#only one of them was turning out ~okay~ so. i. i got frustrated. erased the other. took this dude's base. now here we are.

[silasbug]

this was supposed to be something else entirely. now it's my evil alter ego, Eden Reed. what a dick. wish i had his hair.

[rafedaddy01]

heyy!! idk if you do this type of thing but

headcannons on:

being in a secret relationship with ur best friends boyfriend. rafe.

You were drunk out of your mind, stumbling aimlessly around the house. You made it outside and drunkingly walked up and down the sidewalk. “Y/n?” A familiar voice startled you from behind. You gasped as you turned around and flung your arms over his neck, pearing up at his tall form with a droopy smile on your face, “rafey!”

He chuckled dryly as he grabbed your wrists and pushed you off him. “You’re drunk” “Yes- I am” you giggled as you did a little twirl, your short skirt riding up more than need be and exposing your black lace panties. Rafes throat bobbed as he deeply sighed and blinked hard to try and erase the images of his girlfriends bestfriend bent over to his will, he failed. “Get in the car” he said sternly as he avoided eye contact.

“Okay” you happily obliged, not picking up on the cold tone he was using with you in efforts to avoid his own feeling for you. You skipped to his black Range Rover and hopped into the passenger seat, spreading your legs and relinquishing in the cool feeling of the leather seat on your heated body. Your nipples peaked through your shirt, your bra less breasts heaving with each breath you took and the hem of your skirt had flipped up, exposing your tanned skin on your thighs and the stitch line of the black panties, “those damn lace panties”, Rafe grumbled to himself as he started the car. “Did you say something?” You looked over and finally noticed frustrated state. “No” he said as he pulled out of the driveway and started down the road to tannyhill. The drive was quiet, but you didn’t mind. Rafe always made you feel comfortable and you secretly had feeling for him. Which is why it’s probably a bad idea for you to be drunk around him.

He pulled into the driveway of tannyhill and the two of you climbed out of the car, heading inside. “You can spend the night here tonight, Sarah won’t be home so her bed is free” Rafe locked the front door and started to turn around but jerked back when he came face to face with your devilish smirk.

“Is your bed free?” You asked as you looked up at him and bit your bottom lip, your fingers trailing under his shirt and touching his toned body.

Rafe sucked in a breath as he carefully studied you. “Y/n..” his voice was a warning, one that if you knew what was good for you you’d listen to , but you don’t.

“Rafe” you said back as your other hand wrapped around the loop of his jeans and tugged him closer until only a breath of air separated the two of you.

“Fuck it” he muttered as he closed the distant and kissed you. You moaned against his lips which he happily accepted and gripped your chin, elevating your head for better acces to slip his tongue in. The kiss got steamy as he pushed you back until you hit a wall. His hand travelled up your waist and slipped under your shirt to find your breasts bare.

He groaned as he pulled away.

Both of you breathing heavy.

“We- we can’t, y/n” he leaned his forehead against yours, closing his eyes and relinquishing in your lemon scent. “Why not” you pouted as you rubbed the heel of your foot on the back of his calf. “Please Rafe, I’m so horny and if you don’t fuck me then-“ he didn’t even let you finish the sentence as he grasped your legs and wrapped them around his waist, kissing you again.

As your lips tangled your hands reached for his zipped and undid it, pulling his hard cock out. You palmed him and stroked a few times as he groaned against your lips. The kiss broke and he nuzzled his face in your neck and sucked. You moaned his name and stroked him faster.

He pulled your panties to the side and rubbed your slick folds “so wet” he groaned into your neck before resuming his kisses.

He pulled away and grabbed hold of his own cock with one hand, the other supporting your body up.

He stroked a few times before lining himself up with your seeping hole.

He slowly pushed in, watching the way your face twisted in pleasure and snapped a mental photo for his spank bank later. You both groaned at the feel of him stretching your out.

He wasn’t even halfway in when his tip brushed against your cervix and you clenched.

“Oh fuck!” He groaned and stilled “if you keep that up I’ll cum on the spot” his other hand tangled in your hair and tugged your head to the side as he devoured your neck.

He began thrusting harder, your back hitting the wall and making a few pictures frames clatter before one fell. The glass shattering down on the corridor floor, but neither of you even noticed as you were riding the wave of pleasure.

“Fuck, I’ve wanted to be in this pussy for so long” he gripped your throat as he snapped his hips harder, another frame falling to the ground. You stared into his darkened eyes as he literally rocked your world. “M’close” you moaned and closed your eyes and your core tighten.

“Uh uh uh, open your eyes sweetheart” he squeezed your throat harder and your eyes snapped open.

He smirked as he watched how cock drunk you were from his cock.

“I’m gonna cum so fucking deep in this pussy, you’ll be leaking for days” you clenched around him. “And the next time your with Cora, you’ll be thinking about how good her boyfriend fucked you” he hit a certain spot inside you with the tip of his cock that had you seeing stars. Your breath hitched as you clenched harder around him.

“Such a dirty slut, you like the idea of sleeping with your bestfriends boyfriend huh?” You were too out of it to respond and it puffed Rafes ego as he smirked.

“Of course you do. Prancing around in those tight skirts and lace panties. Always so fucking needy and desperate for cock.” His words making the band in your core snap as you screamed his name and gushed all over him. His hips stilled but he hadn’t cum.

“Don’t think I’m done with you. You shouldn’t have started something you can’t finish y/n” he gripped both your ass a cheeks and slapped one side as he carried you up the stairs and into his room.

Taglist

@f4ll-for-you @v21sstuff @rafeysworldim19 @baby19sthings @sevenwivesofrafecameron @rxfecameronsslut @findapenny @r1vrsefx @spencerreidsrealgf @rafescokenostril @thievin-stealing @hoesindifferentshows @rafemotherfuckingcameron

[wbblover4lyfe]

Authors note: I posted a poll and wow you guys did not disappoint. So here is a Katie Ledecky fanfic! Second time writing so pls be nice 🙇🏻‍♀️. If you guys have any suggestions of what I should write next pls feel free to share!! Hope you enjoy 😉

Pairing: College Katie ledecky x college y/n

Warning: HEAVY SITUATIONSHIP but Katie and y/n are too afraid to say anything and fluff

Summary: After a tough day filled with classes and swim practice Katie comes back to her dorm needing attention from y/n.

When you found out a number one recruit for swimming was going to be your freshman dorm-mate you were VERY intimidated. You looked up your roommate and found out she was in the Olympics at 15 years old. You felt scared you guys weren’t going to click or barely see each other. Little did you know you guys would become really good friends?

You were the one thing that wasn’t swim-related to Katie in her life. You were her anchor so when Katie came back frustrated from a meet or practice you comforted her. For example, one night when she came back from a 16 hour day including hard classes and an even harder practice.

Your dim desk light shined on your textbook as your hands were gripping your hair in frustration. Your big biology lab was tomorrow and you were trying to squeeze in as much information as possible. As you erased your answer in the practice sheet for the hundredth time you heard keys jiggle into the door of your dorm.

Katie enters your shared dorm, sneaking in thinking you are asleep until she spots you at your desk. You laugh at her attempt to be quiet without looking up.

“You’re still up?” The blonde says very exhausted.

“Yes, I have a lab tomorrow,” you say, finally looking back at your roommate, noticing her puffy eyes.

Before she could turn away you quickly got up and walked over to her.

“Are you okay?” you ask, reaching up to her face.

The warmth of your touch seemed to trigger a stream of tears to flood down her face. She quickly grabs you into a hug tucking her head into your shoulder as if she was hiding.

“Hey, it’s okay… I’m here” you say, holding her as close to you as possible.

She melts into your touch, finally relaxing after such a hard day. You feel so bad at her small whimpers into her shoulder. You wish you could just take her away from all the stress and pressure she endures from not only her family but also her coaches.

She finally comes to the realization you said the reason you were up was because you had a lab tomorrow. This thought makes her pull away from the hug.

“I’m sorry for always bothering you, you can go back to studying, please don't mind me,” she says, avoiding your eye contact and trying to walk past you. You quickly grab her arm making her face you.

“Katie stop, you’re my main priority right now. Plus I’m finished studying anyways” you say even though that was a lie you felt it was your responsibility to help Katie or else she was just going to bottle it in. Before she can say anything else you bring her into another hug. Katie again melts into the hug, leaning all of her weight on you.

“Do you want to talk about it?” you say, rubbing circles on her back.

“No, I just want to cuddle and sleep,” she says in a whisper.

Without you saying anything you walk over to her closet pull out some pajamas for her and hand them to her. As she changes into them you put away your books and start brushing your teeth. She finishes getting dressed, you then look over at her wearing one of your t-shirts. You laugh realizing you guys share clothes so often your shirt was in her closet.

“Let me help you take off your makeup,” you say signaling for her to sit on the bathroom counter.

You carefully stand in between her legs and wipe off the waterproof mascara she had on. She looks at you with a sleepy expression making you smile.

“Do you need help brushing your teeth too?” you say with a laugh. She gives you a shy smile “I mean if you’re offering” Katie says shrugging her shoulders.

As you brush her teeth you can’t help but smile at how pretty she looks under this soft light. You think it’s so funny how only YOU see this soft side of Katie. She usually has this competitive look and attitude.

As you wipe her mouth you gently kiss her forehead and help her get off the counter. You lead her to your bed. She goes in first and then holds the comforter for you to get in. You plug in both of your guys phones and turn on the ceiling fan. Turning off the lamp on your night side table as you crawl into the tiny bed.

Instantly softening into her arms as she wraps her legs around you. Even though Katie is 6’0 and you’re pretty tall as well you guys didn’t mind sharing a tiny bed at all. Both of you preferred to sleep together than on your separate beds.

“I’m so proud of you, and I’m not just talking about swimming,” you say in her ear.

“I’m so glad you’re my friend y/n, I think I would’ve gone crazy if I didn’t have you to come back to every day,” Katie says into your neck.

You can’t help but think that this isn’t normal friend behavior, but you would rather have her like this than not have her at all. With Katie’s busy schedule you can’t imagine she even has time to think about being in a relationship… or so you thought.

To be continued…

[obsessedasusual]

Lonely No More - Nine

Bishop Losa x OC Series

Summary: There was never a dull moment, being the only Reyes sister. But between overbearing brothers, being the family peacekeeper, and countless disaster dates, Amalia finds herself wishing she had someone to unwind with after a hectic day. Funnily enough, Bishop Losa wishes for the same thing.

Warnings: swearing, feels, everything MC related really

Note: it's okay I hate me as well :)))

The knock at the door came as Amalia was mid-sip of her second glass of red wine.

After a day of having a door slammed in her face by her younger brother and awkward prolonged eye contact from the man she couldn’t seem to get out of her head, a glass or two of red was more than welcomed.

She sighed quietly and hoped whoever it was would soon leave.

It wasn’t late, Amalia had only just finished cleaning up after dinner and had begun to settle on the sofa with reruns of ‘Say Yes to the Dress’, keen to erase the events from the past few days.

When the second knock came she threw her head back in frustration before pulling herself to stand and answer the door.

Seeing Bishop standing on her front step should have been expected, he was really the only person she knew in this town that bothered to knock, but it still caught her off guard.

He stared at her for a beat before breaking the silence, “Hey.”

He was still dressed in his kutte, having only just left the club. When Amalia peered over his shoulder to the driveway she noted the lack of motorbike, he must have walked from his place which would explain the silent arrival.

She looked back to him, replying with a soft, “Hi.”

Bishop looked at his feet and cleared his throat before speaking again, “Can I come in?”

“Uh… yeah sure.” She stepped back and opened the door further for him, allowing him into her home.

This wasn’t how she saw her night going. She had just finished compartmentalising everything going on in her life right now and had come to the conclusion that she and Bishop were just an equally lonely pair, whos paths crossed unexpectedly for a short time and they were going to revert back to how their relationship was a couple of months prior - essentially nonexistent. And she was totally okay with that. Absolutely. Cool as a cucumber. 

Lie.

She wasn’t sure when she’d grown so fond of the older man, and it hurt to think that he didn’t feel the same.

Amalia followed to where Bishop stood awkwardly near the dining table, eyes anywhere but her.

“Could I uh, do you want a drink?” She offered helplessly. He shook his head, eyes on the carpet beneath him.

“No, I uh… I came to apologise,” he looked at her then, seeing how his words caught the Reyes sister off guard, “Been busy with the club and ah, time got away from me.”

Amalia nodded silently, not knowing what to say. He was the one turning up on her doorstep, he could do the talking. Admittedly it was a childish response.

Bishop continued at the silence, “I’m sorry for not reaching out sooner.”

“It’s okay.” Amalia mumbled. It’s not like she reached out either.

The President shook his head at her response, “Nah, it’s not, querida. I know the other night when I left… I should’ve reached out.”

It was clear that this conversation was making him uncomfortable, Amalia felt the exact same. This was uncharted territory for them. Hell - just over a month ago they were merely friendly acquaintances. It was crazy, how their friendship grew so fast. And it was about to derail even faster by the sound of this conversation.

She sighed and looked around the room, “Bishop look. It’s okay, I get it.” He looked at her quizzingly as she continued, “It was just a… a thing that happened. While we were messing around. I understand that’s all it was.”

Bishop studied her for a moment, remaining silent as he waited for her to continue speaking.

The red wine had started to infiltrate her system by now, and Amalia could feel herself loosening up and letting words fall more freely.

“I mean, look at us!” she gestured between them with a weak smile, “You’re President of an outlaw MC and I’m the communications lead for a building company. We don’t exactly have a lot in common.” 

Everything Amalia was saying was four days worth of pent up emotion. Did she mean all of it? No. But history had taught her that it was easier to be the rejector than the rejectee, “And then, there’s the whole thing with my brothers. Could you imagine if they found out? What a mess that would be.”

If Bishop disagreed he did a good job at hiding it, choosing to remain silent as Amalia rambled away.

She finally reigned it in, stopping herself from digging a deeper hole, “No hard feelings, Bish. Promise.”

After a moment of silence he repeated, “No hard feelings, querida,” eyes locked on hers, “I’ll uh - I’ll leave you to your night.”

Amalia nodded, “Okay.”

He made his way back to the front door and stared at her for a moment longer, “Okay.” He repeated, giving her a small smile and leaving her house.

Well that wasn’t awkward at all.

—

Bishop sulked the second her front door closed behind him.

We don’t exactly have a lot in common.

Did that really matter? Was having a lot in common with a person the make or break of a relationship?

He turned back toward her house when he reached the letterbox, catching her shadow moving across the living room. 

On each of the past few days Bishop had found himself staring intently at his phone, either waiting for it to alert him of a new message or in the hope he’d finally rip the Band-Aid off and call the subject of his infatuation.

He should’ve reached out. He regretted that now more than ever.

But this was good, he supposed. It’s better he know how she feels before he attempted to pursue anything further with her.

Sighing, he turned and started the short walk home.

[miela]

Shattered Memories • Chapter III: A Sense of Reunion II • {Peter Parker x Stark!Reader}

Chapter Genre: Angst (???) Chapter Warnings: Mentions of Substance Abuse Masterlist

↪ divider by firefly-graphics

VIDEO LOG #20 / 10 JUNE 2026

Hey (Y/N),

 It’s me, Peter.

It’s been almost two years since you have forgotten about me. And to be honest, these two years have been absolutely hell without you. I got a redo on life as most people wish for but be careful what you wish for I guess. I have a new life and it’s okay. I have friends from school but they’ll never compare to you, Celina, Ned, and MJ. I have two jobs and they pay okay. It helps with rent. I’m still out there being Spiderman, I haven’t heard anything about you though which I guess is understandable. I hope you’re doing okay.

I miss you….I miss you so much. In times like these, I know I could always turn to you, lay my head on your shoulder, and cry…you would rub my back, kiss the top of my head, and tell me that everything is going to be okay...because we had each other. I feel like I took those moments for granted even though I know I didn’t. I just really miss you. 

I hope one day…I could be in your arms again. I love you so much.

[END RECORDING]

I know who you are. 

It rang and echoed in Peter's head after you said it. His heart didn’t know what it wanted to do; stop and explode or race and explode. He looked at you with an expression he could only imagine was a mix of shock and anticipation. How long did you know? Is that why you came to find him? Because you remembered him? There were so many things he wanted to say, ask and do.

But before he could even react, your words knocked his cathedral of hope down to the ground just as quickly as it was built up.

"But I don't remember you."

And there it was. The catch. His heart dropped.

Of course, it wouldn’t have been that easy for him. Even though five years went by and that was more than plenty of time for you to figure it out with what little information you had, Strange’s spell was thorough and very effective. Peter wasn’t sure if he wanted to scream or cry or to crawl in a dark hole and whither away. He didn’t even know how to respond. How was he supposed to explain everything to you? How was he supposed to explain his reasoning for not following through with his promise five years ago?

He just looked at you dumbfounded.

You pressed your lips together and nodded slowly at his response of silence. “When going through the Avenger files, I saw your file. Funny how I recognized everyone else but I didn’t recognize you. Even funnier that we were partners in justice and crime fighting and I didn’t even remember your face. So I did a month-long deep dive.”

Peter never took his eyes off of you and you never took your eyes off of him. He could tell you were getting serious although your expression was still pretty relaxed. On the other hand, he could feel his jaw clench from his nerves making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“I asked around. I asked Sam, Bucky, Dr. Cho, Ned, MJ, Celina…anyone who has a connection to you and none of them know who you are. Well, MJ and Ned said you come into the coffee shop a lot, but they don’t know you. See, memories can be erased from people, but not from algorithms. We went to the same high school, both were in the academic decathlon with MJ, and we had almost all the same classes together. We were both Avengers, we were a duo team because we have the same powers, I remember every single mission, Hell, I remember fighting you,” you continued with emotion in your voice that Peter could only guess was frustration. “But I don’t remember…you.”

Peter decided he wanted to scream. He wanted to scream and then tell you everything, but he had his reasons for not telling you.

“For five years I’ve been dreaming of this guy. I call him the Faceless Boy. I have dreamt of him every single night since that day five years ago. The dreams are more than dreams, more than that dream-walking shit Celina talks about. These dreams are memories with someone who is so foreign to me.” You walked over by him slowly and stopped when you were about three feet away and you looked up into his eyes. “When I snuck through your window today, I expected a different response from you after webbing me to the wall.”

Peter gulped slightly.

“You talked to me like you knew who I was. A long-time friend that you haven’t seen in a while and one you weren’t expecting to see for an even longer while. And then when we shook hands…?” You chewed on your lip nervously, almost like you were afraid to say the next bit. “For five years, I’ve had this hole in my chest, as if something was carved out of my life when it wasn’t supposed to be. I’ve tried to fill it with anything and everything and I failed every single time. So tell me why when we shook hands I never felt it so whole before. A simple handshake from a boy from Queens filled my emptiness like he was the missing puzzle piece.”

Peter’s heart raced as you spoke and looked at him with a desperation for answers, but he couldn’t speak. He didn’t know how to respond as you searched his dark eyes for answers. He didn’t want to lie to you but…he also didn’t want to tell you the truth. The truth is what is keeping you safe and what is keeping you sane. 

“I know you feel it right now,” you said. “The pull.”

The pheromonal connection.

Peter could feel it, He didn’t stop feeling it since he sensed you in his apartment, especially after the handshake. His senses were in a frenzy, he could only imagine how yours were, especially when you couldn’t even remember who he was to you. He pressed his lips together. 

“So tell me, Peter Parker,” you started again. “What happened?”

Peter looked deeply into your eyes and slowly brought his hand up to your cheek and gently caressed it before laying his hand on it. You leaned your face into his touch and closed your eyes. His senses instantly focused on you. Your breath hitched as you opened your eyes again to look up at his dark ones.

He wanted to tell you everything so badly. He wanted to tell you how he knew you like the back of his hand. He wanted to tell you that he knew your favorite things and that you couldn’t cook to save your life, and that you loved to dance and you did ballet since you were a child. He wanted to tell you how in high school you would viscerally defend him every time Flash Thompson opened his mouth and called Peter “Penis Parker” and how when you found out Flash’s real name you started using it just to piss him off and shut him up. He wanted to tell you about how MJ didn’t like him at first because she was afraid that the same situation that happened with him and Liz would happen to you. He wanted to tell you how you and Ned would constantly bicker over who was the coolest character in Star Wars and that everyone thought your favorite anime was Chainsaw Man but he knew it was actually Sailor Moon (and that you constantly argued that Usagi would floor Goku anytime any day and any era). He wanted to tell you everything about yourself and your memories until his jaw hurt from talking too much.

But everything in him told him not to.

“(Y/N)...” he began. “I-”

Before he could finish his sentence your eyes blinked rapidly and your brows furrowed before you winced and hissed. You held your head as you let out a noise of pain and Peter instantly pulled back. 

“(Y/N)? (Y/N)! Are you okay? What’s happening?!” Peter panicked.

After a moment you looked up at him catching your breath softly. “Yeah….yeah. I’m fine. Like I said before. Stark Stress.”

Peter called total bullshit on that. 

“What were we talking about?” You asked softly to no one in particular.

Peter looked at you wide eyes filled with confusion and concern. 

“Uh…” he searched his scatterbrain for something to say. “The…uh…Avenger Files? You were going to tell me why you were going through the Avenger files, yeah…mhm…”

You looked at him with a knowing expression. “Parker, I remember everything I said. It was a rhetorical question.”

“Oh…!” Peter squeaked. 

You rubbed your temples and smiled up at him. “You won’t tell me anything. That’s fine I won't force you. Whatever you did, you did it for good reason.” You leaned back on the table. “I’ll figure it out anyway. Just promise you’ll be honest with me when I ask about something.”

Peter nodded. “Y-yeah! Yeah, sure, yeah I’ll be …uh….I’ll be honest.”

“Great!” you clapped your hands together. “Now down to business. I didn’t just drag you here to interrogate you.” You turned to the table to avoid his gaze.

You were deflecting the situation. Peter knows because you tend to do that when you have felt like you came off too strong in a situation and your way of reacting was to pretend like it was nothing big in hopes that the other person would follow suit. At this moment, Peter was glad you did, because he would’ve done it if you didn’t. Especially when those Stark Stress Migraines seemed more like Parker Stress ones. Both times you guys made contact you had a strong reaction. It scared him and he wanted to know why. He wished he could have asked Strange about this, but Strange didn’t remember him and probably wouldn’t even remember the spell. 

He guessed that was his big sign to keep his distance from you. 

Later, he was taken back home in time for him to go out patrolling once more. He swung across the veins of New York City as he thought about the events that happened.

Today was a really strange day.

After your whole interrogation, you told him about your plans for the NAI and the scholarship that Tony had left for him. 

 “My dad had an actual internship and scholarship set aside for you but obviously it was meant for MIT. I changed it up a bit for your sake. So your last five years will be compensated and paid off tuition-wise and the rest of your time in school will be paid in full. You will also have an internship opportunity whenever you’re ready for it. It will be a summer internship so you can have full focus on it without any distractions, or you could do it during winter break. Whatever works for you.” You pointed at the holographic screens respectively. 

Peter looked at the holograms in shock. Tony was planning on doing all of this for him. He shouldn’t be surprised but he was…and was touched by it. And you modifying it to fit his needs made it all the more… meaningful. He did remember Tony offering him a grant when he first came to visit him but he thought he wasn’t serious about it and was using it for code to add to the stark internship.  

He almost didn’t take it, but you insisted. 

 “Parker, this was something my dad set in place years ago. Consider it a token of gratitude. He would want this for you.” you explained. “But I won't force it on you if you really don’t want it.”

Peter sighed when he stopped on a building to think. He hated keeping the truth from you, and he hated that you were suffering all this time because of your migraines. He remembered your big reaction to both times that he touched you. 

It was hurting you. 

He wondered if it would be the same for Ned, Celina, and MJ. Would they have a splitting headache if he got close to any of them too? The whole point of this stupid spell was to protect the ones he cared about, not cause them pain. 

He really, really hated magic.

He sighed and sat down at the edge of the building. He thought about what you went through in the past years without him. He had hoped that you would have been living your best life without worry, but instead, you were dreaming about him without knowing who he was, and he had to sit there and not tell you that it was him that you were dreaming about. 

It was best to just stay away from you all. Like it was intended five years ago.

He needed a distraction. He remembered one of his friends from school mentioning a party at his Fraternity House this weekend that Peter initially said no to going to. But after today he could use it. He took out his phone and called him.

“Parker,” Harry Osborn, chimed. “What’s up, my guy?”

“Hey Harry,” Peter greeted. “I changed my mind, I do wanna go to that party tomorrow.”

To say you were a mess was an understatement. 

You didn’t seem it though. You were working with Nika on the list of foundations and non-profit organizations that would be attending the charity gala that you were hosting in a month. You’re first act of Philanthropy would be donating at least one billion dollars each year to different organizations and you wanted it to be a well-rounded event but you were distracted by the recent ones that happened.

Nika could tell.

“(Y/N),” she said, folding her hands in her lap. “Are you okay? Did that Avenger boy do something to you?”

“Huh? What? No,” You replied a little defensively. “He’s harmless.”

“Then why do you seem so upset?” She asked with concern in her tone. “You were fine earlier.”

You sighed and rubbed your temples with your fingers gently as you closed your eyes. “Migraine,” you responded, only giving part of the problem. 

She sighed knowing that you weren’t telling her everything. “I’m going to talk to you as a friend.”

You looked at the redhead expectantly.

“You haven’t had much of a life since…well…since I first met you four years ago.”

You met Nika Eyrewolfe, back in the recovery center. She was in for substance abuse herself. Since then you guys have been great friends and been a good support for each other. When you found out that she had no place to call home or anything to her name, you got her a job at Stark Industries before she was promoted to your assistant. She’s done nothing but a great job at it. She has been with you most days since you became CEO. So to say the girl knew your life and schedule like her life depended on it was an understatement.

“You’ve worked yourself so much that your headaches are getting worse and worse,” she continued. “The only person you hang out with is Morgan, who’s ten years old. You haven’t made time for Celina, Ned, and MJ in forever. But you had time to get Avenger Boy.”

“He has a name,” You retorted. “Peter. Peter Parker.”

“That’s nice,” Nika replied sarcastically. “And who is Peter Parker to you exactly?”

That’s the problem. I don’t know, you thought.

All you know is that he was the cutest guy you have ever seen in your entire life. His brown curls were soft and silky on his head. His eyes looked tired but they were soft and kind. He had boyish features that only added to his softness. And his smile. God, that smile. It lit up his whole face. His black tee shirt hugged his muscles nicely, and his dark denim jeans hugged his thighs and legs in just the right way. You had to catch yourself from staring at him too long before it got really weird.

You stayed silent and leaned your head on the back of your chair.

“Exactly,” Nika stated. “Nothing. So, you should make time for your friends. I’ll clear your calendar this weekend.”

The thing was that Peter wasn’t “nothing” to you, he was definitely a big something. You were at least eighty percent sure he was the faceless boy from your dreams. And when he touched you…? You couldn’t ignore that no matter how much you tried. The way his hand was so heartbreakingly gentle on your skin as all your worries faded away for a small moment before the splitting headache came again. It’s not like you could tell Nika any of this.

But she was right about one thing. It had been a while since you hung out with your friends. You kept in touch with them in the group chat, but it wasn’t the same as seeing them. 

“Okay,” you gave her a small smile. “Thank you, Nika. What would I be without you?”

“I dunno, probably insane.”

You snorted in response.

Maybe it would be good for you to step away from everything for a little bit. Especially with how crazy your day was. You especially wanted to pretend this day never happened, crawl into the void, and scream until your voice was gone. You deserved to relax for a moment and maybe next time you make the impulsive decision to climb into the window of someone you think you know but you don’t…

You won’t.

~

tags: @riordanness @chrisevans-realwife @peterdarlingg

[cyten0]

A Symphony In Crimson

Act 1: A Movement in Black

Chapter ??

♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯

You return from your scouting trip. Nothing seems to have followed you, and area seems clear. Kind of a shame, you were kinda hoping for a fight! Got a lot of frustration to get out. Oh well, Should be fine, you'll probs find something later! Now, you need to check up on Mi (♫), So (𝄢), La (♪), and Ti (𝄡)

You see La (♪) looking out from the crows nest, to see if you all were followed. Her one keen eye looks out over the ocean, looking over at your home across the way as it flickers in and out of view. The wishcraft doesn’t hold much sway over all of you, but here even you can see it’s blinding messed up. She turns as she sees you approach.

♪ “Hey Re. Anything of note?”

♯ “Not really. There is a town nearby though! Signage said Bambouche? Could maybe gather some info or supplies!”

So (𝄢) peeks out of the cargo hold, clearly in their irritable persona. She’s clearly cranky from working so hard to find anything, her face keeps flickering and her horns are out. You all are little tense right now, given you’ll be entering civilization for the first time in a WHILE.

𝄢 “I TOLD you both to stop speaking Astravian! Get in the habit of speaking Vaugardian, or YOU are cleaning up the mess of giving everyone there Headaches!”

Right. Feels bad having to do that, but can’t be helped! You won’t be able to talk to anyone here about your home, both for memory reasons and ‘not causing a panic knowing the country next door is a heap of ruins and flesh-eating infectious monsters’ reasons....

ARGH! You wish you could just punch this whole mess away! You wish you could at least punch HIM in the face! ...Whatever, you do need to get in the habit anyways.

♪ “… Yeah, alright. Gonna take some getting used to.”

♯ “Yeah, Sorry So! Oh, By the way, how are things looking with you?”

So’s face fizzles into their more calm persona. Hopefully they have something.

𝄢 “Tracking that console you gave them is not looking to be optimal. I haven't detected any usage. I however did set it up so that the moment they do, your phone will get an alert so you can call them immediately.”

That's good. You'll keep a close eye on it.

Ti (𝄡) gets up from his meditation. He puts his helmet back on, sketches a sigil onto a piece of paper, and then quietly hands it to So.

𝄡 “Counter sigil made.”

Quiet as always. But you’re glad you have that now! Only Ti would be able to come up with a counter-craft sigil for all this.

It won’t undo effects of memory-erasing stuff, but at least it’ll keep more from happening if you need someone in the loop. Or at least for them… Get it together, it’ll be fine!

𝄢 “Good work. I’ll make sure to include it in the automated alert to them. How about you Mi?”

Mi (♫) continues strumming their guitar. Listening in. Their antenna is moving, seeing if they can’t feel them, just in case. You hope they do, it’d be a solid lead, even if it probably means things have hit the fan. You don’t have much to go off of, not even sure their in Vaugarde at this point.

♫ “… I don’t feel their music. I uh. Guess that’s good? I hope…”

𝄡 “It will be fine. I’m certain.”

♯ “Yeah! I’m sure it’s fine! Just gotta figure out where they are!”

You say that. But… All of you are nervous… It’s been what. 7 years since Astravia fell? You don’t know what’s happened to them in that time… You hope their okay… No! Get it together, they’re strong! They can handle it! You’re SURE their fine!

… You open up your phone. That picture you took with them is still right there, looking at you. It’s you and them. Their little horn, their eyes… You wonder if they picked a different face since then? Guess you’ll find out!…

Stay Strong! We’re always with you!

...You’re a little late. But. You’re all here now.

Hold on just a little longer, Fa.

𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞

… You look over the laboratory. It’s awfully quiet without them. Only the experiments, silent in their cages, tame from your designs…

They weren’t blinding content with your plans, despite them being PERFECT... And now your friends are gone...

… It’s fine. If they won’t play stagehands, they’ll play actors! You know them well enough. You can get them to play the parts you want. And you have plenty of other players to nudge them on course!

You look at the Arcanums laid out before you. Now that you’ve tested you can nudge wishes how you need, Bought yourself plenty of prep time, you’ll focus on setting the conditions right. If you can do this, it’ll all be fixed!!

Sure, a bunch of people will die, but it’s fine! They’ll all come back, better then ever! And then, No one will ever get hurt again! The world will be your perfect play, and they’ll all be happy!

One of the creatures in the cages starts to mumble. Ah, their human part is still lucid? You thought that pests infection would have drowned them out…

“hhelp….. meeeee….It…... hurts…..”

Oh well, it IS a kings duty to comfort the masses! You walk up to the cage, and hold their head.

𝄞 “Don’t worry, it will all be over soon! And then you’ll never have to hurt again!”

You let them go, as the infection swallows their mind again....

To be fair, you did infect this one yourself, now that you think about it! The few survivors left would not be enough for your purposes, but the infected… Their FAR more efficient for what you need!

But since they did ask for reprieve, and you need more energy, you might as well grant their desire!

You make the adjustments to your setup, and then turn towards your subject. You look them in the eye, channeling your divine right as king. And with a snap of your fingers they are ripped apart into blood and holy light. The energy of their sacrifice flows away from it’s normal purpose into your design.

There! Your wishes will be merged onto someone else’s, and all that energy will help fuel it!

You're sure the Arcana won’t mind! It is going to benefit them in the end! Your just... taking a few extra steps. To make sure it goes to completion this time! It’s fine!

...Once all of them are on the stage, and she is made whole, the final act of this worthless world will end. And the beginning of your perfect play can begin!

...But first, you must make sure you have enough fuel.... You look out your window, upon your neighboring country. Oh dear Vaugarde. Precious Vaugarde…

Well. You suppose Astravia WAS a conquering nation, back in the day! Might as well play the part, tehe! Oh how lovely that will be! A holy war for the fate of the world! The Stars themselves will watch your play with awe!

… Better get started then.

It’s showtime, Siffrin!

[agentrouka-blog]

GRRM hasn't said anything outright but I knew he would have the same feelings about hotd as he did about GoT before hotd even aired. Maybe he was being optimistic as he was going to be more involved in hotd but he made a choice and took the money.

He seemed okay with season 1 of hotd despite what it turned out to be. Though I do wonder what his thoughts were when Condal told him they were erasing Nettles. That the HBO adaptations have decided that the Targs are the super special chosen ones, no other characters matter and that it's all just a long sad story about the special Targs and their dragons being killed when the world would be so much better if they reigned as gods and everyone bowed down and worshiped them because they're here to save the world.

At least GRRM got to season 4 of GoT before he noped out. Though if there's only 3 or 4 seasons of hotd then emotionally noping out after season 1 is the same thing happening again.

Maybe the Dunk and Egg adaptation will cheer him.

Yeah, I'm not surprised he seems to quietly hate it. The fundamental refusal to accept the underlying principles of the source material is... staggering and frustrating.

I choose to be optimistic about Dunk and Egg because it's (I think I heard) going to be much shorter and to the point, and it's harder to mess it up because it is a much simpler story that is only just setting up the tragic moral downward turn that HBO doesn't like. It's a different genre of medieval fantasy. No dragons. Tourneys and travels and glimpses into the edge of high politics. A view from the bottom. A promise of reinvention.

They aren't doing Summerhall, they aren't giving us Aegon's descent into the same tyrannical desire for dragons, down the line. They aren't giving us Dunk going down with him. It's a boy prince and a tall lowborn quasi-knight. It's Brienne and Podrick, it's Bran and Hodor, it's Arya in the Riverlands, only minus the worst parts of war.

Not to downplay their abilities, but it would take another level of determination to ruin that setup. Then again, maybe they'll dig even deeper.

[elvenbeard]

Pier Selfies

Johnny's death's anniversary feels particularly heavy that year, so much so that Kerry had planned to just not get up at all. Unless to get even more drunk maybe. Then V swings by, as if he’d known in what state to find him… But instead of joining him in bed (not cool) he drags him outside where it's bright and warm and loud and everyone's so fucking happy... it sucks.

V is thankfully not forcing him to pretend that it's a day like any other, neither is he offering unwanted advice. In fact he's just... there. With him. Occasionally taking his hand, or maybe even just lacing their pinky fingers. Leaning against him, gently nudging into him when they walk side-by-side. They barely talk all day, really. Not a single “are you okay?”, thankfully, that might have made him drive back home instantly. Just occasionally something inconsequential like “do you want to grab food over there?” and that would be the end of it when Kerry says he isn’t hungry. Every single time something comes up that would have normally tempted him to just snap back, get mad… all his anger is diffused the same moment.

It’s strange, it’s different… It takes him all day, but eventually Kerry realizes V might be the only person to really understand just how much this still hurt. Probably much better than anyone before ever did.

He disappears briefly to grab something to drink for himself, leaving Kerry to think and smoke and stare into the void for a few minutes. And he hates to admit it… but the sea breeze, the sun, it does feel good. He does feel a little better than he did this morning, did yesterday, did all week before really.

Suddenly there's a slight clicking noise not far behind him. He’d heard V coming back, so familiar the way he walked by now, confident and with a little swagger, the sound of his boots on the pavement unmistakable.

"The hell are ya doing?" he turns around, not angry, but confused.

"Sorry," V says, smiling sheepishly, "You looked so pretty in the sun, I couldn't resist."

"Pretty pathetic, you mean?" Kerry mutters as V joins him by the railing. He just doesn't seem to manage a single kind word today, not towards V or to himself, and that just increases his frustration. He wonders how the fuck V just manages to stay so calm about it, sipping his NiCola. He would have blown a fuse by now.

"Nothing pathetic about missing your best friend," is V's reply eventually, sober and quiet. Fuck. Yes, he does understand.

Kerry huffs, puts his cigarette out, and then forces himself to relax his shoulders.

"Lemme see," he says and V shows him the pics he took. He can't help but smile at V's mischievous grin in one of them, right after he noticed him.

"You're such a gonk," he chuckles.

"And I almost got away with it," V says proudly, leaning against the railing, letting his head fall back, soda can still in hand, eyes closed and basking in the sun. Kerry catches himself staring at his pulse point, right next to the gleaming silver lines of his cyberware, his dark tattoos moving over his muscles...

“Yeah, you almost did,” he says quietly, and his thoughts begin to spiral downwards again. V’s eyes blink open, and he straightens up, but says nothing for a couple of moments. Then he pulls out his phone again.

“Come on, look at us! I think together we could take some preem ones. ‘bout time we add some good memories to the day.”

Not replace, or erase. Add some new ones. If he wasn’t so numb still, he might have started bawling right then and there.

“Fuck, like some teens on their first date?” Kerry moans, as always excelling at not letting his inner workings show too much all at once.

V turns to him with a smirk, phone already in position above their heads.

“What? Scared you’re out of practice, millennial?”

“Oh, I’ll show you who’s out of practice, kid,” Kerry says, pulling V closer.

Yes, maybe they were both just pretending that everything was going to be alright, on a day like this. But maybe a little bit of pretending was the key to somehow making it through it all.

-------

I just went and took a ton of screenshots the other day with no real purpose other than "cute couple selfies polaroid-style, yay!". But as I was going through them to pick some faves for editing and arranging, I felt like maybe there is a story to this after all...

bonus of my favourite out of the whole set, because I can literally hear and see them moving here, like... Kerry fixing his hair cause it's fuckin wimdy and Vince just being a massive gonk commenting on it or something else, probably just taking this pic on accident. Didn't think jojo's bizarre photomode idles could make for such a good moment XD

[talenlee]

Game Pile: Murdle

At its core, Murdle is just a little daily puzzle game in the same vein as Wordle. It’s a game where an investigator gets a bunch of simple logical clues and you put them all in a grid and then you arrive at a solution for the murder mystery that’s coherent, compliant with the clues and often enough, wrong. It’s great fun. I want to talk to you about how much fun I have with a pencil and a tiny silly murder mystery a day.

Okay, back in the day there were these things called Newspapers. The news was scribed on trees, then those trees were rolled out really flat, so as to make pages, that could then be folded together and rolled up again and thrown at people’s front lawns by children on charmingly raggedy bicycles, as my Newspapers were supported in part by the advertising of goods and services in their pages, like people could just tell the newspaper, ‘hey, I got things to sell, here they are,’ or ‘there are services I can do’ or even ‘I’m looking for work,’ and the newspaper would take a modest fee and present that information to the public. There was a time, I cannot make this clear enough, but there was a time when newspapers were really normal, and even something centralising for the lives of kids and parents.

Like, an adult would get the newspaper, and they’d want it for some reason; the current events on the front page, or the TV guide in the middle of it, or the sports on the back, or the classifieds next to the sports, but none of that mattered to me, growing up. What mattered to me was the one page which had comics on it, which also had the horoscopes (satan’s devilry), and over on one half of it, the games.

There were bridge games. There were crosswords – you know those things you watch smart people solve on Youtube now? – and towards the end of the 90s, we saw this new ‘Sudoku’ thing.

Sudoku is a great game. May not be your flavour, but Sudoku at its core is a game about methodically working out a sequence of related puzzles, closing off a large possibility space with smaller and smaller qualifications of what does or does not matter to it. I love Sudoku, which is how you know I turned forty recently.

Murdle is a cousin of the kind of game of Sudoku. If you’ve played Dishonored 2, you know that riddle that is so annoying it drives the heart of a level, to look for a solution? Turns out that type of riddle is its own thing! And that type of riddle is a logical grid puzzle, which is based on developing exclusions.

And okay, look, you can just play Murdle. It’s a game available on the internet, with a daily release in the same vein as Wordle. It loads nice and fast too, because all its graphics are actually done with Web Materiel – the characters are icons of unicode and emoji, the grids are all tables. This does mean that there’s a certain procedurality to everything – you’re not going to be dealing with puzzles that feel tailored or specific.

But okay, so I played Murdle for a few months on the website. The daily pattern of a single puzzle every day was just a tiny bit frustration, and what was worse was that sometimes I’d get confused or distracted from the game and realise I wanted to restart. Resetting the website is actually hard, because you have to click all the slots into neutral. What if only there was some way, get this, some way to make Murdle but to make it so it’s not a website? Something more reasonable, something more low-tech.

You know, something like paper?

For Christmas that year, my sister got me the two books of Murdle mysteries, and y’know what? Y’know what’s great?

You can just rub all the puzzles out. You can get halfway through it, you can make a mistake, you can realise you’ve gotten confused, and then, with this type of website stylus, a pencil, I can make my own reasonings in the puzzles there. I can share pictures of the puzzle over discord with my family to see if they can solve it. I can even get some use out of my erasable friction markers! How cool is that?

Weirdly, I don’t want to do Sudoku with a pencil. Too many pencil marks.

Now, there’s nothing remarkable about this. Material objects have an appeal to them; a book is disconnected from my computer, and that means that time spent sitting on the sofa with a book and an erasable pen is time not spent in front of a screen, looking at light, and resting in the same chair I so often do. It’s a chance to disconnect, and it’s also something I can do as much as I want to do – no waiting for the rests of the website, and no sense of urgency of a clock in my eyeline.

People like me, especially people in their Boring Years, the Elder Millenial Class, make a whole point of how much we value our time away from computers after merely spending fourteen hours a day on the computer give or take breaks to go get a drink or a snack or whatever, and it’s a pretty tedious point by now. Get a load of us, noticing how we’ve created a bad habit and now we’re discovering ways to change that bad habit! Next thing you know we’ll be talking about how it’s a good idea to get to bed at a consistent time every night!

It is, by the way.

Anyway, Murdle is an interesting thing to me because it’s something where the lower-tech version of it is more fun to me than the high-tech one. The one that is less convenient works for me better. The one that I don’t want to use where I use everything, the one that breaks differently, the one I have to look up to make it work, that is the one that I like better.

That’s not to say it’s better.

It’s to say that it’s showing me something about me I like better.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[insertsickusername13]

WROTE THIS IN LIKE AN HOUR IGNORING A BIG ASSIGNMENT I HAVE DUE TONIGHT SO GTG BUT HERE IT IS, THIS FIC WAS THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT FOR I CAN'T MISS YOU (the fic i wrote that we do NOT speak of that was embarrassing) THAT GOT LOST ALONG THE WAY I DID NOT REREAD IT SO IF THERE'S GRAMMAR MISTAKES SORRY

word count: 2036

Rich heard from friends that Jake had spent almost every waking moment in the hospital while Rich had been in his coma. According to them, Jake had been worried sick. He talked about Rich constantly, asked about him repeatedly, paid hospital bills, and brought flowers and gifts every other day. 

They also tried to tell him that Jake being incessantly clingy ever since Rich had woken was natural, that it was kind.

Rich was pretty sure it was a trick. There was no way Jake, who had everything and lost everything, could forgive Rich in a heartbeat. Rich knew Jake was perfect from day one, admired every inch of him before Jake even knew Rich's name, but this was too far. This was unnatural, the self-destructive part of Jake taking over rather than an angelic act of kindness. 

"It's okay," Rich said for the umpteenth, "If you need time or space, or—"

"Rich," Jake said, smiling down at him, "I promise. I forgive you."

Rich studied him, searching his face for the lies in his words. He was just the same as Rich had left him: soft lips that formed soft smiles, light freckles like stardust from the heavens, a thin line between his eyebrows from all the times he scowled down at his homework, frustrated that he couldn't be perfect first try.

"Are you s—"

Jake grabbed Rich's unbandaged hand and squeezed gently. The touch had Rich seeing stars. 

"Yes. A hundred percent. More than that. A thousand. A million. Whatever it takes to convince you."

Rich looked down at their hands, his cheeks matching his faded-out streak.

"So," Jake said slowly, as if he was explaining something to a toddler, "I really, really do want you to move in with me, okay?"

He squeezed Rich’s hand again, and when he pulled back there was a key pressed into Rich's palm, cold and metal and real. 

Rich couldn't talk. He nodded rapidly like a lovestruck girl who'd just been proposed to and cried into Jake's varsity jacket when he got to see their apartment for the first time. 

It was too easy.

Setting up Rich's new room was too easy. Making dinner together was too easy. They'd gone from friends to nothing to roommates as if nothing had ever happened—there should have been some difficulty. Some adapting. But when Jake hugged Rich from behind, using Rich as a makeshift cane while his real one leaned against the kitchen island and whispered, "You're the best thing to ever happen to me," Rich was suddenly forced to forget that life could ever be too easy.

Friends to lovers was the same as friends to roommates. Rich confessed to Jake on the couch and Jake dragged them to the shower, turned on the water, and kissed him amidst the steam. 

"What the fuck?" Rich said, smiling so hard the conviction in his words was lost to sugar-like giddiness. 

"I'm not giving you some lame-ass first kiss. Hence: kiss in the rain."

"We're in a shower."

"You're a buzzkill."

"You're an idiot."

"You're a dick."

"Suck my dick."

Jake gave him an ingenuous smile and, like an overeager virgin, promptly stuck his hand in Rich's pants.

Rich didn't think about anything being too easy as Jake took him to dinner a week later, or pecked him on the cheek while walking down the school hallways, or left bruises on his neck in the quieter parts of the library. He only reveled in the feeling of being loved, of having everything he'd never dreamed of without voices screaming in his head and electricity shooting up his spine.

Jake was safety. Being wrapped in his arms was like having everything else erased and blurred into unimportant lines of text, a book Rich no longer had to participate in. He wasn't a determined main character, a traumatized side character, or a comic-relief love interest. He was only Jake's, and everything was perfect that way.

Until some terrifying climax started hovering on the horizon and Rich lost the privilege of living in just the rising action. 

Jake held on too tight. Stayed up too late. Talked too long. He filled every moment of silence with desultory rambling, never giving Rich the chance to ask are you okay?

The terror of losing Jake lived in every molecule of air Rich breathed. There was no SQUIP in his mind to tell him when he was messing up anymore. Every word Rich said could have only been making it worse and he'd have no idea.

He stayed up late overthinking every interaction with Jake, searching for the exact moment he'd fucked up. It must've been something terrible. Earth-shattering. If Jake could forgive him for Halloween but not this, it must've been something so purely unholy even the devil wouldn't know what to say at the sight of it.

Rich stared at the wall in front of him, sorting through memory after memory clumsily; messily; desperately.

"Are you awake?" Jake whispered, voice thick with unshed tears. The noise was sudden and jarring. But, as Rich was learning, if he spoke he might only make it worse. If he gave any indication that he was awake then Jake might force them to talk until everything they'd mended shattered.

Rich stayed perfectly still. He kept his breathing level. He just wanted one more night of Jake holding him, his nose pressed against Rich's spine as he got as close as he could. One more night.

"I miss you," Jake continued. The way he said it, like the moon and stars above were telling him not to, made the words sound thick with shame despite the seemingly innocent, even benign, implications behind them. "I miss you so fucking much and I—I... I'm so sorry."

He burrowed his face into Rich's shirt to muffle a quiet sob. Rich felt Jake's words like acid in his mouth.

"It's not fair. It's not, it's not." Jake pulled back just long enough to gasp in a breath of air before pressing his face against Rich again. His hands were shaking and clutching Rich's torso hard enough to leave bruises.

"I love you. I love you so fucking much it's going to kill me, and—and it's you, I swear it's you, I love you."

Chloe. Christine. Madeline. Penelope. Jackie. Helen. 

Rich trusted Jake with his soul, but the guilt in his voice and stature had the name of every girl Jake had slept with bobbing to the surface. Kayley. Aurora. Nina.

"But—" Rich's heart stopped. “—but...before. The squip. He—fuck."

Jake wrenched himself away, ripping his arms from around Rich to wrap them around himself protectively.

"Fuck. I feel so fucking naive. It was manipulation. I know that."

His words were getting louder, edging on yelling now that Rich wasn't there to muffle the sound. Still, Rich kept his breathing steady. He was asleep. He wasn't hearing this... this... what? Confession? Break-up speech? He was going to puke if he thought about what this could all be leading up to for a second longer.

"And…and he wasn't real. And it was just a robot catering to my every need and want, but fuck, he was my best friend. And you're so different now, and I love you for it. I love you like this. I can't do this, because I've got you right here, I do, I love you, but I lost my best fucking friend, and everyone's acting like I'm supposed to be fine with it and I just—I can't—"

Oh. Jake missed squipped Rich.

Rich's eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Jake was behind him, sitting upright with his hands tangled in his hair. Rich could hear his breathing, echoey and raw, heaved in and out with the desperation of a madman. 

"Fuck. Fuck. You should've just killed me. You should've locked me in my bedroom and watched me die. Put me out of my fucking misery instead of letting fate torture me like this."

Rich had to put a hand over his mouth to stop a sob from escaping. Jake was too lost in his rant to notice, leaning back against the wall with his head tilted back to glare at the ceiling. 

Rich could feel the remnants of the SQUIP scraping at the back of his skull, begging to be let out with a new, desperate fervor that Rich was sure he was feeding into. At that moment, with his eyes squeezed shut and his hand over his mouth to hide his crying, he wanted it back in his mind, if only to erase this night from his memory. If only to make Jake happy. 

"I love you," Jake whispered. He sounded empty now, his anger placated by the catharsis of confessing to the dark. "I love you so fucking much and I can feel myself pushing you away and I can feel you letting me and for the love of all things good and holy, you have to stop me before I ruin the best thing to ever happen to me just because I'm a fucking coward who can't move on from some robot."

Rich didn't want to stop him. Rich agreed. He missed who he was. He missed the easy confidence, the straight-As. The sauntering down the hallways and having everyone bend to his will just because they liked him. He understood what Jake missed. He missed it too.

"Please, please. I can't do this anymore. I can't miss you like I do when you're right in front of me—"

"We both miss him,” Rich whispered, “It's okay."

For a moment, Rich was convinced Jake had ceased to exist. That he'd simply evaporated. He didn't speak, didn't move, didn't breathe. It sounded like his heart had stopped in his chest. 

But then, slowly, his voice trembling, Jake choked out, "...Rich?"

Rich rolled over, unashamed of the tears on his cheeks.

"Yeah?" he replied, sounding casual compared to the destruction tearing through every neuron inside him.

"How long have you…?"

He didn't even need to finish his question to know the answer. He stared down at Rich through the darkness, eyes glistening with tears that matched Rich's. 

"I'm sorry," he breathed, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. I was just rambling, I swear, I didn't... I didn't..."

Rich shook his head. The lump in his throat hurt too much to talk, so he was forced to simply sit up and throw his arms around Jake's neck. Jake didn't hug him back, instead hovering helplessly, his hands up in the air like he was surrendering. 

"You love me?" Rich rasped. 

"With all my heart. I swear, I swear it, okay? I hate myself for—"

Rich shook his head against Jake's neck. "No, no, it's okay. You love me, but he was different. Fuck, he was so easy. He could just...he was so much better than me."

As if he'd never not been hugging Rich, Jake's palms were suddenly pressed against Rich's shoulder blades, warm and safe.

"That's not true," he said, "I only fell in love with you."

"But he made everything so simple. I miss it so much, Jake. He could just talk and everyone was happy and teachers loved him and his grades were perfect and he always knew what to say to make you feel better."

Jake nodded at that, still holding onto Rich like the floor was disappearing underneath them and opening up into the empty void of space. 

"He was never scared," Jake offered quietly.

"He was confident."

"Suave."

"Always knew how to charm a girl."

"He could actually act, unlike some people."

Rich let out a small, watery laugh, and whispered, "He could actually beat you at chess."

Jake hummed and pressed a soft kiss against Rich's hair. 

"Yeah, he could. But do you wanna know a secret?"

"What?"

Jake lifted Rich's head from his shoulder to look him in the eye. He looked exhausted, red-eyed, and scared. There were tear stains on his cheeks and that determined line between his eyebrows. He ran a finger over Rich's cheekbone and smiled.

"I may miss him a little, but I always liked him better when he was drunk."

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

NCT Spooky Season [Day 8]

Mirror Troubles

TW: Vampires, Implied Assault (Turning into a Vampire), Some implications of depression Genre: Romance, Light Comedy Pairing: Lee Ten x Reader YN Pronouns: Not specified Word Count: 1.0K Prompt: Vampires. What more is there to say?

[NCT Masterlist] | [NCT Spooky Season Masterlist] | [Yesterday] | [Tomorrow] [Ao3 Link] | [Wattpad Link]

Notes: Random ish but I've been so into Castlevania recently. Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in these actions. The idols mentioned in this work are meant to be seen more as face claims rather than the actual idols themselves.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thank you for reading!

"No, no, you're missing it," you shook your head and Ten groans in frustration. "Ten, why don't you let me-"

"No! Absolutely not!" He shakes his head and holds the brush in his hands again.

"Wait, at least let me wipe off the part you missed," you held the cotton in your hands and leaned over the sink so you could erase the eyeshadow on his cheek and his eyes move over to look at you. "Why are you so adamant on doing it yourself anyway, it would be easier if I helped you.

"Because I have an eternity left, I should at least find out how to do eyeshadow."

"Okay, well, why are you using a mirror, then? You can't even see yourself."

"I need to for the vibes, (Y/N)," Ten rolls his eyes, stating it as if it was obvious. "You wouldn't get it, you can see your own reflection."

"Well, yeah, but is there really no other way to see your reflection?" You leaned against the bathroom counter.

"Unfortunately not, not even in bodies of water," he shook his head and held the brush to his face again.

"Maybe try feeling for your eyelid first this time instead of just going ham, Ten," you offered.

"Yeah, yeah," he do so and, for the first time tonight, he successfully spreads the beige hue over his eye.

"Hey! That's the way!" You congratulate him and, with a small smirk, he does the other eye. You could tell he was excited with the way his fangs slightly poked out of his smile. Since Ten had been, rather unceremoniously, turned into a vampire he'd been in a sort of slump when it came to things he used to enjoy doing and you'd been trying to help him every step of the way, providing support whenever you can, and slowly Ten had started picking up those activities again. The only one that he hadn't was makeup, which both of you tackled now.

"Okay, now eyeliner."

"Alright, settle down, cowboy," you held your hand out, "one triumph at a time, you already got base and shadow done, eyeliner might be a whole different ballpark without a mirror," as you explained, Ten shook the liquid eyeliner bottle in his hands.

"It'll be fine," he says.

"How on Earth are you going to get them even?!"

"I was a pro when I was alive, I'll be a pro undead," he says confidently. But you were still worried, you were worried that even a slight mistake will send him back in his cocoon and undo all the work you'd been putting out. Ten was right, he was a pro back then, hell, he even did your eyeliner, so even a small mistake now might spell catastrophe.

"Okay, Ten, if you say so," you leaned back on the counter so you could see him work and, again, his eyes move over to you.

"Could you help me though?" He asks quietly, focused on getting the small brush to start on the middle of his eyelid.

"Of course," you lean over closer to him so you could see better, "you're right at the middle."

"Good," he places the brush against his skin now, slowly tracing it along his eyelid and, hey, he was actually pretty good at it! Until he got to the end of his eyelid.

"You wanna wing it?"

"Yes."

"Okay, what kind?"

"Just a straight one."

"Okay," you shifted on the counter as he dragged the wing out and, "stop." He does so.

"Alright," he says without removing the brush, he has to get the angle right. "I'm trying to move off of muscle memory here."

"And so far you're doing really well," you nodded, but Ten still hasn't moved his hand. He takes a deep breath and, slowly, he brings the brush back, "and stop," you said quietly just as the brush hit the crease of his eye. And now came the hardest part of the wing, filling it in.

"If I start coloring outside of the lines, let me know," he says.

"Of course," you watched him fill in the wing slowly and you had to say that you were impressed, he really still was a pro. He puts the wand down and turns toward you.

"How is it? It's not ugly, is it?"

"Ten! It looks really good!" You turn his face so you could see it better under the light. "You've still got it!" You encouraged him and he let out a sigh of relief, habitually turning to the mirror and seeing only your reflection. "Think you can do the other eye?"

"Not with these shaky hands I won't," he holds his right hand up and you notice the slight tremor in it, "I was so scared it'd look bad," he shakes his head.

"I get that but, hey, it looks sharp," you commented, bringing your head slightly lower so you could look at him. "Kind of a statement too, one-eyed-eyeliner."

"It kind of is, huh!" He holds a hand to his cheek. "Alright, let's go out."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yes! I'm in a good mood, let's go clubbing."

"Right now?!"

"Yes." He walks out of the bathroom and you followed him quickly.

"I have to get dressed!"

"Then hurry up before I change my mind," he rolls his eyes and turns to you only slightly, lips upturning into a slanted smile when he sees your bigger smile. You couldn't help but be happy, this was the first time he willingly chose to go out since the incident.

General Tag List: @stopeatread @bat-shark-repellant @raeincitizen @umbralhelwolf @yangsrose @kazooms @sadcoffeecritic 

NCT Tag List: @cherrylovr @minjiville 

If you want to be added to either tag list or removed just send me a reply to this post, and ask, or a DM and I’ll add you as soon as possible!

[babeyvenus]

My Future

Derek Hale x OC

Samantha, Stiles and Scott are always joking about the impossible. Who wouldn't when your best friend's dad is the sheriff of Beacon Hills? All jokes stop when they realize the impossible is indeed possible.

Chapter 58: Remember Me

As Stiles and Sam walked to the school's lacrosse field, Sam couldn't shake the feeling of the previous day out of her nerves.

She wasn't scared. Hell, she just wasn't sure she could do that. The moment she got home, she passed out.

Guess she still had a lot to learn about her new appearing abilities. She was still getting used to expanding her already inherited ones.

"You sure you're okay?", she hears Stiles speak up. She gave him a small smile. "Pretty sure."

Stiles frowned. He wasn't sure himself. He was still freaked out. That was the third time he had gotten a gun pulled out on him. He was kinda getting tired of it.

"So, Ghost Riders, huh?", Sam said, trying to erase her memory from almost getting shot once more.

"Uh, yeah, Lydia said they were supposed to be a myth and now, all of a sudden, they're real.", Stiles explained.

"Sucks I can't make them vanish altogether.", Sam muttered. "I know right?", Stiles joked.

Scott walked up to them after Lacrosse practice. "Scott. Hey. Hey. It's called the Wild Hunt.", Stiles explained. "It's a myth. Only, apparently it's real. Like every other myth in this town that should just really remain a nightmare."

"The guy on the horse?", Scott asked.

"Yeah, they call them Ghost Riders.", Sam said.

Stiles glanced over, seeing a group of boys wearing their Lacrosse jerseys and heading to the field. One of them was wearing a recognizable jersey. "Hang on one second. Hey!", Stiles called out to the boy. "That's my jersey. Where'd you get that?"

"Coach gave it to me at practice.", the boy replied before following his friends to the field.

"Oh, yeah… coach was redoing positions. I forgot…", Sam grimaced.

"We had practice?", Stiles looked at Sam and Scott in disbelief. "Why doesn't anyone tell me anything?"

Scott switched subjects. "Why would the Ghost Riders want to take Alex's parents?"

"Because that's what they do. They take people, okay? They run around collecting souls. And once they take you, you're gone.", Stiles explained. "But it's not just you, it's everything about you."

"Everything about Alex…", Sam muttered. She couldn't imagine being gone from everyone. Having her whole life being taken away from people's memories. Her history. It had to be hard.

"Does that mean Alex is next?" Scott asked. Stiles gave a nod.

"And once he's gone, we won't remember him…", Sam said.

With that, they headed to the only place they knew the boy would be safe.

They made it to the station, immediately running up to Deputy Clark, who let them inside.

Once they got to the cell that Alex was supposed to be in, they found it to be empty. The trio frowned and Stiles rushed to Clark. "Where's the kid? What happened to him?"

She looked at him in confusion. "What kid?"

"Alex." Stiles stated. "The kid from the car wreck? The kid whose parents went missing last night?"

"Who's Alex?"

Stiles raised his eyebrows giving her a stern look, but it didn't sway her. "Clark, listen to me. He was here, okay? You met him."

She wasn't convinced.

Sam and Scott moved up next to him. "It's already starting."

"Where's the Sheriff?" Scott asked.

"He got called out to the high school. They found a body.", Clark explained. "No one's been in lock-up all day. Check for yourself."

She handed Stiles the list.

Stiles scanned the list, not seeing the boy's name at all. "He's not on here…" He blinked in disappointment. "They took him."

Scott looked disappointed as well. "I shouldn't have left him alone."

"He knew they were coming for him.", Stiles muttered, frustrated. "What if they're coming back for everyone else who was on that road?" Scott asked which made Stiles turn to him.

"Then we already know who's next."

"That'd be Liam and Hayden.", Sam said.

The trio split up, and Stiles headed to the school.

But before Sam left the station's area, she stared at the retreating Jeep, a sense of dread prickling in the back of her mind.

What the hell was happening tonight?

She sat in her car, taking a few deep breaths before texting Scott.

You going with him? - Sam

The next text made her eyebrows furrow.

With who? - Scott

Uh, Stiles? Who else? - Sam

Sam's eyes widened at the next text before she headed off to the school.

Stiles, however, made it to the school, inspecting the scene and accidentally bumped into Mrs. Martin as he looked around.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"S-Sorry.", Stiles apologized.

"Slow it down."

"Sorry. Ms. Martin, sorry." He cleared his throat. "Hey, have you seen, uh, Liam and Hayden? Actually, forget that. Have you seen my dad?"

She knitted her brows together. "Who?"

"My dad. He's here because of the body?"

She shook her head, huffing and whispered. "How do you know about the body?"

"Because my dad's the Sheriff. Ms. Martin, are you okay?", Stiles asked.

Natalie glanced over, seeing the body on the gurney and nodded at Stiles. "Uh, just wait here."

She left, and he watched her in confusion before taking off and ran down the hall to look for Liam and Hayden. When he finally caught Mason, he couldn't help but feel relieved. Why was he relieved?

That meant he and the other two were okay. They weren't in any danger. "Mason, Mason, hey, where's Liam?", he asked.

"Liam?" Stiles looked down the hall that was behind Mason and seen him and Hayden. "Okay, there you go. Liam, Hayden, perfect."

Stiles rushed. "You two, you two have to listen to me right now. Alex is gone, just like his parents, okay? The Ghost Riders took him, so you guys, you can't be alone. You got to stick with Scott or with me because I can see them." The trio looked at him in confusion.

"Why the hell are you lookin' at me like that?", Stiles asked.

Hayden leaned into Liam's ear, loudly whispering. "Do we even know him?"

"I don't even know if he goes here." Liam whispered back to her before looking at Stiles.

Dread and realization loomed over Stiles as he slowly started piecing everything together. 

"Do you go to this school?", Mason asked.

"What's your name?", Liam asked.

A memory of Stiles showing Sam and Malia his picture form and how they said that it was blank even though he knows he filled it out the day before.

The next clue only confirmed it when the kid was wearing his Lacrosse jersey and how he said that Coach Finstock gave it to him during practice.

However, relief filled the Stilinski boy once more as he saw his dad, he took off running to him.

Sheriff put out his hand which made him stop in his tracks. "Son, you okay?"

Stiles took in a breath of fresh air. "Oh, thank God." He hugged his dad tightly. "Thank God."

He pulled back, calming himself down. "Okay. Everyone's forgetting.", Stiles rushed, his anxiety moving through his throat. "Everyone is forgetting everything."

"Okay, okay, slow down, slow down." Sheriff said, calmly. "We'll figure this out together."

Stiles nodded, sniffling. "Okay."

"Now, why don't you tell me your name?" The sheriff said, instantly making the boy's eyes widen.

Stiles let his father go, backing up as his heart dropped.

He walked around the man, and pulled out his phone, dialing Scott as he breathed heavily. The line rang then picked up. "Scott?", Stiles answered, shakily. 

"Hey.", Scott replied. Stiles almost let out a relief breath. 

"Scott, where are you? Where are you right now?", Stiles asked.

Scott was quiet until he replied. "Who's this?"

Stiles dropped his phone from his ear, ending up the call. His mind clicked back to him talking to Clark and her having no clue who Alex was. It all made sense now. "It's me… I'm next."

He looked around, his breaths coming out in panic.

His eyes widened and he jumped as his eyes landed on his phone that vibrated on the floor.

He picked up the phone, his heart ticking with hope and disappointment.

It was Sam. Did… did she remember him? Her, at least. Please…

He picked up by the third ring and his heart settled as he heard an "Oh, thank God."

"Sam…?", Stiles replied.

"Hey, you okay? I have no idea what the hell is happening. Scott… Scott says he doesn't know you. Why is he forgetting you?I thought it Liam and Hayden that were supposed to be next.", Sam rushed.

Stiles couldn't even respond. He thought so too.

"Forget that. You're still at the school right?", she asked. He cleared his throat. "Y-Yeah."

"Alright. I'm coming to you then.", she said. "D-Don't hang up!", Stiles exclaimed fearfully before quieting down. "Please…", he begged softly.

"I won't. I'm on my way. Not too far now.", Sam promised.

Sam arrived at the school, instantly parking and running inside past people to get to a distraught Stiles. She brought him into a tight hug and he reciprocated just as tight.

"You know me. You still know me…", Stiles mumbled in the hold.

She pulled him into an empty classroom and they sat against the wall.

Sam showed Stiles the text Scott sent her.

Who the hell's Stiles? - Scott

Stiles' mouth opened and closed like a codfish. He gave her phone back, taking in his fate. They were sitting in silence but he only had so little time.

"I'm gonna be erased. Just like Alex. You're gonna forget me."

He looked at Sam, who's eyes bubbled with tears at the thought.

She shook her head. "I'm not." Stiles wished that was the case. He hoped. "You are.", he said. Sam looked at him angrily. "I'm not.", she determined sternly. She wasn't angry at him. He knew that.

She was angry because she knew where this was going. She was angry because she was scared.

The angered expression washed away with a sob. "I don't want to. I can't–" Her breaths picked up. "I don't wanna be alone."

He smiled tearfully. "You're not gonna be alone, though."

"Stiles, you don't understand.", she sniffled. "I'm going to forget everything. You, Scott, Lydia, everyone.", she emphasized.

His eyes widened in realization. Lydia…

A shaky sob exited her throat. "I only met everyone because I knew you. Me and Scott won't know each other. I can't go through that again. I don't want that–!", she exclaimed and he quickly brought her in another tight hug.

He hadn't thought about it like that. He was leaving her alone. By having him in here memories, he was erasing everyone else as well.

It was fucked up.

"No matter what, you try to remember. Just try to find some way to remember me, okay?", he muttered.

Like a little kid, Sam sobbed in his arms and Stiles could only swallow his own tears back. "You'll remember me. You will.", Stiles determined before giving her a kiss on her forehead as he rocked her. "I love you, kid. I'll come back. Just remember me."

"Stiles, no-!", Sam cried as he started to move away from her. His time was running out. The person he truly loved was gonna forget him and he didn't want that.

Not without saying what he needed to at least.

He pulled away from her, prying her curled fingers from his jacket, his heart breaking from her cries and begging to stay.

She was going to forget him. She wouldn't remember all this crying anyways. 

He let her go as he ran off to find Lydia.

Sam clutched at her jacket letting out sniffles and shaky breaths as she watched him leave. Within minutes, the wind outside picked up as a storm started.

After it stopped, she got up, ran out of the school, and into the parking lot where she saw a distraught, and tearful Lydia.

No Stiles.

Lydia caught Sam and she let out a sob of her own. Sam didn't have to say anything. Neither did Lydia.

She walked up to the girl and brought her in a hug as they cried together.

After a moment, Sam let Lydia go after her mom and Sam rushed home, making sure to write Stiles name on everything she could think of.

She wrote it in her notebooks, on the fridge dry-erase board, with a marker on her mirror on every single piece of paper she could find.

She behaved like a girl obsessed with her crush, making sure his name was embedded in her memories.

She finally settled on the floor of her bedroom, looking over the pictures the trio took and her bottom lip trembled as she saw every goofy picture.

Why wasn't there a thing she could do to stop this? Why him?

Her thumb hovered over his contact name and pressed it to see his familiar smile.

His picture seemed to be fading away. In fact… his whole contact seemed to be disappearing. Why…?

She, once again, for the last time of the night, cried herself to sleep.

Once she woke up, a booming headache pounded through her head as she got ready for school.

Instead of driving immediately after she had gotten ready, she sat in her car, instantly confused.

She didn't even know why she was confused. Nothing made sense.

Was she missing a certain day and she couldn't remember the event? Was she supposed to study for something and she couldn't remember what it was?

The confusion irritated her as she started up her car and drove to school.

Once she arrived and parked, she stepped up to the entrance, instantly feeling the same confusion once more.

But the confusion felt like nostalgia and she didn't know why.

What annoyed her more was the loudness of everything. Slamming lockers, popping gum, sneakers squeaking against the tile floors. Everything.

Was everything always this loud?

It was making her headache worse.

"Hey, you alright?", a boy came up to her. He was about the same height as her and had his friends following behind him.

She looked at him in confusion. Why was he talking to her?

He smiled, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry, I assumed you were new. I'm Liam.", he introduced and introduced his friends. "This is Hayden and Mason."

The other two waved. "I'm… no, I'm not new. I'm just having an off day.", Sam explained but gave them a small smile anyways. "I'm Sam.", she introduced and followed them as they talked.

She learned that they were juniors. Liam was on the lacrosse team and was pretty good at it. Hayden was on the soccer team and Mason cheered for both on the sidelines.

The trio reminded her of…

Of… 

She frowned.

Why did she keep getting feelings of nostalgia when she didn't have anyone to feel nostalgic over…?

The day ended with Sam staying after school in the library. She felt calmer as she studied since she didn't have anything else to do.

It was quiet at home, but not good quiet.

Eventually she did have to go home and headed out of the library. Once she did, she heard clopping.

A familiar sound.

Why was it a familiar sound?

She turned around in shock as she saw a man that held a whip. She stepped back, and felt someone grab her, pulling her away from the man as they ran down a hall and into a closet.

She recognized the person that pulled her away as Mason and another unfamiliar kid who turned the two invisible as the previous man they saw walked around.

Sam trembled in fright. It was creepy. It was weird. But why the hell did they turn invisible? How'd they know who that was? Who was that man? Why'd he have a whip?

What was he planning to do?

Once it was okay, the boy made them visible once more, him and Mason instantly kneeling in concern once Sam stumbled back, her panicked pants more audible.

Mason touched her shoulder. "Sam! Sam, you okay?"

"She doesn't look good.", the boy next to him said. "I think she needs to get to the hospital."

"Maybe she should go home instead, Corey.", Mason suggested. "You wanna go home?"

Sam slowly shook her head as her vision blurred.

Was she… was she about to pass out?

"I.. I want," she mumbled "I want.."

"Want?" Corey's head tilted. "What do you want?" Sam muttered quietly and Corey leaned in close, listening to her clearer. "Is she… Is she saying 'miles'?"

Mason listened in. "No, there's another S in it. Maybe, smiles. I dunno." Mason gave her a weak smile "Sam, do you want smiles?"

"St…", she huffed out a small breath, her eyes fluttering close. "St…"

She didn't say anything more before passing out. Mason and Corey panicked, and called Scott.

Scott got Liam and helped Sam into Liam's car, having them drive to Scott's place.

"She saw…"

"A man that kinda looked like a creepy cowboy and then she passed out. I couldn't just leave her there.", Mason explained.

Scott couldn't get mad. He probably wouldn't have either. He looked at the resting girl.

She looked… familiar…

He couldn't understand why.

For now, he let the girl rest. He'd handle the questions after he got some sleep.

After a couple of hours, Sam opened her eyes to darkness. She felt a familiar terror of this sudden darkness. Where was she?

She jumped in fright as she heard a loud blaring of a train horn. She spun around trying to figure out where it was coming from.

After she heard the train once more, she woke up abruptly, sitting up quickly.

Her eyes squinted as she saw the sun outside a window. A window she… couldn't recognize.

She looked around and she was in an unfamiliar… room… 

Where was she?

She looked to her left and saw a boy on the floor. She's seen him before. He hung around that ditzy Lydia Martin.

Why was she here? She remembered being at school. She remembered… hiding. Hiding from a man.

What the hell was happening…?

Scott opened his eyes and saw that Sam was looking around and sat up instantly. Sam jumped at his abrupt actions and frowned, suddenly feeling angry. "Why am I here…?"

Scott held out a hand. "Before you ask any questions, no I did not kidnap you and you're at my house. You're safe.", he reassured.

That only answered other questions she had, but it didn't answer why.

He picked up and showed her a picture. "Do you remember this?", he asked. She saw a picture of him, Lydia Martin and another girl sitting next to her.

They all had big smiles on their face and Sam held two bunny ears above Scott's head and another that seemed to be above someone else's head, but they weren't there.

Why not?

She looked at him in confusion. "I don't… I don't remember…", Sam muttered. She tried her best to remember.

Why couldn't she?

What was happening…?

"We're placed weirdly, right? Like there's supposed to be someone sitting right there.", he pointed at the vacant spot beside him in the picture.

Sam nodded in agreement. "There's no way I wouldn't have forgotten that I took a picture with you. But I don't know you, so… I don't know.", Scott said. He was just at a loss for words as Sam was. But they both knew.

Something was up.

There was another thing that was bothering Scott though… she smelled like a werewolf. It wasn't Liam's scent, so it couldn't be him.

He sighed and asked the question anyways. "Are you… could you… is there a way you could be… possibly… a werewolf…?", he asked.

The look on Sam's face told him everything he needed to know. She was confused as hell, and even more so, annoyed.

But she smelled familiar. Just like a werewolf.

He held his hands out. "Just, hear me out, okay? Have you been hearing things more than usual? Hearing things you shouldn't? Smelling things more potently?"

Now that Sam thought about it, her hearing was more enhanced. She could hear his heartbeat going a mile a minute.

She nodded. "But it's just my Hearing, though."

Scott smiled in relief. "That's all I needed to know. You're definitely a werewolf."

"But how? Don't you need to be bitten to be one?", Sam asked. Scott stopped his mini celebration short. She was right.

In fact, he doesn't even remember how he was a werewolf. He just knows about him, Liam, Corey, Malia and Lydia.

"You're right.", Scott said. Sam sat up straight. "There's no way we all just have collective amnesia."

She was right about that as well. But why…?

Why were they forgetting something? Who else were they forgetting? Who was supposed to be in that picture?

[sxmjxkxz]

— njm. Who Are You, Love | Chapter 2

na jaemin x reader | english | fluff | angst

a/n: may contain grammatical mistakes | lowercase intended | contains cursing/name calling

t/w: mcd

🖇️. chat 4: y/n’s pov

jaemin’s pov

three days have passed, and within those three days, jaemin found himself unknowingly checking his phone in case y/n suddenly messaged him. 

ever since she said she was busy, her messages started to become shorter and shorter. He did understand, given the heavy workload university students have. and he did, initially, not want to further push their interactions.

but overtime, he found himself unknowingly looking forward to the pickup lines she sent, which, he would never admit, did give him a pick-me-up for the day. “you know you can just message her right?” jeno says without looking at him, already sensing his best friend's not-so-subtle feeling of absence.

“i’m not the type to chat first if it’s not important.” jaemin puts his phone face down on the table in front of them. “and besides, she said she was busy.”

“sounds like you miss her.”

“don’t push it lee.”

“but then again, it is project season for us all so it’d be understandable. i hope you get through the drought.” jeno jokes before focusing his attention back at the show he was watching.

‘i hope she isn’t burning herself out….wait, why am i even being this concerned over her….but then again it’d be rude not to be….’

jaemin manages to shock jeno when he drops his head into his hands with an audible ‘slap’. “you okay dude? do you need to go to a hospital?! shit!” jeno suddenly stands in worry, only for jaemin to pull him back down. “calm your ass, it’s just an assignment i forgot to turn in.”

jeno narrows his eyes at his friend’s excuse as he watches him reach for his phone “discreetly”. jaemin was never the type to forget deadlines. never. and so he just nods and watches suspiciously as jaemin excuses himself to go to his room.

it’s been over ten minutes now and jaemin’s been wracking his brain over one message he wanted to send to y/n. he’s been repeatedly typing and erasing his messages, overthinking its meaning and her possible reaction.

in the end, he groans in frustration, finally hitting send on the last message he type, which he immediately regrets in an instant.

“shit!....SHIT!”

his heart drops when he sees the receiver typing bubble appear.

🖇️. chat 5: jaemin’s pov

y/n’s pov

“and what’s got you smiling while writing a report on….sheesh i don’t even want to read it and i’m a journalism major!” hyuck shudders at the open document on y/n’s screen.

“he…h-he checked up on me hyuckie!” y/n cries into her friend’s shoulder. “congrats girl! now quit punching me!” he whines as he pushes her back into her seat. “and good timing too, you’ve been working on your hell week projects nonstop for the past few days.”

y/n looks at herself and the mirror and sighs at the sight of her oily skin, dry hair, and dark circles under her eyes. definitely not an image she wanted to show to her anon love.

“well, i'm almost done and i’ll finally rest after. i still have morning classes tomorrow.” she stretches before typing away on her laptop.

the next day y/n walks into her classroom to find a starbucks drink on her table. with a confused look, she examines the drink, although its strawberry scent wafted through her nostrils, she was still wary of the suspicious drink on her table. 

“someone dropped it off a few minutes ago, he didn’t give a name, just said give it to the polsci student who likes pickup lines.” renjun, her classmate, chuckles before heading to his seat.

y/n felt her cheeks heat up from the gesture so she pulls out her phone.

🖇️. to be continued . . .

🖇️. previous chapter | next chapter

[gothicknightz]

sick boy — xavier thorpe

summary: xavier is sick and tired of dealing with his thoughts. for the first time, someone tries to help him with them.

warning: general mental health mentions, a character is mentally tired and out of it, mentions of blood.

Always the outcast.

Always the overlooked.

Always the underestimated.

Always the lone wolf.

He threw the sketchbook across the room, yelling out in frustration and anger.

Why couldn’t he do anything right?

Why was he the one everyone always gossiped about like he didn’t have feelings just like them?

Why was he so insecure about the genuine love he received?

His thoughts consumed him like a virus, and soon enough he found himself in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at himself in disgust.

Maybe his dad was right. Maybe he’ll never hold it in the ‘real world.’

Maybe he’ll end up alone, shrouded in fame and infamy like his dad.

He didn’t want to be alone.

He didn’t realize he was crying until he felt the tears fall down his face, quickly becoming angered by his own emotions, and punching the mirror.

He knew his dad was going to pay for that. And now his fist was bleeding.

He had to hide it all. His feelings. His pain.

He only allowed himself to convey it in art.

The pain hurt even worse than he thought, pulling out the shards that managed to pierce his skin into the trash.

The sting hurt worse than the glass, the burning engrained in the back of his mind, muttering a curse under his breath.

As he wrapped up his hand, he walked back to his bed, unlocked his phone gingerly, and put on some music. 

It annoyed him that he had to feel all of this. Annoyed that his father put him through this, and that he was going to have to explain himself to his therapist tomorrow.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling before the silence of slumber consumed him. Hopefully, this feeling would all change soon.

The next morning was all the same; get up, go to class, eat lunch, go to therapy, then back to his own thoughts.

He needed some change soon, or he was going to lose it.

He didn’t like losing to his own thoughts, it made him feel weak.

At least that’s what his dad told him.

He went on a late-night jog this time, preferring to ignore his feelings instead of creating a portrait of them.

The music was loud, and it was lightly raining out, as he was tired of the nights with his thoughts eating at his own self-worth.

What a sick boy he was.

He sighed after finishing his run, deciding to hide in the shadows of the forest, taking refuge against a tree as he sat down.

He wanted to destroy everything behind him, including his past, erasing every moment that was ever good to him.

Which was a rare occurrence.

He had his head down, having no regard for his hair as it was down this time.

It covered his view as his eyes were closed shut, the thoughts clawing at him, threatening tears once again.

Until he felt a tap on his shoulder, and he looked up to see someone actually attempting to talk to him instead of making fun of him.

“What do you want?” Came out of his mouth, as anyone who had tried to talk to him previously only ever made fun of him.

“I just wanted to know if you’re okay.” They asked, backing up as the bitter words came from the boy’s mouth.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. You can continue your walk now.” He tried dismissing the person away, but they wouldn’t budge.

“Do you go to Nevermore?” 

He furrowed his brows and stood up, “You know, you can save yourself the breath. I already know I’m a freak. A shit show.”

The person across from him frowned, “I go there too. I just recognized you and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He scoffed and crossed his arms, starting to turn around, “Yeah, you’ve mentioned it. Now, why don’t you go back to where you came from.”

“You’re that psychic boy.”

The boy stopped in his tracks, “Got anything to say about it?” He answered bitterly, a disgruntled look on his face.

“I’ve seen your drawings. You’re really good.”

“Thanks.” He replied shortly, “You really should be getting back, though, and stop wasting my time.”

“I don’t see you leaving.”

He scoffed, “Fine, you got me. What else do you want?”

“To be your friend. You look like you could need one here.”

The boy laughed wryly, “Thanks for the thoughtful words, but I don’t need any. I’m fine on my own.”

He started to walk away, having enough social interaction for the day, and whoever this person was, they weren’t giving up at all.

“Xavier.” They said, which caused him to turn around quickly.

“Oh, so you do know my name. I’m not just that psychic boy, huh?” Xavier said this with pure sarcasm and rude intent behind it.

“You’re not going to be.” They paused, “(y/n).”

Xavier gave them a disinterested look before scoffing and walking away.

“I prefer to be alone.” He muttered under his breath.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 35

Warnings: It's a rollercoaster of emotions and basically every warning used up to this point applies to this chapter Word count: 5394

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts Rayquaza is Midoriya's contact name Jangmo-o is Mic's contact

Masterlist

Volt 34 | Volt 36

I stood outside of the police station nervously after taking the first train I could back home. After calling Pops back and sitting on the phone with Toshi for half the train ride, I still wasn't ready to face my fears. But I was ready to get some answers.

I slowly made my way in, the person at the desk directing me to my family. The three of them surging up at the sight of me, my parents pulled me into a hug and my brother gave me a separate one before rifling through his pockets for his phone.

"I like the change in style, little listener. It looks great." Pops said with a proud smile on his face.

"Thanks.. Mina made me wear it. I think I might like my sweaters better though." Dad chuckled and ruffled my hair.

We sat there for twenty more minutes before Tsukauchi came out, the detective looking exhausted and worn out.

"Eraser, Mic, we can't get her to talk and I hate to ask this but-"

"I'll do it." Everyone looked at me baffled. "It's pretty obvious what you were going to ask. So I'll do it if you need me to but I have questions for her. She might be the only one who can give me those answers. If me talking to her means we can get a restraining order renewed faster or something done sooner, then I'll do it." The room soon became more glum and dreadful, Tsukauchi silently asking my parents approval before he nodded.

"Okay, but first I have to tell you what to expect so you aren't going in blind." I nodded and stared at my feet. "She just got here today after being in the hospital for detox, so she may be irritable and frustrated. Her mood might flip on a dime. She's in there with a lawyer right now, a public defense attorney, he'll probably tell her not to answer certain things but it's okay to push. Your family and I will be right behind the glass at all times so if at any point you want to leave, say the word and you're done in there." I nodded along and took a deep shaky breath. "Is there anything you need before we do this?" I fiddled with my bag and found my panic attack meds, taking two quickly as a preventative before setting my bag down.

"I'm ready." Tsukauchi laughed under his breath and nodded. The five of us walked down a few hallways before stopping outside of a door. An officer opened the door and waited for me to be inside before shutting and locking it, I shakily made my way to the open chair across from two adults.

"Really? They're so desperate they sent in a kid?" The attorney scoffed but all I could feel were Shiroka's eyes on me.

"Baby? What are you doing here? Oh you look great, I've missed you Onryo. When will you come home?" I bit back the wave of nausea, disgusted by her sickly sweet tone.

"I have questions that my Dads can't answer. You're the only one who can. I can answer some of your questions too, I don't know how helpful they'll be to you, but I want answers." Shiroka nodded frantically, her appearance being similar to a skeleton.

"Yes, yes I'll answer what I can. Oh I've just missed you so much." I ducked my head down, not wanting to jeopardize using my quirk on accident, until I felt it turn off.

"Who even are you, kid?" The man who was balding asked, clearly already annoyed with my presence alone.

"My name is Tsukare Onryo. She's my birth mother." The man looked at me wide eyed and at a loss for words. "Why did you give me up?" Shiroka looked at me wide eyed for a moment this time before collecting herself.

"I wasn't in a good place, your father left me and I wouldn't have been able to care for you the way a mother should." I cringed at the words, not liking the titles she gave to strangers who contributed to me being alive.

"How did you get our address a few years ago?" I made sure to keep my voice relaxed, not wanting to accidentally set her off and have this all be for nothing.

"Don't answer that." The attorney chided but Shiroka ignored him.

"I talked to a lady that used to run the foster center and she had some things to say about the people that adopted you, I took that as a bad sign. I just knew I had to get you out there and bring you home safe. She gave me the address really quick." I took a shaky breath, thankful that I took my medication before this.

"Do you have any questions for me, before I ask more?" This seemed to catch her attention, her eyes practically twinkling.

"Why do you have so many doctors? Is everything okay?" That piqued my interest, knowing that that was in fact illegal and a HIPAA violation.

"I was born with a common heart problem, so once every few years the cardiologist likes go check that everything is still running smooth. I have ADHD, and the doctors like to check that my attention is as well as it can be. I have my pediatrician like everyone else. I have a doctor for my ears. And I've been in and out of hospitals for a bunch of different things.. but you already knew all of that." Her eyes widened larger than Australia, an undeniable reaction. "If you knew where I was for the first eight years of my life, why wait until I was in a stable home after being legally adopted to try and see me? Let alone try to kidnap me and then follow me places?"

"I just wanted my baby back, a mothers instincts are one of the strongest things out there after all." I rested my forearms on the table, leaning against them and having them slightly bent, but she still saw. She practically lunged forward and I instinctively pushed back out of her reach. "What happened? Who did that to you?" I took a shaky breath and let it out of my chest, fighting to keep myself grounded.

"This happened from me developing an unhealthy coping mechanism to cope with middle school bullies and being stalked every time I set foot outside. Most of the other scars on my body are from all of the horrible foster homes I went to before I was taken in by my dads. Do you have any other questions for me?" She sniffled and took a shaky breath, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"How's U.A. treating you?"

"It's amazing, all of the teachers treat me like family and I've made a lot of friends so far." She nodded with a smile.

"Will you finally come home?" I shook my head, fearful for her reaction. "Why? Please honey, I'm sorry that I've messed up. I'll do better just come home baby."

"I'm done with questions right now. However, one thing that I've learned is how to read people. It's a really good trick I've learned. So let me tell you what I've put together in our almost fifteen minute conversation and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong. You've gathered personal information illegally, along with gathering my medical records illegally which is a HIPAA violation. You haven't been able to stop looking at me because I presumably share a large resemblance to my birth father, along with his quirk. The only other reason you might be staring this much is because of the scar on my face and if that's the case then that's just rude. After you heard of who my parents are, you probably did some research to try and dig up something bad so you could petition to get me removed until you realized they were both squeaky clean pro heroes who teach at a prestigious school.

"So then you went with grander measures, you forced your way into our home, tried to take me, and when that failed you opted to following me around outside whenever you could. After the first restraining order was filed, you kept your distance and started watching me from the minimum distance you could legally be near me once you figured out that loophole until it's time was up and it expired two weeks ago. You saw me on the news and showed up in Hosu and tried to get your way into my hospital room for the second time. You say you care and you love me but you don't have that maternal instinct, if you did you never would have put me in the system to begin with when you know just how horrible it is.

"Your financial instability however, would've gotten me revoked either way but the icing on the cake was you chose drugs over what was supposed to be your child. You used drugs while pregnant with me and, I'm guessing from your appearance, you have a new vice. This tells me the first time you tried getting clean is when you showed up to my house almost three years ago." I took a deep breath and stood up. "Now, attorney person, I'm sure that I, a high school student, won't have to explain to you what position Shiroka has put herself in. Shiroka, I know it will hurt to hear this but you aren't my mom, because a mom would never have let her child go through what I did. I hope you realize that if you went about this differently then you might have had a chance at being apart of my life in a positive way. You might have been involved after you showed up, but you ruined any chance of that happening a long time ago." The door opened and once I set foot outside of the stuffy room, I allowed the first tear to fall. My parents immediately pulled me into a hug, Hitoshi joining in as well.

"You did great, Onryo. You did an amazing job." My dad mumbled to me before I started sobbing, everything that just happened sinking in. I clung onto my family desperately, finding temporary solace in their embraces.

It took about ten minutes for the tears to stop falling, hiccups punched their way out of my body and the shaking slowly stopped. I turned towards the glass, completely tuned out from what was being said in there but from how it looked, the attorney was clearly stressed about something. Our parents lead us over to some chairs, Hitoshi and I sitting down until Tsukauchi came over to us. The detective crouched down in front of me, his forearms resting on his knees as he looked up at me.

"Tsukare, you did an amazing job back there. You should be very proud of yourself, I know your family is." I swallowed nervously, not liking where this was going.

"But it wasn't enough, was it?" Tsukauchi shook his head solemnly and I willed myself not to cry out of pure frustration. "So what's gonna happen?" I tried to keep up my cheerful act, not wanting anyone outside of my family see me hurting. Even the officers gave us space in the hallway earlier.

"Her attorney is trying to make a deal. Extended restraining order in exchange for information. So far it's looking to go in her favor." I nodded and put a small smile on my face.

"At least somethings getting done, right?" Tsukauchi let out a sad laugh with a nod.

"Something will get done in the end. And if hero work doesn't work out for you in the future, try your luck as an interrogator. I've been doing this for years and not many people are that naturally gifted with that ability. And if going pro works out for you, I look forward to working with you and your brother." I gave him a quick nod and he stood up, bidding his farewells to us before retreating down the hallway again. I felt three sets of curious eyes on me, but I shrugged them off, knowing it was just out of concern.

"I'll be okay. Just processing it all." It was painfully obvious none of them believed me. I held my head in my hand, now realizing how bright the light really was in the station while a dull ache started spreading through my head. "Can I go home?" I asked quietly, completely drained after the days events. Our parents nodded and we left as soon as possible.

The whole car ride home I was lost in thought, I didn't notice if anyone was talking to me or talking at all. I just stared out the window and watched the buildings rush past until we pulled into the driveway.

As if I were on autopilot, as soon as I got inside, I beelined to the kitchen and started making the only thing that could bring me happiness right now.

Peppermint hot chocolate with whipped cream on top.

I ignored all sets of eyes on me as I made my way to my room with my drink, both cats trailing behind up the stairs and to my bed. I took my hearing aids out and set them up on their charger, changed into sweats and a hoodie, wrapped myself up in two soft and fuzzy blankets and watched random videos on my laptop.

I don't know how much time had passed, but enough for my computer to lose over half of its battery and my drink to be mostly gone and cold. I did get confused when I got a text from Pops, his designated vibration pattern alerting my senses.

From Jangmo-o: Hey little listener, are you awake?

To Jangmo-o: Yeah, Mittens and Spots are sleeping though

From Jangmo-o: Can I come in?

From Jangmo-o: If you still want some space and alone time that's okay too, I just wanted to check in on you

To Jangmo-o: Yeah you can come in

I set my phone down and watched Pops poke his head into my room which earned me a sad smile. He was in his house wear, a baggy t-shirt, joggers, his regular glasses and his hair pulled back in a bun. He gestured to the bed and I nodded, the blond adult gently sat down on my bed a little bit away from my feet.

How are you holding up?

Just tired and kind of out of it. But I'll be alright.

It sucks though, and you're allowed to be upset and angry about it, okay?

I know. I think I'm just still processing all of it.

That's okay. Y'know, I remember when I first met my birth parents.

How did it go?

Well, I met them when I was probably about eighteen or nineteen. Sho and I brought them over to our first apartment, and it didn't go as well as we were hoping. I finally got to ask the questions you did and they told me they gave me up because they wanted a girl, then said with my long hair and the fact I was happily engaged to your Dad I might as well be one if it weren't for the parts I was born with. I asked them if they wanted to be apart of my life at all and they got really quiet and told me no and that they gave me up for a reason. They said they were happy that I reached out but after seeing the lifestyle I chose, they didn't want to see me anymore unless I changed. I was about ready to cry until Sho kicked them out and said a few choice words. We got our first noise complaint because of him shouting at them.

You got a noise complaint because Dad was yelling? That's out of character for him.

Yeah, it is. Not nearly as chaotic and nerve racking as yours, but it wasn't great.

I nodded and he looked hesitant to ask something. He stared at the comforter on my bed intensely until I nudged him slightly.

What's up?

I've been wanting to ask you and Hitoshi this for a while now. I asked him about it earlier, but Sho and I have been talking and figured it might be worth mentioning. Do you want to find out who your birth dad is and meet him if possible? We won't be offended if you do, you and your brother will always be our sons no matter what, but from going through it myself and your Dad watching me go through it, we know how important it is to some kids that went through the system to meet their birth parents. Some have no interest in it, but others crave it.

Honestly, I haven't even really put much thought into finding out who he is, let alone meeting him. There's too many unknown factors right now, so I don't know yet.

Okay. Well if you decide just let us know, no matter what it is. Alright?

I will. Has Toshi made up his mind yet?

I don't think so. Are you two going to have one of your brother talks tonight?

You know about those?

Of course we do, we should probably lecture you about your sleeping habits but it's not going to change anything. Sho and I know how hard it is to sleep sometimes, but as long as you two are safe, we aren't mad.

What gave it away that we have our late night talks?

Well, the one time I went to the bathroom and heard you go into his room but the smell of coffee gives it away on the nights your Dad doesn't have patrol.

No wonder you're a pro hero.

The comment made him laugh a little, making me smile in turn. Being able to make people smile makes a lot of things worth it.

Is there any reason in particular you took your ears out?

I chewed on my lip and nodded, knowing my answer would worry him but also knowing him and Dad want the truth from me.

Sometimes the silence is better. It makes everything feel calmer even though I'm stressed. Being in the quiet feels nice once in a while.

I get it. That's why I take them out for lazy Sundays. It's calming once in a while.

I nodded, glad that he understood and leaned forward for a somewhat hug. My head rested on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around me, tugging me close to him. He rubbed soft circles on my back and just held me for a moment. After a minute or two, he gave me a kiss on top of my head and left my room, I took a minute to check my phone seeing multiple messages.

From Espeon: Bro talk tonight?

From Boldore: Hey bro, everything okay?

From Pikachu: Hey

From Scraggy: Hey Tsuka, how're you holding up?

From Venomoth: Hey Tsukababes!

From Rayquaza: Hey Onryo, Hitoshi filled me in on what happened today.. Are you okay?

Tsukababes Pokémon

(Boldore - Kirishima, Venomoth - Mina, Scraggy - Sero, Pikachu - Kaminari, Whismur - Tsukare)

From Venomoth: Has anyone heard from Tsukababes? I tried texting him but I haven't heard anything

From Boldore: No, I tried texting him too

From Scraggy: Same here

From Pikachu: Me too, do you guys think he's okay?

From Scraggy: I hope he is

From Venomoth: I texted his brother asking if he was okay and he said he hasn't come out of his room yet so he might be taking a nap

From Boldore: Maybe he is, I mean, if I had to go for a family emergency I'd probably stress nap

From Pikachu: I don't know guys, I'm really worried about him

From Venomoth: Kami, we all know why you're worried ;)

From Pikachu: Not the time Min, I'm serious :/

My heart sank as I read all the texts, I felt horrible knowing I worried everyone when I put my phone on silent, the only reason I saw Pops' text being that he's an emergency contact so he has emergency bypass.

To Espeon: Yes please, Pops talked to me a little bit ago

To Rayquaza: Hey Izu, I'm doing better, sorry for the late response I had my phone on silent

Tsukababes Pokémon

From Whismur: Hey guys, I'm sorry for worrying all of you

From Whismur: My phone was on silent, I'm really sorry

From Venomoth: TSUKABABES!!!

From Boldore: BRO!!!

From Scraggy: How are you holding up Tsuka?

From Whismur: I'm alright, just kinda meh and out of it

From Pikachu: How did it go with Shiroka?

From Boldore: Who's Shiroka?

From Whismur: She's my birth mom.

From Whismur: And it was fine, just more legal stuff

I locked my phone and tossed it on my bed, already somewhat drained with talking about it. I turned back to my laptop, ready to hit play on the paused video until a video call started coming through from Denki. Confused, I answered and quickly asked him to wait a moment so I could get my hearing aids in.

"Hey." I said awkwardly, still confused about to impromptu call. The blond sat on the other end playing a video game, sitting back in his gaming chair and I couldn't help but notice his hair mostly pulled back into a small ponytail and enunciating his jawline.

"Hey!" He said with a bright smile.

"Uh, what's up?" I asked hesitantly.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. You went MIA for a few hours and saw Shiroka. After last time.. I was worried." His voice grew soft towards the end, heavily showing just how concerned he was.

"I'll be okay." I told him with a small smile on my face. He looked off put for a moment before speaking again.

"So what happened?" I rearranged my area to buy some time but to also get more comfortable. I sat up straight in my bed and moved my laptop in front of me more.

"She got arrested." He paused his game and turned towards his camera completely.

"I'm gonna add Sero if that's okay." I nodded and watched the screen split before he joined.

"Hey Tsuka, you doing alright?" I nodded again and he looked slightly relieved. "Not mad that I was added, but why was I added?"

"Onryo was about to fill me in and since you're the only other one who knows about Shiroka I figured you might wanna be here so he wouldn't have to explain everything all over again." Sero hummed in understanding and asked what happened.

"She was arrested and my parents called me down to the station." Sero's eyes looked ready to jump out of his head.

"Woah." He slumped back at the news and ran a hand through his black hair. "What was she arrested for?"

"She got a few charges. The initial one was stalking followed by a harassment charge because when I was in the hospital in Hosu, she showed up and from what I was told, had to be dragged out." The two looked at me in shock and I anxiously fiddled with my fingers as I worked on getting the next slew of words out. "When they arrested her, she got charged with possession and drug misuse. So she had to detox in the hospital before they brought her in." The mood grew somber from the two and I started beating myself up for causing that shift in the atmosphere. "It's okay. I finally asked her what I wanted to, so I guess going there was worth it." I told them with a small smile, hoping it could be convincing enough.

"How come you went in to talk to her if she wasn't in a cell? They allowed that?" Denki asked, confusion written all over his face. So I explained everything for the most part, why I went in there, that she's getting a deal, and that I'll probably have to make an appearance in court.

"Are you sure you're doing okay, hermano?" I nodded quickly at Sero's question, wanting to erase all of his concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I hoped that my smile helped ease any of their worries. They shouldn't have to worry about me. Sero looked like he wanted to say something but ghost attention got redirected to his door.

"¡Baja en un minuto! Sorry, I have to go eat dinner. I'll see you both tomorrow. Text or call me if either of you need something." We both gave him a thumbs up but his comment struck an odd chord with me.

'Why would he say that to both of us?'

"Are you sure you're okay?" I nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, it's just been a weird day." He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't. "Sorry again, for worrying you guys. I didn't mean to."

"You don't have to apologize, it's okay!" He gave me a bright smile, the gesture contagious and making me smile as well.

"Alright.. What game are you playing?" He looked at the other screen and back at me before he started rambling.

His voice alone brought me comfort, let alone hearing him ramble about something. It was cute, listening to him go on about something that gave him joy. He talked for a good twenty minutes before he awkwardly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry.. I was rambling, huh?" I giggled and nodded.

"Yeah but it's okay. I- uh, it's relaxing." He gave me a playful smile.

"Nope, what were you going to say? Hmm?" I rolled my eyes jokingly at his teasing.

"I don't know what you're talking about." It was his turn to roll his eyes as he kicked back in his chair.

"C'mon, Onryo. I wanna know." I sighed and gave in, ducking me head slightly in hopes of hiding the blush that was working its way onto my face.

"I was gonna say that I like hearing you talk. But it is relaxing, you rambling about stuff, it's easy to keep up with." He smirked and turned his head but I could've sworn I saw him blushing.

"Do you want me to keep talking about stuff?" I nodded bashfully before he started talking about miscellaneous things again.

I tried my hardest not to stare and if he caught me then he didn't mention it, thankfully sparing me the embarrassment. But I have to remind myself that he's just a flirt. I've seen him flirt with Jirou and Momo, I've seen him check out a few people in our class. I have to get my feelings in check and push them down so I don't get hurt.

After a quiet dinner on my end and talking to Denki for a while until he fell asleep on the phone, I made coffee and met my brother in his room. Both Spots and Mittens already in there and Toshi with his array of blankets.

I take it Dad and Pops talked to you too?

I nodded slightly, still trying to wrap my head around it.

Yeah. What do you think about it?

I don't know. I don't know who either of my birth parents are and what if they turn out psycho? I don't know if I'm ready to know why they gave me up. What about you?

My file from the center has my birth dads name blank. He didn't sign my birth certificate either. So the only ways to go about it is question Shiroka again or doing a DNA test and finding out he's a criminal or dead. I already went through the freak show once with Shiroka, I don't know if I want to chance it again.

I don't blame you for that. Mine was a closed case though, so I don't know if it's even possible for me to find out. What do you think I should do?

I think if you have even an ounce of curiosity, or you want to ask them the questions I got to ask Shiroka, then go for it. If you want to know, Dad and Pops won't get mad. Pops went through the same thing with Dad by his side. What do you think I should do?

He thought for a moment, hands stilling in front of him.

I think the same thing you told me. And Onryo? I tilted my head to the side and hummed. If I meet them, can you be there? I know Dad and Pops would want to but if I meet them, two heroes in the room might scare them and I don't think I would be able to do it alone.

Of course. If I meet him, will you come too?

He nodded and we nursed our coffee. The cats also earning some well earned head scratches.

"Come in." Hitoshi said and I looked to the door curiously. The instinct to cover my arms slipping into my brain as I wore a muscle tank making me freeze for a moment before I relaxed.

Pops peaked his head in and sat on the bed beside me. His glasses on and hair messily tied out of his face.

"Just checkin' in, everything alright?" He asked, signing as he spoke. I nodded and Hitoshi did as well. "I'm sorry for springing the heavy question on you two listeners earlier. I probably should've waited."

It's okay, Pops. We were actually just talking about that.

"I figured as much. Either of you reach a decision or still thinking on it?"

Still thinking on it, but if either or both of us choose to, we decided that we would go together. Figured that you and Dad being there with one of us might overwhelm people a bit.

He laughed a little and bowed his head.

"Fair point, little listener."

Pops?

"What's up, Ryo?"

How did you know that you wanted to meet your birth parents?

"Well, my adoption story is a little different than yours."

"Can we hear about it?" Toshi asked before I got the chance. Pops looked shocked for a moment before the soft smile fell on his face again and he got comfortable.

"Alright, so like both of you, I was in and out of some pretty bad foster homes. I didn't get adopted until I was almost sixteen. As soon as I graduated I was forced to move out, so your Dad and I got our first apartment together. My adoptive parents aren't the worst but they have their views and grew up in a different time yada yada. Part of the reason you haven't met them is because they've made it clear that they love me but not that I'm married to Sho. And I don't want you two facing that negativity. But for a while, I wanted to at least know who my birth parents were. Curiosity and all. When I moved out though, I started thinking about it and finally did some digging after a while with the help of your Dad. It didn't go well by any means, but it helped to finally get some answers." I let what he told us sink in, absorbing his words.

Thank you, Pops.

He nodded and gave each of us a kiss on the head.

"I hope that helped at least a little." Toshi and I both nodded. "I'm going to go to bed now. Both of you try to get at least a little sleep before school, alright?" We agreed to his request and he gave us each a hug and ruffled our messes of hair. "Good night, I love you both."

I love you too.

"Love you too, Pops."

He left the room and gently shut the door behind him, my brother and I turning back to each other.

Do you know what you want to do?

Yeah. Do you?

No.

[db-gochifan]

Braten/Broten Week 2023 - Day 3: Rescue

Days: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Title: The Cat Mission Pairing: Goten/Bulla Characters: Son Goten, Bulla Briefs, Marron, Son Gohan and Videl Summary: Marron has the perfect plan to attract Goten's attention and help Bulla out. Cross-posted on AO3

Son Goten was back at West City, hoping to find another job, a permanent one this time. His brother, Son Gohan, was with him that time.

“Goten, why don’t you just help mom and dad with the vegetable garden? I’m sure they’d be willing to pay you, if you want the money that much.”

“It’s not just about the money, Gohan.” He looked at him. “Sure it would be easier to work with them, but I want to find my own path too. It’s about me being independent too. You understand that, don’t you?”

“I do.” Gohan confirmed with a smile and placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, brother.” Goten smiled back at him. “That means a lot.”

“Don’t mention it. So, do you have anything in mind?”

“Not really. At this point, I’m taking anything that comes my way.”

“Just make sure it’s a nice place and job.” Gohan looked at his watch. “Well, I have to go. I need to go to work.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure. I want to know how it goes. Good luck.”

“Thank you.” Goten watched his older brother disappear in the crowd and looked at the pile of resumes in his hands.

****

Bulla Briefs sighed with frustration as she looked at the sky. She was once again annoyed at the fact she was destined to live a miserable life as a goddess.

“What’s wrong this time?” Her best friend, Marron, spoke from a cloud beside hers. “Is it the same man again?”

“Sort of.” She admitted, rolling over to look at the blonde. “I just don’t understand why I can’t be with him.”

“You know why. Goddesses and humans can’t be together.”

“But why?” Bulla said frustrated. “Who made up this stupid rule?”

“I have no idea.” Marron shrugged. “But if it means that much to you, I say you should break the rules and get kicked out.”

“What?!” The blue haired woman lifted her head, genuinely curious at her suggestion. “Getting expelled?”

“Well, isn’t it what you want? They The only way you can be happy with this man – whoever he is – is by letting go of being a goddess. Are you ready to face the consequences?”

“I don’t know.” Bulla turned to the other side and played with a small piece of the fluffy thing she was lying on.

It didn’t take her long to look down towards the Earth, to check how the object of her affection was doing after she erased his memory for the second time.

“Move over.” Marron’s voice echoed behind her and she quicky changed her position, so her best friend could lie down beside her. “So how is he like?”

“Oh Marron, he’s so amazing!” She swooned. “He’s really handsome, sweet, cute and you just can’t stop looking at him. He has the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.”

“Looks like you’re in love with him.”

“I think so too.” She blushed and smiled with embarrassment. “I’ve been since we first met, to be honest.”

“So what are you gonna do now?”

“I have no idea.”

“I have a plan.” Marron stood up. “Come on.”

****

“Marron, you’re gonna get me into trouble for this. I shouldn’t be coming down here.” Bulla looked at her friend after stopping spying on the street and found her petting a cat in her arms. “What’s this?”

“It’s a cat.”

The blue haired goddess rolled her eyes. “I mean, where did you find it? And what are you gonna do with it?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s part of my plan.” Marron walked to her, still looking at the animal in her arms. She only looked up when she got closer to Bulla. “Now, show me that man you fell in love with.”

“He’s there.” Bulla pointed to where Goten was standing, quite far from them.

“He looks cute from behind.” The blond goddess examined him carefully before looking at her friend again. “So here’s the plan. I’m gonna put this cat on that tree over there and you’re gonna pretend it’s yours. This will attract his attention and he will do anything to bring it down to you, once he sees your beauty.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Oh, it will.” She winked and smiled at her friend. “If he doesn’t do it naturally, I can always give him an extra push. Are you ready?”

“Marron, I’m not sure.”

“Would you rather be miserable for the rest of your life? You’ve reached the point where you have to decide whether you want to be a goddess and give up on him or give up on being a goddess to be with him. If you decide the first option, I’ll release this cat right now and we’ll go back. What’s it gonna be?”

“I want to be with him.”

“I thought so.” Marron celebrated and grinned at her. “So are you gonna unlock his memories?”

“Maybe little by little. I want to know if he’d fall in love with me again first.”

“What?” The blonde was surprised. “Twice isn’t proof enough of that?”

“It is. But last time he didn’t take it really well. I’m gonna be more careful this time.”

“I’m sure you are.” She looked around, to make sure no one was watching them. “Okay, here we go.”

 Marron stood beside Bulla and started screaming for help and fake crying because of the cat. It didn’t take long until people gathered around them, including Goten. Unlike the others, who just wanted to see what was going to happen to the cat, he actually approached the girls.

“Hey, is everything okay?”

“Not really.” Marron was the one to reply, since Bulla couldn’t bring herself to even look at him. “My friend’s cat climbed on this tree and we can’t get him out. Can you help us, please?”

“Uh, I guess.” Goten walked closer to the tree and looked up. The cat wasn’t in a very high branch. “I think I can climb it and get him.”

“Are you serious?” Her face beamed in happiness and she subtly nudged Bulla in the hips. “Did you hear that?”

The blue haired woman simply nodded, still refusing to look into the eyes of the person that got their memory erased by her twice in one year. Goten couldn’t help but think she looked cute and pretty.

“I’m serious.” He handed Marron the pile of papers he was carrying. “Can you hold this for me?”

“Of course.” She gave him a smile as she grabbed it. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

 Goten returned about three minutes later, petting the golden cat in his arms. He walked back to Bulla and Marron and handed the cat to the blonde.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you so much!” She exclaimed as she grabbed the animal from his hands. “Did you see that, Bulla? Your cat is here.”

“Y-Yes, I can see that.” Bulla replied in a very low tone, almost inaudible.

“Is your friend always this shy?” He couldn’t take his eyes away from her.

“No, she’s just embarrassed with the situation.” Marron nudged her again. “Bulla, it’s impolite not to thank this kind man who saved your cat.”

“T-Thank you.” She finally looked up and Goten felt like all the air in his lungs had been drained out.

“Anytime.” He replied after some minutes, after getting himself together. “I’m sorry, but have we met before?”

“I don’t think so.” Bulla shook her head, though she was blushing and having a hard time holding her smile.

“That’s funny, I could swear I remember you.” He rubbed the back of his neck, extremely confused. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around then.”

“See?” Marron looked at her after Goten was far away enough to hear them. “It wasn’t that bad, was it? He still remembers you.”

“Yeah.” The blue haired goddess looked at him, very far away from them. “Yes, he does.”

“What’s wrong with you? You don’t seem too excited about it.”

“Nothing is wrong. Let’s just go.”

****

Marron walked out of a store carrying a small gray square box and opened it up when she approached Bulla. There were three capsules inside it, with different colors and numbers.

“Are you sure this thing is gonna work?” The blue haired goddess grabbed a capsule and examined it carefully. “It looks so strange.”

“I know, but that’s what people on the street have been saying, so I think it works.”

“And how do we do it?”

“Since there’s supposed to be a house inside here, I think it’s safer if we go to a bigger area.”

“You’re right.”

 “I think this house is too big for just me, don’t you?” Bulla looked at the house that was instantly created in awe.

“But you’re not living alone.”

“What?” She looked at her best friend, surprised. “Are you saying you’re gonna live here as well?”

“That’s right.”

“But, Marron, I can’t put you through this. You can’t get expelled and I can’t let that happen.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t get expelled.” She assured her with a wink. “If anything, I can convince your brother to talk to your father. He will find a way to turn things around.”

“You’re evil.” Bulla couldn’t help but laugh.

“More like a goddess.” The blonde joined her right away.

****

Bulla woke up that morning feeling very happy and rested. A few days had gone by since the cat situation and she had dreamed about Goten every single night. She was hoping with everything she had that she would see him again that day. She didn’t even need to talk to him, just watching him from afar was enough.

 The smell of food filled her nostrils as soon as she opened the door from her bedroom and walked down the hall. Marron was the best cook she’s ever known. Everyone up above simply loved her food. Bulla’s stomach growled and she blushed heavily as she made her way downstairs.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, Bulla!” The blond goddess looked over her shoulder, standing in front of the oven. “I hope the smell of my food didn’t wake you up.”

“It didn’t.” She pulled out a chair and sat down. “But it smells amazing. What are you making?”

“Chocolate pancakes, your…”

“Favorite!” Bulla squealed and her blue eyes sparkled with happiness. “What did I do to deserve them?”

“You’re willing to stand up against your father to be with the man you love. That’s pretty brave.”

“I’ll eat to that!” She stretched her arms and handed her plate to her friend. “They smell delicious and look just as much.”

“I hope they taste delicious too.”

“I have no doubt they will.” She quickly cut a piece and squealed again after swallowing it.

****

Bulla was walking down the street later that day, trying to look as humanly as possible. She and Marron even conjured some clothes, so they wouldn’t draw much attention from the Earthlings. Though the streets were crowded and she had to elbow their way through sometimes, she kept looking around to see if Goten was around and she didn’t miss him. A smile appeared on her lips when she saw him a little far from her.

 Goten was happily chatting with his brother and his sister-in-law in front of his new job place, as he still had a few minutes before starting his first day.

“I can’t believe you’re actually gonna be a model.”

“What’s wrong with it?” The younger brother asked. “I’m good-looking and have a nice body, according to them.”

“Can’t disagree with that.” Videl said with her index finger under her chin.

“Hey!”

“I’m sorry, honey. You’re still my number one, that will never change. But I’m not blind.”

“Thanks, Videl.” Goten give an embarrassed laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I should get to work now.”

“Alright. I have to go as well.” Gohan shook hands with his brother and gently patted him on the shoulder. “I hope you have a good first day at work.”

“Thank you, brother.”

“Good luck, Goten.” Videl gave him a quick hug. “Don’t break too many hearts, okay?”

“I promise I’ll try not to.” He laughed and felt his cheeks burning red. “Alright. I’ll see you later.”

 Goten was about to walk into the office when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He was unable to control his smile and his heart pounding on his chest. He turned around and saw the most amazing woman coming in his direction. It was impossible to miss her.

“So we meet again.” He gave her one of his best smiles and Bulla felt like her heart was gonna melt.

“It seems like it.” She blushed a little and looked down for a moment, brushing a lock of her long hair behind her ear.

“How’s your cat?”

“My cat?” She was surprised for a moment, but then quickly shook her head. “My cat is doing fine. He sometimes does these things out of nowhere and it’s hard to stop him.”

“I bet. But what matters is that he’s okay now. And safe.”

“Yeah. T-Thanks for saving him again. It really means a lot.” Bulla looked at him and smiled weakly.

“Hey, no need to thank me.” Goten assured her. “I love helping people out. Especially beautiful girls like you.”

“Are you always this charming?” She felt her cheeks burning, but still played along.

“As surprising as it may sound, no. I’m quite shy.”

“Are you serious? It doesn’t seem like that at all!” The blue haired woman looked at the office. “I should let you go to work. I don’t want you to be late on your first day.”

“Don’t worry… Wait, how did you know it’s my first day?”

“I didn’t.” She said quickly. “It was a lucky guess only.”

“Right.” Goten said, but didn’t seem to believe it. In an impulse, he grabbed her wrist and turned her palm towards him.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m giving you my phone number.” His voice was a little muffled due to the fact he was holding the pen cap between his teeth.

“What?!”

“This city is big, we don’t know when or if we’ll see each other again.”

“Oh…” Bulla was taken aback with his attitude, but couldn’t say she didn’t like it. “I guess you have a point.”

“There you go.” He released her wrist and kept his eyes on her, curious to know her reaction.

“That was quite an audacity.” She remarked in a light tone and gave him a small smile.

“You gotta take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.” He winked at her and then looked at the office. “I really should go now.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry for making you be late for work.”

“You didn’t do anything, don’t worry about it.” Goten assured her. “Well, I’ll be waiting for your text.”

“Sure.”

Bulla watched him disappear into the office before raising her hand and staring at the eight numbers written in black tint on her palm. Another smile came into her lips – a wider one this time – as she resumed her walking down the street in West City. She couldn’t wait to tell Marron what had happened.