#she would maybe have friends prior to Maddie

[professorlegaspi]

Can you freaking imagine??

[infernalodie]

𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐮𝐧 || 𝐋𝐞𝐱𝐢 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳"

Inspo: Tori Kelly - young gun

Pairing: Lexi Howard x Black!Male!reader

Summary: You did everything to make her feel worth it, but she gained it from another...

Warnings: slight angst with a bit of sad fluff

Words: 1450

The stars hung high tonight. Their glow brightened this particular night.

Sand shifted beneath your feet with the minuscule rocks pressing against them gently. And the ocean collapsed and washed up on the shore in a certain rhythm. Its harsh smell can be blocked out by the pure beauty of the moon’s shape reflecting off its surface.

It was tragic. If there was any way you could set it all on fire, you would. Maybe you would find comfort in the flame and get lost in it. But removing the time capsule of the memories connected would fucking destroy you. Because that would ultimately mean giving up moments of joy and raw love you’d felt then.

On a none systematic point, the time so fondly thought upon was wild and random. It was the peak of your high school life and where you had ventured further from your friend group. Seeking out people to make friends with or finally making your move on Lexi Howard. The girl who had been your MJ since grade school.

She told you everything that she loved and one of them was the ocean. How it looked in the night and how it felt more natural being here than in her skin at times. And you strove to make her feel worth it and more.

You gave up the vices you sought comfort in. You were content. But she flipped the world upside down and made your heart swollen. Just receiving a mere glance from her would make you stumble over your words like an idiot. Or hearing her laugh would make you choke on your breath.

There wasn’t much you wouldn’t do for Lexi. To only know that these feats you had managed for this girl would end up with her in the passenger seat with a drug dealer.

And maybe you still would’ve done these things. Maybe you wouldn’t have swam into the ocean and grabbed shells to gift her. Or the amount of money you had spent taking her on road trips. All of these had stacked up to the point where you could’ve been in financial ruin–but you loved her still.

Even now, standing at this beach with the continuous waves hitting the tips of your shoes, you managed to think so fondly of those memories despite how they turned out for you.

Looking to your right, you saw the group of classmates you spent years with. A class reunion. Maddy was still enjoying life and taking it by the balls. Spending time with celebrities in L.A. Cassie, well, she was nowhere to be found. Rue was living happily with Jules–still healthy after getting sober all those years ago. And Lexi was going big with her plays in New York. She was a full-scale writer and set designer.

But you? You went to school and pursued cooking. Got out of school and quickly realize that there was little to nothing you had entitled to. So, you moved. There had been no destined location in mind. You were managing to get by at some of the restaurants you worked at and as shitty as it sounded, you were happy. It was just a matter of time before you caught a break and could feel that pay off after everything you’ve been through.

It was beautiful, to say the least. Seeing all your friends here, hearing everything they’ve been up to. It made you wonder why you had even thought that coming here would be a terrible idea.

The shifting of sand under footsteps drew your attention. Turning to find Lexi with a sheepish smile, hands clasped around a red solo cup. “How’s life treating you, Y/n?”

Maybe it had been the timing and the greeting because of your prior thoughts, but you smiled. Letting a soft chuckle slip from your lips as you shrugged, shoving your hands into your denim pockets.

“Jumping from location to location has its perks. Get to see places I never thought existed,” you explained, exhaling heavily. “But it can’t be as good as being a big-time playwriter, right?”

Lexi shrugged bashfully, smiling up at you. “I wouldn’t say big-time, Y/n. But it’s been my dream and I’m getting to live through it. So, it’s been good.”

It was hard maintaining any conversation with her without it dissolving into remnants of your favourite memories. Sparking those forgotten emotions might be the worse thing you could do tonight. Because if you were being honest with yourself, you likely wouldn’t see her again after tonight. Just by fate or the decision to try and forget her for your sake.

“How’s Fez?” You inquired suddenly, clearing your throat and looking down at your feet.

“He’s Fez,” she laughed, “Still working tirelessly and still using his head to make ends meet on his end.”

“I heard you guys are having a kid.” It hurt seeing it on Facebook. Seeing how ecstatic she’d been with the news and how everyone was happy for her. And as much as you didn’t want to be selfish or weird, you’d imagined the two of you to have kids. Start a family in New York and strive for both of your guys’ dreams. But as much as your soul hurt, you were happy for her. “You thought of any names for it?”

Lexi laughed. “It?” She repeated giggling. “We haven’t thought of a name for her yet. But, I haven’t been able to sleep because names keep bouncing around in my head.”

You smiled, humming, deep in thought. That was something you’d be on the receiving end of hearing - especially from her. Maybe it was just you grasping the final pieces of reality, but it still shook you to your core hearing and acknowledging she was having a kid with Fez.

Sighing, Lexi looked out at the ocean and smiled. “Been a while since we’ve been here together, huh?”

“Yeah, 10 years or so, right?”

Lexi nodded, exhaling softly. “You know, I never told you how much of an influence you’ve had in my life,” she breathed. “Like, I don’t think I would’ve gone for my dreams without you.”

You blew a raspberry, shaking your head. “Nah, I didn’t do much.” You glanced down at her, sparing a pitiful smile. Truthfully, you don’t think you were in any way connected to her motivation or drive to pursue her dreams. If anything, you resembled a mosquito in the back of her mind that wouldn’t leave her alone.

But it did feel nice to live with that little bit of pride and happiness. Even if it was for such a short period of time.

“I don’t think you even realize the power you had.” Lexi looked up at you in question. Seeing that faint smile on your lips as you scoffed, shaking your head. “You had this thing about you. Like, you could give confidence to anyone who needed it. You appear in a room–it would clear everyone out and give you the center stage, you know what I mean?”

Lexi nibbled on her bottom lip, watching you turn to her with a sigh. “And despite how I feel and how much I love you, I am so fucking proud of you, Lexi. Really. You deserve all of what you have. The kid, Fez, the job. You deserve every-fucking-bit of it.” Hesitantly, you placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair, smiling when she grumbled. “Remember your worth, Lex. You are amazing. Don’t ever forget that.”

Leaning down, you kissed her head before brushing past her. So quick yet so gentle, it felt like a gust of wind danced past her. And it took a few moments for her to realize your words before she spun around to see your fleeting figure. It becomes disfigured in the darkness of the night with only the moonlight giving way of your departure.

She couldn’t contain the tears that stung the brim of her eyes. A natural heat of emotions blossomed and enveloped her entire face as she squinted, wanting to take in the last bit of you and take in every detail. “Y/n! What do you mean?”

You stopped for a moment, stuffing your hands in your pockets and turning toward her, smiling softly. “It’s something I never got to tell you before you left Highland. Maybe things would’ve been different if I did.” A tear slid down your cheek as you chuckled sadly. “But you need to know that talking to you and getting to know you has been the greatest thing in my life.”

Nodding to yourself, almost looking like you were finalizing something, you said, “I hope I see you again, Lex.”

[saintnoname2]

I thought some more about this during my shift at work (as a cook at a restaurant lol), so here are some ideas for a 911 restaurant au:

The 118 is a restaurant that's part of a restaurant group (meaning the owners also own multiple other restaurants that are all part of the same company). I envision it as either a steakhouse or a seafood restaurant or both. Chef Gerrard was the original Executive Chef when the restaurant first opened. He created a space that was unsafe for POC and LGBT people and left willingly after HR received complaints.

Henrietta was hired on as the morning prep Sous Chef. Despite years of experience, knowledge, and skills, she wasn't taken seriously as a chef and wasn't allowed any input on the menu. She suspected it had something to do with her being a queer black woman, but it took time for her to get the courage to defend herself.

When Bobby took over as Executive Chef, he recognized Henrietta's potential and how she'd been held back and he let her start having input on the menu. She finally felt like she was being treated like a real chef instead of just a prep cook.

Tommy started out as a line cook at The 118. He didn't feel safe being out as gay because of the toxic environment Chef Gerrard fostered. Tommy eventually transferred to one of the other restaurants in the group and began living as his true self.

Howie also started out as a line cook under Chef Gerrard. Like with Henrietta, Chef Bobby also recognized the potential in Howie, and eventually promoted him to Sous Chef. He worked every station as a line cook and now functions mostly as a tournat: not having a set station and instead going wherever he's needed.

Buck, Eddie, and Ravi are line cooks.

Buck's main station is garde manger (appetizers, salads, and desserts). He's been cooking for years and desperately wants to move up and become a Sous Chef, but Bobby knows he isn't ready yet.

Eddie works on saute and grill. He's the best damn line cook Bobby's ever seen, but he's very happy right where he is and has no interest in management.

Ravi works mainly on fry. He's the new guy with no prior restaurant experience, so some of the more undesirable tasks (like helping out in the dish pit if they're short staffed) fall on him.

Maddie is an expeditor, but at a different restaurant. She and Howie know better than to work at the same restaurant.

I haven't quite figured out how Athena fits into this au. Maybe she's in HR, or maybe she's a General Manager at a different restaurant?

Anyway, they end up having a big event at the restaurant, like a buyout for a wedding reception or something, and they need extra hands. Howie remembers what a beast in the kitchen Tommy is and asks if he can come in for the day to help. Tommy ends up becoming friends with Eddie after, Buck develops a crush and asks if it would be possible for him to spend a shift at the restaurant Tommy works at, Tommy asks if he's thinking of transferring, Tommy wishes this was what the restaurant had been like when he worked there, Buck has a bisexual awakening, etc.

Anyway, if anyone wants to use these ideas for a fic, just tag me, cause I'd sure love to read it.

[scarletsaphire]

FAMILY BREKKIE

"Jack, honey, could you pass me that scalpel?" Maddie's voice was slightly muffled under the surgical mask she was wearing, and the all metal walls and floor of the lab made it echo weird.

jack had no trouble hearing or understanding her. "Here you go, dearest!" His large gloved hands met hers, and the glowing green scalpel passed between them seamlessly. "I'm still speechless that we're the ones who get to do this!"

"I know!" Maddie replied. Despite the glee in her voice, her hand was steady as she dug the scalpel into flesh, dragging it across flesh, following the dotted lines they had plotted only a short thirty minutes prior. "To think, we're the ones who get to have the first half ghost on our table! Do you think it'll be any different to a normal procedure?"

Jack mumbled, thinking out loud for a moment. "I'm not exactly an expert on these types of things, but the tools are certainly different.

"Of course," Maddie agreed. "We've already established that standard quality human tools don't work on half ghosts. It's part of the reason he's here and not somewhere else getting this done."

"Right as always, Mads," Jack said. "Unfortunately, even with all of the research we've done, I don't think either of us can say if this is markedly similar or different from normal. Do we have any friends from college or conventions that are in the field? Maybe we could compare notes with them?"

Maddie hummed to herself. "I think Denise did. Do we still have her contact information?"

"Aw, Denise! I remember her. I'm sure we have it lying around somewhere, and if not, we can always bust out the good ol' Fenton Fone Book!" Jack said.

"You always come up with the best ideas dear," Maddie said. She sat the scalpel on the sterile surface next to her. "Ok. We are leaving our comfort zone, so it's time to focus. Ok hun?"

"Hear, hear!" Jack called out. "Fenton Focus mode engaged!"

---

Vlad blinked his eyes open to a ceiling only vaguely familiar to him. He tried to sit up, only for pain to explode down his front, a stabbing, piercing agony the likes of which he'd never experienced before.

"You're up!" Jack's loud, boisterous voice sounded from his right, and Vlad groaned. "Help me up, you oaf."

"Of course, Vladdy!" Jack's strong arms circled under his, and he was propped up against a large number of pillows. The first thing he laid eyes on was the clearly hand made banner, and then on Maddie, Jazz, and Danny standing on either side of it.

Vlad smiled as he read the words. "It worked, then?"

"Yup!" Maddie said. "Your boob job was successful! Now both your human and ghost form will have tits for days!"

He swallowed around the lump in his throat. "Thank you both, truly. I was afraid I would be stuck with a flat chest for the rest of my days."

"Of course, Vladdy! That's what we're here for!" Jack said.

"And we'll be here for every step of your recovery too, however long or short it might be," Maddie moved her way to Vlad's other side, giving him a gentle hug, careful not to disturb his new boobs. "And while we're here, we can go over some of the data we learned from your surgery! Its truly fascinating."

Vlad settled into his pillows, not sparing the two children a second glance as they slipped out of the room. He was exactly where he wanted to be, with the people who cared about him, and tits for days. Both his heart and his chest had grown three sizes that day.

[maskedemerald]

Weaving Webs CH10

Here is chapter ten of my Invisobang fic! We finally get to some Vlad. He'll be more involved in the second fic in the series so don't worry you'll see more of his scheming.

The wonderful @pricklenettle did some fantastic art that you'll see embedded through out the first half of the fic so if you haven't seen it go check out their blog now!

You can check out the fic here or on AO3!

If you like this consider dropping us both a follow!

Warnings: Body horror, manipulation, Spectra is her own content warning, Burns, Spider - for like 2 chapters then it goes away.

The Fenton parents were there when the accident happened, they saw Danny die in an act of sabotage. Now they’re just trying to go on with the strange ghost that is all that's left of Danny. While their old college friend is wondering where the subjects of his revenge are.

[First] [Previous] [Next]

Vlad had been waiting for this day for years, the day he would finally get his revenge. He couldn’t help the smug smirk on his face. Every step was planned. Nothing would go wrong. There wasn’t anything he hadn’t considered. Not like the last time. Nothing had happened. Apparently he’d acted a little too late in that fit of rage. A little too far into the portal’s production. A little bit of insidious code that would never trigger because Jack would never tidy up his prior work. This time would be different.

The reunion plan had been in progress ever since the idea of having one was even approached by some other alumni. It was the perfect opportunity. He would have Jack and Maddie in a space completely under his control. He would overshadow Jack and humiliate him for everyone to see. Then he’d see about doing away with the fool. There would be alcohol and well it wouldn’t be improbable for the man to go for a fatal car ride. Of course Vlad would be there to pick up the pieces with Maddie. The children were of little consequence. He’d take them for Maddie’s sake but well, if they fell too much on Jack’s side of the gene pool a scholarship to some far off boarding school would keep them out of his hair.

He had each step of the day planned down to the moment. He even stood by the door awaiting the arrival of the pair. However they didn’t. Jack had been so excited to come early to reconnect and yet they’d not arrived early. Vlad frustratedly threw out many mental pages of his plan that involved getting quiet time to reconnect with Maddie while sowing some seeds of descent and interest before finally offing Jack. He’d have to spend more time after the deed was done. It was fine. He could adapt.

At the reunion itself he eyed the clock as his old classmates tried to talk to him. He doubted many honestly wanted to reconnect. They were after his money. His power from said money. Or something else. Why would anyone talk to him otherwise? It wasn’t like they had before. Each hour that went by had him clenching a fist tighter and trying not to show that growing anger on his face. Hide his hand in a pocket where it couldn’t crack his wine glass. Where were they?

Jack was like an over affectionate puppy. Stupid and bad at personal space. There was no way he would have missed the reunion intentionally. He might have forgotten but that was why Vlad had specifically also invited Maddie. She wouldn’t have forgotten. Then why? Why were they not there? If they had to cancel there would be no way the polite, sweet and considerate Maddie would have not at least called to let him know.

That night once everyone had gone home he let that rage out. All that planning and effort wasted. It had to be Jack’s fault. Maybe he had been given the one basic responsibility of calling him and then forgot that. He threw his more physical plans at the fire. They caught quickly and he had to pause his rampage on the office to keep the stray papers from lighting the bookcases. He took a deep breath. Maybe there was a way to salvage this. Maddie would be so apologetic about missing the event. Jack’s downfall wouldn’t be so public but he could still tear them apart and off Jack. Revenge could still be his.

He waited till morning before picking up the phone. Until he could speak with some level of forced calm. He hoped that it would be Maddie answering. He didn’t want to deal with Jack’s loud incessant apologies for a situation he caused. Even after the wait he didn’t think he could keep his cool if he had to talk to Jack.

The phone rang, it rang for a long time before finally cutting to voicemail. He slammed it down without leaving a message. Not even getting to the beep. Definitely couldn’t handle talking to Jack.

He stewed for a while longer before trying again. Maybe they were just working in that ridiculous basement of theirs and couldn’t hear the phone. He glanced at the clock. The children might answer this time. They wouldn’t be in the basement he assumed. One of them could get Maddie. He tried to remember what he knew of them. A boy and a girl. The girl would probably be easier to deal with. She no doubt would be intelligent and cooperative. He dialed the number. It rang.

Click, “Fentonworks!” Jack’s recorded voice bellowed, “We’re either in the lab or hunting a GHOST right now! Leave a message and we’ll get back to you!”

He scowled and hung up again, wincing at the loud, obnoxious recording of Jack. The children are probably out. He can wait. He’s been waiting 20 years, a few more hours would be fine. The phone cracked in his grip.

Another phone and a few hours later when surely the family would be sitting down to eat their dinner he called again. His fingers tapped on the table. If the wood was softer he would have left small divots with the intensity. There was a small part of him that worried. Not for Jack but that once again they wouldn’t answer. It wondered if there had been another reason for why they hadn’t shown up for the reunion. As the phone rang on he couldn’t help but feel a certain dread. Had something happened? He remembered that previous, spur of the moment, fit of rage attempt. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise? If he’d already offed Jack or at least hospitalised him then there was less to do. Not as sweet as if he had been there as witness but he could still swoop in and pick up the pieces.

The phone clicked over to voicemail again.

Surely a concerned visit from a friend after they missed the reunion wouldn’t look too out of place. He hung up the phone and headed for his car. It wouldn’t do to arrive there too early after the reunion.

As Vlad drove through Amity Park the obnoxiously obvious structure that was Fentonworks started to become visible even streets away. The rooftop abomination of technology was a marker of just how close he was to getting everything he wanted. As he got closer he couldn’t help but feel something was off. The imposing aura of a ghostly presence. Cold, intimidating and clearly saying for any other ghosts to stay away. A taste of fear the closer he got.

The streets were mostly clear and nobody lingered long near the house. He pulled up and brushed off the feeling before heading for the door. The ghost was clearly trying to take control of the area but it was nothing in comparison to him. He knocked.

There was a long silence. He couldn’t help but notice the curtains were drawn in every window. He knocked again, louder. Still nothing. Maybe they were just out. He slammed a fist against the door.

“Looking for those loony scientists?” A man asked pausing on the street. He shivered and muttered. “Jeas this place gives me the right heebie jeebies.”

Vlad turned putting a false smile on his face. “Ah yes I am. You wouldn’t happen to know where they are?”

The man shrugged. “Haven’t seen them out much lately, hell I think I’ve only seen the daughter. Surprisingly quiet that lot since the accident.”

“Accident? What kind of accident?” Vlad asked, that could mean anything. He needed to know how bad things were.

“Hell if I know.” The man shrugged, he glanced uncomfortably at the house before walking off.

Vlad looked at the house, the house was the source of the aura. Had they found an actual ghost? Or had the ‘accident’ been more fatal than the man thought. His fist clenched. Fear curled in him. Something happening to Jack he was fine with if a little disappointed over missing it. If something had happened to the children he didn’t mind. However hearing nothing meant that something might have happened to Maddie and that, that scared him.

He sped off, backing up rather more haphazardly than he usually would. His mind kept running through worst case scenarios. Both of them being in the hospital because of the planned malfunction. A worse state if there had been an explosion, Jack could have made it worse easily. The whole lab having gone up in flames. Exploded with no time to escape. The house gutted in one violent explosion taking the whole family with it. All because he messed with the portal without fully planning things out. He parked just around the corner. The window left open as he transformed and phased invisibly through the roof.

The house was dark and unnaturally quiet for a house that Jack Fenton of all people lived in. It was possible that they just were not home but the state of the house threw that into doubt. Inside lay a chaotic scene, the furniture tossed about and broken. Fabric torn and wood splintered. It wasn’t the fiery explosion that he had feared. A ghost attack instead. It soothed his anxieties. He hadn’t accidentally harmed Maddie. However the lack of sign of Maddie was concerning. If the ghost had been bested she would not have left the house like this.

The living room wasn’t much better, no it was worse. Sticky ectoplasm splattered the room like the toxic green had been blasted blindly. Walls were marked with singes. The lab door had been pulled fully off its reinforced hinges. The door was almost completely replaced with ectoplasmic webbing.

He burnt it away, his nose crumpling at the ozone smell of burning ecto. He hoped he’d find nothing down there. That the pair were now at the hospital or something because Jack was injured, just Jack he hoped on the injured front.

The lab was not empty. It was lit by the toxic green light of a portal. A portal that shouldn’t have been active without being set off by his sabotage. His stomach dropped a little. No it had to have been Jack. Wiring was Jack’s job. Maddie wouldn’t have cleaned up after him, right?

The glowing figures of two ghosts were silhouetted by the portal. A figure shifting shapes between spider and a short more human figure drew his attention first. Then to the one that was more shadow than anything else, drinking in the fear and misery that clung to the air.

The emotions were thick in the air. A constant refreshing flow. His eyes fell on the dark cocoons of webs. Four of them. He would have cursed if he didn’t think he would have been heard. He couldn’t leave and risk Maddie having been in one.

He slipped over to the nearest one, he hoped that this one was Maddie. He’d rescue her and then when they were forced to flee from the ghosts attacking then he would still look like the hero while leaving Jack to his fate. He charged a little ecto energy around his hand, using the heat to cut through the threads of the cocoon.

A large weight slumped against him as it tore open. He let the energy vanish from his hand instantly. He stifled a frustrated groan at the sight of Jack’s ridiculously bright orange jumpsuit. The oaf however was not so silent as he stirred.

“Vladdie?” Jack asked with a tone of confusion in his voice.

He scowled, “Jack, please tell me Maddie isn’t here.”

“I don’t know… she got me first.”

“Of course she did.”

“What’s this? An old man playing pretend? You really think you can save them, Mr hero?” He knew that voice.

Vlad scowled. “I should have known.” Spectra. It wasn’t his first encounter with the woman. He detested her.

“Give my family back,” Jack yelled as he charged into the fight with a hastily and foolishly grabbed broken piece of metal.

Vlad scowled, he could leave the oaf to his fate. That would mean leaving Maddie. Jack however could serve as a distraction. It was really all he was good for.

“You really think you can stop me this time, weakened… broken. You’ve already failed your children once.” Spectra taunted.

He slipped to the next cocoon using Jack’s wild attacks as cover. The man didn’t stand a chance but as long as he kept them busy long enough for Vlad to find Maddie then Vlad could let Jack die without revealing his powers. He seared open the pod and there was a moment of relief at the flash of ginger hair as the occupant fell. He caught her. Her long hair cascaded over her face. That wasn’t Maddie. He huffed, at least Maddie would be grateful for the rescue of her daughter.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He heard Spectra far too close for his liking.

So much for Jack being a good distraction. A blast seared towards him and instinctively he raised a small shield. The girl was unconscious so it didn’t matter.

“Oh what’s this? The old man’s a freak!” He scowled, like she didn’t already know that.

“Shut up!” he hissed, if she said more it could become a problem.

“You know what they are right? Why would you fight for them? They’re ghost hunters. They’ll hate you. Show you no mercy. What a fool you are.” Spectra taunted in his ear, trying to feed off of the misery she had once pulled out of him.

He growled and blasted her away, her shadowy body gaining a bloody green tear in her side as she was thrown back. He wasn’t fighting for them. Maddie was all who he was interested in. She wouldn’t find out and it wouldn’t ever matter.

Two more pods, close together. 50/50 chance between Maddie and Jack’s son. A green blast seared past, Jack had found a working blaster. Predictably his aim was still terrible. He hoisted the girl over his shoulder before placing her down to break open the next pod.

Maddie stumbled from the pod, she gripped his shirt for stability. There was blood in her hair. “Madeline? Are you alright? We have to get out of here. Jack can only keep them busy so long.”

Even though he had thrown his plans out long ago this impromptu one was going reasonably close to the plan that he was making up as he went. Maddie gained her bearings quickly and found a weapon somewhere on her person to blast the spider that had Jack pinned.

“Vlad? What… never mind.” She shoved a blaster into his hand. “No time, we’ll talk later. Guard Jazz.”

She charged in because of course she would. No matter how much of a useless oaf Jack was, no matter how much of this was probably his fault, Maddie just wasn’t the type to leave someone to fight alone. He loved her but he really found that nobility frustrating right now.

Spectra hovered in front of him with a smirk. “You know she’ll always choose him. Why even stay? Why protect the child? She’s just as much him as she is her, why protect her.”

“I know your tricks.” He knew what she was trying to do.

“True but can you really fend me off with just a blaster while keeping your dirty little secret?” She lunged with claws drawn. She slashed and grabbed for the girl.

There was a sharp electrical whine, and the lights flickered on. Bright and blinding. They exploded in a screech that seemed so much more emotive than anything electronic should ever have. The final pod exploded in a gorey green mess. He winced knowing that could have been Maddie only moments ago. There was a streaking flare of light as another ghost entered the chaos. Green star-like blasts flew. A stray green blast, the origin he didn’t quite catch threw Spectra away from them. Well aimed, probably Maddie.

The third ghost shot round like a comet, the attacks indiscriminate. A rage swamped over everything else in the lab. Spectra’s currently not so little assistant screeched as blasts bit into spidery legs. It rippled and shifted, smaller and smaller. Maddie pulled Jack out of the way unfortunately. She placed a few more choice shots before it retreated through the lab portal.

“Bertrand! Get back here!” Spectra screeched.

“Who is in trouble now?” Vlad couldn’t help but taunt.

She was surrounded, it would appear her newest underling wasn’t too pleased with her for some reason. Honestly he wasn’t sure why the shifter stuck with her so long.

“Hmpf this isn’t over but I suppose the misery will only be more delicious when this whole mess falls down around you.” she waved it off like she was doing them a favour and fled through the ceiling.

“Hey! You don’t get to run from Jack Fenton like that!” The oaf bellowed as he thundered up the stairs. Only pausing for a moment. “Thanks for the save V-man, we owe you!”

Vlad scowled, Jack was not who he wanted a thank you from. Maddie stood on guard, the third ghost floating above. Of course Jack would leave the current threat to chase after one already probably long gone. Said current threat was apparently not content with fighting off its previous allies. It shot towards Maddie. She didn’t react. She wasn’t going to be fast enough to stop it. Was it her head injury?

He pushed her aside and raised the pistol ready to shoot.

“Vlad! Wait!” Maddie staggered and threw herself between them.

The ghost behind her whined and the lights flickered. It curled round her. It didn’t attack and he couldn’t help the confusion that must have been clear on his face. Was this really Maddie on good terms with a ghost?

[First] [Previous] [Next]

By Spectra, at least for now! She'll be back later for sure. Jazz still needs to get some professional revenge.

[obxthornton]

Chapter 1

WC: 3179

5 years prior

If you took satan himself and slapped him in the black skinny jeans your mom wears, it would be Luke Hemmings.

I hated Luke more than life itself, more than rain on a beach day or the last cigarette in the box. 

It used to not always be like this. My band and his band used to be best mates, he and I had alittle chemistry. Alittle. Not a lot, but a tiny drop. We hung out every day after school, we played songs with each other. 

That was until Luke stole my song.

Stole my song. A song about how I felt after the events of the breakup and Luke Hemmings changed a few pronouns and broadcasted it across the school. And fucking 5 seconds of summer got the credit for it.

I didn't blame the other bandmates. Ashton and Michael were oblivious to when Luke had even written the song and Calum, well Calum said he just showed up to rehearsal and played the bass.

Luke claimed he came up with it in a dream. Isn't that the most bullshit excuse ever? A song about my personal life made up in his dream. He claimed I stole it from him. Even more bullshit.

I wrote that song, expressing all the emotions I had felt concerning the breakup and he stole it.

~~

"I can't wait to leave this school," Maddie said fixing her bag on her shoulder. She was significantly shorter than all of us and I wasn't even sure how her legs could catch up. She was maybe a foot shorter than Kiara who stood at almost 6'. Maddie was the bassist of our band and what she would call the 'hype man.' She was bouncy, bubbly, and not afraid to call people cunts to their faces. She liked to watch Star Wars movies and play soccer in her free time. 

"Aren't we all?" Kiara rolled her eyes at the girl's words like they weren't known. Kiara was our lead guitarist who was actually from America. She moved here for Dad's job back in grade 7 and we had been friends ever since. She had dark skin with her natural hair and she towered over most of us. She wasn't that much taller than me but she still intimidated the crap out of me. When Kiara was not volunteering at school or saving the world, she was usually with one of the two bands.

"I actually like school." Willow smiled, sunglasses covering her bloodshot eyes. Willow was our drummer. And when Willow wasn't banging on drums, or with her girlfriend, she was usually getting high or drinking. She was the party one of our group and was the best fucking drummer in all of Australia. Don't tell Ashton I said that.

"This is the first time you've been at school all week," I told her rolling my eyes. Then there was me I guess. I'm the lead singer in the band. Sometimes guitar, sometimes keyboard, sometimes wherever I was needed. 

"And? That doesn't mean I can appreciate the beauty of learning." Willow said sarcastically. It was good to say we were all done with year 12 and just wanted to leave. Kiara was going back to America for university, Willow was marrying her girlfriend and moving to Spain, and Maddie was going to university in England. I was staying here.

It was hard knowing that after this year I'd be alone. The band would be broken up until further notice and I'd be stuck here, alone.

"Georgina Summer? Where's Georgina summer?" A voice boomed through the hallways. I turned my head to look behind me to see Michael Clifford with one of those megaphone speaker things. His red hair made it easy to spot him in the hallway, so I didn't know why he couldn't spot me with the same hair color.

"Shut the hell up, Clifford!" Maddie yelled loudly at the boy whose head snapped in our direction. He had a huge smile on his face as he ran up to us.

"Women." He said still in the megaphone making us wince. He realized he was still talking into it and pushed it down, "women." He said again a lot quieter, shooting us all a grin.

"You really couldn't have just called me?" I asked unamused staring at the megaphone in his hand. 

"You wouldn't have answered." He pouted.

I leaned in towards him slightly, sending him a sarcastic smile, "Exactly."

"You're no fun, but hey, I'm here to invite you to this party Ashton's having tomorrow At his house," Michael said looking at us four.

"I'm in," Willow said smiling before turning and walking away suddenly.

Michael's eyebrows scrunched in confusion  "o-okay? She's in. Maddie's also in because Calum will be there and-"

Maddie shook her head and her arms at the boy, "wait wait wait. You can't just assume I'd come to a party just because My boyfriend is going."

Michael raised his eyebrows at her before she grumbled, "I'll see you there." She said before walking away in the direction Willow went

"Kiara is always in," Michael said smiling. Kiara shrugged, "always. Bye Gigi."

"And you." He said looking down at me, "You'll say you won't come because Luke's coming but then you'll break and come."

Michael Clifford thinks he knows me so well, doesn't he? I shook my head giving him an amused smile. "We'll see about that."

~~

"Black or red?" I asked holding up two dresses as the girls lay sprawled across my room. Willow was on my roof smoking a cigarette that I wouldn't let her smoke inside, Maddie was on the phone with Calum and Kiara was actually giving me input.

"You have red hair," Kiara said unamused. "You don't wear red on red."

I held up my hands in defense, putting the red dress back in my wardrobe, and slid off my jeans and T-shirt before sliding on the dress.

"Calums picking us up," Maddie said pulling the phone away from her mouth for a second.

"Hell no. I do not want to be stuck with you and your boyfriend making out in the front seat for 5 minutes before we leave the house." Kiara said glaring at Maddie.

Maddie pouted, "fine he'll pick me up."

"I cannot 7th wheel all night tonight." Kiara groaned and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. My eyes narrowed at her, "I don't have a partner."

"You and Luke have so much sexual tension that it feels like you're still together," Kiara said making me groan in response.

"It's true, you guys need to like bone already," Willow yelled from the roof. I walked over the my window and smiled at her sarcastically before shutting the window and locking the latches.

"Just because me and Luke dated for the tiniest amount of time doesn't mean we have any chemistry left," I said grabbing my trainers and putting them on my feet.

Maddie looked at me puzzled, "tiniest time? are we talking about the same Luke? You dated for four years." 

"Maybe alittle more than a tiny amount of time. Either way, it doesn't change how much I hate the guy. He stole-"

"My song." Maddie and Kiara said at the same time rolling their eyes.

"We know. Still don't know how that happened, I mean it has been seen that people come up with the same ideas at the same time." Kiara said.

"Not the entirety of a song!" I said before sighing, "Look, me and Luke are history. And by history I mean we hate each other's fucking guts. It's not changing."

A tap came from the window and Willow smiled before blowing her hot breath on the window. She drew an arrow heart and wrote L+G in it backward.

I rolled my eyes before standing up and closing the blinds on her.

"I'm not saying that you have to, bone, him tonight, I'm just saying try to be civil for the rest of us," Kiara said with a pleading look.

"I'm alwasy the civil one." I argued, "It's him you should be telling this to."

------

I had already regretted coming to this party. 

I didn't have school in the morning and I was staying over at Maddie's so there was no reason for me not to let loose and have a drink. But god did I hate the taste of alcohol. I also didn't like who I was on alcohol, it wasn't me I guess. I didn't mind being the designated driver.

"Here," Willow yelled over the music handing me a red solo cup of something. It looked like piss if I was being Honest.

"Don't get your pants in a mess, it's apple juice." She said rolling her eyes at me. "I brought some in my bag for you so you wouldn't feel left out."

I smiled gratefully at her before taking a sip; Apple juice at parties always hit differently.

"I'm going to find Danica." She said patting my shoulder and looking around for her girlfriend. "Call me if you need me." She disappeared into the crowd as soon as I nodded in approval.

"Hey, pretty girl." I turned my head to see Ashton Irwin smiling a toothy grin at me. Ashton and I had been friends since we were 4 years old, making him my utter and total best friend. He's how I met Michael, Calum, and the other one.

I smiled brightly at him before throwing my arms around his neck, "come here often?" He asked dipping me like we were dancing.

"A lot actually." I winked at me causing him to blush and set me back on my feet. This was our relationship, anyone from the outside would think we had been dating for all our friendship but in reality, he was just my best friend.

"Didn't think you'd show up. If you get tired or bored, just go up to my room. I'll tell Maddie where you are." He said taking a sip of his beer can he had.

"Thanks. Neither did I," I said raising my eyebrows slightly. "But Michael is just so persuasive with that megaphone. I mean who let the loudest kid in the group get a megaphone?" 

Ashton laughed and shook his head, "Luke bought it to shut him up in the moment, however, it just made everything worse."

I rolled my eyes, that was such a Luke thing. Only thinking about now and not the future.

"Are you guys like ever going to makeup? I hate not being able to hang out with both of you at the same time." Ashton said, his face turning serious as his fingers danced over the top of his cup.

"You know how bad the breakup was," I said shuffling my foot uncomfortably. It was true, even before Luke stole my song our relationship was in shambles. 

"I know." Ashton sighed, "I'm not trying to tell you who you love but come on Gigi. You and Luke were unbreakable. What even happened?"

I shook my head slightly, tugging on my lip ring anxiously with my teeth. Me and Luke never told anyone why we broke up. After you date for so long people expect you to last forever, but that wasn't the case with me and Luke. It was all I ever heard these days. 'Why did you and Luke break up?' 'Y'all were so cute!' 'Such a shame' 

People just fall out of love.

"Sorry," Ashton mumbled seeing my discomfort. I shook my head again waving him off, "No no it's fine." Maybe I did need a drink. I turned my head to the living room to see some kid throwing up in Ashton's mum's vase. Never mind.

"Shit." Ashton said, "Hey mate! That goes outside not in the vase." He yelled at the guy pointing towards the backyard, "I'll talk to you later alright?" Ashton said kissing my cheek before running off towards the sick guy.

I sighed at his absence, Taking a sip of my drink. "Gigi!" Maddie yelled over the music, pulling Calum along who was pulling Michael.  "Hey," I said to the three.

"Where'd Ashton go?" Michael asked looking around. I pointed to Ashton dragging the sick guy by his shirt towards the back door. Michael 'ahead' in recognition and turned back to us, "'Well see' huh?" He smiled 

I rolled my eyes at him bringing up what I had said yesterday. "We did see. And I chose to come." I said.

"We're always happy to see you, Gigi," Calum said smiling at me, I hadn't talked to him in a while but he was just always with Maddie.

"I'd like to take the credit for it," Maddie said smiling proudly.

I rolled my eyes at her, "it was Michael's obnoxious voice actually."

Michael smiled at her in a mocking 'ha ha I win' kinda look but then it fell and he snapped his head towards me. "Wait what?"

I smiled brightly at him as he pouted, "I'm dying my hair back." He threatened.

My mouth was agape and I glared at him, "Rude Michael! We're twins." He shook his head before putting the hood of his hoodie over his head to hide his hair. "Not anymore."

"I liked it when it was black." Calum said, "Oo or the green."

"God I hated the green." I said, "It made my hair completely dead." Me and Michael alwasy dyed our hair the same color. It was fun, alittle weird, but it was fun.

"Your hair is always dead," Maddie said reaching out to touch my hair, making me smack her hand away. 

"Maybe we should take a break after this color," I told Michael.

He nodded, "Yeah or we may have to shave off our heads. This is the 5th color this month."

"Speaking of shaving off our heads, where's Luke?" Calum said more to Michael than me.

I scrunched my eyebrows at him slightly, "why does shave heads make you think of Hemmings?"

Michael rolled his Eyes, "Calum shaved Luke's head in grade 5." Calum had a wide smile on his face as he remembered that day. I didn't remember that day, maybe we hadn't met yet but I only remembered Luke with long hair.

"I don't remember that," I said shrugging and turning around looking for the blonde boy for Calum. "If I see him I'll let you know."

"I need a drink." Maddie said looking at us, "One of you want to come with me?"

Calum nodded before Maddie grabbed his arm and pulled him along towards the kitchen. "I need one!" Michael said waving goodbye to me quickly before following the couple, who probably wanted to be alone, to the Kitchen.

I sighed looking around at the unknown faces. I didn't really hang out with people other than 5sos and Sugar's so this entire party was not in my comfort.  I mean sure at school I knew everyone and everyone knew me but did I know them? Absolutely not.

Willow was gone probably smoking on the roof with her girlfriend. Kiara probably went home to be honest, I hadn't seen her all night. Maddie and Calum were making out, Ashton was nowhere to be seen and Michael was in the crowd partying.

Ashton's bed was always comfy. He had stuffed animals that he put under his bed when the guys came over but in reality, he slept with them every night.  It always smelt nice in there, you wouldn't expect a teenage boy to have lived there. Clean laundry, lavender, citrus. It probably smelled better than my room.

So with that thought I ascended the stairs up to Ashton's room. I'd play on my phone, play his guitar, do something. Anything was better than standing alone at a party or following the only person you knew around like a sick puppy.

I twisted the knob of Ashton's room and opened the door.  I immediately groaned seeing Luke hemmings on top of some girl now both staring at me.

"Put a fucking sock on the door hemmings." I groaned throwing my head back annoyed.

"Get the hell out Geo." He said glaring at me before throwing the pillow behind the girl's head at me.

"Hemmings? I thought your name was Luke?" The girl under him asked.

I stifled a laugh but failed miserably. Luke shot me a glare before turning back to the girl, "Hemmings is my last name."

"I thought it was Robert?" She asked.

Luke sighed closing his eyes and sliding off the girl, "That's my middle name." He mumbled, "Just go." 

The girl pulled back on her jacket, still looking confused as she walked past me out the door. I sent her a cheeky smile as she did before turning back to Luke. "Got you a real keeper there," I said sarcastically motioning out the door with my head.

"At least I can get some if I want to." He grumbled sitting back down on the bed. 

I rolled my eyes at him, "are you going to leave now? Kinda want Ashton's room."

"Absolutely." Luke said, "not." "I was here first so I will stay." He kicked back his Legs on Ashton's bed nuzzling himself into the bed.

"Yeah, but Ashton said I could have his room. And I'd hate to call Ashton to kick you out." I said shaking my head.

Luke thought for a minute before shaking his head and getting underneath the covers.  "I'm not scared of Ashton. And I'm also not scared of my ex-girlfriend of four days."

"Four weeks." I corrected him.

"Four years!" Ashton yelled walking into the room. "You guys dated for four. Years. Years!" He said franticly. 

"he is drunk," Luke said groaning earning a confused glance from sober Ashton.  I looked at Luke with the same expression he was giving me before shaking my head, "I think I know how long we Dated."

"4 months at most," Luke said nodding in agreement.

Ashton let out an audible sigh, "At least you guys arent yelling at each other."

"Oh yeah. Back to that. Get out." Luke said pointing towards the door. 

I shook my head, "fuck no. You leave." I said grabbing his shoes from the ground and throwing them out the door.

"Stop that." He said as I threw the other one out as well. I grabbed his phone out of his hands too throwing it out the door as well.

"Hey!" Luke yelled standing up to go retrieve his phone. I smiled as I shrugged off my jacket and jumped on the bed, digging myself under the covers.

"Bitch!" Luke yelled as Ashton started to close the door. I didn't know if he was talking to me or Ashton but we both flicked him off before shutting the door completely. 

"Kiara told me you guys would be civil," Ashton said looking at me unamused.

I scrunched my eyebrows at him slightly, "that was me being civil. If I wasn't I would have thrown it out the window."

[madiiscn]

[cisfemale and she/her] Welcome to Aurora Bay, [MADISON COLBERT]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [ELLA PURNELL]. You must be the [TWENTY FIVE] year old [STUDENT AT AURORA BAY COLLEGE]. Word is you’re [CHARISMATIC] but can also be a bit [PRETENTIOUS] and your favorite song is [I KNOW THE END BY PHOEBE BRIDGERS]. I also heard you’ll be staying in [AURORA BAY DRIVE]. I’m sure you’ll love it!

TW: Alcoholism, stalking, sex-tape

BASICS

Name: Madison Colbert Gender/Pronouns: Cisfemale/She&Her Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Bisexual Age: 25 Birthdate: July 14th Occupation: None/Student

Half-Sibling: @jake-hudson

ABOUT

Madison grew up in what she considered a happy family. As an only child, she lived in Palm Springs, CA, with her father, a well established cosmetic surgeon, and her mother that mostly stayed at home. She was raised in a spoiled manner, and never needed to ask for anything. However, because of this, she developed quite a narcissistic outlook and became an enemy of the word no. She always got what she wanted, and if she didn't, she would make your life hell.

She was ten when her mother began to drink a little more than usual. Once, she'd caught her watching MTV in the morning, finishing a bottle of wine that she could have sworn had only been opened two to three hours prior. This was accompanied by her mother's frantic pointing and behavior whenever a certain band came on the television, particularly towards the member called Jake Hudson.

From then on, whenever he was onscreen, her mother would tell Maddie stories about him as a child. This confused her, especially when her mother would begin to cry. It took her a few weeks before she drunkenly told her daughter that she was in fact not an only child, and that Jake was her half-brother. At first, she didn't know whether to believe her or if this was just some drunken fabrication.

There were a few times when Maddie tried to bring up Jake to her mother when she was sober, which only seemed to be when her father was around. However, one incident where she'd tried to probe her mother for information, her father snapped and for the first time in her life, she was punished. She'd been swiftly sent to her room and accused of inventing lies to grab attention. It became clear from that moment that her mother had in fact been telling the truth, and it seemed her father's wishes included Maddie not knowing about her mother's past life.

It angered her that she had a half-brother that had been kept from her all these years, and only made her more curious about him. But she'd been forbidden to speak his name by her father.

Unfortunately, she couldn't escape Jake Hudson. When she started high school he was the flashy new rockstar among her friends, and she longed to tell them that she was potentially related to him. A real rockstar.

As much as that realization was exciting, there was a slight part of her that didn't like the idea that he could know about Maddie's existence already and chose to do nothing about it. She couldn't be sure, she didn't know the ins and outs of what had happened between him and her mother, but surely she would have told him he had a baby sister. Right?

Apart from dealing with her friends crushing on her half-brother, Maddie got through school by being deemed 'popular' and was often said to either incite love or fear in her peers when she was present. If you had something she wanted and you were willing to be generous, she would treat you with a kindness that was only reserved for bargaining... and maybe her pet dog. If you weren't so willing, she would make you regret it. It could be anything from pop quiz answers to boyfriends and girlfriends, she'd find a way to procure them.

On the topic of 'love', Maddie's never held down a relationship longer than a few months. She becomes bored with people and throws them away like yesterday's trash. She'd much rather play the field than partake in this thing called commitment.

Despite her busy life outside of the homestead, she still could never shake Jake. The thought of him started to consume her, he was all she could think about. As the years had gone by, there was a mix of curiosity, anger, jealously, sometimes even hate on her bad days - he was the reason her father became strict, the reason her mother drank, the reason her friends would rather talk about his band than about her. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that he got to exist in her life but she didn't in his.

Her obsession reached new levels when she lied to her parents about staying at a friend's house, but instead went to one of his concerts a few cities over. She had planned on meeting him, introducing herself and asking if he knew anything about her. But that proved more difficult than she originally thought. She got caught in a swarm of his adoring fans and could only catch a glimpse of him leaving the stage after his set.

But her determination was rewarded as an online article stated that Jake currently resided in Aurora Bay. She couldn't believe how close he had been all this time.

At the present, she was currently at UCLA studying theater - her goal one day to become an actress. However, she had a opportunity to get close to the person who'd dominated pretty much her entire teenage life and impulsively put in a transfer request to Aurora Bay College, under the guise of a fresh start.

Her father was livid with her change of institution, but Maddie refused to acknowledge his temper and continued doing what she wanted. That included using her a large sum of her trust fund to rent a condo in Aurora Bay Drive. Conveniently, the same neighborhood of her dear half-brother.

CONNECTIONS

her half-brother, the rockstar that madison grew up so jealous of — @jake-hudson

her best friend and the sister she'd never had — @screamqueen-slater

friend with benefits — @jacksonxellis

one night stand with — @cristian-valdes

two night stand — @diegomartinezz

classmate, friend, friend with benefits, something more, something less, its safe to say its complicated. known to him as the princess of palm springs — @finn-brooks

hook up, someone she swears she can change — @ulyflynn

frenemy of — @dancingdanvers

love rival — @luckylewis

@aurorabayaesthetic

[creativeashproductions]

Proceed With Caution // Evan Buckley

IN WHICH: The reader doesn’t expect to become involved in a hostage situation with her fiance’s older sister, the older sister’s best friend and the best friend’s date from hell. With the addition of a SWAT member, how will the taking of dispatch change?

Warnings: Swearing, blood, threats, angst, guns, hostage/kidnapping

Words: 5.9k

A/N: Recently got into the tv show 9-1-1 and completely fell in love with Buck so here I am writing for him as well. This takes place during the season three episode ‘The Taking of Dispatch 9-1-1’. Reader and Buck are already in an established relationship.

TO BE TAGGED SEND AN INBOX/ASK PLEASE!

Masterlist

The apartment was quiet as the sound of your keys clattered in the bowl on the countertop. It was pretty early in the morning, so you had no doubts that Buck would be just waking up. On his days off, he would use the first day to catch up on sleep; based on prior times, he would be up in half an hour.

“Buck?” You called out from the kitchen. You heard a groan from the loft where Buck was in the process of waking up, “I forgot to drop off that book Maddie wants to borrow. When I get back, do you want to get breakfast?”

A grumble you somehow translated to approval was what you received in response. You jogged up the stairs to the loft to grab the book from your bookshelf. Buck’s bare leg stretched out from underneath the comforter on your side. The soft sighs Buck made in his sleepy state tugged at your heart; the sighs grew louder when you bent to kiss his head.

“See you in a bit.” You whispered to the sleepy soft male. He sleepily grinned in response before curling into your pillow.

The sound of your footsteps softened on the steps back to the main level of the apartment. Your keys snagged from the bowl before you gently closed the door behind you. The sun was gorgeous to be awake to see and had Buck not worked a long shift, you’d have adored watching it with him.

Your car pulled out of the parking spot in the Los Angeles Service Center’s direction that Maddie worked at. Your lips quirked as the radio spewed out the station that Christopher listened to in the car. You could even pick up the book in the backseat where he called his spot. The book could be found in Buck’s Jeep as well.

It had maybe three days since you’d seen the young Diaz, and damn did you miss the kid. Christopher has his enigmatic quality that demanded you love him for all that made him simply Christopher. The second you’d met him, you knew he would mean a lot to you.

You hummed in time with the song that was currently Christopher’s absolute favourite. Slowly you went from humming to singing along when the light turned green. A handful of songs came and went on the admittedly long drive due to traffic.

It was about forty minutes after leaving your apartment that you parked next to Maddie’s car in the parking lot. Lucy was sitting at the front office with a grin you matched. The woman buzzed you before she clocked out with her reprieve Jake.

“Hey, Sue!” You grinned at the older redhead. Sue had absolutely no problem seeing you, given that you were welcome in the building.

Sue’s first interaction was when you came to the centre to pick up Maddie when she came to work sick. Maddie had managed to keep it under wraps for an hour before Sue caught on. Ever since, Sue was fond of asking Maddie about her brother and you.

“Maddie’s not in just yet.” Sue spoke with a kind smile, “If you’ll excuse me, I have to meet with one of our sit alongs.”

You nodded towards her while beelining for the woman’s bathroom, hoping to catch Maddie after using it. You’d drank too much water on your run earlier this morning. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate in the time you’d entered the bathroom, several things happened. Lucy ended her shift, Jake started his shift, and a group of strangers entered the building.

Your hand went to push open the door when through the crack, you saw two men you’d never seen before. Years of your job gave you enough feeling to know that something wasn’t right. That being said, you eased the door closed and attempted to find a hiding spot.

The garbage was too narrow and had no lid. The few seconds you had left, you glanced up. The ceiling hadn’t been renovated in many years. Rectangular sheets could be raised. Thankful of the rock climbing lessons you’d done with Maddie, you managed to crawl into the ceiling just as the two men entered.

“Nobody’s here.” The one-man with his head as pale and shiny as a cue ball. He gave off the most creepy vibe; the shorter Hispanic man wasn’t as violent looking, “Kinda hoping someone tries something. I’ve wanted to try out this.”

The man waved the large gun in his hand with a sick smile that twisted your stomach. That was the moment you’d realized something was very wrong. The second they left, you gently dropped back on the ground. Your first instinct was to send a message to Athena, but there was a fatal flaw. You’d expected to be in and out of the building quickly, so you’d left your phone in the car.

“Fuck.” You swore. One hand roughly running over your forehead as you contemplated figuring out a plan.

The building had many cameras throughout that you knew the blindspots for. The year after high school and during the summers, you’d worked in the building. Despite having worked here when you were younger, it was never during Sue’s shift. Over the years, you’d come to know the blind spots and a few cameras that were decoys. You even remembered Maddie and her friend Josh complaining about three cameras not fixed yet.

“Think.” You breathed, making a pattern of pacing, “They’ll need a lookout. They’ll take out the security guard first. The front doors are out. It’s a team, so they’ll also need eyes on the building. Terry is definitely a hostage.”

Of course, you’d end up in a volatile situation during the first half of your day before your shift started. The only comforting thing about the situation was the holstered gun on your hip and the badge on your belt. Maybe you should backtrack to why you had a gun and badge; you were an LAPD member, specifically SWAT.

“The changeroom.” You breathed, recalling it was down the hall with no camera. All you needed to do was pretend to be a dispatcher. The changeroom, now mostly a file room, had a few extra maroon and blue uniform shirts.

You timed it. The man holding Sue’s tablet was in the process of talking with his cohort, so you dashed to the room. You took no time in changing into a loose maroon shirt with your thick sweater overtop to hide the gun in the small of your back.

Your holster, badge and personal shirt tucked in the bottom of a box for safekeeping. As soon as you saw your entry, you sat with the group of hostages a hall over. A few looked surprised but let it go when you raised one finger to your lips.

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” Maddie hissed from the other side of a startled Josh. Both of them were surprised at seeing you here, “Oh my god. Buck is going to kill me.”

“I was dropping off your book before I get breakfast with Buck, but it appears my small bladder saved my life.” You snarked with your eyes scanning the room, “What’s going on?”

“That is my date from hell, Greg.” Josh inconspicuously pointed towards the man, clearly giving orders. The anger flared inside you, “You need to get out.”

“Josh, no offence, but I’m an officer with the LAPD. I work with SWAT. I’m your best bet of making it out alive.” You informed the dispatch duo, who went still as Cue Ball patrolled the hallway with a sadistic glint in his eyes.

“They took control of the building for a reason we don’t know about. We’re still working but under strict monitoring. They said it will be an hour, but we’ve seen their faces.”

“No witnesses.” You finished for Maddie with a deep sigh, “Unfortunately I left my phone in the car. Did they take yours-”

“They took Linda’s EpiPen. Of course, we don’t have phones.” Maddie sighed, leaning back to rest her head against the wall. Not even having a SWAT member by her side was comforting; your badge put a more significant target on you.

“We have to warn someone.” Josh mumbled to both Maddie and you, “You’re on shift Y/N?”

“Not for a few hours. I was supposed to drop off the book and get breakfast with Buck before my shift. This was supposed to be five minutes tops, so I left my phone in my car.”

“I already did.” Maddie spoke with a sad look on her face that overtook the fear, “I just hope he gets the message.”

Your hand reached out to squeeze the woman you’d had a hand in raising Buck more than their parents. Maddie had become family when you first started dating Buck. The in-law part of her familial relationship to you never crossed your minds; you were simply sisters to each other.

“Who?”

“Chim. I told him I loved him.” Maddie finished with a teary gaze. It made you sick seeing that look again after Doug.

You remembered seeing that haunted look when she stumbled out of the thicker woods covered in blood. You’d stayed by Athena’s side when Buck clutched her so tight and sobbed with her. It had been before you’d become serious with the man, but it was that frightening day that Buck fell for you. You’d just finished a taxing shift with your team when you heard about Maddie was missing, and Chim was in the hospital. You’d ignored the exhaustion to search high and low through your work contacts before narrowing the search area.

“Good thing Chimney obsesses over the little things.” You spoke, slouching down against the wall, “We’ll get throu-”

“Don’t do anything stupid.” Maddie warned you with her brows furrowed together, and you saw what she was doing. Despite your years of experience and the gun you had, she pushed her fear down behind the concern that a big sister shows her young siblings.

“I won’t.”

At 8am, Buck was just entering the apartment building from grabbing the mail addressed to both you and him when Chim had called.

“Yup, go for Buck.” Buck spoke, opening the door to the apartment he’d only temporarily left. His morning had been late after his long shift the night before. The most productive thing was dressing for his breakfast date with you and grabbing the mail.

“How come 9-1-1 doesn’t respond when I call?” Chimney questioned the younger, now confused male.

“Uh, is that some kind of riddle? Like who watches the watchmen?” Buck asked, closing the door behind him. His eyes scanned around for any indication you’d returned home, but the bowl was vacant of your keys.

“Neither of those things are riddles. Okay, I just tried calling 9-1-1, and I got the high call volume message. Did I miss an earthquake or something?”

“Nope, pretty chill morning.” Buck responded as he closed the fridge door with a bottle of water in hand. The entire conversation wasn’t concerning to him, given that Chimney was often like this.

“Where’s Y/N? She’s the police she’ll know-”

“She’s not home right now. Wait, why are you calling 9-1-1? Is everything okay?” Buck slowly asked with his brows coming together. The sigh of frustration from Chimney was answer enough.

“Your sister said that she loved me.”

“Yeah. Wasn’t that uh, the whole point in that big date you had last night?” Buck inquired on his way to the table. He had a feeling this was going to be a long conversation that would hopefully pass the time until you got home.

“You declare your love, and she declares hers? That’s how it went with Y/N and me.”

“Yeah, I know, okay, but she didn’t, all right? At least not last night. Look, she made this big deal saying that she couldn’t say those words, and then this morning, she blurts them out and hangs up on me.” Chimney speaks, pacing in his own apartment. The side by the side of Chimney and Buck’s separate apartments told different tales of their states.

“It’s still not quite sounding like an emergency.”

“’Cause I sound insane.” Chimney spoke, staring up at the ceiling with a battle in his mind. He wants Buck to talk him out of this, but he also wants Buck to agree with him, “She’s at the call centre. What could happen there? You know what, forget it, I’ll try Y/N again.”

“Again?” Buck questioned just as his co-worker ended the call. Buck tugged his phone away from his ear to stare at it confused.

You always answered the phone if you weren’t working at the moment, but given you still had hours, he found it unsettling. After seeing the news report with the ladder truck on top of him, calls weren’t ignored between you two. That feeling of concern grew when you didn’t answer his call either. Nor the second one.

“Nah, she’s probably talking with Maddie.” Buck spoke, but that second-guessing feeling didn’t dissipate. 

In the call centre, you’d been marched to one of the stations with a deep hope that you’d remember everything. It had been years by then since you’d worked as a dispatcher. It didn’t help with the gunmen patrolling the room.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” You calmly questioned the caller.

“Hi, my cat is up the tree by my house. Could you send someone?”

“Can I get your name?” You went through the motions of getting her name and address before you informed the woman, “Okay, the LAFD and LAPD no longer respond to calls of cats in trees. The cat will make its way down on its own. If the tree is in your backyard, I’d use the time to garden or read a book on this beautiful day.”

“Oh, thank you. I’m sorry for taking up your time.”

“It’s no problem. Having a wonderful day Susan.”

In no time at all, you’d been rotated into the board room away from Josh and Maddie. It gave you time to inspect everyone you hadn’t made contact with yet. No one appeared harmed other than in distress with the situation.

“Downtown. They don’t want anyone downtown.” Linda whispered as Maddie was guided onto the floor by the elbow. You’d only gathered her name from her near-silent introduction to you when the hired guns had been far from your area.

“Let’s go.” Greg snapped, roughly pushing you towards the conference room. Something deep in your gut already predicted that someone was going to be stupid.

It was your sharp eyesight catching the minuscule agitation in Greg’s interactions with the Cue Ball guy. The slight tightening of his grip on the gun, the tension in the room growing stifling. And everyone knows that when emotions run high stupid things happen.

“Why do they keep moving us around like this?” The man beside Maddie questioned. He was definitely the most shaken of the group. He was basically shaking like a chihuahua.

“To disorient us.” Maddie spoke, staring at the group monitoring the dispatchers currently in play. Her eyes refused to leave them.

“So, we can’t make a plan.” You finished for your sister-in-law. Objectively out of everyone, Maddie, Sue and you were the most collected individuals for various reasons.

Maddie had lived in a volatile house with a man that could be unpredictable if a situation called for it in his mind. Sue had been working in the centre for years to navigate the emergency while you walked into dangerous situations.

“Jamal.” The shaking man spoke, holding his hand out towards you, “Are you new?”

“No.” You spoke as you shook his hand, “I’m Y/N. Maddie’s sister-in-law. I’m filling in as a favour for Sue.”

The lie slipped off your lips a little too quickly. You decided to come to this hostage situation as if you were undercover. It meant having to ignore that Maddie was in the situation with you.  

“Worst day for a favour.” Jamal snorted with his eyes pinned on one of the armed men holding all your lives in their hands. You’d have spoken, but Jamal checked out mentally from the conversation waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The shoe dropped when the IT Specialist announced numbly, “Jake’s dead. They shot him.”

It didn’t matter how long you’d been working for the LAPD, any death, whether it was a civilian or a criminal, it was still was startling. Jake, the security guard that alternated shifts with Lucy, wasn’t someone you spoke with. He was on shift when you weren’t here or just missed the shift change.

“We need to get a message out.” Jamal spoke, glancing at the only people in the right state of mind, and those were Maddie, Josh and you. Terry had seen the violence these men had no issues with.

“I did.” Josh breathed, thinking of the arguably cute security guard he sometimes liked to stare at, “A woman called about onions in an omelette. I dispatched an officer.”

“To the restaurant?” Maddie inquired with her pinkie connected with yours for comfort. Both of you would prefer your SO’s hand instead.

“Not exactly.” Josh replied, staring at his best friend with a glimpse of hope in his brown eyes.

Hope may be the only way you could get out of this without hurting anyone in your admittedly surface level plan.

“Buck will think something is up.” You added 

Buck had begun pacing the kitchen of the apartment with Chim adamantly telling his friend his plan to go to the centre. Buck had joined Chimney in the concerned department when you had failed to return to the apartment, return calls and to make matters worse, so was Maddie. His texts had gone unanswered as well, not even having the read receipt on.

“She’s not picking up either. I tried Y/N and Josh, but neither replied. When I tried Maddie and Josh, it went straight to voicemail.”

“Now, I’m definitely going.” Chimney announced, shoving his wallet into his pocket just as someone began knocking on his door.

“What if something is wrong? I know Y/N is a member of SWAT but radio silence? No text to let me know she was called in early?” Buck thought aloud with his finger dragging along his thigh, “Maybe we should call the police.”

“I...think someone already did.” Chimney informed Buck as he stared at the sudden appearance of Sergeant Athena Grant at his door.

“What? What do you mean?” Buck hastily questioned, leaning against the kitchen island. He could just faintly hear Athena speaking on Chimney’s end of the phone, “Chimney? What’s going on?”

“Athena was sent to my apartment. Hang on, Buck, I’m just gonna tell Athena what’s going on.”

Buck stepped away from the island to settle on the stairs to the loft, impatiently waiting for Chimney to finish speaking. That fear of losing pieces of his life expanded deep in his gut, just like the times Maddie left in his childhood. That fear of being left behind.

“What’s she’s saying now?”

“She’s making her case.” Chim whispered as he continued to eavesdrop on Athena’s call with her higher-ups, “Now she’s folding like a cheap suit.”

“All right, let me talk to Athena.” Buck demanded antsy to figure out the situation that clearly had something wrong. That fear he’d thought of early flared catching the tail end of Athena’s conversation, “No! No, no. We can’t just send in SWAT. If there is someone inside the call centre doing something, they’ll know we’re onto them.”

Unfortunately, Buck was correct in this thought process, all thanks to living with a SWAT member. He knew these things after the years he’d been with you.

“Maddie? I think I can sneak up to Terry’s computer. Maybe get eyes on the place-”

“No!” Terry nearly shouted, stiffening when Cue Ball hesitated in the doorway at his sudden shouts. You all held your breath for his reaction, but thankfully he was called away by one of the men, “They have-”

“Terry, I need you to calm down. I’m familiar with these types of situations. I’m SWAT. I need to get on top of this. Don’t be a hero.”

Maddie’s head began to shake when your arm was roughly grabbed by Greg, “Your turn.”

You were separated from Josh and Maddie, but instead of being pushed into one of the dispatcher seats, you were pulled to the original hallway.

“I don’t like how friendly you are with them.” Greg spat, shoving you to rest against the wall, “Don’t move.” 

You catch the eyes of Maddie with an apologetic expression before you used the pacing routine to sneak away. You didn’t release your breath until you were attaching your holder to your hip in the change room. By now, your team would be aware that something was wrong, Hondo would be hell-bent on finding you.

Until you had help, you were on your own.

You used each blindspot of the cameras in the halls to the stairwell, and you used a broom to adjust the cameras. The cameras not kept you from view but not appearing suspicious. Once at the floor where Terry was practically always at you softly closed the door. 

You’d only started to sit down when you heard the ding of the elevator, “Shit.”

You slipped into the closest containing extra parts if anything broke. Through the crack, you saw Terry being held at gunpoint. The gunman that had been holding the tablet on the floor, Ellis as you’d heard.

“You’re telling me every cop in the city has just disappeared?” Ellis demanded as Terry, and he disappeared around one of the corners. The tapping of a screen indicating Ellis was searching for something with Terry’s involuntary help.

“I’m telling you, I don’t know!” Terry snapped back, creating even more tension in the room, but Ellis didn’t move to grab his gun.

Ellis appeared to the only one reluctant to discharge your weapon, unlike Cue Ball, who just happened to join the party.

“Figure it out!” Ellis spat, turning on his heel at the sound of approaching footsteps. You could see him roll his eyes at his team member walking into the room.

“What’s going on here?” Cue ball questioned the duo in different kinds of distress, and you swore Cue Ball enjoyed the intimidation from his teammate and the IT specialist.

“That police car’s not the only one that’s gone dark.” Ellis nervously spoke, stiffening for the volatile reaction that one could expect from Foster.

“You think they know we’re here?” 

“Foster, it could be a system glitch.” Ellis offered keeping one eye on Cue Ball while monitoring Terry’s work as well.

Cue Ball spoke a sentence that sent chills up your spine, “Time to cut our losses.”

As Foster and Ellis began going over their personal plans made out of Greg’s knowledge, you noticed Terry glance over. His eyes widened slightly before quickly looking away when you raised a finger across your lips.

“We can go down the back stairs. I have a car waiting around the corner, we split the art up between the five of us, and we go our separate ways.” Foster spoke, revealing his plan to double-cross Greg, which in all honesty made sense. Greg was ill-fitting to be in charge of their operation, unable to control his lackeys.

“I like that part of the deal.” Ellis breathed, skirting around the trigger happy criminal only to halt in his steps, “Wait, you’ve got a car parked down the street? You were always gonna double-cross Greg.”

“You weren’t?”

“If we’re gonna do this, you can’t just sell famous works of art on eBay.”

“You can’t sell them from prison either.”

At that moment, something almost shifted in the area, something that made you pull your gun from your holster. Your body telling you something was about to happen. It happened in a split second. Foster fled the room leaving only Ellis just outside. With Terry frantically shaking his head, you tiptoed to the unsuspecting criminal.

“LAPD!” You shouted, pointing your gun towards the shocked man, “Put the gun down and put your hands up.”

“Aren’t you a dispatcher?” Ellis questioned, blinking in surprise.

“Aren’t you supposed to be intelligent? Next time check the schedule I haven’t worked here in years.” You spat, keeping your gun pointed on him, “Do I say-”

The sound of two guns going off made Terry flinch and scream as he instinctively dropped to the ground. IT was supposed to be safe, but Terry had now heard three gunshots in under two hours. He really didn’t want to see the outcome of the shots.

A moan coaxed Terry to peek out through the privacy glass. Ellis was on the ground while you kept your gun on him. He didn’t see anything else when the power went out. He didn’t see you drop to your knees, but he heard you.

“Terry...get down. Lay on your stomach with your hands insight, and don’t move.” You informed the terrified IT just as the floor was swarmed.

“Put the gun down!” The sound of Tan’s voice was welcoming as you slowly placed the gun on the ground. “25-David I have Y/L/N. The suspect is down, need medical.”

You got back to your feet when Tan nodded his head, “Thank god. There’s a possible body in the IT room along with the It Specialist Terry.”

“You got your badge on you?” Tan questioned as he cuffed the moaning Ellis up, “Street can you escort her down?”

Street nodded from his position, watching Tan’s back before guiding you to the stairs with hawk eyes. Even off duty, you kept your head on a swivel.

“You caused quite the commotion.” Street spoke halfway down the stairs when you barely mumbled. He caught you as you went down like a sack of potatoes, “Y/N!”

“Adrenaline is crashing.” You moaned, looking at your shoulder where the maroon had grown darker, “I think he shot me.”

“26-David I’m in the stairway. Prepare a medic.” Street spoke into his radio before he strapped the gun away and swept you into his arms, “Think you can have my back?”

“When don’t I?” You wheezed, with the sweat starting to bead on your forehead. As you crashed from adrenaline, you barely noticed being placed on the ground at the main entrance.

A paramedic cutting your borrowed shirt to reveal the bullet hole in your shoulder courtesy of Ellis, the only member who’d thought wouldn’t shoot his gun. You could vaguely hear Maddie calling out your name as you were loaded onto a gurney.

“M-Maddie?” You spoke, tilting your head to see Chris holding Maddie back from, “Chris! That’s my sister in law.”

Chris only let Maddie go when Hondo gave the all-clear, and you were so thankful when Maddie’s hand encased yours.

“Don’t close your eyes.” Maddie pleaded sick with the amount of blood on your skin and soaking through the gauze, “Who’s gonna help me put up with my little brother?”

“Buck.” You breathed sluggishly, blinking as the artificial lights changed to natural with the gun shining through the glass front doors.

“You didn’t let me close mine in that ambulance, so I need you to do the same. Don’t close them. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” Maddie cried as an officer pulled her aside as you were stopped. You wouldn’t remember it, but Maddie had to watch as you coded right in front of her.

Maddie had to watch them perform CPR on you and fight for a pulse. She had to think of how’d she’d tell her little brother she’d killed his fiance. The counting of the paramedics sounded as if underwater, and as they did, the world went quiet. Her mind checked out as the trauma settled in.

Maddie stumbled out of the building into a zoo of officers, medics, and news reporters almost robotically. She barely felt Chimney hug her, but she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed.

“It’s all my fault.” Maddie gasped, collapsing against him, “If I had-”

“Maddie?”

Chimney felt Maddie stiffen at the sound of Buck’s voice amidst the multiple voices milling around. Maddie raised her gaze to meet Buck’s blue eyes dripping in relief and question.

“Buck.”

“Maddie, where’s Y/N? Her car…” Buck trailed off, catching the utter heartbreak in his big sister’s eyes. A look he’d come to know in his line of work as a firefighter. The utter devastation that came with watching someone you love die, “No. No.”

“I got a pulse!” Came from the nearest ambulance, and Buck skirted around his sister and Chimney, “Ready to transport!” 

Your eyes slowly blinked at the white ceiling of the ambulance with pain in your midsection courtesy of chest compressions. Breathing came painful, and the bullet wound throbbed, but it all faded when you saw blue eyes above you.

“Buck.” You sobbed, more like groaned, as he was urged to sit on the bench holding your hand, “Maddie?”

“She’s okay. Chim’s got her. Can you keep your eyes on me? I need to see those big beautiful e/c eyes.” Buck soothed, bringing your hand to his lips, “Did I ever tell you my favourite colour?”

Despite Buck’s best attempts, you continued fading in and out of consciousness but continued to be stable. He spoke about the funny video Eddie had shown him of Christopher at the end of their shift last night. He talked about everything and anything under the sun during the short ride to the hospital.

The last thing you saw was Buck being held back as the paramedics pushed the gurney into the ER. Everything turned black.

The beeping was the first thing you heard before your eyes fluttered open to a stark white room and that unmistakable hospital scent. You noticed the second thing as Buck holding your hand in both of his with his forehead pressed against them.

“Buck?” You moaned to the one person you had wished to see. The man whose eyes were bloodshot from crying, “What’s wrong?”

“Your heart stopped beating twice. I thought I was gonna lose you.” Buck cried with his lips pressed against your hand, “I was so worried.”

“Hey. I’m fine. I’m here.” You cooed, tugging one hand away to run through his messy hair with a soft smile. His blue eyes brighten at the familiar feeling of your digits in his hair, “I’m not going anywhere. This isn’t here for decoration.”

His eyes found the ring he’d gently placed back on your finger from when the nurses had removed it. It only left your finger when you were on duty, in which it was slung on a necklace hidden under your uniform.

“Better not be.”

“Does the hospital have a chapel?” You questioned out of the blue leading to Buck snorting as you giggled, “I’m serious. When I was bleeding in that building, all I could think about was you. If Maddie is anything like you, she’s waiting in the waiting room with Chimney.”

“You aren’t wrong. All the chairs are taken. Our family was waiting for you to wake up.” Buck breathed, leaning closer to press a sweet kiss to your lips, “Are you sure?”

“About marrying you?” You softly questioned the man who couldn’t help but believe this was a dream. How he’d somehow got the girl of his dreams to agree to marry his ass, “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. All I want to share is your last name for the rest of my life. You are it for me, Evan Buckley. All the flaws you see are beautiful to me.”

“Only you would want to get married after being shot mere hours ago.” Buck chuckled with a sigh pulled from his pink lips, “I’ll get the doctor for you and find out if we can be married here.”

While you were checked out, Buck left the room to go back to the waiting room where the 118 and your co-workers waited. Everyone perked up at his appearance, Christopher asleep on Eddie’s lap.

“Is she okay?” Bobby questioned as the tension in the room grew more and more. It shattered into relief when Buck grinned.

“She’s sore as expected. She’s gonna catch some sleep, but she’d like to see Maddie.” Buck replied, pinning his gaze on his big sister with her curled into Chimney’s body. Her cheeks flooded with tears of absolute relief, “C’mon.”

The waiting room started emptying with Buck’s promise to keep everyone updated, but before Bobby could step away, Buck asked for him.

“Do you need a few days off?” Bobby questioned just as Buck came closer to the seasoned firefighter.

“No. But could you spare an hour?” The expression on Buck’s face was enough for Bobby not to ask any further questions. He simply followed Buck back towards your hospital room, where Maddie and Chim waited.

“What’s going on?” Bobby inquired, with the addition of the hospital assigned Priest holding the standard bible. Chimney could only shrug in response to whatever was going on.

“I know there have been times we haven’t seen eye to eye, but Bobby, you’re like a father to me. You gave me chance after chance when anyone else would have given up. You guided me on how to be a man. Y/N and I would like it if you’d be here for this.”

“Wait, are you getting married? What about the wedding?” Maddie spluttered, flicking her gaze between her brother and you. Her question surprised her boyfriend and Bobby.

“We’ll still have it. But I want to marry her without the pressure of our parents. Just a private ceremony with some of the people that mean the most to us.” Buck answered for the two of you, “Would you stay?”

“Of course.” Maddie softly spoke with a slideshow of memories playing in her mind of watching Buck grow up.

Watching Evan go through all kinds of injuries, all in the name of attention but never getting it the way he deserved it. She remembered giving him advice for asking out Donna and holding him when he was rejected. The little toddler with the impish grin somehow turned into an idiot in the hospital.

Maddie saw the man her little brother had turned into with the help of the 118 and you.

Buck’s fingers made quick work of buttoning his short-sleeve uniform with the sudden appearance of his friend.

“That’s new.” Eddie spoke from his opened locker holding his uniform and a picture of his family on the door. It was a picture of Christopher, Buck, you and Eddie from the zoo a couple months back.

Buck looked over at his best friend, “Hm?”

“The ring.” Eddie snorted dramatically, looking at the ring that had been living on his finger since he married you five days ago, “Did my invite get lost in the mail?”

“Nah, we just got married in the hospital. We’re still planning the wedding to appease both sides of our family. And I promised Christopher he could be in the wedding. With Y/N on medical leave, the planning will be faster. She’s going stir crazy after five days.” Buck finished tucking in the shirt into his work-issued pants. Lastly, he slid his ring onto the metal chain he had bought recently.

Like you did, he would wear it around his neck when working for safety reasons.

“I’m happy for you, man.” Eddie told his friend just as the bell rang, “You’ll have to tell me how you’re liking the married life.”

“But first, we have a job to do.” Buck supplied all the while jogging to suit up in his turnout gear with Hen and Chimney.

[buckaroosboogara]

I Can't Help Falling In Love With You

2k | Buddie | Established Relationship | Sickfic

A/N: My gift for Liz @oatflatwhite for the 911 Holiday Gift Exchange organized by @paranoidbean I hope you enjoy it <3

[Read on ao3]

Summary: Buck sighed and closed his eyes shut when he saw the thermometer he was holding read 102°F.

His head felt like it was about to explode and he tried to stay still under the stack of blankets Buck had on top of him, trying to think what would he do. The sensible thing would be to call Bobby and say he is sick, but.

But.

Chim was finally back home with Maddie and Jee and still on leave and Eddie was going to spend his free day with Chris after the kid insisted that they buy new ornaments for Christmas since it had to be perfect.

He couldn't call in sick for that shift, so he reluctantly got up and got started with his day, with the memories of some important moments in his relationship with Eddie helping him to get through it.

Or

Buck is sick, but goes to work anyway and insists he is okay. Hen thinks she needs to call in some reinforcements.

Things weren't supposed to go like this.

That was Buck's first thought when the thermometer he was holding read 102°F.

He sighed, feeling his skin burn from the inside with cold shivers traveling through his spine. His nose was stuffy and his head felt like it was about to explode.

He had a cold. A very bad one for the record.

But he couldn't skip that day's shift, Chimney was on leave with Maddie and Jee-Yun at home and Eddie had a free day he would spend with their son, with Buck covering up his shift.

Yup, their son. Buck was also surprised when Eddie said the words. Maybe because they were still friends when he had said it.

It was a warm sunny day in July, and the Buckley-Diaz were going to spend it at the beach. Eddie had thought it would be a good thing to do it together since it would be the first time they approached a natural water source since the tsunami. But they were not going to Santa Monica Bay. At least not yet. They were going to a friendly nearby lake.

A controlled situation.

Buck was kind of freaking out until Eddie placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him deep in the eyes.

"Hey, it's okay if you don't want to go." Eddie had assured.

Buck had tried to look away, feeling guilty but Eddie brought his hand to his chin, making Buck look at him.

"Don't be ashamed, there is nothing to be ashamed of. We can just go to the local fair, have some cotton candy, I am sure he will understand."

"I would never make you do something that would make you or our son uncomfortable, Buck," Eddie explained, and Buck looked at him with surprise.

"Yeah, our son." Eddie had said in a breath. "So, get up and look for your wallet, our son wants some new books and stuffed animals, but do not spoil him too much, please."

"I will do my best." Buck had answered, feeling better about canceling their trip. No, not canceling, just postponing it.

He missed Eddie's warmth instantly.

Buck came back to the present and smiled, the headache was back to a soft pain.

He got up from his bed slowly, trying not to make sudden moves that would send waves of pain through his skull, and then walked to his bathroom. There he took two pills for the pain, rubbed some menthol onto his chest, and then walked downstairs, his footsteps echoing through the place.

His apartment was empty, with all his stuff in boxes near the exit ready to go to Eddie's place. His new home.

They both had been taking small steps since they got together three months before. In the weeks prior to getting together though, there was this flirtatious thing they had between them that made their friends groan and roll their eyes.

Buck looked at the balcony, his head aching with the light entering his eyes. He closed them and a soothing and another distracting memory played on his mind.

Their first kiss had happened there, both kinda drunk and alone on Buck's balcony, slow dancing as the sun set on the horizon, the lighting making Eddie look a thousand times more handsome, in his unbiased opinion.

Buck's hands were on Eddie's shoulders and Eddie's were on his hips, so close that they talked in whispers. They were practicing their dance steps for Maddie and Chim's upcoming wedding –Read: Eddie was teaching Buck how to dance– and "I can't help falling in love" was playing in the background softly.

When the chorus hit, Buck instinctively placed his hand on Eddie's cheek and kissed him softly. Eddie was taken aback for just a second before responding by kissing him back and bringing their bodies impossibly closer.

After their kiss they both stayed in their places, limbs mixed in a hug, Eddie's head on Buck's shoulder, pecking little kisses to his neck as the song ended.

Buck sang along. "But I... can't... help falling in love... with... you."

They had looked at each other in the eyes and both giggled.

Buck's body felt positively warm with the memory and he continued making his way to his kitchen.

Feeling much better, he drank a glass of orange juice and ate one toast before getting dressed and leaving his place.

He stopped by the chemist's to buy some meds on his way to the firehouse and another memory passed through his mind.

One month into their relationship they still hadn't told anyone, except for Chris, about them. Eddie wasn't the type to have regular colds, but when they hit him, they hit him hard.

This time he couldn't even get out of bed and Buck was pretty worried for his boyfriend.

He drove to the same pharmacy to get some meds and menthol for him, and he also remembered calling Abuela to ask her about her chicken broth recipe.

It was when he was cuddling with Eddie on the couch, after days of not sleeping because he had to make sure Eddie was fine when the team decided to drop by Eddie's place.

At least they didn't find them in a more compromising position.

Both were asleep sitting on the couch, their hands entwined on Eddie's lap, with the sick man covered in a thick blanket and his head on Buck's shoulder. Their family didn't want to wake them, but Ravi entered the house and stumbled with a shoe, dropping some of the groceries they had bought Eddie.

The team was really comprehensive and happy and after Chimney made every person pay him for a bet they had, they left them alone and with enough soup and decongestant tea for three years.

Actually, we froze some of that soup and would make a great dinner, Buck thought as he sniffed, coming back to the present.

He bought some tissues and the meds, took one, and quickly got on his way again.

Even though he tried to take some shortcuts, he arrived late for his shift. At least the throbbing sensation on his head had ceased

"Hey Buckaroo!" Hen greeted him with a smile when he arrived. Her smile dropped when she took a better look at him. "How are you doing? You don't look very well."

"Nah, I'm fine." Buck shrugged it off, his voice coming out weird because of his stuffed nose. "'s just a seasonal cold."

"...Sure." Hen squinted her eyes but didn't press more as she walked away to let him change into his uniform.

Buck knew she would keep an eye on him for the rest of the day. He groaned.

Deep down he knew it was because she was worried, and his history gave her a reason. Buck was capable of turning a simple cold into a full pneumonia that could somehow make him not available for the job. Buck shuddered with the thought (or maybe because he felt he was colder than Hershey on a snowy day) and made his way to the locker room. If someone noticed he had his thickest hoodie on a decently warm day for December, nobody said anything.

The day went normal, a few calls here and there but nothing too big, to Buck's relief because he was already sore and tired 4 hours into a 12-hour shift. Fortunately, lunchtime was approaching. Buck was more than ready for some homemade food.

But first.

"Buck, come and help me restock the ambulance!" Hen's voice sounded from the bay.

Buck groaned as he got up from his bunk bed, wincing when the bright light hit his eyes. He could feel the headache making its way back to his temple and he tried massaging it to ease the pain.

When he reached the ambulance another memory hit his mind.

The first call where Buck willingly went with Eddie. (So the new guy wouldn't get all the fun, or so he had said) 

"Besides, you wanted us to bond. He had told Bobby as an excuse to be alone in a call with their new recruit. "We might end up real close."

And wasn't that the truth?

Oh boy, he had really fallen for Eddie Diaz that night.

Of course, he had mixed the boy-crush feeling with the emotion of pulling out a live grenade off that man's leg.

"You're a badass under pressure brother." Eddie had stated with a smile after their job was done. Buck's heart had skipped a beat.

"M-Me?"

"Hell yeah, you can have my back any day."

Buck smiled, "Yeah. Or you know you could- you could have mine."

"Deal."

They had repeated those same words some weeks before after Eddie proposed him to move in with him and Chris.

They talked it out, first the why and then the how were they going to do it and then-

"Well Buckley, it seems like you're going to be trapped with us in this house." Eddie had said with a smile, his dimples showing more than ever.

"Oh, what a shame!" Buck had said, dramatically putting his hand on his forehead.

They had laughed before Buck offered his hand to his boyfriend. Eddie shook it.

"I still trust you to have my back, Diaz." Buck said with a smile, still holding Eddie's hand.

"It's a good thing you do because I do too." Eddie had laughed.

Buck had smiled and leaned in to kiss Eddie.

Even though moving out of his apartment and into Eddie's house - his home -  felt like a leap of faith, he trusted Eddie was there to catch him.

"You can always have my back." Buck chuckled lightly at the memory and continued making his way towards the ambulance.

"Hey, are you sure you are okay, Buck?" Hen asked as soon as she saw him.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine here, mom." Buck rolled his eyes and Hen sighed.

"I'm serious Buck, we don't need another man down because of pneumonia." Hen replied, her eyebrows furrowed with worry. "It's okay if you want to go, just tell Bobby and he will call Ravi or someone else."

"It's okay, Hen, I swear." Buck assured softly and offered a little smile.

Hen looked at him but didn't press. She had to call reinforcements, and she knew there were only two persons Buck would listen to.

They worked in the ambulance keeping a list ambient while chatting about their plans for Christmas and soon enough Bobby called everyone upstairs for lunch.

Once he finished, Buck excused himself to go lay on the bunks for some time and took one more med for the lowering fever and headache.

When he woke up it was getting dark, his eyes were puffy from sleeping and his throat felt drier than the Sahara. He walked upstairs for a glass of water, barely containing the coughs trying to escape his throat.

Once he managed to chug down a whole glass of water he went downstairs to help with the hoses and kept himself entertained for some minutes until he saw a man he knew well walking around.

"Eddie?" Buck asked at the sight of his boyfriend.

"Buck! There you are!" Eddie got closer to him after thanking Hen.

Buck was so screwed.

When Eddie tried to peck him on the lips he stepped back. "No, I- I have a cold." He excused himself before trying to change the topic. "Wh-Where's Chris?"

"With my Abuela." Eddie studied him for a second and raised his hand to Buck's forehead before the other man could do something else. He gasped.

"Cariño, you are burning up," Eddie said, shaking his head.

Of course, Buck would go to work being sick, he just loved being a firefighter that much and he worried about his loved ones when he wasn't there to protect them. But this was something else.

Buck was now leaning on his hand, eyes closed, seeking the cold sensation that soothed his fever.

"Buck?"

"I'm sorry," Buck said without opening his eyes. "I shouldn't have come to work like this, but..."

"But?"

Buck bit his lip and separated from Eddie.

"Bad things already happen when I am here... Like-the shooting, or then Bobby being trapped by the sniper or- or the well incident, the tsunami... but I know things will be fine because I trust in my abilities to help people out."

"And you don't trust ours?" Eddie half-joked.

"No! It- It's not that! I know you are all great firefighters and paramedics but..." He trailed off. "But I wonder... what would happen if I am not here? To- To have your backs. Would worse things happen? I mean we were hanging by thread after the sniper, just Hen, Chim, and I against this city's chaos, and- I just can't go through that again Eds- I-"

He was suddenly taken aback by Eddie's warm body against his, Eddie's arms going around him and his chin settling on the crook of his neck. "Buck, baby we would be okay. And you know why?"

Buck let himself settle on his boyfriend's arms, hiding his burning eyes on Eddie's shoulder. He shook his head.

"Because we are trained firefighters and paramedics, that jump every day into action and save people's lives when they are at their worst. But we also are simple humans, that can go through those low moments, and we will always survive, as I did with the sniper and the well. Like you and Chris did with the tsunami. We will come back to each other, to this family." Eddie let go of Buck and took just his head on his hands, forcing the taller man to look at him in the eyes.

"You are not a bad or good luck charm, baby, these things will happen whether you are there or not, what defines what will happen is the determination to push through the pain and the fear. And we know you will always be there for us and we will always be there for you, whatever happens."

"Thanks." Buck made a small smile and hugged Eddie again. "Can we go home now?"

Eddie chuckled. "Yeah, go get your things, I'll tell Bobby."

They separated and parted ways, the throbbing on Buck's head easing in the slightest. Once he was changed into civilian clothes he looked at himself in the mirror.

His nose was bright red and his lips were dried. Very light eyebags were under his eyes but they stood out on his pale skin. He felt a little less like shit though.

He walked outside the locker room and met Eddie, who was waiting for him, mindlessly scrolling through his phone. He noticed Buck and put his phone on his jeans' back pocket, taking Buck's duffel bag from him.

"Everything's cleared, Bobby will call Ravi again to cover your shifts in the next days, and maybe even Christmas..." He nudged Buck playfully on the shoulder but the other man groaned.

"I don't know what's worse, me being sick on Christmas or Ravi having to work on Christmas day because of me. I know he had plans with his family."

"Hey, stop feeling guilty, it's not your fault that you are sick." Eddie started walking to the parking lot. "And he owes you, remember that time you covered him for his Grandmother's birthday?"

"Yeah, but this is different!" Buck argued as he followed.

"Okay," Eddie stopped right at the exit and looked at Buck. Their height difference was more noticeable. "What if we organize a party here on the 25th? Kinda like what you did in 2019?"

"Hm, yes, I like that idea better." Buck smiled softly and took Eddie's hand as they continued walking. "You owe me a kiss from that year though."

Eddie stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"Yeah, look." Buck took his phone out and poked his tongue out as he started looking for something in it.

"Buck, I really think this is not the mo-"

"Here," Buck said shoving his phone on his face.

On the screen was the picture they took that day at the firehouse. Buck was in the back under the mistletoe and so was Eddie. He smiled and put Buck's phone aside.

Eddie had been buzzing with happiness that day, delighted with his Tía's and Chris' surprise visit.

He almost confessed his love to Buck right then and there too. His heart was warm between the attention Buck gave to Chris and how good he looked in a Christmas hat.

Eddie sighed in the present and leaned in to kiss Buck. His boyfriend stopped him before he could reach his lips though.

"I'm sick, remember?"

"You can't tell me I owe you a kiss and then deny me!" Eddie playfully shoved him and Buck laughed." Jokes on you though, I don't care if you're sick," Eddie said before giving Buck a chaste kiss.

Buck sighed in the kiss, feeling Eddie's smile against his lips. When they finished kissing they stayed touching foreheads.

"Evan?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

Buck giggled. "Edmundo?"

Eddie groaned and mimicked Buck. "Hm?"

"I love you too."

[chummywchimmy]

Age Of Innocence

DISCLAIMER : This does not represent the personality of the real life counterparts of the characters used. I do not intend to glorify toxic behavior. I do not own BTS ( :(((((  )

PAIRING : Seokjin x Reader

WARNINGS : Yandere themes, implied child abuse, implied use of blood as ink, manipulation, blackmail  (kindly mention any others that I might’ve missed in the comments.)

SUMMARY  : He adores the fact that you love kids. But the only kids you should be loving should be the ones you would have. With him. He’ll make sure of it, anyway.

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"It is mine!"

"No, my mommy got it for me!"

"Why are you lying?"

" 'M not lying. You are trying to take my pencil box. You are st-sta-stea....."

"Who's stealing what?" Your voice rang out in the airy classroom full of the innocent, sweet faces who looked at you with the expression of kids who got caught doing what they weren't supposed to.

Your eyes fell on the pair of kindergartners who were standing in the middle of the classroom with a small Winnie The Pooh pencil box in between them.

Walking into the large, blue-walled room you made your way to the fighting duo and kneeled before them to get at their eye level. You looked at them with gently questioning eyes that conveyed the idea that you were waiting for them to explain their feud to expectant ears.

Maddie began first. She was a sweet and polite girl, never got into any arguments with her peers and was generally a ray of sunshine. She looked at you with her big and blue eyes, imploring you as if trying to prove her innocence.

“Ms. Y/L/N, I got this new Winnie pencil box today but when I took it out Shaun started saying it was his. It’s not his. My mommy got it for me!” 

“No, I wrote my name on the top so it’s mine!” Shaun’s voice pulled both yours and Maddie’s eyes towards the top of the box where surely Shaun’s name was written.

Apparently, Maddie hadn’t quite noticed this little detail prior to this as she began to wail as soon as she saw the little vandalism.

Your knees began to ache, so you stood up and took the hands of both young ones and pulled them gently to your teacher’s desk. Before you reached the small, chestnut brown table a shrill sound rang out, announcing playtime.

The rest of the class cheered and bounced up from their little chairs in excitement. You smiled at them and opened the glass door that led to the playground, motioning for the kids to orderly move out.

Your voice rang out at them to be careful as they spilled out into the large, sand filled playground.

You turned back to look at both Maddie and Shaun who stood dutifully in front of the table.

You went over to sit on the desk and picked up the yellow and brown pencil box. You knew that it belonged to Maddie. The first thing the little girl had done when she came to school that day was to show you her brand new pencil box. However, you did not want to embarrass Shaun in front of a fellow classmate.

“Well........maybe Shaun had a pencil box similar to this and he mistook it for his. Is that what happened Shaun?” You looked at the little boy who hung his head while nodding hesitantly.

“Its okay. Maddie, Christmas is coming up and maybe you could gift Shaun a pencil box the same as yours when we exchange gifts. How does that sound? Both of you could match! Isn’t that exciting?” Maddie looked at Shaun and gave him a small smile.

“I’m sorry.” Shaun’s whispered.

“It’s okay.” Maddie’s smile widened and she took Shaun’s hand to run off into the playground. 

At least they made up. The two of them were good friends and you knew that a pencil box was not going to stop that. You smiled.

You looked out at the serene scene of kids laughing and playing. While the job of a kindergarten teacher surely had it’s numerous challenges, you were happy. You loved kids. Besides, it was way better than the customer service jobs you had been working while earning your teaching degree. Thinking of those times, you shuddered. 

“Another fight over glitter pens?” A melodic voice rang out as you looked at the speaker with a smile. Mr. Kim was your colleague. He had been working here even before you had joined.

‘‘It was a Winnie The Pooh pencil box this time.” 

“Can’t blame the kids. I would fight over Winnie The Pooh goods too.” The two of you giggled as you stood up to join him on his way to the playground. Seokjin was a fun colleague. He was friendly and helpful. Aside from the one time that he had asked you out just a week after you had joined, your relationship was never really awkward. It was a bit awkward for some time after you had rejected him what with your philosophy of keeping work and pleasure separate. However, it was quickly fixed after he had explained to you that he had just been cheated on by his girlfriend and hence, made the rash decision to ask you in order to prove to himself that he could move on so fast.

After that explanation, your relationship with him fell back into a cordial one between fellow teachers.

You were brought out of your musings as a small cry rang out. Both you and Seokjin looked over at a kid from his class who had fallen over. The two of you rushed to him. Seokjin picked him up as you dusted his shirt off any sand.

“Aww, did this ground hurt you?” Seokjin spoke while looking at the kid with an exaggerated expression of anger. The kid nodded.

“Bad ground!” Mr Kim lightly stomped his foot onto the ground, punishing it as the kid giggled. 

Seokjin really was a charmer.

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You rushed from table to table, preparing for the day. The kids had yet to arrive. Today was Teacher’s Day and the school had organized an activity for the kids to express themselves in a creative manner. Today, they were free to express their gratitude for their teachers in any form; whether it be a painting, a letter or even a verbal expression.

You finished putting drawing sheets and pencil colors on each desk as the stomping of little feet signified that the day had begun.

Putting on a wide smile, you stood at the door of the classroom and greeted every child with a cheery “Good morning!”

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You rolled your shoulders and sat back in your chair. You had been preparing the weekly teaching plan for over an hour now and your hand was beginning to cramp. To give yourself a reprieve, you picked up the stack of papers laying on the right side of your desk and put them in front of you.

Today's activity was a wonderful success. The kids had loved the opportunity to create whatever they wanted. A few brave ones had even come in front of the class to deliver a small appreciation speech. A smile tugged at your lips as you recalled the memory.

Each piece of paper contained either a drawing or a cutely scribbled 'Thank You, Ms Y/L/N'.

As you began to reach the end of the stack, you paused. The next card was...... peculiar to say the least.

'I love you's were scattered throughout the white paper in dark red ink. The same phrase was written over and over again in a disorderly fashion.

Touching the middle of the page, the ink felt... slimy.

Although, it looked very intense, you understood that young children didn't exactly know how to be subtle.

Doubts were creeping at the edges of your consciousness but you didn't allow them to take hold. It was an innocent expression of gratitude from a student.

Besides, you were tired and your back ached. Pondering upon this would have to be saved for later. Now you just wanted to go home and soak in a warm bath to relax your sore back muscles.

You picked up your bag and walked out the classroom door, shutting the lights off.

As you walked down the now dark hallway, the sound of your own footsteps echoing was eery.

No, there was another pair of footsteps. You looked back, prepared to put your survival game knowledge to the test.

It was just Seokjin. He gave you a warm smile as he hurried up to reach you.

"Why are you still here so late?" You questioned with an inquiring smile as the two of you walked side by side.

"The same as you. Preparing the lesson plan." You gave a small sound of acknowledgement.

"Did you see the cards the kids made?" He asked with an enthusiastic smile.

"Yeah. They were sweet."

He looked at you as if waiting for you to say more. However, you had reached your car by now and waved goodbye to him. You weren't very talkative when tired.

You got into your car and began to adjust the rearview mirror. Seokjin’s car was parked right behind yours apparently. You thought you saw a glimpse of a weird expression on his face, one you had never witnessed earlier. But as you looked back to check, it was gone and he was giving you a smile and wave.

Maybe the long day had gotten to you.

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You smoothed down your white blouse and brown pencil skirt. Today was the day of the annual Parent and Teacher Meeting. All the parents would be coming to the school to receive feedbacks regarding their child’s performance. It would be preceded by a performance prepared by each section. While you were excited to see all your kids perform on stage, you were also nervous on their behalf.

You rushed to the small, brown building located in the middle of your small town that was your workplace. Thankfully, there were not many cars parked there which meant that the parents had not yet started arriving, giving you more time to prepare the props for the performance.

Reaching your classroom, you went to the brown cupboard in the corner and took out the bundle of starlights and leaves. Picking up the cargo in your arms, you began to move towards the small auditorium. 

Your class was supposed to perform first so the stage had to be set along with the props. You were expecting the auditorium to be empty since the other teachers would not have to prepare for their performance until after yours was done.

However, as you moved towards the elevated stage with its red curtains, you saw Seokjin leaning against one side of the stage. He looked up and smiled as he saw you coming towards him.

You put down the props on one of the chairs in the front row and looked up at him. He was wearing a light brown turtleneck and round glasses that perched low on his straight nose, completing the sweet-and-hot-teacher look. 

“Why are you here so early?” You inquired with a smile.

“To help you set up, of course. I was worried that you would be alone since your class has to go first.” He began as he moved towards the chair to pick up the bundle of starlights.

Oh. That’s sweet, you thought. He’d always been a helpful co-worker.

“So, how do you want them?”  

The two of you spent the next thirty minutes setting up the stage. Without his help, it would have taken you short stature quite a long while to reach up and put up the props.

After it was done, you sat on the chair along with Seokjin. You picked up your water bottle and took a long drink. Today was quite a workout. In your periphery, you saw your fellow teacher give you a dark look as you gulped the liquid. Strange.

“Would you like to drink?” You asked. Maybe he wanted some water too.

“Yes please.” His voice sounded rough and guttural. So he was thirsty.

He took the blue bottle from you and placing his plump lips on the rim, drank with his eyes closed.

“Thanks.” He gave the bottle back to you.

“I should be the one thanking you. If not for your help, it would’ve taken me a long while to set up. It was very kind of you to get here early to help me out.” You gave him a smile and he smiled back.

“Its no big d-” His voice cut off as the auditorium door opened to reveal Mrs. Min, another co-worker.

“Y/N, Samantha’s parents are here. I’ve told them to wait in your class.” You stood up and thanked Seokjin again before moving to your class to greet Mr and Mrs Pierce.

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You greeted all the parents as they arrived and directed them towards the auditorium. After everyone from your class had arrived, you went backstage to check on the kids. They were understandably nervous. You tried to calm them and encouraged them to perform.

As the MC gave the cue for their arrival, they all moved to the stage in a single file. You smiled at each of them and looked on from the wings. 

The music started and the kids began to dance. The audience was filled with the cheer of parents. You were so proud of each one of them.

As the song was about to end, Lia forgot a dance move and looked towards the wings. You quickly began dancing to remind her and she was back on track. Regardless, you kept dancing just in case anyone else forgot.

As the song came to an end, among the thunderous applause from proud parents, you looked at the opposite side of the stage. There, in the wings stood Mr Kim along with his class who was gearing to go onto the stage.

He was already looking at you and on his face was the biggest smile. He kept smiling, with his unblinking eyes even as you raised your eyebrows.

You were quickly distracted as your kids began leaving the stage. You gave each of them a high-five and told them how proud you were of them.

Your coworker slipped your mind as you looked at their smiling faces with eyes that were full of stars.

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Today was so hectic. After the performances were done, the parent-teacher interaction began. You had talked to all the parents except one. Shaun’s.

They were apparently running late and had yet to arrive.

As the clock was about to strike 7, you heard the door to your classroom open.

In walked a man in his mid-twenties. A man that was strikingly familiar. Nate. Your highschool boyfriend and the one that got away.

He looked like the older, manlier version of the sweet boy that you knew. His black hair was still a bit longer than the usual. He had grown in height, almost towering over you now.

While you had been looking at him, he , too, had been regarding you with a confused and ,bless your hopeful heart, fond look in his brown orbs. You took some time to notice the small figure standing by his side, Shaun.

Nate was Shaun’s .....dad?

As much as you were a firm believer of keeping work and pleasure separate, you felt your heart break into little pieces as you realized that your first love, who was standing right in front of you, had another woman in his life now.

Putting on a blank expression, you motioned for him to take a seat. He kept looking at you as he sat down. You were the first to break the silence.

“Good evening, Mr Jones. Would Mrs Jones be joining us today?” You asked with a professional smile that you had perfected over years of working in customer service jobs.

“Oh um Y/n, Shaun’s mother and I are divorced.” You were silent for a heartbeat.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Here, let me just get Shaun’s report car-” You began reaching down to get Shaun’s report card as Nate spoke.

“Shaun why don’t you go and see if Jimmy is still in Mr Kim’s class?” Shaun nodded at his father and jumped up from his seat to go the the class next door.

As he left, you felt your hand become encased in a warm, familiar one.

“Y/N, how have you been?” He looked at you with eyes, imploring, begging you to forgive him.

He had left for another state to begin college early while the two of you were still in your last year of school. There had been no official break up. Just a text message.

“Good.” You replied curtly. As much as your heart had soared upon meeting him again, you still remembered the heartache he had left you with.

“I know that I dont deserve it but please......forgive me. I was young and wanted to leave that small town at any cost. I felt that if I couldn’t get out then, I would be stuck there forever. Leaving you behind was my biggest mistake and not a day goes by that I don’t think about the ‘what-if’s. I’ve been hurting, Y/N. Maybe not as much as you, but I’ve never been able to forget you. I’m not asking you to let me into your life again as a lover but .....please be a part of my life again?” His voice broke on the last word.

You stood up and hugged him wordlessly. You had never been good at holding grudges and especially not with your loved ones.

Suddenly, the sound of a giggle reached your ears. There stood Shaun with Mr Kim behind him.

A gasp left you as you noticed the look on Seokjin’s face. It almost looked as if he was....snarling. His lips were pulled back and his eyes held a murderous glint in them. He stood there with his fists clenched, one side of his face bathed in darkness from the malfunctioning bulb. It was a terrifying sight. You had never seen this look on the gentle man’s face.

You pulled away from Nate’s warm embrace and wished him a formal goodbye.

By the time Shaun and Nate departed, Seokjin was nowhere in sight. You went to check his classroom but it was locked. You would have to explain the situation to him on Monday, in case he misunderstands.

One could not afford misunderstandings in your line of work.

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Monday arrived along with a beaming sun. As you walked out of your car towards the school building, the sun beat down on your frame with ferocity. Summer was here with a vengeance.

Walking into the grey tiled hallway, you noted with surprise that the door to the principal’s room was open and occupied. Mr Kim Namjoon rarely ever arrived before 9 AM. 

As you were moving towards your classroom to prepare for the students’ arrival, you were stopped on your way by Mrs Min. She came out of the principal’s office and motioned you to come in with a look of barely concealed disgust.

Your heart fell to your stomach. Maybe Seokjin really had misunderstood the situation and now you were about to be reprimanded. Besides, from what you understood, he had been friends with Mr Kim for a long time and ultimately, it would be his word against yours. You steeled yourself.

You went into the small room and saw that all the teachers were gathered in the office, seemingly waiting for you. You blinked. Informal relations with parents were frowned upon but not that serious of an act.

You stood in front of the mahogany desk and looked at Mr Kim. 

“To say that I’m disappointed would be an understatement. How could you do this Ms Y/L/N? What do you have to say for yourself?” He began in a tone that you had never heard from him before.

“I’m really sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” You pleaded with him.

“But I’m afraid you won’t get the chance to correct your mistake. This is a very serious offence. You understand that I’d have to report you to the police, right?” Mr Kim looked at you with a somber look on his handsome face.

“Wait-what? What are you talking about?” You were confused. Surely what you had done was not a criminal offence?!

Mr Kim opened a drawer and took out a manila envelope with a broken seal. He took out the contents of the envelope and scattered them across the table.

Your heart dropped.

Upon the table were the pictures of a boy from your class. Mason.

A bruised, beaten up Mason who seemed to be crying. Alongside these pictures was a letter. Written in a writing that seemed vaguely familiar, you picked up the white paper and began to read.

You were horrified and perplexed as you read the entire thing. The letter accused you, of all people, of doing this to Mason. The letter, written by Mason’s single mother, detailed the brutality Mason had to face at your hands for not having done his homework. In the very end, it also stated how they would be transferring to another state entirely and homeschooling the poor kid due to cruelty he had apparently faced at his teacher’s, at your, hands. 

“Bu-but, I never did this. Mr Kim you know me. Please. Please believe me. What kind of a monster d-do you think I am to do t-this to a small ch-child?” Your voice broke. This was a serious accusation. Even if you did manage to prove yourself innocent, no school would hire you and risk bad publicity. Oh God. What if the media got their hands upon this. You had to-

“I have to report this, I’m sorry. Please call your lawyer, if you want. I��ll give you a few minutes.” Mr Kim stood up to leave as the rest of the teachers filed away from the room.

Except one.

The entire time, Seokjin had stood in one corner and looked at your career falling to pieces with an impassive look on his face.

“Seokjin, you believe me, right? I would never do this. Please you have to believe me.” You begged. He had been working with you for so long. At least, he would trust you.

“Of course, I believe you Y/N. You would never do this. You’re so loving with kids. You know, I always believed that you’d make such a good mother. A sweet little housewife that took care of her kids. But the problem is that would the others believe you?” He kept walking towards you as he spoke. By the time he was done speaking, he was standing right before the chair you had fallen into in your panic.

You might be a bit naive but you weren’t stupid. You knew that he was subtly trying to offer you a way out of being falsely accused in return for something but you couldn’t imagine what. 

“What is your point?” You asked.

He took his time before beginning. He gave you a smile that didn’t reach his dark eyes and lowered himself onto his knees before your chair, putting his long arms on the armrests. The proximity made you vaguely uncomfortable but you were in no position to complain.

“My point is, enough is enough. We’ve been playing this game for too long. I’ve waited long enough, baby. I did so much for you. I kept on doing this shitty job when it was just meant to be a summer job before I took up the post of a professor in a university. But then you came along and I had to keep on doing this stupid job because I had to protect you, of course. But we’ve spent way too much time here.” He said all this with the the look of a parent that was exasperated with their stubborn child.

You were baffled. Was he delusional? You thought he was over whatever romantic feelings he held towards you initially.

He continued. “I’ll go out of this room and convince Namjoon to not report this to the police and tell him that I’d seen Mason on Friday and he looked completely fine. Then we’ll walk out of here together. We’ll go to your apartment and you’ll pack all your essentials to move to my place immediately. Once we get there, I’ll cleanse you-” A nasty grin broke out on his face as you shuddered after understanding the meaning behind his words.”-in my own way. Can’t have that filth’s trace on you.” His lips pulled back in a snarl, twisting his handsome face into something gruesome.

“Do you understand?”

You did understand. You weighed your options. Throwing away the career you had worked so hard for, slaved away all those nights while going to classes in the mornings , a career you loved dearly or dealing with this psycho long enough until he got bored.

You looked into his dark, bottomless eyes and nodded once. His face broke out in a wide smile. In his eyes was a glint that you wished you never got to witness again. You let your eyes fall upon the floor as he rose up to walk out of the room.

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Belatedly you’d come to realize, after he’d forced you to relocate to the city he’d have to move to for work, that you were doomed.

You never had a choice.

Everytime you would try to apply to a school, it would mysteriously receive a manila envelope overnight containing those damned pictures. In your despair, you never had the mind to wonder what actually happened to the boy you used to teach. 

You had never hurt him, so who had?

Unbidden, Seokjin’s glinting eyes would flash in your mind.

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I’m so sorry this is late. Hope you like it!

-Aani

[arashikitten]

Dark Danny Should’ve Come Back at Least Once

I think most of the Phandom can agree that The Ultimate Enemy was one of the best Danny Phantom episodes ever made, and for good reason. It was incredibly dark of a kid’s cartoon, especially one made by Bitch Hartman, and on top of that, it provided some very interesting lore and characters. We get to see Danny pushed to his absolute emotional limit in a way that I don’t think the show ever did before, save maybe for My Brother’s Keeper in season 1, and we get our first glimpse at Clockwork, who thanks to @five-rivers fanfic Mortified, has become one of my favorite DP characters. And of course, we get to see Dark Danny, or Dan.

But there’s one little thing about this episode that’s always bothered me: the very ending.

Because at the very end of TUE, we get a shot of the Fenton thermos that Dan is sealed away in rocking back and forth, before Dan’s face forms a massive dent in the side, his laughter echoing as the screen fades to the end credits.

You would think, with an ending like that, that Dan would come back in a later episode. That he would return in the series finale is this last big bad, this final demon for Danny to confront once and for all. 

But that’s not what happens. And it kinda pisses me off.

Dan should’ve come back. We should have gotten at least one more episode with this guy, exploring more of his character, more of his side of the story, anything at all. And you know what would be a great way to do this?

Vlad.

Imagine this, if you will.

Dan makes his escape from Clockwork’s lair, dead set on finishing what he started. Eventually, he discovers Vlad’s portal (let’s say that Vlad decided to rebuild his here) and, upon coming face to face with the man who made him like this in the first place, freaks out. Dan makes an attempt on Vlad’s life, and Vlad just barely manages to escape.

Once Vlad is sure this strange new ghost won’t find him so easily, he realizes that this new ghost had Danny’s insignia on his chest, and puts it together that Danny must be involved in this somehow. 

So Vlad makes his way to Amity Park to confront Danny about this new ghost. Danny assumes that Vlad is there to try to kill Jack or whatever, the two get into a massive fistfight, before Vlad finally tells Danny that he’s only here because a strange new ghost wearing Danny’s insignia popped out of his portal this morning attempting to kill him a second time.

And Danny freezes. He goes from snarky and flippant to sheer, raw terror that has Vlad actually worried. Danny demands to know what this new ghost looks like, and Vlad’s concern turns to fear when Danny’s face goes white with horror because this is the same kid who went up against Pariah Dark without a second thought, who has faced countless ghosts who’s powers could be considered godly with a fearless smile on his face, and Vlad may not have much respect for Danny but he knows what the kid lacks in intelligence he more than makes up for in bravery. 

Meaning that whoever this new ghost is must be incredibly powerful, incredibly horrific, and incredibly dangerous.

Danny tells Vlad to go to Danny’s house and tell them to put the ghost shields surrounding the town up, to not try anything funny, and don’t. Leave. The Shields. No matter what.

For once, Vlad decides to take Danny’s lead. He appears on the Fenton’s doorstep, Armani suit ruffled and hair disheveled, telling them that there is a very powerful ghost making it’s way toward Amity Park and they need to put the ghost shields up now, or risk a Pariah Dark-level threat again. 

Then Vlad makes his way toward the edge of town, because he still hasn’t gotten an answer from Danny as to who exactly that ghost was, and he’ll be damned if he can’t get an answer.

Meanwhile, Danny is just outside the ghost shields, waiting for Dan to arrive. He’s absolutely terrified, because what if Danny isn’t strong enough this time? What if he fails again, like he almost did before Clockwork turned back time? Would Clockwork do that for him again? Would he have to watch his future burn down this present that he’s taken so long to keep up?

Then Dan arrives. Right as Vlad makes it to the edge of the shield. 

And Vlad watches with awe as the two fight. He watches as Danny holds his own against this ghost that had almost decimated Vlad barely 2 hours prior, watches as Danny outmaneuvers, outsmarts this menace, watches as Danny fights tooth and nail in a way that Vlad is sure he’s never seen before, and he realizes that Danny has been holding back. Maybe not at first, maybe not during those first few months, but definitely for a while now, because Danny is holding his own now when Vlad couldn’t.

But then that leaves the question as to why? Why is Danny going all out now? Why was he so scared of this new ghost? More importantly, when did Danny encounter this guy? 

Because he had to have fought this ghost at least once before, to have had that reaction to Vlad’s description. 

And then, he hears the other ghost’s voice, one that sounds like a strange mixture of his and Danny’s, and he hears him say “It doesn’t matter what you do, Danny. You might’ve stopped that explosion, but there are still so many other things that lead to me. A car crash, an unlucky ghost attack, the ecto-filtrator, Vlad getting lucky, all of them could still happen. Your friends, your family, all gone, and you still turn into me.”

And suddenly, everything makes sense. That ghost that Danny’s fighting, that ghost that attacked Vlad, that is Danny, or it was, before something twisted him into an unrecognizable monster, and Vlad has a creeping suspicion that it has something to do with him.  And he realizes that Danny is so much more than he ever gave him credit for. He sees Danny, fighting his own future with a hope that Vlad would call naive if not for the fact that Danny had already thwarted whatever horrible future lead to this at least once before, and he understands that he was wrong about Danny.

Because this? Fighting against the personification of all the worst parts of yourself not once, but at least twice? It would require a maturity, a strength of will that Vlad knows he himself lacks, and he comes to the stunning realization that for all the childish quips and petty pranks, Danny is far more mature than Vlad ever was, far stronger than Vlad ever was.

And then, Danny does the ghostly wail.

And if Vlad was surprised before, then he's absolutely terrified now. That’s enough power to destroy an entire city, that single wail, and the sound is a bone-chilling scream that rubs the older halfa wrong in every way possible because that sound should not come from someone as young as Danny.

And now Vlad is caught between two realizations: that Danny is so much stronger than Vlad could ever be in every sense of the word, and that the only reason Danny is that strong is because he has to be, because he’s a child being forced to go against all manner of ghostly and cosmic horror all on his own, and Vlad suddenly feels intensely guilty because he should’ve been helping Danny, and instead he’s done nothing but make his life harder.

At that point, Jack and Maddie arrive. They freak out because Vlad is so close to Phantom and this other extremely powerful ghost, what the hell is he thinking!? And Vlad is trying desperately to get them to leave, because Danny looks exhausted and Vlad might be an ass, but he’s starting his redemption arc now and that means making sure Danny’s secret, and by extension Danny himself, is safe from his parents. Vlad knows what it’s like to be on an examination table, knows how terrifying it is to have doctors looming over you with knives and bright lights while you have no idea what’s going on, and he’ll be damned if he lets Danny (who he again reminds himself is very much still a child) go through that with his own parents.

But it’s too late. Danny detransforms right there on the street, in full view of Jack and Maddie and everyone else who’s gathered there (Dan’s been sucked back in the thermos at this point).

Danny turns around, covered in scratches and burns and bruises, blood in his mouth from where Dan punched him in the lip, left arm hanging in an unnatural angle, and he sees everyone: He sees Vlad, icy blue eyes so similar to Danny’s own filled with uncharacteristic worry.

He sees Sam and Tucker, both with wide, scared eyes, and he can just barely see the faint shimmer of tears gathering in their eyes.

He sees Jazz, face pale and her knuckles white as she grips the Fenton peeler with all her strength.

He sees Valerie, her helmet down and exposing a flurry of emotions ranging from shock to anger to horror to pain.

He sees his mom and dad, clinging to each other as they stare at Danny, at their son, and come to the realization that their son is dead, their son is a ghost and he has been for a while now and how did they never notice? How could they not notice that they had been shooting at their own son for at least a year now, that their boy had been putting his afterlife on the line for them while also trying to keep up with school, and evade capture by the GIW, all at the same time?

And Danny is scared, he’s so scared, because his parents look horrified of him and they think he’s a monster, and they hate him, because why else would they be looking at him like that?

He feels his fathers arms wrapping around him and he’s sure, he’s so sure that they’re about to haul him off to their lab to be pinned down and dissected by his own parents, because they saw Dan, they saw what he would become, they saw what he is now, they know now. But then his mom and dad start apologizing, because they never noticed, and they should’ve, they should’ve seen that Danny’s low grades and missed curfews and skipped classes were because he was putting his life on the line for everyone in this town over and over and over again. They apologize for not making him feel safe in his own house, because how many times did they rant about dissecting their own son right in front of him? How many times had Jack and Maddie shown Danny a dissected blob ghost and effectively told him that he was the next one on the list? How much hell did their own son have to go through on his own, because his own parents couldn’t see what was right there?

And Danny finally realizes that no, he’s not going to end up on a dissection table, that his parents do accept him as he is now. 

But there’s still this lingering fear because they don’t know. They don’t know what Danny might turn into, and he can’t keep that from them anymore, because Dan is a secret he can’t keep anymore.

Jack and Maddie are confused when their son pulls away, and for a moment they’re worried that Danny’s upset with them, that he’s angry at them, because why wouldn’t he be?

Then they see this nervousness, they see how he’s shaking and tense, and they might not always be able to read the room that well but they can tell that there’s something else going on here that Danny wants to tell them, even if he’s scared to.

So Jack and Maddie ask Danny if he wants to talk about whatever it is back at the house, and Danny says yes, but Vlad, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz should also be there, because Danny needs some level of support and he knows that Vlad won’t stop pestering him about Dan until he tells him.

Valerie steps in at this point, finally getting over her shock to demand to know what the hells going on, was Danny Phantom the whole time? Who was that other ghost? Why did that other ghost say that Danny would turn into him?

Sam and Tucker, who have been through the emotional wringer watching their best friend fight his evil future self, then reveal his identity to his parents, are kinda pissed at Valerie, because Danny’s already stressed out enough as is, she doesn’t need to be adding on to it. A fight almost breaks out between the three of them, which only stopped when Vlad of all people, steps in saying that while Valerie does have a right to know what’s going on, all of this yelling will do nothing but cause problems.

The three simmer down, and they all head over to the Fenton’s house, where Danny tells them everything: the portal, Pariah Dark (Vlad suddenly finds a particularly interesting spot on the floor), and Dan. He tells them about how Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker died in an explosion in that timeline, how that timeline’s Danny turned to Vlad to take him in, how Alt!Danny asked Vlad to remove his human half so he wouldn’t feel that pain anymore. How Alt!Phantom had been driven insane by the separation (he leaves out the part where Phantom fuses with Vlad’s ghost half: he’s not sure Vlad wants him to tell them about his halfa status), killing his human half before destroying most of humanity. How Danny had been forced to fight Dan a year ago, when he had attempted to blow up his friends in family in this timeline to ensure Dan’s recreation here.

When he’s finally done, about an hour and a half later, Danny looks around the room: at Valerie, at Vlad, at his best friends, at his sister, at his parents, and he sees not only acceptance, but respect. Pride. Because they saw that Danny was willing to look his fate in the eye, and say that he would change it no matter what. They saw him fight tooth and nail to protect them, they saw him defend them from his own demons with a bravery most grown adults don’t have, much less a 14 year old boy.

And they accept him.

[phantomrose96]

Flash in the Eyes Part 2

(Part 1)

More fixed!Flynn lore? More fixed!Flynn lore

..................

Danny lay awake. He kept his eyes glued to the bedroom ceiling, studded with glow-in-the-dark stars from corner to corner. They doused him in the tiniest shimmer of ethereal light – the second source of light in the room – after his phone, which he gripped loosely in the hand dangling off the bed. The phone cast its own faint shimmer outward, a ray into the bleak night.

And he himself made for the third source of light, he supposed. That pulse of iridescent green from his eyes, which he felt like the beginnings of a headache building inside his head, had been spurred to the front by the trickle of anxiety that kept his nerves alight now at 3:30 am.

The plastic stars above. His phone glowing outward. (His radioactive eyes, pinned to Aunt Alicia.)

Danny was not allowed to forget the incident. He was not allowed to move on. Even home, it followed him.

His phone, with that dim light, was open to a single message that had been plaguing him all day. A single Facebook message, from a profile wishing to connect, with no profile picture, no history, no other friends, made day-of. “danny. this is your aunt alicia. never would of thought id be using of one these computers. wierd things. any way. wanted to apoligize about scarring you. I have a mean face maddie knows. i dont have a computer. this is in the libary in town. but hoping you culd call me on the phone. wanted to ask you somthing more. thanks. xxx-xxx-xxxx…”

Danny left the message on read. He figured it didn’t much matter that his read-receipts were on. Alicia made it clear she had no access to a computer, or likely internet for that matter. This was a message cast into the void, framed as an apology, but fishing for information that made Danny’s skin crawl to think about. Alicia could talk to his mom any time. But she had chosen not to. She’d chosen to contact Danny directly, through a means of great hassle for a woman so sworn-off technology, living so far away from proper civilization. And she’d chosen to do so after seeing that flash in his eyes.

This wasn’t like fighting ghosts. Those were pure physical scuffles which ended in him casting the creature off into the portal to (hopefully) never be heard from again. This instead was an anxiety pricking along every nerve of his skin, deep-seeded and deep-sewn from the woman who terrified him all these many years, whose connection to his ghost-hunting parents sent his brain into spirals of dread for all the what-ifs he conjured.

“You seem deep in contemplation. Perhaps I should come back later?”

Danny sat bolt-upright, spinning fast enough to see new stars spawning in his vision. He blinked them away, and sucked in a sharp inhale of breath as he snapped his head to the side.

Half-translucent, idly floating, Vlad Plasmius appraised him from the other side of he bedroom, studying Danny the way a teacher might study a struggling student.

Danny’s transformation and leap from bed came as one. His covers blew back, phone clattering to the floor forgotten.

“Plas—”

“Yes yes, ‘it is I, Plasmius’. I believe we’ve done our battle cry introductions enough times for the audience to get the point.”

“What are you doing here?!”

“Just dropping in on old friends.” Plasmius, still floating, performed a motion as if to sit. He swung one leg over the other, and reduced the miasma of pressure that his aura sent off. He was relaxed, and conversational, and this made Danny’s neck hair prickle all the more.

“All the way from Wisconsin! Yeah just, dropping in at 3 in the morning! Yeah, well, sorry but I don’t buy it, Plasmius. And I’m sending you back to Wisconsin now that you—”

“Seems we’ve both been traveling quite a bit out of state. Tell me was it a fun little vacation? A ghost hunting trip?”

“It—” Danny’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know we were gone?”

“Oh easy, I have ghost sentinels pinned on your house at all hours. They feed me this information.”

“Noted. Thanks for the tip. I’ll be sure to blast them out of existence next time I’m out.”

“I’d love to see you try. They’re masters of stealth.” Vlad flashed a grin. “I have to say I am quite disappointed to see you all back so soon – must have been a short trip. Where did you go?”

“Not telling you. Now why are you here?”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

Danny bit down the urge to sucker-punch Vlad on spot. “We were visiting our aunt. Nothing special. Not everything is some big…I dunno… ghost conspiracy, Vlad. Now why are you here?”

“I was simply hoping to catch the house unguarded. You know, explore the lab, see the new contraptions that Maddie designed and Jack botched, perhaps sprinkle some cyanide in the oaf’s cornflakes box.”

“Like I’d let you--!”

“Aunt, did you say, Daniel? Alicia, perchance?”

Danny gave no response. He felt only the twist in his gut, which wrought a smile to Vlad’s face.

Vlad clapped his hands together and continued. “That is a name that brings back memories! She and Maddie were remarkably close. I heard about her constantly – given of course that I am a fantastic listener who never forgets a name or a face, unlike some fools who can’t even remember birthdays – but yes as Maddie’s best listener and best supporter, I feel like I know Alicia personally. Tell me, how is her husband Dale doing? How’s little Flynn? Not so little anymore, I imagine.”

“Don’t… talk about my aunt. That’s weird.” Danny floated backwards, coalescing a lick of flame in his palm. “Also, goes to show how much you know these days. Alicia and Dale have been divorced for like ten years now. And there’s no Flynn. You sure you’re that great a listener?”

Vlad quirked an eyebrow. “Ah, shame how divorce never seems to happen to the right people. Has Alicia tried telling Maddie it’s not too late to follow suit?” Danny unleashed his pulse of energy. Vlad blocked it with a single dismissive wave of his gloved hand. “And Daniel I am referring to your cousin Flynn, about whom I am absolutely not mistaken. Maddie and I were sophomores in college when he was born. Maddie flooded me with pictures of the boy, chubby little thing with red hair like Maddie’s. They moved her to tears, some of them. It was formative for me. The moment I realized that was the future I wished for myself, that I could bring Maddie that same joy with a family of our own. Shame how children don’t seem to happen to the right people either.”

Danny gave no response. He only lingered in the air, drifting slightly, the wafting residue of his attack trailing along his palm.

“You don’t seem so convinced,” Vlad commented.

“I’m not. Aunt Alicia doesn’t have kids. I don’t have any cousins. Unless you count whatever Danielle is.”

“A clone. You have to know the cousin thing was made up.”

“Alicia doesn’t have kids. Bottom line.”

“Did she sign him away in the divorce? That’s cold. I wonder if I could convince Jack to do the same with you.”

“Aunt Alicia divorced without kids, dumbass!” Danny swept a hand out. “She talks about her divorce all the time like it’s the best thing that happened to her, and she’s said how easy it was with just her and Dale and no one else. I don’t know how many other ways I can tell you I don’t have cousins, and I definitely don’t have a cousin named Flynn. You’re making yourself look like an idiot.”

“The opinion of a 14-year-old means very little to me.” Vlad dipped forward, closing the gap between him and Danny by a few feet. The air howled cold behind him. “However I am utterly intrigued to know what became of Flynn then. Clearly something worth keeping from you. Drowned in a pool? Carried off by a bear? Perhaps his parents made a ghost portal a decade prior to yours and he zapped it on from the inside.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I am hilarious, young man.” Vlad uncrossed his legs, still floating, but as though standing once more. “You should respond to your aunt’s message.” Vlad nodded his head to the phone on the floor. “She seems eager to speak to you. Maybe she can tell you what happened to dear little Flynn. And if you don’t, well perhaps I will stop by tomorrow morning for some tea, and ask Maddie myself what became of him. You’re welcome to be in the room when I do.”

“Hey!”

A flash of light momentarily blinded Danny, followed by a pulse of energy, and when Danny opened his eyes again he had to blink through stars.

Nothing remained in the night.

Only the ceiling studded stars above, and the glow of the phone below, and the consumptive chilling green flashing from his own eyes.  

[bbrandy2002]

Fool’s Rush In

Chapter 18

Pairing: Liam x Riley

Book: TRR AU

Warnings: Language, crude talk, and the usual bad writing.

I had planned from the beginning to end this series after the next chapter and an epilogue, but call me crazy, I love it too much. So while this part of the story will end, I still plan to update with one-shots or stories from time to time. If you’re just done with it, let me know.

Also, this chapter felt a little off to me, so I apologize if it's terrible, but I think I ended on a good note.

Thanks @burnsoslow for prereading.and usage of your girl, who finally got to make her debut.

---------------------------------

"Damn it, Riley! Pick up!" Liam grumbled as he lowered the cell phone from his ear and tossed it in the seat beside him. The royal jet had been in the air for a little over four hours already, and he'd grown frustrated at getting her voice mail each time. Surely, she was home by now. 

Even though it was the middle of the night in Las Vegas, it was worth interrupting her. He had tried unsuccessfully to contact Riley since he packed his bags earlier and hastily headed for the airstrip. By this point, there must have been a dozen or so messages left on her phone without so much as a hint she'd gotten them. 

While time wasn't an issue -- he'd get to Las Vegas one way or the other -- it was the desperation to hear from his new wife and tell her he knew precisely why she left. 

And that he loved her.

Tilting his head back against the headrest, he swiveled side-to-side in his luxury chair while tightly clutching his freshly poured scotch. The security footage he watched earlier that morning replayed in his mind again. There were no doubts about what it showed: Madeleine confronted Riley outside their quarters just minutes after leaving the ball. Without sound, however, no one could ascertain specifically what was said among the two women. It was clear though,  Riley was not a willing participant in that conversation. When they saw the disk held up in the Countess' hands, and the look of sheer horror on his pussycat's face, that told Liam all he needed to know. This was a blackmail situation, plain and simple, that included assault; those flowers he found scattered on the ground when he returned to his quarters last night all made sense now. This act was deliberate and treasonous, and Liam would ensure his ex-fiancee paid handsomely for it. 

After they viewed the footage several more times, the Royal Guard was immediately summoned to Krona to find Madeleine and take her into custody. Liam knew it was a long shot whether his guards could pull that sting off, but he was working with what he had at the moment.

Despite whatever happened next, there was one thing the King was confident of: He was prepared to give up his entire Kingdom to get his girl back. Returning to Cordonia without her was not an option.

Shaking his tumbler of partially melted ice cubes, Liam leaned forward and steadily poured another bottle of scotch into his glass. As soon as he sat back and raised the fresh beverage to his lips, he was startled by the ringing of his cell phone. In a rush to answer, he hastily set the drink aside and snatched his phone up from where he tossed it earlier. 

"Hello! Love?" He answered, hopeful it was her.

"Hey, little brother. Love you too ... Say, do you know if the palace has a Spanish tickler or a breast ripper? Asking for a friend."

Liam furrowed his brows in confusion before rising from his seat, plopping a knee down on its cushioned bottom, and glancing to the back of the plane. "Leo? Why are you calling me? We're on the same damn plane. I'm looking right at you."

"Nevermind that. Listen, I figured out a way to take care of Madeleine once and for all. Behold ..." Leo held up a leather-bound book and waved it over his head while Liam squinted from the front of the plane to get a better look. "... The King Constantine Guide To Fucking Torture In The 21st Century; Father gave it to me after my investiture ceremony. The way I see it, there really is no other option here than to tie her to a tree in front of the palace, invite the public to watch for a modest fee, and do some cool shit with iron rods and spikes. I got dibs on the knee-splitter, though."

"Leo ..." Liam began to warn his brother how ridiculous that plan was before stopping himself and staring off into the distance for a moment in thought. "Wait ... is there anything about flaying in that book?"

"Hell yeah there is! And if you're interested in thumbscrews, my buddy, Pete, has a trunk full of them. He uses them for ass play, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind letting us borrow them to split Maddie's thumbs in half." Leo let out a maniacal laugh.

Liam chuckled, despite the peculiarity of the conversation. "I'm not going to lie and tell you I'm not interested -- to the contrary, actually. And while I appreciate your help in seeing that Madeleine is brought to justice, I think we better stick to more lawful means."

"Boo, you whore!" The line went dead with a click. 

Liam held the phone away from his ear, watching Leo sink down into his chair in a huff. "Really?" He called back in agitation. Met with the silent treatment and a middle finger from his disgruntled brother, Liam rolled his eyes, then slumped back down into his seat. Maybe he'd try to call Riley again.

-------------

The phone on Riley's nightstand buzzed again. She knew it was another call from Liam, and while she felt remorseful for ignoring all of his calls and texts, she couldn't bring herself to look at or answer them quite yet. The sooner all ties between them were broken, she believed, the quicker he could forget all about her and the mess she made of everything. 

But even her willpower was slipping. Riley slid her hand out from under the pillow and reached over to pick up her phone. Holding it to her chest, she contemplated for a second just reading his texts and returning his calls, but Madeleine had warned to end all contact with him. Obviously, she was curious about what he had to say, but it was too risky. I'm so sorry, Liam. 

Hitting the power button on her cell, the light on the device faded to black before she tossed it in the nightstand drawer.

Early the next morning, Riley's eyes flickered open to the sound of a banging on her front door, followed by the incessant ringing of her doorbell. Feeling exhausted from a lack of sleep, mainly because of crying and unable to think about anything other than how she hurt Liam, Riley decided to ignore it. She just wanted to be left alone, and eventually, they'd give up and leave, right?

Except they didn't.

Annoyed, she let out a sigh and then eased herself up out of bed; the pain in her back was still a problem. Tossing a robe over her body, she slowly made her way down the stairs of her townhome -- each step excruciating -- until she finally made it to the door.

Twisting the lock, she opened the entry door, before letting out a sudden gasp at the tearful person standing on the other side. 

"Oh my God, Riley! Y-You're alive! You're really alive!"

"Alyssa?" Riley's best friend from New York pulled her into a relieved hug, nearly sobbing at that point. "What're you doing here?"

"I thought something terrible happened to you, but now that I can see you're still among the living ..." she sniffled before pulling back and narrowing her blazing blue eyes at her friend. "Where have you been? I've been trying to get ahold of you ever since you texted me that you were boarding a plane in Cordonia, and that something serious happened involving Tyler. You promised me you'd call as soon as you landed--"

"I know. I'm so sorry. It was late ..."

 " -- and you didn't. Then I worried, even more, when you didn't answer any of my calls back. I had to book the first red-eye flight here to make sure you were all right." Finished with her rant, a huffing Alyssa's jaw immediately clenched. "Now, what did that shithead ex of yours do? I'll kill him if he hurt you, Ri. I might be small, but I'm scrappy like an alleycat. You know I'll claw his eyes out."

Riley let out a light chuckle; Alyssa was always overprotective of her and had a clever way with words, but quickly, that chuckle faded into a teary frown. "Oh, Lyss," she whimpered as her face fell into her hands.

Alyssa quickly wrapped her arms around Riley and pulled her into a warm embrace. "Aww, Riley. Sweetie, it's going to be okay," she soothed. 

Stepping inside, Alyssa kicked the door shut and led them both over to the sofa. Sensing Riley was in pain -- and not just emotional -- she helped lower her troubled best friend onto the couch. "I want you to start from the beginning and tell me everything that happened."

The best friends had remained in contact over the last several weeks. It was Alyssa's frantic morning phone call over a month ago that alerted Riley to the news coverage of her impromptu marriage to Liam, having saw it on the news. 

And while Alyssa was aware of everything about Cordonia and Liam, and how Riley fit into all that from their prior conversations, she listened intently while it was revealed to her the details of the incident with Madeleine and the video her ex-husband gave to the Countess.  

Grabbing a tissue from the end table, Alyssa handed it to Riley. "So this cow confronted you with that disgusting video and basically blackmailed you into leaving, or she would release it to the press?" Riley nodded somberly.."Ugh, I want this treasonous bitch thrown in the dungeon, subjected to live-streamed daily anal fistings with giant Hulk gloves ... And Tyler, I want to break every bone in his rotten body, one at a time. And I want to leave him there afterwards, dripping just enough water on his lips, so he doesn't die of dehydration, screaming in agony for the weeks it will take to die of starvation."

 Riley's face scrunched up. "God, Alyssa."

Alyssa shrugged. "What? I don't care; it's what they deserve for hurting you. Did you at least tell Liam what happened?"

This time, Riley shook her head. "No. Madeleine warned me if I told him, she would release the video, and then the council would likely force him to step down. I won't allow him to lose everything for someone like me." 

Irritated, Alyssa pressed a palm to her forehead. "Why are you like this?"

"Like, what?" Riley asked in exasperation.

"That whole, 'someone like me,' part. He wanted to stay married to you. He made you the queen of his country. You've said he couldn't keep his goddamn hands off you for two seconds. And more importantly, you told me you have never felt more loved in your life, than you do when you're with him. The fact that you still question your worthiness to him blows my mind." 

Alyssa reached for Riley's shaky hand, able to tell by the tears sliding down her cheeks and the soft whimpers that she'd touched on something. "You're his pussycat, Riley. Liam already lost everything when you left him. Tell me you know that."

Riley wiped at her face., her voice stifled, "I just wanted to protect him."

"I know." Alyssa smiled softly. "But you needed to give him the chance to decide what he wanted. You made it for him because you know he'd choose you, regardless if he lost everything else; that's how much he loves you, Ri. You can't protect someone who loves you by hurting them. Besides, he's the King; he can simply execute the council if he wants to -- Liam’s not going anywhere."

"You just HAD to add that last part in, didn't you?" Riley laughed, feeling a sense of ease as her mood lightened. It felt good to talk to someone who could help her make sense of everything and realize she hadn’t exactly made the best call by leaving and not telling Liam what happened. "But what do I do about this video? What if Madeleine releases it to the public?"

"Yeah, a video of a married woman having sex with her husband -- Oh, the shame!" she retorted. "Look, you'll be famous on Pornhub for a few weeks, and it'll fizzle out. I know that doesn't make it all better, but you have a lot of people who love you ... we'll be there for you if that happens. Besides, it's Gonzo Dick; I doubt anyone will wanna watch anyway."

Riley snorted out at the nickname she gave her ex-husband. "Stop making me laugh." 

Alyssa cracked a grin. "Nah. If I can make you laugh at that asshole's expense and his crooked dick, then it's worth it."

"Well,” she breathed, “ I suppose I should get dressed and call Liam. Tell him what happened, and hopefully, he'll … forgive .." her voice trailed off at tasting an increasing collection of bile in her throat and a familiar rumble in her stomach. 

“What’s wrong?”

Riley frowned. "Damn it, why do I keep getting sick?"  

After rushing to the bathroom with Alyssa's help, Riley came out moments later, flushed and perspiring. Alyssa, who waited outside the door to make sure she was all right, eyed her friend with grave concern. "Ri, are you sure you don't have a concussion? You said that Madeleine caused you to fall, and you complained you’ve been getting sick a lot. Is there any chance you hit your head too?"

Riley considered for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't think so. I mean, it all happened so fast I don't really remember, but my head doesn't hurt."

"OH NO! You have memory loss too, on top of the vomiting and a hurt back? Riley, you need to go to the hospital now. This is serious."

"Alyssa, I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital," Riley dismissed and hobbled past her friend toward the kitchen. "You always worry too much."

Alyssa followed behind her, brows bumped together in a scowl. "Because you're a stubborn ass who never listens, that's why. You need to get checked out," she insisted. Riley paid no attention as made her way to the fridge; that reaction only served to piss Alyssa off. "You can ignore me all you want, but you know as well as I do, I'll just keep annoying the hell out of you until you do it … I'll sing every Dave Matthews song ever written -- On repeat." 

Riley shut the fridge door and turned at the threat, giving her a dismayed glare. "You wouldn't." 

Alyssa tilted her chin. "You know damn well I would. I have... so much to say, so much to say, so much --"

"Please stop! I'm going."

---------

At Valley Hospital and Medical Center, Drake sat slumped down in the waiting room of the E.R;  a thawed ice pack covered his crotch. His increasingly irritated self caught sight of a nurse escorting yet another patient back for examination. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Tired of waiting, he cast the ice pack aside and marched straddle-legged to the triage desk where a beefy nurse with a scowl sat filing her nails. "How much longer is this gonna take?" He demanded bitterly.

The nurse remained focused on her nails and answered in a careless fashion. "You'll get called back when it's your turn, Mr. Walker."

"My turn? MY TURN? I've been here for 15 fucking hours waiting for my turn. I've watched one person after the next walk right in, get treated, and leave. Whose ass do I actually have to lick to get treatment around here?"

Unimpressed with his theatrics, she folded her arms on the desk and looked up at Drake with a glower. "Look. You got kicked in the wang by a hooker. Shit happens. It's not the end of the world. Go home, have a beer, and a good laugh. You'll live." She resumed her filing.

Drake ran both hands through his rumpled hair, letting out a sardonic laugh. "I cannot fucking believe you just said that to me. I suffer trauma on my transplanted dick, and the greatest healthcare minds in the world tell me to have a beer and laugh about it?" his voice shrieked.

The nurse blew on her nails. "That's what I said."

That snarky remark sent him even further over the edge. A red-faced Drake pounded two white-knuckled fists on the desk and leaned down into her space. "Now you listen here, lady. I demand to be seen right now, or so help me, I'll tear this whole goddamn place apart brick-by-fucking-brick! Do you understand me?"

Having none of that, the nurse, who was several inches taller than a startled Drake expected, sprung for her chair and loomed over him menacingly. Drake flinched when she rammed the nail file at him and threatened, "Now, you listen.You can either sit your ass down, or I will sit you down. Do you understand me?"

He didn't understand. He would never understand.

A security guard who heard the commotion casually approached the agitated pair and placed a firm hold on Drake's elbow. "Do we have a problem here, Betty Lou?"

She shook her head, sizing Drake up. "No, just some whiny-ass Karen griping about his dick."

---------------

Several moments later, Alyssa and Riley exited an Uber and wandered into the waiting area, making their way up to the triage line -- or what they thought was a line. It was actually Drake still standing there, continuing to protest his case to anyone who would listen and demanding to speak to someone in charge.

While Riley dug through her purse to retrieve her health insurance card, Alyssa couldn't help but be taken in by the fiery debacle taking place in front of them. She inched a little closer, unable to help herself; it was good drama and sucked her right in. 

Catching a glimpse of Drake’s sour face, she cocked her head introspectively; there was something oddly familiar about the man in the denim shirt going off. Alyssa tapped her chin. Where have I seen him before?  

Before long, the realization set in, and her eyes snapped wide open. She nudged Riley with an elbow and leaned over, whispering, "Hey, isn't that the guy from the news who had the penis transplant? It looks just like him."

Knowing precisely who that was by the description, Riley popped her head up to look. She hadn't known Drake well, only that he was Liam's best friend, and after having spent time together on the plane ride to Cordonia with him, that her maid-of-honor had given him several venereal diseases. "Drake?" she called out.

While Alyssa zoned in on his groin, curious as to what was in there, Drake broke away from the dispute and turned his focus toward the familiar-sounding voice. She was a connection to home and a long-sought-after friendly face. "Riley? Liam's insta-bride, Riley?" 

She let out a light chuckle and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that's how you would know me ... What are you doing at the hospital? Is your body rejecting the ..." Her embarrassed gaze dropped lower with a gulp. " ... thing?"

"No!" he barked. "I just got attacked by that ... uh, someone."

"You got attacked?" Shocked, Riley placed a hand over her chest. "Why would someone attack you? Are you okay?"

Feeling incensed by the memory, Drake shook his head and muttered. "It's a long story ... What about you? What are you doing here? Thought you were in Cordonia with Liam?"

She inhaled a deep breath through her nostrils and forced a smile. "It's a long story too."

Drake peeked over his shoulder at Nurse Ratchet, giving him a gimlet-eyed stare from behind her computer screen. He groused and turned to face Riley again. "I've got time."

----------------

Nearly 12 hours after takeoff, the royal jet touched down in sunny Las Vegas, an hour ahead of schedule. Liam and Leo stepped off the plane and strolled across the tarmac to the awaiting vehicle, where a smiling man held the rear passenger door open.

"Bastien," Liam greeted as he approached. "Good to see you again."

"Your Majesty." He bowed. "Likewise ... I have the rental car you requested, and the Queen's address is already programmed into the GPS. Should take no more than 30 minutes to get there."

"Perfect,” he replied, clapping Bastien’s shoulder.“Thanks for having everything ready to go."

Liam had contacted the head guard -- who was still jailed for non-support -- and gained him a day-long pass to provide security detail. Bastien was also to stay in contact with his guards to oversee the capture and detainment of Madeleine.

Bastien took their bags, and the brothers hopped into the back of the Escalade. Once they pulled away from the airport, the directions led the group west. The head guard glanced briefly in the rearview mirror as he drove on. “I want to thank you for giving me a second chance. It’s nice to be out of that place, even if just for the day.”

Liam smiled back. “Not a problem, good man. I can’t think of anyone else I trust more for the job than you … though I’m not sure why. Anyway, do you have any updates on the Madeleine situation?”

“Yes, sir. I contacted my colleagues again just before you arrived. Countess Madeleine was taken by surprise when our guards arrived at her family estate in Krona. Once in custody, she was immediately transported to Valtoria for detention, exactly as you requested.”

"That's terrific news ... Wait ...Did you say, Valtoria?" Liam asked with puzzlement in his tone. 

"Yes, sir. As you requested." 

"Man, please tell me Mads tried to fight them off, and they had to use the taser on her," Leo insisted as he held his crossed fingers in the air. "A billy club ... a rubber hose ... something."

"There may have been a brief verbal exchange and some threats, but the Countess promised if they permitted access to her computer to send a quick email, she would go with them peacefully and without further protest. There didn't seem to be any harm in doing so, and she followed through with her word. Sorry to break it to you, Prince Leo, but no tasers were harmed in her capture."

"Well, fiddle shit." Leo glanced over at his brother --who was still scratching his head -- in disappointment. "If only I'd been able to get that shock collar on her while I was engaged to her, you wouldn't be in this mess right now. She just squirmed too much. I’m sorry I let you down, little brother."

"It's fine, Leo; it's not the first time,”  Liam said dryly before turning his head away from Leo to face the front again. "Can we get back to Madeleine being taken to Valtoria? I never requested that. An accused of the Crown is always placed in the palace dungeon. There aren't even cells in Valtoria to hold her in. What am I missing here?"

Approaching a stoplight, Bastien lightly pressed the brakes, then met Liam’s gaze in the mirror. “The orders I was given to pass along to the guards from you earlier were clear in your text: Once she’s taken into custody, she is to be sent to Valtoria and placed in the cage with the monkey until further notice. That’s what they --”

“Mongo! They put her in the cage with Mongo?” Liam exploded before pinching the bridge of his nose, knowing there was no point in asking how that message got mixed up. “Goddamn it, Leo! Why are you, you, sometimes?” He ran a swift hand down his face and turned to glare at his brother. “Do you realize they consider that cruel and unusual punishment? Did you ever stop to consider how much shit I'm going to hear over this if this gets out?" He let out a sharp breath and threw his hands in the air."How? How did you do it?"

"It's simple pimple, Liam. When you went to the bathroom, I grabbed your phone," he replied bluntly with a shrug. "And according to page 24 of Father's torture book: It's not considered cruel and unusual punishment, as long as she has food, water, and clean shelter -- which she does. Or ... if she's housed with a member of the royal family -- which she is. Mongo is the heir to the throne, so we've got that covered too. So just relax, little bro; Leo’s got it all taken care of for you."

Liam dropped his chin to his chest, then let out a weary breath. “Bastien, call the guards and have them move her to the palace at once.” 

As Bastien placed the call, Liam shifted in his seat so that he was staring out the window. He put a palm over his mouth to conceal the curved lips that formed a devilish grin, trying to contain the unbearable urge to bust out laughing. Oh, Maddie ... I hope you and Mongo had one hell of a time together.

----------------

Back at the hospital, Riley situated herself on the gurney while a nurse prepared to check her vitals and ask general health questions. 

In the next bay over, separated by a thin sliding curtain, Drake was finally attended to after Riley reluctantly, but willfully, played up her celebrity status. Once she threatened to have the hospital shut down -- which she doubted was even possible on her end -- the proverbial red carpet was rolled out for both of them; she was still a queen, afterall. 

Steps were then taken to ensure they both received the royal treatment, so to speak. That wasn’t typically how Riley preferred to handle situations; she hated big fusses over her. But in the end, she did help one of Liam’s oldest friends finally get the medical attention he needed, so it was worth trying. 

The blood pressure cuff on Riley’s arm squeezed tighter just as one of the doctors stepped inside and slid the curtain all the way closed. His cheerful greeting drew Riley's fixed gaze away from the changing numbers on the monitor beside her bed, and she smiled up at him.

The doctor was tall and thin, with thick spectacles perched near the tip of his nose. He gave a brief nod to Alyssa, who was sitting in a chair at Riley’s bedside, rubbing her shoulder. Scanning the patient chart, he spoke without looking up, "Queen Riley, it says here you suffered a fall?"

"I'm just Riley,  please," she requested.

The doctor looked up from the paperwork and nodded with an understanding smile. "Of course." 

After the initial exam concluded, Alyssa remained behind after the doctor ordered x-rays and transport had wheeled Riley down to radiology. 

Bouncing her crossed leg as she scrolled through her phone, Alyssa tried to bide her time until Riley returned. An air conditioning vent overhead that she didn’t realize drowned out so much noise around her, suddenly flipped off. Able to catch the conversation on the other side of the curtain better, she listened with a broken heart as Drake reluctantly described to an attending, the worst days of his life. Alyssa shuddered as he recalled the moment his penis fell off, rolled across the bed, and dropped onto Ethan Ramsey’s leather shoe during an exam. “That poor man. I just want to hug him,” she muttered.

Her little ears perked when the doctor mentioned he was “going to have a look at it.” In her curious mind, there were no doubts that she was too. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a peek at the first transplant of its kind; no way was she going to miss out on that. 

Alyssa slid to the edge of her seat and raised her hand to up to the curtain, easing a tiny portion of it aside. Her blue eyes crinkled with frustration at a nurse who was blocking her view. “Move your ass,” she whispered to herself.

Unable to get a good view, she gave up that spot and eyed the other opening in the curtain at the far end of the room. Sliding off her chair to a crouching position on the floor, Alyssa crab-walked as fast as she could without falling off balance until she made it to the other side. Crooking a stealthy finger along the seam of the curtain, she hoped and prayed Drake’s genital exam wasn’t through yet. What her eyes saw on that gurney when she pulled the fabric aside caused her heart to jolt out of her chest. 

Alyssa cupped a hand over her gaping mouth before stepping back and letting the curtain fall loosely shut again.  Dropping her hand limply at her side, staring blankly at nothing, she mouthed, “Oh. My. God.”

----------------

Down in the radiology department, Riley sat patiently in her wheelchair, waiting for the tech to return to take the x-rays. Enjoying the lighter feeling of having an empty bladder again, she let out a contented sigh; she was about to bust earlier. That mandatory urine sample couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. 

Left alone to ruminate in her thoughts, Riley wondered about those phone calls she ignored last night from Liam. The regret she felt over her actions the last 26 hours continued to mount up. And it took a heart-to-heart with her best friend to really put things into perspective. Her decisions weren’t the best course to take, even if they were done with the most loving of intentions. 

There was a lot to make up to Liam, and she only hoped that it wasn’t too late. Could he even forgive her for all of it?

She wished he was there with her right now. If she knew him the way she thought she did, he’d be standing around telling inappropriate jokes to make her laugh or embarrass her with his silly antics. It was like Liam could be two different people sometimes: Kingly and stoic around everyone else, but the second it was just him alone with her, he was such a big kid. Somehow, she could bring out his true self; the one where he felt comfortable enough to be silly and playful. And as much as she tried to play them off, those little pet names he gave her -- she chuckled to herself as they popped into her head -- were funny. What the hell even was a knucklehead mcspazzatron? 

“Miss Brooks” Riley shook herself of her thoughts as the x-ray tech returned and made her way over. “I apologize that took so long.”

Riley smiled up at her. “No need to apologize… Are you ready for me now?”

“Not exactly,” she teased in such a cheery tone, Riley slightly lowered her eyelids, holding her gaze. “You most likely won’t be getting x-rays today, sweetie.” She held a fisted hand out to Riley and opened her palm to reveal the small object inside. “You’re pregnant.”

--------------------

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[myladyofmercy]

young royals rewatch

episode 5

i love the opening to this episode. nearly makes us forget august being a fucking piece of shit creep who filmed his cousin having sex

the golden lighting is so pretty

i support the wille cum breath theory

this kiss is definitely their most passionate

simon being a little shit again

tack malin

what's with the lens flares jj abrams?

love that wille is wearing a new pair of underwear. it's so weird when tv shows have couples lay there in underwear after sex like huh?

simon looks so gorgeous laying in bed

i would never use this bread as a sandwich. we have it in germany and it's so hard i don't like eating two stacked on top of each other

august cockblocking wilmon AGAIN

wille is wearing his happy scarf

they are so not subtle

i love how sara catches on immediately. who says she's bad at reading social situations?

they support the death sentence. love it

little simon popping up in the back trying to see what's going on

so many people outside of sweden were confused by lucia but i knew about it bc of googling our own names with my friend lucia so i had prior knowledge

love that felice is so understanding towards the micke situation even tho she doesn't understand it at first

lake date!!!

they are so goofy and in love i can't

i wonder what the bodyguards are talking about

we need a prp interview with malins actress

sara brushing augusts picture parallels simon brushing willes magazine cover in ep6

in one scene felices mom gives her clothes that are a little to big for herself so they'll fit felice and in the next she expects her to fit into her own lucia dress

i love how they get dress up for dinner

also love the face stuff stella has going on

and willes happy scarf was never seen again

they are GAYming your honor

simon too with the bedlamps on. think of the power bill

simon has a skateboard. petition to seeing him skate in s2

fish scene

wille is a little shit

love the little smirk

olle, oski, felle and horni

this time simon is shirtless first. justice

does that make you horny/does that turn you on

love the little black dots on maddies nails. may or may not have taken inspiration once or twice

love the healthy communication

did felice break up with august in a private ig story or a public one? it's not green so i think it was public

stella is a lesbian. pls.

love vincents idea to go down on the headmistress. like yes she totally seems like the kind of woman to let things slide because of good head

how august makes it seem like simon dealt to them regularly for months and not once sold the alcohol and once pills

simon thinks their gonna secretly make out or smth isn't he?

this isn't healthy communication but atleast they are communicating

how the camera focuses and unfocuses on simon when wille gets louder feels like a deliberate choice to bring us back to the trauma from his father

august has a phone case. i retract my earlier statement.

love vincents striped jumper

hey august why don't you try vincents idea? maybe the headmistress would ignore your financial problems then

and he's training again. of course.

vincent sticks out so much in his colorful clothes

yes wille. stand your ground.

also love the fact that wille doesn't even mention that he's the fucking crown prince and future king of sweden to give him authority over august

power is sexy (I'll see myself out)

awkward tension as everyone stands up and leaves august standing alone

still don't understand how alex would have gotten of scott free if they had blamed simon since he was caught with the drugs and simon was not

were they prescription tho? and had mickes name on them?

the mulled wine in the shampoo bottle. i already don't like wine so that sounds twice as disgusting to me

did felice not have a normal lucia dress? do you have to buy those or are they rented? or does the school just have them laying around in a storage room for the rest of the year

the lucia dresses remind me of edwardian nightgowns ala wendy in peter pan

felice finally standing her ground

so many mommy issues in this show

again with the golden lighing reminiscent of the episodes opening

wille only has simon right now and in the end he will have no one

this hug is so heartbreaking i can't

fuck of august

love the nose thing wilmon do after their kiss

i wonder who august send the video to? a news site? or did he just upload it to youtube or some kind of social media?

my mom and i had the lucia song in our heads for a whole evening once. as soon as someone stopped the other would hum it and it would start again

the subtitles say angelic beacon but i always read angelic bacon

as someone who is very wary of fire i would not want to be lucia and wear a drown with burning candles

oh august couldn't you have waited a little longer with your revenge

wille has no clue who micke is doesn't he?

yes linda is way too passive in this scene. but despite of her flaws she is still the best mom on this show but that is not hard

and now the storm is coming

[eelistolvanen]

Bruises that you left behind - Travis Konecny Pt.4

A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter and it’s probably more of a filler. After this the next chapter (Pt. 5) is probably going to be the last one(Hopefully longer than this one).  Thanks to everyone who liked, reblogged or commented! Let me know if you like it! Happy reading <3

Words: 2.9k 

Warnings: Angst, more heartbreak, mentions of a panic attack, no proofread (as usual)

Part 1    Part 2     Part 3  

------------------------------------------------

Nobody else on the team knew anything more about your suspicion. They were just as clueless as you were about what exactly happened.

Christmas was coming around and you were busy with work most days. You were still hanging out with some of the boys and the girls on the team, just not as frequent. And even though the situation with Travis still wasn’t really resolved you were trying to avoid him. Not that he was looking for you or reach out for you, but you made sure that there wasn’t a chance of an unexpected run in like there had been at Halloween.

You mostly hung out with Kevin. Nolan was hanging out with Kelsey most days and as much as you loved both of them, you tried to stay away from third wheeling a couple for now. And Kev was fun to hang out. He never pressed the Travis issue and was always able to get your head away from work.

And it was just before Christmas when Maddie broke the happy news to you. Provy proposed to her and you needed to be one of the first to know. At least that’s what she was telling you when she stormed your apartment that day. You were happy for her, they were a great couple but you couldn’t help the heavy heart you got when she mentioned what her dream wedding looked like. You smiled through her showing you her wedding pinterest and telling you about the place she wanted to get married at. That the wedding would be perfect.

You felt a sab in your heart. Your wedding was perfect, everything had been picture perfect. Besides that one thing. That ruined everything.

 He slowly shook his head. “He’s not coming, Y/N.”

At first you couldn’t believe it. You couldn’t really understand, you didn’t want to understand because understanding would also mean that you in a way accepted it. And you didn’t.

“No, Nolan. This can’t be right. Maybe… maybe you misunderstood him. I.. I-“ There wasn’t anything he could say that would make this hurt less and he needed to tell you the truth. He couldn’t sugarcoat this. No matter how many times Nolan had protected you before, tried to keep you out of harms, this time he wouldn’t be able to do so anymore. He couldn’t protect you from harm. From heartbreak.

“He called the wedding off, Y/N. I’m so sorry-“ You couldn’t listen to him and you didn’t want to. You didn’t want to hear him apologize for something he didn’t do.

“I have to talk to him, Nolan. Where is he?” Nolan stayed silent and you could already guess his answer but you weren’t just heartbroken anymore. You were angry.

“WHERE IS HE?” You barely raised your voice and Nolan visibly flinched at your change in tone.

“He already left.”  You were in denial and angry so you were only half registering what Nolan said. And as much as Nolan tried to convince you that he’d already left and that it was stupid to run all the way to the room where he was supposed to get dress for his own wedding, you weren’t listening.

You swung the door to his room open, by now halfway believing Nolan that he had left and expecting an empty room, but you were met with Travis’ silhouette. At least you mistook it for his silhouette for a second. His brother had enough similarity to Travis to fool you at first glance.

Then Chase turned around and the expression on his face would have broken you if your heart hadn’t already been shattered minutes prior.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. He’s gone.” He looked at you the same way Nolan had. Full of pity, sorrowful, hurt.

You only spotted the letter he had in his hand once he stepped closer to you.

“He asked me to give you this.” He handed you the letter but before he could blink you had thrown it across the room. “Why didn’t you stop him Chase!” You were hammering your fists onto his chest. You knew it wasn’t his fault but your anger had taken over, he slowly caught your wrists while your punches lost force. “I tried Y/N, believe me I tried.”

You didn’t wanna hear it, you ripped your wrists from his grasp and made your way out the door. Nolan’s “Where are you doing?” were left unanswered.

On your way out you ran into Maddie. And apparently everyone already knew that the wedding was called off. You brushed off her inquiries about your well being and quickly appointed her to your personal chauffeur. You could sense that she wanted to fight this but by now you had turned into full on bridezilla and she knew better than to get in your way.

She had barely stopped the car in front of yours and Travis’ shared house before you jumped out and made your way up the stairs. And for the next couple minutes you ran around your house like a mad person, still in your gown and everything while trying to process what had happened.

When you came to a standstill Maddie was already standing in the doorway.

“Y/N…” Her tone was cautious but laced with pain. She hated to see you this broken and she hated Travis for doing this to you.

“He’s gone..” You said it more to yourself than to her but it was still loud enough for her to hear it.  

“What..-“ Maddie barely got a word out. She knew Travis left the wedding but this felt different. It felt worse.

“His suitcase for our honeymoon is gone.” You gestured towards an area in the entryway. “His favourite snapbacks…” You moved towards an empty shelf. “His fishing rods… All the dog leashes… His grandmother’s picture on the nightstand… Everything that’s important to him… It’s all gone..”

This was it. This was your breaking point, for the first time that day you started to cry. “He’s gone, Maddie.” You sobbed under tears while she rushed to you to you. You felt yourself starting to hyperventilate, you were panicking.

“Ahrgh,.. get me… out.. get me out of this.” You were trying to rip your dress from your body but the lacing on the back kept it in place.

“Hey, hey, hey, Y/N. Breath Y/N, breath. I’m getting you out of this.”

It felt like forever till she had finally cut all the lacing open and shed you from your wedding dress. Your entire body was shaking as you fell onto your knees and completely broke down.

“It’s over, Maddie. It’s over.”

-----------------------------------

You had holed yourself up in your house for the next days. You didn’t want to see anyone right now. You knew they meant well, you just couldn’t take it. The only people you let in were Nolan for his daily check ups, Maddie and your sister. The day before Maddie had told you that she needed to get back home and that she would see you in Philly soon. You knew that you wouldn’t but she didn’t had to know that now. You weren’t in the mood to explain that your life in Philly was over. So you just nodded in agreement and said your goodbyes to her. This morning your sister had dropped to tell you that she had to fly back home. But not before telling you that you should consider coming home for a while as well. Your parents home or your sisters were always open for you. You tried to fight her, tell her that as long as you stayed here you weren’t giving up, that there was still a chance but deep down you had already contemplated the move back home before she had brought it up.

Now Nolan was sitting on one of the kitchen stools, nervously bouncing his legs. It was driving you nuts. You knew there was something he wasn’t telling you and you also knew that he was aware that you sensed this.

“Spit it out Nolan. What is it?” Your tone was irritated.

He took a deep breath before making eye contact with you.

“Chase got a hold of Travis.” His eyes were searching yours for a reaction before he continued

“He’s in Fiji. And he told Chase to move all his remaining stuff out of your house if you want to stay here. He won’t be back here for a while.”

You knew this was coming, deep down you knew he wouldn’t come back to you. But it still hurt more than you thought it would. It was over.

“Fiji? Please tell me he’s-“ Your voice broke before you could finish the sentence but Nolan knew what you were gonna ask anyway. His slight nod let you know what you wanted to know soon enough.

“Please tell me he’s by himself. That he didn’t take some mistress to our Honeymoon resort..”

Nolan’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know if he’s alone or not… You don’t.. you don’t think he’s cheating on you? Y/N?” He was almost to shocked to form a coherent sentence.

“I don’t know, Nolan…” You felt tired. And numb. Suddenly you felt like Nolan’s presence was crushing you.

“Thanks for stopping by Nolan.” Your tone made it clear that he wasn’t welcomed anymore. It was cold and unfair what you did to Nolan but you wanted to be alone.

It took you a while to realise that he left something on your kitchen island after he left. It dawned on you what it was after you picked it up. The letter you threw across the room that Chase gave you. It had your name on top of it in Travis’ scrawny handwriting.

You turned towards one of the kitchen drawers and started searching through them until you found what you were looking for.

For a moment the thought of burning the entire house down crossed you mind. No, you could probably go to jail for that. The letter, however, went up in flames seconds later.  

That afternoon you cleared everything that fit in your car out of your house. You had made your choice. The life you once had was gone. Travis wasn’t coming back to you. So instead of trying to hang onto a life that was only inflicting you pain you decided to leave it behind. All of it. Travis, the dogs, the house, Nolan, all your friends in Philly. An entire life, really.

By the time Nolan came around the next day for this next check up you were already miles away from your old life. You said goodbye to the last pieces of that life a few weeks later. By now you were able to transfer to a local school near your hometown. You emptied everything that belonged to you out of your and Travis’ shared Philly place.

Quietly, like a ghost, you vanished from your past life until there were no traces of you left anymore.

You tried to share Maddie’s excitement as much as you could. She knew herself that this wasn’t easy for you and was a little more lenient than usual. You also got invited to the Flyers Christmas party but had to decline because you already had something school related that evening. In a way you were relieved that you had an excuse but you were also a bit sad since you loved hanging out with the team.

It was already mid January when you saw Travis again. Strictly by coincidence. It had nothing to do with the team or Nolan or Kevin. You were out shopping but since you were looking for something different than usual, something for your students actually, you found yourself on the other side of town. Not in your wildest dreams did you think you would run into Travis in a parking lot. You probably wouldn’t have even noticed him if he hadn’t called out to you.

“Oh, hey Travis” You were sure he realised how shocked you were to see him, and he kinda looked at you the same way. Like two aliens from the same planet meeting each other on another planet or something. At least that’s how it looked to you.

“How are you Y/N?” His voice was soft, contrary to his appearance.

Was he seriously trying to make small talk with you in parking lot?

“Good. Busy with school and stuff.” You weren’t quite sure what to say, were you just gonna talk like some people who barely knew each other? Or was there more behind his question?

“Ah, yeah, Haysey told be that you’re teaching in Philly again.” You raised your eyebrows, he talked with Kev about you? He seemed to notice your questioning look on your face.

“I ask him about it. I just wanted to know how you’re doing.” Your heart sunk towards your feet at his words. You wished he didn’t care so much, it would be easier if he wasn’t trying so hard to fix this.

“Yeahh… It’s good.” You turned back towards your car, enough small talk.

“Don’t just run away again, Y/N. I’m trying, I am.”

You felt your emotions flare up again. Why couldn’t he just let it be?

“Your not trying hard enough.”

He was stroking through his hair in despair.

“What do you want me to do then?” You stared at him. How many times did you have to tell him again? Why couldn’t he answer the one question you wanted to know.

“I want you to tell me the real reason! What was in that letter Travis?”

“ I didn’t mean to hurt you, Y/N.” You scoffed, of course he would deflect again. He always did. “Oh really? What did you think would happen when you left me at the altar then? That I would be happy? Why Travis, why? I just don’t understand your reason.”

“Why is it so important to you? Why do I have to explain my reasons to you? I fucked up, ok? I made the biggest mistake of my life. I ruined my life. And I’m so sorry, Y/N. If I could turn back time I would do it all differently. In a perfect life I would have married you and we would have kids by now. But I fucked that up. It was all my fault and I’m so so sorry. Isn’t that enough?”

You stared at him for a while. You knew he would wait til you spoke up. You slowly shook your head.

“No, it’s not. I wanna know the real reason. I know there is one.” You tried your hardest to keep your voice steady.

“Why do you wanna know so bad?!” His voice was rising and so was yours as you shouted,

“Because I need to know it to move on!” Travis was visibly taken aback. He looked like someone slapped him in the face. He was left speechless so you continued.

“Since the wedding I’ve been running away from it all. From all the memories, from the pain, from my life, my friends. I thought that running away would ease the pain. I thought I could move on. But deep down all the pain was still there, bottled up deep down. And I realise now that I have to face it and work through it to move on. But I need to make peace with the reason why you left me, I…-”

You didn’t get any further before Travis finally found his voice.

“Move on? You’re… you’re moving on? I thought we could work this out.”

You looked at the sky and let out something between a laugh and a groan.

“There’s nothing to work on, Travis. There is no us, not anymore.”

“But you still love me!” He sounded angry now, his tone throwing you off guard.

“No, I don’t. Not anymore.” That was a lie, but you couldn’t give him any hope. Not when you’d already lost yours.

“That’s a lie, Y/N. I know you and I know when you’re lying.”

“You used to know me, Travis. Not anymore. Things have changed. The pain you put me through changed me.”

Even a complete stranger could detect the absolute agony in your voice when you said that. And Travis knew that you meant it, you wanted to move on.

Defeated he turned away from you, he didn’t want to tell you the reason. Especially not when knowing that it meant that you would move on once he told you. But he had to, he owed that to you. Even if it was the last thing he would ever get to say to you, he owed that to you.

“It’s not any of the reason that you think. There was never anyone else. And I knew that I would never find anyone better than you. But I promised you, I promised I wouldn’t do this to you.”

It took you a moment to understand what he was talking about. What promise he meant. And when you did, suddenly everything seemed to fall apart inside you. A silent sob escaped your lips. A disbelieving, shocked “No..” was all you came up with. This couldn’t be true. He’d turned around now and when you looked at him you could see that silent tears were running down his face. You didn’t remember ever seeing him in so much despair.

“ I promised you, Y/N…”

Part 5

[borkthemork]

think you can do a drabble based around maddie and marcy? maybe set after season 3 with the two just bonding over sorcery in peace afterall that tragedy. i mainly just wanna see more of the former in fanfiction 'cause she's way too interesting a character not ti have a ton of wriitng based around her.

"We need a cup of grounded Baphomet root."

"You got it!"

"And don't forget to grind it very well," Maddie instructed, tapping her chin as she looked through the book’s contents. “If we don’t do this correctly then we’ll bewitch the entire forest and I really don't want to be grounded for the rest of my life."

Taking the mortar and pestle Marcy smiled, letting out a light scoff. "I think we'll be fine. We've been doing this for months, and you're talking to a guaranteed perfectionist over here.”

That was true, but Maddie still ogled the ingredients in front of her. Everything looked in place. There was a distiller, jars of various contents they scrounged up from the forest, and the whiff of sulfur from the newly-churned pot reassured Maddie enough that yes, they should be on the right track.

The only worry came to exact measurements, or that aforementioned bewitching if they messed up. With the amount of potions and hexes she made during the Battle of Newtopia, Maddie could say that she leveled up enough to handle this rank of magic, but best to be prepared regardless.

Especially now that Marcy was back in one piece...and it would be awful if she had to endure another stressful situation just from a simple mistake in the calculations.

“Hey, Teach.” Marcy walked toward her. Looking down, Maddie was pleased to see that the roots had been grounded to a fine powder. A fine powder full of death and bad choices. “If we grind all of this together, do you think we have enough time for a potion? I was thinking...something spicy.”

“Spicy?” Maddie arched an eyebrow. “If you’re talking about fire potions, we don’t got any ingredients to—”

“No, no. Not like that.”

Okay, so no fire potions. But Marcy wasn’t making any sense at the moment, or at least giving Maddie a straight answer. “Then what are you implying? We’ve done protective seals, bond material, and cursed nutritional dirt. Potions take longer.” Not to mention that they spent an entire day with dark magic. They were practically going to be out past her curfew, which was a massive no in her book. “So what’s the rush?”

“Weelll,” Marcy pursed her lips. She was skipping around the subject again, but before Maddie could say anything else, Marcy grabbed the book and started flipping through. “I took a gander at your book a few hours ago, and I recalled seeing this chapter that talked about advanced healing.”

“Uhuh.”

“And I wanted to see if there’s a way to heal deep scarring, 'cause trying to get treatment back home isn’t uhh—” Marcy rubbed the back of her neck. “—working so good.”

Oh.

Maddie fumbled with her hands for a moment. “Right, Earth doesn’t have magic.”

“We know how to remove scars, but yeah can’t do much with big pharma these days. Well, I can go to Finland, but that’s long-term planning.” Marcy shrugged. “Doesn’t matter anyway. Since I’m here I wanted to research the idea. Doesn’t hurt to try.”

With that, Marcy turned the book. The page she was on displayed numerous pictures and lists about growth and skin development, and sounded like something that could transition Maddie to a Level Four Witch if she and Marcy had the time to fulfill it.

“Okay, I can definitely work with this,” Maddie mumbled. “I’ve never healed scarring before, so I wouldn’t mind practicing if you’re up for that.”

“Totally!” Marcy tapped a finger at her shirt’s center. “Test away. After all, it’s the only way to check out a hypothesis.”

Maddie understood that well, but that wasn’t what she was worried about.

Few nights would pass as the two started their newest project. Advanced healing needed a lot of ethereal products; thankfully, Joe Sparrow and a few messages to-and-from Newtopia had allowed them to gather the materials from the farthest corners of the continent.

Some pinches of obsidian rock salt. Jugs of spider milk. A cache of ticks, axolotl slime, and a whole load of bio-luminescent mushrooms. Everything they gathered were at their purest form, but what surprised the two most of all was that when the book ‘needed ethereal products’ they didn’t expect it to take practically a full month to cover their bases.

Or that Marcy would grow more and more tense with the oncoming passing of days.

Marcy had been chipper about the whole concept — enthusiastic too because who wouldn’t want to be enthusiastic about cheating the natural cycle of body decay? But still, actually hearing mention of what happened months prior was still awkward to partake in.

Maddie wasn’t dense. Observation was a key skill for a witch to have. If one didn’t watch simmered milk then that milk would eventually froth and explode. If one didn’t check the accuracy in volume then consider yourself cursed for all eternity. Observing ingredients was akin to observing people, of how their facial expressions twitched and stretched even when it was hard to see inside their thick skulls.

For Marcy, they were friends. It wasn’t that hard to know when she had something on her mind. Being the enthusiastic assistant she was, any stress that piled on to the work led to the typical signs: Marcy’s voice would get strained in higher pitch, less focused with the work at hand, and trying to get a forward answer from her became straight-up impossible.

So on a day like this, where the blood moon peeked through the canopies and bathed them in light, Maddie had to ask the question:

“Are you alright?”

Marcy glanced at her. Her arms were occupied, stripping the last of the conifer leaves into the bowl below her. “I’m good. Pretty fine if I do say so myself.”

“I think you’re lying.”

Her assistant widened her eyes, but when Maddie stared more Marcy didn’t seem to be that surprised. She just laughed. “Aw c’mon, Maddie. Give me a good reason as to why I’d be lying right now.”

“Well, you’re an inch away from putting the conifers into the Bunsen burner.”

“Wait, I am?”

“And now they’re on fire.” For the fifth time.

Marcy shoved the tinder into the water pot beside her, mumbling a string of ‘Ow’s under her breath. When the smoke fizzled out, Marcy’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, you've got a point. I am pretty out of it today.”

“You want to talk about it?”

"Well," Marcy set her instruments down, and bore wearily at the table's surface. "I just really want this to work. Back on Earth there's a potential guarantee that the scar will heal, but there's still that pesky margin of error, regardless. And even if I get the treatment I need, it'll never remove it.”

"In Amphibia, I've witnessed the miracle of revival and resuscitation,” she continued, starting to gesticulate. “These are things unexplainable to my world's current rules, anything’s possible. So...I just want to make sure this potion doesn’t fail.”

Maddie furrowed her eyebrows. "Why though?"

"Huh?"

"I get it. You want to heal your scar, but what's so bad about having one?" Maddie asked. "It shows you survived, and surviving isn't a bad thing."

Marcy's expression grew illegible.

Maddie stopped. "If it's really personal, I'll just get back to making the—"

"No, no, it's okay." Marcy's lips twitched. She looked exhausted now, and Maddie wondered if she crossed some line in their friendship that should never be crossed. But before she could say anything, Marcy continued. "I'm gonna be honest for a second. Is it okay to spill something dark? Are you okay with that?"

"We're all about dark things here."

Marcy giggled. She stared more into the pot, brewing the concoction to a creamy mush. They both remained like that for a while, until the mush coagulated into clots.

"I don't want to see the mistakes I made."

Maddie glanced at her. The jade pot glow held the outline of her face, accentuating the curve of her brow, the grimace on her lips.

“I don’t want to think it’s selfish, but I have to look at that scar in the mirror everyday,” she said. “It drives me nuts sometimes, can you believe it?” She chuckled. “I wake up everyday and think ‘wow, I cannot believe this happened, and that I trusted a jerk like him’.”

Marcy sprinkled something into the gunk.

“And sometimes, even when I’m trying to be mindful of my causes, then the scar’s association switches from guilt of betraying everyone I love to the guilt of being duped so easily. I can’t win. Pretty dang weird.”

For a moment, Maddie remained silent, not knowing what to say. She had never seen Marcy so downtrodden before. During the Battle of Newtopia, she had only seen a few glimpses of her face during the rescue, and when they returned to Wartwood, any appearance of Marcy grew lesser so due to the stress of oncoming war.

But now, Marcy was showing vulnerability, and it was the first time Maddie grew stunned to no response.

Before Maddie could say anything else, Marcy laughed. She lifted her spoon from the pot contents, and showed off the goop melded to its surface, shiny in the eery light. “Look at that! You know we’re almost finished when it smells like rotten oatmeal! We just need to let it ferment for a while and then the potion should be ready.”

“Hey, Marcy.”

Her assistant paused, a quizzical look on her feature. “Yeah?”

“You know I respect you.” Maddie held her scrutiny. “And the fact you’re very much into dark stuff as much as me.”

“Of course, who doesn’t love eldritch concepts?”

“A lot of people,” Maddie said. The words were stuck in her throat. After all, what was the correct way to say condolences? Either way, she went for it. Marcy needed the support. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that if this potion is really important to you, I’m going to make sure it works. No mess-ups. No unneeded side-effects. As long as it makes daily life easier for you, then I’ll take the chances. And even if it doesn’t work, perhaps there’s another way. Whatever happens, my book’s always open.”

Maddie recognized the beaming expression on Marcy’s face. It practically lit the entire forest. “Hey, has anyone told you that you’re the best teacher an assistant can ever have?”

Nope. But it was great to be told the first time.