” She tried to hold back her chuckles. “I’ll be down in a minute. That is if you’re singing didn’t wake Mama.” She scoffed as if she were really upset but Sue didn’t buy that and Carrie could tell. 

“Hurry down, fair Carrie!” Sue continued her restless hopping, hands now stuffed into the pockets of her coat. “I want to see the Christmas lights!” Her curly hair bounced high with her. 

The rough plan was to take a stroll around the neighborhood, maybe observe the shiny decorations, and head to the Drive-In for Root-beer floats or something. No big deal but Carrie had been thinking about it non-stop for the days since Sue asked when she’d come home from her college’s Christmas break. That was just something she couldn’t help, being that she was a textbook overthinker. 

But judging the way Sue had arrived exactly on time (not even off by a minute) and seemed awfully fidgety, the girl was probably no better. She stood at the end of the walk-way, snowflakes flying down atop her like a living angel...she was bathed in a white shine. Carrie had no way of knowing that Sue was thinking the very same thing about her...

“Tommy asked me to give you his Christmas gift.” She slipped a shinning slim box from her purse of wonders and waved it out for Carrie. “He’s tragically spending his Holiday studying. You miss him, though. I know, sooo...”

She sped over with a bashful smile and accepted the pure looking gift. For a horrid moment, Carrie pictured a tampon sitting there atop the blue fuzzy bed which was of course, a cruel joke from her own mind because what did lay there was a delicate silver chained bracelet. 

“He got me a matching one.” Sue giggled, wiggling her wrist. “Tommy’s a sweet boy, huh? He thought we can fill them up with charms-”

“Like real friendship bracelets?” Carrie abruptly looked up with watery eyes full of an earnest emotion that was hard to place. 

“Yeah!” She gently took Carrie’s wrist, skin-to-skin, and lined up their arms to show off the whole matching gimmick. There was just 1 charm on each of their chains. A glittering star on Carrie’s & a shining heart for Sue. Carrie turned her wrist slowly to watch the charms soak in the night’s light. “He fell for us both, I think.” 

Carrie snapped her head up at that. “Oh, Sue--I don’t think that’s true-”

Sue shook her head with a smile. “My goodness, Carrie White.” Her giggle filled the space between them. “See that it’s true-” She flicked the other girls star charm and then her own. “Poor thing just never had a shot with either of us.” She hummed, almost sad. “I never could love Tommy the way he deserved. The life I would have had with him wasn’t what I wanted. You know that, I guess.” 

Carrie pursed her lips. Yes, she remembered lovely Sue pouring her heart and soul into the cupped palms of one Carrie White. After the prom, Sue hiccupped everything out like thick blood from her throat.

It was criminally endearing. The way Sue had clawed at the tears on her cheeks, explaining that it was just fine for Carrie to date Tommy. In fact, she had subconsciously wished it would happen that way, Sue did. But Carrie didn’t fall for Tommy quite as hard as she did for Sue that night. 

“I love you, Sue.” Was all she could think to say. 

“And I love you, Carrie.” Her nose wiggled again. “I’m working on loving you the way you deserve.” She shrugged, taking her wrist away and starting on the holiday walk. Her boots thudded against the concrete. 

Carrie nearly rolled her eyes, which would have struck Sue as cute. “You love me like you love me.” She hesitantly took the girl’s cold hand in hers...feeling overwhelmingly warm inside. “It’s just the perfect way to live, Sue. To be loved by you.”

Sue slowed down a bit, a pace where the houses behind her stopped being blurry, and blushed. “You always know just what to say Carrie White.” She paused just to admire the girl. “How do you do it?”

Carrie felt her own blush creep up her neck as she shrugged. “I just say what I mean.” She fumbled on her words, feeling like a little mess but was rewarded with a quick kiss on the cheek. It felt criminally undeserved but she still enjoyed the peck of Sue’s pink lips. Part of her felt so eternally grateful for the girl that she had to hold back tears.

They strolled past lawns of beautiful Christmas decorations, Carrie felt the distant eyes of blow mold Santa’s. A tall brown house eclipsing the moon from her vision had the whole baby in the manger set-up. The baby Jesus seemed to sit up in the wooden basket and she imagined it’s glare directed at her. But when Carrie looked up, the plastic baby was asleep just like any decoration.

She sighed. Not realizing she’d stopped until Sue curled up next to her and gently grabbed her arm. She reached out to brush a few blonde baby hairs from Carrie’s temple, a simple gesture but so filled with love. “Save yourself from wasting your young-adulthood, Carrie...” She whispered against the girls skin. “Think about coming home with me.” 

The falling snowflakes around only them grew fatter and a tiny bit slanted as Carrie snapped her head over to gaze at the girl. Both knew the magical element which lay at it’s cause but neither said anything of it. In fact, Sue opened her mouth to stick out her tongue and taste the fluffy ice. 

It ignited a small fire in Carrie’s chest. “My mom-”

Sue deflated slightly, it was hard not to notice. “She doesn’t deserve you Carrie.” 

The blonde pulled her eyes away from Sue and landed them back on the front of the brown-brick home. Their left window glowed green, the right was a glittery crimson. “I deserve her...” She mumbled, mostly to herself. “I can’t Sue. I’m sorry-”

Sue blinked, letting go of Carrie’s arm to wiped her sleeve under her left eye, attempting to look away but Carrie caught the bit of water leaking out. Her chest thumped with pain. Never in her life did she want to make Sue Snell cry. It stung her with a horrible burning sensation all over her body. “Sue?”

She sniffled. “It’s fine. I’m being a baby, huh?” Her giggle then sounded strained. “I just want you to be happy, ok? I would only try to step in like this if I really thought you needed it.” She looked off again.

Carrie felt a flicker of resentment towards the girl, flashes of the prom night played like an old movie in her head. Flashes of hard reds mixed with the hues of Easter colored dresses. “I don’t need you to step in, Sue.” Her voice twitched in it’s tone, a sign of growing anger that while recognized...couldn’t be helped. “Getting your boyfriend to take me to prom just because you felt sorry for me doesn’t earn you that right.”

Sue didn’t flinch but almost. Instead, the girl just shifted her weight to her right leg to disguise her step back. She wasn’t scared. Just a little disappointed in herself for jerking Carrie around. She turned her attention to the lawn of Blow Molds again, making eye contact with one of the old Santas. Tethered reindeer raising his packed sleigh. He smiled, a grin thick with teeth which were blotted in the red color bleeding in from the poorly painted lips. 

A shiver went down her spine. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s ok, Sue.” Carrie blew a flying piece of hair away from her eyes and sighed. “I shouldn’t have-”

Sue pursed her lips and shook her head. “Don’t apologize. I do have a history of making you do things you don’t want to do.” 

Carrie smiled gently. “I had a lovely time with Tommy. Prom...” Her eyes glittered a brief reflection of the Christmas lights across the street. “Turned out pretty okay.” She pinched Sue’s arm softly as if to strengthen the point. 

“My boyfriend fell in love with you.” Sue burst into delightful giggles. Carrie couldn’t help but join her. 

“And I fell in love with his Girlfriend.” She added, tilting her chin so as to hide  behind her long blonde hair. But that didn’t block the feeling of Sue’s joy from radiating around her. Thankfully. 

Moonlight bathed the houses in a mystic pale light, leaving Carrie feeling mute and cold in the winter snow. There was a sense of deadened glee there, after the laughs passed, which they might’ve been able to keep had Sue not invited such tension into air between them. Both girls thought, different in each introspective mind, about how to pass go and collect their 200 dollars. 

Carrie sniffled, red nose flaring, and found it in her to smile. “What do you want for Christmas?” 

Sue chuckled, shoving her cold hands back into the long pockets of her coat as they strolled on. They passed more and more glittering houses that screamed of warm cookies and casual family bickering. To Carrie, it looked very beautiful and very neighborly. 

“A Christmas card, from you.” She chose her words carefully, that much was very clear to her quiet friend. “With words straight from the heart, Missy.” She poked at her. 

Carrie shook her head with a tight grin. “To you and all your family, your neighbors and your friends, May all your days be happy with a joy that never ends-” She sang so softly that no one would ever hear but Sue Snell. 

“Oh, stop that.” Sue thumped her arm gently and burst into sweet giggles. “David Cassidy’s words are not what I want from you.” 

“And what do you want?”

Sue rolled her eyes and bent her knees to pick-up a fallen Candy Cane from the next house’s lawn. Her shoes scoffed against the hard flakes of ice but she had no trouble keeping balance. “I believe I said that already.” She flicked her tongue. 

Carrie shrugged, knowing that she’d agonize over what to write for as long as possible. 

Sue stuck the decoration harder into the grass, stepped back and admired her work with a faint mumbling of lyrics pouring from her mouth. Carrie was positive she didn’t even know she was doing it. “Hello world! I'm your wild girl. I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!”

"Who sings that?” 

Sue blinked a few times before realizing what she’d done. “Oh, the Runaways...” Her smiled refreshed, much brighter, as she waited for Carrie to catch up to her side again. “If you came to live with me, I could show you all my records.” 

Carrie knew now that the battle to shove that conversation down was not going to favor her. “I have missed out on a lot.” 

Sue smirked. “Are you humoring me? Finally.” She sighed happily, dramatically too, and grabbed for Carrie’s hand again. She opened her mouth, ready to list more wonderful things but stopped suddenly. Her hand weakened almost instantly.

She looked up and frowned. “I’m really lonely up there, Carrie.” There was an earnest look of despair that chilled her friend to the bone. “I’m not used to that, I guess. Being one half of a high school sweetheart couple for that long...well, it makes you really dependent.” 

Carrie squeezed her dead palm softly. “Maybe that’s good for you, Sue...” 

The young girl sighed, no dramatics that time, and nodded a few times. “Maybe.”

The epitome of sad...that was Sue Snell.

                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bells will be ringing this sad sad New Years Oh what a Christmas to have the blues My baby's gone I have no friends To wish me greetings once again...”  

The Drive-in, affectionately known as Bluebell’s, was covered in the perfect sprinkling of dusty snow. Making it a picture perfect enough for a postcard (that is if anyone gave a shit about Chamberlain, Maine). 

Sue Snell pulled her straw in-and-out of her root-beer float and watched Carrie White scoop the frothy ice-cream onto her spoon with eager eyes. It was endearingly sweet. “I think we can be independent together.” 

Carrie swallowed, spoon clinking against her glass. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose, Sue?” 

She shook her head and took a long sip of the sweet treat. “No.” Her face was neither in a happy or sad expression. “I don’t need to be independent from you, Carrie. Just...from the life I almost had. One where I end up being a housewife.” A huge hunk of ice-cream fell down her chin, which she wiped at instantly. “And you need independence from...” 

“My mother.” Carrie frowned, putting her chin in her hand. 

“I don’t think independence has to come at the expense of companionship...” Sue shook her head again. The girls went quiet again, just enjoying their--poorly decided--icy cold drink in the middle of a chilling winter night. 

“It’s a nice thought.” Carrie mumbled, licking off any ice cream from her lips in a rush as Sue blinked up at her. “But someone needs to take care of-”

“She’s an adult, Carrie.” Sue gently set her glass down on the table, fluorescent lights blinking above her in a off-putting green hue. “Your Mother can take care of herself. You need to start taking care of yourself.” She finished her point by taking another long slurp of her float. Carrie thought she was hoping to hide her nerves.

A feeling of anxiety pounded from Carrie’s chest and sunk down to her gut as she let those words rush over her. Sue didn’t pressure for any sort of response and instead smiled softly, enjoying the Holiday music. “If I was starting to consider the idea of potentially going away, what might you say to me?” Carrie twirled her straw but didn’t look up. 

The girl brightened considerably but remained calm. “I’d say...” She paused momentarily.

“But this is Christmas yes Christmas my dear The time of year to be with the ones you love So won't you tell me you'll never more roam Christmas and new Years will find you home...”  

“Don’t do it for me, y’know? Just because I’ve been...annoying you about it all night.” Sue frowned, looking madly depressed with herself. “Do it for you. Go anywhere. Just don’t stay here...with her.” 

Carrie found them very low in company, the only other customer around was hidden inside their car. She planned to reach over to cradle the girls freezing hand but found that to be even too much for her fear. So she settled for bumping their legs together from under the table, jean-covered ankles finding each other’s warmth. 

Carrie thought briefly about the baby Jesus outside that tall brown home they’d passed on the way. Laying as still as any decoration had to be in it’s wooden basket. 

She reached out for that hand. Sue instantly squeezed back but stayed quiet, possibly letting Carrie now take the lead because she felt badly. Snow continued to fall but they stayed safe under the tiny roof of the drive-in, remaining a delighted audience to the winter wonderland scene. 

There would come a time and a place during Sue’s College Break stay to discuss further but for now, the girls just relaxed. For Carrie had finally been gifted the ability to take it easy, as long as Sue kept tracing circles onto her skin. 

She’d come out tonight without permission from Mama & that was enough to make her smile. If she could make it as far as the drive-in...well, there was a big chance she’d see herself farther. 

[kittyanonymity]

A Ladybug in Gotham #2

Marinette is forever flustered

Well, ya know, I’ve got at least 2 chapters of this, so why not just post the second one too, right? XD Also, I hope you guys are ready for like, Ultimate Chloe. I love that brat, and I’m gonna be pissed forever at her lack of redemption. Also, I am totally going to abuse the tropes, be prepared. Also, cussing. These kids are nearly 18, and I tell you what, I have heard too many teenagers swearing like sailors. Our kids won’t be that bad, but the adults? No promises ;P

Ao3

Part 1 Part 2 :HERE: Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Enjoy!! <3<3

~~~~~~

Marinette awoke to the frantic ringing of her phone, and she groggily reached over and answered it. She’d stayed up late, talking to her parents, reassuring them she was ok; her mother had been furious, but Marinette had assured her it hadn’t really been Madame Bustier’s fault.

Marinette yawned as she put the phone to her ear, “H-hello…?”

“Marinette! Get down here now! They’re trying to leave you!”

At the sound of Chloe’s voice, Marinette shot up out of bed, “What!”

“That’s what I said! Lila fed Mme. Bustier some cock and bull story about you not feeling well after the ‘drama’ last night! I tried telling her, but she won’t listen! She won’t let me off this damn bus!” Marinette flung herself out of bed, nearly tripping over her own two feet.

“I’m on my way, Chloe!”

“Hurry! I can’t stall these idiots forever!”

Chloe hung up, and Marinette threw open her suitcase, digging through her clothes. Baggy jeans, with her new shoes, and an off the shoulder pink crop top were thrown on haphazardly, and then Tikki was there, holding her new Robin hoodie.

“Here, Marinette!” Marinette smiled, thanking Tikki before she was pulling it on, and grabbing her purse. She stuffed her phone in quickly, and then opened it up to let Tikki and Kaalki zip in. She zipped her bag up quickly, grabbed her key card, and was running for the stairs; she didn’t have time to wait for the elevator.

She hit the lobby running, sprinting for the door, but she could already see the bus leaving; she caught Chloe’s eyes through the door, seeing her through the bus window. She looked furious, and the last thing Marinette saw was her turn on their teacher, shouting at the top of her lungs.

By the time Marinette made it out the doors, the bus was already turning around a corner, and out of sight. She wanted to scream.

“Marinette?” She looked down through watery eyes to see Tikki peering at her from her purse. Her kwami looked distraught, “Are you ok?” Marinette took a deep breath, and wiped her eyes.

“No, I’m not. I can’t believe they would do this…” She sighed, adjusting her bag, “I’ll just walk I guess…”

Wayne Tower couldn’t be too far, right? She started walking, heading the same direction as the bus, making sure to make space for any other pedestrians. The streets were crowded this early in the morning, with many people on their way to work, and she had to dodge several people who were too busy staring at their phones to pay attention.

She was so tired. Tired of all this pettiness, and she didn’t like how angry it made her. She hated being angry more than she hated being upset. Anger took so much energy to maintain, but sadness could just be felt, and then it would pass; anger clung to her mind like cobwebs. Small, but there; always there. Marinette sighed as she turned the corner the bus had disappeared behind.

And promptly yelped when she ran face first into someone.

She stumbled back, eyes shut tight, and tripped over her own two feet. Marinette braced for the impact of the concrete, but was shocked when an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her forward. She was met with brilliant green eyes, and dark hair when she finally looked up. The young man stared down at her in slight shock, but he smiled a bit when she looked at him. Her heart thudded dangerously in her chest, and shocks danced across her back where his hand was braced. Wait, he was saying something! Pay attention!!

“Are you alright?”

Marinette nodded, not trusting her voice as he pulled her back up, straightening her. Her face flushed.

“Uh, th-thank you, sir.” His smile grew just a bit, as he held her hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing it softly.  

“It’s not a problem. It’s the least I can do for the woman who saved my niece yesterday.”

Marinette’s eyes grew wide, and her blush escalated to her ears, “You’re Mar’i’s uncle?” Well, she could see the resembelance at least.

He lowered her hand, and nodded, “Damian Wayne, at your service, miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Thank you for protecting Mar’i yesterday.” She waved her hand.

“P-please, you really don’t have to thank me! It was no problem at all!” Damian observed her for a moment before he nodded.

“If that’s what you wish, miss Marinette.”

“Please, just Marinette is fine! We’re nearly the same age, it looks like, heh.” She rubbed the back of her neck, and his smile grew a bit teasing; she was so easily flustered.

It was cute.

He quickly noticed though… That she was completely alone in the street.

His smile grew tense.

“If I may, Marinette… I thought you were here on a trip with your school. Where’s your class?”

Marinette paused; because holy shit, she was talking to the youngest son of Bruce fucking Wayne, the sponsor for this whole trip, and he was asking where her class was. She chewed her lip for a moment, before she finally sighed. She couldn’t lie; that wouldn’t be right.

“They… left me behind.”

Damian blinked, “What?” he asked flatly. Marinette flinched, chancing a glance up at him.

“My friend Chloe called me, telling me the class was trying to leave me behind. One of my classmates told our teacher that I wanted to stay in my room after… yesterday. Chloe couldn’t stall them much longer, and I tried to catch up.” She sighed, gripping the strap on her purse tighter, “I made it to the lobby in time to see the bus pull away.”

Damian scowled, “Forgive me, but your teacher sounds like an idiot.”

Marinette snorted, and then covered her mouth, sneaking a bashful glance at him; it made his scowl fall, and he smiled.

“Where is your class going right now, Marinette?” She rubbed the back of her neck, averting her eyes.

“Th-they’re uh, actually heading to Wayne Tower…” Damian couldn’t help but laugh at the irony, and Marinette stared up at him in slight awe. When she’d researched Gotham, she had of course read up on the family that was sponsoring her school’s trip. She knew Bruce Wayne had several children, but the only one she consistently found mention of was Damian Wayne; and it seemed he wasn’t nearly as much the Ice Prince as everyone thought he was.

Because my god, he was gorgeous when he laughed.

He gave her a grin, and offered her his arm, and Marinette snapped out of her daze.

“Well, it’s quite the walk, Marinette. Would you let me give you a ride?” Marinette stared at him, looking from him to his offered arm; and as she thought about it, she realized… She felt pretty comfortable around this guy.

She smiled, linking her arm with his, “I think I’d really appreciate that, Damian; thank you.”

Damian returned her smile with surprising ease, “The pleasure is mine, angel.”

~~~~~~~~~~

‘Why did you do that you imbecile! Who kisses a girl’s hand on the street like that!! Augh!!’

Damian bit his lip as he got in his car, Marinette secured in the passenger seat. He couldn’t believe what had come over him! He’d never reacted like that to a woman before. And then he called her angel! He snuck a glance at her to see her texting on her phone, before she smiled, and put it away; he averted his eyes in time for her to look over at him.

“Thank you so much for this, Damian, I mean it.” She gave him a smile, and Damian cursed how his pulse quickened; he still returned her smile though. It felt almost criminal not to.

“It’s no problem. I was going to head that way eventually.”

Marinette’s smile turned playful, “Oh? What was the first order of business for you today, dear sir?” Damian snickered at her tone of voice, before he actually remembered why he’d been there; though he had to admit, her accent was adorable.

“Funny enough, I was coming to meet your class at your hotel.” He retrieved an envelope from the interior lining of his jacket, and held it out to her, “Father asked me to bring you this.”

Marinette took the envelope with wide eyes, and Damian continued speaking as he started the car, and he pulled out into traffic.

“Your classes’ schedule didn’t have you leaving until 10 A.M., so I thought I had plenty of time to arrive; imagine my surprise, running into you.” Marinette offered him a sheepish grimace.

“Sorry about that. There are a couple students in my class who… prefer things done their way.” Damian nodded, an amused smirk on his face.

“I’ve noticed.” He grinned a bit, glancing at her, “Nice hoodie by the way. I didn’t know you guys knew about the Bat pack in France.” Marinette grinned, glancing down at her new jacket.

“There’s actually not a whole lot of information on anyone besides Batman, but I have a lot of respect for his work, and how he cares for the villains he fights,” Giving him a wink, Marinette said, “But Robin’s colors suit me better, and based on the videos I’ve seen, he’s an excellent fighter.” She sighed, leaning back in the seat with an almost wistful look on her face, “I would kill for a sparring partner like that.”

Valiantly fighting his embarrassment, Damian cleared his throat, “You like martial arts?”

Marinette nodded, “Yeah. I started doing it so I could protect myself from the akuma at home, and then I found that, well, I really liked it? It’s invigorating, and it helped me quite a bit with my confidence. I started gymnastics a bit after that, just to help with my flexibility and agility.” She grinned, shrugging her shoulder a bit, “It’s been a great time.”

“Well, why don’t you have a sparring partner?” Marinette sighed.

“I used to, but…” Marinette bit her lip, and Damian saw her glance at him, like she was considering something before she finally huffed, “Well, he-he kept… asking me out. It didn’t matter if I told him no, or not, he just kept asking. And it was fine at first, you know, we were only 13, it was funny. And then…” Her hands tightened on her bag, “and then one day, it wasn’t. I had a boyfriend, Adrien; we were only 14 at the time, but god… God, I loved him.” Damian couldn’t help but frown at the bitter way she said it, before she laughed a bit, “I wasn’t very smart, back then. But my partner, when I told him I was dating someone, he just lost it, started going on and on about how I was leading him on.”

She sighed again, this time a deeper, more tired kind of sound, and Damian hated the misery in it.

“We don’t really hang out that much anymore, except for when we need to.” Marinette turned and looked out the window, watching the people go by as they drove, “And sometimes, I feel guilty that I’m happy about it. I’m glad that I don’t have to see him unless it’s absolutely necessary. I just spar with my maman when she’s free, but she’s not as enthusiastic about it as she used to be; it hurts her more now.”

She jumped when Damian reached over, and gently held one of her hands in one of his; she looked at him, but he was staring at the road.

“If you're so willing, I’ll spar with you, angel. I’ve got quite the history in martial arts, so I should last a while before you put me in the dirt.” He grinned, glancing at her, and Marinette couldn’t help but laugh. Damian stopped at a stop light, glad he got to look at her like this.

She was beautiful when she laughed, oh god.

If he wasn’t careful, she’d hear his heart trying to break through his ribs.

He gestured to the envelope in her hands, “You should go ahead and open that.” He turned his attention back to the road as the light turned green, and Damian heard her tear the envelope gently, careful of any trash. After a moment, she gasped.

“What!”

Damian couldn’t help but laugh at the shocked, incredulous sound of her voice, and she turned to look at him, a flush high on her cheeks.

“Did you know?!”

Damian slowly stopped laughing after a moment, grinning as he pulled to a stop in front of Wayne Enterprises. He looked at her, “Did I know my father was going to invite you to dinner at the manor tonight?” His grin turned teasing, and he shrugged a shoulder, “Maybe. Now, let’s go find your class, angel.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe and Alix were waiting for her when they walked through the doors of Wayne Enterprise, or Wayne Tower as some of the locals called it. Chloe reached her first, wrapping her in a tight hug, while Alix hung back.  

“Oh thank god! I thought we’d lose you for good in this damn city!” Chloe pulled back, checking her friend over from head to toe, while Marinette laughed.

“Chloe, I’m fine; I made a friend, the one I texted you about and he helped me get here.” That made the blonde pause, and Damian froze as her gaze swivelled to him. She gave him a shrewd once over as her eyes narrowed.

“What’s your name?” Damian smiled, and held out his hand.

“Damian. You must be Chloe. Marinette told me you’re her best friend.”

Chloe gave him a cheeky grin, and took his hand, shaking it, “No last name?”

Marinette pursed her lips, “About that, Chloe…” She gestured her friend to come closer, and once Chloe leaned over to her, Marinette whispered in her ear, “This is Damian Wayne, Chloe. He’s the youngest son of Bruce Wayne.”

Marinette watched as Chloe’s eyelids fell, and a broad smile spread over her face; her eyes slid over to the rest of the class, a fiendish twinkle in her eye. Damian nearly took a step back at the look on the girls face, and Marinette looked properly concerned.

“You don’t say~....” Chloe drawled, her smile devious; Marinette swore she could see her hair curling into horns. With a hum far too cheery, Chloe looped Marinette’s arm with Damian’s before looping her own through Marinette’s other side.

“Let’s go greet everyone shall we, Mari-bear? Oh, and Damian dear?” Damian raised a brow, and promptly paled at the smile Chloe gave him, “Say nothing about your last name, got it?”

He nodded, “Yes, ma’am.” Marinette blushed, while Chloe looked at her with a pleased smile.

“Ok, I like him; good find, DC~.” So saying, Chloe promptly lead the charge, so to speak. The three of them walked up to where Madame Bustier was speaking with-

Damian groaned, right as Dick looked over and saw him, and by association, Marinette and Chloe. The look of utter glee on his older brother’s face would haunt him for days to come, he was sure. The teacher noticed them a moment later.

“Marinette, there you are! Lila told me you didn’t want to join us today.”

Damian felt Marinette’s whole body tense, and because he was looking at her, he saw her eyes narrow in rage. He felt a little bad at how quickly the heat rushed to his cheeks.

“Mme. Bustier, I never said anything like that, and if that had been what I wanted to do, I would’ve told you directly when I told you what happened before curfew last night.”

Damian felt himself straighten at her tone of voice; this wasn’t the first time she’d had this conversation, was it? He paused for a moment though.

Because there it was.

That confidence from the surveillance camera, displayed before him.

God, her eyes were so blue, he could stare at them for ages…

And promptly realized he was doing just that, and looked away.

‘Pull yourself together, damnit! You are smooth! And don’t let them walk all over her!’ He glanced back at her as her teacher responded to her in french, ‘Not that she needs my help, because wow, she’s pretty when she’s mad.’

Damian frowned when a new voice joined the conversation.

“I-I’m so sorry, Marinette, I thought you meant it when you said you wished you could sleep all day. I wouldn’t have told Mme. Bustier otherwise…”  He looked at a brunette wearing orange as she stepped over, tears running down her face. Damian raised a brow at the act; they weren’t actually buying this were they? One look around at most of the class, and it was obvious that yes, yes they were.

Marinette gave Lila a flat look, “I didn’t even talk to you yesterday, Lila; Chloe did. I generally try to not talk to you.” The girl’s cries grew in volume, and Madame Bustier gave Marinette a look, but before she could say anything, Dick intervened.

Clapping, he looked around at the gathered students, “Now that everyone’s here, let’s begin the tour! Right this way guys!” He winked at Marinette as he walked away, starting the tour. Several of the students gave Marinette a dirty look as they walked away, following Dick; two boys slowed, sharing a look with Alix. The pink haired girl simply nodded, and they went ahead.

Marinette sighed as she followed at a more sedate pace, keeping several feet between them and the class. The three of them kept their arms linked while they walked, and Alix skated up next Chloe.

“Are you ok?” Marinette glanced over at Chloe as she asked, and sighed, looking ahead of them at the backs of her classmates. Madame Bustier was walking with Lila consoling the girl as she ’cried’.

“As good as I can be, I guess.”

Chloe looked to her left as Alix nudged her, and the pinkette nodded her head to a nearby bench.

“Hey, Chlo, can we talk real quick?” The small group came to a slow stop, and Chloe stared at Alix for a moment, before she finally sighed rather dramatically.

“I gueeessss~....” Chloe turned and looked at Damian, and he had to remind himself that he regularly fought people much more terrifying than Marinette’s best friend.

It did little to reassure him.

“Damian, dear, can I trust you with my girl here?”

He nodded, glancing at the back of the class as they continued walking, “Without question.”

Damian met her eyes, and they stared at each other for a moment before Chloe slowly smiled; and unlike the one from before, Damian was surprised to see how genuine it was.

“Good. We’ll catch up soon,” Chloe waved her fingers at them, before wrapping her free arm with Alix’s, and then the two girls were walking away, to a more private spot. Damian glanced down at Marinette at his side, and couldn’t help his snort of amusement. Marinette looked up at him, moving her hands from her face, her face aghast.

“Don’t laugh! I can’t believe she said that!” Her cheeks were so red, she was sure she was going to melt. Damian snickered as they resumed their pace, lagging further from the class now. He saw Dick glance at them from over the heads of the students; he ignored him with practiced ease, giving Marinette a grin.

“Sorry, angel, but at least you know she genuinely cares for you.” He noticed when she glanced away, a small smile on her face, and his stomach flipped pleasantly.

“I’m glad to have her in my life, Alix too. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Her voice didn’t waver, nor did her expression fall; but Damian felt that those words rang deeper than she meant them to. He unlinked their arms, Marinette looking at him in shock, before he laced their fingers together. Damian had never found it so easy to smile, and now, he could hardly stop.

“You are a strong young woman, Marinette. Your friends see what your class doesn’t, and personally…” His smile grew as her cheeks flushed even brighter, “I’d really like to get to know the person whom they love so much.” Damian watched as she bit her lip, giving him a small smile.

“You know, Damian, I think it’s a little funny.” He grinned, not noticing how he rubbed his thumb idly over hers; Marinette did, and she was almost shocked to find it comforting.  

“What’s that?”

The color in her cheeks dimmed, if only slightly, and he was startled when she gave him a cheeky grin, “Half this city is convinced you never smile, but you have one of the most gorgeous smiles I’ve ever seen.”

Damian would deny tripping over his own two feet until the day he died. He didn’t fall, of course not; he was Robin for heaven's sake. But he did stumble, his cheeks bright red. He turned his head back towards her, ready to tease her, but he stopped.

Marinette was laughing.

Head thrown back, shoulders shaking, and her eyes closed in good humor.

‘Oh my god, I am smitten, send hELP!’

Damian couldn’t stop the small smile on his face as her laughter died down to chuckles, watching her rub her eyes with her free hand. She gave him a grin when she recovered, and bumped her shoulder with his.

“What, can dish it, but can’t take it?” He scoffed, and Marinette giggled at the look he gave her.

“Hardly. I was just caught off guard, angel.” He grinned, looking at her, “You banter well, you know.” Marinette hummed, the tune playful.

“Suuurreee I do, I toootally believe you.” She laughed at the mock offense on his face.

“Ok Sass-master, it’s timeout for you. I’ll have to tell my father to cancel that dinner I guess…” Marinette laughed, knocking their shoulders again.

“Who exactly is the sassy one here again?” Damian shrugged.

“Why not both?” That sent Marinette into another peal of laughter.

Damian noticed several of her classmates looking back, almost in shock; but it was Dick who grabbed Damian’s attention first.

His older brother was staring at him, trying to continue his tour guide spiel and failing; Damian promptly rolled his eyes, and returned his attention to Marinette. If his brother wanted to let his mouth hang open and play bug catcher, well it wasn’t his problem. His grip on Marinette’s hand tightened gently as he watched her slowly calm down.

He… could almost get used to this.

~~~~~~~~~~

Deeming their location secure enough, Alix swivelled on her skates and turned to Chloe; which would’ve been great if the blonde was actually paying any attention. Instead Chloe was staring after Marinette and the guy she’d come in with. Alix sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose at the look of utter glee on Chloe’s face.

“Chloe, who is that guy? What is going on?” When Chloe looked at her, Alix could feel the vindictive satisfaction roll off of her in waves. She grinned.

“That, my dear Alix, is Damian Wayne.” Alix snorted, startling herself into laughter.

“No, no way! You’re shitting me!” Chloe simply nodded.

“Yep. The very same one that Lila has been boasting about dating all. DAY.” Alix grinned, putting her hands on her hips as she regarded Chloe with amusement.

“What are you planning, Chlo?”

Chloe turned back, her eyes finding the couple - and wouldn’t that be an interesting development~ -, and she watched as Marinette threw her head back and laughed. Chloe smiled, gently crossing her arms as Alix came up and leaned on her shoulder.

“I don’t think I’ll have to do much, Al. Lila will do my work for me, and she won’t even know it.” Chloe’s smile softened as she watched her friend tease one of the coldest boys in the world, “He makes her feel safe. And right now, that’s enough.” Alix nodded.

“It’s like they’ve known each other forever. Isn’t that a little fast?” Chloe made a so-so movement with her hand.

“Marinette knows her heart better than most of us. She has the best instincts out of anyone, especially since Lila happened.” Chloe sighed, before flipping her hair over her shoulder and giving Alix a smile. It was a smile full of razors.

“Besides, that boy is terrified of me already; I’m not sure what Mari-bear told him, but it was effective.” Alix laughed again, reaching up and ruffling Chloe’s hair. The blonde yelped and batted her hand away.

“Rude!” Alix just kept laughing.

“So, just to clarify. Lila has been telling everyone she’s dating Damian Wayne, who is right there," she pointed at him, noticing how far away the class was getting, “and Marinette has no idea about this yet, does she?” Chloe shook her head, and Alix’s grin grew.

“So, we’re just gonna let those two be disgustingly adorable, and then when everyone finds out, it’ll be a solid strike to Lila’s little castle, right?” Chloe booped Alix on the nose, her smile devious.

“Exactly. Let’s go catch up, and watch our girl’s back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

This was not how today was supposed to go.

Adrien grit his teeth as he heard Marinette laugh at something else that guy had said to her. He hadn’t heard her laugh like that in years, not even when they were together could he get her to laugh like she was now. Ignoring the fire raging in his gut, Adrien chanced a glance back at the pair.

She was staring up at this guy like he was a breath of fresh air, and she was drowning. The fire in him turned sour as Marinette flushed, swinging their hands between them.

She used to look at him like that. He wanted her to look at him like that, always.

Adrien turned away with a click of his tongue, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He was going to use this trip to win her back, one way or another. They were meant to be together, they both knew it. Ladybug had been nothing more than an infatuation, but Marinette? Sweet, adoring Marinette, who had constantly gone out of her way for him; bringing him food, and anything else he’d happened to mention. And he’d lost it all, just because she wanted to expose Lila; his miraculous, and the girl he'd loved.

A growl rumbled in his chest, startling Nino next to him. Adrien played it off with a cough, smiling at his friend and telling him he was fine.

He wasn’t fine; but he would be once Marinette was back at his side.

Where she belonged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

@coffeetoffee HOLY SHIT i just saw someone run into the Ice Prince on the street, and he didn’t kill them?????? WHAT??????? #IcePrince #onlyinGotham #DamianWayneCANsmile #WAIT #wheresmycoffee!!!?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that is chapter 2! Chapter 3 technically isn’t finished yet, so I won’t post again for awhile probably. ALSO! Adrien gonna make a BIG mistake next chapter! BUT! Dumb boi will learn. ALSO ALSO! We’ll meet the brothers!! YAY! Jason is my favorite, with Tim being a close second; I just never cared much for Dick. (lMAO ;D)((I’m sorry, I swear I’m an adult lmfao)) I’m fairly well versed in DC things, so it might get a little messy down the line; especially since I’ve pretty much said ‘Fuck Miraculous canon’ since season 3 lol 

Hope you guys liked it!!! The tropes continue!! YAY!

Part 1 Part 2 :HERE: Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Tag List Cause I almost forgot!! (sorry not used to tumblr lol)

@vgirl-10123 , @crazylittlemunchkin  @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm , @bluerosette23 , @casual-darkness

[shipaholic]

Omens Universe, Chapter 18

We’re close to the end! Adam’s rediscovered the concept of murder, oops. Warnings again for death, mind control, creepiness, reference to nuclear strikes and car accidents.

Link to next part at the end.

(From the beginning)

(last part)

(chrono)

---

Chapter 18

Madame Tracy gave a great scream, in what was clearly her own voice.

“Mister S, Mister S, say something!”

She flung herself down beside Shadwell. In an act of great bravery, she grabbed and tore open the alarmingly dirty coat the man was wearing, and started doing chest compressions.[1]

Crowley stood, unmoving, and a little stunned. His head whipped around to the four Horsepeople. Death’s head tilted down and left. He appeared to be having a quiet conversation with someone no-one else could see. Crowley felt a little shudder.

Madame Tracy counted chest compressions under her breath. Crowley could see it was pointless. There was no life there to bring back.

Madame Tracy suddenly twitched and paused her first aid.

“I’m very sorry, dear lady, there’s really nothing you can do for him now.”

“No…” she whimpered.

She wavered as Aziraphale gently but firmly reasserted control of their body. He grasped the gun that had thudded on the lawn at Shadwell’s side, and rose to his feet, mouth set in a grim line. He cocked the gun at Adam.

Then, his face twisted in desperation, and Madame Tracy was back.

“Don’t you dare!”

Wincing with effort, she wrested their body back onto its knees by Shadwell’s side. Aziraphale just barely hung onto the gun.

Spacedog let out a string of whines.

Adam looked pained.

“Stop!”

He jerked his hand.

It was like a wave of TV static. Crowley wasn’t the target, but a wave of fuzziness hit him and momentarily wiped out all thought.

Tracy stopped struggling. She sagged, almost falling forward onto Shadwell.

Then her spine slowly straightened out. It looked robotic. Crowley could practically hear the clicks.

She clambered to her feet in a series of jerky movements. The gun was in her hands. She held it in a relaxed, almost friendly way, like one might hold a guitar. She smiled as though hooks were pulled taut in her cheeks. Her eyes stared into space.

She revolved to face Adam, face and mind as clean as a newborn.

~*~

Newt scurried down the corridor after Anathema. He couldn’t believe they’d done it. Three days of planning, holed up in Shadwell’s flat, marking up diagrams and drinking disgusting tea with condensed milk. All that work, and it had paid off. They’d actually broken into a London military base.

“I can’t believe all the amazing stuff we just did,” he panted.

“Shh,” Anathema said. Her forehead was creased in concentration. She was checking room numbers as they strode by.

“This one,” she said, and pushed the door open.

It revealed a room full of computer monitors. An ominous-looking flashing display was counting down to a very final sort of number.

Anathema grabbed a computer chair and pulled herself up to the nearest screen.

“OK,” she sighed. “Time for us to do something really clever…”

~*~

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to see if I could make a real person stop existing, like the imaginary ones.”

Adam’s eyes held a shade of the same dull horror as when he’d shot Aziraphale. Already, though, he seemed far less affected from causing someone’s death.

Spacedog’s ears were pinned back. The little dog looked as if he were battling twin urges to back away from Adam and hide behind his leg.

The blandly smiling Madame Tracy stood like a statue drained of colour. A bead of sweat formed on her temple. Her smile flickered for an instant. Crowley’s heart thumped. That was Aziraphale.

He rounded on Adam. “Let Aziraphale go.”

Adam looked unimpressed with his lack of chivalry. “And that woman?”

Crowley would freely admit to caring far less about Madame Tracy. He had the feeling Adam was judging him, though, so he said, “Er, yeah, her too.”

“She’s still holding a gun,” Adam said, pragmatically. “But ok, I’ll let Aziraphale go. He shouldn’t’ve been in there. It’s not right, two people crammed into one person.”

He waved his arm.

Suddenly, Aziraphale stood next to Tracy, back in his own body.

Crowley almost yelled with relief. He held back the urge to bury his face in Aziraphale’s shoulder. He looked at Aziraphale’s right hand, searching, and felt his head swim with gratitude. His gem was back on his finger. Adam had brought it back. He was ok.

He looked at Aziraphale’s face, and saw that he was very much not ok. He looked as though he had seen Hell, from the damned soul end of the equation. He stared about the garden, wide-eyed.

Crowley stepped towards him. “Angel. Hey. It’s me.”

Aziraphale’s gaze wandered over and alighted on Crowley’s face.

“Hello, Crowley dear,” he whispered.

Crowley grabbed his hand. He gripped it tightly and ran his little finger over the ring, a solid bump between Aziraphale’s knuckles.

Aziraphale’s eyes still roved around the garden. He took in the frozen, washed-out Madame Tracy beside him. His gaze slid down to the gun, held in her arms.

Adam took a warning step forward.

Madame Tracy revolved, slowly, to face Aziraphale. Her smile did not falter as she tightened her hold on the gun.

Crowley gave Aziraphale’s hand a gentle tug. Adam had made his point. They weren’t getting the gun back.

“How’d you learn to do that, anyway?” Adam said.

He sounded casual, like he was asking for video game tips.

“What?” Crowley asked.

“That thing you do where you turn into one person.”

“Oh. That.”

Crowley squeezed Aziraphale’s hand, possessively. He wasn’t in the mood to share Zadkiel with Adam.

“That’s a long story,” Aziraphale said. A trace of a spark came back to his eyes. “I suppose it started in the Garden. He was a wily serpent, and I was technically on apple tree duty -”

“Natural disaster. Focuses the mind,” Crowley snapped. “What’s your plan here, Adam?”

Adam ignored him. “Can I do that? What d’you call it - fusion? Because we’re the same, aren’t we? We’ve all got one of these.”

He tapped his fingernail against Lucifer’s gem. It glowed red in the sunset. Crowley’s eyes darted upward. Was the sun setting, or was the sky just turning red…?

He tore his gaze back to Adam.

“Yeah, we’re the same,” he said. “If you like.”

“Am I an angel?”

Crowley laughed.

“Yes,” Aziraphale said, unexpectedly. “In a way, I suppose you are. Your father… was one.”

“My father?”

Adam stared at the ground. It was clear nobody was talking about Mr. Dowling.

“Yeah,” he said at last. “Well. The Book made that kind of obvious.”

Great. They were all singing from the same hymn sheet at last.

The sky was definitely red. Clouds churned overhead, bubbling like squid ink. Fish had stopped dropping from them, but in a way that made Crowley afraid of what might start dropping instead.

“So it’s all true,” Adam said. “I’m going to end the world.”

The Horsepeople grinned. War, Famine and Pollution leaned forward. Something oozed between their teeth. Crowley tried to ignore the sensation like creeping flies on the inside of his skull.

“But you don’t have to,” Aziraphale burst out. “You’re so powerful. You can use that power for anything. You could do good.”

Adam shook his head, slowly. “I don’t think I’ve got the good sort of power. I’m pretty sure all I’m made for is destroying things.”

“That’s not true,” said Crowley.

Aziraphale, at his side, looked briefly surprised. Crowley knew he was lying. But for a moment, he felt it would be pretty wonderful if it were true. Maybe it was worth a shot, anyway.

“You weren’t made just to destroy. That’s just something my people said to get you to end the world. But Aziraphale’s right, your power isn’t good or evil. Satan didn’t start out Lord of Hell. He was an angel, once.”

Adam contemplated, head on one side.

“So? Why do good instead? Why save the world?”

“Because you have to live in it?”

“Wasn’t really living, was it? My parents weren’t even my real parents. Everyone around me was lying to me. My Nanny was a demon -”

“Look, we’re not all that bad,” Crowley said, hastily.

“I don’t want to go back to that.” Adam gave a shudder. “Things’ll be better when I’m in charge of everything. It’s ok. I won’t kill any more people. I don’t think I need to. I think my destiny was to sort everything out by just being in control. Most people don’t really think, so I can do their thinking for them.”

Crowley tried not to look at the Dowlings.

“But you’ll be erasing them!” Aziraphale’s eyes were large and desperate. “They won’t even be human anymore, not really. It’s no better than killing them.”

“Adam,” said Crowley. “I know you’ve been told all your life you were put here to rule the world. But demons told you those things. No offence to me, but are you really going to trust them?”

Adam looked at him as though he was stupid. “My dad told me those things.”

Crowley had the terrible thought that he’d been right all along, and Lucifer was still in there, in his gem, lucid, planning Crowley’s horrific demise.

Then he cottoned on. “Wait - hang on.”

He looked at the slack-faced, smiling American ambassador.

Aziraphale caught on at the same time.

“Oh, no.” The angel paled. “He’s not demonic, he’s rich.”

Crowley swore. He hadn’t even factored American exceptionalism into this whole mess.

“Well, your dad was wrong too! What does he know, he’s a cultural attaché, whatever that is. He just… culturally… attaches things.”[2]

“So you’re saying I don’t need him?” Adam said.

He looked at his parents. They didn’t respond. They stood vacantly, arms floating at their sides. Like bodies washed out to sea.

“Fine.”

Adam stepped towards them, one arm already rising. Crowley and Aziraphale could do nothing to stop him.

A blood-curdling howl of rage rang out. Crowley’s skin wanted to turn itself inside out at the sound of it.

Adam’s hand dropped. He turned back, frowning.

Crowley was afraid to see what was making the noise, but he steeled himself and looked over.

The blood-stained, red-haired woman, whose skin gleamed unpleasantly like gun-metal, was screaming.

Crowley presumed this was War. Her scream was like the roar of a bomber coming in fast and unstoppable.

The two beside her clutched their heads. They also looked furious.

“What’s wrong with them?” Crowley shouted to Aziraphale.

There was no reason the angel would know, but Crowley was out of thinking room. He needed to at least outsource his bafflement to someone else.

Aziraphale winced, but looked like he was considering as he looked at War.

“You know, I think something’s gone wrong…”

~*~

Newt’s heart knocked at his esophagus as he sprinted up the road. The military base lay behind them. He wasn’t looking back to see if they were being followed.

Anathema was a step ahead. She held her hand back for him. Pulse leaping, Newt took it.

“Where are we going?” he gasped.

Anathema’s voice was grim. “To get my Book.”

~*~

“Something’s happened,” War screamed. Crowley felt the words hitting his organs like bullets. “The warheads are offline. There was supposed to be fire across the sky and now no-one’s going to die.”

Famine and Pollution, Crowley assumed, gnashed their teeth. Death just grinned. Although Crowley supposed he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Oh,” said Adam.

He didn’t look concerned. He’d also forgotten about killing his parents. Win-win, by the look of it.

“You are our leader, our master, our friend. Can’t you bring them back? Just bring them back online. Just think of all that death. Don’t you want that? All those clean strikes, falling from the sky, wiping everything away.”

War, Famine and Pollution looked feverish. Their teeth were on full display. It looked less and less like smiling.

Adam screwed his face up. “I dunno… I don’t see the big deal, pers’nally. What’s the sense in that? Just bombing everybody. I think I’m happy to keep them all alive.”

The three Horsepeople looked anguished.

“But humanity must end! It is written,” War howled.

“I can overwrite it,” said Adam.

The grass stirred in a nonexistent wind.

“I can overwrite anything.”

Adam’s voice had a sinister reverb. He stared into the sky, intent and hungry.

Crowley felt the sweep of a terrible power pass him by, as it crept out over the lawn and the house and the street, further and further, out across the world.

~*~

It was a ripple effect. Everywhere it touched, people stopped.

One by one, their eyes went blank. The colour drained from them. Their smiles turned vacant and ever-present.

Dick Turpin bounced up the road, squeaking like a wheelbarrow that hadn’t left the garden shed in quite some time. The wall of white static washed outward, through London, and passed through the car.

Dick Turpin rolled to a gentle stop. So did every other car. Some of them kept going just long enough to hit a building, or another car, or a person. Nobody reacted.

Newt and Anathema forgot about what they had been doing. Anathema had no thoughts of her Book.

Newt’s hands fell lax on the wheel.

They sat together, staring through the windshield, thinking of nothing at all.

~*~

Warlock cowered under the broken seesaw. He wanted to go home. He wanted his parents. He wanted to stop getting hit by fish.

On the last point, he got his wish. The sounds of the splats hitting the playground tapered off.

He raised his head, trembling.

Heaps of dead fish covered the playground. The three Them had fled back to the egg-shaped climbing frame thing. They were all huddled with their hands over their heads.

No more fish fell. Warlock got to his feet, wobbly kneed.

He wiped his grimy face and looked for Pepper.

She was helping the other two out of the cage-thing. All three of them looked spooked, but way less covered in fish-slime than Warlock.

Suddenly, they stopped dead. Their faces slackened. Their arms fell to their sides. Their spines jerked strangely, as though a marionette-holder had just plucked a string for each of them and reminded them they weren’t real.

Moving as one, they revolved on the spot and stared at Warlock.

Warlock stumbled back. No, it wasn’t even like they were staring at him. More like through him.

As if hooks had been inserted in the corners of their mouths, they smiled.

Warlock’s blood ran cold. He turned and bolted for the street.

He didn’t get far.

A wave of grey static hit him like a tidal wave. It wiped his brain clean. Every bit of anger, of unhappiness, of boredom, of anything at all. It left nothing.

There was nothing to do but smile.

Adam’s power rolled through Tadfield and onward, sweeping every mind it encountered.

The wave pushed on, relentless and pure, across miles, across land and ocean, until it covered the Earth.

---

[1] Madame Tracy took her obligations very seriously, especially for her clients who were a bit longer in the tooth. She took refresher first aid courses every couple of years.

[2] Crowley kicked himself for not having learned Tad Dowling’s job at any point during the many years he lived in his house. To be fair to him, it wouldn’t have helped.

(Link to next part)

[xsixxx]

Bad Influence, Chapter Seven

Authors Note: Sorry I’m so bad at trying to get these out quickly, I’m working on it, I swear! This is a pretty long one for me & it’s deep so sorry if it’s a little bit boring! Once again, I’ve finished this at 5am so if there are mistakes/it’s incoherent I’m sorry, I’ll proof read it when I wake up 😂 Feedback always welcome!

Warnings: Language, super duper angsty, bit of childhood trauma, Beth & Nikki up to their usual shit

Tags: @triplehaitches @freddiessmallnipples @queen-crue @scarecrowmax @lovesick-heart0 @littlesunnymoon @80sheart-strings @cranberribread @inthebackofmycarlaytheirbodies @deaconsroger @zoenicoles @crazysaladchopshop @ggorehorror @lunamadhatter99 @justtryingtoovercome @chaoticvybe @you-know-im-a-dreamer @eightiesrockbaby @valentines-in-london @xrosegoldwolfx @fupatroopaa @lilypetite88 @this-blog-must-be-the-place @ashleecrue @lauravic @dark-princess99

(There’s like no appropriate gif for this I swear so just enjoy one of Nikki looking cute)

(P.s as much as I love Douglas Booth & I will use The Dirt gifs, I fully picture actual Nikki when I write this, just for a little context 👏🏼)

*Nikkis POV*

“So what do you say?”

Beth looked hesisitant, but she couldn’t hide the excitement that danced in her eyes as my question lingered in the fraction of a space between our lips. I couldn’t stop the smirk from creeping across my face as I sensed her self control slip for just a moment, her eyes darting to my lips. I could see her wrestling with that darker side of herself that wanted to give in & surrender herself to me

She bit her lip in a poor attempt at self-discipline & her doey brown eyes fixed back on mine with a look of delicious purity that made my leather pants a little tighter.

Fuck, I wanted to kiss her so badly.

But I wouldn’t give in, that was the point. It had to be all her.

Beth knew I was bad for her. As she stood there in front of me, I could tell that every logical part of her brain was screaming at her to walk away, to slap me, to yell at me, to do something to keep me away. She knew I was a bad guy, she’d witnessed it firsthand when I fucked that delectably naive little sister of hers & yet, here she stood, visibly battling with her temptation, a breath away from relinquishing her self control & throwing herself at me. She wanted to do something bad for the first time in her life, just to see how good it felt. And damn, I’d make her feel good.

I wanted to prove that I was right, all those many months ago when I first laid eyes upon her elitist, yet enticing self in that diner; that even good, smart girls like Beth could fall from Grace if they were tempted with the right promises. And she was so close to falling, balancing so delicately on the edge I’d lead her up to. But I wasn’t going to push her, I wanted to watch her jump.

But she took a step back; both from the edge & from me. A dark, confident smirk, not too dissimilar from my own, spread across her dainty features, as she found her self-control firmly back in her grasp. She ran her tongue over her lower lip before pulling it back in between her teeth & biting down on it, knowing full well how good she looked doing it & her voice when she spoke was calm & sultry, velvety smooth with a slight edge. In that moment, she had emulated everything that she hated about me & I couldn’t help but smile.

“I say thank you, but no.” She smirked, raidiating arrogance. “I know what you’re trying to do Nikki.”

“And what is it I’m trying to do, little Angel?” I asked, feigning innocence as best I could.

“I know you’re being the devil on my shoulder, trying to tempt me. And damn, your promises make me wanna sin Nikki,” she paused as she took a second to look me up & down, a gleam of desire in those eyes, “Fuck, they really do.” She confessed. “But I’m sorry, I’m just not one of those girls.”

I let a low chuckle. “Beth, I just watched you cum in the bathroom of your work whilst being fucked by the lead singer of my band not 10 minutes ago.”

She scowled at me, her eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance. “I can have casual sex without being one of those girls,” she nodded behind me & I turned to see a a couple of giggling girls at the bar, sipping drinks & trying to catch my attention, flashing flirty smiles my way as they caught me eye. I’d definitely fucked the one. Maybe both. I couldn’t quite recall. “I’m allowed to enjoy sex Nikki, just because it’s with Vince doesn’t make me a groupie. I’m not sleeping with him because he’s in your precious band, I’m sleeping with him because it’s fun & a girl has needs.” She shrugged, defensively.

“So how come you won’t let me satisfy those needs for you, if it doesn’t mean anything?” I grinned.

“Because Sixx, you’re not a good guy & nothing with you could ever just be simple. Look at how you hurt my sister, for Christ sake.” Beth sighed, completely in control once again, shutting off to my deviant corruption. “You’re trying to play a game with me that I’m just not interested in playing, ok?”

“You’re only not interested in my game because you’re shutting yourself off from the side of you that would enjoy playing with me.” I pushed, flashing her a wicked smile, hoping I could pull her back into our little sexually charged exchange, but I could sense from the look that she gave me that the moment was over.

Beth sighed deeply, a look of exhaustion & confliction mixed into her delicate features. Her eyes, full of pain I didn’t understand, met mine one last time before she turned away.

“Goodnight Sixx.”

*Beths POV*

I knocked on the large oak front door & tapped my foot nervously as I waited for an answer, a large sponge cake balanced on top of 2 boxes, wrapped in bright blue wrapping paper that had “happy birthday!” garishly printed all over it.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw my little sisters face emerge from behind the door. Between me moving out & Maddie starting college, we hardly saw anything of each other & I’d missed her more than I’d realised. A wide grin spread across her face as she flung out her arms & ran to me, throwing them around my neck as she hugged me tightly, causing the precariously balanced cake to wobble dangerously.

“Watch it!” I chuckled, pulling away from her grip to catch the cake before it fell. I looked at Maddie, her eyes bright & brimming with tears. “Are you crying?!” I exclaimed.

“I’ve just really fucking missed you Beth!” She laughed, wiping the tears away.

“Madeline, language.” Came the gruff, sharp voice of my father who appeared in the doorway.

“Happy birthday Daddy!” I grinned at the sight of him & walked through the door & putting down the boxes to give him a hug. He pulled me in warmly & I suddenly felt like a kid again, wrapped up safely in the arms of my father & my nerves melted away. He stepped back & looked me up & down, frowning slightly. I blushed, pulling at the hem of my tshirt, my nerves flaring up once again. I’d dressed as conservatively as possible, knowing dad would have something to say if he caught on to my current lifestyle of rockstars, whiskey & the occasional line of cocaine.

“What?” I asked, flustered.

My dad shook his head, his frown disappearing & replaced with a friendly, but cautious smile. “Nothing, nothing. I just thought something just seemed a little different about you, but its nothing.” He finished, sounding unsure before gesturing for us to move into the living room.

I sat down awkwardly on the same beat up sofa that me & Maddie used to build forts on when we were kids & looked around the room. My eyes scanned all the knick knacks & framed photographs that I’d seen a million times over the years & yet, the time away made it feel like I was seeing them through the eyes of an outsider, taking in every detail for the first time. The fireplace was littered with old photos of us as kids, at the beach or playing in the backyard; the faded smiles of a happy childhood. Dust was gathering on the out dated ornaments that were scattered on the various cabinets and coffee tables around the room & the floral wallpaper was looking washed out & old. I glanced across at the table that sat next to me & saw a familiar, heart-wrenching smile that immediately gave me a lump in my throat, too big to swallow.

My mothers kind eyes looked up at me from the ornate framed picture whilst my own instinctively filled with tears. I picked up the photo & gently rubbed my thumb over her face, only wishing I could feel her skin underneath my touch, rather than the cold glass, reminding me that I never would again. I blinked away the tears as I returned the photo back to its prized place on the table, looking back around the living room in search of a distraction. The decor hadn’t changed once in the 10 years since my mom died, almost as if my father was trying to honour her memory by keeping her furniture & trinkets in the same place she had once carefully picked for them. He was treasuring her belongings as she once had, rather than letting them, & her, go.

He tried to do something similar with me & Mads, I thought to myself.

“How’re you doing Daddy?” I asked, suddenly painfully aware of my father now living alone in this unintentional shrine of a house.

“Oh you know, its quiet since you pair left, but I’m coping.” He said, giving us a forced smile. “What about you, are you still working in that hellish bar?”

I rolled my eyes at his judgement & disapproval, it never took long. “Yes Daddy, it pays the rent, remember?”

“I know, I know, I just hate the thought of you working in that sort of environment, surrounded by those kinds of people.” He huffed, shaking his head at the idea of me in the exact situation I was currently in. But I was the sensible one, there’s no way in his worst, most invasive thought, my dad could imagine me heading down the path I was currently on. Hell, I couldn’t believe it sometimes.

But I was still in control & that was the important thing. I knew my limits. No more than a couple of drinks & no getting drunk. No more than a couple of lines of coke & definitely nothing harder than that. No letting the party interfere with my studies or my work. And, my most important rule, no matter how tempted I might be or no matter how fun he might seem, absolutely no Nikki Sixx.

“Dad, I promise, I’m always careful & besides, it’s not as bad as you think.” I shrugged, attempting to downplay his concern. “Anyway,” I said standing up & retrieving his presents & cake from the hall, “let’s stop focusing on me, open up, birthday boy!”

Later

Me & Maddie stood around the block from our childhood home, well out of sight of our fathers overbearing eyes, as we both took a break from his constant paranoid questions about our lives away from home & took long, well-needed drags on our cigarettes. We’d bought ourselves 10 minutes, under the guise that we were walking to the convenience store for some milk, which bought us enough time to burn down our cigarettes & cover the smell by dousing ourselves in cheap but powerful body spray.

“I still can’t believe you’re smoking!” Maddie giggled. “It’s like watching a nun flashing or something!”

I choked slightly as I exhaled, the laugh catching in my throat as her comparison took me by surprise. “Gee, thanks!” I chuckled sarcastically.

“You know what I mean! It’s just you, my smart, goody-two-shoes big sister, is breaking one of Daddy’s golden rules, it bizarre.”

I scoffed at her. “I’m not that bad. I’m not as clean cut as everyone thinks I am.”

“Yeah right! Don’t you remember that night a couple years back when we went to see Mötley Crüe & you saw me smoking for the first time & went crazy at me?” Maddie cackled at the memory. “Oh god & then how you reacted when I went over to speak to them in that diner? You nearly had a heart attack! Fuck, I can’t believe how fast that time has gone!” She sighed contently, breathing out smoke into the brisk evening air. “Do you still see them occasionally at work?”

I took a long drag on my cigerette, drawing it out purposely as I tried to think of a way to answer. I hadn’t told Mads about my partying, or my 6 month on/off fling with Vince or even the fact that I hung around with Mötley at all. I told myself it was partly because I barely saw her & I hadn’t had chance & partly because I didn’t want to upset her, thinking that she’d feel betrayed by her sister socialising with the guy that screwed her over & embarrassed her in front of his band mates. But, if I was being honest with myself, it was more to do with the fact that I wanted to keep this part of my life separate from my messy homelife.

I settled on a simple, vague answer. “Every now & then, they play shows sometimes & say hi.” I shrugged, avoiding eye contact as I brought my cigerette back up to my lips.

“They talk to you?” Maddie quizzed, her eyes bulging with intrigue. “What do they say? Do you speak to Nikki?!”

Fuck, why did I say that last bit?!

I mentally cursed myself for not being vague enough as I searched for a response that could end the conversation. “Erm, they don’t really say much, just a polite hi & bye sort of thing. I haven’t spoke to Nikki though & I wouldn’t want to either, not after everything.” I babbled, flushing red as I attempted to lie, praying that Maddie wouldn’t probe anymore.

“Oh ok..” She sounded almost disappointed. But her eyes caught sight of my burning face. “Why are you blushing? What are you not telling me?!”

“N-nothing.” I stammered, smiling weakly, knowing just how bad I was at lying.

“Oh my god, you’re fucking him, aren’t you?!” Maddie yelled, a mixture of shock & annoyance in her voice. I blushed harder.

Fuck. She knew me too well. “What are you talking about?!”

“You! You’re sleeping with Nikki fucking Sixx, aren’t you?!”

I almost laughed out loud as relief & amusement fell over me like a comforting blanket, the prickling hot panic dying down as I realised sleeping with Vince wouldn’t be half as shocking to Maddie if she already thought I was having sex with that egotistical jackass.

“Oh god no! Maddie, I would never sleep with Nikki!” I laughed. Her face softened as she heard the sincerity in my voice, knowing I could never lie that convincingly.

“So what’s going on?!” She demanded.

“Oh, well um..” I stammered once again, suddenly nervous & awkward to admit the truth to her. “Me & Soph yanno, we hang out with them every now & then. Sophia has slept with Tommy a few times, but nothing major.”

Maddie looked suspicious & concerned. “Just be careful Beth, they’re not good guys, you & I both know this.”

“They’re not all bad. I mean, they’ve got a bad reputation but they’re not really bad guys-”

She cut me off, angrily. “Are you seriously defending them? After what Nikki did to me?!”

“No, of course not- I mean Nikki is, well yanno, he’s Nikki, he’s not the best.. But the rest of them, they’re nice guys- Vince is..” I stumbled, desperately wishing I could just go back 5 minutes & answer Maddies original question with a simple ‘no, I never see Mötley Crüe at work’.

“Oh, so it’s Vince that you’re fucking?!” She asked, cuttingly, raising her perfectly arched eyebrow judgingly.

“Yes” I answered instinctively, before realising. “No. Well, I mean- I have, but that’s got nothing to do with it!” I shouted, flustered & suddenly angry. “What are you getting so annoyed at me for?!” I deflected.

“Why?! Because you’re hanging out with the guys that humiliated me & you’re clearly acting like it never happened!”

“That’s not true! And it wasn’t the guys that humiliated you, it was Nikki & I can’t stand the guy! I even said to him the other night about how much he hurt you-“ But Maddie cut me off once again, shooting me a filthy look.

“How dare you?! How dare you speak to him about how he made me feel!” She began screaming. “That asshole doesn’t deserve to know that he took up one single second of my headspace after I stormed out of that gig, let alone know that he hurt me! I cannot believe that you would share something like that with him, you had no fucking right Beth.” She flicked her cigerette angrily on the floor as she turned & marched in the direction of home.

“Mads, come on, wait up!” I shouted as I ran after her.

“You keep my fucking name out of your goddamn mouth when you’re around that band, do you hear me, you fucking groupie?!” She hissed as she stomped away.

I stood still, shocked, wounded by her words. She’d never spoken to me like that before. I slowed my pace, not bothering to try & catch up as I followed her back home.

•••

I heard shouting as I walked up to the slightly ajar front door. My dads deep, sharp voice cutting though Maddies angry, whiny one.

“You’re in my house, you follow my rules, you know this by now!” He bellowed.

“I don’t live at home anymore, I’m 20 for Christ sake Dad, when are you going to loosen the fucking reigns?!” I winced at the sound of Maddie swearing at our father, knowing he would not take kindly to it.

“You do not speak to me like that, young lady! I am your father, you show me some respect!” He roared, angrier than I’d ever heard him.

I timidly walked through the door, hoping to calm the situation, whatever it was.

“Well you best start screaming at Elizabeth too, because she was doing it as well!” Maddie yelled, pointing at me as I pushed the front door to behind me, hoping to keep from peaking the neighbours interest.

My father let out a short, sharp laugh. “That’s typical of you Madeline, trying to shift the blame on to your sister. She’s the responsible one, you really expect me to believe she was smoking too?!”

Shit. We forgot to cover our tracks.

“You’re fucking kidding me with this Miss Perfect shit, right?” Maddie said, laughing without amusement. “Do you know what your precious daughter has been up to recently?!” I held my breathe, my eyes pleading with her to stop. Through all of our sisterly fights, through our our difficult teenage years, we’d never once had a real fight & we’d never once turned on each other.

“She’s been smoking, drinking, fucking a rock band & no doubt doing their drugs too!” Maddie spat smugly, turning to smirk at me with eyes full of anger.

I felt a rage burn inside me as my father gave me a look of disbelief, which soon changed to disappointment & then pure anger. Maddies disloyalty & smug face pushed me over the edge & I snapped. “Well you’d fucking know!” I shot back snidely. “You fucked one of them first. That probably explains how you know they’re quite fond of sharing their drugs, huh Mads?”

“Enough!” My father thundered. “Drugs?! Did you lean nothing from your mothers death?! How could you be so goddamn irresponsible, knowing what you know?! Have I taught you nothing?!”

My fury had been released & there was no keeping it in now. I glared at my dad, my anger spilling over in his direction. “Maybe if you hadn’t spent 10 years treating us like prisoners, never letting us out, never letting us experience anything, we wouldn’t be so desperate to try & figure the world out for ourselves the second we left your damn tyranny.”

My father looked taken aback, hurt. I felt regret almost instantaneously.

“You know that everything I did was to protect you.”

“Yes dad, we know, but you can’t protect us from real life.” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes. I didn’t mean to say it, but it was out there now, the truth I’d always felt but refused to acknowledge. It was out & I couldn’t take it back.

His face hardened, like I’d never seen before & it struck fear into my soul.

“If you want real life experiences, go & have them, but know that whilst you act this way, whilst you blatantly disrespect my wishes & insult your mothers memory, you are no daughters of mine.” He said, coldly. “Now get out, both of you.”

Later

I slammed the door to our one bed apartment shut behind me, relieved to be back in my own home though m still shaking with unspent emotion.

I headed towards the room I shared with Sophia, praying she was out so I didn’t have to deal with her questions & I could just climb into bed & sleep off the negativity of this whole day.

As my hand reached for the door handle of the closed bedroom door, I heard the unmistakable sounds of Sophia & Tommy, going at it &, knowing them, it wasn’t going to be a quick thing either. I groaned out loud, hoping they’d hear my annoyance, before I turned & headed back towards the living room. Flopping down on the sofa, I spotted one of my psych books lying on the coffee table with a hot pink sticky note attached to it:

The theory of human motivation, get to it babe, it’s due Monday. - S ♡

“Fuck.” I whispered, realising it was now 10pm on Sunday & I hadn’t even started.

“Could this day get any fucking worse?” I complained aloud to myself as I picked up the textbook & note pad Soph had thoughtfully left beside it.

“What an apt moment to make my entrance.” Nikki chuckled darkly, causing me to jump a mile & let out a girlish squeal, as he emerged from the kitchen.

“You fucking idiot, Sixx!” I screamed, throwing a pillow in his direction, ducking just in time for it to miss his amused expression. “You scared the shit outta me, dick!” I panted, holding my heart. “What the fuck are you doing here?!”

“Well, apparently Tommy needed to pick something up from Sophia, so I came here with him & he went into the bedroom to get it. That was half an hour ago & he’s yet to come back out, so I made myself at home.” He smiled, taking a bite out of the sandwich I hadn’t noticed him holding. “You only had wholemeal bread though.” He said, pulling a face of disgust between bites.

I scowled at him, shaking my head, not having the energy to rise to his bait tonight. He was obviously disappointed.

“What’s wrong Princess?” He smirked, “Still not ready to play with me?”

“Nikki, please. It’s been a hard day & I’ve got a paper to write by 9am tomorrow morning. Just please, please not tonight, I can’t deal with your games right now.” I pleaded, feeling the tears involuntarily fill my eyes as the true level of my metal & physical exhaustion hit me like a train. I wiped them away quickly, praying Nikki hadn’t noticed.

“Are- Um, are you, yanno, ok?” He mumbled awkwardly, moving towards the sofa, trying to judge whether or not it was safe to sit down next to me.

“I’m fine,” I sniffed, turning my face away from him as he made the decision to sit. “I’ve got a lot of work to do, if you wouldn’t mind.” I said, trying to make my voice sound strong & sure, not ready to show weakness in front of the man that I knew was capable of manipulating it if he felt like it.

“Do y- Ahem” he coughed awkwardly, pretending to clear his throat, “do you wanna talk about it?”

I let out a small, weak laugh, bringing my eyes back to meet his. He looked uncomfortable, fidgeting as he attempted to offer me some level of comfort. I couldn’t help but smile at his effort, no matter what his intentions behind it were. “No Sixx, I really don’t. But, um, thanks.”

He nodded, visibly uncomfortable. “So, uh, what’s your paper about?” He asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

“The theory of human motivation.”

“Ah ok, so like what drives people?” Nikki inquired thoughtfully, perking up a little.

“Sort of.. Well, have you ever heard of Maslows hierarchy of needs?” Nikki shook his head but looked intrigued, so I continued. “So, according to this psychologist, there are 5 levels of human needs & you have to attend to the lower levels before you can satisfy the levels higher up. So, for example, level 1 is your basic needs, food, water etc. You need those in order to attend to level 2, which is security, safety. It continues up to love & relationships, then self esteem & then self actualisation, achieving ones dreams essentially. That’s the top tier, the end goal.”

“Ok yeah, I get it. I’m down for the first level, I mean obviously I gotta survive, but I don’t need security or love or that shit to achieve my goal.” Nikki laughed. “I think this Maslow guy needs to met someone like me. Growing up without love & stability only made me more determined.”

“Well yeah, it made you more determined because you’re unknowingly seeking that love & security through your music & your band. You’re hoping your career will provide you with the security you never had & that your fans will provide you with the love. Every human falls into the model, one way or another.” I shrugged, smirking at his dumbfounded expression.

“Ok little miss psychologist, being as you clearly know me so well, analyse me.” Nikki sniggered.

I shook my head, “it doesn’t work like that. But,” I continued as inspiration struck me, “I could use you as the subject for my paper, I think you’d make an interesting case, with your inflated sense of ego & all.”

Nikki flashed his usual, arrogant smirk. “Well, doesnt sound like Tommy is gonna be done any time soon. Ok, you’ve got yourself a test subject, Princess.” He winked.

“Ok, lets do this properly. No messing around, I need to you answer my questions as best you can Sixx, promise?” I raised my eyebrows at his wide grin.

“I promise I’ll try.” He responded, raising his hand mockingly.

I grabbed my notepad & pen & began scribbling down some notes to start me off.

After a couple of minutes of writing, I looked up. Nikki was sat patiently, lighting a cigerette & gazing off to the side, lost in thought. The sight of him sent my stomach into freefall as I took that moment to appreciate his features, his strong jawline & thoughtful eyes. He caught me staring & his eyes shone with mischief as he grinned once again, shattering my vision of this deep, soulful artist. I laughed at my own foolish thought that Nikki Sixx was anything more than he appeared to be at face value. He proved that with his answer to my first question.

“Ok, So Nikki Sixx, tell me what it is that you do.”

“What do I do?” He asked, that roguish gleam in his eyes twinkling as gave me that troublesome smirk once again. “Oh, I do bad things.” He answered.

“Yeah, this was a bad idea.” I snapped, slamming my notepad shut with exasperation. “I should’ve figured you weren’t capable of taking anything seriously.”

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry, I’ll be sensible.” He laughed. “I am the creator & bassist of a rock band called Mötley Crüe.”

I gave him a stern, warning look before continuing. “And tell me, what lead you to peruse a career in music?”

“Music was the one constant thing throughout my childhood & teenage years. It cut through the boredom & the bullshit in my life. It inspired me.” He said simply, but passionately. I brought my eyes up from the notepad to look at him, his eyes truly thoughtful this time as I imagined him reminiscing about the first album he’d ever bought or the first time he held a bass. Whatever he was remembering, it tugged at the corners of his lips as a genuine smile appeared on his face, taking the place of his usual smirk. I couldn’t help but smile along with him, taking in his beauty & serenity in that moment.

“So, ahem”, I coughed, bringing myself back to reality, “What was music an escape from? What lead you to feel so passionately about it?”

“I had a shitty upbringing.” He said bluntly. “My dad split when I was 3 & it was obvious that I was just a burden to my mom. Whenever I got in the way of her lifestyle, she’d ship me off to my grandparents who constantly moved around. And when she did want me, I was just a punching bag for her asshole boyfriends.”

“Nikki, I’m sorry, I had no idea..” I trailed off.

“It’s fine Princess, it is what it is.” He shrugged, but I sensed he wasn’t as ok with it as he was making out. “So when I found music, it was suddenly like ‘this is it, this is what I’ve been looking for’, it just made sense to me & I’ve been infatuated ever since.”

“Sixx, look, we don’t have to do this, I didn’t realise that this went as deep as it does, I don’t wanna intrude..”

“It’s ok. It must be hard to imagine broken families when you’re not from one.” Nikki responded a little sharply, his presumption catching me off guard.

“Excuse me?”

“No, I just meant that when you have a stable family, it must be hard to imagine that some parents don’t love or want their kids, yanno?”

I laughed humourlessly at his false premise. “Trust me, there is nothing stable about my family.”

“Oh come on Beth. You’re telling me that you, the well educated Daddy’s girl from the good neighbourhood, had a rough childhood, really?” Nikki scoffed, rolling his eyes.

I snapped, growing tiresome of his stereotypical opinion of me. “You don’t know the first thing about me Sixx, stop pretending that you do.”

“Kind I’d like how you didn’t know the first thing about me until 5 minutes ago? Yet, you’ve always made your judgements on my attitude & my lifestyle. I’m just returning the favour doll.” He replied, raising his eyebrow pointedly.

I sighed, resigning to his annoyingly accurate point. “Ok fine. Not that I owe you any explanation,” I started, looking anywhere in the room but at those piercing eyes that were focused so intently on me. “My mom OD’d when I was 13. She was prescribed painkillers after a car accident & she just never came off them.”

“Fuck.” Nikki whispered. “Doll, I’m sorry.”

I shook my head as I felt the tears prick in my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day. “Our dad wrapped me & Maddie up in bubble wrap after that & made us fearful of the world. He took us out of school & homeschooled us, never really let us socialise, we never got to go out & see our friends, he all but kept us locked up.” I sighed, thinking back to the harsh words I’d said to my father earlier on that day, the regret & guilt flooding back & overwhelming me once again. “I know he was doing what he thought was best, keeping us safe & protected from anything or anyone that could harm us or influence us.”

“Someone like me?” Nikki teased, trying to lighten the mood.

I let out a soft giggle. “Exactly.”

Nikki gently placed his hand under my chin, lifting my head up fractionally so that my eyes met his. His gaze drifted to my cheek as a lone tear fell silently down it. His grazed his thumb softly against my skin, wiping it away with a simple caress that sent shivers through my body. I felt weak under his touch. That same touch that had once set fire to my mind did so once more & I instantly craved him all over again.

“Who knew you could be a good guy when you wanted to be?” I whispered as his thumb trailed from my cheek to my lips, his eyes fixated on them.

“I’m the devil Lizzy, remember?” He muttered back, restraint evident in this voice. “I’m not a good guy.”

“Being good doesn’t get you anywhere. Trust me, I know.” I breathed, leaning in to him & letting my lips brush his, using his own trick against him. “Kiss me, Sixx.” I whispered.

“You don’t want this, Angel.” He warned gently.

“And how do you know what I want?”

His brow furrowed, confliction obvious in his dark green eyes. “You’re upset & you’ve had a bad day. This isn’t you & as much as I want you, I don’t want you this way, you’re not thinking clearly.” He sighed.

“Fuck, Nikki, I can’t fucking win! So what, you only want me if I’m like all of those other groupies, drunk in a bar & throwing myself at you, is that it?” I snapped, moving away from him.

“No Beth, that’s not it.” He replied bluntly, running his hands through his messy hair. “But look, you’re emotional & vulnerable & I-“ he stumbled, unsure whether to continue. “I’m not the solution to your problem Beth ok, I’m not that kinda guy.”

I laughed sharply. “Wow, because I’m so insecure in myself that I must need you to comfort & validate me, right? Christ Nikki, it must be exhausting fanning your own fucking ego like that.”

“Why else would you be coming on to me now?!”

“Because for a second Nikki, you actually seemed like a decent guy, like maybe you actually had a heart. And for a fucking second, I didn’t despise you.” I laughed, bitterly. “Silly me!”

“But that’s just it Beth, you know I’m not a decent guy. I wanna fuck you, I mean Christ, you know I do. But I wanna make you feel bad, I wanna fulfil your darkest fantasies, I don’t wanna just be your comfort fuck, that’s just not what I do Beth, I’m sorry.” He muttered, shaking his head.

“How fucking dare you?!” I fumed, shoving his shoulder & standing up. “How dare you presume that I fucking need your comfort. I can take care of myself, Sixx, thanks.” I turned around, walking towards the kitchen, muttering to myself “God forbid I should just find him attractive for a fraction of a second & wanna act on it-”

I heard Nikki stand up & I spun round to give him more of my mind, but he was quick & I was suddenly standing chest to chest with him, my face at the level of his neck & I caught his musky scent & I was momentarily intoxicated. I couldn’t stop my thoughts from imagining what it would be like to feel his skin under my lips as I placed kisses along his neck, nipping & sucking as I went. My mouth watered slightly at the thought.

“Ok Lizzy. Prove it.” Nikki tested, his forehead resting lazily on mine as I brought my eyes up to look at him. They were dark, yet I could sense the struggle & hesitance in them, along with the desire that I’d come to recognise so well.

“Prove what?” I asked stubbornly.

“That you want me. Prove me wrong, do something reckless & impulsive just because you know it’ll feel good. Make that decision to jump.” He whispered, his breath brushing my face as his words & his eyes drew me in, pulling me down, under his spell.

Once again, he brought his lips to mine, allowing them to brush together, sending sparks of electricity & passion surging through my body, but he restrained from kissing me. He wanted me to be the one to do it. He wanted to be right.

Fuck, I wanted to prove him right.

“You’re the devil, Nikki Sixx.” I murmured softly.

He smirked against my lips, knowing he had finally won. “Angel, something tells me you can’t help but enjoy it.”

I tiptoed & titled my head up towards Nikki, closing the gap in between our lips, surrendering myself to him. My lips crashed on to his & immediately that fire that only he could ignite spread to every part of me. My mind, my body, my soul we’re all ablaze with the feeling of him. For the first time in years, I did something I knew I shouldn’t, for no other reason than because I simply wanted to. There was no hidden reason or agenda, I just wanted him.

No, I craved him. I wanted him to show me the darker side of myself he promised, I wanted him to show me what my body was made for.

He pressed himself against me, tasting me, wrapping his arms around my waist & pulling me in closer. I could feel that tantalisingly smirk against my lips, I could taste his arrogance & it only made me want him more. I buried my fingers into his hair, gripping with desperate ferocity as he picked me up & thrust me roughly onto the kitchen work surface, deepening his kiss, causing me to moan gently into his mouth.

Nikki groaned seductively, breaking the kiss. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear you make that noise for me.” He breathed, his hands travelling up my body to cup my face, holding it roughly, forcing me to look into his hungry eyes. He studied for me a second as I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, my body aching for his kiss.

“I knew I could make you fall from Grace.” He smirked. “We’re gonna have fun so much fun together, little Angel.” He grinned wickedly, letting go of my face but keeping his hand under my chin.

I smirked, a new found confidence washing over me as ran my hands through Nikkis disheveled hair & looked into those dark eyes.

I leaned in towards him, my soft lips grazing his lobe purposefully as I whispered proactively into his ear. “You have no idea what you’ve just started. Just because you won this round, doesn’t mean I’m gonna make this easy for you. When I’m through, even the devil is going to kneel before me.” I drawled, mimicking his arrogance before hopping off the work surface & walking away, leaving Nikki with his mouth open, desperate for more.

[notarelationship]

In A Minute - Ch 4

Klaine Fic - In A Minute

Summary: AU. Kurt’s a bit clumsy, and Blaine needs a boyfriend in a hurry. What more do you want? Words: ~3600 Chapters: 4/? Warnings: none

AO3: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4

I am so, so sorry about the delay in posting! My summer just got away from me. I'm hoping to finish this up soon so the wait for the rest shouldn't be too long!

Thanks to @honeysucklepink​ for the beta! I claim all errors as my own.

--

“We can send up a fold out cot if you like,” the very-eager-to-help hotel employee on the other end of the line said.

Blaine considered it. He could sleep on the cot and Kurt could have the bed to himself.

“I’m sorry Mr. Anderson, we called a -” Blaine heard fingers clacking on a keyboard at the other end of the line. “A Pam Anderson - when we swapped the rooms. She said it would be alright and that you really only needed the one.”

“It’s - not all - I mean,” Blaine turned around when Kurt stepped back into the room. Kurt smiled and went to unpack his clothes into the wardrobe, carefully smoothing each item as he hung it. ‘Ask them to send up a steamer, I forgot mine,‘ Kurt whispered.  If Blaine’s mother knew what the configuration of his hotel room was, he couldn’t tell the front desk that they weren’t together. What if it got back to her? “No, it’s fine. Thanks.” Kurt turned to look at him expectantly. “Oh, and can you send up a steamer iron? Thank you.”

“Everything okay?” Kurt asked, when Blaine hung up the phone.

Blaine sighed and shrugged. “Well, they don’t have another room. But they did offer to send up a cot if I wanted.” He was worried about his mother finding out, but if it would make Kurt more comfortable then he’d do it. He’d worry about what to tell her when she found out. Which she would.

Kurt rolled his eyes and lay down on the bed, stretching out on one side. “Blaine. Lie down on the bed.” Kurt waved a hand and then patted the empty half of the mattress. “Please.”

Blaine hesitated, but Kurt made an insistent gesture, so he did as he was instructed. There was a lot of room between him and Kurt, which Kurt waved his arm across like he was making half a snow angel.

“See? You could put an entire third person in here with us - not that I’m suggesting that. Or two large dogs.” Kurt turned to his side, propping his head up with one hand. “Look, Blaine. I know you’re just trying to make sure I’m comfortable with this whole - situation, but I promise it’s fine. I’m pretty sure you’re not a serial killer, and you’ve been nothing but a gentleman.”

Blaine buried his face in a pillow and moaned. “I can’t believe I dragged you into this,” he mumbled into the pillow.

“Blaine.”

“Mmffmm.”

“Blaine look at me.”

Blaine took a deep breath and pushed himself up off of the mattress until he was sitting upright, facing Kurt. Kurt rolled his eyes and sat up.

“For the last time. You asked me and I said yes. And - I am very into this whole winery weekend thing, so stop feeling guilty about it for my sake.” Kurt paused for just a moment. “You’re on your own with your parents.”

“Okay.” Blaine laughed and closed his eyes, and because he was generally grateful for how cool Kurt was being about everything, including how nervous Blaine was acting, he added, “Thank you.”

“You may not thank me after I run up the champagne tab in the spa,” Kurt said, then he jumped off the bed, startling Blaine. “Now, I would really love to shower and get cleaned up. I smell like a commuter train. And I’m starving. What time is it? Do you think we can get some food anywhere?”

“Oh, uh almost 1:30, I think?” Blaine hopped off the bed and picked up a card that was set out on the desk that had the schedule of wedding sponsored weekend activities printed on it. “And there is a buffet lunch set out until three. I should probably head down and say hello to my family, do you want to come down when you’re ready?”

“That sounds great. I won’t be long, I really am hungry.”

Blaine waited while Kurt grabbed some things from his bag and then shut himself in the bathroom. Once he could hear water running, Blaine changed into fresh clothes, and made his way downstairs.

--

“Blaine! Sweetheart!” Blaine tried not to flinch as his mother flung an arm around him in an excessively demonstrative hug. “If I didn’t know better I’d have thought you were avoiding us!” Blaine speculated that it was likely that she’d had a few afternoon cocktails already.

“Hi Mom,” he said, returning her hug more sedately and kissing her on the cheek. “Of course not. We only arrived about 40 minutes ago. I came down as quickly as I could.”

His mother hummed noncommittally, looking behind Blaine as if he were hiding someone. “Where’s Kurt? I thought he was coming with you?”

“He wanted to freshen up after the ride here. He’ll be down shortly.”

“Oh, good,” she said, although it sounded more perfunctory than actually interested.

“I’ll make sure I bring him over to say hello,” Blaine said, as she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

“Delightful,” she answered, and then she was off to mingle with the other guests. Blaine wondered idly where his dad was.

Blaine glanced around the patio where the lunch had been set up. There were tables and chairs spanning the indoor/outdoor space, and opposite that the several buffet tables set up along the inside wall. It gave off the feeling of wanting to be casual, but Blaine knew better; there was nothing casual about this crowd. He was surprised that there weren’t tuxedoed wait staff serving hors d’oeuvres on silver trays.

There were about fifty people milling around, and while Blaine recognized some of them, more of them were strangers. He wondered how many people had actually been invited to the wedding.

“Hey, I’d know those boyish good looks anywhere.” Blaine didn’t recognize the voice, so he didn’t realize the owner of it was speaking to him. At least not right away. “I had no idea they’d belong to an ass that wouldn’t quit.”

Blaine choked and looked around to see who on earth would be that forward with a total stranger at someone’s wedding.

A guy Blaine would have described as smarmy held out his hand. Blaine shook it. “I’ve heard a lot about you Blaine Anderson.”

“Um, who are you?”

“Oh, I thought for sure you’d recognize me from the snaps I sent you the other day. Sebastian Smythe.”

Blaine’s manners kicked, sort of, while he mentally rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, but the one with your face must not have come through.” Blaine looked around, hoping to see Kurt walking in, but there was no sign of him.

“Blaine honey!” His mother reappeared. “I see you’ve met Sebastian!”

Blaine grimaced. She was about to keep going, no doubt singing Sebastian’s praises, when Blaine’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

“Excuse me one sec,” he said, hoping it was Kurt. Fishing his phone out, he turned away so he could check the message, and his mother carried on talking to Sebastian.

What are you wearing?

It was from Kurt, and Blaine tried not to notice the warm feeling that licked up his spine at that question. Even though he knew there wasn’t really anything behind it.

Excuse me?

I need to know what you’re wearing so I can match - casual? Formal? I didn’t see you before you left.

Oh. Okay. That made sense. Blaine had dressed in a pair of navy shorts and a white polo, but had picked one of his favorite peach colored bow ties with schnauzers on them for some personality.

Navy shorts and a white polo. Bow tie. He texted Kurt.

How preppy. send me a picture?

Blaine could feel his face color, and looked around as if someone were peeking at his incoming texts. Not that it was scandalous at all, he was just being weird.

OK hang on.  Blaine found a men’s room, thankfully empty, and took a photo of himself in the lounge mirror. He held his breath when he hit send.

He didn’t have to wait long. Great. I’ll be down in less than ten!

Blaine wandered back over to the buffet gathering, avoiding where his mother was still talking to Sebastian, wondering if ten minutes actually meant ten minutes. Was Kurt a punctual person or did he have a tendency to be late while getting ready for a party? Blaine tried to remind himself that he really didn’t know Kurt that well; they weren’t actually friends.

He needn’t have worried. He was still contemplating this thought, staring at the buffet tables, when he felt the pressure of a light hand on his back.

“Hi.” Kurt leaned very close, and Blaine couldn’t help but lean slightly in to meet him. Whether it was Kurt himself or simply the pull of another person this close to him he didn’t know. Kurt’s lips grazed Blaine’s ear, and he whispered, “I’m going to kiss you on the cheek - I didn’t want to startle you.”

“Oh, okay.” Blaine barely had time to process the thought, tipping his face just enough to accept the offering. He hoped Kurt didn’t notice how warm his cheeks felt.

Was this the first time Kurt had kissed him? He had a vague panic that there might be more kissing, followed by more panic that he was thinking about it. Had they talked about wedding PDA?

“You look very cute, by the way,” Kurt said, and Blaine turned to get a look at Kurt because if they were going to talk he didn’t want to be staring somewhere else. “I wasn’t sure how to dress for this, so I packed a few options.” Kurt fiddled with a neckerchief tied neatly at his throat. It was the first indication Blaine had that Kurt might be nervous about this too.

He didn’t have any reason to be. Blaine took in Kurt’s outfit, and had to resist ogling like a creep. His shorts were slim cut, a few inches longer than Blaine’s, hugging his thighs in a way that somehow made his legs look longer. His shirt was a madras pattern, only instead of the bright colors popular with the New England upper crust prep style everyone else was wearing (and that Blaine had plenty of examples of in his own closet), his was tones of brown with gold flecks. Two of the buttons were undone, exposing just enough skin for Blaine to -

Not your boyfriend not your boyfriend not your boyfriend

“You look perfect,” Blaine managed to say.

-

“Kurt!” Blaine started when he heard his mother call from halfway across the room. He bit back a smirk and shook his head as Pam enthusiastically hugged Kurt, and Kurt accepted the greeting like they were long lost cousins. “Blaine said you were running late, I’m so glad you could make it down to meet everyone.”

Kurt laughed politely. “Well I did just get here, so I haven’t had a chance to meet anyone yet.” Kurt linked his arm with Pam’s, as Blaine watched, dazzled by the ease with which Kurt handled his mother. “Maybe you should show me off to some of the guests? And I’m starving, maybe you could lead me in the direction of a sandwich?” Kurt looked at Blaine, an eyebrow raised as if asking permission. “Do you mind?”

“Of course not. But make sure you remember everyone’s name so you can tell me who they are later,” Blaine teased, even winking as Kurt walked off with his mother, and Blaine wondered once again what he’d gotten himself into.

Before he could explore that thought again, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Alone, finally.” Blaine turned to see Sebastian leaning much too close to him, although he had moved his hand away. “I thought he’d never leave.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your boyfriend.”

Blaine was confused. He was sure Kurt hadn’t been there ten minutes before his mother swooped in and whisked him away. “Kurt? He just got here.”

“Still.” Sebastian leered a little and Blaine was uncomfortable all over again. “We can hardly get to know each other if he’s monopolizing your time.”

Blaine didn’t really want to cause a scene at his cousin’s wedding, but he needed to put a stop to - whatever this was.

“Look, Sebastian, I’m flattered, really.” He wasn’t, but he could pretend, right? He was even getting good at it. “But when my mother suggested we meet she didn’t realize that I had a serious boyfriend. I’m not really interested in dating or meeting anyone right now.” That was polite enough, Blaine hoped Sebastian wouldn’t be too offended.

Sebastian snickered, not seeming put off at all. “I’m not really interested in dating either, Blaine. I just thought we could have a little fun this weekend.” Sebastian nodded in Kurt’s direction, dropped his voice, almost but not quite whispering into Blaine’s ear, “He doesn’t really look like he can keep someone as hot as you satisfied.”

Blaine’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Well, I’m in room 269. I’ll leave a key at the front desk if your boyfriend can’t keep up his end this weekend.”

“Oh my god. No, I don’t - I don’t think so.” He put up a hand in between himself and Sebastian. “You should, back off, I think.” Blaine glanced over to where Kurt was waving around a small plate of food, and he and his mother were entertaining a small group of women who Blaine thought were possibly great aunts, or second cousins. He looked like he’d be busy at least for a few minutes, so Blaine walked out of the room.

The rest of the hotel was mercifully quiet, and he found a sliding door that led to a narrow balcony. Cool ocean air hit him and Blaine shivered. At first he didn’t see anyone outside, but when he turned to walk to the far end of the balcony, just to gather himself before he went back to the party, he spied his father, leaning over the railing, smoking a cigarette.

“I thought you quit,” Blaine said.

Stewart startled, then relaxed when he saw it was Blaine who had interrupted him. “I mostly have.” He took a long drag on what was left and tossed it into the sand below the balcony. “Your mother is in rare form already.”

Blaine snorted, then caught himself when his father raised an eyebrow. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, I know she has her moments. Want to talk about it?”

Blaine shook his head, staring out at the ocean view. It was beautiful. “Maybe. Do you have any idea why she’s trying to fix me up with that guy - Sebastian?”

Stewart grimaced. “The Smythe boy? I thought she’d given up on that.”

“You know him?”

“Not really. His parents are on about a half dozen planning committees at the club, I think your mother is trying to get in good with them.”

“She’s trying to pimp me out to their son so she can decorate the country club Christmas party?” Blaine’s jaw dropped as he stared at his father.

Stewart shrugged, then leaned on the railing, joining Blaine in his observation of the ocean.

“I have no idea what on earth would make her think I would be interested in that guy. He’s,” Blaine shuddered, “really not my type.”

“His parents are lovely people, but you know how your mother can get bored. And when she gets bored she gets caught up in what passes for southwestern Ohio high society.” Blaine nodded. She did enjoy her status-play. “I thought she’d stop after we met Kurt - I like him, by the way. I think your mother does too.”

Blaine sighed and bit his lip. He wanted to tell his dad about how his mother had obviously maneuvered Kurt so Sebastian could get him alone. He didn’t.

“Dad? I have to tell you something.” Blaine laced his fingers together, looking back out toward the ocean. “And I just - I’m sorry, in advance. For lying to you.”

Stewart stood and looked at Blaine. “Blaine are you in trouble? Did something happen at school - did you fail a class?”

“No, no, nothing like that Dad.” Blaine chuckled. God he could only imagine what would happen if he failed a class. That would be much worse than lying. “I - Kurt’s, um, not really my boyfriend.”

“Blaine?” Stewart leaned on the railing. “I don’t understand? Why would you tell us he was if he wasn’t?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I,” Blaine cleared his throat. “I got tired of Mom asking about my love life, and trying to fix me up with this guy I’d never met from Ohio.” His dad nodded, so Blaine went on.  “So when you guys came for dinner I asked him to just come out with us. I thought it would get her to leave me alone, you know? I’m so busy all the time, and dating is not easy in New York, apparently, and I just, I wanted her to lay off for a while. But I didn’t want to be rude about it.”

“I do appreciate you not wanting to be rude to your mother Blaine, but there was really no need to lie to us about this. You could have just told her you weren’t interested.”

“Don’t you think I tried that?” Blaine grumbled. “She can be pretty persistent.”  Blaine was relieved that his father didn’t seem to be mad, or even disappointed to the point that Blaine’s guilt over the entire thing would get worse. But still, he felt like he should make some amends for it. “I’ll pay for all of Kurt’s extra costs this weekend, I promise. I told him he could use the spa and whatever hotel amenities there were to get him to come with me - and I’ll make sure I pay for all of it okay?  I don’t want this to cost you anything, I just wanted to,” Blaine paused. “I just needed a break.”

Stewart was silent for a few stretched out minutes, and Blaine knew his father well enough to know he was weighing everything Blaine had just told him. “I think you should not tell your mother about this for now, if that’s alright with you - I’d like to avoid starting any drama at your cousin’s wedding, if that’s even possible. And we can worry about who pays for what later, and what to tell your mother.”

Blaine nodded. “Very alright. I’d like to never tell her, if possible.” Blaine sighed. “Thanks Dad.”

“For what?”

“For being understanding? I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Stewart hmmed, but didn’t say anything more about it. “How about we head back. The lunch is probably over by now and I should pretend I spent the afternoon mingling.”

Blaine just laughed, relieved, and followed his dad back to the party.

-

“What time are we due at dinner tonight?” Kurt asked after they’d made their goodbyes and were walking to the elevators.

“It’s late, not until 8:30 I think, after the rehearsal. Why?”

“If you don’t mind, I wouldn’t mind getting into the spa before then? I checked earlier and they had a few slots open for massages, and a facial would do me wonders. The air out here is saltier than I expected.”

Blaine lifted his chin, nodding once. “Oh! Of course, you should definitely take the opportunity. I might just take a nap. I feel like I’ve been up for two days.”

Kurt raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t mind my saying, maybe you should join me? You seemed a little tense in there, maybe a massage would help? A fancy hot shave?” Kurt wiggled his shoulders excitedly.

“I -” Blaine paused. He didn’t have any reason not to. And after confessing to his dad he felt a lot less pressured that he might make a mistake and let something slip. “Yeah okay. I don’t think I’ve ever had a professional massage before.”

Kurt clapped his hands. “Oh, you’re going to love it.”

-

The massage was exactly the right thing to work out the remaining anxiety Blaine had been holding onto since talking with his dad. He wasn’t entirely proud of the fact that he had lied to his parents about Kurt, but his dad did seem to understand, and they way the masseuse pressed and pushed and pulled every uncovered inch of his body seemed to realign his head into something that felt a little more like himself. He didn’t even get (too) distracted by Kurt walking around with nothing but a towel around his waist. Blaine felt good for the first time in what felt like weeks.

After their massages, Kurt stayed to take advantage of the nearly empty sauna, but all Blaine wanted was a long hot shower. So he excused himself, and went back to their room alone. If he indulged in a few private thoughts about the way the spa towel sat over the curve of Kurt’s ass, who could blame him?

Kurt still hadn’t returned by the time Blaine finished in the shower, so he pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt and sat down to send Kurt a text.

Not sure when you’ll be back, wanted to let you know I’m going to try to take a nap before dinner. Don’t worry about making noise when you get back, I sleep like a rock.

Blaine put his phone on silent and dropped it on the bedside table. His last thought before dozing off completely was that he should probably tell Kurt that his dad knew everything now.

He didn’t hear his phone buzz with an incoming text.

-  

Save me a spot on the bed. I feel like I’ve run a marathon, I may join you for that nap.

[klove0511]

At Any Cost Chapter 6

Castiel whirled, catching the angel behind him in the abdomen, then spun back around to his right and blocked a second angel’s blade. They clashed for another moment before Cas saw an opening, dropping his second opponent to the ground and giving him space to attack a third. The numbers were thinning, finally, but Raphael would be back any second. Dean was still fighting an angel, and Cas could see the vial of grace on the altar, tucked away safely. His hand closed around it just as he heard Dean’s distressed cry ring out. Turning, he spotted Raphael on the battlefield across from Dean. It took another moment to spot Sam lying limp and bloody. 

He flew to him and crouched by Sam’s head, healing damage as quickly as he could, but Sam was already dying. Cursing silently Castiel lifted Sam’s head, gently tipping the grace into his mouth. 

He could tell when the grace took hold; his healing efforts were suddenly useless. Sam’s eyes opened, and they glowed a brilliant blue before a wave of power lit up the area, throwing Castiel back.

“Sam!” Dean screamed as his brother landed with a sickening crack and fell limp. Nausea threatened Dean’s composure, a dangerous prospect with Raphael just five feet in front of him. But Sam was dead or dying, Dean was sure of it, and he needed to go to him. Wouldn’t do anyone any good if he got himself vaporized though. Raphael smirked and lazily waved in Dean’s direction.

As he tumbled to the ground on his own flight path he caught sight of Cas crouching by Sam. His stomach lurched; Sam should be moving by now if Cas healed him. He tried to have faith—in Cas, in Sam—but his gut was sure the angel had been too late. Grief welled up, numbing him to the world. The world Sam had died for twice, now. Dean staggered to his feet, clenching his angel blade. He wasn’t going to let Sam die in vain. Before he could close the distance to Raphael, though, a surge of power flattened him to the ground.

When Dean raised his head, he saw Sam, wings glowing grace blue and on full display. Thunder rumbled, and Dean would have sworn the earth shook under his hands. He felt power rippling out from his brother. Even though he knew this was exactly what they had been aiming for, Dean felt his stomach flip-flop at seeing Sam look so obviously other.

Raphael snarled, then vanished. The battle was on. Dean couldn’t follow most of it—Sam and Raphael flying all over the cemetery in an attempt to gain an advantage. They flung power at each other that whizzed over Dean’s head and exploded gravestones when it landed. The air smelled of ozone, and the temperature had climbed noticeably in the last minute. He and Bobby were going to cook if Sam didn’t end this soon.

Raphael, apparently, had other plans. Dean had lost Cas and Bobby in the scuffle, but as the flurry of wings came to an abrupt halt, he realized the archangel was holding Castiel at knifepoint. Sam looked on, grim determination on his face. He wasn’t faster than Raphael. That much was obvious.

 Sam watched Raphael press the tip of his blade into Cas’s throat. A pinprick of grace leaked out, and Sam struggled to keep from reacting. He was exhausted, but his mind was running on overtime, trying to figure out Raphael’s angle here. His chest tightened when he figured it out. He might only match the archangel in speed, but he’d been winning. If he was nearing the limits of his powers, then Raphael must be on his last legs. It didn’t make this situation easier, but it might give them an opportunity. Sam was careful to keep from looking at Dean and Bobby—both positioned behind Raphael, though not close enough to do anything without alerting the angel. Frantically, he tried to come up with a plan. He rifled through their code words for one made for a situation like this. Not Funky Town. Definitely not Poughkeepsie, much as he wanted Dean and Bobby gone and safe. Dancing Queen would work if he could get Dean close. They didn’t have on for “I’m about to use my power on you,” but he’d wager they would going forward. Assuming they survived today.

Sam wasn’t sure he could use his power on Dean without alerting Raphael, but he didn’t see any other options. If it worked, if he could fill Dean in, they might have a shot at this.

Ignoring the spiraling fear he had for Dean and Cas with this plan, he cleared his throat. Raphael had been monologuing about lost causes while Sam thought, and he tuned back into the conversation.

“—think you could beat an archangel? You are nothing more than a filthy half-breed, and I would have killed you already if your stolen grace weren’t necessary to retrieve my brothers.”

“No offense, but I’m not going to let my Brain Stew on that.” Come on, Dean. Pay attention. I’ve got a plan. “I’m you’re so convinced you can take me, let’s dance. I’m a regular Dancing Queen these days.” He saw Dean shift his weight out of the corner of his eye. Good. Message received.

Sam reached for his power, trusting it would do as asked if it could, and bent space around Dean until he was right behind Raphael. It happened in an instant, and Sam saw Raphael’s eyes widening in surprise as Dean punched him in the face. It didn’t hurt anyone but Dean, but it drew just enough attention that Sam could fly into close quarters and pulse his power through the archangel. Sam felt it manifest itself in his hand as an angel blade—outwardly similar to all the others he’d seen, but when he tightened his grip, it sang. This blade was his, and only his.

He stabbed upward, catching Raphael in the back under his ribs. Power shot through the blade, and before the angel’s eyes started to glow he knew he’d done it.

The three of them stumbled away and closed their eyes against the supernova. When it was over, Raphael lay sprawled in the grass, wings still sparking as they turned to ash.

 Sam hastily checked over Cas, who was essentially uninjured, before turning to Dean. He was holding his hand to his abdomen, radiating pain. Broken ribs or hand, possibly both, if Sam knew anything about his brother.

“Let me see,” he said, reaching for Dean’s rapidly swelling hand.

“I’m fine, Sam. Where’s Bobby?”

“I’ll find him,” said Cas, who promptly vanished.

That left Sam and Dean alone, which made Sam unexpectedly nervous. He pushed it away, opting to continue his little brother duties of nagging Dean until he let Sam check his injuries.

Finally, with a loud sigh and an epic eye roll, Dean acquiesced. Sam gingerly held the broken hand and reached for his power, then stopped. “Can I? Or would you rather Cas healed it?” he asked.

Dean looked surprised. “You can?”

Sam nodded. He’d never done it before, but he knew he could. He could feel the broken bones, knew where they needed to reconnect. It was dizzying. Or maybe he was just tired. Maybe he shouldn’t. He’d probably freaked Dean enough for one day.

“Do it,” Dean said, a little breathless.

“Sam searched his face, looking for uncertainty. It was there, but under something that looked a lot like love. His power trickled out, and the broken hand and bruised ribs were healed in moments. Dean sucked in a breath, but when he released it the tension coiled in his body left too.

It hadn’t taken much to heal Dean, but Sam was apparently already running on fumes from the fight, and his adrenaline high was starting to wear off. He wobbled, caught himself, then distantly heard Dean’s concerned “Sam?” as his knees gave out.

 He blinked and lost time. He was on his back, looking up at Dean. His head was pillowed on Dean’s lap, which frankly felt too close to cuddling to be acceptable in Dean’s world. Still, Dean grinned down at him and said, “Hey there, Sleeping Beauty. How about next time, you don’t use up the last of your power healing me like a dumbass. Cas could have done that. He can’t heal you though.”

“What?” Sam asked. “I mean, I wasn’t hurt, but—”

Dean’s happy grin transformed into a glower. “Try again. That tumble you took just about did you in, and we all know it.”

“I was fine. The grace—”

“Was still trying to heal you while you were flinging power everywhere. Even super-powered little brothers have a limit, and you hit yours.”

“Sorry,” Sam said, though he really wasn’t. He didn’t like his grace much, but he liked being able to heal Dean, being able to protect everyone from psychos like Raphael. He liked how it buffered the rest of his mind from his time spent in Hell.

Awkwardly, he cleared his throat. He felt ok—none of the lingering pain or nausea he belatedly realized had dogged him throughout the fight. Still, he didn’t really want to move. Dean’s lap was comfortable, and he was looking at Sam with a fondness he hadn’t seen in weeks. Not since they left Lisa’s. He hardly dared to hope.

The moment was broken when Dean gently shoved at Sam and said, “Come on, Sasquatch. Let’s go home.”

 The four of them reappeared in Bobby’s kitchen, and Bobby promptly abandoned the group, muttering about a drink and some sleep.

Dean shifted nervously. He didn’t want to talk about this, but there were things that had to be said. Sam might figure it out without the chick flick moment, but Cas wouldn’t. “Look,” he said, not sure where the rest of that sentence went. He felt their eyes on him. Man up, Winchester, he thought. “When we were in Sam’s head. We saw…things.” He glanced at Sam to gauge his brother’s mood—tense, scared. “Cas, you’ve made it clear how you feel about Sam.”

The angel nodded, expression serious, though his eyes were smiling.

Sam had turned bright red, probably remembering their impromptu make-out session.

“Right. My turn.” He closed the distance to Sam, gripped his brother’s shirt and tugged him in for a brief but heated kiss. They broke apart, panting a little, but stayed in each other’s space. “I’m game if you are.”

Sam choked. “For which part?” he spluttered.

“All of it,” he said simply. “I’ve lost count of how many close calls we’ve had this week, Sam. I’m done avoiding this. And I don’t mind sharing if Cas makes you happy. That work for the two of you?”

Cas hummed in answer and pressed himself along Sam’s back.

Sam looked lost, like he couldn’t believe this was happening. “Are you sure? I mean, I’m not—” He swallowed. “I’m not exactly human anymore.”

Dean smirked. “Yeah, well, you’re still my pain-in-the-ass brother, and nothing changes that. I’m sure, Sam.”

Back to Masterpost

[incognitofujoshi]

I Think I’ve Always Cared for You Ch. 2 (T-rated for now)

Midoriya met Todoroki at the Dorms, five minutes before the hour. He, desperately, needed to finish “something”, so Todoroki agreed to meet him, to practice, in another half an hour. It gave him more time to read. 

They, along with a few other students, were granted permission to use Gym Gamma. Todoroki had arrived too early, and sat down by the Gym entrance. After a little while, he became antsy; he checked a nearby clock, for the third time in a single minute. ‘Midoriya should be arriving any minute now…’, he thought. Full of nerves, Todoroki looked at each of the students training, until he gazed upon two familiar faces. 

Kendo and Tetsutetsu, from class 1-B, were training in a nearby corner. He decided to watch the two, to take his mind off of the time. Kendo was trying to improve her grip strength by squeezing Tetsutetsu, and he was trying to break out of her grip. Todoroki would have thought that Kendo had the upper hand, until he noticed her strain to hold on. It seemed that Tetsutetsu had superior strength, as he pushed through her fingers without too much difficulty. He’d have to inform Midoriya of his findings.

“Todoroki Kun, Sorry, I hope you didn’t wait too long.”

The dual-quirked student used every inch of his being to not jump. With measured restraint, he turned around to nod a greeting to Midoriya. “I didn’t.” He reached into his bag. “I brought you water.”

“Thank You!” Midoriya grabbed the bottle and beamed. His beautiful eyes peered through Todoroki’s composure, for one brief moment, and then shot to an empty corner, opposite from Kendo and Tetsutetsu. Deku reached for Todoroki’s hand, and dragged him over to claim the open space. “Is this side of the gym ok?”, he asked, upon their arrival.

“Yes. This is perfect.” Todoroki let a genuine smile touch his lips. It was small, but there. His, cool, right hand felt faintly warm where Midoriya had held it, and his face felt hot with fervor. 

“T-T-T-Todoroki Kun! You’re smiling!” Midoriya stuttered out, loudly. His face shone red. He was equally stunned and curious for the reason behind that smile.

Lamely, Todoroki held a hand in front of his face, and seemingly pushed his mouth back into it’s regular frown. “Never.”, he attempted to joke. It worked; Midoriya laughed and visibly relaxed. The Ice and Flame student took both their bags, and waters, and placed them by the closest wall. 

“Let’s get started?” Midoriya offered, after a moment of comfortable silence. 

With a nod from Todoroki, he sprang forward for the surprise offensive. A kick landed into a man’s size worth of ice, where Todoroki’s shoulder was, a mere moment previous. Midoriya retracted his leg out of the shield and, with it, brought half of the ice down. Todoroki, quickly, flung four expanding ice bolts towards him. They all, seemingly, missed. Midoriya was about to say, “You don’t have to worry about hurting me.”, until the sounds of ice spreading alerted him to look behind himself. From the four points behind him, Todoroki was able to, more easily, create a wall of ice. The wall was avalanche-fast, to launch into a wave motion blast. Boulder sized ice would have knocked Midoriya to the ground, had he not used One for All to jump high into the air. Midoriya had almost slipped on the ice with that jump, knocking his knee against the ground, before he catapulted up. ’This is going to be good practice.’ He smiled with enthusiasm as he sailed back down, readying his next descending kick attack…

_______________________________

The sparring continued until both of the young men were worn out. Midoriya was down on one knee, with his hands on the ground, breathing heavily. Todoroki stood against the wall, with his hands on his knees and his head bent forward. 

“You’re so cool, Todoroki Kun!” Midoriya finally looked up and smiled “Your attacks are so precise and measured - and your style is really developing!”  

Todoroki wasn’t used to compliments, at all. He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to do with being praised for his hard work. “We’re all improving. You’re doing really well with adapting your fighting style to your legs.” At mentioning his legs, Todoroki looked Midoriya over, and saw a small bleeding scab on his knee, by the edge of his shorts. Without hesitation, he walked over and sat in front of him. An iced hand moved over Midoriya’s knee, washing and cooling his wound. He held his eyes on his knee.

“T-Todoroki Kun!” Midoriya squeaked, both surprised by the sudden tenderness and strangely embarrassed to have his friend’s hand on his leg. 

Todoroki’s only action was to explain what he was doing as he continued. “…It’s what my mother would do, when I got hurt.” His eyes remained down.

Midoriya remembered what Todoroki had told him about his family, at the Sports Festival. “Todoroki…” The name rolled off of his lips in a melancholy tone. “Thank You. You’re such a good friend.”

“So we are friends?” Todoroki asked aloud. He looked into Deku’s emerald pools. His expression read that he was being completely serious.

“What? Of course we are! D-Did you not think we were?” Midoriya was a little bothered by the question, until it clicked for him… Todoroki was used to keeping to himself; he hardly talked with anyone. He wasn’t used to being close to people; during practices and out of school activities, he’d normally go off by himself. He, more than likely, didn’t recognize Midoriya’s attempts at becoming close with him. 

“I hoped so. I just - I haven’t had many.” Todoroki ended weakly, disgusted by how pitiful it sounded coming from his mouth. He rose to his feet, and rubbed his shoulder absentmindedly. A momentary scowl took over his expression. 

Midoriya snapped back from his thoughts. “I’m your friend!” He sprung up and wrapped his arms around Todoroki in a warm embrace.  

What started as a stunned, unreciprocated hug, slowly became a secure, entangled, indulgence. “May I call you Izuku?” Soft curls brushed against his face, from a nod. He nuzzled into them.

Midoriya smiled wide, into his neck and shoulder. “Of course, Todoroki!”

“Please, call me Shoto.” These two sentences were all he could muster, while continuing to resist melting. Wisps of smoke began to come off of his left shoulder, and Shoto had to take deep, calming breaths to cool down. He, also, tried to hide taking the deep breaths. The experience was dizzying, and warm, and over too quickly. 

Izuku let go to look over at the clock, at the front of Gym Gamma. “We should study soon, if we want to fit that in tonight.” He grabbed his water bottle off of the floor, and brushed some of the ice off the bottom. It was really cool how hot Shoto had felt, but how cool he could keep things. “Would you like to study in my dorm, or the common room? Or, even at the Hero Cafe?”, the green haired angel suggested.

Shoto hadn’t heard him, still wrapped up in their moment.

‘Perhaps he wants things more private…’ Izuku thought. “We could go to my place, or yours?” He stepped in front of Shoto to get his attention.

The words first hit Shoto’s ear as an innuendo, and he quickly turned away to retrieve his bag. ‘He’s asking about studying!’, he had to remind himself, internally. There was no way he could have hid his blushing when he turned around to Izuku, so he settled on keeping his head down. “ We can go to mine.”

Izuku, also, grabbed his belongings and they both exited the Gym. They made light conversation about the weather and an upcoming test, but Izuku was most excited to talk about a new All Might figure, coming out soon. That conversation turned into Hero Facts, and he was surprised by how much Shoto knew his All Might trivia. 

Entering the Dorms, and then, again, walking through the kitchen, Izuku’s stomach growled loudly. He grabbed at it, embarrassed. 

“Have you eaten yet?” Shoto asked.

The blushy boy covered his pink face. “No.”

“That’s ok. I’ll cook us something.” The common room was adjacent to the kitchen. Shoto set his bag down, by the side table in the common room, then came back to wash his hands. Spending all of this time with Izuku was making him more happy than he had been in a long while. He grabbed some of his set-aside broth from the fridge, and began to heat it up, along with boiling some dried rice noodles from the pantry. 

“That smells great! Are you cooking something Midoriya?” Kaminari came over from the Bakusquad on the couch (sans Bakugo and Kirishima), drawn by the scent of Miso. Sero blocked everyone  and every scent out, to continue to work on his homework.

“Nope. Todoroki Kun is!” Kaminari looked over in hunger and awe. Shoto was chopping green onions, now.

Ashido and Jiro directed their sights to what their oblivious Pikachu was doing. Ashido smiled, knowingly. “Kaminari, come here and tell Jiro that her music, in her headphones, is too loud!” Jiro looked over at Ashido, annoyed, until she saw the intent in her expression. Ashido looked back and forth: from Todoroki and Midoriya, and then back to her a few times. Jiro nodded in confirmation, to participate with Ashido’s little lie. 

“I’m sure it’s not that loud.” Kaminari defended Jiro, as he returned to the couch to test them out himself. 

Shoto, hearing all of the commotion, looked over to Jiro. She smiled at him, and then winked. He hastily turned back around, to finish chopping. Dread washed over him, but he had to persevere, to feed his hungry crush. 

Shoto placed a bowl of soup in front of Izuku, after everything had finished simmering together; he promptly dug in, and “Mmmmm”d. “Shoto! This is delicious.”

“Would you believe me, if I said I only know how to make soups?” Shoto basked in the compliment, and walked around to join Izuku at the table. 

The young men talked, and enjoyed each other’s company in peace, until Iida jogged up to them, animated as ever. “It’s time for lights out!” He announced. Both Izuku and Shoto cleaned their dishes, and began walking back to their rooms. 

Shoto escorted Izuku to his door, and bowed respectfully. “Goodnight, Izuku… Thank You for everything.” He looked up and legitimately smiled. It wasn’t a large smile, but it wasn’t small this time ,either. 

“AH! We didn’t study!” Izuku, suddenly, remembered.

“It’s alright. If you’re free, we can tomorrow?” Shoto held his breath for the answer. This was the closest he’d had to asking to see him again, one on one. He was going to take advantage of this opportunity if it killed him.

“I am! I can’t wait!” Izuku’s smile could brighten the darkest night. “We’ll decide a time tomorrow. Goodnight Shoto!” He bowed back.

With their goodbyes said, Todoroki strolled back to his room, worn out. He was tired from class, sparring, cooking…watching himself around Izuku - but it was all for a good reason, he’d decided. His new mission was to become someone special for Izuku; a true friend, and maybe something more, if he’d permit it.

Author’s Note: Feel free to re-blog if you like it : ) Just don’t steal, please.

[vntgemsry]

Lynn's wet boots thwomped against the empty hallway floor of Shatner High School, squeaking once or twice in between steps as she made her way towards the theater department. She stopped in front the door labeled 213, Mr. Berger's classroom, and stared through the window at the man sitting behind the desk at the front of the room.

His head was down, leaning against his arm with his fingers clutching at his hair while he scribbled words into a notebook. He looked a little frustrated and Lynn frowned. That is, until he pulled his head up to stop for a moment to think. Braun stared straight forward to the back of the empty classroom until he saw the familiar face that he loved more than life, water, and air. As soon as Braun's eyes met Lynn's his face lit up and a giant grin panned across his face. Rolling her eyes, Lynn couldn't help but smile herself after this. Braun Berger's sunny demeanor was infectious.

Before she even completely came through the door, Braun had already darted across the room and pulled Lynn in for a "Hello My Darling I Love You!" brand smooch that had been meant for her mouth, but landed instead on her cheek because she had not been prepared. She laughed, "Oh my God, calm down."

"I'm sorry! You just arrived at such a fantastic moment. My mind had been racing, burned out, exhausted, and then I look up and see you! What a lovely surprise it was!" he gave her a few more wet, hefty pecks across her face while he spoke. "Nothing makes me happier than seeing the love of my life looking upon me with wonder and adoration and affection in her eyes!"

Lynn tried her best not to blush at Braun's zealous compliment barrage. "You're acting like I never come see you."

"No I am not! I am simply glad to see you in this moment! Any moment!" he kissed her a few more times and took her hand into his own, leading her back over to his desk, clearing a space on the surface for Lynn to be able to take a seat, typically where she always sat. Braun walked around the desk, never breaking his smile or taking his eyes off of her while he found his own seat and plopped himself down into his swivel chair. "What brings you here, Dearest?"

She shrugged. "Just thought I'd visit. The usual."

Placing his chin into both of his hands, Braun propped himself up with his elbows to look at her, his grin never fading. What a sight Lynn was to behold. Regardless of this unrelenting bitter cold that had swept over this winter, this astounding woman still seemed to radiate charm, appeal, beauty, and intrigue! He wanted to bury his face into her black and white checkered faux fur coat, so he did.

"Braun, oh my God." Lynn laughed a little awkwardly and hugged his head. "Were you that stressed out?" she asked. He only shrugged in response, but she already knew the answer was yes. Braun didn't always like to complain about being frustrated or feeling under-pressure. It was "impolite". He was a bit of a dad cliche and really didn't talk about his feelings much at all. At least not as much as some people would think.

She kissed the top of his head and he took his face from out of her coat and looked up at her. His dumb cheeks were bright red, and his stupid bright blue eyes sparkled under the fluorescent school lighting. Lynn knew that look and bit her lip a little bit. She gave him a small kiss on the lips and Braun blinked his starry, oblivious eyes at her as she stood up.

"You're not leaving already are you?!" he frowned.

"No, jeez. Calm down." Lynn took off her coat and placed it on the desk while she helped herself to sitting in Braun's lap. She snuggled in and placed her head on his shoulder and could feel his face nestling into her hair almost immediately. Weaving one arm behind his back to essentially strap herself in, Lynn loosened the man's tie with her other hand and then began to unbutton his shirt a bit, but Braun objected.

"School may be out, but there's still folks around, darling." he said and kissed the top of her head. "I would hate to get carried away and take our visit from PG to PG-13."

Lynn rolled her eyes. "Yeah ok, let's count how many other rooms I've made you cum in around this building--"

Braun shushed her. "That's--THOSE--incidences were different. I would be some sort of degenerate if I let my soulmate, mother of my children, eternal light of my life, just ravage me on top of my desk in the middle of the afternoon, with no disregard or shame."

"Me and Rexley kinda have." She said, tapping the third button on Braun's shirt. Lynn knew that would ignite a spark in him. "On accident, though. Just sorta happened. Got all wrapped up in emotion, ya know?"

"... Oh have you, now?" he asked.

Already, Lynn could read Braun's competitive tone. She looked up and his eyes remained forward, but he moved her hand away and undid the third button on his shirt, revealing his two and only two single chest hairs on his body that Lynn loved and cherished. Lynn played with her two little friends while Braun kept the pensive look on his face. She moved in, however, and kissed him on his neck, causing him to let out a sigh as his eyes closed.

Lynn stood up and Braun's eyebrows knitted together. "Oh look, now who's regretting what he said?" she laughed and kissed him on the forehead. Taking a quick glance over her shoulder at the closed door, Lynn couldn't see anyone directly outside of the window and she hurried under Braun's desk, which caused him to sit up immediately.

"No, now stop that. I don't like that." he protested as Lynn rolled her eyes.

"Do you not like it because it's in your classroom with a risk of being caught, or do you not like it because of your weird protest to 'blowies' because they aren't ~romantic~ enough for you?"

Braun stammered a bit, stopped, and covered his mouth with his hand while he thought for a moment. Eventually he let out a groan of "Both." but then he turned around. "It's not 'weird.' What's so weird about wanting to be able to see your face while we're making unselfish love to each other?"

"BECAUSE GETTING YOUR DICK SUCKED FEELS GOOD AND WHO DOESN'T LIKE TO FEEL GOOD?" Braun threw his hands over Lynn's mouth and her eyes squinched together from her grin being hidden under his hands. "If I didn't know you as well as I do," she mumbled and Braun moved in order to let her finish. "I'd think you were some fake ass fuckboi" he gasped but she continued, "trying to be a poet, but I know that you genuinely aren't a fan of me making me do all the work, blah blah blah. But buddy, I like making you happy! So get over it, unzip those pants, and let me at 'em."

All of this was making Braun's face flush, and he looked towards the door himself before looking down at Lynn. She winked at him from under the desk and made a grabby-hands motion towards his pants, but he smacked her hands away. "Don't make me regret this." he said as he sheepishly tried to undo his belt, but before he made any sort of progress, Lynn grabbed each side of his desk chair and wheeled him over fast, slamming the arms into the desk itself and causing Braun to jump from being startled.

"Just do what you always do and pretend you're working." she said while she fought his zipper.

Ignoring his love's jab, Braun put his face in his hands, absolutely nervous and unsure if he would even be able to become aroused enough to warrant this grand gesture Lynn was offering. But, as soon as he felt her teeth begin to pull down the waistband of his boxers, he shuddered and melted into his seat, never having a second thought again.

~*~

His palms itched, and his ears prickled. He tried his best to keep his eyes open to remain vigilant that no one approach his door, but the overwhelming sensation that Lynn was providing him was making it near impossible. It was even more impossible for Braun to simply sit here while this amazing woman worked all this magic. He wanted to rip her out from under the desk and throw her on top, return every favor she was giving him right here and now. Every time Braun fidgeted, deciding he wanted to join her in the small space there on the floor, Lynn would pull him closer and tighter to herself, making it harder than the last time to move. Finally he resorted to biting down on a pen with his forehead in his hand as he started his ascent into climax.

It felt like the room was filling up with stars and hearts and candy. His mind was racing, spinning, bursting, causing him to bite down harder on his pen. He felt like he somehow heard Bowie singing in the distance with angels, announcing someone he hadn't quite made out yet. There was no war or crime, there was world peace in these final moments of bliss. Braun grabbed at Lynn and she allowed him to clutch her hand. All spirits were put to rest, aliens landed and made galactic peace with all. Freddie Mercury! It was Freddie who Bowie had beckoned down to earth to provide one last Queen concert before ascending back into heaven to rule with him. Braun finally released the breath he was holding along with all his love in that exact moment, and his classroom filled with sparkles and delight popped along with him. He panted a few times and finally let go of his partner's hand, finally being allowed to look down at her.

Lynn winked at him. She saw a hazy smile crawl across his face and she loved it so much. He was finally at ease. Resting her arms on his knees, and her face on her arms, she smiled back up at him. "There are no earthly words or gestures that could ever possibly express the insurmountable love and adoration I have for you." he said breathlessly and she hid her face from him to blush.

Just then, Lynn heard the door swing open and unfamiliar feminine voice boomed from across the room. "BRAUN. BERGER."

Braun, still smitten with his dearest darling, simply swiveled around with a smile and looked over, but his face dropped upon seeing who it was and he was immediately flung back into reality. "hell's bells..." he whispered.

Pulling herself farther into the desk to avoid being seen, Lynn became frustrated at whoever this bitch was that was storming into her man's classroom. The woman's tone implied she was surprised to see Braun here. Where else would he be? This person had not seen Braun in some time. Lynn deduced this would have to have been some sort of old fling.

Heeled feet marched across the room quickly. "My god it's been AGES. What are you up to, Darling?"

Lynn didn't like that. That "darling." Only Braun gets to say that.

Shock was still plastered across Braun's face and he wasn't answering the woman.

"Aren't you even going to give me a hug?" she asked. Her arms must have been outstretched, Braun looked down the length of each of them and finally realized what was going on. He scooted into the desk and held his pants closed and Lynn moved in to try and at least zip them back up as quietly as she could. "You don't seem very happy to see me." the woman said.

Braun stammered but remained in his seat. "I-I-I. What are you doing here, Siofora? I'm trying to get some work done after class."

That name seemed not unfamiliar to Lynn but she couldn't think of it well enough.

"I was here to meet some potential HFU students! Recruit some rambunctious Rogues!" Siofora Wiley pointed at the mascot pin on her lapel. "Making our own way through life!" she giggled as she slammed her her heavy purse onto the top of the desk.

"Oh is that your little motto or something?" Braun said brimming with salt. "All of you over in Jonestown."

"It could have been your little saying as well had you stayed in Jonestown with us." Siofora pouted. "We sure awfully miss you. And even Rexley I suppose." she let out another ridiculous giggle that made it hard for Lynn to have to remain under the desk. "Where's that ol' stick in the mud these days?"

"Down that flight of stairs to the basement in the gym." Braun said plainly.

Siofora blinked and then snorted. "Nuh-uh."

"Yes 'huh'." Braun mocked.

"Oh good god! What's it been? Twenty years later! And you two are still inseparable, huh? Of course you both work at the same shoddy high school together. And with Hilty Corriander literally right next door here too! You're one funny bunny."

Lynn heard the cunt heave herself onto the desk and watched Braun lean away from her.

"What else has the great Braun Rolland Berger been up to?" Siofora looked up at the dry erase board behind him and her eyes widened. "Who are these scamps hanging here? Why are they special?" she already flung herself off of the desk and made her way over to a few Polaroids tacked to the board and Braun swung around in his chair to keep a watch on her.

Now Lynn finally got a good look at the clown and... She was frustratingly pretty. Not conventionally pretty by any means, but still nonetheless attractive. Her eyes were weirdly light green, like doll eyes, but she had a very desirable pouty lips and incredibly well maintained strawberry blonde hair. Head to toe designer clothes. Rich and Pretty.

Siofora snatched a photo with each hand, all from the most recent Thanksgiving, and looked at each of them and then at the man before her. "Braun Berger. Half of these little brats look exactly like you!"

"That's because all of those incredibly funny, intelligent, and inspiring human beings are mine."

Siofora's eyes widened. "You do not have nine children, Braun."

"Biologically no. Three of them are Rexley's."

"You and Rexley adopted! Oh! That makes... a little more sense. I never would have pegged Braun Berger as a family man. At least not the Braun Berger I knew." Siofora giggled.

Lynn alternately glared and rolled her eyes at each word and remark that came out of this dolt’s mouth.

Braun groaned at Siofora who clearly was ignoring the other Polaroid that had been hanging directly next to the photos of the kids. "Not adopted."

Standing up straight, Siofora's eyebrow raised and she turned to look at the picture of Mya, Lynn, and Rexley. "Oh."

"Yes."

"A wife?"

Lynn watched Braun answer this question, nervous of the answer for the first time in her life. When had she ever previously cared what Braun called her? Never, really. But there was something about this woman that made this the most important question of Braun's life in Lynn's life.

"Yes." he said unwavering.

It was hard for Lynn not to fling her arms around that man in this instant, but still she remained hidden.

"Ohhhhh...." Siofora turned and said coyly.

'What "oh"? There should be no "oh"', Lynn thought.

Siofora whipped back around. "So those rumors ARE true?"

'Fuck...' each partner thought to themselves. Truly, truly, neither of them cared what folks thought of them or the fact that they were in a romantic relationship with both themselves and the Wyatts. They did, however, cared when it effected their children’s lives, and that they did not tolerate, and for that reason they kept their affections under wraps.

Braun swallowed and looked up at Siofora sternly. "What rumors are you referring to, Ms. Wiley?"

"Oh I'm not one to gossip, Rawllie." Braun truly hated that nickname Siofora had stuck to him all those years ago. "I wouldn't ever repeat it. Please don't ask me to. It would make me so terribly uncomfortable." Siofora pouted her bottom lip out.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Siofora."

"Well. Just. In this photo it's Rexley, AND two other women. Just." she let out a fake disappointed sigh. This woman was the American manifestation of Sae Kashiwagi. Siofora leaned in and said in a low breathy voice, "Everyone says you're swingers."

"Oh please." Braun rolled his eyes and then rolled himself back to face his desk. "Rexley and I are swingers, and Hilton sleeps with his sisters. These are all old tales and completely untrue."

As Braun turned around, Siofora's eyes met Lynn's for one split second, causing her back to straighten and a disturbing smirk to spread across her face. Lynn pressed her back against the desk and mouthed a 'fuck'.

"I guess that's a little bit of a shame in that case." Siofora pulled herself onto Braun's desk again, playing with her gold necklace and flirtatiously kicking her feet as she looked at the photo of Braun's dearest loves. "Maybe she would have let me share you with her~." Siofora twirled Braun's tie around her fingers and held onto it. "Take you to the Corriander Valentine's party, perhaps?"

As the rage built inside of Lynn, it clearly built inside of her partner, and Braun shot from out of his chair and snatched his tie back. "Siofora Wiley, not only is my love life not any of your damn business, but that isn’t how any of that works in the first place."

An inaudible groan came from Lynn and she face palmed. That was almost exactly what this woman wanted out of Braun. He just confirmed exactly what it was she had been hinting at. Sure enough, Siofora sat up and put her hands up to feign defense. "I'm sorry I struck a nerve, Darling. Apparently this rumor has gotten to you after some time, huh? rubbed you the wrong way." she said and looked down at his unbuttoned pants with his belt dangling in the wind that Lynn hadn't been able to put back together silently.

Shooting back down into his seat, Braun cleared his throat and instead chose to button his shirt and tighten his tie back to it's proper location.

"I don't think my FIANCE would be very fond of that anyway." Siofora said as she hopped off of the desk.

"I would think not." Braun rolled his eyes and focused on his clothes.

The wench petted Lynn's coat a few strokes and picked it up to inspect it. 'Forever 21? Of course she's trashy looking. She's cheap.' she thought to herself, plopping the coat back on the desk as Braun remained distracted. "Faulkner's just wild about me. He'd be mighty mad if I showed up to the Corriander's with YOU instead."

Now the name Siofora seemed a little more familiar to Lynn. She was certain she had once heard Hilton mention Faulkner's surprising new engagement before. 'a well-to-do professor at HFU!'

Braun's head popped up to look at Siofora. "Faulkner as in... Faulkner Price?!"

"Yes." she smiled.

A raucous guffaw erupted from Braun which concluded with a snort. "You're engaged to be married to Faulkner Fucking Price?"

"Yes." she frowned.

"Oh-ho-ho, what a delight. How have the two of you lovebirds been getting along, then? " Braun smiled. "I know he's very close to his family."

As corny as it was, Lynn was eating up the pure joy Braun was taking in from all of this.

There was silence for a moment as Siofora eyed Braun over. "Why did you say it that way?"

"Said what in what way?" he replied sing-song.

"Very close."

"Oh. Well. I'm not a gossip, Siofora." A grin remained on Braun's face as he watched the harpy before him suck her teeth and nod in defeat.

"Welp. It's been... It's been, Berger." Siofora threw the family photos onto his desk as she scooped up her purse and flung it over her shoulder. "I'm sure I'll see you at the V-Day party then!" her demeanor changed rather quickly as if she had already had time to recompose herself, causing her voice to be as flowery and bouncy as it had been previously. "I can't wait to meet your wives!" she said, blowing a kiss as she stormed out of the classroom before Braun could protest.

Measuring the amount of time it would take for Siofora to get to the stairway from his room, Braun and Lynn waited in silence until finally Mr. Berger sprang out of his chair once again and let out a frustrated yell and sat on top of the desk.

Lynn crawled out and onto the chair, pulling her feet onto the seat with her and wrapping her arms around her knees. "She saw me. I'm sorry."

Braun had his mouth in his hand and was looking past her, but sat up straight and focused on her. "No matter. She would have been just as unbearable if she hadn't." he said pulling both the chair and Lynn over towards him. He put his arm around her, settled his head into her hair, and sighed.

Not knowing what else to say in that moment, Lynn remained in silence, not wanting to disturb Braun anymore than he already was. She knew she wasn't really in control of any of what had just happened, but felt like she was at fault anyway. Finally, she spoke up. "That was a pretty good burn though, sweetheart. The whole, "i'm not a gossip~" bit. I was proud of you."

Braun shifted and straightened himself out. "Was it good?" Lynn felt him grin through her hair. "I don't want to brag or anything, but I was rather proud of it myself as well."

"You should be! You bugged the shit out of her with it." Lynn looked up at him and smiled.

Braun gave her a little kiss and smiled back. "I really did, didn't I?"

"It was like something out of a movie." she added to swell his ego just a little more. He deserved it.

They both chuckled a little bit and then Braun cleared his throat. "Oh but unfortunately we won't be going to the party any longer now. Sorry."

Lynn turned and looked up at him. "What? You're being dramatic. We're not NOT going to go to a Corriander Party."

"I refuse."

"We told Dean we'd meet Rhettangle's poppa there so it wouldn't have to be so 'intimate' for the first time."

"Deanie will be releaved we won't cause a scene in front of his boyfriend's father." Braun smilied while Lynn frowned.

"Yeah ok. Sure. We're not going. We'll see how well this goes over with Mya." she said rolling her eyes.

[jynsongxvii-blog]

❝ Rolling eyes at the  f l o w e r ❞

A/N: This is the super late challenge #2. This turned out to be very long which made it hard to simply sit down and write quickly. Who would have thought graduating would have me busy even after tests? Probably everyone, but me. Oh well, here it is. Thanks to Alex for being patient (I’m still super sorry about posting late tho!!) and for rping @domschreave. This turned out better than I thought, so I hope it’s not awful. What I consider to be a pretty edit can be found at the end of the fic❤ [interesting fact I learned. It’s dominoes not dominos, rip]

Geoffrey walked up to Dom's door and knocked. The prince quickly opened and was a bit confused to see the old butler. “Hello?” The man did the bow that was practically second nature after years of working at the palace. “Highness, a Selected asked me to give you this.” He handed him an envelope and a small box. “She also mentioned you might want to open the letter first.” “Ok, thanks.” The prince opened the letter and began reading. Hello there, So you say you like puzzles, this is a simple one, just for you. Maybe not even worthy of considering a puzzle since I'm sure you'll say it's way too simple for your intellect, but either way, let's see how much of an impression I've made. I send this in hopes of arranging our meet up. It seems I'll need your help for our date to happen... and we might need to leave the palace. Details of where we'll go will remain a secret until tomorrow. If you agree to that, then I'll see you in the afternoon. Since I have no means of transport for the city you must tell me where we'll meet to leave. Write it on the back of this paper (hopefully, that's not too much work for your princely hands). However, for this to happen, you must first figure out who I am and add my name alongside the place you choose for the beginning of our encounter. Your hint is inside the box. Have a good day, Highness. Dominic quickly opened the box and found the domino tile a smirking girl had placed inside hours earlier. Rolling his eyes, he addressed the butler again. “It’s Jyn, isn't it?” Geoffrey cleared his throat uncomfortably, asking himself how the young Miss had convinced him to actually help her out with the current task. Sure, she could’ve ordered him to do it even if he refused, but she’d opted for pleading with puppy eyes and he couldn’t say no. “I'm afraid the lady who sent the letter asked me not answer that, Highness. She was, however, expecting you to roll your eyes, and said to mention "extra points for me" if you did so.” “Fine. I'll go find her myself.” Dominic didn’t seem interested in waiting and walked off to Jyn’s room without giving the butler any other response.

I flipped through endless pages of dress sketches, noticing Peggy was a lot better than she thought she was.

It was a real shame she had to hide behind her sisters to show her talent, too young to be given important chores around the palace such as dressmaking. The design for my ballroom dress had come from Eliza, but apparently, Peggy had dealt with details and most of the actual confection of the dress. I owed the final product to her and I wouldn’t have known if it weren't for Eliza leaving the sketchbook for me to see without her little sister’s permission.

I knew she was a little ashamed of taking it without her knowing, but she’d told me she just couldn’t take credit for what Peggy did any longer. Eliza explained Peggy helped her all the time, being such a good seamstress her older sister couldn’t bear leaving her out of it.  Because of that, instead of doing all the dresses herself she sometimes let Peggy work on them while she did her sister’s work. Being only fifteen Peggy wasn’t allowed to work on anything that would affect any nobles, politicians, royals or Selected. It was just a rule for everyone. She was given simpler responsibilities that could be fixed if necessary without causing major issues.

To me, It didn’t matter if she was young or not, just if she was competent. I’d seen great kids working at a young age in my town. In different jobs and chores, there was always a few standing out. Considering the work I’d seen, Peggy deserved a chance to shine and maybe I could give her that. I could give her permission to make my dresses alongside Eliza with all the creative liberty she wanted. I wouldn’t complain no matter the result, so there was no way to get in trouble for her this way.

Banging on my door stopped my thoughts and I looked over my shoulder slightly confused at all the fuzz. Closing Peggy’s sketchbook and picking up the sandwich Angelica had left for me a while ago, I stood up.

“No need to throw the door down, Geoffrey..” I grinned, opening said door. My amusement disappeared a second later as I froze with the sandwich raised halfway to my mouth, blinking at my visitor. “Oh..” Standing in front of me was a prince, not a butler, so I lowered the food, my other hand still gripping the doorknob tightly. What is he doing here? “Hi?”

“You're the one who sent me the domino, right?” Dom held the letter and the box I’d handed to Geoffrey a while earlier in his hands.

“Uh…” It took me another moment of blinking to snap out of my daze. He was supposed to send his answer back with Geoffrey, but it seemed he didn’t follow the instructions. Impatient are you now, Dominoes? This wasn’t the plan, but I could rearrange it. “You're not really good with rules, are you?”

“Sorry... I just thought I'd come tell you it wasn't that hard to figure out it was you... did you still want to wait until later to go or should we go now since I'm a ‘rule breaker’?”

“I didn't say the puzzle would be hard..” Actually, it was really simple, “but at least now I know I stand out one way or another, which was the whole point of the ‘puzzle.’” I grinned and took the letter from him. “You are rather impatient though.”

Heading back into my room, I finally took a bite from my sandwich. Dom didn’t come in. “Was that a yes, you want to go now, or a no, let's wait until later?”

Swallowing the bread I smirked at him looking over my shoulder. “Well, I did leave the door open Dominoes, now didn't I?” I walked in my closet to search for the outfit I’d picked out for tomorrow. “Just give me a moment to change into something nicer.”

He finally walked in and shut the door behind him. “So it's a yes.”

“Mhmm.” I grabbed the red jeans and white blouse in a hanger. “Geoffrey can't tell me now since you're such a rebel, but did I get extra points?”

Dom rolled eyes his eyes as I stepped back in the room. That added ten more points to my score. “Yeah, you did.” 

Twenty points total then.

“Perfect.” I might be getting a better grasp at you, Dom. “Now stay there, I'll go change.”

“Hey, Jyn, you've got a rat infestation in here.”

“RATS? WHERE?” I flung my bathroom door open, holding a towel over my chest since I’d been in the middle of changing my shirt. Dom had gotten comfortable on the bed, lying on it entirely. I noticed Cassian staring at him from my desk. “Oh, you mean him. You people need to educate yourself on animals.”

Cassian hissed at him and got off the desk to chew on his shoe. So...maybe he doesn’t like Dom like he likes Evan.

“Whatever. Looks like a rat.”

I glared at him on Cassian’s behalf. “It's not the same... and you seem pretty comfy.”

“Nice bed you got here.” He said with a shrug and I blew a strand of hair out of my face.

“I guess it's technically yours anyway... Let me put on my blouse, I'll be out there in a sec.”

“I'll be here.”

A minute or so later I was walking over to the bed, throwing myself on it and landing next to him. Staring at the ceiling I finally asked, “So what are our means of transport then?”

“Either motorcycle or a fancy car. Your choice.”

Lots of girls wanted to see the famous motorcycle he had, even myself. The thing was probably as popular as the Prince himself, but that’s why I wondered if going for it on the first date would be a good idea. Maybe mixing things up would be refreshing and it wasn’t like I’d been on many vehicles before either. “Fancy car, huh? That sounds interesting…” But then again, maybe he favored the motorcycle over everything else. “What do you prefer? Maybe you want to know where we're going before choosing?”

“Sure. Where are we going?”

“Have you ever heard of the Golden abandoned theater?” I’d done a little research on the abandoned theaters in Angeles and Golden wasn’t too old. Just a decade. It was probably the only one that would still have old stuff lying around in a decent enough state.

“Uhh... I think so?”

“Well... I was hoping we could go there and take a look. I've always wished to see a theater, but an abandoned one? It sounds more fun and means fewer people. Also, zero cameras and an empty stage filled with old things.” I looked over at him with my back still to the bed, offering a smile. “What do you say? Just some good old exploring really.”

He seemed to like the idea. “Let's do it.”

“Great, so fancy car or the edgy motorcycle?”

“You pick.”

“Hmm, why me?”

“You're the lady. And it's your date.”

“You're the driver, but I guess that's a fair point...” I thought about it for a second, not sure of what would be best.

For the sake of trying something different, the car sounded like a better idea, and either way, I would probably prefer to have some sort of control over our personal space for now. I still didn’t know much about him, and even though I didn’t trust the facade he tried to give the media, I wasn’t taking any chances. “We're already doing something kind of weird so we might as well do something different for the ride too. Let's go in the car. We might have to park a few blocks away to go unnoticed, but a little walk never hurt anyone.”

“Alright. Let's have a little fun with it. What do you say I drive my dad's, Lamborghini?” He grinned. I raised an eyebrow with amusement. He was being edgy again.

“Are we allowed?”

“Not technically, but he barely drives the thing. He won't notice.”

I sat up with a laugh. “We're already sneaking into a theater, might as well take your dad's car.”

“Awesome.”

He hadn’t mentioned where we were going, but I’d done enough scouting around the palace to know he was heading for the garage.

“So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how mad would his Majesty be if he found out we took the Lamborghini?” I wondered, but Dom avoided the question.

“He wouldn't blame you at all.”

“I'm not worried about that... not that much at least. I'm just curious about how much it would bother Mr. “I-own-ten-cars” to see one of them missing.” I grinned at my own joke. It was no secret how much the King loved having sport cars and was proud of the amount he owned. ((KACHOW))

“He won't notice. I promise.”

“Alright, how good are you at driving this stuff?”

“Oh, I'm practically a pro driver. Definitely don't have to worry about that.”

“How old were you when you started driving?”

“Mmm... 14? I think?”

“Huh. Well, I technically know how to drive, but I really don't have that much experience…” Mostly because buying a car would be a waste of money for me and my dad. I only learned in the case of some really weird emergency. “Was it your decision to learn that early on?”

“Yeah, I wanted to learn as early as possible. And technically I wasn't supposed to learn until I was 16, but some of the guards taught me earlier than that.”

The guards. “What else did the guards teach you?”

“Just about everything practical. How to ride a bike, how to shave, how to fight... lots of stuff.”

“They must have really liked you then.” I smiled at the thought of them teaching a smaller Dom all of those little things, then as a joke, I quickly traced a finger over his jawline and added, “And shave what exactly Dominoes?” He could maybe grow some peach fuzz, but a beard sounded like a big stretch.

“Shave everything you don't see.” He winked. “They taught me well.”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust before rolling my eyes. Oh please, no. “Did the guards also teach you how to flirt? Because they could use a few pointers on that.” I smirked, unimpressed.

“Nope. My flirting is all natural.” He sounded proud and I hated to burst his bubble, but not all girls would fall for that.

“Hmm, you could use a few pointers, but it's not that bad.”

I was about to nominee myself for the Selected with best skills to make Dom roll his eyes when he replied with: “Just because you don't appreciate it doesn't mean it hasn't worked on other girls here. Maybe you're just the one with a weird taste.”

Laughing with a scoff, I suggested, “Or maybe you're realizing your flirting doesn't work with everyone.” Also, maybe I just have class, you know? Ironic coming from a Five.

“It only doesn't work with disagreeable people.” He stated. I almost laughed again.

“Is that so? Define disagreeable.”

“Not willing to try new things.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. First of all because disagreeable meant unpleasant, but second of all, because he clearly didn’t know what he was talking about. “Let's see... I flew on a plane for the first time in my life. I left my province, and my only family member, for the first time in my life. I'm going to pick up swimming soon. I'm actually having an argument with a royal right now, and....oh yes, I'm about to go on a date in an abandoned theater, in a city I barely know, with a guy I'm still getting to know, on his father's stolen Lamborghini...which just happens to be a car I've never been in before.” I smirked satisfied with my reply. “That's only the past few weeks and I can list more.”

“Seems like you should be up for opening yourself up to my flirting then, huh?”

“Ah, but flirting is a game for two Dominoes. You play your move…” I smiled coyly, leaning closer to him to whisper the last part, “and I play mine. You can't always know what the outcome will be, but you have to stay sharp.” He eyed me warily, but I pulled back before he could give any response, running down the hallway and yelling over my shoulder, “Race you to the garage!” I noticed him roll his eyes before looking back ahead. Forty points for me.

“You're so on.” I could hear his footsteps speeding up as he tried to catch up and soon enough he was next to me.

“Oh no, you don't!” I tried to get the advantage again, but he pulled ahead and kept running.

“Nice try, slowpoke.”

I laughed, watching his back as he ran. He had a funny way of swaying his arms as he sprinted and even though I picked up my pace he beat me to the garage with a “Hah!” I didn’t really mind, he could win, I was fine with just having the rush of a run and something to loosen up a bit.

I came really close to catching up to him, however, and bumped into him, staggering a bit. He only grinned back at me. That winner look of his. “Well, do I get a prize for winning?”

I smirked, catching my breath as I looked at the cars. “Of course, you get a date with the prettiest girl in this room.”

He gave me a sideways glance. “You're the only girl in this room.”

“You catch on quick now don't you?”

Dom rolled his eyes yet again. “Whatever.” Then he grabbed the keys that were hanging on the wall next to us and walked over to the car. I followed, looking at the other cars with curiosity. You couldn’t see cars like these where I lived. “So is your dad obsessed with cars for some particular reason?”

“Nope. He just thinks it's a way to show off his wealth. And power.”

Power, of course. Because a King needs cars to prove that he’s wealthy. Never mind having a castle. That proves basically nothing. “Is that not obvious by being a King?”

“I don't try to understand him.” He shrugged.

“So.. you and your dad don't get along that well.” The idea probably struck me more since back home it was just me and my dad. Not getting along with him sounded like the biggest nightmare possible.

“Not really.”

“That doesn't bother you.” I tried to make it sound more like a fact than a question. He shouldn’t feel forced to answer if he didn’t want to. Some topics could be uncomfortable to get into with new people. I always struggled to talk about my mom even though I made it sound like it was nothing. I wasn’t sure what Dominic was like in this case.

“He's never made an effort to get along with me, so I'm... over it I guess.” That was his only statement.

“Well…” I offered him a genuine smile. “The guards didn't do too bad then.”

“Yeah, they did.” We reached the car and he got in. “So ready to go?”

I could only stare at the car for a moment as the door opened like some sort of wing, hovering next to me. Dom showed his impatience again, yelling at me to get in, but I only poked my head in to try figuring why the door opened like that.

“Is there a problem?” He asked.

“Uh.. no, it's just very... fancy looking.” I got inside as he chuckled.

“It's ‘luxury’.”

Laughing a little as I got comfy on the seat, I put my seat belt on. “It feels like it'll cost me an arm if I break something.”

“Probably.”

“Always so encouraging, Dominoes.” I rolled my eyes. “All my worries are gone now.”

“Glad to hear it. Well, you ready to go?”

Nodding, I waited for him to start the ignition. “Let's hear her.”

He started up the car with a smile. Nothing flirty or mischievous, just a simple smile... Maybe even cute. Not too bad. “This is gonna be fun.”

I hope so.

We did end up parking a few blocks away from the building to avoid bystanders getting too curious, walking the rest of the way to the theater in silence. It was as huge as I expected it to be. Old, but decent enough. The old sign reading "Golden Theater" still holding some of its flare.

Trying to remember my research about the place, I led Dom to the back entrance that was supposed to be close to the dressing rooms. “Technically we're not supposed to be here, so make sure no one is watching,” I said, taking out my set of lockpicks, choosing one of the torsion wrenches and my snake rake.

“You know how to pick a lock?” He asked as I started working.

A grin spread across my face at his slight surprise. I’d learned to do it from Mr. Scott, an old locksmith that lived near our house. He decided to teach me when I was twelve, after my dad’s fifteenth time locking us out for rushing around before a gig. I didn't blame him though. The place he regularly played at had closed abruptly, so he started taking as many one time performances as possible to compensate. Maybe I would leave that story for later though.

“You'd be surprised by what I know,” I teased, looking over my shoulder. “Are you impressed?”

He grinned back, “I'm wondering what else you can do with those... nimble fingers.” Raised eyebrows and a suggestive smirk were added for better effect and I tried not laugh before playfully rolling my eyes and looking back at the lock.

“Wouldn't you like to know... but you'll have to do better than that to get me blushing, Dom.” I’d prefer you calling my brain nimble over my fingers.

“Oh, I'm just getting started.”

“Well, good luck,” I smirked as the lock gave in. The distinctive click signaling me to open the door. I gestured at him to get in. “Theater for two?”

“Amazing..” I whispered, staring at the seats from the stage in awe. It wasn’t hard to admire the big space even through the decay. Dom walked up next to me as I smiled.

“Yeah, it's pretty cool.”

A small laugh escaped me. “Is that all you have to say? Think of all the nights this was filled with people, all the performances that happened on this very stage.” All those people to impress, to share their passion with, it was a dream that I sometimes doubted would be able to come true for me. Sometimes I wasn’t even sure if it was what was best for me either... but it was a dream nonetheless. To have other people enjoy my singing. If falling in love didn’t work out I still had that ahead of me. Difficult challenges would await me no matter what path was taken, but I was ready to meet them head on.

“Yeah, I remember coming here when I was really little...before it closed down obviously.” He added at the end.

“So you saw it in all its glory... I'm guessing it looked even better.”

“I guess. I don't remember it that much, to be honest. I couldn't even tell you what show we saw.”

I smiled. “Did they have to drag little Dominoes to come?”

“Probably. I was a pretty stubborn kid.”

Walking over to forgotten props, I teased, “Was?”

The sixth eye roll happened. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“I'm hilarious, but that's beside the point.” I grinned, reaching for a fake sword between the dusty things and raising it in his direction, “On guard?”

One more eye roll made me reach seventy points, but he grabbed another sword from the pile and took a stance after it. “Fine.”

I swung the prop at his chest, “You roll your eyes a lot, you know?”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

This time it was my turn to roll my eyes and I did so over dramatically. “No, it was just a question.”

“Didn't seem like a question. More... rhetorical.”

I tried swinging again. “Well, it only becomes rhetorical if you don't answer it.”

He blocked the swing, staring right at me. “Well, I guess it's rhetorical.” Then he set the sword down. “So what else do you want to do?”

I ignored the question, giving him a thoughtful look. “You're not really into answering questions, are you? That's not rhetorical by the way.”

“You weren't really asking questions, were you? That's not rhetorical either.”

Narrowing my eyes, I smirked and placed the sword on my shoulder. “I meant in general. You seem to...avoid it sometimes.”

“Maybe.”

Was it a felony to throw a fake sword at a Prince? I rolled my eyes for real that time and headed back stage. “Right.”

“Now what?” He followed but stopped when I went inside a dressing room without giving him an answer. I vaguely heard him mumble, “Alright then.”

Finding a closet with old costumes, I grabbed what I needed after dusting it off and came out with the two pieces of clothing over my shoulder. When I walked by next Dom I took his hand and dragged him back to the stage.

“Okay, what are we doing?”

“Well, if you're not going to talk much I'll just have my fun then.” I handed him the top half of a medieval prince costume. “Put this on.”

He looked at it in confusion. “Why?”

I could've replied, but there was no fun in that, so instead, I crossed my arms and said, “I'm making your question rhetorical.” Two can play at that game, Dom.

“That's not how "rhetorical" works.”

“I guess that makes me a rule breaker too.” I took off my blouse, not worrying since I had an undershirt anyway and began putting on the medieval dress I'd picked out for myself. “Just put it on, you won't die.”

Ten more points. Just two eye rolls away from winning 100. “Whatever.” He started changing and I focused on slipping on my dress, looking down at it once it was on and dusting the skirt a bit more with my hands. “Alright then, not as pretty, but not too bad,” I mumbled, comparing it to the masterpiece Eliza and Peggy had done for the ball. When I looked back at Dom I had to bite my lip to hold back a laugh.

“You should wear this all the time. True class.” I joked, touching the puffy sleeves.

“Yeah, definitely not.”

“What a shame, but anyway, you owe me a dance.”

“I do?”

“Well, you left before we could get a chance to dance, so I count it as a missed one.”

“Okay.”

“We have the clothes and a stage... now we just need music… I doubt my humming will suffice.”

“Who needs music to dance?”

“Lots of people usually do. Are you not one of them?” I smiled a little. “Not rhetorical.”

He pulled me closer to him, his hand on my lower back as he offered another simple smile. “No, I don't need music to dance. Do you?”

I smirked, raising an eyebrow. “That's what imagination is for.”

“Exactly.” He took my hand in his and began to sway. I stared at him silently for a moment before he spoke up again. “So..”

“You're quite an enigma, Dom.”

“I'll take that as a compliment.”

I laughed a little. “It depends. My dad always says some people are like a red light and a green light turned on at the same time. You're kind of like that.” It felt like I could go by freely and just say or do whatever I wanted, but also like I shouldn't move. Like I should be careful with all I said.

“Interesting.” He seemed to consider it for a second.

“What would you say I'm like?” I asked, too curious as always.

Dom answered quickly. “A thorny rose. Kinda prickly and annoying, but there's beauty and niceness there too.”

That made me smile, but not in the teasing, amused or coy way I'd mostly used with him. This time what he'd said just made me want to smile because of how it sounded. “That's better than flirting, just so you know.”

“What is?”

“When you're... just honest. I like it.” I looked over his shoulder to avoid his gaze. “Not that I expect you to do what I say obviously, but it's good.”

“What are you looking at?”

“Uh..” I finally focused on the spot for real. It was just the chairs. “Just the imaginary crowd.”

“Right. Are you enjoying the imaginary applause?”

I grinned. “Yes, of course. It's very gratifying. Also, in my imaginary music, you should make me spin right about now.”

“Can't argue with imaginary music.” He agreed, spinning me around as I smiled again.

We just kept swaying in silence for a while, or at least that's how it was until my old habits kicked in and I started humming to myself, focusing on my steps.

“What happened to only needing imaginary music?”

“Huh? Oh..” I cleared my throat once I realized what I'd done. “Sorry about that…”

“No, it's fine.”

“Sometimes I get distracted and that happens.” I laughed awkwardly before looking at the rest of the theater, still finding it stunning. “It's just very quiet and peaceful.”

“It is.”

“I wish I had theaters like these back home. They would be fun to explore every now and then.”

“Just explore? Wouldn't you want to actually see it open? See a show?”

I glanced at him briefly, staring back at the seats when I realized it was a serious question. He probably didn't realize I wouldn't be able to afford a place like this. That would be money better spent on other things. “You mean if it weren't abandoned? Yes, I guess I could always work as a staff member then. I would get to see performances all the time and even get glimpses backstage.”

“Yeah, that sounds pretty fun.”

“Does that mean that if you were asked to go see a performance now, your family wouldn't have to drag you there anymore?”

“Depends on the performance, and depends on who I'm with. But also, I think I'd like seeing the backstage better than the on stage. I like... knowing everything that's going on with things.”

Nodding, I softly mumbled to myself, “The more facts, the better…” I always preferred it that way. Looking back at him I added, “I like being a part of things... that way you're living the experience and making others live it with you. In the backstage, you become a part of the art, one of the brushes behind the masterpiece. You know what I mean?”

Oh, what am I doing asking him this… To my surprise, he seemed to understand.

“Yeah, exactly. Or at least... I like being in on secrets. I don't like seeing a show and not knowing how something is done, I would want to be able to look at it and say I know exactly how that works because I was a part of the show.”

I laughed. “So no cliffhangers for you?”

“No definitely not.”

“Binge-watcher?”

“I don't know, maybe.”

“Interesting...that explains why you asked me who I didn't believe to be nice back in our interview.”

“Actually I remember you saying if you survived the interviews you would give me hints on the "not so nice" girls…” He raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Good job, Jyn. “Yes, well, I also said they were first impressions. Most of them seem to be wrong for now.”

“Well, since they've changed anyway, wanna tell me what some of your first impressions were? Not even what you think of them now.”

“Curiosity killed the cat, Dom.”

“Who cares about the cat? It hasn't killed me so far.” Because she has a crush on your cousin...

“Okay, in this case, I'll be the cat.” Sorry, stealing your identity for a moment, Kat. “Your curiosity will kill me. I'd like to stay alive. I've heard it's more fun than the other option.”

Saying anything negative about others when I didn’t know if it was true was always a big no for me. Both because it wasn't my place to say and because it could bring problems.

“Whatever.”

I pursed my lips at his response. “Don't get all grumpy now... How about this: I'll give you an answer, but you have to tell me what your first impressions were too. They're the first ones so it doesn't really matter.”

“Sure. It's a deal.”

“Alright then. Sera was pretty much the only one on point. You wouldn't want to cross her, but since she's gone, we're safe from her poison fetish. Besides her, I'll have to admit the Bitch squad was unsettling. Mostly because they went to all the trouble of implying they might be a certain way. I wasn't expecting them to be horrible precisely... just prideful.” I shrugged, staring at my feet. Thinking about it was always weird, but I was happy I had been wrong. “It's a common thing in higher castes, so I kind of prepared for the worse. Not that I care what other think...it's just... you know... Being looked as inferior isn't precisely fun, so you learn to be cautious.”

“Well, I kind of had the opposite first impression. All the girls of the Bitch Squad gave me first impressions that made me want to see more of them. A lot of others were just boring.”

“It's not that surprising I guess…” The pretty, the famous, the confident, the powerful. A lot of people already knew most of them because they were in the media before the Selection even started. I was surprised I’d managed to stand out at all, even if on a smaller scale. “Hopefully I wasn't one of the boring ones though.”

“Eh, I'm not sure. I think you were somewhere in the middle.”

Well, out of 35 girls… “Not bad. Am I a little less boring now or still middle ground?”

He squinted as if considering the question. “Depends on my mood.”

Your mood? I tried not to laugh as I pointed out that sounded like a period. He scrunched up his nose like a bad smell had flooded his senses and I shrugged. “Hey, you're the one saying my boring levels depend on your mood. I might as well joke about it.”

“Well, it's true. Sometimes I find your brash sense of humor entertaining and sometimes I don't.”

“Because of the humor itself or because of your mood?”

“Both.”

“Well... what should I do then?”

“You don't have to do anything.” He assured and I approved of his answer if it meant he wasn't expecting me to change.

“I guess I'll just be the thorny rose.”

“Yep.”

“Do you mind dating a thorny rose?”

“Probably not.”

“Then I guess it's still worth a try.” I smiled. “Is our imaginary song over yet?”

“You tell me.”

“Hmm, one last spin?

“Sure.” And so he spun me around one last time.

“Thanks for taking me to an abandoned theater... I doubted you would agree to it,” I said as he parked the car in the garage again.

“I think there's very little I would've said no to for these dates.”

“Even if you didn't like the idea?”

“Yep. These dates aren't really about me or my opinions; they're about me learning more about everyone. If I don't like someone's idea for a date, that tells me that we might have differing opinions on other things too, and I should, therefore, eliminate that person.”

I stared at him for a moment. Did he expect to find someone that agreed with him on everything? “Just for having different opinions?”

Dom shrugged. “I have to narrow this thing down somehow. And some opinions are more important than others. I mean if we have different opinions on favorite color, that doesn't really matter, but if we have different opinions on how to run the country, that could pose a problem.”

“Hmm, seems like something hard to do from just one date, but I guess you have to work with what you have... Mine is gold by the way… or silver.”

“Well I don't have just one date to figure it all out, but everything plays into my decisions. And mine is red.”

“A color for the bold,” I grinned, not really surprised.  “Makes sense.” After that, I got out of the car. When he didn’t move I looked back inside and fluttered my eyes dramatically at him. “Will you be the ever so kind gentleman and take me to my room?”

He rolled his eyes at my overdramatic-ness with an, “Of course.”

I smirked, satisfied with his ninth eye roll and walked away. “Well, hurry up then.”

“Today was.... good.” I admitted, knowing we were almost to my room.

I was a little surprised by the statement myself since I hadn’t been sure I could pull off a decent date. Contrary to what Annette believed, I didn’t have that much experience on actual dates.

“Yeah, it was.”

“I wouldn't mind doing it again. Hopefully, you wouldn't either.”

“Yeah, no, that would be cool. Maybe not the exact same thing again, but you know... something similar.

I laughed, wondering if mine had been one of the date ideas he’d only agreed to so he could learn something about me. “Was the theater not a good enough idea?”

“No, it's fine. But would you really want to break into the same abandoned theater a second time?”

“Oh.. no, not anytime soon at least. I thought you meant the idea of the theater wasn't your favorite, but I get what you mean now.” When we stopped in front of my room, I added, “Maybe, if there's a next time, we can find a new place to break into.” Then after a chuckle, “Or maybe we can carry on with our plans for katvan.”

“Yes, definitely.”

I smiled, leaning to kiss his cheek quickly, expecting it to earn me the tenth eye roll, but not really caring about it. “Thanks for the ride then.”

He nodded and my smile widened in slight surprise.

There was no tenth time.

[turnoftherogue]

The Pool of Tears Part 1

As the light finally blinded them Lacey closed her eyes and reached out to try the door again. There was a moment of complete silence and then a hum as if she was in a crowded room. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself sitting between Sam and Dean on an airplane. "what the…" she exclaimed. "How did we..?" Sam asked looking around them. "Both good questions." Dean replied. The Captains voice rang out over the PA system "Good evening folks we are currently passing over Illchester, then Elliott County before our initial descent into Baltimore." Suddenly a bright white light erupted from the earth arching upwards towards the sky and spreading outwards across the land. "Illchester weren't we just there?" Dean asked. Suddenly the shockwave hit and the plane began to rock. Lacey grabbed hold of both Sam and Dean's hands. "Hold on" She cried and moments later they were back on the ground. "Whoah!" Sam exclaimed as his knees buckled and he landed on the concrete. Dean sat down next to him looking up at Lacey who had managed to stay on her feet."Great timing and not that I'm not grateful but why put us on a plane in the first place?" he asked as he readjusted his senses. Lacey frowned at him "I didn't put us on that plane." Dean's eyes widened. "Are you sure?" "Yes. One I have to be touching you for you to come with me and two I normally only teleport to places where I know where I'm going in case something goes wrong." "Then how the hell did we get there?" Lacey shrugged her shoulders. "Ok then where are we now?" "I took us back to Chuck's. It was the first thing that popped into my mind." Sam stood up off the ground "let's go see if Chuck knows what's going on then" They walked in the direction of the house and came to a halt at the garden path. The house looked like a bomb had hit it. Sam went to where the front door used to be and climbed in followed by Dean and Lacey. As they rounded the corner Sam gave out a yelp as something came crashing down on his head. "Owww!" Chuck poked his head around the corner holding on to a plunger. "Sam?" Chuck asked. "Yeah!" Sam answered disgruntled. "Hey Chuck." Dean called out "so you're OK?" Chuck asked. "Well my head hurts." Sam replied glaring at him. "No I mean my last vision." Chuck clarified. "You went like full on vader. Your body temperature was one fifty, your heart rate was two hundred. Your eyes were black." "Your eyes went black?" Dean asked. "I didn't know" Sam said sheepishly. "Where's Cas?" Dean asked. "Dead or gone or whatever. The Archangel smote him alright, he exploded." Lacey shuddered. "Oh no" Chuck muttered. "What?" Sam asked. "They're coming." Chuck said looking worried. "Thought we'd find you here." They all turned around to find Zachariah standing there. "Playtimes over Dean. Time to come with us." Lacey glowered at him and stepped in front of Dean. Zachariah's eyes locked on to her, finally noticing her. "Well look here. Two for one." "You just keep your distance ass hat." Dean warned. You're upset." Zachariah nodded. "Yeah a little. You sons of bitches jump started judgement day." "Maybe we let it happen. We didn't start anything. Right Sammy?" Zachariah said winking at him "You had a chance to stop your brother and you couldn't so lets not quibble over who started what. Let's just say it was all our faults and move on, cause like it or not it's apocalypse now and we're back on the same team again." "Is that so?" Dean asked. "You want to kill the devil, we want you to kill the devil. It's … synergy." "And I'm jus supposed to trust you? Cram it with walnuts ugly." Dean spat. "This isn't a game son Lucifer is powerful in ways that defy description. We need to strike now, hard and fast before he finds his vessel." "His vessel? Lucifer needs a meat suit?" Sam asked. "He is an angel. Them's the rules. And when he touches down we're talking four horsemen, red oceans, fiery skies, the greatest hits. You can stop him Dean but you need our help." "You listen to me you two faced douche after what you did I don't want jack squat from you!" "You listen to me boy. You think you can rebel against us? Zachariah fumed. He paused a moment as his eyes tracked to Dean's hand. "You're bleeding" he said slowly. "Oh yeah a little insurance policy in case you dicks showed up." Dean said as he slapped his hand against an angel banishing sigil behind the door. "NO!" Zachariah yelled as he vanished into white light. "Learned that from my friend Cas you son of a bitch." Dean muttered. "This sucks ass." Chuck sighed. A while later they had checked into a motel. Sam had gone out for supplies and Dean was unpacking his guns from his holdall. He hissed lightly as he caught the bandage wrapped around his hand. Lacey looked up from where she was sitting on the bed. "Would you like me to heal that for you?" She asked standing up. Dean looked at her surprised. "You can do that?" Lacey nodded. "I've only done it a few times before but its only a small wound so shouldn't be too hard." She took hold of Deans hand and unwrapped the bandage covering it. She gently placed her hand over the wound. Dean felt a warmth and suddenly his cut didn't hurt anymore. "Thanks." He said. Lacey turned her gaze upwards from his hand and her eyes locked with his. He could feel the warmth replaced by the feel of her palm in his. There was a sudden noise as the door opened and Sam walked in. They broke apart and Dean went back to sorting out his guns. "Hey" Sam said as he tossed a small parcel at each of them in turn. "Hex bags." Sam explained. "No angels or demons are gonna find us with those things." "Where did you get them?" Dean asked. "I made them." Sam told him. "How?" "I… I learned it from Ruby." Sam said sheepishly. "Speaking of, how are you doing? You jonesing for another hit of bitch blood or what?" Dean asked. "It's weird. To tell you the truth I'm fine. No shakes, no fever. It's like whoever put me on that plane cleaned me right up." "Supernatural Methadone" "Yeah I guess. Dean…" "Sam it's Okay. You don't have to say anything." "Well that's good because what can I even say? I'm sorry I screwed up? Doesn't really do it justice you know? Look there's nothing I can do or say that will ever make this right." "So why do you keep bringing it up?" Dean snapped. "Look all I'm saying is why do we have to put this under a microscope? We made a mess. We clean it up. That's it. Alright so say this is just any other hunt you know? What do we do first?" "We'd figure out where the thing is." "All right. So we just got to find … the devil." A moment later there was a knock at the door. Dean grabbed his gun as Sam went to open it. A woman was standing on the other side of the door. She looked shocked and seemed to be having trouble breathing. "You Okay lady?" Sam asked frowning at her. "Sam is it really you?" She asked. "And you're so firm." She said putting a hand on his chest. "Uh do I know you?" Sam asked looking confused. "No but I know you. You're Sam Winchester and you're…" She peered around the door at Dean. "Not what I pictured. And who are you?" She asked looking at Lacey suspiciously. "I'm Lacey" She smiled. "I'm Becky" She said glaring at Lacey. "And I'm not with him." Lacey said shuffling away from Becky across the bed. Becky's expression cleared and she turned her attention back to Sam. "I read all about you guys. And I've even written a few…" She stopped and giggled. "Anyway Mr Edlund told me where you were." "Chuck?" Dean asked. Becky nodded. "He's got a message but he's being watched. Angels. Nice change up to the mythology by the way. The demon stuff was getting kind of old." "Right just umm what's the message?" "He had a vision. The Michael sword is on earth. The angels lost it." "The Michael sword?" Dean asked. "Becky does he know where it is?" "In a castle on a hill made of forty two dogs." "Forty two dogs?" Dean asked incredulously. "Are you sure you got that right?" Sam asked. "It doesn't make sense but that's what he said." She stepped towards Sam. "I memorized every word." She put her hand back on Sam's chest. "For you." "Um Becky can you quit touching me?" He asked awkwardly. "No." Becky replied. A few hours later after Becky had finally left Bobby arrived in the Impala. Lacey had gone out on to the balcony to clear her head. So much had happened in the past forty eight hours. Suddenly she heard raised voices coming from within the motel room. As she opened the door she heard Bobby say "This kind of thing don't get forgiven boy. If by some miracle we pull this off I want you to lose my number. You understand me?" Sam nodded looking crestfallen. "There's an old church nearby. Maybe I'll go read some of the lore books there." "Yeah you do that." Bobby told him. Sam turned to go. "I'll go with you." Lacey said following him out to the Impala. As they got into the car Sam turned to her. "You don't have to come with me you know." Lacey shrugged. "It'll be nice to have a change of scenery. Besides I think they have things to sort out." She said inclining her head back to the motel. "Well if you're sure you'll be safe with me." Sam said sadly. Lacey smiled at him. "Whether your safe or not I'm probably the best person to be around." Sam smiled back at her and pulled out of the parking space. After extensive reading Sam called it a day and drove them back to the motel. As they neared the room they heard a smashing sound. Sam broke into a run, crashing the door open, Lacey right behind him. They saw a couple of demons and Bobby attacking Dean. Bobby had Dean by the throat. Lacey flung her arm out and the demons flew across the room and hit the wall. As soon as this happened Bobby loosened his grip on Dean and stabbed himself with the demon knife. "Bobby!" Sam yelled as he rushed towards him. Lacey followed him and kneeled down next to Bobby. Suddenly one of the female demons reared back up from the floor and slammed her foot into Laceys head. Lacey keeled over onto the floor and everything went black. @18crazybutcutealsopsycho

[anditjustmadeherkind]

"Too bad you didn't try to find them over the summer," Buffy said as they wound their way past the line at the information desk. "If you had, you might have a spell which would work on them by now."

Something inside her, grown thin and brittle over the last month full of awkward silences and accusing glances, snapped. Two paces before the doors, Willow bridled, rounding on Buffy in a fury. "Well, I'm sorry, but I was wasting my time helping Giles track down your Dad, and convincing my parents to keep Dawn until we found him, and beating off Social Services, and planning your funeral and keeping Angel and Spike from killing each other during it and, oh yeah, slaying vampires and fighting demons and excess Knights of Byzantium in my copious spare time though why I bothered since Spike the Perfect was on the job--maybe because someone can't go traipsing around in full sunlight or, I don't know, fight humans without collapsing in agony, and oh, yeah, making sure you didn't get brought back as someone's mind-controlled zombie, though I'm beginning to think you'd be happier that way!" She didn't bother trying to keep the hurt and bitterness out of her voice now. "Open!" She flung the word at the front doors like a weapon, and they flew outwards as she stormed through, smashing into the shrubbery outside. That was more like it. That was what magic ought to feel like.

She strode out into the gathering twilight, trying to lose herself in the automotive maze of the hospital parking lot. For a moment Buffy stood dumbfounded, and then Willow heard her footsteps on the pavement behind her as she broke into a run to catch up. "Willow! Willow, wait!" Buffy took a shortcut over the top of an SUV and leaped to the ground in front of her. "Willow, I didn't mean--"

But she didn't sound apologetic; she sounded tired and irritated, like a mother dealing with a sulky child. Willow's hands curled into fists. "You know, I could understand it if you were mad at all of us. But with Dawn you're fine. With Spike you're fine. It's just with me that you act like I'm some horrible person you're forced to deal with. You were my best friend of the girl variety, Buffy! And now you're a total stranger and you hate me and I was trying to do the right thing, darn it!"

Buffy's eyes closed, squeezing shut against the words, and her whole body tensed against some coming blow. "I know that," she said, very softly. "I don't hate you, any of you. But... you didn't do the right thing. You did a wrong thing. You destroyed a soul to get me back--"

"That was Spike's choice!"

"And Spike is so rational on the subject," Buffy snapped. "Maybe it's easier with Dawn because she didn't know all about what the two of you were up to. She's a kid. She's supposed to do stupid--"

"And since Spike is a century older than any of us, he gets a free ride for senility?"

Buffy's eyes opened again. "No," she said, her voice clipped. "Spike gets a free ride for saying the magic words."

"And those would be?"

"'I was wrong, and I'm sorry.'"

"Oh, peachy doodle!" Willow flung up both hands. "Listen to yourself, Buffy! Not six hours ago you were all 'I can't think he's got a cute tush because, the morals of it all!' You know why he's sorry? Because you're unhappy to be back. That's it, that's all, finito, the end. Look, I'm pro-Spike, honest. He's the nicest evil dead guy I know. But you said it yourself, he doesn't care about the morals. And I do care, but my morals don't match up with yours, so I'm awful and Spike's a saint? Pardon me if I think the cuteness of Spike's tush is a bigger factor in how you're treating us both than you want to admit!"

At that moment the automatic lights in the parking lot flicked on all around them, and the two of them were haloed in a multitude of long shadows, vying for space on the asphalt and echoing their every move. Buffy's hand closed on the side view mirror of the SUV and there was a crunching noise, as of metal deforming under pressure, and the brittle snap of glass cracking. "I'm going to forget you said that." If the humidity had been any higher, icicles would have formed on her words. "You want to know why I've been avoiding you, Will? I'll tell you. Because it's exhausting being around you. You want me to be fine so badly it hurts, 'cause that means you did good, even if I won't admit it. And I... I loveyou, so I keep trying to be fine. For you, and for Dawn, and for Xander and Giles--" The intensity of emotion in her voice was frightening now, after so many weeks of detachment. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "But I can't be fine all the time, and Spike accepts that! He doesn't sit there giving me the 'Are you OK now, Buffy? What about now? Still OK? Sure?' looks when I'm not. It's that simple."

"I'm sure you've convinced yourself of that," Willow said, matching the chill degree for degree. She took a fresh grip on her notebook. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got... things. Things to do." With an angry swipe at her own eyes she pushed past Buffy and hurried off down the long rows of cars, leaving her best friend of the girl variety staring after her, the mangled remains of the SUV's mirror in her hand.

Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/17806?view_adult=true&view_full_work=true

-

I adore this fight between Willow and Buffy. I like the anger and resentment and love. I love that I can see where both of them are coming from. I like that Buffy wants her Spike and her Willow to share her morals, to be better than what they are.

Helen: It's just that sometimes you judge people's behavior by a pretty rigid set of standards. Not everyone can live up to them. Daria: That's what's wrong with the world. Helen: Not even you live up to them all the time.

— Daria, "Monster"

Its a bit like that. I also love that Willow won’t give in, won’t admit Buffy has a point, tries to justify herself, and refuses responsibility. Buffy has this “I am the law” mentality at times, but Willow has this god complex at times as well. I also like the hints that this outburst is a long time coming. It was foreshadowed quite nicely.