#seth has kevin on his lap ONE time

[lucky-slice]

I'm obsessed with Kevin for far too many reasons to reasonably count, but also because he's like crack cocaine for any and all character interactions in aftg.

Like if you really wanna get down and dirty into a characters psyche, just throw them into a jar with Kevin Day and shake it up a bit.

[jtl-fics]

In honor of April Fools day I will talk a bit about an AU with my favorite fool - (Redacted) Smith that I will probably never write fully but have thought about a bunch of scenes for.

I call it 2 Fluent Freshmen.

Due to a clerical error at both the school and during the local government's push to digitize their documents Smith is noted down as being 2 years older than he actually is and (perhaps a clerical error or maybe no teacher can say if they've had him in class or not) Smith also has enough credits to graduate. Gran has passed away early and there's nothing for him in Washington other than more anxiety.

Wymack & Dan come to Smith when he is 16 and Smith takes the chance to escape from his family IMMEDIATELY. Sure the Foxes are the worst team and sure there's some drama going on with Kevin Day having joined them after his injury but a full ride scholarship is a full ride scholarship!

Smith is rooming with 2 upperclassmen and his only other fellow freshman - Neil Josten. He is not hiding the fact that he can speak Russian, he is hiding the fact that he is 16. Smith ends up pretty close to Seth and Allison due to sharing a dorm / position respectively and just doing his best not to get to close to crazy Andrew Minyard. He does get a bit close with Neil but it's not something he's trying to do.

He's trying to keep his head down and get through the year.

It's a little hard when he is sat on the couch with the Kathy Ferdinand show. It's a lot harder when Riko Moriyama shows up and doesn't realize he's there and just...sits in Smith's lap?? Smith remains as blank faced as ever and what the fuck is Riko supposed to do? ADMIT HE FUCKED UP?

Do you know how hard it is to intimidate someone when you're sitting in the lap of some dude? The answer is VERY. Kevin can't take him seriously at all, especially after Smith made a comment that Riko's ass was bony.

Riko goes after them the same but Smith doesn't really get that his anger is at Kevin. "Hey, I'm sorry I called your butt bony on national television. That was rude of me. You should try some squats though." and like what the fuck is Riko supposed to say in the face of some dude genuinely apologizing to him.

It buys enough time that no one is grabbed or slammed.

Seth and Allison drag him out to the bar that night and after a few minutes sitting with Allison Smith realizes that he actually does have to pee and oh god someone's trying to assault Seth! Smith calls upon the powers of Gracie Hart and Seth has a black eye and a concussion but he graduates.

Neil wants Smith to come with him to the Thanksgiving because Neil has latched on a bit. Smith ends up going and also ends up going upstairs to go to the bathroom because oh god he cannot handle Nicky's parents hearing him take an anxiety shit. He's making his way to the end of the hall and sees a penny on the ground so he bends over to grab it.

And Drake Spears is unbalanced from missing his swing and falls right out the open window to the ground below where he breaks his neck. Naturally, Andrew is watching this scene unfold from the stairs and just starts to laugh his ass off. Smith turns around after flipping the penny over (it was tails side up and therefore not lucky) unaware of what has happened.

Smith asks if Andrew wants to use the bathroom. Andrew insists that Smith goes on ahead. The Hemmicks keep asking if they saw anyone upstairs and Smith has no idea what they're talking about, Andrew does but plays dumb out of spite. A day later it's wild that Nicky's parents got arrested. Like they seemed so normal, how did they kill someone and dump him in the side garden??

The Winter Banquet happens and well...it's dark. It's dark and Neil has brown hair and brown eyes and Smith has brown hair and brown eyes. Riko is not the best at judging heights so he calls Smith to threaten him and tell him that he's joining the Ravens for a Winter Break training camp. Jean is doing the most anyone has ever done not to laugh right now.

Riko only realizes his mistake when he's finished threatening Smith with his father and Smith ruins it. Smith is elated to have somewhere to stay over winter break. He can't mention he has nowhere to go so he'd thought he'd spend the break homeless. Now here comes Riko Moriyama inviting him to a camp where room and board will be provided?

What a nice guy. To thank him Smith compliments the gains he's noticed on Riko's ass. "The squats are really helping you, or are you doing something else?" he asks.

What the fuck is Riko supposed to do? ADMIT THAT HE FUCKED UP? Tell Smith that he's been doing squats and leg lifts before asking that he hand the tickets back and go get Neil???

Fuck that.

He'll just turn Smith against the Foxes and-

Well Riko kept talking about Smith's dead dad and so Smith may have a slight misunderstanding about the full scope of this training camp. He may think that there is some sort of seance element to it at this point and he's kind of excited at the idea of talking to his dad. "I've never spoken to a dead man before, this will be fun." and it's delivered flatly with no expression.

Riko starts to wonder if maybe Smith is the Butcher's son? Did the Butcher have two sons? He's sweating all the sudden.

It does not help that Smith brings a Ouija board to camp or that his dad was a legit Butcher before he died so Riko's tentative questioning only sends him further into an anxious mess about if Nathan had twins and Riko, due to being kept away from the family business, might just not be aware of it?

Smith has a nice Christmas break.

The last scene I've got dinging around in the noggin is in Binghamton. Smith has been left behind at many a stadium at this point. There's a solid and fast rule.

Neil cannot get on the bus without Smith. They are buddies. This is the buddy system. So when the riot starts and Neil seems to be getting pulled away in the crowd?

Well Smith grabs his hand and pulls him towards the bus, "Buddy system."

The bus starts and they're on their way shortly after. Neil's an anxious wreck but that next morning he wakes up to the news that the Butcher of Baltimore died in an FBI raid the night before as well as his men.

Smith watches the news with Neil, "Wow, that's scary." as he sips some orange juice.

[taughtintegrity]

[ hospital ] sender wakes up in a hospital bed and finds receiver sitting by their bedside

seth’s spent what feels like days holding vigil—minus the praying—for robby & ethan, anxiously waiting for his twin brother to wake up. in reality, it’s only been about four hours, but it’s torture nonetheless. time seems to move at a snail’s pace in a hospital—it makes him feel like he’s going to burst out of his damn skin. it’s around 11pm right now, but seth has so much adrenaline in his body that he’s probably not going to sleep for a while. his eyes have been flickering between robby’s still, almost peaceful face, & the various beeping monitors he’s hooked up to. he ignores the male nurse checking up on him as they do their rounds, but after two hours, she’d had given him a blanket after he’d refused to move.

( he doesn’t know how the fuck they’d managed to stay past visiting hours, but he’s not going to question it too much. he doesn’t really care. )

on the flip side, on the frenzied drive to the hospital, chase had said a prayer for both ethan & robby. seth didn’t say anything. he lost any shred of faith in his father at seven. he lost faith in god at eight. he lost everything he almost—almost—had at ten. god isn’t listening. he never has been. it’s a bitter truth.

at thirteen, seth’d remarked to uncle kevin that satan takes on benjamin lawrence’s form, that benjamin is nothing but a mouthpiece for the wicked, grotesque & unholy, in most literal ways possible. kevin hadn’t known what to say that when it was said. but he eventually agreed—two days later while carefully picking out glass from seth’s hand from a shattered—thrown—nearly-empty bottle of tito’s vodka. he’d cried in calla’s arms with a spider-man bandaid on both of his knees. benjamin had flew into a rage over some stupid sport’s team losing.

the bottle’d missed seth’s body because he’d ducked, his instincts kicking in, but it’d broken their shitty tv. glass from the bottle had gotten into his hand while he was cleaning up. he’d stumbled his way towards the brown residence in a bit of shock. it’d made seth miss multiple episodes of his favorite shows before he managed to—somehow—essentially swindle another tv from one of benjamin’s ex-girlfriends who never lasted more than a week. afterwards, he’d cried himself to sleep in calla’s arms, a spider-man bandaid carefully placed over his palm.

seth’s nerves are only soothed by the fact that ethan’s down the hall, still unconscious, but alive. if his best friend died—for a third time, something seth wouldn’t ever forget—seth would have gone nuclear. ( he doesn’t even want to further entertain the thought of what robby would have done. the mere thought makes him physically ill. ) mr. larusso’s with him now—so are his parents, chase, dami, sam, charlie & miguel.

he just finishes hitting send on a text to the miyagi-fang group chat which was used to update them on robby’s condition, the text to jaime sent seconds prior, when a monitor—seth has no clue what it’s called—next to him spikes suddenly. head snapping up immediately, he places his phone on his lap, & blue eyes grow wide with concern as he looks robby over, like he’s worried that injuries will blossom across his body. his brother’s eyes slowly open. all of the tension in seth’s body escapes him immediately, his shoulders sagging in relief.

❝ holy shit, bro. you’re an idiot. ❞ that’s the first thing that flies out of his mouth as robby’s eyes settle on him, a relieved but exhausted smile tugging at his lips. it’s immediately followed up by a gentle hand slotting itself on top of robby’s forearm since he can’t reach his shoulder from his current position, his expression turning serious, but the relief remains obvious, shining in his eyes. ❝ ethan’s alive, ❞ he quickly blurts out, just in case robby was worried about that—knowing him, that’s probably true. ❝ he’s in a room down the hall. still unconscious. some of our friends are with him right now, including chase, mr. larusso, mr. wilson, & mrs. carlsyle-wilson. ❞ he takes a deep breath, hopefully giving robby enough time to process the information, before his expression turns tentative. ❝ can you remember what happened? ❞

@taughtpain woke up

[redrabbitspod]

Yooooo what’s up with you boys?? How are the cats?? The fam?? The team?? Whas goin on

We are fine.

The cats are living in the lap of luxury.

Family is...look Bee is considering marriage and I'm very something about it, I just don't know what. Aaron finished his residency and you can find him in the new LGBTQ friendly pediatric unit in Palmetto. Kate went back to work to finish up her residency which means I get a lot of niece time when they aren't in school and I'm slowly making them my minions. Dylan (AKA Dyl Pickle) has been diagnosed with ASD and honestly no one was surprised just because of how fuckin cool she is. So we're working on sign language with her as she's non verbal for the time being. Bella got in trouble for telling her teacher that school is a government institution meant to keep kids in line and all thinking the same but NOT HER TEACH.

The team has scattered to the winds. Dion and Seth are busy with the baby they had via surrogate (their surrogate being one Allison Reynolds - yes she was as pleasant pregnant as you'd think). Allison and Renee have since retreated back to Miami leaving me without my favorite Christian and leaving the Prince family with an entire human being to raise. Kevin still manages to fit in Daily Exy around his coaching and torturing the team and Neil schedule. The Palmetto State Foxes will probably win the god damn championship Andrew! Wymack is trying to get me to teach a journalism class and I'd honestly rather eat an entire salad of Kevin's choosing. Dan and Boyd are mostly holed up in his place in Columbia where they do god knows what, but it involves a lot of matching sneakers.

What's going on is that Neil and I are living the absolute most boring lives I could ever contrive, and I wouldn't change one thing. -A

[simonsrosebud]

Ok I love kalton so much I need to know: how does dalton take care of Kevin when he's being all moody like he often is? How does Kevin repay the favor when Dalton has a bad day? Kalton has legitimately improved my mood the past few days I love what you've been doing here <3<3<3

at first i read this as “how does he take care of him” as in like when they’re sick but this prompt is so much better

dalton has two sisters.  younger sisters.  that being said, he knows how to deal with moody children and teenage girls.

kevin isn’t either of those, but when he’s in a mood it’s not far off.

today, he’s pissed off.

he can’t help it.  they only have four freshmen this year, none goalies, and andrew decided to fuck with him at practice.  renee and neil had their appointments with betsy, and andrew refused to step on the court.

and since neil wasn’t there to get him back on, they had no goalie’s to practice on.

andrew knew kevin was leading today’s practice with reading goalie’s movements and shooting on the goal and he deliberately fucked it up on purpose.  by the time neil and renee rejoin them practice is already over.

dalton is picking him up from the stadium, and when he pulls up kevin is shouting at andrew, who looks unbothered.  “-here for!  you can’t keep pulling this shit over and over just because you’re fucking bored!  you think they’re going to tolerate it in ur pros?!  all i fucking wanted was one practice, andrew!  that’s it!”  and then neil says something he can’t hear, but it prompts a shouting match between him and kevin in french.  hands waving and balled fists at their sides.

and dalton knows better.  knows not to get involved and to just wait until they’re done.  so when kevin spits the last word and throws up his middle finger after turning away he starts the car up again.

kevin doesn’t talk the whole car ride, and when they get inside dalton cracks.  “i don’t know what happened today, but if you don’t want to talk it out then either go take another shower or put your sneakers back on.”

kevin looks over, and after a minute he sighs and laces up his shoes.

now he’s annoyed his boyfriend.  he doesn’t want to face andrew and neil yet.

except dalton doesn’t take him home.  he leads him to the ground floor of the building where the gym is.  he grabs gloves from a shelf, tosses them at kevin, and points to the punching bag across the room.

“i wanna spend my day with my boyfriend, not his alter ego.  the bag’s name is andrew.”

kevin huffs, and pulls his hoodie over his head.  he drops it to the ground to put the gloves on, and trudges over to the bag.  “come on, kev.  you’re pouting like my sister does when she’s not allowed to sleep over her boyfriend’s.”  kevin starts up and dalton goes to stand on the other side of the bag.  no one else is in the gym, otherwise he’d think twice before taking his shirt off.  “need incentive?  if you’re moody the rest of the day you’re not allowed to sleep over your boyfriend’s, either.”

kevin goes at the punching bag like it’s his job.  he hates to admit that it makes him feel better.  and when dalton pulls him away from it to kiss him it doesn’t hurt.

after he’s showered back at the apartment, he invades dalton’s space and lays his head on his lap.  “sorry for being a bitch earlier.”

it makes dalton laugh.  “you had a bad day, everyone has bad days.  so long as we know how to handle it.”

kevin shrugs.  “yeah.”  he tells him about why he was so mad, and takes a deep breath.  “i know he does it to get under my skin and it works.”

when dalton gets annoyed at something he tends to say so right when he walks in.  he drops his bag inside the door and toes his shoes off.  “some of my students are fucking dicks.”

kevin’s doing homework on the sofa, but discards it when his boyfriend climbs into his lap.  “what’d they do?”

dalton groans into his chest.  his voice is muffled by kevin’s hoodie.  “only half of them did the homework assigned last week, and one kid sent me an email today that said like ‘this class fucking sucks no one cares about blah blah blah do you wanna skip on wednesday’, he meant to send it to his friend in the class.”  he sits up.  “i try to make it fun for them.  it’s a gen-ed class so i know the majority of them are just taking it to get it over with, but i-i see so many of them wearing exy shirts from time to time and being interested in it so i try to talk exy- you know, oh, anyone go to the game this weekend and stuff like that, but they don’t care.”

kevin puts his hands on dalton’s cheeks and squishes them together.  it makes him smile for a moment, but he falls into kevin’s lap again.  “is there anything i can do?”

dalton shrugs.  that’s a no.

but kevin gets a little hung up on it, because he gets that those kids don’t like math but he also is on dalton’s side on principle.  instead, on friday, when the team all wears their jerseys to classes and such as per tradition, he gives dalton his away jersey to wear.  “i didn’t know the exy team did that.”

he shrugs.  katelyn wears aaron’s, and allison used to wear seth’s jacket over her own jersey.  “not really.  most of the relationships on the team are within the team.”

so dalton wears it, and ten minutes before his class kevin decides to use his clout and show up to the class with two coffees.  dalton lights up when he sees him walk through the doors.  “well this is unprecedented.”

kevin notices a few students perk up at his presence, and when more filter in they all kind of subtly stare at the two.  kevin just leans against dalton’s desk while he sets up.  when he goes to pass kevin, he grabs his wrist and pulls him back a little.  “hey.  some kids hate this class because they hate the class. not you.”

dalton’s smiling, but he raises his eyebrows.  “you know they’ll still hate the class even with you here.”

“let them, but as soon as i leave, they’re going to be kiss asses.”  and dalton wants so badly to kiss that smug smirk off his face, but his students are all here and waiting.

“i’ve got a class to teach, mr. day.”

“fine.”  kevin kisses his cheek, dalton sends him a look, and walks head held high to the door.  “you’re coming to the game, d, yes?”  dalton’s cheeks are furiously red.  he always comes to the games, he doesn’t even need to ask.

“bye, kevin!”

dalton jumps on kevin when he gets back to the apartment.  “you’re a pain in my ass.”

“i was right, though, wasn’t i?”

dalton mocks his words right back at him, and kisses him into the sofa.

[mychemicalimagines]

You’re My Forever-Jasper Hale-Chapter 9

Summary: After the Battle of the Newborns, Bella reveals she’s getting married to Edward. After the wedding, Alexia’s life has been nothing but up. She gets to be with the love of her life forever. One little thing chances that. Will she actually get her forever…or will it end before it begins?

Warnings: Cussing, Angst, Supernatural, Paranormal, Love, Bella-Bashing, Smut, Blood

Words: 3556

Tag List:  @jayrart @elskinner45 @nocturnalherb16 @buckysforeverprincess @diyunho @negans-womam @deepobservationcherryblossom @fangirl1029 @thelostallycat @dreamslove92 @scarletmeii @thecaptainsgingersnap @jai-lynne-unknown @0-r-1-0-n @stephbass28 @magnificentzombiebasement @arseofrivia @vampiregirl1797 @millie-753 @fandom-imagines1 @aylamlc @celyndavies @geekysimmerthings @krazykatkay456 @marvelofwitch @frozenhuntress67 @sooophie19 @xcharlottemikaelsonx @azure23x @luna-thedarkwolf @treestarrrrrrrr @hi-my-name-is-riley @salsameter @jasperschillvibe @mikariell95 @whattheheckisevengoingon @starcatcher-kay @awesomebooklover17 @strangerthanfanfiction713 @nj01 @vxidnik @oi-itsemily @i-love-you-green @bubblyanis @emma-is-a-nerd @amethyst-atf @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived @whyisgmora @kawaiikpoplover268 @booksalwaysandforever @fandomsstolemylife00 @rororo06 @jgtfvhsg @unadulteredscreams @justfangirliing @bitchy-witchy-post-mortem @kyky9103 @it-is-rebel-owl-ma-dudes @hiisay @aknerdchick @sana-li​

A/N: i have some news! Chapter 10 is probably gonna be the ending to this series! Oh my god, I never thought it would get this far! I love you guys!! (no it’s not a puppy XD!!!!) Comment some things you wanna see in the last chapter!!

Ask box is always open to ask Jasper and Ally some things about their relationship that you have ALWAYS wondered! 

That night, I’m laying on Charlotte’s bed, reading her a bedtime story. Well it’s not really a bedtime story, but rather it’s a book that’s filled with poems. Edward bought her the book so that she can get into poetry. It’ll give them something in common. He bought it before she got into piano but Charlotte loves it when we read this book to her anyway. This specific poem is called The Lotos-eaters  which is by Alfred-Lord Tennyson.

“There is sweet music that softer falls, than petals from blown roses on the grass.” I read aloud. “Or night-dews on still waters between walls, of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass. Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.”

I glance down at Charlotte who’s laying in my arms. Her eyes are closed and I smile. I gently move her and put the book on the side table after marking the spot we managed to get to tonight.

“Mommy?” Her sweet, precious and oh-so-innocent voice whispers.

“Yes, baby?” I look back down at her.

“Did Aunt Alice and Uncle Kevin run away because we’re gonna die?” She opens her eyes. “Because of me?”

“No, sweetie. I think they left to keep us safer.” I admit. “That’s what all these other people are here for too. I’ll never let anybody hurt you.” 

I kiss her head and cover her up more. She snuggles to her stuffed bunny that Emmett bought for her.

“Go to sleep baby.” I whisper before standing up.

I turn off her lights before walking into the living room. I sigh and pick up the note that Alice left with Sam. Why would they just leave? I sit down on the couch while reading the note over and over. I glance up after a few minutes when I hear quiet footsteps. 

“It’s strange. Physically, I feel like I could demolish a tank...Mentally? I just feel drained.” I look away from Jasper as he sits down next to me.

“How about a bath?” He asks, leaning over to me. 

He starts kissing on my shoulder making me bite my lip softly. He reaches over and unbuttons my shirt...technically his shirt because I stole it from his part of the closet. I giggle slightly.

“I do remember how to undress myself, you know?” I smirk at him.

“Yeah, I just do it so much better.” He kisses my shoulder again. “For you, it’s just another mundane task. For me? It’s fun!”

I giggle slightly before looking back at Alice’s note and sigh. 

“Ally, I’ve had a bad habit of underestimating you.” Jasper admits, looking at the note, keeping his chin on my shoulder. “Every obstacle you’ve faced, I’d think you couldn’t overcome it...and you did. You’re the reason I have something to fight for...My family.”

I look up at him and smile before kissing his lips, softly and yet still passionate enough to express all my love for him that I could never express in words alone. He smiles into the kiss before slowly leaning back, breaking the brief skin to skin contact.

“I’m gonna get the water running.” He stands up and kisses my forehead.

He walks into another part of the house and I stare down at the note. I flip it over to read the name of the book she ripped it from for the fifth time. Raising an eyebrow, I glance over to the bookcase that Jasper made sure to put in the house. The book is in the middle of the second row. I quickly stand up and speed over to it. Taking the book into my hands before taking a deep unneeded breath.

I open it before flipping, page by page until I see a familiar handwriting. Right before the first chapter, there’s another note from Alice. 

‘J. Jenks, Seattle - destroy this.’

I raise an eyebrow once again. Alice made sure only I would get the message. She must have had a vision that I was a shield just like Bella and that my mind would be safe from Aro. I glance up when I hear Jasper’s footsteps again and I quickly throw the book into the fireplace. 

The fire welcomes the book and starts burning it quickly. 

***

The next day, I call and make an appointment with this J. Jenks. I decide to take Charlotte to my dad’s house to decorate the Christmas tree since Christmas is just around the corner. Seth wants to come with since his mom would be there as well as his imprint.

“You said your dad knows about you?” Seth asks, glancing at me from the passenger seat.

I nod. “Yep. He just doesn’t know about you guys. All he does know is that you and your mom know about me and the Cullens. I also don’t want him to come around the house with the 27 vampires. All of them around one human? That wouldn’t be so great. I don’t think that any of them have as good self control as I do.”

He chuckles before nodding. “I’m glad to get away from them. Their eyes kinda scare me. And their smell makes my wolf super mad.” 

I glance over at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I know they’re the good guys but my wolf wants to attack. You’re different. You’re the mother of my imprint. My wolf likes you.” He chuckles again.

I nod in understanding before parking in front of my dad’s house. My dad and Sue walk out of the house just as Charlotte unbuckles her seat and jumps out. 

“There she is!”

I get out at the same time as Seth. My dad catches Charlotte in his arms and swings her around for a second.

“Wow! Look at you! You’ve grown half a foot!” Dad says, wrapping an arm around her. “Seriously! Like six inches!”

She laughs and hugs him. 

“Come on inside. Lunch is on the table.” Sue smiles and waves us toward the door.

“We got a tree to decorate, huh?” Dad smiles widely at Charlotte who nods fast.

“I’ve actually got a few errands to run. I’ll be back soon, okay?” I call out.

My dad looks at me and nods. “Is it a...Family thing?”

I get what he means. Is it a Vampire thing?

“Yep. Don’t worry. I’ll be back in time for the star on the top.” I smile widely.

“You see, Charlie, mommy over there ALWAYS puts the star on top.” Dad tells Charlotte.

“Really?” She giggles. 

“Yep! It’s been her job since she was your age!” Dad kisses her head before waving at me. “Maybe even younger!”

I giggle and wave.

“Love you, guys!” I call out before getting into my car.

I hear them yell it back before I pull away from the house. I drive all the way to Seattle with one thing on my mind. ‘Alice’s note gave me a sense of hope. Maybe she had a plan for us after all and maybe J. Jenks was the key.’  I pull into the restaurant that we agreed to meet at this morning and I park my car. I walk inside at a human speed before being directed to his table.

I see an African American man sitting down with a briefcase in his lap. I stop by the table causing him to look up.

“Miss Swan.” He stands up and puts his hand out.

“Hi.” I smile and shake his hand.

“I am so happy you called.” He admits before we both sit down. “I always meet my private clients here, it’s more….comfortable than the office.”

“And it’s more public.” I nod.

He smiles before nodding. “Yes.”

“So what type of work do you do, J?” I ask, putting my hands in my lap.

“You know, this and that. It’s always different which keeps it interesting.” He reveals.

“Have you known Alice and Kevin long?” I ask.

“I’ve been working with them for more than 20 years. And my late partner knew Kevin 15 years before that. He’s...uh...unusually well preserved.” He whispers.

“Yes, he is.” I nod.

“I trust that Mr. Kevin is enjoying his vacation?” J raises an eyebrow.

“He didn’t tell you where he was going, did he?”

“No, no, no. He just mentioned that he was leaving when he came by to place his order.” J moves his briefcase.

“I assume his order is ready?” I bite my lip.

“Of course. I’ve never been late with a delivery.”

He opens his briefcase and hands me an envelope. I open it up to find forged passports and documentation for Charlotte and Seth. I bite my lip. Only they will be getting away if something happens. Jasper and I might lose our lives in this battle, but at least our child will be safe. That’s what matters to him and I at this point.

“Is there a problem?” J speaks up.

“No, my fiance and I thought we’d all be traveling together.” I lie easily.

“Kevin said only two were traveling. His instructions were very clear.” J says.

“It’s my mistake. Apparently that’s not going to happen.” I sigh.

J and I quickly end our meeting and I drive back to my dad's house. Alice’s vision was clear. Charlotte would have a future but...Jasper and I wouldn’t be a part of it. That night, I watch as Jasper quickly picks up Charlotte who squeals in delight before hugging him close. I smile and bite my lip, trying to get all the memories in now. If something happens...I want to know that we’ve done everything we could for her.

I walk into her room and quickly pack a bag. Packing in some clothes she’d need and money that I'd stashed away for a while, I make sure to get whatever I think might make her happy for her new life...one without her parents in it, if it comes to it. I grab one of her notebooks and write her a note.

‘My beautiful and wonderful Charlotte, I thought we would have forever together. But Forever isn’t as long as I’d hoped. I know now why Alice left me clues...It’s to keep you safe. Everything you and Seth will need is in this bag. Seth will protect you and he’ll help you learn about the Quileute Legends. Know that your father and I love you more than anything in this world. You are the best thing to ever happen to me. Hopefully one day you will be able to have your own children and know exactly what I feel everytime I look at you. 

Love Always and Forever,

Mommy <3’

I jump when I hear a small knock on the door. Alistair is smirking down at me. 

“It’s a romantic notion, isn’t it? That a righteous few can defy a great evil. But I must admit you...uh..even had me believing for a moment. Well, good luck.” He says before walking away. “You’re gonna need it. Cheers.”

I jump out of my seat and grab onto his arm. His head snaps toward me.

“Alistair, it’s a precaution. Alice…” I sigh. “Alice thinks that Charlotte and Seth will be able to get away if the fight does start. I want my child safe. You have to understand that.”

“I do…” He starts.

“Please. Don’t leave.” I whisper. “We need you.”

He sighs and nods. “If a fight starts...I’m out just like your family.”

“I understand that.” I nod. “But please...witness with them as well...”

He nods before I gently remove his arm.

“Thank you.” I whisper again. “I owe you. Anything you need.”

“I’ll hold you to that...forever.” He smirks.

I giggle and nod. “Forever.” 

He quickly speeds out of the room. 

***

Dad has been asking about Bella. I finally had to reveal the truth...like I have done for everything. I told him that Bella was mad that I had gotten pregnant so she left. She wanted Edward to be angry as well but he was excited. He wanted to get to know his niece so Bella left him. 

Dad was upset. Said, ‘How could she do this? It’s not like it’s the end of the world that you got pregnant.’ I told him how she wanted to be a vampire and because I got pregnant it ruined her plans. He just rolled his eyes and shook his head before I put the star on the tree yesterday. But today is Christmas and we’re, of course, spending it with my dad, Sue, and Leah. 

I sit on the arm of the couch watching Charlotte and Seth play a game on the floor. I giggle as Charlotte wins for the 2nd time in a row.

“How are you doing that?” Seth asks, staring at the board.

She giggles. “Uncle Emmett loves this game!”

“Again!” Seth resets the board.

I shake my head and look up when I feel a hand on my back. Jasper smiles down at me.

“Hi, sweetie.” I whisper softly.

He winks before kissing the top of my head.

“The snow is sticking.” I sigh.

“We still have today, baby.” He rubs my back.

I nod just as my dad walks out of the kitchen.

“Alright! Present time! Leah, stop eating. Seth, you start. Get it going.” Dad sits down in his favorite chair.

Seth hands a small package to Charlotte when I stand up.

“Here, dad. We didn’t have time to wrap yours.” I hold out an envelope.

He raises an eyebrow before taking it. He opens it and his eyes widen.

“A five day fishing trip to Fraser River?” He looks at us.

“It's for you and Sue.” I smile widely.

Jasper wraps an arm around my waist. “You leave tomorrow.”

“Wow, that’s really nice. Thank you!” He starts to read the tickets before his head snaps up. “Tomorrow? I can’t...I can’t leave tomorrow.”

“I made arrangements for you at work.” Sue walks in with two cups. 

He nods. “Sneaky and extravagant.”

“And non-refundable, I’m afraid.” Jasper speaks up with a smile. 

“You two trying to get rid of me?” Dad asks, watching us. Jasper and I glance at each other before looking at him again. “‘Cause it’s working.”

Dad laughs and looks back at the tickets. I relax and smile. He doesn’t know about this meeting we’re going to have. He just knows that the Cullens, Jasper, Seth, Leah, Charlotte and I are going on a small vacation so we won’t be home. 

“Fraser River...that means we’ll be chasing cutthroat.” Dad looks up to Sue who sits on the arm of his chair.

“We might even hook a rainbow or some bulls.” She smiles.

“Woman knows her trout.” Dad smiles at me.

I’m happy he found Sue. Someone he’s known his whole life and knows about my… condition and isn’t gonna ask why his granddaughter was looking 6 years old yesterday and now she’s looking like she’s going to be 12 next week. Charlotte stands up and holds up her present from Seth. I kneel down to her level.

“Hey, sweetie. That’s beautiful. Let me see.” I take the bracelet from her hand.

My eyes light up when I realize what it is. It’s a Quileute Promise Bracelet. It’s their version of a promise ring. I glance at Seth with a smile.

“Seth made this for you?” I ask, causing her to nod fast. “Wanna put it on?”

I put it on her wrist before kissing her head. She giggles.

“It’s so pretty.” She looks up at me.

“It is pretty. Just like you.” I poke her nose which makes her giggle. “Don’t forget to thank Seth.”

She turns to him and hugs him around his neck. I look up at Jasper who is smiling down at me. Best Christmas ever. 

***

I finish putting up Charlotte’s tent. We only left my dad’s house a few hours ago and now we’re having a small bonfire before we have the…meeting tomorrow. I make sure she’s covered up before I read her a little more of her poem book. Right before she falls asleep, I give her a locket that Jasper got me for our first Christmas together a long time ago. 

She opens it to reveal the photo of Jasper and I from our first date. The one where we’re dating and I’m laughing at him making fun of the instructor. Next to it the words ‘Plus Que Ma Propre Vie’ are engraved.

I kiss her head before whispering. “This means ‘more than my own life’, and that’s how much your father and I love you. Tomorrow I’m going to need you to stay with Seth, no matter what. Even if I tell him that…” I sigh. “That he has to take you somewhere.”

Charlotte looks up at me with a few tears running down her cheeks. 

“I love you, mommy.” 

“I love you, sweetie. Never ever forget that, okay?” I kiss her head again.

She nods against me. It doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep. I quietly slip out from under her when Seth crawls in. I pat his back and crawl out before standing beside Paul who’s hanging out at our bonfire tonight. He smiles and looks back at his small pile of wood. Benjamin walks over with a smile. He holds up one finger and fire appears. 

I shake my head with a giggle. He holds up three more fingers, fire at all the tips. He then throws the fire at the logs creating our bonfire.

“That’s what I’m talking about. A little pre-battle bonfire, telling war stories.” Paul cheers a little before grabbing my arm, gently.

He pulls me down to the log where he’s now sitting causing me to sit on the edge. I bump my hips into his and he scoots over. Benjamin sits down next to him with a smile. Paul looks up at the rest of our witnesses with a raised eyebrow.

“What are you doing, standing there like a fucking statue?” He scuffs.

I playfully, and gently, smack his leg before pointing toward Charlotte’s tent.

“She’s asleep.” He rolls his eyes before smiling at me.

Garrett speeds over and sits down on a log next to ours. 

“Name any American Battle, I was there.” He smirks.

“Little Big Horn.” Paul immediately says.

“I came this close…” He holds up two fingers. “...to biting Custer but the Indians caught him first.”

Kate speeds over and sits to Garrett.

“Try Oleg’s assault on Constantinople, he didn’t win that one on his own.” She smirks at him.

“If you’re talking about battles, you’re talking about the Eleven Years War. No one does rebellion like the Irish.” Liam speaks up from where his family’s sitting.

“You lost the Eleven Years War.” Garrett points out.

“Aye.” Liam nods. “But it was one hell of a rebellion.”

Everyone laughs and agrees with him. I try to listen to the rest of the battles and war stories but my ears pick up Jasper, Edward and Carlisle’s conversation.

“I can’t help thinking, all these people are putting themselves in danger because we fell in love with humans.” Edward mumbles.

“You guys found your mates. You deserve to be happy.” Carlisle pats his shoulder.

“But at what cost?” Jasper glances at his adoptive, vampire father.

“Everyone here has something to fight for. I certainly do. I have a granddaughter that I never thought I would have. I have a wife...my children. I would fight every day for them if I had too.” Carlisle reveals. 

I feel eyes on the back of my head before someone else speaks.

“I never thanked you for bringing Alice, Kevin and I in. If you never did, I wouldn’t have the life I do now.” Jasper whispers but not low enough.

“Don’t thank me.” Carlisle chuckles. “Thank that wonderful woman you’ve got.”

A few seconds later I feel Jasper speed over to me. I look up just as he kneels and wraps his arms around my neck from behind.

“I love you.” He whispers in my ear.

I put my hands on his forearms and smile widely. “I love you, Mr. Whitlock-Hale.”

He kisses the back of my head before letting me go. I watch him bump into Paul’s back. Paul looks up, briefly, before asking Benjamin to scoot down. He does and Paul scoots down, following him. I scoot down the log as well. Jasper takes his place next to me, gently taking my hand, and weaving our fingers together as looks at everyone. Paul smirks and leans down. 

“Finally found some people older than you, Mr. Steak Sauce.” 

Jasper laughs and nods. “You’re right about that, kid.”

“I’m not a kid!” Paul playfully glares at him.

“Besides Charlotte and Seth, you are literally the youngest!” Jasper laughs.

“Least I’m not hard as a rock.” Paul crosses his arms. 

I snort softly, hiding my face against Jasper’s neck, whispering. “I like it when you’re hard as a rock.”

“At least I’m not hairy.” Jasper retorts, gently squeezing my hand, before whispering, low enough for just me to hear. “I know you do, baby.”

Everyone laughs and Paul grumbles to himself. Garrett smirks before bringing up another battle he was in...but Kate reveals he needed help there as well.

[let-me-love-you-loki]

An Ending Within--Ch. 15

Chapter 15

           I sat down slowly on the sofa in my therapist’s office. It had been a while since I’d seen her, and it felt weird to be there again. She looked me over with her wide, knowing green eyes as she took the seat a few feet away.

           “How have you been?” she asked, opening a notepad on her lap and tapping her pen against the side of her knee. “It’s been a while.”

           “Yeah, things have been busy.” I sank back against the cushions, stretching my leg out in front of me.

           Her attention followed my movement. “You’re wearing your brace again.”

           I sighed. “My leg has been giving me some trouble. Not a lot, but Dr. Thurman wants me to brace it for a while.”

           She nodded. “Are you wrestling?”

           “Not as much as I’d like. But there’s not a lot for me to do right now.” I sighed. “It’s frustrating, but I’m staying busy. I’m teaching more classes at the school. I have time with my daughter.”

           I was shutting down. I knew the feeling. She could see it too.

***

           “Have you seen that pumpkin-headed dipshit?” Jericho asked as he passed by me backstage.

           “Who?” I looked up from the book in my lap. I’d gotten to the venue earlier than usual and was waiting for hair and makeup.

           “Omega,” he replied, plopping down on the edge of the table in front of me.

           I shrugged. “He’d probably in a meeting with Tony or the Bucks.” I paused, taking a deep breath. “If you find him, tell him I’m bored as hell. I want to get in the ring as more than just Inner Circle eye candy.”

           “Black, you’re definitely not just eye candy. But you’re right. Time for you to get those wins under your belt.” Jericho nodded. “Santana and Ortiz are going after the tag titles. I want my belt back. And it’s only right that you get the women’s belt. Inner Circle are going to run the championship scene.”

           Blink. The heavy thumping of my heart against my ribs. A knot in my throat that made it hard to breathe. Flashes of memory raced through my mind. The Hounds in the center of the ring, holding every title the brand had to offer.

           “Hey,” he said, snapping his fingers in front of my face. “Anybody home?”

           My pulse thundered in my ears, an echo of my sudden desperate trip through time. Ice slid down my spine as I forced myself to consciousness.

           “Do I need to get Mox?” Jericho asked worriedly. His normally ruddy face had gone pale. His eyes were tight with concern.

           I shook my head slowly, trying to catch my breath, to force the world upright on its axis. “No,” I said at last. “I’m okay. You just reminded me of something.”

           His eyes softened. A faint smile tipped the corner of his mouth upward. “I know we’re not the same, but we can still be your family. You’re not betraying them by becoming one of us.”

           Laughter spilled past my lips. “What if I don’t want to be Inner Circle for good? What if I want to go Elite? Or Nightmare Family? Or Dark Order? Or maybe I want to just run my own game.”

           Jericho laughed, but his sounded worn at the edges. “I’ve known you for a long time, Black. And I know that you do exactly what you want to do for exactly as long as you want to. Until you decide to bail, you’re Inner Circle. And that’s family.”

           “Oye, mamí!” Jericho and I both turned at the sound. Santana and Ortiz sauntered their way down the hall toward us. Ortiz grinned. “Long time no see, princesa.”

           Santana leaned his forearms on my shoulders and rested his chin on the top of my head. “How’s the leg, reina?”

           I glanced down at the black and red brace. “It’s good. Brace is basically just precaution these days. Most of the time anyway.”

           “You sound pissed off,” Ortiz observed as he sat on the floor nearby. “Run into the EVPs already today?”

           “She wants to hit someone,” Jericho replied for me. “I’m on my way to track down that pumpkin-headed dipshit Omega to get her a good booking.”

           “Chris, I was joking.”

           He grinned and pushed off from the table. “But I wasn’t. Better warm up.”

           I watched him slip down the hallway shouting for Kenny. Rolling my eyes, I turned my attention back to Santana and Ortiz. The first swept around me and hopped up onto the table vacated by Jericho.

           “We can pick a fight with Dark Order. They’ve snatched Ana Jay,” Ortiz said with glee. “The two of us—” he gestured between himself and Santana—“can take Silver and Reynolds.”

           “Or Uno and Stu,” Santana added. His tag partner nodded, pointing back at him as if it was a genius idea.

           I couldn’t help but smile indulgently. It reminded me of the moments when I sat back and watched Jon and Seth banter and bicker backstage. A stab of homesickness swept through me. The strangeness was that it wasn’t for a place, but for a moment in time. I missed the feeling that I’d had when the Hounds were together… that moment on the dock behind my parents’ house where I first felt like I was one of the pack.

           Jericho’s words flitted through my mind. Maybe they weren’t the same as Roman, Jon, and Seth, but I could find a new home in AEW. I could make myself another family—not to replace the Hounds. Nothing could ever do that.

           “Those are the only ones we can pick a fight with?” I asked, tossing my book on the table beside Santana. “The women’s division here is… severely lacking.”

           Ortiz and Santana looked sideways at me. “Ah ah, mamí, I know that look,” Ortiz cautioned, getting to his feet.

           I pushed myself to my feet, taking a minute to get my balance. Then I turned on my heel and stalked down the hallway toward the EVP offices. I ignored the faint tingle in the back of my knee as I practically ran.

           I knocked hard on the door of the office. My heart clawed up into my throat. Shuffling echoed from the other side.

           The door swung open and Nick Jackson grinned at me, his blue eyes bright. “Hey, Black. What can I do for you?”

           “I need to talk to Omega. I’m bored as hell, and we’ve got to do something about this women’s division of yours.” The words spilled out before I could stop them. Probably should have thought carefully about what I was going to say before I practically insulted one of the guys who signed my checks.

           Nick’s eyes went wide, but the corner of his mouth twitched up. He stepped to the side and gestured me to come in. My stomach turned upside down. I thought I was going to puke.

           Kenny sat in a folding chair with a laptop open on the low table in front of him. He looked up as Nick shut the door behind me. I watched Kenny’s brow furrow, his blue-green eyes searching my face.

           “Jericho’s already been here,” he said without preamble. “The show is full tonight.”

           I crossed my arms and shifted my weight to my good leg. The brace felt stifling, as if it were an anchor that was dragging me backward. My heart was desperate to get through my ribs and out of my chest. “Tonight’s show is full, Next week’s show will be full. Dark is full. You brought me here to wrestle. To compete. But I’ve spent the last year being basically a valet for Inner Circle. I’ve had three matches, Omega. THREE! That’s bullshit. And you know it.”

           Kenny’s eyes went wide as he sat back in his chair. “You have one women’s match on Dynamite and one on Dark, if we’re lucky. And if the match lasts five minutes, that’s considered a long one. If I wanted to sit on the sidelines, I’d have stayed with Vince. At least there I could get a match or a promo or something.”

           Someone snickered behind me. I didn’t turn to see who it was. I kept my gaze locked on Omega, hoping that he’d know how frustrated I was with the way I’d been treated in AEW. There had been so many promises about how everything would be better than what I’d known. I’d left everything behind for the vision of a new wrestling promotion that was going to bring back the fun, the storytelling, the focus on providing fresh content. Jon had begged me to take the contract, gushing over how fantastic it was. But of course, he was a guy. And the men’s roster was bloated.

           “What do you want me to do, Black?” Kenny asked, his voice gruff. He crossed his arms over his chest. “You want me to shoehorn a match in the show tonight? You want some TV time, is that it?”

           Rage. Frustration. Desperation. A pure sort of anger that came from someone being purposefully obtuse.

           “No, Kenny. I don’t want ‘some TV time.’ I want what you promised me. I want you to get your shit together and actually pay attention to your women’s division.” I drew a deep breath through my nose, desperate to calm the burning in my veins. “If you don’t, I want out of my contract. And I’m not bluffing.”

           I turned on my heel and walked back out of the room. Nick caught my eye as I passed. He winked, giving me a thumbs up. I gave him a faint smile in return before I pulled the door shut behind me.

***

           Sefina grinned as Kevin and Prince played in the floor around her. Her eyes had darkened to a chocolate brown that matched Seth’s, but her hair was a lighter brown that looked like melted caramel. I smiled at her, tucking whisps of hair behind her ear as the two of us sat together in front of the sofa. Kevin slipped and slid across the hardwood and plopped across my daughter’s legs. She carefully ran her fingers through his fur.

           After a moment, she tipped her head back and looked at me. Her smile was slightly sad. “Want Dada,” she mumbled.

           I looked at the clock, realizing that Seth would be in the middle of a live show just then. It would be two days before he came home. “Me, too, baby girl. Me, too.”

Tag List

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[percontaion-points]

The Raven King chapter 1

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions.

Chapter 1

Seth Gordon's unexpected overdose Saturday night should have meant something more to Neil since they'd been teammates and roommates for three months, but Neil felt nothing.

I'm sorry, but Seth was barely a character. I think he had like three lines of dialogue. Most of his time was spent flaunting his arm candy.

Like I called all of the B-list characters in this “cardboard cut-outs with their names printed over the faces”, but Seth wasn't even B-list. He was more like D-list. The second he was out of sight of Neil, he literally stopped existing. He was never mentioned, even in passing. He literally did not exist.

At least Coach David Wymack was calling them back to the court on a Wednesday afternoon.

Ah yes, the coach that literally can't even be bothered to show up to any of their practice sessions. I'm counting it as a win that he even showed up for their first game.

The team should have come together Sunday morning to grieve their loss, but Andrew and Matt got into an ugly brawl instead.

The narration says this like this was over Seth's death. But the truth is that Andrew attacked his teammates before Seth, and will likely continue to do so long after Seth's death has stopped being relevant.

This summer Andrew's four had all squished onto one couch. Now they could spread out, three on the couch and two to the chairs on either side. The remaining upperclassmen got the couch and chair opposite them.

Neil started for the chair on the end, since he'd always had the outside seat, but Aaron sank into it first. Neil hesitated a second too long, and Aaron finally spelled it out for him. "You're on the couch with Kevin and Andrew. Sit down."

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WHO THE GODDAMNED HELL CARES ABOUT THIS?! JUST SIT DOWN!

Wymack waited until he was sure they were done and then gestured at Nicky. "You two get down to the court and start doing laps. I don't pay for electricity in this place so you can stand around and gossip.”

This is literally the first time coach has shown up to practices. And he's only there to further Andrew's subplot.

Yeah," Aaron said. "He's the one who told me I had a brother."

Chapter 1 summary: Seth died on Saturday, and it's Wednesday now. The team-- minus Allison-- are all going to the stadium for the first practice since Seth died. They go to the stadium, where they get into a fight over sitting on a bunch of couches. It's fucking ridiculous.

Coach David comes in, and tries to give them a speech. However, it comes off as cold and cruel, making it sound like Seth's value started and ended when he was playing exy. Coach isn't angry that Seth died from taking drugs; he's angry because he could hurt their chances at beating Edgar Alan.

As the boys go off to change, some of the others come to Neil and tell him that there's slim to none odds of Coach finding a replacement for Seth after the season has already started.

They get out onto the field, and David gets a phone call from a police officer. David starts to yell at Andrew for having fucked up. Andrew takes the phone and is overly hostile to the officer on the other end, whom Andrew seems to be familiar with. He calls the officer “pig”, and threatens to kill him if he calls again. The others ask why this guy from three-plus years ago is suddenly calling him, but Andrew is his usual charming self and doesn't offer any real answers. He tries to leave, but when Kevin stops him, the two of them get into a physical fight.

David tries to ask Aaron for answers, but Aaron says that he only ever met that officer once, and it was when he found out that he had a twin brother.

[anduwuminyard]

The foxes as things I've heard at my school

Neil- "I may not have slept in 17 hours or eaten in half as much but I'll be damned if I don't kick your ass in badminton."

Andrew- *has a broken arm* "There's no wet floor sign over that puddle so in theory if I run through it and fall and break my other arm, I could sue." *proceeds to run and slip in it but lands on already broken arm and gets yelled at*

Kevin- "Stop asking me for the answers, you should have suffered through it like the rest of us. I have literal tear stains on this paper and they resemble the pride I no longer feel over my accomplishment. I'm going to drop out and become a hooker if I dont get an A."

Nicky- *eating a marker* "Listen, I'm not gay but I'm not going to say no if my friend asks me to join in, y'know?"

Aaron- "I swear! I'm not breaking the window, I'm just fixing the screen" *pulls screen out of window and whacks his brother with it*

Dan- "Please give me a detention form so I can hand the slip to Mr. [Wymack] next time i get a low grade on a test"

Matt- "I dont know who he is but if any of you fucked up idiots hurt him even a little bit, I will call your mom's and tell them the things I've heard come out of your mouths"

Allison- *has airpods in and teacher repeatedly says her name and she's not even looking up from her laptop

Nicky- "she doesn't speak BROKE"

Renee- "I play minecraft for the peaceful aesthetic that comes from building a cute lil' house on single player and filling it with cats. It makes me feel empowered"

Seth- *wrote fuck you on knuckles in pen* "If one more teacher tells me to wash my hands I'm going to start writing it all over my face"

Betsy- "I've seen some weird things in my time here, but I dont think I've ever seen someone stick that many pencils in a ceiling. Honestly I'm not even upset because that's real dedication"

Wymack- "I know you guys are tired, trust me I am too, but if I catch any of you sleeping, you're going to be running laps around the school for the rest of the period."

Abby- "I love my students dearly but I do not get paid enough for ANY of this"

-🐱

Part 2

[foxerice]

stuff that wouldve happened if seth were still w the foxes

“it’s a sad day… we lost our dear teammate seth…” “stop telling everyone i’m dead” “sometimes i can still hear his voice” 

-

seth: (picks up sir & king so that they’re eye level w him)

neil: oh yeah ‘drew found them recently-

seth, with purpose: i would die for them.

sir and king: (sit on seth’s lap) (start purring)

andrew, seething: traitors

-

seth and aaron, sitting on a table (on it) w notebooks out:

nicky kevin and renee, standing in front of a whiteboard that says “homophobia. bad.” in bright red letters: so in todays lesson, 

-

seth: why are you here

kevin: how else will you learn the entirety of lgbtq+ history?

aaron, sweating: the… the entirety?

kevin, pulling up a projector as nicky and renee hand out popcorn: we have time 

-

seth: (raises his hand)

nicky: yes seth!

seth: what does twink mean

nicky: what

seth, genuinely shaken: i heard andrew call neil a ‘twink twig bitch’ when they were arguing this morning and im— im kind of scared to look it up—

-

kevin, violently rubbing at the whiteboard: oh no oh— oh fuck this is—fuck this is sharpie—

nicky, sweating: haha ok! recess!

seth: isn’t that wymack’s-

kevin: shut up and help me

-

dumb reporter @ neil: who tops in your relationship?

seth, as wymack pulls neil away: shut the FUCK up that is an INVASION of PRICEY

nicky: it’s working!

andrew: it’s not

nicky, about to cry: his head is in the right place ok

-

renee, leaning in close: say a slur one more time and i will beat you so hard your ancestors will feel it. do you understand.

aaron and seth, holding back tears: yes ma'am.

-

andrew and renee have the apocalypse. seth and matt have cryptids.

wymack: listen up! our next game is in west virginia, point pleasant

matt and seth: (excited yelling)

matt, gripping seth’s shirt: im gonna fuck mothman

seth: im gonna cook him a warm meal

matt: you’re a no homo little bitch

-

seth: SUCK A DICK, JOSTEN

neil, being held back by nicky: MAYBE I WILL

wymack, quietly, to the bus driver: please flip us over

-

seth, waving allison’s car keys: you. me. AA. now.

kevin, thoroughly confused: what

seth: neil said you were thinking of quitting drinking but didn’t know how to start so i signed the both of us up now let’s go we don’t have all fucking day

seth: i’ll be there and we can leave whenever if it’s not your thing so don’t fucking worry about it

kevin, close to tears: alright.

(seth has six brothers) (for some reason kevin feels like his first)

-

nathaniel: i understand why andrew is handcuffed to wymack but seth?

seth, eyes red from crying (also black and swollen from the riot and andrew): so what if i am. he isn’t the only fucking disaster here. get over yourself.

(neil is his second)

-

(seth gets in andrew’s way when he tries to strangle kevin) (he cant open his left eye for three days after) 

-

when kevin decides to get the queen tattoo, seth gets something with him

seth decides to take this thing with allison seriously and begrudgingly asks matt for relationship advice

seth laps the stadium three times with andrew when they realise neil is missing

him and renee abolish whoever it was that hurt allison during the riot

when kevin confesses that he knows where neil might be, it takes him everything he has to protect him from andrew instead of just strangling kevin himself

andrew tries to fight an officer when they wont let them see neil. seth backs him up 

seth would’ve still been an aggressive jerk. he would’ve slipped up more than once but neil would’ve convinced seth to let his past go and stop letting it poison everything he did. he’d grow close to certain foxes and they would’ve helped him without trying. he’d want allison to help him look into grad schools and he’d go into social work and he wanted to help people. 

he was depressed and angry and an asshole and a brother and in love (and scared of it) and he was talented and strong. his life wasn’t fair and he definitely wasn’t alright and he was a fox.

[andreil-protection-squad]

So I wrote some Kevin x Seth smut and here you have it

Please excuse any grammatical errors, english’s not my first language and I’m still trying to learn how to proper use it in a text lol

Anyway, my second attempt at ever writing smut, please be kind.

__________

“I can’t fucking take this anymore,” Seth mumbles. He mumbles something more, but Kevin can’t quite make it out.

“Don’t be such a bitch,” he replies. “The game starts in about an hour.”

“Not everything is about fucking exy, you fucking maniac,” the other boy answers. “I mean, I really need some pot right now, ‘cuz I am so fucking stressed.” Seth groans loudly, which gathers the attention of his other teammates, but he doesn’t even spare a second glance to them. “Fuck off,” he mumbles in their direction.

Kevin’s face scrunches, as he thinks about high Seth, who is so much more chill than the regular Seth. The red in his eyes is almost calming and the slow movement of his limbs can be described as mesmerizing, if it wasn’t for the fact, that Kevin would always think about all the times, he had the horrible thought, that Seth wouldn’t be able to play exy again after smoking_._ Fortunately, Seth was always able to throw a punch and a ball, no matter how much he smoked, so there really wasn’t any reason to worry about him at all.

“You know what, Day? I’m gonna smoke in the bathroom and you’re gonna cover me.” Seth stands and Kevin raises his eyebrows.

“Why should I do that, Gordon?” he asks. “And why would you rather smoke than watch the report on the team?” Kevin glances at his teammates, who all watch the report, while being busy with doing their usual routine before a game. Nicky texts Erik, Andrew is half-asleep in Neil’s lap and Allison is painting her nails, even though she will have to do it again once the game is finished. But atleast everyone – besides Seth and Andrew – has their attention focused on the right thing: Exy.

“You could also suck my dick, but I guess that won’t happen either”, Seth suggests snarky. “You need to chill the fuck out with your exy bullshit, dude. There are other things in life, too.”

“Like pot?” Kevin asks.

“Like pot”, he agrees. “See, you understand me. So, excuse me, while I go smoke some.”

Before Seth can go, Kevin reaches out and catches his wrist. “You can’t fucking smoke some pot before a game, Gordon. You won’t be able to do shit.”

“Bummer.”

“I mean it, Seth. If you make us loose, then I will shove all of the opposing teams exy racquets up your sorry ass.”

“Jesus”, Seth mumbles and gets his hand free. “You are such a lame fucker, did you know that? Loosen up a bit, will you?”

“I will, if we win this game.” Kevin raises his eyebrows again.

“Fine. Fine, I won’t smoke. But I need to piss.” He walks a step, then stops and turns around again. “Unless you don’t believe me and want to check, that I really am only pissing.”

Kevin growls in defense. “Actually, I need to go to. So yeah, I will keep you company.”

“Great, I can’t even take a piss without you playing my watchdog,” Seth mumbles. As they both begin to leave the waiting room for the Palmetto State Foxes, none teammates even notice it. And even if they would have, it wouldn’t be that uncommon of a sight – Seth and Kevin both leave together for the bathroom several times a month. It’s a natural sight, really. Not even Aaron has the audacity to leave a snarky comment for them, because he doesn’t have to.

The second the bathroom door falls in place behind them, Seth checks all of the stalls to see, if anyone is still in there, then he takes the trashcan and the potted plant in the corner and shoves both of them right in front of the door. “No lock,” he says. “But better than nothing.” He winks at Kevin before he relocates into one of the empty stalls farthest away for the door. “What’re you waitin’ for, Day? Get that ass in here.”

Kevin chuckles and blushes. It’s also nothing new for him and Seth to fool around when they both want to. It’s kind of their thing, like Andrew and Neil have their roof, or how Allison sneaks her hand into Renee’s when she thinks no one’s looking. There is really nothing more to it than some sex. But Kevin would lie, if he didn’t think of it as more. Every time they do it – in an empty bathroom, on his bed in the dorm while the others are out or even in the dark and shadow-y bushes outside of the Foxhole Court – he has this feeling in his chest, that it’s something more, at least for him. He actually and generally likes Seth, even if he would never tell him that because then Seth’s gigantic ego would explode.

Before Seth can grow impatient, Kevin moves in front of him. Seth sits on the closed toilet but is still tall enough, that Kevin doesn’t has to bend down too much to kiss him hard and fierce. Seth’s lips part in an instant and he grasps Kevin’s neck with one hand to pull him even closer to him. A moan hangs between them, like the hot air between their mouths. Kevin smiles as Seth’s mouth begins to wander to his throat, where he slightly bites his skin. Cold shivers run through him, Seth’s finger trace the little hairs on the back of his head and begins to suck on his skin. Kevin throws his head back to let out another groan, then he slips his legs between Seth’s legs to stand even closer to him. He could feel the hard on of the other boy pressing on his thigh.

“Come ‘ere,” Seth mumbles. He presses his finger in Kevin’s neck to pull him closer to him and then they are kissing again, licking each other’s lips, biting them, playing with their tongues. Seth tastes like smoke and mint bubblegum and Kevin enjoys everything about that.

He buries his hand in the other boy’s hair while his own dick just continues to grow. He can feel it itching against his jeans, longing to be freed. Kevin’s free hand begins to wander down Seth’s chest, just past his hard nipples that poke through his shirt. Seth groans again but Kevin just kisses him harder. Just hearing him breath is enough that Kevin grows impatient himself. He wants him and he wants him now.

“Hey.” Seth looks breathless and hot as Kevin stops kissing him, but his brows are tight. “Why’d you stop, Day?”

“Ask again and I won’t continue, you shithead,” Kevin answers while he reaches his destination with his hand. Seth’s dick is hard against his pants and the moment he lays his fingers on the bulge in the other boy’s jeans, Seth moans.

“Fuck,” he whispers.

“Yeah, that’s what’s gonna happen,” he says grinning. Kevin opens Seth’s zipper and Seth start to stand and pulls down his pants and boxer in one go. The many times he now has seen Seth’s dick are enough, that Kevin doesn’t admire the view anymore but gets to work. He strokes the skin before he reaches out to hold its entire length in his hand. Seth groans even more and sits again. He presses one arm against the stall wall while Kevin begins to gently rub his dick up and down, up and down again.

“You fucking,” he begins to mumble but stops and bites his lips the second, Kevin touches the tip of his dick.

Instead of saying something back and ignoring the fact, that several thoughts in his head are screaming about the lack of hygiene on this bathroom floor, he kneels between Seth’s parted legs and begins to blow the other boy. It’s something he’s done many times now, but every time feels like another life where he just begins to experience this side of his sexuality anew. Being with a boy was so much different than being with a girl. Maybe Nicky really had a point and he, Kevin, too needed someone to lean against. Sucking someone’s dick was never really on Kevin’s to-do list when he started to have feelings for other people, but now that he’s done it more and more times, he really can’t tell why he never thought about the fact, that he might be into this. It was always girls when he discussed his sexual preferences and maybe this was all Riko’s fault, who stole his virginity and also his free will to experiment, but whatever it was - it lead to Kevin leaning on a bathroom floor with his teammates just outside the door and licking the tip of Seth’s dick who looks already like he might cum any second.

“I swear to god, if you cum before I even got a chance to get touched, I am going to murder you,” Kevin says as he stops blowing. “Like, seriously. It’s like you can’t hold out for another minute or what?”

“It’s been days since my last shot,” Seth grumbles. “Also, you’re too good at this. You’re making me feel things.”

“What a wonder,” Kevin laughs. “I’m making you feel things while I literally devour your fucking dick. I guess everyone would feel things when I had their cock against my throat.”

“I fucking hate you,” Seth says. He grabs Kevin by the shoulder and forces him up, before he kisses him hard and hot. “Get that pants down,” he mumbles between two breathless kisses.

Kevin does as demanded. His dick springs out as his pants and boxer drop to his feet. The cold air feels good against his skin but even better is the feeling of Seth’s fingers on his cock. Ever since their first time, Seth would give Kevin a hand job whenever he felt like it. He didn’t even care that other people could see them. Whenever Seth was feeling horny enough, he would stick his hand into Kevin’s pants. This time, though, as he was stroking Kevin’s dick with his hand, he pushes himself up, spins them around without ever breaking their lip contact and then forces him away from Kevin’s mouth.

“I will suck you so hard, you won’t be able to remember your own name,” he says before he drops to his own knees.

The sight of Seth swallowing Kevin whole was a real blessing, even though Kevin quickly closes his eyes and throws his head back, as the wet and hot feeling of Seth’s mouth was doing things to his dick. An animalistic groan builds in his throat, but he is able to hold it a bit longer in him. The slurping sound that Seth makes whenever he opens his mouth and takes a breath is just another sharp knife in Kevin’s stomach, twisting with the longing after releasing and more pleasure. He grabs a fistful of Seth’s hair, just to feel this boy even closer to him. He moans loudly.

“Be a bit louder and everyone can watch in a minute,” Seth complains with wet lips and saliva sticking to his chin. Kevin, throbbing and pulsing and hot, lets out a quick whine, before Seth rolls his eyes and swallows him again. This time, as Seth lets his teeth make some good and honest work on Kevin’s dicks skin without hurting him, he puts a hand over his mouth to contain the next moan that was already escaping him. The feeling of a river pulsing in his skin grows stronger with every lick and touch and hot, wet kiss Seth does to him, so much that Kevin must pull his teammates mouth away from his dick. “So fast?” Seth asks grinning. “And you’re one to complain.”

Seth stands again and wipes his mouth before Kevin can pull him close again. It doesn’t even bother him, that Seth now tastes like his own dick. He just kisses him, licks his lips, grinds his tongue again Seth’s, bites the sensitive skin right next to his lip corner. Seth moans into his mouth. “You got a condom?” Kevin asks.

“Always for you, dear,” Seth replies against his lips before he parts away from him to reach in his jeans pocket on the floor. “Will you do me the honor?”

“Fuck you,” Kevin says but catches condom and rips it open before pulling it over Seth’s throbbing, hard cock.

“No, I think, I’ll rather fuck you,” Seth says with a sly grin.

Kevin turns around and bends over. He feels one of Seth hands on his shoulder, massaging his hot skin, before he feels two of his other fingers entering his hole. Another beastly moan builds in his throat, as Seth begins to widen his ass, entering another finger just a moment later. They didn’t bring any lube, but they did it so often without that Kevin was sure, that it didn’t matter now. He could hear Seth spitting in his hand and then the wet, cold touch of his fingers, rubbing all over his hole. His dick twitches and he uses his other hand to work on himself while Seth was busy preparing him.

Seth’s hand slides down from his shoulder to his lower back and the next thing Kevin knows, is the tip of a dick entering his ass. This moan he couldn’t contain anymore. Beastly, loud and deep it escaped his mouth the second he presses his hand on it. “Fucking be quiet, Day, I know I’m good.”

“Fuck – fuck you, Gordon,” Kevin is able to reply before Seth slides all the way in.

The feeling of a dick entering him was also something Kevin never thought he would experience, but as Seth now slowly began to widen Kevin’s ass by pulling his dick out and entering again, he was sure it was something he wouldn’t want to miss again. A girl could never, he thought as Seth enters again. This was nothing compared to his own fingers or that one dildo Nicky gifted him as a joke a year ago. Feeling Seth inside him was real and raw and just unbelievable hot. He wanted every inch of him and more. Everytime Seth pushes himself in, Kevin loses his mind. His hole itched and tightened around the cock in it, but he knows it was just preparing itself for all the other pounds that were coming. Seth laughs and moans.

“This is better than pot,” he says while pounding again. “Guess you were right, Day.”

Kevin can’t answer. He is too busy with blocking his own mouth from messaging their teammates of their little game in here with a loud and hot moan, that’s already tickling in his throat. His eyes roll back into his skull, while Seth builds up speed and power, pounding faster and harder into him. Seth’s dick inside of him should be enough to make him cum, but Kevin just fastens that process by stroking his own cock with his other hand. Masturbating alongside Seth fucking him is just the best relaxation before an important game and while Kevin feels his cum building up in his balls, he hears Seth’s balls slap against his cheeks with every pound.

“Fuck,” Seth groans. “I could fuck you all day.”

“I would let you,” Kevin can say before he presses his hand against his mouth again. He feels the cum leaving his dick just as a hot feeling runs through his whole body. Anticipation is dead and the new king of his body’s name is pleasure.

“I’m gonna –,” Seth starts, but he cuts himself short.

The next thing Kevin feels, is Seth grabbing a fistful of his hair and pressing his dick as far inside Kevin’s ass as he can. Then there are waves and waves of hotness in him, throbbing feelings and wet salvia against his hole. Seth releases another load into the condom that’s thankfully still on, but even with that Kevin can feel it in him. They both pant and breath for their lives. Seth chuckles as he presses a soft and lazy kiss against Kevin’s shoulder blade.

“Nice one,” he breaths.

“You’re better be relaxed enough now,” Kevin replies breathless. His own skin buzzes. He feels himself in every pore, everything is more colorful. His heart races against his chest and he counts the seconds Seth still remains inside of him.

“I could go for another round,” Seth admit sheepishly.

“Fuck you,” Kevin says. “We don’t have the time.”

“Bummer,” he answers and sighs, before pulling himself out of Kevin. “It was a good ride though.”

“It was,” Kevin agrees. “Maybe,” he starts and turns around to witness Seth pulling the filled condom of his dick, “Maybe we can have round two when were back in Palmetto.”

Seth catches his eye and grins. “You little bitch,” he says. “You’re really starting to enjoy this, huh?”

Kevin growls angrily. “Don’t start_ _with that, Seth. We both know that it’s not really easy to not enjoy this. Also, we’re both really good at doing it. I don’t think I would have this much fun with another guy.”

“I feel loved,” Seth says with a sarcastic grin before he throws the condom into the toilet. “Clean that up,” he then adds and points at the sticky white marks on the ground. With a smirk on his lips, he leans forward and kisses Kevin again, hot and wet but also soft and more affectionate. “Maybe I really enjoy it too, Day.”

Even though Seth is a fucking bitch who wouldn’t say shit to save his own life, he really makes Kevin feel good whenever they kiss and fuck. It’s not even his primordial instinct kicking in, telling him to enjoy the warm body next to his while he can. It’s a feeling deeply buried in his heart that he’s way too afraid to tell without knowing if Seth could even reply to those feelings with enough thought and meaning. Kevin smiles and pushes that thought away. For now, it’s good enough for him that he can have Seth whenever they please. He doesn’t need the conformation that it’s something more for both of them, because he knows it is for him and he knows he is the only one entering Seth’s bed.

They share one last, lazy soft kiss before Seth walks over to the sink and cleans himself up and Kevin admires the muscled, toned back of his – boyfriend? Lover? Something different? It doesn’t matter, he tells himself. He loves that it’s Seth and he loves every second with him, even if they only throw snarky comments at each other before they make out in an empty bathroom stall.

Kevin Day doesn’t have to love Seth Gordon but maybe he just does.

[side-effect-of-the-meds]

Please tell me Erin and Matt are close friends in this verse and the whole “I bet Andrew’s gonna get with Renee” thing happens to the two of them instead?

*chortling like a rich evil baron about to unveil my newest weapon* Oh, love, you don’t know the half of it. 

So let’s run through a few things real quick tho. In this au, Matt and Dan ARE NOT DATING YET! They will be at the end but not yet. Seth and Allison are a couple with the same on-and-off relationship. But the spicy stuff? That’s the team’s local love triangle of Kevin-Erin-Matt. 

Erin and Renee still have their agreement about the knives. In exchange for telling Renee about some of her the physical abuse she faced in her foster homes, Renee teaches Erin how to use the knives. That’s it though. Erin is just trying to watch both halves of the team on her own. It isn’t super hard because they upperclassmen never go anywhere alone and are usually at the dorms anyway. About two or three times a week, they run laps together because Renee is trying to maintain some semblance of a connection with Erin. However, Erin doesn’t let her in as much as Andrew did because Renee is hot and this ain’t no time to be catching feelings. 

The thing about Erin and Matt is that Erin adores his mother. She used to watch all of her matches growing up and it’s actually how Erin learned how to fight. Matt does not trust Erin after Eden’s but when he finds out about the fact that she idolizes his mother almost as much as he does? It thaws his heart just a little. One day he sees her shadow boxing, mimicking the movements of his mother on screen. 

“You’re putting too much weight on your front leg,” he says. Erin’s knives are out in a flash. Matt raises his own empty hands in surrender. She lowers her knives and he steps into the basement. It’s hard at first for Erin to let him into her space. She knows that as long as she isn’t trying to hurt him, he won’t hurt her either. But once she does, they become sparring partners. Erin’s always been good at picking things up but she can’t deny that some of her success comes from Matt being a good teacher. It takes a while, but Erin also tells him about Kevin and the Moriyamas. Matt offers to watch the upperclassmen before Erin can even ask. About a month or so before Millport, Erin sees Ania’s file. She sees the bit about how the team captain took advantage of her and she’s suddenly seeing red. She drags Matt down to the basement and they spar until she can barely stand anymore. Sinking to the floor she tells him about Ania. After a few moment’s consideration, she gives him the bare bones of Drake, no names, no dates. Nothing to place who Drake was or when she stayed with him. Just enough for Matt to understand. Matt is devastated. He changes up their regiment so that it focuses on how to deal with things like that but he doesn’t say anything. Erin knows what he’s doing and she’s grateful. She leaves him a few extra cases of beer for it 

Matt and Renee both see that Erin isn’t quite as monstrous as she seems but Renee is a little more uneasy around her than Matt. Erin tends to be very cold to her and it makes her hard to read. Matt is the one that knows about Erin’s sexuality and whenever he sees her with Renee he just kinda those the eyebrow wiggle thing. Erin just flips him off. 

Ania is just as uneasy around Matt as Neil was with Renee but only because he’s a guy. It takes some time before the two of them become friends and Matt doesn’t push it because he already knows about Millport. 

Now we come to the love triangle.

So obviously, people see Erin running around with Kevin all the time. Kevin is always by her side, even while he’s the assistant coach. Naturally, the foxes all start betting on them. That is until she and Matt start becoming friends. The foxes scrap the old bet entirely and are picking sides on who Erin will end up with. Dan bets on Matt and it breaks her heart just a little. He’s so sweet. She hates men but a small part of her thinks that even she could learn to love him. Dan thinks he deserves better but she isn’t going to interfere. 

When Ania arrives, things get real heated. All of them have seen the way Kevin’s eyes soften when he sees her. They see the way his hugs linger a little longer than they should. They see the two of them walking back from class together despite Kevin not having a class anywhere near that direction. For the record: Kevin sees Ania solely as a little sister. That’s it. 

“It’s a blatant declaration of love,” Allison insists. But? He’s? Still? With? Erin????? Erin and Ania also have a certain amount of animosity between them. Everyone assumes it’s because they’re fighting over Kevin. Matt would be watching all of this go down if he wasn’t having his own problems. He’s trying to win Dan over but she still thinks he and Erin are a thing. He tells her it would never happen because he’s not her type. Dan doesn’t dig further and Matt is so relieved. He wouldn’t even dream of exposing Erin’s sexuality so he would have had to lie his way through an interrogation. Building a relationship with Dan on a foundation of lies would not have sat well with him. God forbid she found out if he had. Anyway, Dan ends up pulling her bet and watching the mayhem of the team unfold. 

Matt knows what’s up the second Ania arrives though. He knows she’s pretty and he knows Erin is a sucker for a pretty face. But he sees Erin watching her run laps and he’s just like :000000000000000 At their next sparring match, he asks Erin what she thinks of the new girl. He barely doges the blow she aims at his nose. He laughs and takes it as confirmation. Once he and Ania do start getting closer, he’s absolutely doing his best to wingman for Erin. He knows it’s worked once Erin’s gone to Easthaven. Every day before heading out to the court, he sees the way Ania looks at the door to her dorm as if waiting for Erin to walk out. It hurts to see Ania hurting. Dan has essentially adopted her so that makes Ania his kid too. He doesn’t bet on her sexuality because he already knows she swings Erin’s way he doesn’t know about girls in general but yeah. 

He’s p scared when Erin gets back. He worries that Ania isn’t going to accept this Erin but it doesn’t take long to see that Ania still loves her. About a year later, he realizes that Ania had never been in love with medicated Erin. She’d always known exactly who Erin was when she was sober. She’d only ever had eyes for the real Erin. It warms Matt’s heart to know that Erin has someone like Ania. He thinks about it a lot, especially while standing as the officiator for their wedding. He’s a blubbering mess when he announces that they may kiss the bride.

[aftgficlibrary]

best fics of 2018?

This is so subjective so some of our staff are gonna put our 2018 favs here below!!

Cassy

This is my favorite fic ever and the author just started updating it again so im in tears all the time 

i’m here right now (just be here right now with me) by Talls (M | 27,606 | 3/7)

Neil first meets Andrew with a racquet to the stomach in a locker room when he’s eighteen. Andrew first meets Neil with a hushed conversation on a beach in California when he’s five. They still manage to meet on rooftops, fall in love, find family, and heal together, just not quite at the same time and definitely not in the same order.

(In other words, Andrew is the Time Traveler’s wife.)

This fic is so soft and pretty

Translation Errors by SensationalSunburst (Not rated | 3,127 | 1/1)

“Andrew doesn’t love me,” Neil said simply, “So if he has a love language, I don’t know it.”“Oh, honey.” Allison drawled, “You don’t actually believe him when he says he hates you, do you?”

Lucky by sunrise_and_death (T | 4,328 | 1/1)

At thirteen, he’d lived in eleven different cities, gone by as many different names, and seen his reaper twenty-eight times. Some people would have called him lucky.

Live Once More (This Time Will Be Better) bypurpleeyesandbowties (T | 2,457 | 1/1)

Very carefully so as to not wake his roommates presumably sleeping off a night of regrettable choices, Andrew pulled a notebook towards him and opened to a fresh page to make a list. Two lists, actually. Changes to make and things to keep the same. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to sort out what was important.

To change:get off pillsno Kathy no Seth dying (Neil was upset)no Thanksgivingno winter at Evermoreno Baltimorekill Riko soonerkill Nathan myself

Keep the same:get Neil to the Foxes

Maz:

changing tides - titanic au by missbolton (M | Incomplete | 4/5)

When Nathaniel Hartford boards the RMS Titanic, it is a death sentence. He will be shipped to New York with his brutal father and his soon-to-be wife, Lola. There’s no escape.

Until he meets third-class artist Andrew Minyard.

if you’re lost you can look (and you will find me) by paleromantic (T | Incomplete | 5/?)

Neil Josten jerked awake, his cigarette falling from his fingers as he did. The frigid air bit at his arms, his neck, his face, but he didn’t notice, too busy looking around.

“What the fuck.”

or

Neil and Andrew wake up back in Millport, and get the chance to start over.

I’m Just Killing Time by thesaroscycle (T | 10,666 | 1/1)

He was sat in the most comfortable armchair in the back, the book in his lap closed but well-worn and dog-eared, one of the things that annoyed Bee to no end. His glasses sat on the table next to him, along with the hot chocolate Bee had made earlier in the morning that had gone cold. He stared out the window into a cloudless blue sky, squinting at the late morning sun and blurry trees. It was getting warm enough outside for the frost to melt on the grass, and late enough for people to start coming in. He couldn’t wish more for fall, when the sky would be gray and the chill would last all day rather than just early morning. Everything seemed to be holding its breath for the coming summer, for longer days and warmer mornings. Andrew couldn’t be less excited for summer; of all their town’s 70-degree-high summers, it was still hot enough for Andrew to melt in his stubbornly consistent black wardrobe.

Paper Skies by exybee (T | 4,662 | 1/1)

Andrew’s a quiet librarian who treats his library much like how he treats his person. He spends his time searching for the color blue in hopes of finding something real, but when he meets Neil Josten, he finds that maybe blue isn’t the only thing out there.

Or, Neil’s a kaleidoscope of colors, and Andrew gets a lesson in self-care.

Atlas:

Honey, we should run away by allyasavedtheday ( T | 8,836 | 1/1)

“We’re moving on soon,” his mom says casually as she’s plating up their food. As if it’s an inconsequential detail and not something that rocks Neil to his core.

“Why?” he asks, keeping his voice calm and measured like she taught him to do if he was ever taken.

“We’ve been here too long,” she says like it’s obvious, setting down a plate of pasta in front of him.

“It’s only been ten weeks,” he can’t help pointing out. Ten weeks with Andrew. Ten weeks that aren’t enough.

“That’s over two months,” she retorts, neatly spearing a piece of pasta with her fork. “Two more weeks and we’re leaving. Just as soon as I have everything organised.”

*

Andrew and Neil meet when Neil is on the run with his mother.

Show Me How You by smokesprite ( Not Rated | 6,825 | 1/1 )

“They thought they would stop the show; they thought they could cut the act, but Neil had been sulking around too long now to not know where all the necessary equipment was. He was a ghost, and he would do the ghost dance, goddammit.”

Neil is a ghost with a house to haunt, but the Moxie Foxy Burlesque Troupe refuses to be chased off. If you can’t beat em…join em.

Aaron:

stay as long as you need by lolainslackss (T | 2,955 | 1/1)

The soulmate timer counts down to your soulmate’s death. Apparently, Andrew’s soulmate doesn’t have long to live.

Oh, Catastrophe by TheKingIsDead (witch_lit) (T | 1,447 | 1/1)

Aaron and Katelyn are at a concert and Aaron can’t shake the feeling that the drummer is familiar.

it’s a long way down byionlyloveyouironically (T | 6,506 | 1/1)

The sound of rushing water, the moon overhead, bare feet on a muddy riverbank, and a weeping woman reaching a dead hand out. 

Scout

A Mewment Like This by fuzzballsheltiepants (T | Incomplete | 9 Works)

tenuous by undertow (cendal) (M | 7,431 | 1/1)

Neil Josten is trying to learn to be a normal person. He has an apartment and a cat. He goes to therapy every Wednesday. He has friends and attends their study group regularly. He eats lunch with his best friend’s brother.The hardest part is letting people in, but he thinks that one day he’ll get there.Series: Part 1 of all of me wants all of you

The Continuing Adventures of the Nine-Nine by gluupor (G | Complete | 10 Works)

A series of short, ridiculous, mostly plotless stories featuring the Foxes as the cops of the Ninety-Ninth Precinct.

Back to the Start by fuzzballsheltiepants (T | 29,277 | 11/11)

Andrew has been on his pro team for 6 months when he takes a ball to the head. Neil flies to Boston to see him - only to find that Andrew doesn’t remember him.

Rachel

Funky Happenings with the Fox Family by dobbypussypopper (Not Rated | Incomplete | 17/?)

naughtygayweedcrime: did I rlly just see neil say woke

naughtygayweedcrime: what a surreal timeline we live in

dumbfool: allison is trying to teach me how to meme so I can get hip

naughtygayweedcrime: bless your poor soul

davidwymack: sometimes I regret living

davidwymack has muted exyllent, damnwilds, + 7 others for 30 minutes

The Real Folk Blues by moonix, nefelibata (E | 42,365 | 4/4)

Captain David Wymack and the bounty hunter crew of the Bebop spaceship might be a little out of their depths chasing down the infamous hacker and notorious runaway Neil Wesninski, whose bounty exceeds even Kevin’s wildest dreams. Worst of all, Andrew might actually enjoy it.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

a world alone by ephemeralsky (T | 54,850 | 6/6)

“It will not be cheap,” Andrew finally says.

“I know,” Wymack says. “Two bottles of Johnnie Walker sound good to you?”

“Four,” Andrew says without missing a beat. He thinks about having to deal with Nicky later on, about the additional work he has to do, and decides that he will not do anything for less.

“Three,” Wymack argues.

“Four or we have no deal.”

Wymack mutters something about blood-sucking hooligans under his breath before he concedes with a, “Fine.”

(or: a High School AU where only some of them are high-schoolers)

[childrenofankhseries]

Tragic Fools Extended Teaser. Titillating New Dark Fantasy Scifi 2021.

Chapter 1

Psychic Ex Issues

The bliss of sun-kissed skin awakened her. Twitching fingers in velvety sand as a heavenly breeze tickled her spine, Kayn peered up, grinning. Somebody gave her an immortal time out. Even with unlimited free passes to the in-between, a surprise trip was jarring until she recalled why she died. Who killed her this time? Cross-legged in pristine desert with silky granules trickling through fingers, her memory kicked in, clarifying why she was deceased. Lexy knocked on her door and took her out of the equation. Their Oracle must have caught Kevin telepathically asking her to warn him before Ankh stole the girl he had a thing for. Her attachment to him was always getting her in trouble. She shouldn’t be having conversations with an ex-boyfriend while in bed with her new one. Frost’s patience had to be wearing thin. They’d just been separated as punishment for killing Kevin at a banquet. She tossed her ex off a balcony for giving her a clover. It was still funny. Sensing a presence, Kayn got up, squinting in luminescence.

    Ankh’s Guardian Azariah sighed, “I’m beginning to think you enjoy being punished.”

    She didn’t know what to say, she kind of did.

    “Being part Guardian doesn’t mean you can bend rules to your will,” the angelic entity reprimanded.

    Brushing the sand off her short ivory in-between attire, Kayn responded, “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

    With divine angelic light attaching Clan Ankh’s Guardian to the sky, Azariah wandered off, explaining, “That’s just it, if he can tap into your mind, you have no say over what he knows.”

    Keeping pace, strolling the clean slate desert with warm silken sand underfoot, beneath an azure sky, Kayn thought of a monarch butterfly. An orange and black distraction flitted by as proof she wasn’t focusing on what the Guardian was saying.

    The angelic entity trailing radiant light, scolded, “I’m not talking to hear myself speak, child.”

    She wasn’t a child. Now, a variety of vibrant butterflies were fluttering around. She couldn’t shut her feral imagination down. Wincing, Kayn apologised, “I’m listening, I swear.”

    With a clap of her hands, distractions vanished. Smiling, Azariah carried on, “Here is the issue, Ankh needs a Venom before Immortal Testing. As you know, the Third -Tier sped up the timeline in response to the glitch your group used to get out. Currently, Triad is the only Clan with one. Your ex’s crush means nothing. Residual mortal sentiment is clouding your judgement.”

    It was, she couldn’t deny it.

💘

    Back in the land of the living, Ankh’s Oracle voluntarily stayed with Zach to make sure Kayn remained deceased until their compromised job was finished. Relaxing on the queen-sized bed by Kayn’s corpse, Jenna mindlessly flicked channels.  

    With Kayn’s head on his lap, Zach gently stroked her hair, asking, “Do we have to keep killing her? Can’t we lock her in a tomb?”

    “The bracelet to block Kevin’s connection isn’t working. I need to tweak it. He’s psychic, they’re linked. Taking her out when we’re dealing with Triad may be our only option.”

    “We all have ties to other Clans, I used to be Triad,” Zach implored, meeting Jenna’s eyes.

    “Aren’t you glad we stole you?” Jenna baited as Kayn’s chest rose and fell. “Heads up, Handler. She’s back.”

    “Can’t we just keep her occupied? She doesn’t know where they went,” Zach bartered.

    “Azariah needs time with her, a Guardian’s word is law, take her out,” Jenna instructed.

    Looping an arm around her neck, he released his grasp as she went limp, muttering, “You’re doing it next time.”

    “Suck it up Zach, you’re immortal.” Jenna teased with a smile.

💘    

    Everything was uncomfortably white as Kayn opened her eyes with a brief flash of waking up in the hospital after her Sweet Sleep. This time, it wasn’t Kevin by her side as she clued into where she was. She remembered this place. She’d been here before.

    Radiance encompassed Ankh’s Guardian Azariah as she helped Kayn up, praising, “Impressive regeneration time.”

    “I’ve been healing faster,” Kayn admitted, grimacing as she took in where she was. A blank white cell. The word nothing described this destination. She had concentration issues. Funny, well played Azariah, bravo. It felt like their Guardian was working up to an epic punishment reveal.

    Grinning, Azariah explained, “Time runs faster in a blank cell. Your soul can’t escape or think up distractions. We’ll stay here, so your Handler doesn’t have to keep killing you each time you rise.”  

    An immortal penalty box, so she couldn’t think up butterflies or heal herself to escape the boredom, clever. Kayn had to ask. “Am I going to be punished?”

    “Do you need to be punished?” Azariah probed with a knowing twinkle in her eye.

    Damn it, she did. There was a lingering silence as it sunk in. It felt like she could stop Kevin from having access to her mind if she wanted him gone. There it was…her truth. She wanted a way to keep their friendship alive, even if they were supposed to be enemies. Even if they always would be. He was her last attachment to a mortal simplicity that was no longer. She was going to lose the trust of her Clan. It felt like she was in the Testing again, being forced to see past mortal bonds engrained in her being.

    “Calm down, we don’t want to sever the connection. The Clans join forces on occasion. We need to control the flow of information. Having two Guardian offspring in the same Clan, Ankh may require assistance as you did when Abaddon tried to force you to send a group through the Hall of Souls. My brother jumped the gun when he took the cap off your abilities. You are a spiritual anomaly, a Conduit who is part Guardian. The Third-Tier will be looking for a way to take you out of the equation to hold off the Daughters of Seth Prophecy.”

    It would be helpful if someone explained what the Daughters of Seth Prophecy was.

    Grinning, Ankh’s Guardian, replied, “Prophecies have a loose narrative. New moves come into play. It couldn’t be worse timing to train a new group for Testing, with survivors in the middle of the evolution process. Believing they’ve set us up for failure by giving us an unbeatable scenario, reveals the Third-Tier’s weakness. They underestimate us. We thrive in impossible situations. Knowing a Venom can put trapped souls into hibernation in a sleep chamber to await freedom with the next continent in gives us a way. When all is lost, all one needs is a faint glimmer of hope and courage to fight. If we find a Venom for the next Testing group, we have an insurance clause. It’s that simple.”

    Sure, they’ll just find a rare immortal being in a North American population of 346.3 million. “Do Guardian magic and point one out, I’m on it,” Kayn saucily replied.

    “Being confined to this spiritual plain has limitations. If you’ll allow me, I’d like to have another look at the basis of your connection to the Triad,” Azariah asked in shimmering light with open arms.

    As Kayn stepped into the Guardian’s divine embrace, the predatory Conduit was subdued by tranquillity in the root of her being. Beautiful memories floated through her stream of consciousness with easy smiles and magical healing kisses on wounded knees. She drifted off to sleep each night snuggling stuffed animals, feeling safe. She recalled easy laughter in carefree moments, racing siblings in the upstairs hallway to see who’d be first to slide on their tummy down carpeted stairs. Family days on the beach building sandcastles by the sea, turning over rocks to capture fleeing crabs. Salty ocean air through an open car window on the drive home and grape soda stains on her sleeping brother’s face. Childhood sleepovers using hairbrushes as microphones, jumping on beds. Snuggling under blankets watching movies devouring bowls of pink elephant popcorn on the couch. Climbing to the highest branch of the apple tree where they’d perch to eat while viewing their entire world. In every scenario, Kevin was present or referenced to tug her heart back.  

    Maturing in visions, she reached the age of Correction. Blissfully unaware of her demise, she sprinted across a finish line as a track champion with Kevin overzealously cheering. Each moment, every action, forging an unbreakable bond, maturing into love, solidifying a link created by thousands of unforgettable moments.

    Caressing her hair, Azariah summoned her out of the visions, whispering, “We can leave the connection open. I’m secure, he won’t violate your trust.”

    Part of her wanted to remain in the beautiful lucid dream with only light in her soul, void of the darkness she often found herself lost in. “I wish I could go back,” Kayn confessed, in her arms, pining for the simple bliss of childhood.

    Knowing she wasn’t ready to let go, Azariah assured, “Those memories will always be wherever you are.”

    “I’m not good at being immortal,” Kayn mumbled.

    “Who is?” Azariah taunted, stepping away to meet her eyes, lovingly tucking curls behind her ear.

    “You kept Jenna for decades,” Kayn sparred, smiling.

    Intrigued by her choice, the Guardian disclosed, “Jenna sacrificed herself for someone else’s misdeeds.”

    She hadn’t heard this story.

    Her luminescent relation explained, “We accepted an ill-advised deal believing Haley’s Testing group was destined to survive. Alas, Oracle’s predictions rarely come with a time stamp. Haley did survive twenty years later when intuition led her to you. Fortunately, Jenna was powerful enough to maintain duties through psychic connections.”

    Their Clan was soap opera. Curious, Kayn enquired, “Whose punishment did Jenna take?”  

    Azariah teased, “You’ll figure it out.”

    Why aren’t we using Haley?  

    “She’s a talented intuitionist but decades lost in a Venom-induced dream state stunted Haley’s Enlightening process. She isn’t a viable Oracle yet,” the angelic being responded to her thought.

    Psychics advertise, they can’t be that difficult to find. Fascinated, Kayn suggested, “Can’t we just make an appointment with a psychic and snag one?”

    “There are varying degrees of Clairvoyant. Only top tier has a shot at surviving Testing. The new girl Emma is top tier, but if her group can’t connect, it won’t matter,” Azariah clarified with a genuine smile.

    Standing in a blank slate room having a casual chat, Kayn forgot she was speaking to a heavenly being. Her Aunt. That was still weird. If they stole the girl, Kevin would think she didn’t care. She wasn’t supposed to. She needed to get back to Frost so she could explain. Feeling a tickle, Kayn looked at her hand as it began disintegrating into sand. Well, this isn’t supposed to happen.

    Unamused by her niece’s ability to override commands, Azariah loudly clapped her hands, scowling. Kayn solidified, the miffed majestic being, reprimanded, “I haven’t granted you permission to leave.”

    “I can’t control this shit,” Kayn lipped like an insolent teen.

    “Are you insane? Have you forgotten who you’re with?” Azariah fired back.

    What was wrong with her? Kayn said, “I’m not doing it on purpose.”

    Furious, Azariah paced back and forth, towing a beam of sparkling light in the room of nothing, muttering, “Seth, you ignorant ass. Idiot.”

    Oh, shit. She broke a Guardian. Kayn nervously apologised, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.”

    “I guess there’s no point in staying here. We might as well enjoy the scenery,” the luminescent being, sighed, half-assed waving her hand.

    In a flash of blinding light, the pair was in a meadow of flowers, ankle-deep in lush, fragrant grass under a splotchy blue sky. It always looked like someone tossed buckets of paint up there. They wandered in silence. With each step into the bliss-inducing experience, fragrant flowers, gentle humming of bees and whispering butterfly’s wings, reminded her of how blessed she was to be granted access to this magical world.

    Out of nowhere, Azariah coyly asked, “What powers do you have?”

    Her horrible excuse for a parental figure cautioned her about disclosing certain things.

��   Stopping, Azariah laughed, “You know I can hear your thoughts, just tell me what we’re up against so we can find a way to hide it.” Making herself comfortable in the grass, she prompted, “Sit, confess all, I vow to find a way to help you.”

    Guess there was no point in attempting to hide anything. Kayn sat by her, disclosing, “I’ve created orbs of light. Blue orbs blow things up, and white ones get me in trouble, you know about that incident.”

    “Yes, accidentally sending forty demons through the hall of souls doesn’t go unnoticed. Tri-Clan will be cleaning up that mess for years, and now, you have a target on your back. You are the magical ticket to mortality for every demon out there,” Azariah chuckled, picking grass and tossed it.

    Kevin always did that. Kayn’s heart clenched as her thoughts travelled back to her mortal life. Steering her mind away, she confessed, “Conduit, Siren and I may have stopped a bullet or two.”

    “Next time, you’re here we’ll talk about that. I’m sensing our time is up,” Azariah answered. Plucking a pink flower, the Guardian tucked it behind Kayn’s ear and whispered, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

    White light blinded her. As the glare ceased, Kayn saw Kevin’s Granny in youthful form, with freckles and flowing red hair. Winnie announced, “The job is done. Kayn is free to leave.”

    A part of her always wanted to run into Kevin’s grandmother’s arms. She’d loved Granny Winnie and missed her but knew they weren’t the same people. They weren’t even people at all, only pawns in an immortal game. It was time to go back and deal with the fallout from her secret conversation with Kevin. If the situation were reversed, and Frost was chatting with an ex next to her in bed, she’d be hurt. Her Mother’s words, sprang to mind, ‘Omitting part of the truth to protect someone’s feelings never works out how you think it will.’ She was right. She may never have the chance to say those words, but she could honour her memory by listening to her advice.

    Smiling at her inner dialogue, young Granny suggested, “Tell the truth, and let chips fall where they may. It’s a long afterlife, you have nothing but time.”

    With that telltale glint in her eyes, she’d always know it was her, no matter what age Winnie appeared. Unable to help it, Kayn asked, “Did Ankh take the girl?” Laughing, Azariah vanished.

    Used to her one-track mind, Winnie disclosed, “She was stolen by Trinity while Ankh and Triad were fighting. Kevin knows it was Trinity,” Winnie replied as the scenery flashed and they were strolling through the warm, inviting desert.

    This timeout was for nothing. Feeling strange, Kayn looked at her hand as she disintegrated into a cloud of golden dust and floated away on a gentle breeze.

    Opening her eyes, with her head on Zach’s lap in the land of the living. There was panic in his eyes. Here we go.

    “Trinity may already be here. Small talk later. Get your jacket, grab your bag, we need to run,” her Handler urged.

    “What’s going on?” Kayn said, scrambling into her boots. They sprinted down the hall, took the stairs and dashed out into the frigid Alaskan air. Oh, sweet lord, it was cold. The RV was gone. They got left behind.

    Going back inside, Zach gave her the rundown, “Trinity snuck in and stole the Venom while Ankh and Triad were fighting at the other job. Jenna had a vision and took off. Mel came in and gave me an Aries group card, saying, if the RV is gone, don’t panic, join the distractions at the pub.”

    Walking down the hall, Kayn vowed, “I wasn’t going to tell him anything.”

    “I know,” her Handler affirmed as they entered the pub and took off their jackets. “Game face, Brighton,” he teased, as they strolled up to the counter of local riffraff. Chuckling, Zach patted down her bedhead, whispering, “You’re looking recently resurrected feral this evening.”

    She’d been hoping it was Frost and Lily with Mel as distractions. She didn’t see anyone she recognised.

    Nudging her, Zach whispered, “Ten o’clock.”

    She glanced to her upper left and giggled. Ten o’clock. In an unexpected plot twist, their backup was Killian from the other continent with his massive muscular frame and wavy mane, sitting by a curvaceous black goddess so breathtaking, everyone was enamoured. With those two alluring unicorns, Mel seamlessly blended in with locals, downing shots like it was the end of the world.

    Leaning in, Zach whispered in her ear, “She is insanely hot, I’m going in.”

    That seductive being was way out of Zach’s league. He was in the minors, destined to strike out so fast, all you’d see is a blur of her blowing him off. Owing her Handler for blindly believing in her innocence, Kayn said, “Go Zach.” Snickering, as they picked up their drinks and strolled over.

    Killian raised his glass in greeting, “Guess we’re diversion buddies, our plan to be newbie protection backup was foiled by a five-minute bathroom break. Drink up, you two. Jenna says, acting like nobody is showing up until tomorrow and looking unprepared is how we’re going to buy the others enough time to get away.”

    “Emery,” the hot stranger introduced herself, extending her perfectly manicured hand to Zach.

    Awestruck, Zach shook her hand, flirting, “Your British accent is amazing.”

    Grinning, Amar’s continent’s vixen, cheekily reciprocated, “Your everything is amazing.”

    Wow. Zach didn’t usually have girls come on this strong.

    A tray of shots was placed on their table. Killian raised one, saluting, “Go hard or go home.”

    The table of immortals slammed three in a row, throwing caution to the wind. Emery seemed familiar. “Have we met?” Kayn enquired, shaking her hand.

    “I was blitzed at our last banquet, it’s possible. Either way, it’s nice to meet you coherent,” Emery toyed.

    The way Mel was slamming drinks back, their play was obvious. They were expecting Thorne. Mel was the bait.  

    “Slow down, love. I don’t want to hold your hair later while you’re parking the tiger,” Emery commented, coyly sipping wine, adjusting her seductively crossed legs.

    Parking the tiger?

    “Hurling, upchucking, technicolour yawn, ralph,” Killian deciphered British slang.

    “Praying to the porcelain god, barfing, boot and rally, blowing chunks, tossing your cookies,” Zach commentated.

    “Chilling my anxiety, it’ll sting less when he ignores me. The girl Thorne was seeing made it out of Testing with the other continent. He may be over me,” Mel disclosed, doing another shot.

    “You’re not that easy to get over, Mel,” Zach affirmed, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

    Where did she know Emery from? It was driving her crazy. All eyes darted to the door as Trinity wandered in.

    Zach whispered, “Heads up.”

    Raking a hand through his sexy mane, Killian whispered, “Immortal lie detector in the house, get ready to pull out the big guns, Mel.”

Chapter 2

Royal Pain in Thorne’s Ass

            Some bonds can’t be broken by time. Mel’s eyes locked with the leader of Trinity’s as he came in.

Ultimately, losing him had been a choice. She’d chosen Ankh over Trinity. It was her call.

Her time with Trinity before coming to Ankh was tumultuous. She’d been a royal pain in Thorne’s ass. Guilt-ridden, she spent nearly a year trying to kill herself as penance for her family’s demise. For an immortal with a healing ability, it was pointless. She lured him in with ridiculous drama. His days were devoted to convincing her she was worthy of being saved, and hers were spent proving why she wasn’t. With an intense connection teetering on the edge of more, everyone knew they cared for each other. On her final night with Trinity, she was about to leap to her temporary demise when their feelings came to fruition in an explosion of passion on a cliffside beneath the stars. The next day, she ended up in Ankh.    

    Since becoming Ankh, whenever she found herself in the leader of Trinity’s presence, either he was aggravated by the games she was playing or cautioning her to stay away during a fight so he wouldn’t be forced to harm her. Tonight, Mel was plotting to use his feelings to distract him so her Clan could get away with their unsealed under eighteen Ankh. When he walked past her to the bar, she couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t stupid.

    Pulling a chair up to their table, her old friend Glory, declared, “I’ll bite. Mel, Zach and Kayn, we expected. Emery and Big Sexy are a surprise. Are you here protecting Amar’s kid?”

    Big Sexy, that was funny.

    “Go ahead, take a shot for having the balls to strut in here like you stand a chance,” Killian provoked, sliding the tray over.

    “They’re in the hotel, aren’t they?” Glory grilled, looking into Mel’s eyes.

    Smiling, Mel redirected their conversation, “It’s nice to see you too.” She didn’t have to turn around, she felt him there. She did another shot before saying his name, “Thorne.”

    “Melody,” Thorne responded, pulling up a chair. “Did we get here early?”

    “I’m not saying a word,” Mel laughed, downing another.

    “You will,” Thorne boldly decreed, holding her captive with piercing blue truth-seeking eyes.

    She wanted him. Maybe she always would. Pretending to be carefree when she was freaking out inside was proving to be difficult.

    “If you keep slamming shots, you’ll tell me everything,” Thorne teased, snatching a shot of whisky off their tray.

    Without his fib extracting eyes leaving hers, he licked a droplet off his bottom lip, and her mind went blank. What was she supposed to be doing? About to match his shot, Mel put it down. He was right. She needed to buy time, good thing she had a million things to confess. If it wasn’t what he was here for, why not? Shaking her head, Mel switched topics, “I’m glad the girl you were seeing made it out with the other continent.”

    “That was nothing,” Thorne confessed, sliding his hand over hers like they were alone in the room. “I was just trying to stop myself from doing something reckless at a banquet.”

    “Me?” Mel baited with a charming, dimpled grin.

    “You,” Thorne disclosed. “In retrospect, we should have spent the night together for closure.” Caressing her palm, he whispered, “I still miss you.” Getting back on task, Trinity’s leader compelled, “Is it just the five of you at the bar?”

    Checking for witnesses, Mel said, “Yes.” Bringing up the elephant in the room, she whispered, “You’re here to steal our unsealed Ankh.”

    Tucking her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ears, like she usually wore it, Thorne answered, “Obviously.”

    He thought her nervous tick was a style choice, cute. “You won’t,” Mel confidently stated, sliding him another whisky.

    “Trinity doesn’t participate in drunk fight club,” Thorne teased, downing the drink.

    Grinning, Mel provoked, “What about pillow fight club? You used to love pillow fight club.”

    He mic dropped reality, “There were no pillows on our cliff.”

    Our cliff. Tears filled her eyes as the passionate encounter on a cliff beneath the stars surfaced. She whispered, “I spent a year trying to kill myself, knowing it wouldn’t work because I’m immortal. How did you have the patience to deal with me? How are you so optimistic and understanding when our afterlives are this hard?”

    “Because there were people like you, along the way,” he admitted with a sheen of tears.

    She was going to have to confess everything else to stop herself from telling him what she wasn’t supposed to say. Pulling it together, Mel said, “I tuck my hair behind my ears when I’m nervous.”

    Playing with her hair, Thorne probed, “Do I still make you nervous?”

    Mel nodded, lost in his steel blue lie extracting eyes. No matter what she did, her heart wouldn’t let go of that beautiful night. They had to get over each other this wasn’t healthy.

    Tenderly kissing her hand, he admitted, “You make me nervous too. Whenever we run into each other, it aches like we lost each other yesterday. I try to stay away. I’ll be arguing with myself, then you smile with those dimples and I can’t.”

    “Thorne,” she whispered as he slid a hand onto her knee.

    Caressing it, he whispered, “Mel.”

    She wanted to tear his clothes off.

    Making it clear he caught her thought, Thorne leaned in and whispered, “Right here?”

    “Come to my room, so we can be alone. You foiled the job and stole the girl. You know where our backup is,” Mel persuaded. She needed to prove her heart wrong.

    Thorne suggested, “Let’s go to my room where we won’t be interrupted.”

    Worrying she was the one being played, she put it to rest knowing who he was. In this scenario, she was the bad guy. Leaving their coats on the rack, they slipped out, speed-walked down the hall, hitting nearly a jog as they scooted into the elevator, laughing. As the elevator door slid shut, their mouths met in passionate persuasion.

    Breathless as their lips parted, Thorne gazed into her eyes, confessing, “I do love you.”

    “I’ve never stopped. I wish…” Her declaration of love was interrupted as the elevator door slid open, revealing a Trinity poised with bow drawn. He’d set her up. An arrow whooshed into her heart. Stunned, Melody dropped. Thorne cradled her in his arms as the light flickered and went out.

Chapter 3

Big Sexy Snacks

The rest of Ankh’s distractions were three sheets to the wind dancing when Ankh symbols heated beneath their fingerless gloves, letting them know one of their own was dead. They sprinted out of the pub into the hall. The elevator opened as they approached. Mel’s body was on the floor with a gaping chest wound and blood pooling behind her.

    Killian commented, “Taking out our only Healer, smart. Emery, there’s a camera. If the footage is stored online, we’ll need to call the Aries group. Zach, go with her, watch her back.” They slipped out as the door closed.

    “An arrow to the heart?” Killian questioned as he broke the camera and pressed garage.

    Focused on willing energy into Mel, Kayn didn’t reply. Mel gasped as her eyes opened.

    “Impressive, you’re a Healer too,” Killian remarked, as he held out a hand to help her up.

    Dizzy, Kayn held his gaze and said, “Trust me,” as she siphoned enough energy to stay on her feet through their joined hands. Confused, the burly Adonis swayed, quickly regaining his bearings. While helping Mel up, Kayn looked at her snack and asked, “You good?”

    “All good, energy thief,” he chuckled, shaking his head.

    His energy made her feel like she could bench press a Buick. Kayn directed, “Mel, take off your shirt and sop up as much blood as you can. Killian, give Mel your shirt so she isn’t topless.” They dressed, and cleaned with the elevator open, thankful for the heated landing.

    Reading a text, Killian announced, “They have our bags and jackets from the bar. Trinity’s coats were still in the pub. I bet they’re searching the hotel. We’ll have to run out to the truck without jackets. Let’s go!”

    Darting out into frigid two am Alaskan air through icy crackling snow, they got into the truck. Emery casually drove away from the hotel with the biggest grin as they put coats on and noticed there were too many.

    Killian chuckled, “Did you take everyone’s jackets?”

    “I did,” Emery laughed. “Zach also may have flattened the tires of every vehicle in the parking lot.”

    Everyone was celebrating their escape. Kayn dug through her bag praying her cell was in there. The light was blinking. There was a message. Afraid to read it, she stared at the flashing light. Reality was a buzz kill. She’d been the cause of their separation again. He had to be getting sick and tired of her shit. Hell, she was getting tired of her shit. Nobody uttered a syllable until they hit smooth highway. They started talking, avoiding the topic of ex-boyfriend’s arrows. Strength shifted to fatigue as Kayn’s brain recalled bringing Mel back to life. She needed to close her eyes.

    Nudging her, Zach prompted, “Look at the message.”

    “So, I can see how ticked off he is? No thanks. I’ll wait for the live show,” Kayn said, yawning.

    Zach instantly yawned. Yawning loudly, Killian scolded, “Stop that crap. I don’t need to be yawning for hours.”

    He’d mentioned yawning. They all yawned again triggering each other in a ridiculous chain, except for Emery, which struck her as peculiar.

    Snatching Kayn’s phone, Mel read it, and gave it back, saying, “Yeah, he’s pissed. At least he didn’t seduce you into an elevator, tell you he loved you and get a Trinity to shoot an arrow into your heart when the door opened.”

    “Shit Mel, that’s brutal, I’m sorry, hun,” Zach consoled, caressing her shoulder.

    “Why are you sorry? You didn’t shoot an arrow into my heart?” Mel sparred, lightening the tension. Meeting Kayn’s eyes, she assured, “It’s not that bad. He just says you need to talk.”

    When though? How long would she have to wait? All Dragon excuses aside, if she wanted their relationship to last longer than five minutes, she had to start thinking about how her actions affected him. Ripping off the band-aid, Kayn texted Frost. Full disclosure, Kevin has a thing for the Venom girl everyone wants. He must have had a vision. He asked me not to take her. You were asleep. She gave it to Zach to read over. He looked at it and pressed send. “What in the hell, Zach? I just wanted you to read it.”

    He chuckled, “You’ll thank me later. It would be silly for him to be ticked off after reading that. You didn’t really do anything wrong, Brighton. You just omitted the truth so he wouldn’t be ticked you were in bed with him, mind chatting with your ex.”

    Everyone else started laughing as Killian glanced back, asking, “Is Brighton American slang?”

    “That’s her mortal last name, Kayn’s Canadian,” Zach explained, grinning.

    “I love that, Brighton,” Killian stated. “Were you really in bed with Frost mind chatting with an ex? I’d be choked.”

    With her eyes on the snowy road ahead, as tires crunched over gravel-strewn icy highway, Emery shared, “If memory serves a night with Frost is many hours of cardio. I think it’s badass that you bedded him and chatted with an ex. He’s been a player for eight hundred years. He deserves that Karma.”

    Great, she wasn’t going to be able to unhear that. Emery and Frost slept together.

    Catching her reaction, Emery backtracked, “Sorry about just blurting that out, it was a long time ago. No big deal.”

    If you’re going to get ticked off every time you bump into someone Frost slept with, you’re going to be pissed off a lot,” Killian chuckled, changing the music. Emery slapped his hand. Giggling, he playfully swatted back.

    Mel changed the subject, “Where are we going?”

    “We’re driving east through northern B.C into Alberta to meet up with Markus’ crew,” Killian explained. “Who can drive? We should break this up into four-hour shifts.”

    Zach and Melody volunteered, Kayn admitted, “I drove once in a parking lot.”

    “I’ll teach you how to drive,” Emery laughed as the tail end of the truck swerved on black ice and recovered.

    Unaffected by the drama, Killian suggested, “Pull over, I’m switching seats with Zach. Brighton stole my energy.”

    They stopped, leapt out into snow much deeper than it looked and comically switched up the seating arrangement. Kayn grinned as the mountainous Viking looking guy made himself comfortable, taking up a humorous amount of the backseat.

    “Wake me up when it’s my turn,” Killian mumbled as he conked out.

    She’d never seen anyone go to sleep like that. The musclebound Adonis had a breathy coo as a snore. It was kind of adorable. Sleep was doable. Closing her eyes, Kayn slipped into a dream, listening to Zach and Emery chatting like long lost friends.

    Waking up, stiff and sore, Kayn stretched as she sat up. They were parked at a rest stop with a convenience store. What time is it? It smelled like greasy burgers. There was a gross amount of garbage in the back. How long was she asleep? She gathered up the trash into a bag. They must have let her sleep. She couldn’t go inside and leave the engine running. Groggily, she searched for her cell. There was another message from Frost. Her growling tummy took precedence as she texted Zach. I can’t get out of the truck, please bring snacks and juice. Her phone vibrated with Zach’s response. Already on it. Grinning, she read Frost’s message. You can make it up to me today when you get here. Joy flooded her senses. Forgetting her relationship paranoid boyfriend filter, she wrote, love you. She pressed send. Oh, crap. Mortified, Kayn stared at her phone. Why did she do that? Her cell vibrated. She read his response. Ditto, Queen of mixed signals. Giggling, she relaxed. She hadn’t wrecked it yet. She wasn’t meaning to give him mixed signals. This wasn’t how she imagined love would be. Loving him felt like she was always about to lose something. Things were much simpler when she was blissfully ignorant relationship-wise. The love she had for Kevin was pristine childlike certainty. Loving Frost felt like jumping out of a plane with a chute that may not open. What she felt for him terrified her. He must feel the same way. She’d been all over the place mentally since surviving the Testing, rarely in control of which ability surfaced. Only the Siren ability came easily. She thought back to that night in Mexico when Frost tried explaining how hard it was going be with the complications of their abilities. He’d vowed to keep trying, so had she, but hadn’t understood what he meant. She did now. Trying, was all they could promise each other. Her road trip buddies were on their way back to the truck with bags of snacks, chatting. Kayn silenced her inner dialogue as Emery fumbled with the keypad.

    As everyone got in, Killian commented, “Sleeping Beauty has awakened and summoned the backseat cleaning elves. I’ll run this to the garbage. Sorry, I knew it was gross back here. You’ve been out cold for a day and a half.” He hopped out and sprinted to the trash can with the bag.

    A day and a half? She wasn’t a napper. That was strange.

    Killian got back in and shut the door as Mel passed her a takeout bag. Yes. She was starving. Kayn peeked in. “You got me a burrito, you’re amazing, thanks Mel.” As they pulled away, she quietly observed Zach, riding up front flirting with Emery. Mel was pretending she wasn’t devastated. Killian was trying to lift her spirits. Being murdered by your ex dampens one’s mood. She’d experienced that heartbreak. She barely knew Thorne, but the guy radiated goodness, what he’d done was hard to believe. It felt like there must be way more to the story. On the bright side, maybe Mel would finally be able to move on from the fantasy of what might have been. A flicker of memory brought her back to Kevin slitting her throat in Immortal Testing, solidifying the truth of where they stood with him in Triad and her, in Ankh. Yes, being murdered by someone you were devoted to made the situation crystal clear. She’d gone on an unhinged murder spree in the Testing. Melody wasn’t like her though. Her friend was rational, calm, and innately good to her core. Naughty, on occasion, but those lines between right and wrong always seemed finite for her. Unwrapping her burrito, Kayn dumped a disgusting amount of hot sauce on and devoured it.

    Watching with morbid fascination, Killian commented, “You do the hot sauce thing like Lexy. Amar does that too you know. I’ve always been curious as to why?”

    Shrugging, Kayn downed a jug of juice. She was still hungry. Ravenous, she dug through bags. Nothing was appealing. Killian smelled good though. She’d brought Mel back from the dead, fed off his energy and he’d stayed on his feet. It was rather impressive. She didn’t know him well enough to ask him for the kind of snack she suspected, she needed. Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Kayn, and I eat supernatural energy. Yours is rather addictive, I’d like more. Her inner dialogue was getting crazy. Oh, fantastic. More immortal brain growing pains, when was this bullshit going to stop? Her stomach went off like a whale’s mating call.

    Eyes wide, Killian chuckled, “You alright, kid?”

    Scowling, Kayn nodded, knowing it was a lie. The burly immortal carried on chatting with Mel about being Orin’s daughter. Broiling, she wiped the perspiration off her brow. The crackling tires were echoing. She should ask them to pull over, something was happening to her. She’d had this sense of ability related foreboding before, it rarely went well. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Be calm. Her peripheral vision flickered ominously. Her heart was thudding like she ran a marathon. She’d been asleep for a day and a half. She needed to feed her ability but didn’t want these new people to know she fed off immortal energy. It might make things awkward. Killian smelled amazing. He had sweet, tasty, potent pheromones. She needed to get out of here. She wiped her brow. Her throat was so dry, she could barely swallow. If she ate them all, they’d have a nice long nap. Usually, someone called her out on her feral inner commentary by now. Maybe they couldn’t hear it? That was unfortunate, survival of the fittest wise. What was that? It felt like spiders were running around under her jacket. She didn’t like it. Imaginary arachnids scurried down her arms into her palms, making every hair stand on end. Oh, no. There were dark veins on her hands. Something was bubbling up under her skin. If spiders exploded from the boils on her hands, she was going to lose her shit! Struggling to remain calm, she cautioned, “Guys, I’m having an issue.” Nervously, Kayn watched sparks glittering on her fingertips. Shit. This was new. She nervously warned, “Guys.” Flames lit from the boils.

    Nudging Mel, Killian declared, “Your friend is on fire.”

    Panicking, Mel barked, “Pull over! Quick!”

    Looking back, her Handler cursed, “Shit! Calm down, Brighton. Breathe. Deep breaths.”

    Emery looked in the rear-view, the vehicle swerved to the side of the road. “I’m trying! Out! Get Away!” Kayn freaked, with her hands going off like sparklers on the Fourth of July. Everyone scrambled out, bailing into a snowbank as flames shot out her hands, igniting the interior. Power was coursing through her, it felt amazing. This is so cool. “Holy crap, I’m fireproof!” Kayn giggled as her flesh melted, laughing.

    “Get out!” Zach shouted, running at her as everyone else frantically pitched snow at the fire.

    Blistered, charred, engulfed in flames, Kayn hopped out. Zach leapt on her, smothering the blaze in a snowdrift. She giggled beneath her Handler. Her back stung. Maybe she wasn’t fireproof? That was stupid.

    Looking at her ash-covered face, Zach chuckled, “If you keep laughing like this, they’ll think you’re crazy.”  

    Everyone was fighting to put out the fire. They should help.  

    Zach wiped her cheek, and beneath the layer of ash, her skin was pristine. Shaking his head as he got up, he reached out a hand and urged, “Come on, Brighton.” With a peculiar grin, Zach enquired, “Feeling chilly?”

    Not really. Kayn looked down at the dangling shards of burnt material. Shit, her clothes were not fireproof.

    Emery shouted, “Run!”

    Everyone sprang into action as fluorescent orange winter jackets and a nearly naked girl covered in ash sprinted away from the engulfed vehicle. They stopped to watch like it wasn’t a big deal as it exploded.

    Covering her with his jacket as they stood, watching it burn, Zach quietly teased, “Nobody can see anything, you’re covered in ashes.”

    Her head was tingling. Kayn winced as she touched it and felt patches of stubble. Crap. Seriously? She sighed, “Am I bald?”

    Grinning, her Handler confessed, “You’re a little patchy. I wouldn’t worry, it’s visibly growing.”

    Launching a snowball, Killian announced, “Everyone left their phones in the truck, didn’t they?”

    “Mine was in my pocket,” Kayn answered casually.

    “A heads up on the pyrokinesis would have been nice,” romance novel Viking looking Adonis, baited.

    “Yeah, it sure would have. Am I still burned or is it the temperature on my ass?” Kayn saucily countered, winking at Killian. Almost cool for a split second, she tripped over her own feet. Zach caught her before she faceplanted.

    “You’re hilarious,” Killian chuckled as they trudged away from the flame gutted truck through knee-high drifts, with nothing but snow-covered farmland for miles.

    Everyone’s auras were a trippy light show. Nobody was too concerned. If their symbols went off so did the rest of their Clan’s. They were coming. She was toasty warm. So much heat was radiating from her, snow was conveniently melting, making her hike much easier but her head was crazy itchy. Zach was trembling in his t-shirt. She unzipped his jacket and suggested trading it for his shirt.

    “I’m fine,” Zach replied, shivering.

    Feeling guilty, Kayn pressed, “My healing ability has me toasty warm. Take the jacket. I did this, not you.”

    Smiling, Zach said, “You only got to that point because I was so busy flirting, I didn’t notice you were in trouble.”

    “She’s hot, it’s understandable,” Kayn sparred, as they wandered down the deserted road. She took Zach’s hand. His fingers were so frozen. She stopped, urging, “Trade me for the jacket, you are being ridiculous.”

    “Fine,” Zach chuckled. “Now that I’ve felt how warm your hands are, I’ll take it.” The others stopped as Kayn and Zach swapped clothing.

    They’d been trekking through the snow for a good hour when Kayn realised she’d drained her energy reserves. If she fed on anyone, they’d go down. Having faith, she could keep going until help arrived, she was a second from passing out when their ride showed up.

    Markus rolled down the window and laughed as he saw Kayn staggering like she was drunk in a t-shirt with a melted trail of snow behind her. He commented, “Rough day?”  

    Oh, thank god. Kayn teetered over and was out cold before she landed in the snow.

💘    

    Picking her up like she was as light as a feather, Killian placed Kayn in the back as exhausted Ankh squeezed in. Nobody spoke until Ankh’s leader pointed out, “Wouldn’t it have made more sense to walk in the melted snow behind her?”

    “Behind the surprise Firestarter, you failed to mention?” Killian ribbed, laughing.

    “Yes, the unconscious one,” Markus replied with a grin.

    “She’s tuckered out,” Mel decreed, lovingly stroking her hair. “Her Healing ability shorted out. She’s been melting snow for hours.”

    Markus pressed, “I need the whole story, to figure out how to pre-empt this. What happened, Zach?”

    “I was up front, I didn’t notice she was in trouble,” Zach admitted. “Mel started yelling for us to pull over. I tried to get her to breathe but she was already shooting flames from her hands. We all jumped out, except for Brighton, who thought she was fireproof.”

    “Our symbols went off, Zach started screaming at her to get out. He ran back, leapt on her, and smothered the flames in the snow. She was burnt to a crisp, but healed remarkably fast, and didn’t seem to be feeling any pain,” Mel disclosed, making sure their leader knew Zach acted heroically.

    “Go back further, something happened after you three were left at the hotel,” Markus prompted with his eyes on the road ahead. “Our symbols went off, one of you went down.”

    Mel confessed, “I thought I was playing Thorne, but he was playing me. He convinced me to go to his room, and when the elevator opened, I took an arrow in the heart.”

    With soft eyes, Markus asked, “Are you alright?”

    “Yeah, I’m okay,” Mel replied, avoiding his gaze.

    Markus quizzed, “Whose energy did Kayn use to heal?”

    Raising his hand like a child in elementary school, Killian confessed, “I thought we were going to have to hide a body. When I looked down, Kayn was done healing Mel. I didn’t even know she was a Healer. When I took her hand to help her up, she apologised and siphoned my energy. She only took a hair of what Amar’s Healers usually take.”

    “So, she brought Melody back without an energy transfer and fed from Killian after. Where were you, Zach?” Markus questioned.

    “I went with Emery to disable the security. I wasn’t with her in the elevator,” Zach admitted.  

    “Zach, her abilities are unstable. What happened to Mel could have hit too close to home and triggered the Dragon. Moving Killian’s body would have been an ordeal. It’s your job to keep her on an even keel,” Markus reprimanded, scowling in the rear-view.

    “I ordered him to go with Emery as backup,” Killian explained.

    Markus clarified, “We have no idea what she’s capable of. You’ve heard about her Guardian paternity but she’s also a Conduit. We haven’t dealt with this ability before. She can siphon and replicate our powers. She’s figured out how to summon Healing and Siren abilities but hasn’t been taught how to shut them down. She must have fed off Grey to have pyrokinesis on the menu. Now, she may have your strength, Killian. It’s my fault for not disclosing everything about the situation.”

    “How’s Lexy doing with everything?” Emery enquired, looking out the window.

    Watching the road as they hit the outskirts of the city, their leader answered, “Lexy rarely has deep chats with me about feelings. Normally, I’d tell you to ask Grey, but do us all a favour, don’t open that can of worms.” Noticing Zach’s silence, Markus met his eyes in the rear-view, reassuring, “Don’t beat yourself up about it, kid. I get it, someone more experienced gave you orders, and you obeyed. I know you’ve had a lot on your plate. The Handler job is relatively new. Shit happens. I’m sure you’ve heard about Trinity sneaking in and stealing the girl we were after while we were fighting Triad. Thanks to you guys, we didn’t lose our new Ankh. They’re safe because you five distracted Trinity.”

    “Personal drama aside, Trinity was on the ball this week,” Mel admitted, stroking Kayn’s restored hair. She looked at Killian and questioned, “She brought me back and didn’t go overboard feeding from you?”

    “I was dizzy,” Killian admitted, watching Mel playing with her hair. “She doesn’t look dangerous now, she looks like a soot dusted angel. She’s going to be freezing when she wakes up in nothing but that t-shirt. She’s clearly chilly.”

    It took Mel a second to figure out, Killian was referring to her sleeping friend’s headlights on high beam. She swatted him as he giggled.

Chapter 4

Enlightening Brain Growth Spurts

Groggily listening to crackling tires on gravel winterized road, Kayn questioned, “How long have I been asleep?”

    “For future reference, you’re not fireproof,” Mel teased, with city traffic outside the window.

    Confused by the tall buildings, Kayn sat up, wrapping her arms around her chest. She was losing a concerning amount of time during these Enlightening brain growth spurts. Zach took off his jacket and gave it to her, grinning as they pulled into the parking lot of a fancy hotel. She wasn’t dressed for this. She wasn’t dressed at all. Awkward.

    Everyone got out. Markus looked back, asking, “Feeling better?”

    It came back to her in an embarrassing whoosh of ability induced crazy behaviour. “I’m good,” Kayn answered, doing up the jacket. Her bottom half felt breezy. Oh, yes. She lit the truck on fire and burned her clothes off. She must have summoned up Grey’s ability, Killian smelled like a snack. She should keep that to herself.

    “You can’t eat anyone, Brighton. This is Lampir territory. We’re here under the pretence of mending fences. After that unfortunate incident with part of Lucien’s crew in Mexico, we’ve been sent to check the northern Hives for suspicious activity,” Markus lectured as he got out into the snow.

    Shit. She wasn’t wearing boots.

    Crouching, Killian offered, “Your chariot, my lady?”

    “Thanks for not leaving me to run over there barefoot,” Kayn giggled, climbing on his back, feeling like a kid as he jogged to catch up with the others.  

    Squatting in the covered area, Killian announced, “Front door service, my lady.”

    Knowing the jacket covered her, she didn’t give her chilly toosh a second thought as they walked into the classy beige lobby, like worn-out tourists who’d been on the road for days. Handing out key cards, Markus directed, “Clean up, order room service and stay on your floor until morning.”

    Hearing Frost’s laughter amidst humming voices, Kayn noticed the trendy bar and tried to look.

    Picking her up to shift her position, Killian chuckled, “Nothing to see here, energy thief. You aren’t going into a bar full of Lampir. We don’t need an international incident.”

    She wasn’t a moron. She knew what he did for the Clan. Hearing Frost’s musical laughter again, she wanted to sneak a peek. Everyone was deliberately blocking her line of sight like kids. Kayn laughed, “Come on, I’m not going in there to attack whoever he’s flirting with.”

    Staring into the bar, Zach cautioned, “Don’t look.”

    Well, she had to now. Kayn giggled, “I just need to use the washroom.” Manoeuvring past, she stopped cold as she saw what they were trying to prevent her from seeing. Frost was whispering in a scantily clad blonde’s ear. He noticed her watching and didn’t miss a beat pretending she wasn’t there.    

    Putting his arm around her, Grey walked her out, saying, “He’s trying to get information. Don’t make a scene. Come on, let’s go find you something to wear.”

    Crap. She forgot she was half-naked wearing a fluorescent orange parka. Squirming out of Grey’s grasp, Kayn asserted, “I’m fine. I know what his job is, I’m not going to eat a bunch of Lampir.” Embarrassed, she strutted adorably past the group, barelegged in a parka covered in soot, beckoning, “Zach! Come!” She didn’t even know what floor they were on.

    She was standing by the elevator stubbornly waiting as Zach wandered up, teasing, “What floor are we on?”

    “I don’t know,” Kayn curtly replied in awkward silence. Trying to keep a straight face as it opened, she marched into the elevator.

    As the door slid shut, he leaned against the mirrored wall, stating, “That was ridiculous.”

    “I know,” she admitted, giggling.

    “Let’s go, half-naked weirdo,” Zach chuckled as they wandered out of the elevator to a room conveniently across the hall. Opening the door, he stepped aside, grinning.

    This week sucked. She was genuinely bad at her job. Going directly to the minibar to get herself a tiny bottle of vodka, Kayn tried opening it. Oh, come on. She was a frigging superhero. She passed it to Zach, he couldn’t open it either. That was strange. “I give up, I’ll go shower,” she mumbled, shutting herself in the bathroom. Sighing, Kayn leaned against the door, reflecting on her behaviour. It was silly to be upset. She’d used her mirrored ability many times for the sake of the Clan with no self-control at all. If she got pissy about this, he’d just come back at her with the half dozen times she’d done the same thing since coming out of the Testing. She was acting like a headcase. She stuck her head back out, apologising, “I’m sorry, Zach.”

    With a smile, her Handler prompted, “I know, have your shower, so I can have mine.”

    Undoing the ugly parka, she grinned at her reflection in the mirror. There were black veins on her chest. It looked like she needed an exorcism more than a snack. Before Immortal Testing, nobody thought she could hurt a fly, and now, everyone assumed she was an inconvenient emotion away from a murder spree. Looking at her Conduit anxiety response veiny situation, they may have a point. They were blocking her from seeing Frost because if she got pissed off, they were on the menu. It was hilarious. Her inner commentary was getting weird again. Be calm. Be Zen. Be chill. She got into the shower, but there was no rushing the amount of soot she had to wash off. Zach should have showered first. Shit, she didn’t have clothes. Wrapped in a towel, Kayn wandered out. Her Handler wasn’t there, just Arrianna.    

    Lugging her backpack, Arrianna explained, “Markus told me what happened. Come on, let’s go back in the washroom, I’m sure we can find you something of mine to wear.”

    How? She felt like a big oafish giant, who ate small children and lived at the top of a beanstalk next to her.

    Shutting the door, the petite blonde made it clear she’d heard her inner commentary, taunting, “Shut that negative self-talk down before I chop down your beanstalk., you are beautiful.” Inspecting her hungry Conduit ability situation, Arrianna explained, “Emotions are the trigger, that’s why seeing Frost working wasn’t a great idea when you were already having issues. Feed from me, Healers are the safest dish on the menu.” Arrianna held out her hand.

    She didn’t know Arrianna well, but she seemed to know what she was talking about. Taking her hand, the soothing warmth of her energy travelled up her arm into her chest. Fearing she’d take too much, Kayn quickly let go, saying, “Thank you.” Metaphorical demons exorcized, she began sorting through options in the bag, opting for yoga pants and a t-shirt. It was going to be a stretch. Prying wideset hips into tiny pants giggling, she squeezed into an obscenely tight top next. Raking fingers through her curly damp mane, Kayn announced, “I can’t believe I got into your pants.” Music was playing in the other room. Arrianna laughed as they walked out. The party started while they were in the bathroom. There was a mountain of snacks from the vending machine on the counter. Zach was dancing with Mel, drinking from the minibar. Shimmying over, her Handler gave her a mini vodka. “You did it! You opened it!” Kayn praised, giggling.

    Towing Arrianna to the fridge, Zach tempted, “Pick your poison.”

    Shaking her head, taking in the crammed minifridge and overflowing mountain of snacks on the counter, Arrianna toyed, “Which one of you stole liquor out of all of the fridges in the empty rooms and used telekinesis to steal everything from the vending machines?”

    “They were all in there?” Zach fibbed, grinning. “Are you telling Daddy or joining us?”

    Giggling, Arrianna swatted Zach, scolding, “You jerk that’s going to be stuck in my head.”

    Rattling boxes of junior mints like maracas, Mel chanted, “Join us, join us.”

    Cracking a whisky, Arrianna drank it, strode over to the adjoining door, and loudly pounded on it, yelling, “Join us!”

    Opening the door bare-chested with a shit-eating grin and crinkled happy eyes, Grey flirted, “Hello trouble.” Lured into their web of fun, he pissed himself laughing as he saw their mountain of stolen snacks. “This is a lecture waiting to happen.”

    “Look in the minifridge,” Arrianna dared, grinning.

    Following Grey into the room, Orin playfully shoved Arrianna, taunting, “I hope there’s a Snickers in that pile. I recall Markus saying something about behaving ourselves.”

    Digging in the snacks, Grey pestered, “No, it was, stay upstairs and don’t let Brighton eat anybody. I’ll save him one just in case.” Putting it in a drawer, he found another, wound up and called out, “Heads up, Brighton!”

    Turning as the Snickers sailed at her, Kayn caught it, and declared, “I’m eating you first.” Chasing her sister’s Handler out of the suite, Grey raced down the hall, cackling. Ducking behind a housekeeping trolly, he rifled toilet paper rolls at her as Kayn superhero blocked each one with a wave of her arm. The elevator opened. They turned to see who it was.

    Walking out, Killian saw the mess, warning, “Markus is going to lose his shit.”

    They chased Big Sexy rifling rolls as he ran for the room, laughing, “Stop! I surrender!”

    Gathering armloads of toilet paper ammo, they busted into the room, pitched rolls at everyone and left the mess to do shots.

    Looking out into the hall, Arrianna sighed, “Seriously?” She went to go pick them up.

    Flinging her over his shoulder, Killian strode across the room and tossed her on the bed. As Arrianna bounced, Big Sexy pointed, comically reprimanding, “These assholes feed on our Siren. Nobody is cleaning up shit.”

    Now, she knew where Frost was. She didn’t need that visual.

    “Here,” Zach said, passing her a whisky.

    She drank it, shaking her head. Three vodkas, a whisky, and a, your boyfriend is having sexy Lampir feeding time reveal. It must be Christmas.

    Putting an arm around her, Mel gave her a tiny bottle of tequila, whispering, “How are you doing?”

    Downing it, Kayn teased, “Drinking vodka, whisky and tequila in the same night is the trifecta of stupidity, but I’m having fun.” Thorne shot an arrow through Mel’s heart. She hadn’t even given her a chance to vent. Feeling horrible, she hugged Mel tightly, whispering, “Want me to kill Thorne?”

    “Yes, make it hurt,” Mel sniffled, giggling.

    Swaying to the music embracing, Mel’s chest shuddered. Kayn offered, “Let’s order pizza and get you a Snickers.”

    Joining in their group hug dance, the trio swayed as Zach whispered, “I ordered pizza half an hour ago.”

    Giggling, Mel whispered back, “You’re awesome, Zach.”

    “I have my moments,” Zach chuckled, wildly rocking the trio back and forth as a fast song came on.

    Tears ended, pizza came, and pointless talk of romantic entanglements ended as the endearing troop of joy junkies revelled in their unbreakable bond. When the rest of Ankh showed up, they were three sheets to the wind, leaping on the bed dancing and singing along to the music. The allure of mindless shenanigans was no match for the pull Kayn felt as Frost walked in. He’d changed his clothes. Far too tipsy to be coy, she ceased jumping. He grinned, sauntering over in a black fitted shirt and jeans. Heaven help her. The motion of everyone still leaping made her topple backwards. She fell between the bed and wall with a thud. Mortified, she decided to stay there.

    Mischievously peering over the side of the bed, Grey baited, “Markus is shutting this down, if you stay there for a minute, we’ll all be gone but I’d just own it.”

    Guru Grey was right. She got up and curtsied. The room of immortals cracked up.

    Everyone’s eyes turned to the door as Markus declared, “Who was the asshole that threw toilet paper everywhere?” They all raised their hands. Amused by their solidarity, he shut the party down, “My room is beneath this one, I need sleep.”

    Turning the tunes off, Zach pressed a finger against his lips, drunkenly motioning, “Shhh.”

    Giggles silenced as Emery rushed in, calling out, “Jenna!” Their eyes met in a movie worthy moment.

    “Emery?” Jenna gasped, “How are you here?”

    It always felt like a psychic shouldn’t be able to be surprised.

    Overcome by joy, they raced into each other’s arms and seductively kissed. Everyone’s jaws dropped. Fascinated as they left together, Orin just stood there.

    With a supportive pat, Grey put his arm around Orin, saying, ‘Digest it. Let’s go, buddy. Time to move on.”

    Shrugging as they went into the adjoining room, Orin asked, “Where’s Lexy?”

    “Don’t get him started,” Markus scolded, pitching a toilet paper roll at him.  

    Sauntering over to Markus, Arrianna gave him a Snickers, toying, “Don’t be grumpy.”

    Laughing, their leader hugged her, teasing, “It looks like you had fun.”

    “I did,” Arrianna stated, strutting away, summoning him to follow with a finger.

    As witnesses left, their eyes met. Placing a hand on the wall behind her, Frost whispered, “Hi.”

    “Hi,” Kayn whispered as every hair prickled in response to his pheromones.

    Pressing his body against hers, he whispered his breathy intentions, “I want to take you to bed and kiss every inch of you.”

    Caressing his dark hair, gazing into his seductive eyes, she leapt from a plane with no parachute, “Let’s go.”

    They straight face walked past the Clan lingering in the hall. He swiped his card. As the light turned green, Kayn flashed back to a night in Vegas, when her attempt to sneak up to his room was foiled by their Clan’s Oracle. He tugged her in and slammed the door as she laughed.

    Flirtatiously walking her backwards to the bed, Frost chuckled, “I wanted you so bad when I saw you standing there in nothing but that parka. After I’m done making you scream, you’ll have to tell me what happened.” She lifted her arms over her head as he tugged her shirt off and tossed it with a cheeky grin.

    Siren were creatures with volatile sensual energy hidden beneath the surface, ready to release incapacitating pheromones, able to change the rules of anyone’s game. Neither was capable of G-rated behaviour, once their fuses were lit. The self-destructive Dragon in her yearned for the reckless way he made her feel like air to breathe.

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[let-me-love-you-loki]

Hounds of Justice--Ch. 68

Chapter 68

           Tears blurred my vision. Every part of my body that wasn’t numb was in agony. I wanted nothing more than to scream, to sob, to curl into a ball and never feel another thing in my life.

           Natasha put my legs through their range of motion exercises as I lay prone on the padded table that was supposed to ease my pain. Instead, all it did was set pressure against my spine, send it radiating up my shoulders and into my arms. I ached every time I got on that table, every time Natasha pulled and pushed, poked and prodded, stretched and tightened the muscles in my limbs.

           Seth sat in a chair in the corner, his hands held tight in his lap, ankle propped up on his knee, leg bouncing nervously. He was in his favorite zippered hoodie and ball cap, but he looked far from comfortable.

           “Can you stop? Please,” he said, voice cracking almost painfully. He unfolded himself from his chair, crossing the room in two quick strides. “Give her a break.”

           I closed my eyes, knowing that if he saw me crying, he just might lose it. Hannah had always been the one to come to my physical therapy appointments, but in his days back in Iowa Seth had taken the job upon himself. The first time he came along, I’d broken down into tears halfway through the appointment and Seth had nearly lost his mind at Natasha.

           Roughened fingers brushed my arm, sliding down to entwine with my own. “Hey,” he cooed softly, squeezing gently. “I’m right here.”

           Pain radiated down the center of my spine, wrapped around my ribs and squeezed. It forced the breath from my lungs. I let out an agony-filled gasping moan, my nails digging into the padding of the table.

           “Okay, that’s it,” Seth stated, his hands leaving mine. “This is over. I’m taking you home.”

           I whimpered, desperately trying to get control of myself. After all these months, I thought I had gotten somewhat used to my body betraying me. Yet the pain that came from simple motion, from simply existing, from Natasha stretching and working my motionless limbs… that was more than I could comprehend. It was more than I knew how to manage, this pain that reminded me with every breath that I was irrevocably broken.

           Natasha tried to argue with him, but Seth wasn’t hearing it. He slipped his arms beneath me—one under my shoulders, the other lower where I could no longer sense. I felt the table receding beneath me, the strength of Seth’s arms curling me against his chest. A moment later, I was settled in my chair, tears streaming down my face.

           “I want to go home,” I whimpered.

           Wordless, he kissed the top of my head.

**~~**~~**

           Seth bundled blankets and pillows all around me, tucking me in to our bed. My hair was damp, curling along my shoulders after Seth had spent almost fifteen minutes carefully brushing it out. He was gentle, touching me as if I might shatter at any moment. The truth was that it wouldn’t surprise me if I did. Between the pain and the sometimes-debilitating sense of loss, there were still times when I felt like I would lose myself. More than I already had.

           He stretched out beside me, propping his head on his hand. He had a faint smile on his lips, but it looked sad more than anything else. “I love you, Llane.”

           My eyes fluttered, half awake, half slipping into exhausted sleep. “I love you, too,” I murmured through a yawn. “Colby and Seth and Tyler and everyone else caught up in your head.”

           His lips lingered against my forehead. “What can I do? I can’t stand seeing you in so much pain.”

           The clicking of paws on hardwood. Kevin hopped up on the bed, nudging his way between us and curling up in a ball against my side. I ran my fingers through his fur, unsurprised when Prince joined us.

           “There’s nothing you can do. At this point…” I sniffled, biting down on my lip to keep from breaking down into full sobs in front of him. “At this point, my body has given up on me. This is a permanent condition.”

           “We don’t know that. You weren’t able to feel anything right after the accident, but some of it came back after the surgery.” His palm settled against my cheek, thumb brushing the tears from beneath my eyes. “Maybe… maybe we should see another doctor. Maybe there’s something they can do—some new surgery or treatment.”

           Shuddering breath. A skittering heartbeat. The world spinning out of control around me. A gut-wrenching sensation of powerlessness. I wanted so desperately to believe like he did—that something might change, that some miracle might befall me, some new surgery that would fix what Ronda broke and give me back my life. But that kind of hope had dwindled in the weeks and months that followed the accident. We were six months out now, and nothing had drastically changed.

           “I don’t have the heart for that kind of hope anymore,” I murmured, leaning my forehead against his arm. “It’s time both of us accepted the truth. This is who I am now, who I’ll always be.”

           Tears gathered on his lashes, slipped down his skin. He cupped my face with one hand, fingers brushing gently through my hair.

           We sat in silence for a long while, both of us mourning the life that could have been. I burrowed deep within myself, hoping that somewhere there was some of that fire that I used to have. Hunter and Stephanie had offered me a job… an opportunity to still be a part of the world that I loved so much. No matter what happened, I couldn’t live the rest of my life without some piece of fulfillment.

           “Do you want me to take the job Hunter offered?” The words came out faint, terrified. In the back of my mind, I catalogued the reasons why he wouldn’t want me to take it. The road was his freedom, his place away from my fear and doubt, my pain and brokenness. And the painful truth was that I knew it was a chance for him to get the things that I no longer could give him. The guilt that lingered in my heart convinced me that he had every right to take what he could get—after all, there were hundreds of women who would wait in line for the chance.

           “I want you to be happy,” he pledged, wrapping me in his arms. Kevin growled, wriggled out from between us and curled up at the foot of the bed. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

           An answer tinged with sweetness. Yet an answer that fed the doubts in the blackness of my thoughts.

           “I need you to tell me, Colby.” I didn’t call him by his real name often—he didn’t like it from me—but when I did, it was for good reason. In that moment, I needed beyond Seth Rollins. I needed to get to the deepest heart of the man who I’d given my everything to. “I need a real answer from you.”

           He drew back, brown eyes masked with hurt. I felt his gaze as it swept over my face, searching for whatever it had been that triggered such a statement. He sighed and brushed my hair back from my face with trembling fingers.

           “I miss having you on the road with me. We all do. Wrestlemania weekend was the best time we’ve had in months.” He met my gaze, held it with assurance. “I know what you’re afraid of, Llane. And I swear to you that I’m not that guy anymore. I want you to be with me… with us. So, yes, I’d really like you to take the job.”

           Something dark and painful slowly seeped out of my being. It slipped out into the void of the world, taking with it the feelings of doubt that had settled in my soul. It had been nearly a year since I’d debuted on the roster with the Hounds. Not once in all that time had he truly given me reason to doubt him. Even when we fought, when my mistakes and messed up brain made it almost impossible for him to love me, he never wavered.

           “I’m going to ask a question,” he murmured carefully, “and I don’t want you think I’m saying anything bad.”

           I nodded, waited patiently.

           “Have you seen your therapist lately?” He skimmed rough fingertips along my jaw, down my neck in soothing strokes.

           “Not for a few weeks. I was doing okay… especially after I went to Wrestlemania with you guys.” I sighed softly.

           Seth grinned. “Then maybe it’s time for you to go check in with her. And see what she says about you taking the new job.”

           His lips brushed against mine, tender and peaceful. He wrapped me in his arms, one hand cradling the back of my head. Seth seemed to pour his love for me into the kiss, lighting me up from the inside out.

Tag List

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[wweimagineandedit]

A Married Life - Seth Rollins x Reader

Summary :-You’re married to Seth Rollins, just going through normal day to day life, and nothing could be more perfect. Well, he could do his own cleaning... but thats a whole other story. 

Warnings :-Just a whole lot of fluff.

Word Count :-1,002

Requested by @val2557

@fangasm202 @blondekel77

Turning over in bed, I smile as I see Seth sleeping peacefully next to me. I would never get tired of this – the way it felt to wake up next to him knowing that he was mine and was always going to be mine. It wasn’t often Seth was home for long periods of time, so having 10 days together felt like a miracle. Picking my phone up from the dresser, I check the time 7:23am. Putting my phone back down on the dresser, I plant a gentle kiss on Seth’s forehead before creeping out of bed.

 Picking up Seth’s shirt from the floor, I pull it over my head before heading to the bathroom. I was only letting it go for the first couple of days that he’s leaving his clothes everywhere, I’ll put him in his place eventually. There was no way I was letting him leave after these 10 days with our home in a state.

 I look at myself in the mirror and sigh. “Why do I get up so early? Why don’t I do late night workouts instead?” Rubbing my eyes, I feel arms wrapping around my waist from behind. I feel Seth kiss the back of my neck, and I turn to face him.

 “Shouldn’t you still be sleeping?” I smile, wrapping my arms around Seth’s neck.

“Well, I sleep better with my wife next to me, so I’m not going back to bed unless you come with me.” He says hoarsely, his voice still thick with sleepiness.

“I’m ever so sorry my love, but some of us have to get up and workout in the mornings because they have to do other things during the day.” I sigh.

“(Y/N) If anyone knows anything about having a busy schedule, its me.” He laughs. “I’ll go make us some coffee while you get cleaned up beautiful, then I’ll come to the gym with you”

“What on earth would I do without you baby”

“Be an emotional wreck?” He giggles moving away quickly to avoid a light slap on his bare chest.

 Trudging into the front room still slightly groggy from being tired, I smile seeing Seth trying to drink his coffee, but not being able to get his cup to his lips before our dog Kevin has jumped up and started licking his face.

“Kev, buddy stop!” Seth laughs. “I want my coffee! Kev!”

“Kevin!” I call in what Seth likes to call my ‘doggie talking voice’. Kevin quickly jumps from Seth’s lap and runs to my feet, and I pick him up to be greeted with a large amount of licks to the face.

“Great, now you keep hold of him until I’ve had my coffee.” Seth says relieved.

“What about my coffee?” I smile, raising an eyebrow.

“You can have it on the go, I don’t see Kevin allowing you to drink yours either somehow.”

 Laughing, I put Kevin down and head over to Seth and kiss him before going to get both of our gym things ready, Kevin following closely at my heels.

 Seth and I return from the gym, both of us hot, sweaty and smelling rather pungent.  

“You wanna shower first?” Seth asks, tightening his man bun and taking off his sweaty shirt, tossing it onto the couch.

“You sure? I don’t mind going after you.”

“Don’t worry about it (Y/N), I’m sure I’ll live going second. You never know, I might just join you” He winks at me before giving my posterior a firm squeeze, making me jump slightly and a little “oop” escaping from my lips, earning a laugh from Seth.

“Go shower, beautiful, you stink.”

“Speak for yourself!” I call back, heading to the bathroom.

 After my shower, I quickly towel dry my hair before slipping into some simple black underwear and my old cosy above the knee dressing gown. It may only be 11:30am, but I didn’t plan on going anywhere for the rest of the day, so there was no point in putting in any effort.

I head into the lounge where Seth is sat on the couch, stroking Kevin while looking at something. Pouring myself a cup of coffee, I go and sit on the other side of him, curling my knees up to my chest while I lean my head on his shoulder. “What’re you looking at?” I ask inquisitively.

“Our wedding photos. It feels like it was yesterday, not three years ago” he smiles, turning a page to reveal a picture of me smushing wedding cake into his face and crying with laughter.

“I still remember the look on your face when I did that to you” I giggle.

“And I still remember the look on your face when I did it back to you!” He smirks.

“Yeah yeah, I deserved it I know. It’s a shame, the one day of my life where I looked half decent I had cake all over my face.” I laugh.

Seth places the album down on the coffee table and turns to me, taking my face in his hands.

“You look beautiful every second of every day. When you’re sleeping, when you’re working, when you’re in the gym, when you’re mad, when you’re happy, when you have makeup on, when you have no makeup on. You are beautiful ALL the time.” He smiles, kissing all over my face making me laugh as I feel all the blood rush to my cheeks.

“Okay, I better go for a shower.” He says, standing up.

“Yeah, you should, you stink.”

“Is that so? Maybe you should come and help clean me up if I’m so dirty.” He smirks, letting me know what he’s hinting at.

“We’ll see, baby, the quicker you get in the shower, the quicker you’ll find out if I’ll be joining you.”

And with that, Seth is off like a shot and I hear the shower water start running. Sipping the last drops of my coffee, I place the cup down -  and head towards the bathroom.