#ryan is a jean jacket kid and no one can change my mind

[hoperays-song]

Alignment Chart Pt. 1

[musette22]

Burning For You

Title: Burning For You Pairing: Chris Evans x Sebastian Stan (Evanstan) Rating: Teen and up Word count: 3.1k A/N: Written for Evanstan Week day 6, a late fill for the Alternate Universe prompt. This silly piece of fluff is entirely inspired by the wonder that is the Mountain Lodge candle from the Yankee Candle Company. Yes, the one that inspired this iconic Tumblr post. The one that smells like Chris Evans. 

I was lucky enough to receive one as a gift from the wonderful @howdoyousleep3 and my life hasn't been the same since I smelled it for the first time. Thank you for introducing me to such delights baby K, ilyyy 💖 Also BIG thank you to the @evanstanweek​ team and to my beautiful beta @rainbowsandcoconut who came up with the outline for this fic when I told her my idea! Love you, boo 😘

Summary: Evanstan AU. Sebastian gets a little carried away when raving about the Mountain Lodge candle to a friend. It leads to an unexpected, fragrant encounter.

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“Listen, D. You’ve gotta smell this candle.” Sebastian leans in closer, nearly knocking over his - third - glass of red. “You know I’m not usually a scented candle kinda guy, but this one…” He closes his eyes and tips back his head, an expression of pure bliss on his face. “Incredible. Glorious. Magnificent.”

“You look like you’re about to pull a Meg Ryan in When Harry met Sally over there, Seb.”

Sebastian straightens, giving Deirdre a meaningful look across the table at the low-key SoHo bar they’re having drinks at. “You kid, but I’m this close. It’s that good, not even exaggerating.”

“Sure you’re not,” Deirdre huffs, lifting her glass and taking a sizeable gulp of her Cosmopolitan.

“Fine, don’t believe me,” Sebastian shrugs. “You know, I pity you for not having experienced the delights of the Mountain Lodge candle, really. If you knew what it smelled like, you’d be singing its praises too, believe me.”

Deirdre rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Fine, I’ll bite. What does it smell like, Sebastian, pray tell.”

Sebastian sits up eagerly. “It smells…” he starts, “like an evening in that lodge in the Green Mountains we rented with the others a couple of years ago. Remember that? How it felt to relax by the fire after a long day of hiking, the scent of cedarwood and toasted marshmallows in the air?”

“Hmmm,” Deirdre agrees. “That was nice, yeah. But hardly worth busting a nut over, I’d say.”

Sebastian holds up a single finger. “I'm not done. Because this candle doesn’t just smell like the lodge, it also smells like the lumberjack living at the lodge.”

Deirdre frowns. “There was no lumberjack living at the –”

“The metaphorical lumberjack, D, god. Work with me here a little.”

“Oh right, okay. Gotcha.”

“It smells,” Sebastian continues, undeterred, “like soft, worn flannel. Like beard oil and a hint of clean sweat. It smells like a big, strong, gorgeous man who just got done hewing a ginormous tree with his massive axe and cutting it down into firewood, which he’s now using to light the very fireplace in front of which he’ll make sweet, sweet love to you, on the rug that’s actually the skin of a bear that attacked his rescue dog and which this man fought off and killed with his own bare hands.”

“Whooofffff,” Deirdre says, fanning herself with a napkin. “Fine, I’m starting to see the attraction.”

“It smells…” Sebastian goes on, pausing for dramatic effect before delivering his clincher, “like Chris Evans.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Deirdre groans loudly, sagging back in her chair. “Ughh, shoulda known this was coming. For chrissake, Sebastian, you literally cannot go even one night without bringing up Chris Evans, can you?”

“I totally can,” Sebastian protests, like the mature, professional, Times-employed literary critic he is. “But you don’t understand, D. This candle, it’s actually like they bottled the very essence of Chris Evans and then infused a candle with it. It’s life-changing.”

“Yeah, yeah, you have a permanent boner for Chris Evans, you wanna marry him and have his little bearded babies, tell me something I don’t know,” Deirdre sighs, draining the last of her drink and immediately starting to look around for the waiter to order a new one. Distantly, Sebastian notices the song playing in the background changing to The Smith’s ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want'. Ah, if only.

“Listen to me,” Sebastian insists, unconsciously starting to speak louder, like he’s some small-town preacher trying to make his ignorant clergy see the light. “Deirdre, darling, you’re one of my oldest friends. I wouldn’t lie to you. I swear, when you smell this candle, you too will feel like you’re being engulfed in the embrace of the brilliant, spectacular, totally unique smokeshow that goes by the name of Chris Evans. It’s as if the man himself is wrapping those huge, muscled arms of his around you, crushing you to his wide chest as you tuck your face into the crook of his neck while his beard brushes your temple and you inhale his masculine scent of cologne, sex and clean, honest sweat, I swear to god – D, are you even listening?”

At some point during the last part of Sebastian’s homily, Deirdre’s eyes drifted to a point over his right shoulder and got stuck there.

“Did you just- zone out?” Sebastian asks indignantly, waving a hand in front of her face. She doesn’t even blink. “Hello? Earth to Deirdre.”

“Seb,” Deirdre says, still not looking at Sebastian.

“Oh, I see,” Sebastian barrels on. “Here I am, pouring my heart out, telling you I found a candle that smells exactly like the man of my dreams and you’re just… What are you doing, actually? Are you okay?”

At this point, Deirdre’s eyes have gone comically round, mouth hanging open just a little. “Sebastian,” she repeats, more urgently now – and just as he’s turning his head to find out what put that dumbfounded look on her face, someone nearby clears their throat.

Sebastian startles, looking up at the man who’s appeared next to their table.

“Hi,” the man says in a deep, rich voice.

A deep, rich voice that Sebastian knows all too well. A deep, rich voice that belongs to none other than Chris Evans, Hollywood heartthrob and actual smokeshow, himself.

Oh.

Sebastian gapes while Chris, dressed in dark wash jeans, a red flannel shirt and a brown shearling jacket, smiles at him patiently. He’s all soft-looking beard and strong nose and bulging biceps and long, lean legs, and Sebastian has died and gone to heaven.

“I’m sorry for interrupting,” Chris says, “but was just sitting a table over and I couldn’t help but overhear.”

And from one moment to the next, Sebastian crashes forcefully back to earth. His whole body goes cold, the blood draining from his face so quickly he feels dizzy with it.

Fuck. No. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. There is no way this is actually happening.

Except it is.

Sebastian had just been extremely, loudly and publicly horny about the very guy that’s standing next to him right now. The guy who is no doubt about to give Sebastian a piece of his mind at best, and a right hook to the jaw at worst. And honestly, he’d deserve it.

Since Sebastian wouldn’t even know where to begin apologizing, he says nothing. Just keeps staring at Chris in ever-growing horror, his pulse pounding in his ears so loudly it almost drowns out the miserable sound of Morrissey still pleading in the background.

Chris clears his throat. “So,” he says, bringing up a hand to rub the back of his neck. “This candle smells like me, huh?”

Sebastian groans, hiding his face in his hands. “Shit. Fuck. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean- Oh my god, please, please, please just forget you heard any of that.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

Puzzled, Sebastian chances a glance at Chris from between his fingers. He’s partly still covering his face out of embarrassment, and partly because Chris is so gorgeous in real life that Sebastian isn’t sure he could look at him directly without spontaneously combusting. It’s like staring at the fucking sun. He doesn’t seem too angry, though, thank god. In fact, there’s an amused twinkle in his blue eyes that makes Sebastian’s shoulders relax infinitesimally.

“Because it was incredibly inappropriate?” Sebastian suggests, honestly a bit confused about having to explain this to him.

“I don’t know,” Chris shrugs. “It sounded pretty great. Kinda want to smell it for myself now.”

For some unfathomable reason – probably because unexpectedly seeing his long-time celebrity crush in the flesh broke his brain, Sebastian blurts out, “Oh, I don’t have it with me. It’s back at my apartment.”

Slowly, Chris raises a single eyebrow. The look sends a shiver straight down Sebastian’s spine, from the crown of his head right down to his toes. “Is it now?”

“Yeah,” Sebastian replies breathlessly.

Chris’s gaze drops down to Sebastian’s brown leather boots before slowly travelling back up to his face. “I gotta say, normally someone would at least have to buy me dinner first, but…” He trails off, looking Sebastian straight in the eye before finishing, “I am really curious about this candle.”

“You are?” Sebastian says dumbly, and then “Ow!” when Deirdre delivers an impressively precise kick to his shin under the table. He turns to give her a betrayed look, but when he meets her eyes, with which she’s clearly trying very hard to communicate something to him, he finally catches on. “Oh!” Sebastian whips back around to Chris, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. “I- you- you mean like…” He swallows hard. “You wanna come back to my place to, uh, smell the candle?”

Although Chris’s expression remains amused, there’s a hint of trepidation there as well. “Sure,” he says, smiling crookedly. “If… that’s something you’re up for?”

Sebastian’s mind races. The way he sees it, there are two possibilities. Either Chris Evans is actually standing here in the flesh, propositioning him, or Sebastian hit his head in the bathroom earlier and is actually just lying on the dirty tile floor, hallucinating as a result of severe head trauma. The second option seems by far the most likely, but then, his shin does hurt like a sonuvabitch.

Well, fuck.

Sebastian clears his throat and sits up straighter, running a hand through his longish hair. “I mean, yeah, that’s- wow. That. That would be okay with me, uh huh. You mean like, now?”

“If that works for you?”

Without thinking, Sebastian says, “Well, I’m here with Deirdre –” before letting out another sharp yelp as said Deirdre crushes his toes under her heel. “Jesus, D!”

Deirdre ignores him. “Ohhh, would you look at the time,” she exclaims, holding up her wrist which very much doesn’t have a watch on it. “Boy, it’s much later than I thought. I really oughta get going, early start tomorrow.” She yawns theatrically, then grabs her purse and throws down two twenties on the table. “It was lovely seeing you, Sebastian, Chris… Evans,” she adds, with a wooden nod in Chris’s direction. “Hope you two have a lovely evening, bye now!”

And she’s gone.

They both stare after her for a second, and then Chris chuckles – a low sound that reverberates pleasantly in Sebastian’s chest. “Well,” Chris says, turning back towards him. “It’s nice to meet you, Sebastian.” He holds out his hand. “I’m Chris.”

Sebastian stands, taking Chris’s hand, which is warm and big and ever so slightly calloused, and exactly like Sebastian always imagined. “Yeah, I know,” he says, because he’s cool like that. And then, in a show of bravura that surprises even himself, Sebastian holds Chris’s gaze, tilts his head a fraction, and says, “So uh, my place?”

Chris smiles, casually dropping a few bills on the table, more than enough to cover their drinks, before taking a step to the side to let Sebastian pass. “Lead the way,” he says, lightly resting his hand on the small of Sebastian’s back as they make their way towards the exit.

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It’s only once they’re outside and the cold February night air manages to cool down Sebastian’s overheated brain somewhat that it occurs to him to ask if Chris wasn’t at the bar with anyone.

“I met a friend for drinks but he just left,” Chris explains. “I was just waiting for the bill when I overheard you guys.”

“And you’re sure you don’t have any other plans?” Sebastian asks, because he’s nothing if not a self-sabotaging idiot.

They’re still standing outside the bar, the golden light radiating from a nearby lamppost decorated with a cluster of luminous orbs making Chris look softer, somehow. Still a Hollywood heartthrob, but also charmingly human. Unfortunately, it does absolutely nothing to make Sebastian any less infatuated. If anything, it only endears Chris to him more, which he really didn’t think was possible.

“Not really, no,” Chris replies, amusement in his tone. “I was just gonna go back to my hotel and read for a bit.”

Sebastian perks up at the mention of his area of expertise. “Oh, yeah? What’re you reading?”

“I haven’t started it yet, but it’s this history of space travel? I read a great review of it in the Times the other day, so I thought I’d give it a go.” With a self-deprecating smile, Chris adds, “I’m kind of a space nerd.”

Sebastian blinks. “Not ‘To Infinity and Beyond’, by any chance?”

“That’s the one,” Chris confirms. “You know it?”

“I wrote the review.”

Chris’s eyes go round. “You did not.”

In lieu of replying, Sebastian digs up his wallet from his pocket, takes out his Times-employee card and holds it up for Chris’s inspection.

“Huh,” Chris says, studying the card. “What are the odds.” When his eyes turn back to Sebastian’s, he suddenly breaks out into a grin, wide and boyish. “Well, I guess that explains a thing or two.”

“How do you mean?” Sebastian frowns.

“I mean, that review was brilliantly written so you clearly have a way with words.” With a sly look, Chris goes on, “which explains your colorful descriptions of that candle earlier. The masculine scent of cologne, sex and clean, honest sweat was especially vivid.”

Sebastian groans, dragging a hand down over his face. “Jesus Christ, this is so embarrassing.”

Chris eyes shine with genuine mirth as he laughs, “Hey, come on, don’t worry about it.” He takes a step closer, ducking his head to try and catch Sebastian’s eyes, which are now firmly fixed on the pavement in an attempt to conjure up a hole to swallow him. “Call me a narcissist, but I didn’t exactly hate overhearing a gorgeous guy describing me as the man of his dreams.”

“Oh god,” Sebastian mutters, feeling himself turn a fetching shade of crimson. Trying to hide his blush, he turns around abruptly and nearly walks into the lamppost.

Chris, his savior, his knight in shining armor, manages to grab him by the back of his coat just in time to avoid the imminent collision. Sebastian still stumbles, but strong, capable arms wrapping securely around his waist keep him upright.

Carefully, Sebastian turns in Chris’s embrace so they’re facing each other, though he can’t quite make himself look Chris in the eye yet. “I’m guessing you caught on to this by now,” Sebastian tells the St Christopher pendant resting on Chris’s sternum, “but I’m kind of a disaster.”

Chris just hums, lifting a hand to tilt up Sebastian’s chin with his index finger, a small smile playing on his lips. “A beautiful one, though,” he whispers into the negligible space between them, before he closes that space and presses soft, full lips to Sebastian’s own.

Sebastian can’t suppress the small sound that escapes him when their lips meet, eyes closing on instinct as he lets himself sink into the kiss. Lets Chris take charge and coax open Sebastian’s mouth by running the tip of his tongue along the seam of his lips. Sebastian doesn’t think twice about letting him in. When their tongues touch, sweet and soft and languid, he trembles, pressing closer. Chris tastes a little like beer, and while Sebastian’s never been overly fond of beer, it takes approximately two seconds of being kissed by the hottest man on the planet for it to magically turn into Sebastian’s new favorite taste. Ever.

The kiss starts off slow; a little cautious maybe, as if Chris still isn’t entirely sure it’s welcomed. But then Sebastian’s hands find their way to Chris’s waist, fingers gripping tightly, and Chris slides a hand into Sebastian’s hair, angling his head gently to the left to deepen the kiss – and suddenly, Sebastian’s entire body feels like it’s on fire. He moans, relishing the feel of Chris's soft beard scratching at his clean-shaven cheeks, and way Chris takes control of the kiss, like something right out of every embarrassing fantasy he's ever had.

When Chris hums against his lips, as if he’s enjoying this just as much as Sebastian is, Sebastian’s knees go all weak and useless. It’s a good thing that Chris is there, tightening his left arm around his waist and pulling him more securely against the hard lines of his own body – which actually doesn’t do a thing to help Sebastian’s current knee situation. He whimpers, curling his hands into the fabric of Chris’s coat to anchor himself.

When Chris finally breaks the kiss, he doesn’t go far. His breathing has deepened, warm puffs of air caressing Sebastian’s tingling, wet lips. Sebastian exhales shakily. The way his head is spinning might be partially due to the wine, but it's definitely mostly because of Chris sweeping him off his feet with his smooth, movie star ways.

Needing a moment to gain his composure before he speaks, Sebastian buries his face in the crook of Chris’s neck, taking a deep, steadying breath –

Oh.

“I fucking knew it,” he groans.

Sebastian feels rather than hears Chris’s quiet laugh; feels the vibrations of it shake his broad chest under Sebastian’s palms. “Yeah? Do I really smell like your candle?”

“Better,” Sebastian mutters. On instinct, he presses his lips against Chris’s exposed neck, eliciting a shiver from him.

“You know,” Chris rumbles into Sebastian’s ear. “I still think I need to smell this magical thing for myself. Make sure you’re not just flattering me to get into my pants, y'know?”

Christ.

“Yeah,” Sebastian nods. “Definitely, good thinking. Empirical evidence is paramount. In fact, it’s totally possible I’m just mixing things up right now because my brain’s all” – he makes a poof motion with his hands, trusting Chris will get his drift – “so I think maybe I’ll need to do some comparative research.”

Chris tilts his head in though. “Hands-on research?”

“I think that’s best, yes,” Sebastian concurs.

“Right. Well, out of the two of us, you’re definitely the higher educated one, so I’m just gonna take your word for that.” After a beat, Chris adds, “as long as I get to test a theory or two of my own.”

“Oh?” Sebastian licks his lips. “Such as?”

The wicked glint in Chris’s eyes is the only warning he gets before Chris is sliding his hand back into Sebastian’s hair and giving it a firm, experimental tug.

“Ah,” Sebastian breathes, his eyelids fluttering, the blood rushing south so fast he feels dizzy – again.

Chris grins smugly. “Such as that.”

“Okay,” Sebastian croaks. “Yeah, that seems fair.” Wasting no more time, he reaches out to grab Chris’s free hand and starts to pull him along the pavement in the direction of his apartment.

Chris, laughing as he squeezes Sebastian’s hand, follows closely behind.  

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[certifiablyidiotic]

I have a headcanon...

Keep in mind, this is a BroTP from an Amino roleplay between my OC and Mezo Shoji. To start it off, Ryan (My OC) had been talking with two villains, Chronostasis and Overhaul after watching Deku join the league. He is now going back to the dorms.

The redhead pushed through the door that led into the dorms. He slipped inside before flicking his glance towards the white haired male who sat in the common area, reading a book. The redhead had a small look of worry on his face and Shoji, being the papa mode he was, could sense that he had been in a nerve wracking situation. He stood up and walked over to Ryan obviously worried about him. Mezo stood in front of the redhead and, from a certain angle, Shoji was a skyscraper compared to the short redhead. The redhead had barely gotten into the building before he was confronted by the multi armed student. Shoji kneeled down, placing his two main hands on the redheads shoulder. He had a look of concern on his masked face.

"What happened while you were gone?"

The redhead had obviously not wanted to answer, but he trusted Shoji. He curled his eyebrows up, obviously nervous. He pushed his glasses up his nose before gesturing for head to his dorm. The white haired male nodded before they headed up to the second floor. The redhead kept a lookout for any nosy students. Once he spotted that there were none, he pushed the door to his poster-filled dorm and slipped inside, Shoji following behind swiftly. Ryan made his way over to the bed and sat on it. Shoji sat on the other end, intently listened to what the redhead had to say.

Shoji grew worried as the boy explained /almost/ everything he'd seen and done. He explained that Deku had joined the LoV and how he had been threatened by the villains who recruited him. He kept the location of the base a secret, though. He wasn't /that/ desperate to die. The redhead also explained that he had fought several villains at once with little to no help. Mezo was speechless. His friend had done so much in the past little while. Ryan was obviously afraid, and he had every right to be. Shoji was afraid for Ryan. What the hell had caused that damned redhead to do all of this?! Shoji had activated comfor lt dad mode and hugged the smaller redhead. He rested his chin on the boy's head. Ryan was so... so scared for his life. What if the villains had found him? And they took all of his friends... and hurt them? He did something so stupid. He felt the tears filling up his eyes. His lips quivered at the thought of all of his friends getting hurt. He wasn't prepared to deal with that. He was already dealing with losing his family, or the family he cared about, rather, and if he had gotten his friends hurt because of his stupidity, he would never be able to live with himself. 'What an idiot you are, Ryan. Why can't you do one simple thing: protect your friends. Just... stop doing rash things.' A couple tears had trickled down his face. He wrapped his arms around the taller male. He needed this comfort.

"I'm so sorry, Shoji. I put you all in danger."

The white haired male let out a small gasp as his friend blamed himself for all of this. It was partially the school's fault for not monitoring the kids and keeping them safe. He let out a small sigh before responding.

"We'll be fine. Just... stay safe, Ryan..."

The redhead nodded before letting go. He wiped the tears away from his face before sighing. Shoji had a hand gently placed on his friends back comfortingly. The rest of the time they were in Ryan's dorm was silent. Nothing else was needed to be said.

.   .   .

The redhead thanked Shoji for the comfort he was given by his friend before the octopus male stepped out of the redhead's dorm. The door shut with a soft click, Shoji making his way to his own dorm, which happened to be next to Ryan's. There was a boy, about seventeen, Spiderman-crouching on a dresser in the white haired male's room. 

"What the hell?!"

The male who sat in the room turned his attention from the money he had been stealing towards the tall male who had discovered his presence. The redhead heard the octopus yelling at something, obviously afraid. He teleported into the room to find the thief in there. He wore a bandana with a feline mouth on it, a pair of purple rimmed glasses that had some sort of animated eyes on it, a blue hoodie, black jeans, white Vans, black hair and tanned skin. (Shdh the explanation was irrelevant) He flicked his glance over to the two students who discovered his presence before shoving Shoji's wallet into his jacket pocket and hopping down from the dresser. He made his way to the open window in the dorm before Ryan bolted after him, Shoji trying to stop him.

Carlos made contact with the ground at a high rate of speed. The redhead who was chasing this cyborg had teleported down to the ground to stay safe and to avoid Shoji's grasp. The cyborg noticed that this damned apple started to follow him. He let out a small groan before holding out one of his hands and shooting a burst of sound at the boy. This noise was ear shattering. Ryan covered his virgin ears with his hands and winced. Sound manipulation? Definitely. The cyborg had gotten Ryan so distracted by the noise that he managed to escape. He ran away, the money-filled wallet still in his pocket. 

Ryan had little time to recover from the pain. There was a trickle of blood coming from his ears and his hearing was absolutely shot. There was a ringing sound in his ears, but he could still hear just enough to find this guy. The redhead teleported out onto the streets, mot having a clue as to where this hoe was. He looked up and down, blood still dripping from his ears trying to find this hoe ass. He teleported once more to see if he got any closer. He had no luck. He continued to try and find this guy by teleporting, and he was already reaching the limit of what he could do. Ryan only had ten teleports that he could use and he was at nine with no luck. He hoped for the best on this last teleport and used it. He ended up appearing not too far behind the now-strolling villain. The redhead would've teleported to him, but he would be physically disabled if he did so. Instead, he focused his power solely on one of the robotic arms the villain had and yanked the cyborg towards him. Carlos let out a small yelp as he landed on the ground before the redhead. Ryan stepped on the villain's chest to prevent him from leaving. The redhead yanked the villains robotic arms to prevent the use of his powers. Carlos screamed in pain. Oh god, Ryan was gonna get chewed out by Aizawa for this. And maybe the police. Definitely the police. He knew that this could get him imprisoned, but he needed to do this for Shoji. But why for just a wallet? It wasn't as much for the money as it was for the approval. He needed this so Shoji would care for him more. He loved that damned Octopus too much. In a friendlY wAy. The redhead dug his hands into the villains pockets before laying his fingers on the wallet. He smiled a bit before standing up. Just so he didn't get caught, he reattached the cyborg's arm, but then proceeded to knock that hoe out. Carlos lay unconscious while Ryan hid him somewhere hhh. The redhead started walking back before realizing it was too far of a walk. He groaned a bit before he settled on teleporting back. Oh god. That was a mistake. His stomach was gurgling and he felt sick. He ran towards the communal bathroom, trying not to explode before he reached the toilets. Shoji had been pacing in the common area as the redhead burst into the bathroom. The white haired male followed closely behind as the redhead ran into one of the stalls. Mezo knelt down next to Ryan before thinking to go get some medicine. He stood up and ran to the medical supply closet, searching for good stomach medicines. Once he acquired the medicine, he ran back to the violently vomiting redhead. Shoji poured the medicine into the redhead's mouth so that he wouldn't have to. Ryan softly thanked Shoji while he grabbed a trashcan so he could go back to his dorm. Shoji followed close behind so he could be there if Ryan needed any support. Mezo helped the shorter boy into bed, pulling the blankets over him so he could relax. The redhead whimpered as the vomiting began to slow. He flicked his now reddened eyes towards the octopus and smiled.

"Thanks, Dad..."

The redhead teased the octopus for acting like a better father than his oWn. (Not Elliott-) Shoji chuckled softly, pulling a chair up from the desk Ryan had in his dorm and placing himself in it to make sure the redhead had everything he needed. 

"You're welcome, my son."

.   .   .

The redhead had slept for several hours. It was all uninterrupted. Once his body told him to sleep, his vomiting stopped. Thank God for that. Shoji started to feel queasy, as well. The redhead fluttered his eyes opened to see Mezo sleeping in a chair he had pulled up along with a clean trash can, the one Ryan had been vomiting in. Did… Shoji clean it out? As a matter of fact, he had. While the shorter boy slept, the white haired octopus had decided to clean it out, seeing as it was growing rather full. He also decided to straighten up Ryan’s dorm for him. It was rather messy anyways. The redhead came to this realization and felt his lips curl up into a smile. He slowly slipped out of the bed, taking the bin back to the bathroom, where it had been previously, before heading back towards his room. The psychic student decided to change out of his previous ‘date clothes’ and into more comfortable clothing. From what he could tell, it was still Saturday, so there was some time left in the day before lights out in the dorms. The redhead changed in his dorm, knowing full well that there was a sleeping Mezo Shoji about four feet from him. He quietly slipped his previous clothing off and set them on the floor neatly before pulling the new set of clothing over his bare body. As Ryan leaned over to pick up his dirty clothes, he ended up slamming his head into the wardrobe that held all of his outfits, including backup uniforms in case of accidental destruction. There also sat a costume. It was seemingly a cosplay for a Pro Hero that had his hero’s license and could actually hurt villains, as Ryan had done illegally. If he was caught, he would be in a world of trouble. But the costume was, in fact, his hero costume that he had made for future events. He hadn’t particularly *enjoyed* his costume, but it got the job done. He knew the cape was a bit too much, but he wanted to add some personal pizazz to it. The costume didn’t consist of much. Just a head piece that could replace his glasses that had ear covers that could block out all the sounds with the simple click of a button. He could go completely deaf, but it was all to keep focus. After all, he needed to focus if he wanted his Quirk to be useful. There was also metallic body pieces for no other purpose except agility. If he could use his telekinetics on himself, he would be able to dodge any incoming attacks easier. These pieces were made for his shoulders and elbows. There wasn’t any need for more due to the regulator he had gotten produced. This regulator wrapped around his stomach like a big belt and it had a giant circular piece that was placed on the stomach region. This was so Ryan could teleport more times in a day without risk of destroying his organs. It brought up the limit of ten uses to about twenty. The whole of the costume had no use for him now, but in later terms, it would. Such as becoming a hero. Anyways, back to Ryan slamming his head into his wardrobe. The noise ended up waking Shoji with a small jump. The smaller boy grasped at his head where he had hit it. He let out a small groan before Shoji realized what had happened. The white haired male let out a small chuckle, standing up to make sure Ryan was okay. He knelt down in front of him and examined his face for any sign of pain that the boy’s face would show. Ryan chuckled softly at his dumb mistake. He held his clothes in one arm before he patted the white haired male on the head. The masked male let out a small chuckle at the redhead’s babyish actions. The shorter student made his way out of the dorm and towards the communal laundry room. Ryan made his way into the room he intended to go to and noticed that there were two girls there. One was invisible and the other was pink. They were whispering to each other about… Ryan and Shoji. The redhead slipped behind the large dryer silently to listen in on the conversation.

”Are they dating? They have to be!”

“It’s too hard to tell, Toru, but, yeah! They have to be. Ryan and Shoji are, like, the perfect couple. Shoji takes too much care of Ryan to *not* be loving on him.”

”Exactly! See, Mina. You and I think alike. That’s one of the many things I like about ya. Anyways, let’s get an octopus to date an apple!”

The pink haired girl squealed childishly, showing that she had been excited for the whole situation. Toru and Mina were very determined to get the two students together. The redhead was speechless. His face was as red as his hair and he had been afraid of the power Toru and Mina had. They had been friends with everyone, so they could definitely get a look under the curtains into people’s personal lives. The redhead quickly threw his dirty clothes into the laundry hamper before teleporting into his dorm once more. Shoji had already left. The octopus was now in his own dorm. There was a light, muffled knocking on the door next to his dorm. On the right side, where… SHOJI’S DORM! The boy slipped out of his dorm to see Mina and Toru waiting outside a closed dorm room. The door made a clicking sound as Shoji opened the door. The two girls slipped inside the bland dorm. Oh god… This would be hell.

.   .   .

The two girls slipped out from the room about twenty minutes later. Shoji followed right after them only to come to Ryan’s dorm and knock softly. Before the boy had time to come answer the knocking, Shoji made his way into the dorm, rushing to slip inside. He shut the door softly, gesturing for Ryan to sit down. The redhead placed himself on the bed, as he had been doing some quirk exercises beforehand. Mezo pulled up a chair once more, holding a look of concern. Oh God, what did Mina and Toru say? The redhead had obvious worry. There was silence for several moments before Shoji spoke the first word.

“Ashido and Hagakure told me that… you had a crush on me?”

Those b a s t a r d s.

The truth was, Ryan did have some sort of feelings towards the white haired male, but he couldn’t quite place a name to it. He knew it wasn’t a ‘crush,’ but there was definitely some attraction towards Shoji. The redhead’s face flustered a dark red hue, Shoji growing more worried. Ryan nervously shook his head before speaking.

“W-Well, I wouldn’t say th-that! I don’t s-see you as a b-boyfriend, m-more as a father or-or a brother! I h-heard Mina and Toru pla-planning to get us together. Th-This has to be a part of their plan. Y-You’re my best friend. Not saying that you’re not at-attractive, but I just don’t see you that way!”

Mezo nodded slowly, feeling relaxed for the blunt response. He let out a small sigh before standing up and walking towards the bed. Shoji pulled the redhead into a small hug, softly thanking him for being a good friend. The boy hummed his agreement, leaning into the hug. 

Maybe there was some attraction.

[criminalhotch]

Feelings and Emotions~A Grayson Dolan Imagine

A/N: I know this is like two weeks late but working two jobs is tiring and I just didn’t have the time but I can only work one job this week so I wrote this. This is Part 4 to An Old Flame. I have linked the first three parts in case you need a refresher and I just reblogged them as well! The next part is E’s wedding and I am super excited to write that! I am not sure when it will be up though I have friends visiting for a late birthday celebration this weekend. This has got a little bit of everything in it and it is a few hundred words longer than the other three. Excuse any typos, please. Please feel free to send in requests!

An Old Flame

Little Black Dress

My Home is You

Warnings: Smut, Protective Daddy Grayson, DADDY! Grayson, some cursing. 

Word Count: 3,857

 Ethan, Grayson, Amelia, and Addison’s birthdays are tomorrow. My parents, the boy’s parents, Brooke, Cameron, and myself had planned a surprise party for all four of them. Which was hard due to the age difference, but we decided to just do two themes. The girls had Peppa Pig and the boys had a muscle cars theme. Two cakes, two sets of decorations, two of pretty much everything. Brooke had the easy job she just had to wrangle up Ethan to go over to his parent’s house, I, on the other hand, had to get the girls and Grayson there. I told them we were going to a birthday dinner and they all needed to dress nicely. Grayson wore black skinny jeans with a black shirt and a denim jacket. Meanwhile, the girls had matching dresses, but one was black, and one was red. Addison wore the black one while Amelia wore the red one. I had Bentley wear blue jeans with a sweater and a collared shirt underneath it. I wore a blue sweater with black leggings. We all looked very nice and very warm. 

(A/N: I do not imagine the models of the outfits to be what the characters look like. It is only to show the outfits. The only person that matches is Grayson. It is totally up to your imagination what the characters look like.)

“Babe, can I drive the Jeep?” I asked. “Um, why?” Grayson hesitated. “Where we are going is a surprise, so you are all getting blindfolded even B, so he doesn’t tell” I explained. “Why don’t we take your car then?” he suggested. “The girls’ car seats are in the Jeep and they won’t all fit in my car,” I told him. “Ok but don’t kill us,” he said while tossing me the keys. “I need you to help me blindfold the kids then I will blindfold you,” I said. “Ooo kinky” he snickered. “Grayson Bailey” I scolded. “What?” he shrugged, “I said slinky”. I rolled my eyes then blindfold Bentley while he put one on Addy. I hopped in the drivers’ side while he finished with Lia’s. “Your turn” I smiled as blindfolded him then buckled myself in. “Not only are you driving MY car, but you are doing it while I am BLINDFOLDED” he exaggerated. “Gray, you’re being a drama queen, quit acting like Ethan,” I said shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me. “How long until we are there mommy?” Bentley asked. “We are almost there, sweetheart,” I told him. I pulled into the driveway but didn’t park the car so they wouldn’t think they were there. Right as I checked my phone Brooke had texted me. “We will be there in a minute”, so I decided to back out and drive around the block. “Why did you back up?” Gray asked. “I am used to driving my car and I thought we could fit in the parking spot, but we couldn’t” I explained falsely, and he nodded. When we pulled back in Brooke was waiting for us. It was hard having to direct everyone, so I told Bentley to take off his blindfold but not to say anything and he nodded. “Addy, Lia hold Bentley’s hands he will guide you,” I said to the girls. Which having a two-year-old guide two five-year-olds wasn’t easy, but he did well. I had Gray while Brooke had E. We both mouthed, “3,2,1” to each other and walked in. Everyone screamed “Surprise!” as they all took off their blindfolds. “A surprise party!” The girls yelled while the boys both grinned.

Lisa came up to us first shortly followed by Sean. “I see you managed” Lisa commented. “It was difficult, but I let B take his blindfold off so he could help the girls” I explained. “The decorations look awesome,” I said as I admired the mix of the two themes. “Cam helped us” Sean explained. “Where is she?” I asked. “Not sure,” Lisa said as they were swept away by some family friends. I felt arms wrap around my waist. “You are amazing” Gray whispered in my ear. “I’m not trying to brag but I mean” I snickered. “Thank you for all of this. My parents told me this was all your idea everyone just joined in. You weren’t even in the state and managed to make everything work. The girls and B are having a blast” he told me. “I love surprise parties. It was a lot of fun, honestly” I admitted truthfully. “Daddy, when can we open presents,” Lia asked tugging at Gray’s shirt. “Let me talk to grandma first, ok?” he asked, and she nodded then ran off. Gray intertwined his fingers with mine as we walked around trying to find Lisa again. “The girls are ready for presents” he chuckled. “Well then let’s get them some presents!” she exclaimed. We sat through presents and cake. The evening started to die down. It was almost nine and the kids were getting tired. We started loading the kids up into the Jeep. Gray had taken Addy out first because she was already passed out. Ethan came up to me as I was packing up all the presents the girls had got. “Thank you,” Ethan said to me. “For what, E?” I asked. “This party but mainly for coming back to Grayson. Not to be dramatic but he is so different now that you’re here. You light up his whole world. I mean the girls mean everything to him, but you just completed the hole that was missing in his heart. I have never seen him smile or laugh this much since before you left” he admitted. “Ethan, I know I messed up. I know I hurt your brother and trust me I feel like a terrible human being, but I promise that I will never leave him again. I haven’t been this happy since before I left him either. I mean I loved Ryan and he gave me Bentley but Gray” I paused “Grayson is the one and I hope he feels that way too,” I told him. “I think he does too. I mean I think that’s a way’s away but either way let Brooke and I tie the knot first, ok?” he chuckled. “Oh, we will I promise,” I told him as Gray entered the room. “What are you guys talking about?” Gray asked. “How much of a little bitch you are when it comes to Y/N” Ethan teased him. They hadn’t changed much with age. Gray quickly tackled him to the floor. “Like you’ve got much room. You are the first one to get married. No one thought you’d be first or even second” Gray snickered. “Yea well you beat me to kids” Ethan rebutted. “And that is a good thing,” Grayson said back. “Ok you two we need to get our kids home,” I said pulling Grayson from his brother. “Can I drive now?” Gray asked. “But I loved driving the Jeep” I pleaded sticking my bottom lip out. “Damn, you know I can’t tell you no, right?” he asked. “Yes, I know,” I said as I kissed him once he was done shutting the door to his parent’s house. I pushed him into the door to hold us up. “Babe, the kids can see us,” he said, and I pulled away. He started walking to the jeep and as he got in I told him “We are finishing that later” and he smirked.

  **Skip to Summer (Specifically Memorial Day)

My family decided to have their Memorial Day on Saturday and Gray’s family’s was on Sunday. My parents had a beach house, so we decided to go there. My dad had fireworks, food to grill which Grayson insisted he would help him with, and lots of things for the kids to do. “Having one of these would be so nice” Gray commented. “I mean yeah, sure but not for a while, right?” I asked him. “Whenever you want one babe” he responded. “I mean my parents would let us use it whenever. Why would we need one?” I asked. “It was just a thought, darling” he replied.

We had brought the kids to the beach. Bentley had never been, so he was excited with his swim trunks, sunscreen, and some floaties as well as sandcastle equipment courtesy of the twins. The kids were a few feet away building their castles while Gray laid on his stomach letting his back tan. I had a small chair on top of our large blanket so I could tan my stomach. I was reading a book when Addy came running over to us, crying. “Daddy those kids knocked over our sand castle,” she said pointing at kids who were probably about eight or nine and stomping on my kids’ sand castle. Gray got up quickly and I knew that look. He was protective of me, sure but with the kids, it nearly doubled. I couldn’t tell if his face was red from the heat or from anger. “Gray, they are kids!” I shouted at him. “Were you the kids who destroyed my children’s sand castle?” he asked them angrily. “Yes, their sand castle was ugly. We did them a service” the boy responded. He was probably nine or ten. “Yeah, it was all lopsided and separated” the blonde little girl explained. “They are two five-year old’s and a two-year-old, who are you to come over here and destroy someone else’s hard work? I don’t care how good or bad it looked, they were proud of it and they were learning because they are young. Bentley here has never been to the beach. You little brats came over here being bullies and ruining his first time here. That is just terrible. Now apologize to my children before I find your parents and tell them how rude you were to MY kids” he finished. “Uhh S-s-sorry” they all muttered. “You better mind your own business while you are on this beach and leave kids that are younger and smaller than you alone. Do you understand me?” Gray asked them. “Yes,” the two younger girls said immediately but the boy stood there. “I believe I asked you a question,” he said growling towards the oldest child. “Uhh, yes sir” he finally muttered slightly scared of my boyfriend. “Now be gone and don’t come near my kids ever again,” he said as the older kids all ran off. Damn, he was hot being all protective. “Are you guys ok, did they hurt you?” he asked the kids. “Just our feelings, daddy” Lia sniffled. He kissed her sandy head. “You guys want to build another one?” he asked. “but they said it was ugly” Addy cried. “Hey, you guys haven’t made one in a long time. Practice makes perfect. Why don’t Y/N and I help you guys?” he asked looking over at me and I nodded then got up. “Ok!” they all shouted. “You’re so hot being protective over the kids,” I said while the kids were off getting some wet sand a couple feet away. “There are 6 people you don’t fuck with. My mom, my dad, my brother, my sister, you, and especially my kids” he told me still slightly angry. “You’re a good dad, Gray” I smiled at him while making a smooth spot for the sand castles. “I was bullied my whole life I refuse to let it happen to my kids too,” he said. “I know, babe. I’m not mad at you. It kind of turned me on, actually” I said as I started to get up to go help, Bentley. “Oh, really?” he smirked. “Mhmm,” I said as I bent down to his ear “Daddy” I finished as I walked away to help Bentley. Making sure my boobs looked very full and perky knowing he’d stare right at me, and the kids of course. I had realized there were a couple of buckets behind us, so I turned around and bent over to pick them up just to tease Grayson more because why not, right? We walked back over and started making the sand castles. Grayson came over next to me and began rubbing my thigh. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Just some payback” he snickered. “When we get back to the beach house you can do whatever you want to me” I begged. “Damn right,” he said reaching over to help the girls. We were at the beach about another hour as it was nearing dinner time and it was almost time to eat. We walked back to the beach house. The kids changed into their Memorial Day outfits as Grayson helped my dad grill. “He loves you” I heard a familiar voice. “I know mom and I love him too” I smiled. “I am so glad you came back even though it was for Grayson,” my mom told me truthfully. “Bentley deserved to have a family and a father figure, some siblings” I responded. “You made the best choice for you and your son never forget that,” she said as my dad called out that the food was done cooking, so it was time to eat.

 It was such a fun day overall. It sucked the beach had to be ruined by those bratty kids. Thankfully we could get our frustrations out because my parents’ room was downstairs, and the kids’ room was all the way down the hall. “You were not very nice at the beach today,” Grayson said as he came back from showering. His body glistened with water droplets and a fresh tan. “I couldn’t help it. You were so sexy standing up for the kids like that” I said as I moved closer my eyes never leaving his body. I quickly pulled the loose knot he had anchored around his hips. The towel falling to the floor releasing his semi-hard member. “I guess we should fix that,” I said wrapping my hand around him as he leaned down to kiss me hard. He backed me into the bed where I fell and then I quickly scooted my body up to the pillows. “How does it feel knowing that we are having sex in the same house your parents are in” he asked. “It was fine until you said something, but I’ll get over it” I shrugged grabbing his face and connecting our lips. “Eager, are we?” he snickered. “Always for you, daddy” I teased. “Damn it, baby girl” he growled pulling my thighs towards his mouth. “You know you deserve a small punishment for teasing me in public like that princess and with the kids? What would have happened if I got too hard because of you?” he asked angrily but before I answered his mouth attacked my clit, harshly. I screamed out in shock and in pleasure. “Graaaaayyy” I moaned. His tongue lapped at my pussy as his nose brushed my clit. He stopped for a second to ask, “Do you want a finger baby girl?”  “Oh my god, yes daddy” I yearned for more of his touch. He thrusted a finger inside of me while continuing his attack with his mouth. The things he could do with his tongue, his teeth, and his lips. He added another finger causing me to moan loudly. “Keep quiet, princess. Don’t wanna get caught” he hummed. I was close, and he knew it. He wrapped his mouth around my swollen clit sucking harshly as two of his thick fingers pulsed in and out of me. “Daddy!” I screamed as I started to cum all over his face, probably drowning him with my release. He never stopped his mouth stayed on my clit even after I had come down from my high. “Gray, I can’t,” I said with a shaky breath. “Oh, but you will, this is your punishment baby girl. I want you to cum two more times then I will think about if I want to fuck you or not” he explained. He then returned to his position. He kitten licked my sensitive heat as I moaned his name repeatedly. “God this pussy is so pretty and it’s all mine” he growled plunging two fingers into me without warning. “D-d-daddy” I stuttered out. I was close to my second orgasm. “I’m close” I moaned out. “I know baby girl. I know exactly how you are when you are about to come for daddy” he said with a cocky grin. He took a break from his mouth. His two fingers stayed inside of me at a steady rhythm as he brought his other thumb up to my clit rubbing in sync with his other fingers. “Cum Princess, I know you want to cum on my fingers for a second time tonight” he granted me permission and I fell apart at his touch. “G-G-Gr-Grayson” I said trying to recover from my orgasm, but he wouldn’t let me. His thumb never left my clit except for when he switched it back to his mouth. “Grayson,” I said but he wouldn’t stop. I needed to take a break. “Gray” my voice cracked as tears pricked at my eyes and he stopped immediately. “Wh-What’s wrong?” he asked. “What did I do?” he asked with sad eyes like he’d hurt me. “I just need a break. It is starting to hurt a little bit” I said. “I-I���m sorry” he sulked. “It’s ok, it felt so good until it didn’t. You were caught in the moment and nothing’s wrong with that” I smiled at him and he kissed my forehead.  “Why don’t I uhh help you out,” I said motioning to his dick that was glistening with precum yearning to be caressed. “I don’t want to get carried away again” he whispered. “I’ll stop myself if I need to, just let me do it, ok?” I said making my way down his body and he nodded. I flicked my tongue along the underside of his long, thick shaft. “Mhmm, baby girl” he hummed. I began to suck gently on his desperate tip. “Oh god, beautiful. Fuck I love you so much” he groaned as I removed my self from him. “I love you too handsome,” I said as I began to take more of him in my mouth hallowing my cheeks and slipping my tongue in every direction. Gray couldn’t help but be in control, so it wasn’t long before he pulled my hair into a makeshift ponytail. I looked up at him as he did it and he looked right at me. His eyes saying I’ll be careful. I nodded and let him take control of me. I bobbed my head on his cock as he led me with pulls and tugs of my hair. He removed me suddenly and I was confused. “What did I do?” I asked. “Oh god, not a damn thing but if I don’t fuck you right now I am going to lose myself inside your mouth” he groaned as he pulled me up and pointed for me to lay on the bed.

He climbed on top of me slowly. “Ready, beautiful?” he asked. “Whenever you are, Gray” I agreed. He slowly pushed himself inside of me like he was afraid of hurting me. “Babe,” I said, and his beautiful brown-green eyes flicked up to meet mine. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Nothing but you act like you’re going to break me” I explained. “I don’t want to hurt you again,” he told me. “You won’t, Gray. It’s ok” I explained. “I’m over your punishment. I just want to make love to you now” he said quietly. He had kept a steady pace, but it was slow. “That’s fine, baby but can you go a little faster?” I asked, and he nodded picking up his pace. It was rare when he was slow and deliberate. His neck was bent to where he was looking at my boobs as they bounced with the connection of his hips with mine. I took the time to capture his body in my mind. Our bodies continued to connect over and over. It felt like slow motion as if we needed to take the time to truly feel our emotions. I loved him, I always had. He was my boyfriend, my best friend.

We both had come down from our highs and we were laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep. He had turned away from me like he was afraid to look at me. “Grayson let me see your face” I requested. He slowly turned onto his other side. “What’s wrong?” I asked. He sighed, and I pulled him into me. His head rested on my shoulder buried in my hair. I began playing with his hair trying to calm him. “Talk to me, babe” I begged. “I’m scared. I’m scared that I’m going to hurt you not only in bed but like in real life. Not like physically, god I could never hit you or the kids but like emotionally” he said rambling a little bit. “Gray, I am an adult. I have grown and so have you. What happened tonight was an accident. I know you feel bad. It was one of those things where you live and learn. I am not mad or upset. You weren’t trying to hurt me, you were trying to have fun and it went south. It doesn’t make you a bad person” I explained to him and he didn’t respond. “Grayson Bailey” I sing songed.  “What?” he grumbled. “I love you,” I told him. “I know, and I love you,” he said while looking up at me. I leaned down and kissed him gently but deeply. Something was bothering him, but I wasn’t sure what. I could tell by his breathing he was beginning to fall asleep. His head on my chest and his legs intertwined with mine. I held him until he fell asleep then I kissed the top of his head. “You’re an incredible man, an even more amazing boyfriend, and a fantastic dad, Gray. I’m so lucky to get to love you again” I whispered to his sleeping body. “No, I’m the lucky one” he whispered into my chest. “You’re not asleep?” I asked. “I was then I woke up to you talking,” he said rolling onto his back then stretching out. I started to laugh. “C’mere. I want to hold you now” he said. He seemed more at peace, but something was still off, but I wasn’t going to bring it up now. We laid there in each other’s embrace. I felt safe, Grayson was my home, and nothing would ever change that. I felt myself fall asleep in his muscular arms. My eyes became hard to open and my body began to go limp. He began to speak softly but I heard everything he said, “I love you beautiful. I can’t wait to marry you one day and raise our kids together. I am so glad you came back to me. I thought you were the light at the end of the tunnel, but it turns out you’re the tunnel that I hope never ends”. I squeezed his hand to tell him I agree, and he kissed my head. “Goodnight, Y/N,” he said. “Goodnight, Grayson” I whispered back then quickly fell asleep feeling the most content I have ever felt in my life.

[f-l-writes]

Tricksters

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 2.4K

For: @sxngminhx / @taeyoapple

A/N: NOT from the Spooktober list!

Hope you enjoy and feel free to request! (Spooktober Writing List) (Ask Box)

Buy Me a Coffee

You’d known Dong Hyuk since middle school. He was always a bright and upbeat kid and he rarely let anything bring him down. He was sweet even he should have been annoyed or angry and he didn’t let much get to him. He was almost a pushover, but he knew how to get back at people when they used him. He was clever, smart, and beautiful.

You had gotten to be friends with him through your close friend Je No and the two of you had been able to quickly hit it off. You had become inseparable in a short month and from then on, remained by one another’s side throughout the ups and the downs. Dong Hyuk had been there for you through your first relationship and break up and you had been there through his. He had been there for you when you had gotten stood up on a date and you had been there for him when the girl he had been crushing on for years had rejected him.

It had quickly come to a point where neither of you knew what it would be like to live without one another anymore. By the time you were both seventeen, you had managed to accumulate enough money to buy a flat that was relatively close to both school and work as well as your families. That had been a wonderful year. Until it wasn’t.

Closer to your eighteenth birthday, you had noticed Dong Hyuk becoming more and more distant with you. Where you had both previously gone to the arcade on your days off from work and used the DDR machine and you always bested him at Skee Ball, you now found yourself going alone and playing while Dong Hyuk either stayed at home or went out with friends. You figured it was just him needing some time to himself. After all, living with someone created the need for privacy and time away from the person so you didn’t get sick of them.

However, it wasn’t supposed to last seven months. Wasn’t supposed to cause him to snap at you whenever you tried to talk to him about it. It wasn’t supposed to make him push you away even more when you tried to be civil and figure out what was wrong.

Now, you were getting tired of it. You were sick of him being so distant and never telling you anything. It was like you were living with a stranger with how little he spoke to you outside of the occasional “good morning” or “see you later.” It was infuriating and you planned on making him talk, no matter how much of a fight he put up.

Unfortunately, your plan would have to wait. He had work while you had a day off and school was currently on break. You had nothing to do except plan out just how you were going to make Dong Hyuk talk. Deciding to call up your good friend Je No, you held to your phone to your ear and paced while the rings entered their third and final round. Just before it sent you to voicemail, Je No picked up, clearly out of breath.

“Sorry for taking so long to answer, I’m at the gym right now. What’s up?” you wanted to make a joking remark but you could hear the clatter of equipment in the background that backed his claim and decided to keep your mouth shut, instead opting to answer your friend.

“Two things. First, do you know what’s been going on with Dong Hyuk lately? Second, if not, can you help me find out later today? You’re a lot more subtle than pinning him down until he talks.”

Je No’s laughter blessed your ears before the sound of equipment became more apparent as his voice became more distant, the man more than likely wiping the sweat off of his face, before it came back in full and you were left with his response.

“I’ll be over in like twenty minutes to help you out. And you’ll just have to wait and see what his problem is. I can’t go around spilling secrets like that,” Je No teased, hanging up before you could say anything else to him.

“I hate you, Lee Je No,” you mumbled into the quiet living space before plopping down on the couch that had taken you and Dong Hyuk at least two months to get after moving in because you had been too picky with couches and had gotten a relatively expensive one.

After a bit, you found yourself dozing off, barely focused as the real world faded away from you. That is, until there was a heavy pounding at the front door and Je No’s voice echoing clearly through the flat. Standing from your spot, you trudged over to the door and pulled it open before the white haired man pulled you further into your flat, a dorky grin on his face before he sat you down.

“Okay, so the plan to get Dong Hyuk to talk to you is to make him angry. If he’s angry, he’ll snap and he’ll tell you what’s going on in that cute little head of his,” Je No explained.

“How do we manage that, then?” you questioned, tilting your head to the side slightly as curiosity filled your eyes, observing the male as his lips curled into a smile.

“So, Dong Hyuk’s been hiding a little secret from you about you. He isn’t necessarily fond of you hanging out with other guys and even less so if they’re really close to you, have their hands on you, etc. So, when he gets home from work in… three-ish hours? He’ll have to be faced with an overly cuddly me and you, even if you’re not too big on that stuff. He will flip. You can get your answer out of him that way.”

“You’re evil, Je No. I love it,” you snickered, leaning back on the couch. “He gets out at about five today, so we have a couple of hours to kill if you want to head out and do something,” you suggested.

You watched a light go off in Je No’s head as he leaned in closer, a smile on his face and a mischievous glint in his eyes. You could already see the path his mind was taking before he started speaking, his mind running a thousands miles a minute. You could practically see the gears turning in his head, forming words before he even so much as opened his mouth.

“This could be an add-on to our plan. We make it seem to him like we’re out on a date, he gets angry, spills the tea as soon as we step in the door.”

“I love your ideas, Je No. Why don’t we get going, then?” you smirked, standing.

Catching Je No’s judging look, you looked down at what you were wearing before rolling your eyes at him. “Fine, I’ll go get changed, jerk. No need to judge.”

“There is a need to judge. Who the hell goes on a date in Ryan printed pajama pants and a gray tank with a flamingo on the pocket?”

“Shut up, Je No! Learn to live!” you shouted at him as you had made your way down the hall that led into your room so you could changed.

When you finally stepped out, Je No gave a low, playful whistle as he looked you over. You had on a red and white striped tee shirt on that hugged your figure nicely along with a pair of skinny jeans that stopped just at your ankles. As you wandered over to the door, you slid on black converse and completed the look with a maroon leather jacket.

“He’s gonna be pissed. Especially with you looking that damn good,” Je No chuckled, causing you to roll your eyes.

“Let’s go, Je No. We’ve got two and a half hours to rile him up at work,” you joked, opening the door and gesturing for the white haired male to go before you. “And if it weren’t for how close we are, I would say you’re doing this just take me on a date,” you teased, watching as he rolled his eyes.

“You wish. I’m amazed you’re not crawling all over me as is,” he joshed back.

“With you smelling like sweat and gym equipment? Please, you’d be better suited for a female bodybuilder,” you nudged him, watching as he once more rolled his eyes, the smirk on his face giving away the amusement to the annoyance he was trying to show.

From the flat, the two of you walked out to Je No’s car and the game to piss off Dong Hyuk began. On almost every social media you were active on and Dong Hyuk had your notifications on for, you posted various pictures of Je No. Most were fairly candid: him laughing at a joke, getting angry at a driver in front of you but still managing to look hot as hell, that eye smile that so often showed up, etc.

You knew Dong Hyuk was seeing most of them, solely based on you checking your story on Snapchat or Instagram. You couldn’t help the smirk that lit up your features as you saw him looking at the social medias while at work and, undoubtedly, his anger and annoyance levels slowly going up. You were hoping that he wouldn’t be so angry as to the fact that he wouldn’t talk to you when he got home, but you wanted him to be angry enough where he snapped and spilled everything. You needed to know why he was avoiding you and this was the only option you currently had to figure it out.

When you arrived at the arcade, that’s when the fun videos and photos really began. You recorded Je No Skee Balling and using the DDR machine and he recorded you playing those stupid shooting games and playing basketball. The captions were like cutesy, cupcake phase relationship captions and, in turn, it got you and him both a lot of questions from mutual friends.

By the time five o’clock was rolling around, you and Je No were finally making your way out, heading back to the car before arriving back at the flat with ten minutes to spare before Dong Hyuk got home. Once inside, the two of you settled on the couch, chilling beside one another. You hadn’t planned on putting your head on his shoulder, but you felt so unusually tired that you didn’t really bother stopping yourself from doing it.

You remained like that for a few minutes until the door was roughly pushed open and slammed shut, the visibly angry boy marching into view, his eyes narrowed at Je No and almost completely ghosting you over.

“What the hell was all that bullshit today, man?” Dong Hyuk shouted, the veins in his neck slowly becoming more visible as well as the ones in his hands as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

“What?” Je No began, a lazy smirk crawling over his face as his hand clutched your upper arm. “Do you mean my date with Y/N?”

An almost animalistic noise came from Dong Hyuk at that moment. “You know damn well what I mean, Lee Je No! What the fuck is your deal? Can I not tell you a damn thing anymore?”

“Look, man, you shouldn’t have pushed them away. It’s not my fault they came to me first.”

Now, Dong Hyuk’s eyes were on you, darkened with rage and frustration. “Why the fuck would you bother with this sick piece of shit?”

“He’s my friend, Dong Hyuk. Don’t call him that.” you were trying so hard to keep your voice level as you spoke to him, surprised at the annoyance that was quickly building in your chest as he spoke so negatively of his friend like that.

“Well, then tell me why you decided to go on a date with him. You know how much a fuckboy he is. Can’t stick to one person,” Dong Hyuk spat back, his eyes narrowed. “Did you really think you would get anywhere good with him? Or were you just looking for a quick thing?”

“What I’m looking for,” you retorted, “is you to tell me what the fuck has been going on with you lately. You’ve been avoiding me for months on end and I don’t understand why.” you continued to bite back on the rage that brewed in your stomach, not wanting to push him so far over the edge with your own anger that he never answered back.

“Take a wild fucking guess, Y/N! I love you but you’ve been to damn blind too see it and now you’re fucking around with some guy who doesn’t even know how to treat a person right?”

You were taken by surprise. You didn’t expect it to come so easily from him but at the same time you weren’t expecting it to take so long either. While you angry about how he was talking about Je No, the boy seemingly unaffected no matter what, you were at a loss of words.

“What do you mean you love me?” your voice suddenly dropped and Dong Hyuk realized what he said, his face turning a bright red as he looked away.

“Nothing. Forget I said anything,” he mumbled, moving to walk away before you reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him back.

“Tell me what you meant.”

Now, Je No cut in, stopping Dong Hyuk from answering immediately. “I think my job here is done, Y/N. I’ll see you two lovebirds on the flipside.” he winked as he walked out, leaving you and Dong Hyuk alone in the flat.

“I mean what I said. I fell in love with my best friend and I was pushing you away in hopes of getting rid of the feeling,” he mumbled, his eyes refusing to meet yours.

“You’re such a cliche bastard,” you laughed, pulling the man into a hug, the previous anger disintegrating. “It’s like reading one of those idol x reader stories on Tumblr,” you joked, pulling back as you looked at him.

“That being said,” you continued on, “I love you too. Is there anyway we can make up for the lost time?” you questioned.

“Well, I know we both have off tomorrow so… why don’t we head to the arcade, I show you a better time than Je No, we come home and watch a few movies?”

“Sounds good with me. Glad to have you back… and to have you be mine now, right?”

“Correct,” he responded with a smile, causing your heart to flutter. “I’m yours and you’re mine.”

[ghoulluck]

When Nico dreamed, it was a great darkness -- big and vast. It swallowed up every scream, every spell -- everything. After years of trying to fight her dreams, she had accepted it. She would sit in the plane of space, staff of one floating over her and illuminating the very little she could see. The little light it gave her only highlighted the darkness around her. Nico stared out, imagining it would make shapes until she would wake up feeling like she hadn’t slept.

She wiped back her inky blue hair as she sat up in bed, hands in her lap, Staff of One laying next to her in bed and brown eyes trained on the mirror across from her bed. Nico passed a hand over the space in front of her, effectively wiping away what she saw to check on her mother. Tina was downstairs sifting through her physical mail while Robert actively avoided her mother.

“Dad?”

The man looked about himself before carefully whispering back, “Yeah, pumpkin?”

“Is she angry today?”

His eyes found the reflective surface she was speaking to him through and he walked towards it so he could speak more softly, “No. Not yet at least.” Nico’s mouth pursed and he adjusted his glasses carefully, “It’s okay. I love you.” She didn’t say it back and her image faded on the turn of metallic rings.

She dusted her hands as she passed her hands down her legs under her blanket. They were sore from cutting into the soft skin. Nico bent her elbow to inspect her arm and noted that her mother’s grip had left a heavy bruise. She breathed in deeply as she struggled to move. 

She wobbled as dragged herself off the edge of her bed. 

Nico smoothed her night gown over her cuts as she made her way to the shower. It was saturday and if she was lucky she could avoid her mother by going over to Julien’s instead. She plucked her phone from it’s charging port on her dresser as she made a detour instead. 

Julien picked up on the first ring.

Nico couldn’t help the tug of a smile when she heard the blonde’s tiny yawn, “Morning.”

The blonde hadn’t bothered to get off the floor yet. She had fallen asleep playing grand theft auto with her brother who lay asleep on his side, an arm haphazardly draped over his doberman, Lily. She reached out to play with a little bit of his long hair as she shouldered the phone.

“I was hoping you’d want to spend today with me,” Nico stated hesitantly as she picked open one of her drawers cautiously to pick out some underwear. She can almost hear Julien smile as the blonde tosses her long blonde hair back with a nod Nico can’t see, “Yes, but training at --” She checks her iwatch with a sigh, “In twenty.” 

The blonde woman cautiously rises with a creak in her back that makes her grimace in pain.

“Do you want to pick me up after?” Nico’s teeth clasp her lower lip as she waits on the response. She’s almost always afraid that one day Julien won’t like her  as much as Nico likes the cheerleader. 

They don’t exactly come from the same worlds. The Minorus are wealthy -- hell the only reason Julien is in Atlas academy was because she had earned a scholarship. Julien’s adopted Fathers were both part of LA’s police department, Hart in cyber crimes and Antoly as a beat cop and a trainer for MMA fights. 

It was a far cry from the glass dollhouse Nico lived in with her mother and father. The teenager treaded carefully in her own home. Her mother had a nervous break down after her star child -- Amy had killed herself. It was a grim reminder that her own mother didn’t love her as much as she hoped they would. Recently, she had discovered her father’s affair with a childhood friend’s wife and that had driven a wedge between them. He could easily have taken them out of the situation, but chose not to.

“Yes.”

Julien’s answer brought her out of her thoughts and she smiled.

“Can we go to the art museum again?”

She had discovered not too long ago that like Nico, Julien had her own special gifts. Together, their power multiplied beyond what they individually could not do on their own.

“Are you thinking about what I’m thinking?” the goth asked as she looked at her standing closet to see what dresses were still clean. Julien hummed on the other line as she went to her bedroom, “We can go to standing rock.” Being able to read each other’s minds was like a blessing. “Yeah, have that picnic we talked about,” the goth stated as she pulled the perfect black dress from her selection, “See you in like an hour or two, yeah?”

Julien nodded, “I like you.”

Nico smirked to herself a bit, “Yeah? I like you too.”

The blonde smiled to herself a little and she hung up the phone to set it aside. She picked through the mess on her floor to find her doberman curled up in one of her more recently used sweaters. She gave him a kiss and his ear flicked at her face when she did so. Adolf was not a morning pupper. She pulled a pink dress and Nico’s black jean jacket from the floor for later, stuffed it in her bag, grabbed some hygiene stuff and changed into her ever preferred pink sportswear.

She pulled her long fairy blonde hair into a high pony tail to keep it out of her face. She didn’t bother with cleaning up her smeared mascara or removing her lashes. Instead, she strode out with her bag, pulled some shoes on -- ran back for a pretty pair for later and went to kneel by Zedd who was still asleep on the floor. She shook him lightly to try to wake him which only resulted in a very cranky Lily. 

“What?” Zedd croaked as he tried not to glare at her and the sun.

“Can I borrow your bike?”

He looked around, “Why can’t you borrow Dad’s car?”

“Nico smiles more when I bring the bike.”

He grimaced as he shuffled through his pockets noisily for the keys. He passed them over to her when he found them and Julien leaned over to kiss his face which made him smile just a little bit. “Be careful,” he warned his sister as he rubbed her shoulder. Adolf sulked over to Zedd to lay on him. The teenage boy made a deflated sound as he dragged a pillow over his head to keep the light out of his eyes.

Julien greeted the funny looking pit bulldog mix that sat beside the pretty disabled woman. Paulina was a family friend of the West-Moore’s and by all means was always present at her child’s training sessions. She greeted the blonde teenager with a smile and Julien returned it as she dropped her bag next to her dad. Hart still preferred the title of dad, mom still didn’t make her completely comfortable. She put one pretty muscular arm around Julien and made the teenager duck her head to kiss it.

“How was worship?” Julien asked the two women.

“It was good,” Paulina answered, “Ryan and Hart came, we had light breakfast after and we came to practice.” The older woman still had a bit of a Spanish accent, but Julien enjoyed it immensely. “Sounds fun,” the teenager commented as Hart curled her fingers with the little tip of the blonde’s pony tail. “Yeah, you sleep okay? I know you and Zedd stayed up pretty late.” Julien nodded a bit with a shrug. The floor always made her jaw hurt, although she couldn’t think of any good reason why it shouldn’t hurt with all the chewing she had been doing lately.

Her dark brown eyes darted across to her other dad. Antoly was currently in the ring with Paulina’s kid. There was something undoubtedly off about Ryan and Julien did her best to avoid the other. Ryan’s dad and his wife were off to the side talking quietly before she bent at the waist to pick up her kid to go.

“Did my pretty princess eat anything yet?” Antoly’s voice brought Julien out of her mild trance and her eyes went to the big blonde russian. She was always happy that he was blonde like her. He was a little too young to be a dad, so she was constantly questioned on if he was her brother. She was elated to be anything to him at all. Julien also knew better then to lie to her dad, “No.”

Antoly’s face had a look of mild disappointment, his blonde brows furrowing and his mouth pressed downwards, “You know the rules.” Hart wore the same expression, but his was knit in concern when Julien’s breath shuddered in milk panic. Antoly had promised to start enforcing his rules, training on an empty stomach was not allowed. 

Paulina couldn’t help overhearing the pair talk to their child and grasped around her wheelchair for the bag on her handle. She pulled out one of Ryan’s blenders and handed over the pre-mixed mush. She’d just make Indy mix their little dark prince a new one. Julien looked at the massive blender. It wasn’t that big really, but she could imagine the calories alone and that made her feel sick to her stomach.

You have to eat if you want to be a police officer.

Julien shuddered at the memory of sitting on Nico’s lap in the locker room before grabbing the shake with a nod of thanks. She glared at her blonde father who smirked a little and silently thanked the woman for being so kind. He went back into the ring and Julien forced herself to have at least half of the shake before she was allowed into the ring.

The blonde had the courtesy to clean it out of the remaining mixture and made sure the water made her hands red before handing it back to Paulina with an air of gratefulness. She joined her dad in the ring and they got right to it.

When training was over, she showered, got dressed for her date and applied a fresh coat of makeup on her face. She did it extra pale pink and glossy just for Nico. She pulled on her girlfriend’s jean jacket, folded up the arms since they weren’t long enough for her and changed her shoes. She felt bloated, but the work out at least helped.

Julien made her way out to the bike and pulled up the seat to put her backpack in it. In the spot across from her Indy was folding up Paulina’s wheel chair as she sat in the cabin of the truck with her arm over Ryan’s shoulders and her fingers playing with the short dark hair. 

Julien briefly wondered what it was like to be a parent to kids like them. 

She put the seat down and slung a leg over it as she coiled up her hair to keep it from whipping her in the face. She pulled her phone from her cleavage to shoot Nico a text, that it wouldn’t take her more then fifteen minutes to be right over. She pulled out of the parking lot before the truck did and hit the gas to get out the way as quickly as possible.

Julien played often with the idea of getting a red bike better accustomed to her height. She’d have to buy it herself because she didn’t think she deserved to just ask for such an expensive thing from her dads, but knowing them they’d figure out something for her if she just asked. The ride was pleasant, filled with the familiar sounds of LA traffic and people. She parked about a block away from the Minoru house and sent her girlfriend a quick text that she was waiting in their usual spot.

When Nico came out of the house, Julien could spot right away something wasn’t right by the hurried away her girlfriend crossed the street to her. She didn’t give Julien a kiss and instead wrapped her arms around the taller girl’s waist with the urgency to go. The blonde immediately took off. 

It wasn’t until they had nearly reached the Art Museum that Julien stopped.

She twisted around to get a good look at Nico and shuddered when the other girl refused to let her get a good look at her face. Tina had never hit Nico before. Usually Robert would have intervened before things got too out of hand. The goth girl fought the blonde before breaking down into tears, “I broke the trophy. I didn’t mean to. I bumped the corner. I broke--” Julien clasped Nico’s face between her hands to try to get her to look at her, to focus, to breathe. 

When the goth caught her breath, she broke into fresh tears, “She’s never--” There were a lot of things Tina was, a bitch, a cold shoulder, an emotional abuser, but beyond grabbing Nico’s arm too hard and just bruises from a stone tight grip, Tina had never hit her or her Dad. This was a new occurrence. Tina was a kyōiku mama, nothing more nothing less. It was too awful to say. It couldn’t have happened.

Julien kissed the side of the other’s face, soothing the pain and making the evidence go away before Nico caught her mouth to drown it all out. 

[cultix]

(Disclaimer just in case: I didn’t make this. I wish I could credit the original creator but I’m pretty sure they’ve deactivated. I haven’t deliberately changed anything but google docs may have messed up the way everything was in place, I’m fairly sure that it also changed any letter in italic to normal letters.)

Anti AU

(THERE ARE NO SHIPS IN THIS PLEASE THIS ISN’T A SHIP FANFICTION A SDF;AKJSDG;KHASDG;KAJSDFKL;SAJDFLKJASDF;KJAS)

Chapter 1:

September 1st, 1989. Dear Diary, I think I’m a good person. I think there’s good in everyone! But here we are, the first day of junior year! I look around at these kids I’ve known for like, a summer, and ask myself, ‘What happened?’ Cooper let the beginning of the musical Heathers play out in his head, modifying the lyrics as they went to better situate him.

He shook his head gently, scolding himself. No, I am not going to start a new year in a new school singing song lyrics in my head. I refuse.

That didn’t stop the melody from playing in the back of his mind, though. He looked up at the looming building in front of him, and just contemplated turning back. Politely ask the busdriver, ‘Excuse me, there’s been a mistake. I’m supposed to be going off a cliff right now.’

He huffed, letting the bad thoughts temporarily disperse. It’s just a new school! How bad can it be? Bad. It can be very bad!

Cooper continued his march toward the school, checking every five seconds to make sure he was headed to the right homeroom.

P-12, Cooper thought, That has to mean portable, right? Right?

He felt like a fool, the only junior that has to use a map to get around the school. Everyone else has been here for 2 years. They all know their way around the school. They know how to dress to impress. They don’t throw on baggy jeans and a striped shirt and why did he wear jeans it’s so hot outside and why didn’t he wear a better shirt and why did he wear his old Vans they’re almost falling apart and why didn’t he study the map more and-

“You’re lost aren’t you?” A voice said from next to him.

Cooper almost jumped out of his skin, turning fast to see someone standing next to him.

He was decently short, about a quarter of an inch taller than Cooper. He had messy brown hair, but it looked like an attempt was made to fix it. He also had brown eyes that were sharp and alert. He looked like he had been getting perfect sleep all summer. He wore a dress shirt and jeans, almost like he was trying to show he was kind of trying.

Cooper realized he was just staring at him. He snapped back into reality long enough to nod dumbly.

The boy didn’t smile reassuringly, just pointed to his left.

“Portables are that way,” He said blankly, “You could miss them, but it’s hard.”

“So I can’t miss them?” Cooper feebly said.

The boy looked at him, ���No, I just said you could. Nothing is impossible you know.”

“Uh,” Cooper said, in slight disbelief, the joke went so far over his head, “Thanks, uh?”

“My name is Sneeg,” The boy said, filling in the blank, “And you’re welcome, Cooper.”

“How did you-?”

“It says on your schedule.”

“Oh,” Cooper said, nodding, “Right. Thank you, Sneeg.”

“Are you new here? Did you just move?” Sneeg questioned.

“Uh, no!” Cooper lied. Well, technically he wasn’t lying. He moved in just as school ended. He’d been here the entire summer. It was just he never left his room. When his mom made him, he snuck back in through the back window.

Sneeg nodded. “The bell rings soon, I’d hurry if I was you, and study that map, too!”

With that, Sneeg walked away quickly, like his only purpose in life was to make sure he wasn’t late to class.

Cooper tilted his head in slight confusion at the disappearing figure. Soon enough, Sneeg was just another person in the crowd. Cooper snapped out of his daze, remembering that Sneeg said to hurry. He anxiously held his already crumpled schedule close to his chest before fast walking to the direction the helpful stranger pointed.

You couldn’t miss the portables. It was either go to the portables or leave the entire campus, and Cooper didn’t want to be that kid.

He entered the room. It was already silent, but he felt like everyone stopped talking just because he entered. There were desks arranged into makeshift tables, paired by fours. He slid into one of the seats where there was an empty table, hoping no one was looking at him.

Time seemed to pass forever as Cooper sat there anxiously, just cycling through the same three apps on his phone. Eventually, more people started filing in. Cooper almost had a heart attack when a person sat at his table. They seemed almost the exact opposite of Sneeg.

He had an oversized dark blue hoodie that covered his hands. His bed hair was almost out of control, and the dark circles under his eyes suggested he hasn’t slept well since school ended.

He didn’t even acknowledge Cooper’s existence as he turned to look at the homeroom teacher, who had gotten up as soon as the bell rang.

And it was off, the homeroom teacher passed out more maps (to Cooper’s relief), papers that parents needed to sign papers that should be read, etc.

They were left with plenty of spare time, most of which people were on their phones. Cooper got anxious just looking at the battery percentage drop.

The bell rang out and Cooper jumped as the room was suddenly filled with movement as confident juniors grabbed backpacks and left, ignoring their homeroom teacher’s half-hearted wishes of good luck.

Cooper followed the crowd, checking his schedule, again and again, trying to burn the number of the first-period room into his mind. As he was looking at the number for a particularly long time he accidentally ran into a wall.

Or someone that felt a lot like a wall, until the wall took a few steps back.

Cooper craned his neck to look up at the person who he bumped into. His body felt immediately cold with dread. It wasn’t bad enough that Cooper was dwarfed by this guy- he barely came up to half of the chest height- but the guy himself was just intimidating as intimidating could be.

He wore a black leather jacket over a light shirt. He wore black fingerless gloves. He had dark brown hair pulled into a low ponytail. His eyes were a deep brown and cut sharp. A bandage covered the left side of his face for reasons unknown. He looked like the definition of ‘badass biker’. If you looked that up in the dictionary, Cooper wouldn’t be surprised if this guy showed up.

“Sorry,” Cooper muttered extremely softly, barely a whisper.

If the guy heard Cooper, he must not have cared because Cooper immediately lowered his head, walking fast away from the little scene that had just been formed.

He eventually made it to his first period uneventfully. It was the basis of every first day. ‘Oh, what’s your name?’ ‘Oh, sign this.’ ‘Oh, here’s what this class is about.’ ‘Oh, here’s course expectations.’

Yeah, no one CARED about that. By the end of the third period and the beginning of lunch, it was very obvious that everyone was very tired and wanted to go home.

Cooper frowned at the long line to get school lunch and decided that he wasn’t hungry. He found a round table tucked away in a corner and sat down by himself, cycling through the same 4 apps on his phone, anxious as he watched the battery percentage go down a little bit at a time.

At least, Cooper thought, I have no ties with anyone. I have no beef with anyone, and no one will want to fight me, right?

Haha, wrong.

Lunch ended long for Cooper, who was now tired AND hungry. Tensions were still tense in hallways as ex-friends glared at each other and turned to talk shit to their new besties.

Cooper sighed as he felt himself become more drained, just halfway through the day. Someone shoulder checked him, by what Cooper assumed was an accident. He let it go, even muttering a ‘sorry’.

Then a slight bump on his shoulder again, this time from behind.

People are anxious to get to class, someone’s just trying to brush by you. Cooper assured himself.

He took a few steps to the left to let the person pass him, but no one walked by.

Another push, this time harder. Cooper’s eyes widened as he stumbled forward. Anxiety filled him from head to toe as he looked back to see who it was.

A cocky smirk met his gaze. A guy with one eye a blue theme. He had blue skin and spikey hair, but his jacket was a dark blue.

“What’s new, freshie?” He said.

The first thing Cooper thought of was, I’m not a freshman. But of course, there was no way in hell he would say that. Instead, he just let his eyes flicker to the ground as he turned around and kept walking away, unsure of what to do.

“No, no, no,” The voice came from behind.

Cooper was grabbed by his shoulder and whirled around, pinned against the wall with nowhere to go.

“That’s not how this works,” He said in a low, quiet voice.

Cooper felt his fight or flight activate at once.

“So you’re the new kid, huh?” He said, not letting his stare break from Coopers, “Do you know how things work around here?”

Cooper, terrified out of his mind, didn’t answer. The boy lifted his hand and slammed it against the wall behind Cooper, “Answer me, freshie!”

“N-no?” Cooper finally stuttered.

“Well, freshie,” The boy said, seeming to enjoy his new nickname for Cooper, “the weak fear the strong. You’re a fish in a sea of sharks. I’m just testing to see how good you can swim.”

Cooper was starting to fear his life when a deeper voice called out, “Yeah, you’re right. The weak fear the strong, bottom feeder.”

Cooper saw his attacker tense up, turning stiff everywhere. You think you could just poke him and he would fall over, but instead, he straightened up.

“Travis!” He called, “Hey!”

“Don’t ‘Travis’ me, Ryan,” The newcomer said. Cooper’s eyes widened as he realized that Travis was the guy he ran into earlier.

“I’m just teaching freshie here how things work,” Ryan said, putting his hands up in surrender position.

“Yeah, but lay off him. I think he gets it,” Travis says.

Ryan’s gaze narrowed, “Now, that’s not fun.” His tone took a dangerously low step as he grabbed Cooper’s shoulder with his hand, not breaking stare with Travis.

Travis took a few steps forward, “Lay off.”

Ryan pushed Cooper back a few steps, pushing him into the wall.

“I said, lay off, bottom feeder!” Travis yelled, walking and pushing Ryan away from Cooper.

Ryan stumbled away, yelling indignantly. He swore mindlessly, shouting about how he was just joking around.

“I want you to listen here, Ryan,” Travis said, his low tone more intimidating than Ryan’s by tenfold, “You do not touch him ever again. If you do, every single bone in your body will be broken beyond repair. Do you understand?”

Ryan must have known this wasn’t a bluff, because he shakily nodded and slowly walked away.

Travis looked at the crowd that had formed around them. “What?” He shouted at them. The crowd started, before quickly dispersing, meeting everywhere but Travis’s death glare.

Travis glared down at Cooper, and for a moment Cooper wondered if he was even safe.

“You good?” Travis asked.

Cooper nodded dumbly.

“C’ mon, I’ll walk you to the nurse’s office. Ryan has a lot of goonies running around,” Travis said, offering his hand.

Cooper nodded again, taking it and walking forward. They walked in awkward silence, and the odd looks from the people in the halls made it look like Cooper just did something impossible, like he just tamed the beast or something.

Maybe he did.

[reject-princess97]

Spencer Reid-Criminal Minds/Castle Crossover

You are Richard Castle's Daughter and Alexis is your twin sister. While Alexis stayed in New York to live with your dad you moved away and joined the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. You had just had a call from Alexis telling you, your dad had decided to pay you a surprise visit for yours and Lexi's birthday.

********************* I sat on my couch, snuggled under my blanket watching TV when my phone started to ring. I picked it up and looked at the screen seeing it was my twin sister Alexis so I answered it quickly,

"Lex, hey, Happy Birthday!!!" I shouted down the phone, laughing a little when I heard her squeak in surprise.

"Hey Y/N, Happy birthday!!!" She said laughing before she became serious. "So look I have news, Dad has dragged me to one Quantico, Virginia." She said. I some how choked on air making me have a coughing fit.

"HE'S WHAT...WHERE IS HE NOW?" I asked shocked.

My dad is best selling author Richard Castle, when I was 18 I moved to Quantico to go to uni while my twin sister Alexis stayed closer to home. I would see my dad every now and then but he never visited to often. After I graduate College I joined the BAU over at the FBI and I started traveling so the visits to New York became less frequent until I was lucky if I saw my dad once or twice a year. Lexi how ever would visit every month, she had a key so if I was on a case she would just let herself in and stay until I got home or until she had to leave. Usually it was just to get away from the madhouse that is New York.

"We're at the airport. He had to go to the bathroom. I figured I should give you a heads up, let you clean up and warn that boyfriend of yours. You know how he gets especially when he finds out about Spencer." She replied.

This is going to be a disaster.

"He's gonna kill me isn't he?" I asked as I stood to my feet beginning to pace around my living room. I have been with my boyfriend Spencer for about two years now and I hadn't told my dad yet, I figured it would be better to tell him face to face but I chickened out every time I had the chance.

"Trick you're 24 years old it's not like he can ground you for having a boyfriend." She laughed making me calm down calling my by my nickname he had called me since I was a kid. "Oh here he comes, I gotta go see you in about an hour. Bye Trick." She said before hanging up. "Bye Lex." I said into the phone. I hung up the phone and finished the glass of water I had before I quickly did everything I could to get the house clean before dad and Lex got here. 'That should do it' I thought to my self. I sat down and turned on the TV just as the door bell rang.

Still dressed in my PJ's I ran to the door, sliding to a stop before pulling a door open and as expected my dad and twin sister stood there arms full of gifts. " DAD, Lex, What are you guys doing here?" I asked in mock surprise.

"Can it princess, Alexis told me she told you I was here." He said look the slightest bit upset.

"Yeah well she had to make sure I was home, I could have been on a case." I laughed as I stepped aside.

"Oh yeah, the big job at the FBI, how is it?" He asked placing the gifts on my coffee table before taking his coat off.

"It's great. I have an amazing team, I love them all." I said as I took a seat next to my dad on my couch. I watched as Lex sent a slight smirk my way before jumping up.

"Come on lets open presents." She shouted grabbing two gift bags. "These are from grams. She said she wanted to come but thought we all need some time together." She said as we opened the gifts. I put my hand in my bag and pulled out a bracelet with a diamond studded letter of my name. Lex seemed to have the same only with her initial. The next gift was from Lex with was a photo frame filled with photos of her and I growing up. "Lex I love it!" I said as I hugged her tight.

"Yeah I noticed you didn't have many of the two of us so..." she said as she opened the gift from me. I had gotten her a few book I knew she was wanting to read, a new Ipod filled with song we listened to as kids and a silver ring that had, 'sister' engraved in it.

"OK, my turn, here." Dad said handing us a gift bag. Inside was a rather big cheque which was a usual gift from dad and inside was a small black box. I opened it to find a small silver locket with my name engraved on the front. Inside the locket on one side was a small photo of Alexis and I from a while back on the day I left New York and on the other said was the picture of Alexis, dad and I on our high school graduation. "wow this is beautiful dad thank you." I said as Lex and I hugged him tight.

"Well I love you guys so you deserve only the best." He said to both of us. "Oh and this is from Beckett." He said handing my a big gift bag, "and this is from Ryan and Esposito."

"Yeah I opened mine back home." Lex said as she handed me a smaller bag. Inside the bag from the boys was coffee cup the said 'Worlds Best FBI Agent' which made me laugh.

In the bag that came from Beckett was a black leather jacket, just like her "Wow this is amazing, she remembered." I laughed. I looked over at my dad and Lex and hugged them both before pointing them both into the kitchen for a drink and food while I ran to get changed.

I changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a white top, I added my locked from my dad and bracelet from grams before slipping on a pair of converse, my most beloved shoes. I brushed through my hair and left it in it's curly state and I walked out to find my dad looking around my living room. He was stood my a picture of me and the BAU team that had been taken just after my first case with them.

"This the team?" he asked pointing at the picture once he noticed I had come into the room.

"Yeah, it was taken just after my first case, we went out to celebrate and had the picture taken" I replied smiling at the picture.

"I noticed you don't have the picture of me, you, your sister and Beckett up. the one that was taken before you left, is there something wrong with it?" He asked, a little hurt in his eyes began to show. I smiled and shook my head walking over and hugging him tight.

"That picture is one of my favorites so that has a place on my desk in the office along with a picture of Lex and I and the photo of your's and Kate's wedding. that sit there at my desk for the whole team to see. My family." I smiled at him, kissed his cheek and walked back over to the sofa to sit down.

It was then Lexi entered the room. "FYI Y/N, I black SUV as pulled up outside the house." She called as she handed me a glass of water which I placed in the table by my seat, I became a little clumsy as I realized what that meant so I accidentally knocked over a framed photo of Spencer and I which sat on the table.

As I reached to pick it up a hand beat me to it. I looked at the photo frame that held the photo from the first day we had moved it, I was on Spencer's back, he was smiling up at me and I was smiling back at him. We both had on scruffy, comfy clothing as we were moving into the house. I loved the picture as you can see the love and admiration we had for each other.

I smiled slightly at the picture then looked up at the person holding it to find my dad looking at it wide eyed. "Who's this?" He asked I looked at him and opened to my mouth to speak. I was lost for words. How do I tell my dad about Spencer with out upsetting him...I don't. That was when the front door opened and closed.

"Hey, Y/N, I'm home." I heard Spencer Call as he entered the house. I looked at my dad and smiled shyly. here goes.

"Dad, there's someone I want to you to meet." I said as Spence walked into the room. At the sight of him I smiled and ran over to him, pulling him in for a kiss before I pulled away and turned to my dad. "Dad, this is my boyfriend, Dr Spencer Reid." I said introducing them.

"Wow, Mr castle it's nice to meet you." Spencer offered his hand to my dad to shake but my dad just stared at him.

"A BOYFRIEND, SINCE WHEN!" He shouted. I flinched a little before turning to him again.

"We've been together for about two years." I said calmly

"TWO YEARS."

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you face to face but when we finally did get to see each other you always seemed so happy, I mean I didn't want to ruin that for you." I replied as I walked over to him and took his hand.

"You kept this from me for two years." He said, although it sounded more like a question. so I nodded.

"In her diffence Dad you do go crazy when I comes to boys and you know as well as I do you would have tried to talke her out of dating him and moving in with him." Lexi said trying to reason with him how ever his eyes widened and he looked like he was about to explode,

"you live with him." he shouted, I nodded and sat down on the couch, I could see the disappointment in his eyes. "I should have told him sooner, he's right, that way he would be looking at me like I just made the biggest betraile in the history of man." I sighed as I grabbed my jacket off of the chair beside me and went out back to get some fresh air.

I sat there looking around the back yard for a while as I sat on the back porch swing. I was quiet and calm as a slight breeze blow my hair a little. I moved the hair and placed it behind my ear as I heard the door open and close, I looked up to see Spencer standing there smiling over at me.

"Hey" he said as he came and sat by me, I smiled and snuggled into his side as we sat and watched the trees sway in the breeze.

*Castles point of view*

"She should have told me Alexis, she could have saved her self and argument, im just saying." I grumbled sitting n the couch.

"Are you really putting all the blame on her. Dada as we grew up you became so protective it was impossable to even be in the same room as a boy let alone work with one. it got to the point where we had to be secretive about school projects when we were ever paired with a boy. you made it inpossable for us to come to you with problems that involved the oppersite sex and going to gram was crazy because she would always bring up past relationships and scare the hell out of us." Lexi reasoned laughing at the metion of my mothers tails. "She was just scared she was going to disappoint you. she told me the second Spencer had asked her to coffee, and she was so excited to tell Kate when he asked her to move in with him. But every time she got happy she was always upset seconds later because this was stuff she wanted to share with you."

"Then why didn't she?"

"because you would have done something crazy, the second she had mentioned Spencer you would have demanded her return home, or worse, you would have moved out here so you could keep an eye on her."

"no i wouldn't" I argued back

"You would and you would have made a huge deal out of such a small matter."

"That still doesn't make it OK that she lied to me for TWO YEARS Lexi."

"OK so she didn't tell you about Spencer, but she never lied to you dad, you never asked her about her life here, and you never made and effort to come visit. you are so caught up in Beckett and the NYPD you never once thought about coming to visit...what makes it worse is Beckett has been here to visit since they moved in here." Lex explained. I shrunk down in my seat and sulked a bit, I knew she was right, after she left I stopped trying to stay in her life. I called every once in a while and even when she came to visit I was always choosing to work with NYPD that spend time with her.

I sighed and stood up, walking towards where Y/N and Spencer had walked, but something caught my eye. My daughter, sitting on a swing, cuddled into her boyfriends side. I watched as they talked and it took all but seconds for a smile to form on her face and I couldn't help but smile at her. She laughed and the smile never faded, even when she caught sight of me.

"See, he's good for her dad. She left home to come work here, leaving her family and everything she loved behind. Spencer was the first person to become her friend, he gave her hope and the feeling she wasn't alone out here. He wants to be with her forever. Just think about that before you judge him dad because he's family now." Lex laughed before she walked passed me and out to see Y/N and Spencer.

Maybe she was right, he didn't see so bad. Y/N was happy and that was all that mattered.

*Y/N P.O.V*

After a little while of talking to Lex and Spencer his phone rang so he answered it and Lex and I went to see Dad. I stepped inside to see my dad was at the window watching, smiling as he saw us. "OK so I was upset you kept something from for so long, I'm sorry I over reacted." he said as he walked over, pulling me into a hug. I smiled and hugged him back, Pulling Lex into the hug too.

We stayed this way until Spencer came into the room smiling at me us. "That was Hotch, he and team will be here in 45 mins, Rossi has told me he will be cooking so he needed to know numbers, I assume you are staying for dinner Lex, Mr Castle?" He asked politely I nodded at him before they could answer for themselves. "They're staying, We'll get the guest room ready and Lex you got your room set up so there you go." I stated as I mover from my dads arms," right if the team are on the way, Lex you can freshen up if you want you know where everything is, Mr, Castle I'll show you to the guest room and Y/N you can do as you wish because you already look amazing. Happy Birthday again by the way." He said passing me a small gift bag pulled out of his shoulder bag before he walked away, my day and Lexi following.

He had already given me my birthday presents this morning before work and I hadn't expected anything else. I smiled down at the small bag as I opened it to find a little black box and a envelope, inste the black box was a small silver ring, the words 'promise' scribbles on the inside and a small diamond sat in the center.

I opened the envelope and smiled as I read a letter that was written in his writing.

Y/N,

Firstly, Happy Birthday, I hope the past year has been everything you hoped it would be and I hope all the years ahead are just a joyful and happy. I do hope to be there for as many birthdays you celebrate on this earth. In sort this is the letter in which I tell you how much I deeply and truly love you, and plan on doing so for the rest of my life however long of short that maybe. but here it goes.

I told you the day we met I wasn't a people person. That was and in some ways still is true, I wasn't the type of person to just was up to someone and just say hi, but I was drawn to you. I couldn't help but light up inside when I saw you, and although it did take me a while to figure out what it ment, I can honestly say that it saw love at first sight. I knew I had to meet you, say hello and become your friend.

I can't tell you how thankful I am for you. You keep me fed when my head is stuck in a book or in a case file. You make sure I eat and sleep and in all honesty you make me the happiest I have ever been. You tell me you love me every morning and night, your smile lights up my whole day and I just can't tell you how much I want to wake up to that smile everyday for the rest of my life, If you'd let me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I hope you'll marry one day, but for now I just want you to know that I am promising every moment of the rest of my life to you. I love you Y/N and I don't think I tell you that enough, so I have got this ring, so you know that when you wear it you know I love you, I have loved you since we met and I will love you for as long as I live. Basically this is a long winded way of me asking for you hand in marriage, if not now at least in the future. So I guess I'll leave you with this...Y/F/N, Will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me, please.

yours always

Dr, Spencer Reid

(Hopefully you future husband.)

After I read the letter I couldn't stop smiling, I knew It had taken a lot for him to write that as he wasn't one for emotions. I turned to find Spencer standing behind me, I worried and panicked look in his eye. "So, what do you say, are you will to be Mrs Reid for the rest of you life?" he asked, fear and nerves evident in his voice.

"Yes." I nodded as I ran into his arms, I kissed him hard and long while he spun me around. I felt me feet plant on the floor and he let me go, gabbing the ring box and sliding the ring onto my finger, kissing my hand before kissing my lips once again.

"So, did you do it," My dad came into the room, I looked at him confused and looked back at Spencer. "We had a little chat in the guest room." My dad explained. I smiled up at Spencer before I nodded and my dad smiled happily. "You sure this is what you want...you happy?" He asked I nodded and walked over to him.

"I am the happiest I have ever been dad I promise."

"Good, now, you should go tell your sister before she dies of excitement." My dad laughed as he hugged me tight and kissed my forehead. "He's right, it does seem a little fast for me but I saw how happy he makes you so I guess I could give you to him, as long as you promise, no more secrets." He whispered to which I nodded and kissed his cheek before running of to tell my sister of my engagement.

After telling my sister the news and nearly being defend by her screams, I decided to to change into something a bit more appropriate for a meal with family and friends. so I changed into a simple red dress that hugged my body perfectly, a pair of black heeled shoes. I put on all my new jewelry and my ring and I took one last look in the mirror before I walked out of the room just as the door bell rang. I made my way over to my Dada and sister who was wearing something similer to me excety she wore a red skater skirt and black shoes. we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Even at the age of 24 you two still dress alike." My dad laughed.

"Hey whats all the noise," I heard some one call I turned to see Hotch and Jack standing my the door.

"Jack!" I shouted excitedly and he ran over to me and in to my arms, "hey, little guy, hows it going?" I asked.

"Great, Happy Birthday Y/N" He smiled as I knelt down so he could kiss my cheek. Soon after Hotch and Jack arrived so did JJ and Henry, then Derek and Penelope and Rossi and Emily arrived last. All my favorite people in one room, well all except two.

I had managed to great everybody and thank them for come when there was one last knock at the door "Y/N AND Lex could you get that." Spencer called, we both nodded and weboth went to the door. I pulled open the door to find two very smiley and excited faces.

There, just our side my door stood our Gran and Beckett. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Lexi and I both asked at the same time as we hugged them.

"Well Spencer invited us but we weren't to tell anyone so know body knew." Beckett smiled as she make her way to me. "Y/N It's so good to see you again." she said smiling bright, "Happy Birthday."

we moved aside and allowed them into the house so they could go see our dad and meet everyone. After the great look of shock on my dads face at the sight of his wife and mother, it was time for dinner so we all sat around the huge dinning table and began to enjoy our meal. until about half way through when my dad wanted to make a spech.

"Ok so I'll make t quick as I know Dr Reid is dying to tell you guys something really big." He said pointing over to Spencer and I who were smiling up at him. "Today I arrived he with the intention of surprising my daughter but her twin sister told her I was coming so that flow out the window. However I did get a surprise of my own, I learnt the my baby girl had a boyfriend, not only that but they are living together and all my family and friends including my wife knew of this but didn't tell me. Now you can imagine how upset I was at this but while I was sulking in the corner I happened to witness something that I couldn't begin to explain how amazing it made me feel. I saw my baby girl happy and In love. She wasn't even doing anything worth smiling about, she was just sitting there but as soon and she saw him her face lit up, I saw her whole world come together in a split second and I guess as a father thats all you ever want to see, so I guess what I'm trying to say is I am so thankful you happy. but It was Lex who had the job of being the adult, telling me about the amazing life she had seen her sister have while here. ever since they day they were born, Lex and Y/N shared and unbreakable bond and I am so happy to see that thats not changed, so Happy Birthday Y/N and Lexi, I hope you have many happy years in your future and that even though you are miles apart most of the time, I hope you keep the bond between you two. I love you guys." My dad spoke and he kissed both my mine and Lexi head. "Now, over to you Dr Reid."

"Thinks Mr,Castle. I guess I just want to say really quickly happy birthday to my beautiful fiance and my amazing soon to me sister in law." Spencer said simply before sitting down next to me and smiling, watching all the faces of out friends turn from confusion to shock to happiness all in a matter of seconds as they took in the news.

"So yeah, I finally had the guts to ask Y/N to marry me and she said yes." Spencer clarified just in case it wasn't clear.

The rest of the night was filled with congratulations and birthday wishes as we ate and drank happily with my family and friends. It was a strange feeling having them all in the same room as I had spent so long keep both parts of my life separate but it was nice to see them all together and getting along, telling stories of my childhood and time working with the BAU. All in all today was my favorite birthday ever. I had all my family there with me, all my friends were there. My twin sister came to spend ye another birthday with my and the man I loved wants to marry me. I don't think life could get better.

X

[runawaykitsune]

Bloody Romance

Based off of an rp with some friends of mine. 

These characters are OC’s and I wanted to write the beginning of their romance... or something. 

Narcisa walked down the hallways of Adsero, the file in her hands as she followed the familiar path to her partner’s room. It was rather early when Sorin had come to her room and quickly briefed her on a small raid that would just be her and her newfound partner, Ryan Blake. She knew nothing about him other than he was a hunter who changed society's frequently due to being a wanderer. He seemed to want it to keep that way and when they first got partnered he made sure that she knew he wasn’t going to be around long, arrogant kid if anyone asked her.

She was still dressed in the baggy night shirt and the pair of pajama pants, but she didn’t care. The half-demon banged on his door, waiting impatiently for him to answer. When he didn’t, she hit it again and made sure it was louder this time. A few moments passed and she heard grumbling behind the door then something hit the ground. Seconds later the door was open and Ryan stood in front of her, in nothing but a pair of boxers and his shaggy black hair in a mess.

“What the hell. It is nine in the morning.”

Narcisa rolled her eyes and held out the file to him, “Sorin has a job for us. We’re leaving in three hours. They found where Vasile and his friends are hiding and we’re taking them down tonight before they get a chance to strike again.”

Ryan chuckled softly and opened up the file and looked it over, “Alright, whatever you say fangface.”

She growled loudly and her rose colored eyes seem to pierce through him, “You’re going to respect me or I’m going to beat your ass.”

“Listen here. Just because you’re two years older does not mean shit.”

“It does when I’m put in charge and you aren’t even on your second decade.”

Ryan only smirked to her, which fueled the irritation more. Instead of playing into his game though, she turned on her heel and walked away, “Be ready in three hours or I’m leaving without you.”

~~~~

Those three hours passed and it only took another hour to get to Busteni, Narcisa’s hometown oddly enough. It was weird for her because people recognized her, all of them knew she was a hunter now and they knew why she was there for the most part. This area had been plagued by the attacks of this vampire and Narcisa refused to let it continue. Thankfully, her father moved away but her childhood home was still around and they still owned it, giving them a place to stay for the time being.

Ryan followed Narcisa wearing black jeans with a dark grey top with long sleeves, hiding his weapon within the sleeves. His usual get up. Narcisa wore a black shirt that seemed form fitting but still breathable and a pair of regular jeans. She wore boots with it and a black leather jacket. She also had a bandana on over her mouth to cover her fangs, something she had recently started up. Her dark brown hair that she usually let hang loosely was tied up into a messy bun. They were currently taking the uphill trek to her childhood home.

“You seem so familiar with this area.”

“That is what happens when you grow up somewhere.”

“You grew up here?”

Narcisa shrugged, “More or less. I was born here and raised here for a few years.”

They went back to their silence and eventually got to a small house somewhat away from the town. Narcisa pulled a set of keys from her bag and opened the door and let the door swing open and headed inside, the place still had furniture and everything, her dad really knew how to spoil her.

“Well isn’t this cute.”

“Follow me. I’ll show you to the room you’ll be staying in.”

“Am I going to get to see your cutely decorated bedroom too?”

“I could easily let you sleep outside. It gets very cold here as you could tell from our little walk, but I couldn’t care less if you froze.”

“No need to be so harsh, demoness.”

He chuckled softly and she rolled her eyes but opened the door to what appeared to be a guest room, Ryan walked in after her and set his stuff down, “Very homey.”

The room was pretty much plain aside from a handmade quilt on the bed along with a few knick knacks on the dresser.

“My grandmother was the only guest to stay in this room so it’s personalized for her. But that was when I was really young.”

“Oh boy. Get to sleep where your grandma did.”

Narcisa ignored his words and instead turned away and down the hall. Ryan poked his head out the door, “Not going to tell me where the bathroom is or anything?”

“Door to your left. You’ll find the kitchen on your own. Where I’ll be staying is on the other side of the house. Get settled, we’ll be leaving around four-thirty, sunset’s at five-thirty give or take.”

“So you’re telling me we have about three hours until we have to do anything?”

“Pretty much yeah.” Without saying anything else Narcisa disappeared behind a door and left Ryan to himself.

~~~~

Those three hours flew by and soon they were in a rental car and heading further into the mountains. Ryan looked out the window as the landscape went by and Narcisa kept her eyes focused on the road, taking the turns wildly, but with ease.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“No, we just have a job to do.” She smiled, her bandana was long left behind at the house.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at her smile, normally on their tasks she was quiet and didn’t seem to care too much, but for this one.. Narcisa almost seemed excited, like a child about to go to an amusement park.

“You alright, Narcisa?”

“Mhm~” She had a lilt to her tone, “Vasile has escaped me once before. That won’t be the situation tonight, I made sure of it.”

“Oh and how so?”

“Don’t worry about it” She quickly turned a corner and slammed on the brakes, causing Ryan to jolt forward.

Ryan quickly put his hand to the dashboard to avoid being flung too far forward, “A warning would have been fucking nice.”

“Get over it.” She got out of the car and stretched, she tossed the keys beneath the seat and looked to Ryan, “Come on. The rest is walking. Also, be ready for anything. Zavier has foresight and so I’m sure they know we’re coming.”

“Then why ditch the car?”

“Because, it’s a better choice and where they’re hiding out at isn’t too far from here.”

Ryan rolled his eyes but they continued on anyways in silence. Narcisa leading the way confidently.

After almost 30 minutes a building could be seen in the distance and Narcisa stopped and looked to her partner.

“Mind doing me a favor?”

“What the hell do you want? We are in the middle of fucking nowhere and it’s fucking freezing.”

She smiled and turned so her back was to him, “Mind taking my necklace off?”

“Why would I do that?”

“I forgot to take it off before we left the house. It’ll get in the way.”

Ryan made a noise of annoyance but unclasped the necklace, he felt a pressure when he did so though, as if he wasn’t supposed to. Without much thought though, Narcisa took the necklace from him and slipped it into her pocket.

“Thanks, I’d hate to have it ripped off.”

She smiled sweetly and as she went to take another step a loud growl was heard. The two went to look to each other but a giant wolf lunged from the trees and tackled down Ryan. Narcisa didn’t bother reacting though as Ryan released his claws and drove them straight through the wolf. He shoved the animal off of him and retracted the claws only to watch as it turned to one of the vampires.

They arrived to the building and it was silent and dark. The two looked between each other then split off into separate directions. They both managed to circle the entire building and there was no signs of anything around. Ryan got closer and whispered to Narcisa.

“Are you sure this is where we need to be?”

Her rose colored eyes now seemed to have a purple tint to them and they almost seemed to glow.

“I can promise you we need to be here.”

Narcisa smiled and formed a fireball in her hand then looked to the building, more specifically a door nearby. She walked over to the door and pressed the fireball to it, smirking as it caught flame and allowed for her to kick the door in.

As the door was thrown open someone tackled Narcisa back onto the ground and she laughed as they did so. Ryan watched with wide eyes as a purple-ish smoke seemed to envelope them and in Narcisa’s place appeared to be someone else. Her dark brown hair was now down and white, her eyes were now a bright glowing purple. Her nails were longer and her entire demeanor was different. As she flipped them so the vampire was beneath her she yelled to Ryan.

“Get your ass in there and deal with the rest of them.”

Ryan nodded and headed inside but stole one last glance back just in time to see Narcisa bring her hand back and shove a clawed hand through the other vampire she pulled her hand away and stood, leaving the male on the ground to convulse in pain.

Narcisa watched him for a moment, something inside of her reveled in the pained expression and the weak sounds of agony. She didn’t know how long she was there but when she turned to go into the building there were several vampires already taken down and she laughed and continued on her way. At some point though she did see Ryan and spoke passively, but loud enough for him to hear, “I’m sure you’ve got this. I’m going to find  Vasile.”

She went further into the building, setting fire to doorways she came across, almost as if she was turning the building into her own inferno. She died down all the fire behind her as she flung open a large set of double doors and sitting at a desk with his feet up, watching footage of the carnage in amusement was a vampire with long silver hair. He smirked as he saw the demoness in the doorway.

“Miss Antonescu. Nice to see you’ve got an appearance change, the brown hair made you look so young and it made me feel a little guilty for our last altercation.”

Narcisa growled loudly as she stared down the vampire. “I can promise you, this is going to end very differently than before.”

She could feel her anger boiling up as she remembered the last time, the control, the bite and losing her free will to this damn vermin. She refused to play into his stupid mind games this time. Just the thought of the incident brought a taste similar to venom to her mouth.

As the vampire brought his feet from the desk and stood, the demoness created a fireball in her hand and launched it at him, he barely moved in time and ended up on the other side of the room, a cocky smirk on his face . A snarl left Narcisa’s lips as she threw another, this time the vampire appeared right behind her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and brought his hand to her throat. A low voice spoke into her ear.

“Now now, Narcisa. Can’t let me get the upperhand.”

Narcisa felt the tug at her subconscious, but she knew he couldn’t get control of her. Instead, she took the chance to play into it for now. She let her grip against his arm drop and he hummed some.

“Good girl.” He released her and stepped back to which Narcisa turned to look at him, her eyes seeming glazed over as she stepped towards him.

“I really shouldn’t indulge in you right now, but it’s been so long since I’ve had a taste of a hunter.”

Narcisa giggled softly and pushed closer to him, causing him to back to the wall.

“That’s the thing about us hunters, Vasile. Especially those of us that are demons. We have a very special taste~” She put her lips against his jawline then his throat and as she felt him relax she had her fangs buried into his neck.

Vasile growled loudly and Narcisa wasted no time to slip a knife from a hidden sheath in her jacket, she dug the blade into his chest and tore from him, his blood on her mouth and even trailing down the front of her now. She watched as the vampire died and then pulled her knife from his body. She looked over the blade for a moment before something took over her and caused her to trail her tongue across the crimson blood, little did she know she had an audience.

Ryan stood in the doorway as he had done since hearing the door being thrown open from down the hall. He watched the entire exchange without much thought and almost interfered at one point, but now as he saw Narcisa’s animalistic side, grinning wildly about what she had just done, something seemed so different about her now. Even as she removed the necklace from the pocket of her jacket and put it on, returning to her “normal self”. The image that was put into his mind remained. She didn’t bother taking anything to clean her blade and instead wiped it against her pant-leg and returned it to the sheath, she then turned and jumped as she saw Ryan standing in the doorway, and astonished look on his face.

“What the hell are you looking at?” Her tone had a bit of a growl.

Ryan smirked at the demoness as he let his claws go back to their own sheath, “Probably one of the hottest things I’ve ever fucking seen is what.”

[wildroseofarran]

The Accident, Part II || Self Para

He couldn’t sit still. He was tired but sleep wouldn’t come. Hungry and thirsty but unable to stomach anything. Emotional but unable to cry.

He felt like a toy that had been wound too tight, ready to explode at any given moment.

Pete sighed and looked over his shoulder. It was nearing five in the morning, and Stella and Luke were sleeping huddled together on the little couch in their dad’s room. A couple hours ago Pete had covered them with Luke’s suit jacket so they wouldn’t get cold.

He turned back to the battered shell of a man that was his father. After Pete, Sr. had been wheeled into his room, Pete had pulled up a chair next to his bed and hadn’t moved since. If he needed to stretch his legs, he kept his pacing to the perimeter of the bed, just so he could make sure the monitor was still beeping and that his dad’s chest was still rising and falling as he breathed.

Pete sighed again. His dad looked so small and helpless with all those tubes and wires and bandages, so pale and weak. And even after bundling him with an extra blanket and his coat, his hand still felt so cold in Pete’s.

It was like all trace of the man with the warm smile, crinkly eyes, and big, roaring laugh had just…vanished. Like he’d never existed.

And fuck if Pete could keep himself from staring at his dad’s face, trying to look past the cuts and bruises in an effort to reassure himself that he looked like his father and that his father really was his father.

Groaning, Pete got up to pace.

Despite his brother and sister’s reassurances, the doctor’s comment from earlier was still rattling around in his head (along with all the other crap, but that was a whole other can of worms), taunting him, making him wonder and doubt and hate himself for wondering and doubting.

‘Adoptive children rarely have the same blood type as their parents.’ What was that even supposed to mean? It wasn’t like every set of parents in the world had the same exact blood type. It was perfectly within reason that some kids would have their mom’s blood type and some would have their dad’s. He just happened to have his mom’s blood type and Stella happened to have their dad’s, so what? That didn’t mean anything, it was just the luck of the genetic draw. It sure as shit didn’t mean he was adopted.

He looked at Luke and Stella’s sleeping faces. Anyone who didn’t know the three of them would never guess that they were all siblings. Luke looked like their father while he and Stella took after their mother. Again, so what? Not every child looked like a perfect 50/50 blend of their parents. Hell, his nephew Graham didn’t look a thing like Stella except for the color of his hair. He looked entirely like his dad Ryan. That didn’t mean he wasn’t her child. It was just luck of the draw.

Not having the same blood type as his dad didn’t mean jack squat. He probably had his mom’s blood type. And so what if he didn’t look 100% like his dad? It wasn’t like Luke and Stella did, and he knew for a fact that he shared features with both of them. How could that be possible if he wasn’t related to them?

Pete shook his head and sat again, retaking his dad’s hand. “I’m sorry, Pop,” he said softly, giving a small, humorless smile. “Here I am overthinking and worrying over nothing when you’re lying there fighting to stay alive.” He kissed the bruised hand in his. “You hang in there, okay? Everything’s gonna be fine.”

He reached into his pocket with his free hand, checking his phone for messages or voicemails. He, Stella, and Luke had been taking turns all evening trying to get a hold of their mother and still nothing. Her phone was either off or dead, same as their aunt’s, whom their mother was visiting for the week.

Pete frowned. Where the hell were they? Why hadn’t they charged their phones? This was a crisis, Lynnie should either be sleeping with her children or sitting on the opposite side of her husband’s bed.

The phone was put away, another kiss given to Pete, Sr.’s hand. “Don’t worry, Pop. Mom’ll be here soon. Hopefully before you wake up.”

Another hour passed, Pete finally fell asleep, and there was still no sign of Evelyn Graham.

The smell of fresh coffee was already tugging Pete out of a fitful sleep when he was shaken by someone.

“Up and at ‘em, big brother.” Luke’s voice. “I could hear your stomach grumbling from a hundred miles away. Come on, we got food and coffee.”

Pete opened one eye and immediately regretted it, groaning in misery. The sun was shining through the blinds and right into his face. “Christ almighty, make it stop.���

Luke chuckled and went over to close the blinds. “There, it’s safe. You can open your eyes now.”

Pete did, only to groan again when his muscles screamed in protest. Sleeping while slumped over at a ninety-degree angle probably hadn’t been the best idea. “Coffee,” he muttered, rubbing his neck.

Luke handed him a to-go cup from the diner. “Already put sugar in it.”

“Thanks.” Pete drank long and deep, practically feeling the caffeine as it rushed through his system and jumpstarted everything. He blinked at the cup. “You went to the diner? How long have you been up?”

“Ryan went. I’ve only been up for about twenty minutes.”

“Ryan’s here?”

“Only for a bit. Came to bring us breakfast and since Stel was still asleep, he went ahead and took her home. She’ll probably be back later.” Luke gave his brother a once over. “Speaking of sleep, how much of it did you get?”

“Um…what time is it?”

“About eight-thirty.”

“Two hours and change.”

“You should go home, too. Take a nap, shower.”

Pete shook his head and reached for the to-go box with his name written on it. “I only slept because my body was tired.” He opened a package of pepper and sprinkled it over everything. “I didn’t get any rest. And if I’m not gonna rest, might as well not rest here with you and dad and….is mom still not here?”

“Nope,” said Luke, giving a head shake of his own as he took a bite of his breakfast. “Not even a damn text. She gets up early though. Maybe she saw our messages and just decided to get home.”

He frowned at his bacon. “I don’t understand how she had her phone off all night, and Aunt Carol too. What’s the point of taking out the landline and getting a cell phone if you don’t have it on?”

“Aunt Carol still thinks holding an aspirin between your knees keeps you from getting pregnant, don’t ask me to explain how her mind works.”

The brothers were just finishing up their breakfast when their harried, disheveled mother burst into the room. From the look of her, it seemed that Luke’s theory about her leaving Kitty Hawk in a hurry was correct; her hair had been pulled into a quick pony tail and she was wearing jeans and her pajama top under her coat.

“Mom!” they said in unison.

“Oh my god,” she sobbed, hurrying over to her husband’s bed. Pete, Sr. still hadn’t stirred and in morning light, his bruises looked even worse. “Oh, honey. Look at you. I’m so sorry.” She touched a hand gently to his face before turning and giving each of her sons a fierce hug. There were already tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Where the hell have you been?” Luke asked as Pete rocked Lynnie back and forth. “We’ve called and texted you ten thousand times and when you didn’t respond we did the same to Aunt Carol! Did you two go on a bender? Did your phones fall into a ditch? What the hell, Ma!”

“I’m sorry, baby, I’m so sorry.” She pulled away from Pete’s embrace, furiously wiping her eyes with her hands. Pete picked up a napkin from the couch and dried her cheeks.

“It was Carol,” she said, giving her son’s hand a grateful pat. “She pulled the whole ‘no cell phones during family time’ bullshit last night when we went to dinner and made me leave it at the house and I forgot to check it before I went to bed. Then this morning I saw the texts and listened to the messages and I…” Her voice trailed off as more tears streamed down her cheeks. “God, what happened? All Stella said was that he’d had an accident.”

Pete and Luke sat their mother down and together they explained all they knew of what had happened to their father; he swerved, lost control of the car, and ended up in the bottom of the river with part of the steering column lodged in his chest.

As they got to the part about having to donate blood during his father’s surgery, Pete’s antsiness over the doctor’s comment—which Luke had chosen to leave out of the story—returned full force. Somehow having his mother here while he wondered about mismatching blood types and genetics made it all worse, made the doubts seem louder.

And that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? He was sitting here looking at a woman who’d told him stories about the day he was born his whole life, with whom he shared several birthmarks and features and even a couple allergies. There was zero reason for him to doubt his parentage and he knew that.

So why wouldn’t that damn comment leave him alone?

“I’m gonna go get some air,” he sighed, getting to his feet.

Two pairs of concerned eyes turned to him. “Is everything okay?” his mom asked.

Pete tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Yeah, Ma, everything’s fine. I slept kind cramped, just wanna stretch for a bit.”

“He did.” Luke squeezed his mother’s hand. “You go ahead, Pete. I’ll stay here with mom and dad.”

“Thanks. I won’t be long.”

Pete did three laps around the first floor. When it did absolutely nothing to quell the storm in his head, he left the hospital and took to the jogging trail that was spread out all over the park next door. With the brisk air hitting him, the oppressive hospital smell finally out of his nostrils, and the beep of monitors replaced by the sound of birds, he was finally able to think.

Only problem—aside from still wanting to run fast and far—was that he didn’t come to any comforting conclusions. Not about his personal life, not about his dad’s accident, and definitely not about the doctor’s godforsaken comment.

Every area of his life was fucking crumbling to pieces around him and the only thing he could do was walk, which he supposed was better than crying a river at every blessed turn but still. The only way to fix everything was…there wasn’t one really. No way to turn back time. No way to undo what had been done and unmake every shitty decision. No way to see if….wait.

Pete came to a stop. “Maybe there is,” he murmured to himself, turning around and jogging back to the hospital. Maybe he couldn’t unfuck Fletcher Goodman and undiablerize Victoria Harrak and uncrash his dad’s car, but he could give himself a little peace of mind in at least one arena of his life.

“Doctor!” He called down the hall. “Hey, Doc, wait! Dr. Barnes!”

His quarry finally stopped and turned around, blinking in surprise as his pursuer caught up to him. “Mr. Graham. Is everything all right? Has something happened with your father?”

Pete shook his head. “No, my dad’s fine. I was just wondering….do you have a minute? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

“Yes, of course. We can talk in my office.”

“Thank you.” Pete followed Dr. Barnes into one of the elevators and up to his office on the third floor. There were two other desks in the room but for now they were the only ones there.

“Have a seat,” said the doctor, waving Pete into one of the chairs in front of the desk by the window. “What’s on your mind, Mr. Graham?”

He sat. “It’s uh…it’s about the blood I donated to my dad. Or tried to donate.”

Dr. Barnes’ brow furrowed. “All right.”

“When you finished my dad’s surgery you said that my blood type didn’t match his so you couldn’t give it to him.”

“Yes, that’s correct. Your sister was a match and we supplemented her donation with blood from our bank.”

Pete nodded. “Yeah, I remember you said that. You also said that adoptive children don’t often have the same blood type as their adoptive parents.”

“Yes.”

“The thing is, I’m not adopted.”

The furrow in Dr. Barnes’ brow deepened for a moment before his eyes widened and his expression fell into apologetic lines. “I’m sorry, Mr. Graham, I shouldn’t have assumed. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Pete shook his head. “It’s okay, you didn’t, doctor. Really. I was just wondering why you did.”

“Why I assumed you were adopted?”

“Yeah. I mean, not every kid has the same blood type as their dad, right? Some can have the same blood type as their mom?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Dr. Barnes said with a nod. “And blood types are determined in such a way that sometimes, a child can have a different blood type as both their parents. But that wasn’t the reason I assumed you were adopted. You and your father have different blood groups, yes, but you also have a very rare blood type. Your father is O positive and you are B negative. But again, I do apologize, Mr. Graham. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

Pete nodded, digesting this information. The doctor confirmed what he’d been telling himself all night but there was still something nagging at him. Some feeling he couldn’t identify. “You tested the blood right?” he asked after a while. “To see our blood types matched?”

“Yes, we have a lab on the premises.”

“….Can you do other kinds of tests?”

“Such as?”

“DNA tests.”

“Yes,” said Dr. Barnes, frowning. “I hope I haven’t made you doubt your parentage, Mr. Graham. I would hate for a careless comment to have upset you to such a degree.”

“It isn’t that, really. This isn’t because of what you said.” As he said the words, Pete realized that he meant them. This wasn’t because of what the doctor had said. This was something else. Something he felt deep down in his gut. “I just…I need to be sure.”

The doctor nodded understandingly. “Well, we have your blood and your father’s but if you want a complete profile, we’re going to need a sample from your mother.”

Pete thought for a moment. He couldn’t very well ask his mother for a blood sample when there was every possibility that this really was him just worrying over nothing. “Does it have to be blood? Because I have this.” He pulled a napkin from his pocket. He’d put it in there after drying his mom’s face. “Her tears are on it.”

“That’ll work just fine. Here.” The doctor reached into a draw and pulled out a plastic bag, putting the napkin inside.

“How long does the test take?” Pete asked.

“A few hours. Since we’ll be doing it right here I should have the results for you by this afternoon.”

Pete took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

In a few hours his mind would either be quieter, or he’d be adding more shrapnel to the wreckage.

[ghostywrite]

Firecracker - Chapter II

ao3

His yawn cracks his jaw uncomfortably, one hand rubbing absently at it, turning the TV on with the other and flipping through channels until he landed on news. “Fascinating, asshole.” He’d really wanted to watch the weather all morning, Ryan, thanks. He yawned again before standing, turning up the volume as he got out of bed and began hunting for an outfit. He took his shirt off and let it crumple to the floor, shimmying into his binder with ease born not from the action itself, but from his years and years of practice. He pulls a plain shirt down over it and walks back to the TV as he pulls on a button-down, absentmindedly rolling the sleeves up as the news anchor walks them through the traffic report.

And that’s how he hears about it; upper body dressed, in his boxers, bare-foot in his bedroom. We have an update. The anchor pauses for a moment, head turned as she obviously listens to her headset. She nods to herself, glancing back up at the camera. Yes, there’s been an accident. Or-- She pauses again. There’s been a string of major burglaries, all within moments of each other. The affected stores are as follows: LTD Gasoline, Save-A-Cent, and Chico's Hypermarket.

That was his store. Chico's, that was where he worked. Each storefront was slowly displayed, the anchor reading out the details as they came in. When his came up he cocked a brow. There was a smiley face on his store. Underneath, one word; vagabond.

He blinks, just staring at the set for a while, whatever the anchor was talking about going in one ear and out the other without making any impression on him. His store had been broken into, and Ryan had told him to watch the news. Michael couldn’t make sense of it, had it been a warning? How’d he have any idea where Michael worked? Or was it just in case? Was he just showing off? Had hitting Michael’s store been an accident? Fuck. And it wasn’t like it was easy to suss out where he worked, he was just a part-time cashier, graveyard shift. It wasn’t glamorous, wasn’t on the plaque with the managers and division leaders. He’d originally thought Ryan had been sent by one of the gangs who knew about him, but there was no longer any reason to believe that, not given how vulnerable he’d been last night. It wasn’t like he had anything worth a long-con, either.

Coming back to himself, he kept the news on as he hunted for his jeans, no idea where he’d tossed them last night. But his mind wasn’t on the task, still scrambling to make sense of the confrontation last night and the news. The broadcast had moved away from the robberies – Michael supposed dryly that they were only small hits, hardly newsworthy except to the employees and nearby businesses. He was also wondering about the word. Vagabond.

In his head, it sounded powerful. It sounded like something more skilled than thief, more brutal than criminal, more frightening than thug. “Vagabond,” he murmured aloud, to test it. The first time felt awkward, sticking on the syllables. He tried it again, let it roll from him more easily. He kept repeating it, familiarizing himself thoroughly with the word, still trying it out as he finally found his pants and tugged them on. Straightening, he took a deep breath and said it for the last time, not wanting the strange mantra to get away from him. “Vagabond.” Finally it rose with the same weight it’d had in his mind, the same pressure in his mouth as he’d imagined. He wanted to see if ‘Ryan’ could possess the same weight, wanted to see if the two were indeed one and the same, but he knew trying out the other man’s name wouldn’t sate that curiosity. It wasn’t until he’d ended up at his front door, slipping into his shoes, that that he realized he had nowhere to go.

The store had been pretty wrecked, all the windows crashed in, several of the displays completely broken. It wouldn’t be up and running for a while, yet. Wasn’t like they’d be able to pay him even if he did go. So, a free day. A weird fucking free day. He thought about going out and getting morning-drunk because he just did not want to think about this anymore, but if he wasn’t going to be getting any paychecks anytime soon, he’d best hang onto what money he has. He finally remembered the scrap of paper Ryan had given him, hunting through his jean pockets to no avail. He grabbed his jacket from last night and felt in it, dropping it to the ground when it turned up empty. He had begun digging through his backpack when he remembered having set it on the kitchen counter last night, groggy as fuck and ready to sleep for a week. He walked over to it, surprisingly relieved that the numbers were still legible.

It was something to do, anyway.

He pulled out his cell, tapping the numbers in. He didn’t save the contact, just called. The phone rang twice before it was answered, a soft, inquisitive ‘hm’ coming through the receiver. “Ryan?” He heard an indrawn breath followed by some rustling, a sigh.

“Yeah, hey. Michael?”

“One and the same.”

“Guess you watched the news.” I guess I did, he didn’t say. “You pissed?”

Pissed? Not the question Michael had been expecting. It took him a second to realize that, no, he wasn’t. “Nah. Confused as fuck, but ‘m not pissed. What, you thought I’d say no to a day off?” He’s surprised by how warm Ryan’s laugh can sound, finally realizing that the fuzzy edge to the other man’s voice was from sleep. He must’ve woken him up. He glances at the clock – it was 4:48 in the afternoon. His shift usually started at 7, so he had a good reason to sleep in late. He supposes that Ryan did, too. “Busy night, though?”

“You could say that.” A pause, Michael uncertain what to say, uncertain if he shouldn’t just hang up then and there. “You wanna get coffee? My treat.” He doesn’t recognize the joke at first, taken aback by the invitation.

“Yeah, man, you better buy,” he shoots back after a moment, rewarded by another huff of warm laughter over the line. “Do you know where I live, too, or is anything a mystery?”

“Well, I might’ve figured it out last night. But if it’s any consolation, I’m not stalking you.”

“Oh, great.” He’s kinda glad Ryan can’t see his smile, surprised they can talk like this. “That’s so comforting.”

“I thought it would be.” He thinks he can hear Ryan smiling back, and wonders if that just wishful thinking. “Pick you up in an hour?” Michael’s ‘yeah’ is enough of an acknowledgment, the line clicking off shortly after.

He glances down at himself, deciding to change his pants. He doesn’t pursue that line of thought whatsoever, grabbing a nicer pair, one that was a little more fitted. Brushed his teeth, put deodorant on, debated about making coffee despite the plan to go get coffee just because he wanted to keep his hands busy. Instead he started playing with his knife, laying on his couch, one leg hooked over the armrest, the other resting on the floor as he angled the blade so it’d catch and throw the light. He caught himself thinking about Ryan’s threat the night before, his fingers just barely touching the hilt of his own blade. He wasn’t sure why he wasn’t more freaked out by the memory, much less why he was so agreeable to hanging out, or whatever the fuck it is that they’re doing. Sure, Ryan didn’t press a distinct advantage last night, and he’d extended an offer that might have been sincere. But even if so, it wasn’t Michael’s world, not like it was supposed to have been. Ryan must not know, or he wouldn’t be dangling the offer. But Michael wasn’t about to break the news to him.

Besides, what did it matter? He continued to toy absently with the knife as he thought. He’d been taking testosterone since he was about 16, but he’d known from around 6 or 7. His parents weren’t actually awful about it, either, just really hesitant to let him start his injections, until they saw how upsetting going through puberty was for him. Kids at school had made it out as a big fucking thing when he had first started showing, up until then having acted enough like a boy that no one knew he wasn’t. The teachers hadn’t helped, calling home and demanding that he use the girl’s restroom, asking for his real name, his real gender. But his parents weren’t always around to get those phone calls, and he could sound enough like his dad if he tried. He’d handled it, and that had been his thing from then on. Whatever came, he’d handle it. Whatever happened, he’d handle it. Whoever came after him, he’d handle it.

Ryan didn’t know, that’s why he offered. So Michael would tag along, aware he was doing so because it felt good to be wanted, good to be pursued. He didn’t want to acknowledge the possessive satisfaction that had curled up underneath the shock as he’d watched the news, the feeling of being important, of getting the attention of Vagabond. And when Ryan did put two and two together and came up with ‘girl,’ well, Michael would handle that, too. For now, free coffee sounded fucking good, and he wouldn’t hate seeing if Ryan’s smile could get as warm as his laugh. He wonders how much time has passed. Could check his phone, but it didn’t feel important – Ryan would arrive when he arrived, if he arrived, and that’s when Michael would deal with Ryan having arrived, not before. But his conviction was short-lived, since it was only a few minutes later that his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and glanced at the screen, the display reading Unknown Number, but he recognized the digits from the scrap of paper. He answered. “Get lost?”

“I’m outside, ass. C’mon down.” The line clicked off, but Michael wasn’t fazed. Ryan’s voice had the same tease in it as before, the same hint of a promise. This time he didn’t deny the way it caught under his skin, the way he wanted to hear that same kind of promise pressed into his skin. Ryan wouldn’t be into him, but for the time being there was no good reason for Michael to not fantasize a little about those bright eyes, about that slender smile, about his low voice. At least getting wet wasn’t as obvious as if he could get hard. He grabbed his keys, not before slipping his knife back into its sheath, shifting his coat to cover it smoothly. He locked up and scanned the parking lot, rolling his eyes at the all-black vehicle, windows tinted so dark it looked like a limo. He walked up to it, rapping two knuckles against the driver’s window, watching it roll down.

“Inconspicuous your middle name?” Ryan just grinned at him and jerked his head towards the passenger seat, and Michael took the time to walk around the vehicle and get in to try and calm his breathing. Fuck, Ryan’s smile was good. He reminded himself that he always pulled this shit, and it never got him anywhere. He settled into his seat, buckling his seatbelt without thinking about it. Ryan snorted and he tugged his hands off the buckle as if it was hot, embarrassment flooding him in a moment. But next he heard the drag of a seatbelt, the snap as it was secured, looking over to see Ryan’s smile once more levered on him.

He did not imagine the way Ryan’s eyes dragged down his frame, way too slow to be anything other than what it was. Michael didn’t know what to make of it, grateful when Ryan started the car and pulled away, heading smoothly onto a freeway. He was glad for the white noise of Los Santos traffic, silent as he took in Ryan’s driving; it was surprisingly smooth, his turns measured, and honestly he used his turn signal more than Michael did. If this was the only thing he’d seen of Ryan, he’d never think he knew his way around a knife. But now he could see the professionalism of it, eyes taking in his surroundings constantly while his body language remained at ease, even a bit languid. He wondered if he was getting kidnapped or if Ryan was one of those coffee people who can only drink the best, blackest shit. Michael liked his coffee strong, sure, and he definitely liked to drink good shit instead of cheap shit, but he wasn’t all that fussed about it, either. Caffeine was caffeine.

His mind is going a mile a minute, the quiet he’d initially preferred quickly wearing on him. He kept coming back to the way Ryan had just eye-fucked him, already beginning to wonder if he was remembering it wrong, if he’d just made a glance into an experience. “Vagabond, huh?” Despite being the one to speak, he was surprised he’d broken the silence. Ryan seemed unperturbed, shrugging again. Michael resisted smiling at the creak of leather, already so familiar.

“It was my old alias, here.” They finally pulled off the freeway, coming out into a more suburban part of Los Santos than he’d been expecting. Maybe he really was getting kidnapped.

“Loud way to say you’re back in town.” Ryan snorted. Michael tried to keep track of the street names.

“Doubt anyone remembers me.” He didn’t elaborate, and Michael didn’t press. They finally pull out of the residential areas, turning into a couple of blocks worth of small shops. At a glance, Michael barely saw any chains around – they had this many local shops in town?

“Dude, are you a hipster?” Fuck, he was being gay – Ryan’s little frown when he was confused was great. His snort a moment later was even better, then they were each laughing, the tension of the ride dissolving.

“You’ll be thanking me when you taste it.” He found a parking space, turning to Michael now that they were finally parked. Vagabond, the safest driver in Los Santos, apparently. For a second he thought something else weird as shit was about to go down, but Ryan just reached forward to ruffle his hair. Which wasn’t not weird, but his scale was pretty jacked today. “C’mon.” He gets out, slow to realize that the heat he felt in his face probably wasn’t imagined. He took a moment on the other side of the car, away from Ryan, to try and compose himself – yes, he wanted to flirt. Yes, he wanted to pursue that lingering glance, wanted to encourage it. But he wasn’t going to fuck this up earlier than it’d get fucked on its own.

It’d be easy. Maybe.

“This way.” Michael turned around the car at last, seeing Ryan waiting for him. Somehow, it was surprising that he’d not started walking on his own, expecting Michael to simply catch up. But he didn’t let his surprise show, taking even, unhurried steps towards him.

“Lead on.” He did, glancing back until Michael sped up, walking beside him instead of just behind. At this distance the height advantage Ryan had was again apparent. They stopped outside a door, Michael taking a step back and glancing up to catch the name of the place. ‘Daily Grind,’ cute. It was hard to imagine Ryan walking into someplace cute, but here he was, downright gentlemanly as he held the door open for Michael.

Inside was surprisingly dark, considering the mid-afternoon sun that was baking the pavement just outside. The dimmed windows he’d had trouble seeing through now demonstrated their purpose, letting the smoky (but cooled, thank fuck) atmosphere feel like an escape, the bustle outside suddenly, abruptly slowed to a crawl. Against the back wall there was a long counter, one that’d seem more at home in a bar than a café, and tables with minimal seating were scattered throughout the rest of the building. He followed Ryan towards the counter, watching the way the barman stopped to stare at the older man, surprised – then frustrated – by the possessive squirming sensation the look provokes. It’s not like he has any right to get jealous over Ryan. “Two coffees, please.” He watched the way Ryan handled the small transaction, not thinking it strange until he caught the way Ryan was staring at him. But he didn’t look at all put out, and eventually Michael just shrugged, trying to dispel the tension. Real or imagined.

He was aware of what he was doing, even if that didn’t stop him from doing it. Never had. He just got this way, sometimes. When people cared about him, when he couldn’t immediately see that they just wanted something from him, he couldn’t help it, he just fixated on them. He needed to, needed to see how they acted, how they reacted. He wasn’t entirely sure whether he was waiting for them to slip up or if he just wanted to know everything about them, down to the most minute, trivial details. But he wasn’t a kid anymore, didn’t go running off to satisfy any godforsaken urge that came to him. He couldn’t stop the fixation on the inside, but he could sure as hell not act the part – sometimes that distinction seemed flimsy, but now it felt crucial. Refusing to let himself be subjugated to Ryan (neither of them wanted that, he knew with a certainty that sat like a stone in him) he led them to one of the tables, hopping up into one of the tall seats and looking away before Ryan arrived, bringing their drinks with him. He thanked the other man absently as he took the drink, pausing a moment to sniff it, surprised by how rich it smelled.

He resettled in his seat, elbows braced on the small table as he held the cup up to his face, inhaling both the steam and aroma as it cooled enough to drink. He finally glanced up from the drink, facing Ryan’s bright-ass eyes staring intently into his, his own drink untouched on the table in front of him. Ryan frowned but seemed to follow the pattern of the night before, not pressing. Michael was grateful, uncertain what he’d say if Ryan did press. A big part of him would just want to blurt the truth out, he knew. Have it over and done with. But it didn’t matter, he’d already decided on that.

He took his first sip, not really tasting it until he refocused. It was actually really good, rich and creamy, not too dark, and the bitterness he’d been expecting never came. “Not bad, man. ‘M not sure it was worth the drive, but not bad.”

Ryan exhaled hard, and Michael remembered it was his laugh. His small laugh. “It’s damn good, is what it is.”

“Mr. Refinement over here, huh?” He smirked, falling more easily into the playful banter than anything else today. “Didn’t know we had hipster criminals.” That one nets a real laugh from Ryan, his left hand raised to half-hide his grin, as if the sound had surprised him as much as it had Michael.

“I thought I told you, I’m not a hipster.”

“Did you, though?” He took another sip as Ryan seemed to puzzle over that. “No denial, Ryan. Y’know what that looks like…?” Another sip, locking eyes with Ryan. “Looks like Vagabond is a fucking hipster.” He whispers it, careful that his voice not carry. Ryan rolls his eyes and Michael’s learns that he can smile with his teeth without looking like he was going to fucking gut you. It made him seem younger.

“We’ll be the hippest crew this side of, fuck, I mean— we’ll be the dopest crew—“ He stops himself, laughing and shaking his head, Michael right there with him.

This can’t possibly last. Michael wasn’t so sure, anymore. They passed the rest of the afternoon there, drinking coffee way later than any reasonable adult should. Luckily, neither of them were that. And when Ryan drove him back home and ruffled his hair again before saying goodnight, when that wasn’t weird like it should be, he couldn’t help but think more on the offer. Couldn’t help but wonder, fucking marvel at even the idea that someone like Ryan would want to partner up with him.

He had to keep reminding himself that Ryan didn’t know, yet. That when he did it’d all be gone. He kept reminding himself not to get attached, not to commit, not to want. It was hard.

[vivaciouswordsmith]

Chapter 3 is up!

This might be the last chapter of Four-Legged Fiend for a couple of days. I’m going back to school tomorrow, and school proper starts next week, so updates will depend on how much down time I have. Anyhoo, you can read it here or beneath the cut. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Man from Jersey

Time went by, as it usually did, in uneven lumps.

 There were days that had no end in sight, and there were weeks that flew past without either of them noticing. Geoff spent most of his downtime still trying to recruit crew members, though he mostly focused on the demolitions ‘expert’ in New Jersey. Jack was largely uninvolved in that sort of thing and spent his time taking care of their little group. Geoff took care of the business side of things, and Jack made sure they had food, water and shelter. It was how they’d gotten along for years now.

In a matter of weeks, Ryan had outgrown most of the clothes Jack had gotten for them, so all of those ended up in a box at the Goodwill. Jack and Geoff both agreed that although it was rather cute to see him wearing clothes, they should probably wait until he was fully grown to buy more. His fur grew thicker and fluffier as he grew larger and larger, and his muzzle pushed out in a sharp point. The skull markings were even more prominent now, and several people told Jack it made Ryan look eerie. His eyes stayed the same baby blue color, standing out starkly in contrast with his black fur.

They’d poured over breed blogs and websites and Wikipedia pages, but neither Geoff nor Jack knew just what the hell Ryan was, especially now that he was older. The vet hadn’t been sure either, and had wanted them to do a DNA ancestry test, but at the time they could barely afford it. Even though Geoff had warmed to Ryan at that point, he still refused to dip into his precious crew money for the pup.

Then, six months later, a knock sounded at the door. Ryan leaped up from his bed and ran over to the door. His bushy tail wagged furiously behind him while he scratched at the knob. Even though he hadn’t quite entered the ‘teenage’ phase yet, the pup had grown immensely in the half year they’d had him. He was almost a foot and a half tall at the shoulder already. Geoff proudly bragged that he was going to be huge, like, maybe even wolf-sized.

Another knock rapped at the door, and Ryan let out a single bark. That alone was enough to bring Jack running out of the kitchen. Ryan was an unusually quiet dog. It took a lot to make him bark.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” said Jack. Ryan slipped off the door and looked up at Jack. His lips stretched into a doggy grin, and he cocked his head. “C’mon, Ryan, get away from the door.” He nudged the dog aside with his legs, only to have Ryan return and scratch at the door seconds later. Jack sighed and reached for a nearby basket. A well-worn brown and gray cow toy rested on top, and he waved it at Ryan. The dog’s ears stood up straight and his eyes widened. A squeeze of the cow’s squeaker had him eagerly bouncing in place, paws tapping on the tile floor. “Yeah? You want Edgar, buddy?” Jack tossed him as far from the door as possible. Ryan took off after it, clearing the ottoman and knocking a stack of papers off the coffee table in the process.

Another knock sounded, much louder this time, and forceful enough to make the door’s hinges rattle. Jack flipped the safety off on his pistol and pulled the door open.

A young man stood on the other side of the door, fist raised and eyes wide with surprise. “Finally. Jesus.” He let his fist fall and shifted awkwardly in place. “Uh…are you Geoff?”

“No. Geoff’s out right now.” A squeak from behind him made both Jack and the young stranger jump. Jack glanced down and saw Ryan standing directly behind him, Edgar the cow clutched tightly between his teeth. He squeaked the toy again and looked expectantly up at Jack. “Not now, Ryan. Later.” He turned back to the stranger, who slowly stowed his pistol back in his brown jacket. “Are you one of the new recruits?”

“Yeah. I’m Michael.” He held out his hand. “Michael Jones. I’m the demolitions guy.”

The pronunciation of ‘guy’ made Jack’s eyebrow raise. “Wait, you’re the guy from New Jersey? I thought you didn’t want to come down to Los Santos.”

Michael shrugged. “Geoff made an offer I couldn’t refuse, and I thought, what the hell, I could use a change of scenery.”

Jack nodded slowly. “Okay. Guess you’d better come in.” He slid the chain back and nudged Ryan aside with his foot. “Hold on – Ryan, move!” The pup very helpfully did not move at all, and instead sat down at Jack’s feet and squeaked Edgar again. “Okay, fine, you win.” He carefully pried the toy out of Ryan’s mouth and tossed it. The young dog turned tail and bounded over the armchair, giving Jack enough time to let Michael into the apartment.

The young criminal tossed a bulging duffle bag into the corner of the room and flopped down into the chair. He let out a long breath and put his feet up on the coffee table.

“If you’re not Geoff, then who the fuck are you?”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “You’re just now asking this?”

“I’ve been on a fucking plane for twenty hours. Fucking sue me.”

“I’m Jack Pattillo, Geoff’s partner. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you about me.”

Michael shrugged. “He said he had a partner, just never said his name.” He shifted slightly in the chair and glanced around the living room. “So…if Geoff’s out…and you’re Jack…who the fuck is Ryan?”

At that moment, the six-month old pup vaulted over the ottoman and landed squarely on Michael’s lap. The New Jersey criminal wheezed loudly and curled up on himself. He dropped the worn cow toy onto his chest and bathed the demo man’s freckled cheeks with his tongue. Jack ran forward, grabbed Ryan’s collar and pulled him back down onto the floor.

“This is Ryan.” The pup’s ears twitched. He jerked free from Jack, ran over to his toy basket, and upended it. “We’re still working on training him.”

“It’s…all right.” Michael sat up and gingerly smoothed out his jacket and jeans. “I mean, I’m not hurt.”

Ryan ran back over to him and dropped a plastic fish and a torn-up rope toy on top of his squeaky cow, which was still in Michael’s lap. He sat down at Michael’s feet and watched him intently.

“Ryan, Jones is here for business, not to play with you. C’mon, I think you need a time-out.” He pulled open the patio door and whistled. Ryan whined and laid his head on Michael’s knees. “Ryan! Come here!”

“Nah, leave him. I don’t mind. And it’s Michael, not fucking Jones.” Michael rubbed Ryan’s ears and grinned when the pup’s tail wagged and his head lolled. “Wow, he is friendly. What breed is he?”

“We don’t know yet. The vet wants to send his blood in for ancestry testing, but, uh, we can’t really afford it at the moment. Not with all the other shit we’ve had to do.” Jack returned to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. “You want a beer?”

“Yeah, sure.” Michael gently pulled the dog’s chin up and gazed at his skull markings. “He looks kinda like a wolf. You think he might be part wolf? Cause that would be fucking badass.”

“Geoff certainly wants him to be a wolf. He thinks that would give the crew an edge.”

“Plus it would be fucking cool.” Ryan chose that moment to jump into Michael’s lap and start licking his face again. “Holy fuck, man!”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be a great asset.” Still, Jack couldn’t help smiling at the sight. He did so love that pup. He handed Michael his beer, which was made more difficult than normal with the addition of a curious pup sniffing his hand. Michael gratefully accepted the bottle and chugged down half in two great swigs.

The door creaked open, and Geoff walked briskly into the hallway. He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw Michael sitting in the armchair. Ryan jumped up and ran over to him, tongue lolling and tail wagging.

“Michael?! I was just at the fucking airport looking for you!”

“My plane got in forty-five minutes early.”

“And you didn’t think to, oh I don’t know, fucking call me and tell me?”

“My fucking phone died during the trip. What’s with the fucking third degree, anyway? You’re not my father.”

Ryan pawed at Geoff’s slacks, and the criminal finally acknowledged him with a few scratches behind the ears. His scowl flickered for a few moments, and then he couldn’t help but beam down at the happy pup. He moved to sit by Jack, and Ryan wandered back over to Michael and laid his head on his knee.

“Guess I should just be glad you got here in one piece, even if you made me wait at the airport for-fucking-ever.” Geoff dusted off his cuff and gazed intently at the curly-haired youth occupying his chair. “Anyway. Down to business. We’ve thought long and hard about it – ”

Michael and Jack both snickered. Ryan’s ears twitched, and he tilted his head.

“ – Shut up, dickheads. Anyway, Jack and I thought about it, and, well, we’re willing to offer you a place to stay while you try our little crew on for size. We, uh, have jack shit to offer at the moment, but-”

“Are you kidding? I blew everything I had just getting here. I don’t care if I have to sleep on the fucking floor, I’d much rather have a roof over my head.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to sleep on the floor here,” said Jack.

Geoff waved a hand dismissively. “You’ll get your own room, don’t worry.”

Jack looked at him. “We have an extra room?”

Geoff elbowed him in the side. “Yes, we absolutely have an extra room.” Michael’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “But, uh, with your help, and if any of the other assholes I’ve talked to actually show their faces, we should run this town this time next year.” Ryan yipped and pushed his nose into Michael’s hand. “And, fuck, Ryan likes you, so I’m optimistic.”

“I thought Ryan liked everyone.”

“Oh believe me, there are people he absolutely does not like,” said Geoff. “If the vet had a dollar for every time Ryan’s bitten him, he’d be a fucking millionaire.”

“So, uh, why do you guys have him, anyway? Is he an attack dog? Does he know how to break down doors or some shit?”

“That’s still a work in progress,” said Jack. “He’s…a little contrary.”

“He knows one trick.” Geoff sat up straight and slapped his legs. “Ryan! Hey, Ryan!” The pup’s ears perked up, and his tail wagged madly. “Go to the fridge and get me a beer!” Ryan bounded through the living room and into the kitchen.

“Can he really fetch beer? This dog’s fucking amazing!”

Ryan reentered the room. A silver can was clutched between his teeth, which he promptly dropped in Geoff’s lap. “See? He’s such a good boy.” He popped the tab, and a wave of brown froth burst from the top and drenched his slacks. “Fucking fuck! These were brand new.”

“That doesn’t look like beer,” said Michael.

Geoff blinked and inspected the can. “Goddammit, it’s a Diet Coke.”

Ryan sat at Geoff’s feet and beamed at him.

“Like I said, it’s a work in progress. He is still a puppy,” said Jack. “Plus he doesn’t know how to read.”

“Well, A for effort, I guess.” Geoff patted Ryan’s head and stood. “Sorry about, well, everything. I swear to God, once the other assholes answer my fucking phone calls, we’ll be on top of the world.”

“Just give me shit to blow up and I’ll be a happy little boy.”

Geoff grinned. “I think we’ll get along just fine, Michael Jones.”

[queenzufufu]

Youngsters (5/?)

Summary: For the kids at The Rooster teeth care home, life hasn’t always been easy. They’ve come from broken homes, broken families. They’ve escaped with broken bones and broken spirits. But at least now they have a second chance to be happy with a real family.

Well…that’s easier said than done when your family includes a hyperactive midget, an over eager wrestling fanatic and a boy who just can’t go a day without punching something…or someone.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 AO3

“If you can do school, you can do a nine to five.” - Jack

“So Amy was like - Geoff.”

“I’m listening.”

“Hmm, so Amy was all like…”

Okay, so that was a little white lie. Geoff wasn’t listening, hadn’t been for the past ten minutes. Tina was a great girl, really. Beautiful, popular… beautiful, like fucking hot. She was prime real estate in the senior year dating market. And she had chosen Geoff - not Will Ericsson or Colton Bowers, two guys who you might say were the most eligible to be interested - she had chosen Geoff. What could he say? He could be a charming motherfucker when he wanted to be.

But God damn the girl liked to talk. Non-stop, about everything that occurred in her life, not sparing one detail and repeating everything to make sure Geoff knew it was her brown, not red shoes she had been wearing when she took her dog to the grooming salon to get a little bow put on its dumb head.

Adorable, Geoff reminded himself. Rocket - the shit zoo or whatever it was - was adorable. With his beady black eyes, manicured claws and teeth that always went straight for Geoff’s ankles. Little fucker. It’s not like I’ve ever disrespected him or anything.

At the weekend Geoff had happily envisioned dropkicking the mutt over Tina’s garden fence but managed to talk himself out of it, deciding that it might not be a good early impression to make. And early it was in their…relationship?

Did this count as a proper relationship yet?

Eleven days. It had taken eleven days to bag himself a little lady friend. Nine if you only counted the school days but Geoff wasn’t. He knew just as much work had to be put in outside of school, if not more. A master of his trade if nothing else.

Finding a girlfriend in high school? It had never really been that difficult. Not for Geoff anyhow. He’d had various girlfriends since middle school. Hanging onto them - now that was the harder part. People were so fickle in high school, whereas Geoff usually got it into his head that this was “the one” after about a month.

Ryan called him a lovesick fool more often than Geoff felt was reasonable. What did that kid know anyway? It wasn’t like Ryan had ever had a girlfriend. Or boyfriend. The boy was far more interested in Geoff’s relationships than was healthy, taunting him and mocking him about the current one whenever he got the chance. Dick.

His old car shuddered as he changed gear - shivering like it also felt the cold from the Fall weather that had finally arrived the day before. Soft splashing water droplets hit the windshield as Geoff drove onwards. They were going to the movies - seeing some rom-com Tina wanted to see. Geoff seriously hoped it wasn’t as bad as the tagline made him believe. “True love has never been truer.” Fucking really?

“Dani came over and was all - Geoff.”

“Mmm.” Geoff put just enough emphasis on the sound to make it plausible, although he could begin to sense a hard stare burning through his skin. Nevertheless, Tina carried on talking. Geoff leaned forward in his seat as the rain fell harder, blurring out the road ahead. The skies were overhung with a blanket of grey, so much so that he could barely tell the difference between the sky and the clouds. It was strangely calming, watching the raindrops race down the window, briefly getting excited when he saw a puddle coming up. Even better if there was a douchebag from school next to it.

He briefly tuned back into what Tina was saying just in case she was addressing him directly. “And so she was all…”

Nope. Still safe.

Geoff squinted ahead, making out a shape moving in the distance next to the road, slowing down in case it decided to make a move across the street in the poor visibility.

“And I said to Amy - Geoff? Geoff, are you listening to me?”

He didn’t even reply that time, too interested in the shape, which he could now make out as a person. It was a boy walking alone in the rain - no coat, just a dark hoodie and jeans which were already soaked through. He looked in no hurry to get out of the bad weather and as they drew closer, Geoff immediately recognised him. “Lawrence?” he said to himself.

Lawrence and the other middle school kids should have been picked a long time ago by Barbara or Trevor. Unless the boy had detention again but either way, he was not supposed to be here, alone.

“Geoff!” Tina eventually snapped at his blatant dismissal of her enthralling tale. “Have you even listened to a word I’ve said?”

“Hey, sorry. But that’s one of the kids at my home,” Geoff murmured, not taking his eyes off the boy, worried he might blink and the figure would be lost to the watery haze the rain was kicking up.

Tina looked, and then turned back. “So?” she asked, clearly not at all concerned or caring.

“So, he’s not meant to be walking that way. He should’ve been picked up over an hour ago.” Geoff said while ideas rushed through his head on what was the best course of action. He could call one of the carers…

Next to him, Tina ruffled in her seat, like a disgruntled bird puffing up its feathers. “So, I still don’t get why that’s so important.”

She didn’t get it but Geoff wasn’t about to waste time to explain. “Listen, I’m sorry,” he said, tearing his gaze away from Lawrence to offer her a sincere apologetic smile. “But I can’t just leave him out here. I am the oldest so I kinda feel responsible. Maybe it’s better if we do this another time? I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

He was met with complete and utter silence. That was new. Geoff gulped, unsure if this was a good or bad sign.

When she did talk, it was robotic. “Okay sure, whatever you want Geoff.” And before he knew it, she unbuckling her seat belt and opening the door before he’d fully stopped.

“Tina come on!” He cried out as he slammed his foot on the brake. His pleas had no effect as she stormed out into the rain, phone against her ear, no doubt calling one of her girlfriends to tell them what a shit head Geoff was. “Ah, shit.”

Whatever. I’ll make it up later.

With that over, he drove on until he was level with the boy, rolling down the window and calling out in a friendly, casual tone as if he were scared of startling the kid; even though he knew it would take a hell of a lot more to get a flinch out of him. “You off somewhere, Lawrence?”

As expected, for his part, the boy did a brilliant job of not looking surprised to see Geoff. Not stopping, he continued walking down the sidewalk, hands in jean pockets, head returning to the ground once he’d seen who had been calling him. Droplets of rain dropped down his sodden hair onto his forehead and face. His clothes and backpack were completely drenched and Geoff doubted any schoolwork or text books wouldn't be ruined - if the boy actually had any with him.

“Just wanted a walk,” Lawrence replied, voice not giving away anything, keeping his gaze ahead, neither speeding or slowing his walking pace. Mr. Cool, Calm and Collected. Easier to deal with than Mr. Angry, Enraged and Punch-You-Where-It-Hurts, Geoff figured.

“Uh huh,” Geoff nodded his head slowly, leaning over the passenger seat, his forearm against the door as he put on his hazard lights on to continue to match the walking pace. “Any idea where to?” he asked.

“Not really.” Lawrence shrugged deliberately, emphasising the movement and then pointing roughly in front of him. “That way.”

“Right.” Geoff knew where “that way” was headed if you walked for another fifteen minutes or so. Straight to the main bus terminal. Ah well, he’d suspected sooner or later something like this would happen - was almost surprised it had taken this long. Back in his day Geoff had been out of the door within forty-eight hours - had run away over five times during the first two weeks.

Geoff returned his stance to the wheel, tapping out a random beat on the casing. “Well, you don’t wanna go too far that way without a proper jacket on in this weather.”

Lawrence sniffed, shaking his head like a wet hound, leaving him no less wet. “I’m fine,” he replied slowly, insistent, not angry yet.

“Never said you weren’t.” A half smile swept across Geoff’s face - one that only appeared when he didn’t know how else to react. His eyes were sympathetic though. No matter how tough and unflappable Lawrence acted, Geoff couldn’t help but see him for what he was. An eleven year old kid - mature beyond his years but still…an eleven year old kid all the same.

Geoff had a certain soft spot for kids old beyond their years.

“C’mon,” he tapped the outside of the car door with his hand, uncaring about the rain plastering both him and the interior of his beloved car.

Lawrence ignored him, or at least acted like he was - still walking, one foot in front of the other like it was his mission and nobody was going to stand in his way.

“Listen,” Geoff tried again. “While you live under our roof, with me, I feel obligated to treat you like everybody else. And to everybody else, I would offer them a lift.” He paused and in that time Lawrence risked a glance his way, giving Geoff hope. “So how about I give you a lift over that way?” he asked again.

A few more paces and then Lawrence stopped, blinking beads of water off his dark lashes. Sniffing louder, he looked around - perhaps wondering how far he’d get if he ran - and then hesitantly opened the passenger door, jumping in before he could change his mind. Geoff shook his head as a splattering of water off the boy aimed straight at his face - that half of his car instantly becoming soaked too.

Geoff made a U-turn and began to drive home, turning on the radio quietly to a local station. “So…how was school?” he tried to make conversation.

“What do you care?” Lawrence threw it back, flicking through more stations, settling on one for ten seconds and then changing it.

Geoff grinned, not bothered by the rudeness in the tone like most would be. “Oh, I dunno. Call it nosy big brother syndrome.”

“You ain’t my brother,” Lawrence shot back again. “So mind your business.”

Geoff nodded, holding back his laughter. “Fair enough.” What the hell, eh? There’s something I just find amusing about how blatantly this kid does not give a fuck about me or my opinions.

Lawrence coughed, rolling down the window to spit out of it. Geoff was grateful he at least didn’t spit in the car. The boy messed about with his seat for a while, rolling back and forth, up and down, tipping it as far back as it would go before righting himself, his right leg beginning to bounce up and down tirelessly, knocking the glove box every time.

Not even those antics could draw a flinch of annoyance out of Geoff, no matter how purposefully aggravating Lawrence may or may not have been trying to be.

Geoff couldn’t explain it, couldn’t understand it. The fact of the matter was he just felt a connection to this kid. He remembered the day the boy had arrived, kicking and shouting and digging his heels into the ground, wild and angry.

At first he seemed typical of the delinquent children Geoff knew passed through the system; if a concentrated version.

He was small, scrappy, greeny-grey-eyed and dark-haired. His hands were closed fists most of the time.

A pretty usual story, Geoff had been told by Burnie, for he was the only one entrusted with further details about why a new kid was arriving. The long-term staff knew the teen’s lips would forever remain sealed, and it was often helpful if he knew a bit more information.

The kid had been put into care after his father, and only living relative, died of a heart attack when he was seven. He’d been adopted initially by a couple who already had a brood of foster children. They slipped through the cracks of the overburdened child welfare office, taking on kids for the money sent. Neglected, hungry, dirty, too many children were given to them and treated as cash registers for government funding.

They weren’t sent to school, rather learning occasional random lessons from the ‘parents’ – who barely spoke English and only spoke to their children in Spanish. The couple were exposed when one of their older children went to a neighbour begging for food for his brothers and sisters.

Sent back into the system when he was nine, Lawrence was already trouble. He was disobedient, angry. He’d come back from more than one family bruised, and more than one family claimed that he was impossible to deal with without using force. He’d been with both foster families and state homes. None of them could deal with him.

A childhood starved and neglected of any attention had kept in small – even though he was no longer the skinny and undernourished kid that had been picked up from his first foster home. At eleven he could have passed for eight – and Geoff suspected like a great many small, abused children, Lawrence overcompensated with anger and force. He suspected that because once upon a time – what felt like a lifetime ago as well as only yesterday – he had not been too dissimilar. Just a too small, angry kid.

His first meeting with the boy had been an interesting one as well. Geoff had wandered into Burnie’s office while the man had been talking to Lawrence. According to Burnie, though Lawrence had shown no interest and had been acting like he wasn’t listening to anything Burnie was telling him, he jumped up the moment Geoff walked in, yelling about how this was his time and he shouldn’t be interrupted. He had cursed in English, in Spanish, all to a very bemused and confused Geoff, who’d hastily made an exit when the boy picked up one of his discarded sneakers and threw it at him.

Yeah… it was fair to say Geoff had been intrigued by the kid from the start. His mood was so black so constantly that the sheer energy it must have taken to maintain it was a wonder. Lawrence never sulked when he could shout. Never sat in a mood when he could stomp about and cause havoc.

“So what was your plan?” Geoff tried a different angle for conversation - one he thought Lawrence might be more willing to talk about, plus he was kind of interested himself. “Beg a kindhearted stranger for money? Sneak in with the luggage? Pretend to be with someone else’s family and hope there’s a spare seat? Or just wing it?”

Lawrence glanced over at him and gave what could almost pass for a half smirk, the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly, most possibly out of surprise from Geoff’s train of thought. Geoff suspected he was far more used to being berated rather than questioned about his misdemeanours.

“Don’t look so surprised, kid,” Geoff said, and Lawrence tilted his head in curiosity as Geoff took an exit off the main road that would take them to their neighborhood. “I did this a lot back in the day. Bit younger than you.”

“Don’t call me kid,” Lawrence said as he kicked his legs up, crossing his feet, bringing his hands up behind his head. He leaned back, head still tilted towards Geoff, in a perfectly relaxed fashion, but actually seeming interested in what the older boy had to say.

“Force of habit,” Geoff laughed. He stopped for a red light and used the opportunity to look Lawrence in the eye. What he saw there was… well, he wasn’t quite sure. But for once it didn’t seem like pure anger. He grabbed his water and took a sip while he thought about what to say. “You know I won’t stop you, from leaving I mean, if that’s what you really wanna do. Heck, it’s what I wanted to do, and it worked out, cause I ended up here, eventually. Although I did run away from here multiple times also.” He laughed again, one short bark of amusement for his past self. “It’s…it’s where I belong, cheesy as it sounds.”

As he moved the vehicle off Lawrence was still stretched out as if he were tanning on a deck chair at the beach and not soaking the interior of Geoff’s little car. A glint of something else was in his eyes however when Geoff briefly glanced over again. Confusion? Wariness? Perhaps a mixture of both.

Geoff hesitated, and then said, “Don’t run for the sake of running Lawrence, or you’ll end up running forever.”

A not so awkward silence settled on the two, Lawrence not complaining when Geoff reached over and turned the radio off. They weren’t far from home now, and the rain was easing off, pinches of sunlight breaking through the grey. For a while Geoff wondered if Lawrence was going to speak, could sense a certain energy around the young boy, and when Lawrence drew in a deep breath he half expected him to ask a question. But all Lawrence does is breathe out slowly, his breath turning into condensation on the window next to him.

Geoff’s phone vibrated. “It’s Barbara,” he said, peering at the screen. “What do you want me to say?” He thought to leave it up to Lawrence - Geoff could give them the full story later. “Oh and do me a favour,” he added before the boy could answer, gesturing to the phone.

Lawrence looked down. He sighed, but picked up the phone anyway, holding it up to Geoff’s ear. “Tell her…” he spoke for the first time since he’d got in, eyes narrowing. A few seconds, and then he murmured, “Tell her that…that she needs to buy me a new jacket.”

He’s smiling. And fucking hell if that wasn’t a surprise to Geoff, especially when he nods and the grin widens - a truly Cheshire cat grin if he’s ever seen one.

“Hey Barb,” he answers as Lawrence stretches to press the phone against his ear. “Yeah, don’t worry about that, he’s with me,” he told her before her worried babbling could get too carried away. “Nah don’t worry, I just gave him a lift cause it was raining and we kinda got distracted, sorry. We’re coming home now - not far.”

She’d hung up before Geoff had a chance to say more, probably running off to tell Burnie and Gus it was okay, they didn’t have to involve the police yet.

The rest of the drive passed quickly and before long Geoff was pulling into the circular driveway of Rooster Teeth, parking in his unofficial spot under his bedroom window and cutting the engine. The hard rain had eased into a light drizzle and a smattering of colors painted the sky in the form of a faint rainbow.

Geoff saw movement downstairs and assumed one of the kids or staff had rushed off to inform everybody they were home.

Lawrence was still sat in his seat and Geoff wasn’t sure if he was waiting for him to get out first or was unwilling to go inside and face whatever wrath was undoubtedly coming his way.

Unthinking, Geoff reached into his pocket, looking down at the boy. Lawrence met his eyes, something open and earnest there, so strange to see on his face, but then he was frowning as Geoff handed over three ten dollar bills.

“For you,” Geoff said. “Seeing as I forgot to tell Barbara to buy that jacket for you.”

“I don’t want none of your money.” Lawrence’s defences were immediately up as he replied before Geoff had even finished speaking, eyes darting around like he was expecting an ambush.

“Don’t worry, you’re not gonna be indebted to me or anything,” Geoff assured him. “Think of this as a late welcome gift, plus a little extra, so you don’t have to worry about stowing away on a bus if you do ever decide to take a trip outta town. You do what you need.”

Lawrence still looked like he didn’t trust him one bit and Geoff worried he’d made the wrong call, but he couldn’t exactly go back on it now. “You’re right, I wouldn’t just do this for anyone,” he admitted. “But you’re a smart kid and I trust the judgment of smart kids to do what’s best in the end.”

Lawrence wasn’t quite satisfied, Geoff could see it in his tense body language. The money stayed in his hand though, and after a few more moments of intense stares he was looking away and clenching his fist around the notes.

Geoff breathed out a sigh of relief, unable to not feel a bit flustered by all that. He laughed off any tension remaining, jerking his head towards Lawrence’s door. “Anyway, get the fuck outta here, motherfucker. You made me miss one date but I will never, ever, miss the one with my dinner.”

Lawrence briefly opened his mouth as well, but shut it tight again just as fast. A tiny smirk appeared in it’s place as he opened the door, jumped out and slammed it shut as he ran inside, leaving Geoff still sat in his car trying to figure out what that small interaction had just meant.

––––

“Shit!” Geoff cried out later that evening as the baseball catapulted back at him from the tree Geoff had launched it towards.

“Almost,” Jack said, catching the ball and throwing it himself. He missed also.

They’d been out there ten minutes - after the rain had finally let off completely - deciding to undertake the task of dislodging the football Adam had somehow managed to lodge in the old oak tree out the back.

Usually by this time Jack would be firmly holed up in his and Bruce’s room, playing Minecraft or watching some movie or Netflix show. Tonight though, he needed a change up. Bruce might later claim he was avoiding him, and that would be true. Bruce would be perfectly within his right to call him out on it.

Jack’s a quiet kid in general - far quieter in school than he was at home. Bruce had been good for him in that sense, managing to keep him in the loop with the sociable crowds like the social butterfly the older boy was. Maybe it was stupid of them to think nothing would change once Bruce upped and left for high school.

He wasn’t necessarily being bullied.

He was just… he wasn’t quite sure what was happening to him. Getting isolated?

It’s confusing. It’s upsetting. It isn’t worth bothering Bruce about.

He thinks, more than anything, that this is how things were supposed to go. He didn’t have a lot going for him. He was on the heavier side of the other kids, he wore glasses, he knew he could be extremely opinionated at times. He was most definitely a nerd.

He had a group that he regularly hung out with but too often Jack felt they were doing it out of obligation. Because he was Bruce’s brother and Bruce had left as one of the most popular kids in school. Because they were nice kids and pitied Jack and his well-meaning but awkward ways.

Then he told himself to man up and deal with it. That there were kids out there in far worse situations who actually feared for their lives going into school each day. That his situation is just one of those things; it’s just the way life goes.

That’s why he’s out here with Geoff, because the older boy has a way of making him feel better and putting things into perspective without even realising it. Geoff just seems so much more of a complete and rounded human than Jack, like he’s got all his shit figured out and nothing or nobody could change that.

“Saw you dropped Lawrence off earlier,” Jack mentioned, ducking as the ball ricocheted off the wall behind him.

“Yeah,” Geoff laughed as he almost slid on the wet grass trying to catch it. “Kid was thinking about running. I put some stuff into perspective for him.”

Perspective. Right. That’s what Jack knew Geoff was good for.

“The Great Geoff, to the rescue again,” he only half joked.

“That’s what they keep me around for,” Geoff said. There was a distant look in his eyes, blue reflecting unknown memories or emotions. “Hell, it’s a lot easier to pack up and go nowadays in this city than it was for me. Probably safer too if you think about it. Still surprised how lucky I got that none of the guys I hitchhiked with were child predators or murderers of something.”

Jack nodded, slowly. He was trying to imagine, as he had done many times, just what it would take to run away from your own family. Horrors he probably didn’t wan’t to imagine about too hard. “No, they were something far, far worse,” he replied. “They were from…Alabama!”

Geoff looked him up and down, unimpressed. “Asshole,” he said with a chuckle, shaking his head. “Anyway, it wasn’t just Alabama. I made it across half the country before I got picked up.”

“Was that by the cop who stank of weed or the cop who actually smoked a joint in front of you?”

“The latter. How else d’you think I got away so easily?”

Jack shrugged. “You’re always going on about how freaking smart you were as a kid.” He lobbed the baseball at the tree once more. “Dang it!” So close. He peered at Geoff through the corner of his eye. “Thought evading a few cops would come easily,” he jested.

Geoff looked startled, then oddly flustered. “Yeah, not when you’re tired and hungry, it doesn’t,” he replied shortly.

Ouch, if that didn’t hit Jack where it hurt. He hung his head until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Geoff smiling gently at him, letting him know there were no hard feelings.

Jack still felt bad though. Sometimes it was so hard to tell with his foster siblings what sort of mood they were in. There were days when Geoff would have taken his harmless jibe for what it was, and retorted with a similar one. But there were also days when his siblings would be so caught up in the past and all that had happened to them, Jack would find himself dredging up further painful memories or experiences, entirely unintentional.

He supposed it was just another example of how he an outcast in that sense. Although Bruce was too, and Ryan, little Jeremy also. They’d loved their families with all their heart, but he didn’t see them making things awkward for everyone else. Jeremy could at times say stuff that wasn’t quite appropriate for the time or place but he had an excuse; he was only five years old.

Jack should have known better by now.

“Hey Michael,” Geoff’s greeting brought him out of his stupor. He looked across to see the eight year old marching outside in a dark blue raincoat and boots, hair extra curly from the earlier rain. He came with baseball bat in hand, obviously here to help with their pitiful attempts. “How’s it going, kiddo?” Geoff asked, fondling the brown mop playfully.

“School sucks,” Michael replied with characteristic bluntness.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Michael confirmed, handing the bat to Geoff. “My teacher hates me.”

Geoff shared an amused glance with Jack. “How’s that?” he asked.

Michael looked away. He dug his hands into his pockets, kicking up the ground beneath him. “He made me stand outside the whole afternoon,” he grumbled. “And then I had to apologise to the class for disrupting them even though I wan’t doing nothing!”

“So you disrupted the class by doing nothing?” Geoff repeated dryly. “That sounds very unlike you, Michael.”

“Yeah, spill,” Jack added, smiling a bit. Michael’s mannerisms and story telling often made even the dullest tale entertaining.

Michael stared down at the ground some more, then looked back up at the older two with something almost mocking in his eyes. “I might have got out of my seat at one point…”

“And…?” Jack raised his eyebrows.

“And crawled around on the floor to be like a spy,” Michael said, voice mischievous. “Like James Bond.”

Jack racked his brain to try and figure which Bond movie had the action hero crawling around in a elementary class.

Geoff, meanwhile, was already laughing, hard. “Under the tables and chairs of other students?” he asked.

Michael bit his lip - expression something wild, proud. “Yep.”

“C’mon Michael, it’s only the start of the year. You’ve got to pace yourself a little,” Geoff poked the little boy’s shoulder before crying out angrily as the ball he had just batted directly hit the football but only slightly dislodged it. “I swear I’m gonna kill Adam, like, actually murder his little ass.”

“Not my fault it’s so boring,” Michael defended.

“It’s school. It’s supposed to be boring,” Jack pointed out. “It teaches you how to be an adult and deal with boring jobs. You’ve gotta start treating school like a job. If you can do school, you can do a nine to five.”

That’s why Jack knew he had to get over whatever he was going through. If he had a mini breakdown each time he suspected someone was whispering behind his back, he was hardly going to cope in the real world.

“Yeah well I’m not gonna have a nine to five,” Michael began, fetching the ball again and getting ready to throw it to Geoff. “I’m gonna do something better. Just don’t know what yet. But better.” He sighs as Geoff misses again, stalking over and snatching the bat off the eldest, handing it to Jack.

“Now that, I can relate to,” Geoff agrees, only slightly miffed about his demotion to ball fetcher. “Least you’ve got another ten years before you have to decide what you’re gonna do with your life.”

“Aren’t you going to community college to become a…a tractor or whatever with builders?” Michael asked.

“Contractor - and no, I don’t know. That was just an idea. I’ve got a lot of fucking ideas these days,” Geoff said quietly.

Jack frowned. He thought Geoff had it all figured out also - knew where he was going and what he wanted. But the last he’d heard was that the older boy wanted to become a journalist, was aiming for a scholarship to get into the more prestigious city school.

Jack had thought that was a great idea. Geoff was good with all people and had way of getting them to open up. He was also witty with his words and knew how to tell a story. Was that just an idea too?

“You could work here,” Michael piped up, hopeful. “Then you wouldn’t ever have to leave!” He raised the baseball in the air and Jack nodded, readying his stance.

“Jesus, no. I love y’all but I gotta get out at some point,” Geoff instantly rebutted the idea. He whooped with joy as Jack’s shot finally knocked the football to the ground with a satisfying thunk. “C’mon! That’s what I’m talking about! Fucking A!” he yelled, high-fives all around.

After the celebrations, Michael pouted. “What’s wrong with here?”

Geoff huffed out a laugh. But he wrapped an arm around Michael’s neck and pulled him into his side. “You’ll understand someday when you’re ready to make your own way in the world,” he said as Michael wriggled and escaped, wildly grinning.

“Here he goes again,” Jack said. “Uncle Geoff with his words of wisdom.”

“I’m just saying…” Geoff said, gesturing at the home - the grounds, the building, Jack and Michael. “I can’t grow old here.”

“Umm no, you can’t, cause you get kicked out anyway once you’re eighteen,” Michael replied cheekily. He kicked at the ground some more, bringing up tufts of earth and grass. He sighed loudly, as if there was a question building up in him.

“Something other than school bothering you, kid?” Geoff took the initiative and asked before Michael said a word.

“No - yeah,” Michael continued after a moment. “I mean…maybe,” he admitted, tone turning serious.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Michael gazed up at Geoff and Jack saw the bright glimmer of hope in his eyes. “You got any idea about how to help Gav?” Michael asked sincerely.

“Why?” Geoff leapt on the question with urgency, and Jack knew why - he himself was putting on a concerned, wide-eyed look. He was protective over all his younger siblings, but none more so than Gavin. “What’s the matter?” Geoff questioned anxiously.

“Nightmares again,” Michael murmured. “Not loud otherwise I would’a woken up. But they’ve been keeping him up recently -  can tell.”

Yeah, little guy has been extra tired recently, and if the bags under his eyes are anything to go by…

“We’re going swimming lessons with Jeremy, to try and help him not be ‘fraid of water. Burnie said it was cool,” Michael told them. “But I dunno if that’ll actually help him sleep better… or with anything.”

Geoff was silent for a moment, thinking things over. “I’m not a therapist, Michael,” he said gently.

Michael nodded, still gazing up hopefully. “But you can help, right?” he asked, unable to help himself. “You always help.”

Geoff gave him a helpless look as tossed the ball in his hand. “I’d be no more help than that lady he and James see. Less,” he pointed out, and Michael dropped his head.

“Nicki,” he said. “She’s nice but Gav… he don’t wanna speak to her. Burnie and that already tried. He only speaks to us and then they tell her what he’s said and she gives advice.”

He said it proudly, like he was happy he was in Gavin’s trusted circle. Jack wasn’t sure if that was such a good thing - great, to be trusted and all - but the fact that Gavin trusted so few…

Suppose that’s what you got from a kid who didn’t even know his own last name when the authorities found him.

“I’ll…I’ll talk to him,” Geoff said eventually. “Maybe take him down to the bags, see if I can’t get him to open up some more or at least let some of his feelings out some way.”

Michael nodded, not quite satisfied, but happier. “That could help,” he replied. “It helped before.”

Helped us all, Jack thought.

Geoff smiled a little, but Jack could tell he felt strained under the unintentional pressure Michael had just thrust upon him. His reward for being the eldest, Jack supposed.

“Baby steps, Michael,” Geoff reminded the boy. “As long as he’s going forward that’s all that matters. Kid was used as some sort of lab rat for their sick experiments for years. You don’t just bounce back from that, kid, you know that. And I know you two are tight but he hasn’t really been here all that long. Don’t be expecting too much from him.”

“I know. I just wanna help in any way I can,” Michael replied, innocently. “I won’t hurt him none.” He seemed awful sure of that, unaware that his actions might have any sort of consequence.

“I know,” Geoff assured him. “Just…just try not to push him too hard, okay?”

Michael’s face softened, frown lines vanishing from his forehead. “Yeah… he’s strong though, stronger than he thinks.”

“Never truer words,” Geoff agreed.

Jack shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Damn, he’s the toughest kid here and he doesn’t even know it.”

Michael looked at him pointedly, the mischievous glint returning. “Good. He’s already the cutest and most lovable, blah, blah, blah. We don’t need his head getting any bigger,” he ranted, throwing up his arms in a ranting gesture. A moment later his face lit up and he tapped Geoff on the arm. “Hey Geoff, talking of people who are supposed to be all innocent, that reminds me. Trevor –”

“Hold that thought,” Geoff cut him off, staring hard through the closest window. “I see something that needs Burnie’s immediate attention.” And without another word he was hurrying off leaving behind his startled younger brothers.

Michael walked to where Geoff had been standing and stared in the same general direction. Jack watched as the frown returned and then was replaced by a look of exasperation.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Lawrence.” Michael replied simply. “Drinking a beer.”

Jack let out a laugh of disbelief and had a look too, squinting through one window and out the one of the other side of the house. There indeed, at the front of the house, was just that.

Beside him, Michael let out a groan of despair, odd coming from a boy so young.

“This place, I swear,” he said. “It gets crazier every day.”

Part 4 - TBC -