#talk outside of a school setting or outside of the group but I don't really talk to anyone outside of the group or school anyways so

[icewindandboringhorror]

It's always interesting to hear about people's weird/unexpected "alternate life paths". Like, something that you could have done with your life, a job you almost took, a school you almost went to, etc - that was still actually realistic enough that it could have happened, but NOW it seems to not suit your current personality.

Like for example, I currently hate advertising (how manipulative it is, brands trying to be 'relatable', social media amplifying it to an obnoxious extreme, etc.) so much that even seeing a little ad before a youtube video is grating to even witness, but there was a point in time where I was genuinely seriously considering going into marketing/making commercials as a career lol. Or like, I have a relative who was very inclined to be a pastor when they were younger, even though today they're a super strong atheist, etc. etc.

[starpros-sunshine]

If I loved Wataei less I might be able to talk about them more....

[raininyourblackeyes]

Thanks everyone who responded to this with really kind and encouraging words to me, and thanks for being angry with my cousin because I can't seem to be. It all means much to me ❤

To be quite honest I'm still not sure why I got worked up over this so much that I felt the need to rant here. I pretty much grew up in a family where in order to spend time on something you have to justify it so it doesn't seem like you're wasting time instead of doing something useful (example: that's the main reason why I bothered eith getting a judging license for figure skating - so my dad can't yell at me). I am still trying to figure out why I got so upset this time when being told things like that is pretty much a natural occurence for me.

Once again, thank you all for being very kind. I really hope I didn't bother you much with that. You all managed to make me smile 🥰🥰

My cousin, a published writer, a well-known poet in my country and a literature professor, for whom I've always been no.1 support ever since her first attempts at writing in high school, told me that I must stop writing as a hobby because that's her thing and since I'm writing fantasy mostly my writing could never have any important artistic value anyways.

[bingbongsupremacy]

Notice Me

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Warning: Reader wears a dress, cursing

Summary: You really want Steve to notice you. What you don't realize is that Eddie's been there all along.

Eddie is only 1 yr older than the reader.

*Not Proof Read*

Ok, I had a bit of a brain block halfway through writing this one. I hope it's not too noticeable. I hope you guys enjoy it! Thanks for reading!

□□□□□□□□

" I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress. " Jeff states with a mouthful of sandwich.

" I'm trying something different. " I set my tray down across from the guy. " Why, does it look bad? "

" No, just different. " Eddie adds in, a smile on his face.

God, I love that smile. Stop. Don't make it weird. He doesn't like you. Besides, what if it makes things in the friend group weird? It's better to date someone outside of the group like Steve.

Across the room I spot the boy in my thoughts. Steve is chatting away with some of the guys on his team, oblivious to my gaze. He's not bad looking. Definitely not Eddie, but not hard on the eyes.

I tear my gaze away from the boy only to discover Eddie looking at me. He glances back at the table I was looking at and then down at my clothes, his eyebrows quirking in realization. He doesn't say anything, opting to instead keep listening to Doug talk about one of the past campaigns.

Halfway through lunch I begin to pack up my things.

" Where are you going? " Eddie asks curiously, cutting off Jeff.

" The business club. They have meetings second half of lunch every Tuesday. " I don't necessarily want to go but Steve's really active in it and I figured it might be a good place to try to get to know him.

Eddie's brows furrow in confusion. " Since when are you interested in business? "

" Since yesterday when I joined. " I roll my eyes. " What is this, an interrogation? "

" Just curious. " Eddie stands up, pulling his jacket off of the back of his chair. " I'll walk you. "

" Sure. It's not thar far. "

We head out of the lunch room together in the direction the business classroom.

" Hey, don't get mad at me, " Eddie begins slightly nervously. " But are you doing all of this, " He gestures to my clothes and the room down the hall. " for Harrington? "

I feel heat rise to my cheeks. I had hoped no one would notice. " What makes you say that? " I try to act calmly.

Eddie shrugs and shoves his hands into his pockets. " Dunno maybe because...you're dressed like every other girl in the school, you joined the club he's the president of and I saw you at his basketball game last night. You hate basketball. "

" I don't hate basketball...I just don't particularly enjoy or understand it. " I say while stopping in front of the classroom. Inside lots if kids are sitting around the tables, waiting for Steve to talk.

Eddie rolls his eyes. " You hate basketball. So you're doing all this for a guy? Why? Because you like him? "

My eyes widen. I clamp my hand over his mouth, pulling the boy away from the open door. " Shut the fuck up, Eddie. Someone could hear you. " I hiss. I move my hand away from his soft lips.

I wonder how it would feel to kiss-Stop.

I step away from the guy, needing to create some distance between us.

" Look, personally I don't think it's a good idea to do what you're doing. " Eddie begins. " But it's your life. Whatever. Listen, " Eddie pulls out a folded slip of paper from his ripped jeans. " the band landed a gig at The Hideout next Friday and I'd really love if you'd come watch. " He unfolds the paper to reveal a printed poster of the band and the bar name.

" Oh fuck yeah, Eddie!! I knew you'd land a gig! " I exclaim while wrapping the boy into a hug. " I'm so fucking proud of you, dude. I'll be there, I swear. "

Eddie wraps his warm arms around me. The faint smell of weed and cheap cologne fills my nostrils, a smell that's just so Eddie.

His face is so close to mine. I can feel his breath on my cheek. If I lean a little I could just k-Stop it. He doesn't like you like that. You're just a friend.

" I should be getting inside. " I pull away, needing to create some distance between us to clear my head.

Eddie gives me a small wave good bye.

I step into the classroom and take a seat at one of the tables. This is going to be boring as shit.

The club meeting seems to take forever to finish up. I don't understand half of what anyone is saying nor am I very interested in finding out what it means. By the end, I'm very happy when the end of lunch bell rings.

I begin to pack up my things when I notice Steve walking towards me.

" Hey! Are you new to the club? " He asks kindly. His smile is wide and friendly. He extends a hand.

I shake his hand and smile back. " Yeah, actually! I joined yesterday. "

" Well, it's always nice to see a new face. I'm Steve. I don't think we've ever officially met. Are you in my next hour math class? "

I nod. " I am, yeah! I'm Y/N by the way. "

Steve grabs his backpack from one of the tables as we walk towards the door. " Is it cool if I walk with you then? "

" Of course. "

Steve's actually pretty nice. Very smart too. He has a bit of a reputation of being a bully, especially around Tommy, but so far I can't see it.

He helps math pass by a lot faster, especially since he understands the concepts a lot more than me.

" Are you free this Thursday? " Steve asks.

That's the day we play DND. Shit

But who knows if I'll get another opportunity with Steve like this.

" Yeah. " I nod, jotting down an answer on my homework. " Why? "

" Well, a few of my friends and I are going Donny's Diner after school to hang out. You're welcome to come if you'd like. "

I'm so torn. Eddie or Steve? Well, there's always another campaign next week. Who knows if Steve will invite me out again.

" Sounds like fun. I'll be there. "

********

" Come on, Y/N. This is 7 millionth time you've canceled on plans with us in two weeks. Is loverboy really that important? " Eddie's voice is slightly annoyed.

" Relax, Ed. It's only been 2 times. I promise I'll go to the next movie night, I swear. "

Eddie sighs. " You better. I miss hanging out with you, who else am I supposed to make snide comments with? "

" What about Gareth? "

" Gareth's not at peak humor like you are. "

A soft 'hey' makes its way through my phone.

" I'll be there next time. " I feel bad for ditching our monthly movie night, but Steve invited me to a party.

" Are you still coming to the gig on Friday? " Eddie asks hopefully.

" I wouldn't miss it for the world. "

Eddie and I end our phone call just in time for Steve and Nancy to show up.

I've actually had a lot of fun with Steve and his friends the past few weeks. I'm not the biggest fan of Tommy and Carol, but Nancy and Barb aren't that bad.

" Are you coming to the game on Friday? " Nancy asks while handing me a beer.

Eddie's gig's on Friday.

" What time is it? " I ask while taking a sip of the amber liquid.

" Varsity starts and 7 and ends at 8-8:30. We're all planning on going to Donny's after. You should come. " Nancy invites with a warm smile.

Corroded Coffin plays at 10. If I'm careful, I should be able to make it.

" I'll be there. "

I just really have to keep track of time.

******

" I can't believe you shot from that far, that was amazing. " I compliment Steve in awe.

Steve smiles widely. " I honestly can't believe it either. I'm still in shock. "

I'm glad I came out tonight. I didn't really understand the game but it's been nice to talk to Steve and the others. Although, I feel like I might've forgotten something.

Eddie.

" Shit. " I blurt, my eyes widening. I look over at the clock on the diner wall. 10:40. " I've got to go. " I hurry out of the diner booth I'm in.

" Is everything alright? " Steve asks in confusion.

" I forgot I had to do something tonight. " I explain quickly. " Thank you guys for inviting me, I'll see you later. " I excuse myself. I quickly pay my tab with the waitress before heading out to my bike. Thank god I chose to bring to with me instead of taking a ride with Steve. There's no way I could make it to The Hide Out on foot.

Eddie's going to kill me. I can't believe I forgot about tonight.

I pull up to the bar to see the guys loading up the back of Eddie's van. Shit, I missed it.

Eddie doesn't acknowledge me as I pull my bike to a stop a few feet away from the band.

" I'm so sorry, guys. " I apologize to Jeff, Gareth and Doug who are closest to me.

" T's fine. " Gareth mumbles. " Eddie's the one who's pissed. "

Over his shoulder, I can hear Eddie curse as he drops a box of cords on the street floor.

" You should go talk to him. We'll give you guys space. We've got stuff to clean up inside anyway. " Jeff leads the guys back into the bar leaving me and Eddie alone outside.

Part of me wishes they were still here. I'm fucking terrified to talk to Eddie. I know I let him down. I just hope I didn't fuck everything up.

" I'm sorry, Edd-"

Eddie cuts me off. " You promised. " He stands up from his place by the fallen box of cords, his eyes filled with anger and hurt. " You fucking promised, Y/N. You said you'd be here. You missed the whole fucking thing! "

" I'm sorry, I lost track of time. I went to dinner with Steve and his friends and I-"

Eddie lets out a bitter chuckle. " Of course, you were with Steve. When aren't you with Steve? It's like you've completely forgotten that you have other friends. "

" Thanks not true! " I argue, beginning to feel defensive. " I hang out with you guys all the time. "

" Bullshit. You've blown us off every chance you've gotten to. " Eddie tosses the cords into the back of his van, quickly moving to pick up the rest of his stuff.

He's not wrong. I hadn't realized how many times I'd stood the boys up. How many times I'd stood Eddie up.

" I don't even know you anymore, Y/N. " Eddie's voice is soft but full of hurt. " You've become a completely different person. Your style, your interests. "

" I'm allowed to change, Eddie. "

" The problem is you're not changing because it's shit you like. You're changing because you want someone to like you. You're lying to yourself and you're lying to Steve. If he can't like you the way you normally are, then he doesn't deserve to be with you. You need someone who accepts you for the way you are. Not someone you need to change for. " Eddie shakes his head in disapproval. " You know what, Y/N, I'm done. "

My brows furrow in confusion. " What? "

" I'm done waiting for you, Y/N. " Eddie avoids my gaze, his face lighting up from what I think is anger. " You never seem to realize that I'm here. I fucking like you. "

My eyes widen.

Eddie likes me?

" I like the way you dress. I like the way you smile. I like the way you're always you! Or at least, the way you were always you. But I'm not good enough for you, and I see that now. Nothing I ever do will make you like me back. "

A sinking feeling builds in my stomach as I realize what Eddie's about to say.

" I can't be your friend anymore. I-I thought I could handle it but I can't. We're done, Y/N. " Eddie turns and begins to quickly walk back into the building.

" Eddie! " I call after the boy, trying to chase him into the bar. " Wait-Eddie! "

The bouncer at the door refuses to let me in, his strong arms holding back from getting inside.

" Eddie! Please! "

He doesn't look back. He doesn't listen.

I fucked up.

*****

It's been three days since I missed Eddie's band preform. He's completely ignored me at school. I don't eat lunch with the boys anymore, it's too awkward. The one day I tried Eddie didn't bother to show up.

I've spent the last few days thinking about Eddie's confession. How did I miss it?

I'm so fucking stupid.

It was so obvious.

He opened my door. He stood up for me. He went out of his way to make sure I got home safe after work. He always showed up to important events for me. He gave me gifts.

And I couldn't even make it to the most important thing to him.

How could I think he wouldn't like me back?

I'm a shitty person. I'm a shitty friend.

" Hey, Y/N. " Steve's voice pulls me out of my head.

I look up to see the boy sitting across from me with a smile. " Hey. " I smile weakly at him.

This is my other issue. I have to tell Steve I've been lying.

Steve seems to notice something wrong. " Are you okay? "

I shake my head. " Not really but I will be. Eventually. "

" Do you want to talk about it? "

He's so sweet. Why did I fucking lie to him?

" You're going to hate me. " I whisper.

Confusion falls Steve's face. " I couldn't hate you. What are you talking about? "

It's now or never.

" I lied to you, Steve. " I begin. " And in the process, I hurt you and someone I really care about. " I gesture down to my clothes. " This isn't me, Steve. I don't wear shit like this. "

Steve's eyes widen.

Embarrassed to see his reaction, I look away. I know he's going to hate me.

" I don't wear dresses and I don't wear uncomfortable shoes like this. I fucking hate business. And I really couldn't care less about basketball. I'm sorry I just don't understand. What I'm saying is, Steve, I liked you and I tried to become someone else to impress you. But I can't do that. It's not fair to you or me. "

I close my eyes, preparing for Steve to curse me out or call me a freak or something.

He doesn't.

" I know. "

I snap my head towards him. " What? "

Steve sends me a small smile. " I know you were lying. "

" How? "

Steve chuckles. " We were in middle school together. And I saw you around the school before we started talking in class. I know what you dress like. I figured you weren't that into business because every time we go to a club meeting you look like you're about to fall asleep. Also, we don't have goalies in basketball. And I had a hunch that you might've had a crush on me, I just didn't have the heart to tell you I'm dating Nancy. I really like hanging out with you, just only as friends. " He says softly.

I feel heat rush to my cheeks. I knew all along. I drop my head onto the table in front of me, trying to hide myself from the boy. This week keeps getting worse and worse. " I'm so fucking stupid. "

Steve gently pats my arm. " No, you're not. I should've told you about Nancy. We all make mistakes, I'm sure whatever you did to your friend, if you just apologize it'll help. "

I peek over my arms and sigh. " I don't know. I messed up pretty bad. "

Steve leans back in his chair. " Well, we've still got about 40 minutes of lunch left. If you want to talk, I'm all ears. "

" Well, it started the day after I found out we had a class together..." I explain the while situation to Steve who's silent majority of the time. He doesn't make me feel judged, just heard.

At the end he finally speaks.

" That's a lot. "

I groan. " I know. And now I don't known what to do. "

" I think you should apologize and tell him how you feel. What's the worst that could happen because of it? " Steve gently pats my hand.

" You're right. " I sigh. " I should go talk to him. " I push myself up out of my chair. " Thanks Steve. "

Steve sends me a smile. " Of course, anytime. "

Now it's time to fix things with Eddie.

******

Mismatched music pours out of Gareths garage as I come to a stop on my bike.

They're tuning up.

Memories of me hanging out with the guys while they practice fill my mind as I get closer to the building.

My heart pounds. What if Eddie hates me? What if they all do? Gareth and Jeff were a little upset but they got over it pretty quickly. Doug didn't give a fuck. What if that's a lie?

Eddie laughs at something Jeff says before turning around and seeing me. His laughter and smile slowly fade until he's left with a neutral expression. " Hey. " He greets quietly, so quiet it's nearly drowned out by Doug's guitar.

" Hey. " I respond feeling awkward. I glance around to see my friends watching us in confusion.

Normally when we get into fights it's over in a few hours. A day at most. Not this one.

" Can we talk? " I ask.

Eddie studies me for a moment. He looks like he's contemplating something. With a sigh, he sets down his guitar and begins to walk past me. " What's there to talk about, Y/N? "

We make far enough away from the garage to have some privacy.

" I want to apologize. " Will he even accept my apology?

Eddie folds his arms in front of his chest, his expression a mixture of anger and hurt. " You can't just run back to me because things with Steve didn't work out. "

" That's not what I'm doing. " I sigh. " Eddie, you were right. I was trying to change myself for someone else-to be someone else, and that was wrong. I...I liked Steve because I thought I had a better shot at somehow dating him than dating you. " I feel heat rise to my cheeks. I avoid his gaze. " I thought that you didn't like me...that you wouldn't ever like me. I mean, we've known each other for years and you've never made a move-at least none that I had realized at the time. I'm so stupid. And I'm so sorry for missing your show and missing our hang out days. That wasnt right. I made plans with you first and I should've prioritized those first. " I groan, burying my face in my hands. I'm stupid and embarrassed.

" You liked me? "

I nod, my head moving down to my arms. " Since middle school. "

Eddie is silent for a moment. " We're both fucking idiots. " He chuckles, taking me by surprise.

I look up from my arms, confusion on my face.

Eddie looks over at me, a small smile on his face. " I've liked you since middle school too. "

What the fuck.

" Are you kidding me? " I groan in frustration. " All this shit could've been avoided if we just had better observational skills. "

" And communication skills. " Eddie points out.

I nod. " What do we do now? " I ask quietly, scared of what he'll say.

Eddie sighs. " Well, if I'm honest, I'm still a little upset about you missing the show, "

Of course, that's a big thing. I hope I didn't fuck this up forever.

" but...I guess it's okay since we got invited back to play this Friday...And every Friday after that. " A wide smile spreads across Eddie's face.

" Really?! Oh my gosh, Eddie! That's amazing! I'm so excited for you! "

" Thank you, thank you. " Eddie chuckles at my excitement. " I really hope you can make it to my show this Friday though. "

I nod. " Yes. I'll be there, I swear. "

" Good, because I'd really love to introduce the bar owner to my new partner...if you want to be my new partner, that is. " A hint of nervousness is hidden in his voice as he watches my expression.

My heart pounds. Is this really happening?

" I'd love that. " I grin.

A wide smile breaks onto his face. " Let's go tell the boys. " He gently grabs my hand while threading his fingers through mine.

I am definitely going to be there for his show this Friday.

[jasperxkuromi]

Regressors that are (bodily) older, please interact!

Later 20s, 30s, maybe even older? I would love to hear from you and maybe even your stories if you don't mind sharing!

I want to meet more people like me and also show others that age regression doesn't just suddenly "stop" at a certain age

Some of us:

Didn't discover regressing/didn't understand their involuntary regression until they were older

Wasn't in a safe space mentally and/or physically to be able to regress the way we want to

Didnt "grow out" of regressing. I think a lot of people outside the community assume we will all grow out of wanting to regress at some point. Maybe some of us will, but some of us won't. Regressing can be a safe and healthy coping mechanism, no matter your bodily age!

And probably many other reasons I can't think of at the moment lol

I would love to get to talk to older regressors, or if there are any groups/discords, I would like to know those too :3

I'm gonna talk about my story a little under the cut, but I don't exactly recommend reading it if you are little right now! I am going to be talking about s3xualization of agere and children's media unfortunately.

I started age dreamer/involuntarily regressing when I was in high school without really knowing what it was. I was really into MLP FiM during its height popularity. I watched the show, collected and played with the toys, did coloring books, took my MLP blanket to school ever day. You get the idea.

I discovered regression here in Tumblr, but this was yeeeeaaars ago, like back when nsfw was still allowed. The line between ddlg and agere wasn't as solid as it is now. Or maybe it was just because I was a kid and couldn't understand better? Either way ... i ended up getting wrong ideas of what agere had to be and ended up scaring myself off. I also had adult roleplayers leaving really inappropriate comments on my posts that made me feel icky. I thought agere had to be s3xual and scared myself off.

We also unfortunately probably know the uhhh .. types of fan art that was popular of MLP. And it just ended up making me lose interest in the series. The stuff was everywhere and it was hard to avoid even if you were vigilant.

I never got a real chance to understand what healthy, voluntary regression was. I still was an age dreamer, but most times when I involuntarily regress it is out of extreme stress and it isn't fun or pretty.

I had a lot of bad things that happened to me last year and in turn I am having more health issues. Chronic conditions I already had getting worse, and new ones popping up. My mom (the one who birthed me) has been helping me a bit, but it has still been a lot of playing adult. Making phone calls back and forth, filling out paperwork, figuring out disability leave, paying bills, etc etc. I started age dreaming more and more often to cope with the stress. Like I randomly one day bought a DVD player and sets of Winnie the Pooh and Scooby Doo DVDs lmfao.

I also never stopped collecting stuffed animals and came back to collecting dolls again last year. It helps that I have friends IRL who I don't think are regressors, but still enjoy collecting with me. (my friends don't know yet, but I think they would be accepting if I told them, or they might already assume I regress tbh)

I have kinda had age regression on the back of my mind for several months, but was scared to look back into it. I was scared of going through the same thing I did back in high school. But also denying I am a regressor and that I still need to heal my childhood wounds was getting heavier and heavier on me. I am sooooo thankful I finally felt safe to begin exploring regression again ♥️😁

Side note: while I absolutely don't care if people do ddlg and similar stuff as a kink/fetish, I am thankful that the distinction between that and agere is more distinct now. It is important we protect minors and other vulnerable people from having the same sorts of things that happened to me (or worse) from happening to them.

[lil13]

REHEARSAL - j. champion

You're an actress on Scream VI and your scene partner is frequently Jack Champion. The two of you soon have to film a scene where your characters give into their tension and confess their feelings for the first time, ending in a kiss — and the directors want you to rehearse outside of set. You knew you'd have to kiss Jack eventually, but the thought of rehearsing the scene alone with him made you nervous.

•

It's nothing, right?

You had simply just invited your castmate over to your apartment to rehearse a scene that the directors asked you to rehearse. No big deal.

Jack Champion was one of your castmates and happened to be playing the best friend of your character. Except, both characters had secretly fallen for each other and confess their feelings, ending in a steamy kiss. Apparently, when you'd gone to film the scene the day before, the directors weren't convinced with your performance — they'd even called cut before you got to the kiss.

You had hyped yourself up all day for nothing.

A couple weeks ago you'd confided in Devyn, one of your other castmates — she played a character named Anika. You told the girl that you were pretty sure you'd fallen for your castmate and were freaked out about it. Devyn assured you that this feeling was okay, and if you had fallen for Jack, it wasn't the end of the world.

So, when you'd gotten nervous about your kiss scene, you confided in Devyn then again too. She assured you once again, that you'd be okay.

When you heard a knock on the wood of your apartment door, all air left your lungs.

You wiped the sweat on your palms off on your sweatpants before walking — nervously — over to the door. You'd tried on approximately 5 different outfits before settling on sweatpants and a tank top, even told Jack to dress down as well.

"Hi." Jack smiled once you opened the door.

Your heart skipped a beat and you immediately knew that running this scene would be difficult tonight. But alas, you pushed through.

"Hi." you echoed, stepping aside so Jack could step into the apartment.

Closing the door behind him, you told Jack where he could drop his things. When you saw him looking around, you remembered he'd only been here with the group, so he hadn't really had the chance to look around. You couldn't help yourself but walk right up next to him, nudging his body with your own. It was like you were drawn to him. 

"Like it?" you questioned.

He nodded quickly, glancing down at you. "It's cute."

After a couple minutes of small talk, you agreed to get started. Your characters were standing during the scene, so you and Jack stood in the free floor space between the couch and the small kitchen table you had.

You flipped a switch inside of yourself and began to act as Piper, your character in the movie.

"Um, hello? Are you forgetting something?" This scene was supposed to take place right after a frat party.

You'd gone with Ethan and the group to this party. Whilst there, you and Ethan had flirted some, like the two of you had been doing for the past few months. Long story short, Piper and Ethan had been friends since high school, both moving to New York for college. Piper had always felt something toward Ethan, but being with him at college and seeing how girls looked at him really solidified her feelings.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"For fucks sake! When you went to find Tara with Chad I went to get another drink and when I came back all 6 of you were gone. You left me at the party." Your character was supposed to be out done with his. "What happened to never leaving friends alone at parties? I could be upstairs fucking a rando right now for all you care."

His face contorted as he stepped closer. "Piper, i'm sorry! Chad just grabbed me and we left... I forgot."

"Wow."

You were supposed to be mad, but also hurt.

"Piper..."

You shook your head, "No, no, no. Don't Piper me. Ever since we became friends with those people you've put me on the back burner! Do you know how much that hurts?"

Jack reached out to put a hand on your arm, but you jerked back. His facial expression fell.

Even though you knew it was acting, it still made your heart hurt.

"I'm really sorry, I just. Things have changed since we moved here."

You cocked an eyebrow, crossing your arms over your chest. "Like what?"

"Us." his voice was quiet.

Piper was supposed to stay quiet at this point, taking a step or two backwards. This was Ethan's turn to speak.

"Piper, we've known each other since freshman year and I just... the way I, see you now. It's different."

The kiss was coming up soon and your heart was going crazy. But what you didn't know, was so was Jack's.

"Different, huh?"

Jack's eyes went wide, mimicking Ethan's panic. "Good different! Piper, these past couple of months i've seen you differently than before and it scares the shit out of me. It's like every part of me is itching to be around you 24/7, and when you're finally close it feels like nothing bad will ever happen to me."

You cracked a smile, this was when Piper was supposed to realize that Ethan felt the same. Your heart skipped a beat, thinking about how amazing it would be if Jack felt the same way as you. But that would never happen in a million years.

"You like me." Jack swallowed harshly, Ethan now realized that was Piper was saying was right. He 'liked' his best friend. "You like me!" The second time was Piper convincing herself.

Jack nervously scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah, I guess I do."

This was when you kissed.

Piper was meant to initiate it. So, you took a deep breath and followed through. If you were meant to rehearse a scene, why not rehearse all of it?

You closed the space between you by walking those few steps, your hand grabbing the back of Jack's neck and pulling his face to yours. Your eyes fluttered closed right as your lips met in the middle.

Butterflies. Fireworks. All of the above.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Jack pulled away, a smirk on his lips. That's when the scene was supposed to end.

You wiped your mouth off with the back of your hand, taking a couple of steps backwards. "I think we did a pretty good job, think the directors will be satisfied." You were nodding as you stepped back some, creating space between you.

Jack stepped forward, "I, uh... I think we should practice again."

He did? But you'd done so well. "Which part?" You were genuinely curious.

The boy was quiet now. Something that was rare.

"J?" you called him by the nickname you'd bestowed upon him. Unoriginal, but you liked it.

His eyes wouldn't meet yours. "The kiss?"

He'd been so quiet you almost missed it. But you hadn't. He had asked to rehearse the kiss.

Suddenly bold, you decided to play dumb. "The kiss? I thought we did fine, why should we practice? We can if you want to, though."

Jack saw right through your ploy.

You mentally cursed yourself. But the blush on his cheeks clued you into the fact that maybe you weren't the only one with feelings at the moment.

With your boldness still out to play, you continued. "Or, you could just kiss me as Jack and not Ethan?" This made Jack's eyes go dark.

A smirk twitched on his lips as he crossed the floor, ducking down to crash his lips into yours. He immediately picked you up, your legs wrapping around his torso as he held you as close as possible.

You couldn’t really believe this was happening. Jack was actually kissing you. Devyn was gonna freak out.

Your fingers went into his hair, playing with and tugging on his curls. You’d dreamed about the day you’d get to play with his hair and that day was finally here.

Jack walked over to the couch, his lips never leaving yours, and sat down with you now in his lap. His kiss was rough and passionate, but everything else was so gentle. The way his hands ran of your body? It felt magical, but he was so careful, almost as if he didn’t want to do something wrong.

After a couple minutes, you pulled away. A frown flashed on Jack’s lips and you couldn’t help but smile. Your hands held his cheeks while his rested on your hips, his thumbs caressing your bare skin due to your tank top riding up.

“Did I ever tell you that I think you’re really cute?” you laughed.

Jack blushed, for the second time that night, and dropped his head against your chest to hide it. You laughed even harder picking his face up so he’d have to look you in the eye again.

He tried to fight against you, but you won. “And when you blush it’s even cuter.” This time you kissed him.

When you pulled away, his face followed yours, almost as if he wasn’t ready for the kiss to be over.

“In all honesty, i’m pretty sure that scene went badly yesterday because I was nervous.” he chuckled, lifting a hand from your hip to tuck a strand of fallen hair behind your ear. “And until you said I could kiss you as Jack I still was nervous. I like you so much, Y/N.”

“Would you say you’re itching to be around me 24/7 and when i’m around it feels like nothing bad will happen?”

Jack’s jaw dropped and he playfully squeezed your hips, “Are you quoting my character to me?”

“I might be.” You said with a smirk.

A squeal came from your lips when Jack pushed you down onto the couch beside him, his hands attacking your sides as he tickled you. Laughter poured from both of your mouths. All you wanted was to kiss him again, his brown eyes looked like coming home. He made you feel like nothing bad would ever happen.

Eventually, you managed to control the situation and pull Jack’s face down to yours. Your lips connected in a way that it felt like they were always meant to. This was something you could definitely get used to.

“Oh my god, what did I walk into?”

You and Jack both made noises of surprise, the boy falling down onto you, his head tucking in your neck. Your hands held his head, keeping his face out of sight of your guest.

“Devyn, hey.” you casually greeted the girl, “I forgot I gave you a key.”

Jack pinched your waist at your confession. You pulled his hair in retaliation.

The girl laughed, “I came over to get my phone charger I left here last night, didn’t think i’d walk in to you hooking up. I know you’re freaking out though.”

“We’re not—”

“Bye!” She grabbed the cord and walked back out the door.

You were embarrassed, taking your hands away from Jack’s head and covering your face with them. Your face was burning in embarrassment.

Jack propped himself up, looking down at you, “Freaking out, huh?”

“Ok, I might’ve ranted to Devyn about how much I liked you. Shut up.”

[essjujutsu]

CHAPTER Ⅱ: MITSKI & MONDAYS

prev , next , masterlist

okay so maybe you were already nervous about the first day of your new school.

and maybe listening to your depressing playlist at 7 in the morning wasn't helping that.

but mitski can help calm your nervs to! but with yuji blasting his music in his room right across the hall, it didn't necessarily get the mood right anyways.

"yn, hurry up! we gotta go in like—two minutes!"

"im coming!!"

you reply, grabbing your backpack. you hopped through your messy floor, clothes spattered out from your unpacked suitcase.

you ran down the stairs, seeing yuji sitting on the floor next to the front door and sukuna rummaging through the upper cabinets of the kitchen.

"here, take these for the walk."

you don't have enough time to fully comprehend what your uncle's saying before a protein bar is being flowed full force at your face—though thankfully you throw your hands up and catch it in the air. you throw the second one to yuji, who instantly unwraps it and starts eating it.

"first day—tough shit. todays when you make first impressions on everyone. good luck."

"oh, uhm—thanks?"

you reply, raising a eyebrow at sukuna's comment. he was being nice—maybe? you couldn't really tell. but before you get to decide yuji announces its time to get going so you wave a quick goodbye to your uncle as you walk outside.

"don't worry, its not a long walk—only like ten minutes give or take."

yuji says, taking out an airpod so he could hear. you nod, opening your phone to make sure you have your schedule for the third time today.

yuji was right, after about 15 minutes you arrive at school. you bite the inside of your lip slightly, a nervous habit you picked up over the years.

"so, were still early, me and my friends always come a bit early 'cause we like to hang before classes and—"

yuji starts, but before he finishes his sentence someone comes rushing from behind the two of you.

"yuji, yn! hey!"

you look behind you at the girl waving. she had dyed orange hair, nobara!

"nobara! there you are!"

"sorry, i know we usually walk to school together but i woke up late—anyways, hi yn!"

nobara replys, walking up to stand in the middle of you and yuji. she smiles as she grabs both of your arms—starting to walk into school.

"its so nice to have another girl in the group, y'know. it's just me and maki, and she dosen't really like shopping so she never goes with me. sometimes panda or toge come but like barley ever 'cause their always 'busy'—"

wow, you only really met her yesterday and she was already talking to you like you were close friends. you smiled, at least meeting yuji's friends was off to a good start then.

nobara countined talking untill you three reached the bustling cafeteria, her and yuji seemed to look around for a moment—trying to find their other friends. then yuji's eyes open a little wide and he points to the back of the cafeteria.

"there they are, let's go!"

he says, practically dragging you through the crowds of tables. nobara had already ran ahead, running to go grab a chair and sit down.

once you finnaly approached the table you looked up to five sets of eyes directly on you.

your mouth starts to turn into an awkward smile as you look around the table trying to deicde what to say, but thankfully for you, yuji most of the time knows how you feel.

"everyone, this is yn!"

he grabs your shoulders, presenting you to the group in a way before laughing. he moves his arms to point—starting at the two at the end of the table.

"yn, this is panda and toge! them, maki, and yuta are all a year older then us. but trust me, you can't tell with these two."

he giggles, his joke resulting in the white haired boy giving your brother a small "hey!" and turning to face you.

"you don't look to much like yuji, you should've ate him in the womb honestly."

panda laughs in response to that, an you can't help but laugh aswell.

"ha-ha, sooo funny guys."

yuji responds, rolling his brown eyes. he points to the two in the chairs next to them.

"those two there are yuta and maki! my favoire girlboss and her malewife-"

"shut up yuji."

the girl with the black hair and glasses replies, standing up and slamming her hands on the table annoyed.

she did look oddly familiar though...did you know her from somewhere?

she notices your confused look at her and raises an eyebrow, as if to ask if you have something to say. nobara wasn't kidding when she said she was intimating.

"sorry, you just look awfully familiar—that's all!"

"hm, you went to the boarding school north from here right?"

you nod in response, wondering what she's getting at. maybe you went to school with her?

"you must know mai. she goes there."

oh it clicks into place, shes related to mai. you didn't know mai all that well, but you did know she was mean. they must be twins, hopefully maki isn't anything like her sister.

"don't worry, im not like her—she's an asshole."

you let out a small sigh of relief. thank god. you turn your eyes to the one person who you haven't met yet. he was sitting at the other end of the table, on his phone. nobara was next to him—she was saying something but he didn't seem to be listening. you reconized him from a couple of yuji's instagram posts, but you didn't remember his name. he looked tired and like he didn't want to be there—which made you wonder why he seemed to hang out with them.

"oh yeah, yn—this is megumi! he's in our grade."

nobara says, as yuji sits down on the table next to him. was this the other best friend yuji had mentioned before? he seemed pretty annyoed as he took off his headphones.

"uh, nice to meet you!"

you say, giving him a small smile. he didn't seem all that interested in talking.

"nice to meet you."

"sorry, he totally puts up this whole 'mysterious and nonchalant' vibe around people—he's not even-"

"shut up, yuji."

nobara was in the middle of doing something with her phone as she spoke up.

"here yn, i added you to our group chat. check it after class m'kay?"

you responded with an agreement, as the bell rang for you to head to your class.

BACKGROUND INFO: - nobara, yuji, toge, panda and maki all met in middle school, megumi later moved into town and became friends with yuji—who added him to their friendgroup - yuta moved last year, and he became friends with maki (and then the rest of the group), are him & maki dating? who knows! i don't think they know either LMFAO - there will be more of each character! i just wanted to get quick character intros

A/N: i'll try to have chapter 3 out by this weekend! again sorry if anythings ooc or if my grammer sucks ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀིྀི

TAGLIST: (ask 2 be added) @1ndee @4ngelfries @jammofsammichflip @notveevee @qtnfer @love-me-satoru @satoryaa @loriisheart @starrnai if the tag dosen't work, change ur settings pls !

[yourjughead]

Attack Dog

Sweet Pea X Reader enemies to lovers

Synopsis: You return to Riverdale to find your best friend Jughead has joined a gang he said he never would. A certain member of said gang takes an interest in you in return

A/N: This was a draft from years ago. It's set when the Serpents join Riverdale high (a throwback) but also somehow their senior year....

This is very long, apologies.

Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5

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

You piled your books into your locker, the Monday dew still cascading the halls. Groggily going about your business but happy to be finally back in Riverdale High. You had moved back on Friday night with your family and had already seen most of your friends that same night. After moving around so much with both your parents in the army it was nice to finally replant your roots.

“Ah yn, how I have missed you standing there" Archie threw himself against the locker smiling.

“I missed you too Archiedoodles, do you think we can go see Jughead today?” Archie had decided to keep you away from Jughead for as long as possible, he didn't quite think you'd want to see who had become. 

“Emm I don't know, he's kinda busy lately” 

“Too busy for me...did you hear that?” It was like a scene from a film. The banging of the hallway doors and entered the Serpents, their new school. You and Archie looked to see the swarm before Archie could see who was leading them.

“Oh hey YN look at this locker door” he turned you against the lockers by the shoulders.

“Archie what the hell” you laughed pushing against him to turn and see Jughead striding past you 

“Juggy!” 

“Yn!?” You ran over to him, interrupting his new hard core image, giving him a giant hug. 

“What the hell are you doing back?” he smiled greatly shock still colouring him.

“Mom's done with the Army so she moved us back, dad still has a few more years but that's okay, I'm back! What are you doing here Arch said you moved schools?”

“School moved us”

“Us?” It was then you noticed the sward behind him and the leather jackets they wore. You took a step back, all of them eyeing you.

“Oh….umm” Archie joined your side, the group glaring at him harshly. 

“I thought you said you'd never jo-”

“-uh yn this isn't the place for this conversation” Jughead interrupted you.

“Well then make it the place Jughead” a chorus of oohs from behind him followed.

“Come on yn let's go, you must meet Veronica” Archie wrapped an arm around you breaking the stare off you and Jughead were having.

~

The day flowed on and you avoided Jughead as much as possible, until the final bell rang and he cornered you outside your car.

“Yn we need to talk”

“I'd love to talk to Jughead, let me know when you see him will you?” you opened the car door but he closed it again, almost catching your fingers in it. You sighed loudly at his action.

“Yn it is still same the Jughead-”

“Really?! I remember a Jughead who hated the Serpents and what they did to his dad and how they're basically the reason his family is in two! I remember a Jughead who promised he'd never get caught up in that world! Because you sir, are not him!” you jabbed your finger into his chest.

“Hey Jones you coming?” A tall serpent called from across the carpark.

“Just a second! Yn this shouldn't be a big deal, so I have a family now, it doesn't matter!”

“You have a family now?! What am I then?! And Archie and Betty?! We were your family, your friends….” you looked down at the ground and he looked desperately at you, the tall Serpent called him from the background again before beginning to stride over. 

“YN, I don't want to have this conversation in front of the Serpents, I have to keep a strong front for them” you rolled your eyes at him as Sweet Pea reached his side. You couldn't help but glare at him and he gave a small laugh. 

“Jones, who's the attack dog?”

“Listen here Snake Brain-” 

“YN, leave it!” Jughead cut across you earning another laugh from Sweet Pea, you began to seethe at your old best friends defence of his new family member. 

“Just call me when you feel like being yourself again” you breathed out the words until your lungs nearly emptied, moving to open the car again to be stopped by Sweet Peas voice 

“i think the snake skin is him Princess-”

“Don't you have some drugs to deal to children or something -” you cut across him this time.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Sweet Pea raised an eyebrow, smile now long gone. Jughead looked between the two of you

“I meant what I said, or is the leather jacket cutting off the blood flow to your ears”

“Listen I don't know you Princess but you're not exactly making a good impression-”

“I don't give a fuck what you think about me, you seem to care a lot about what I think about you though” more Serpents seemed to join around, panic began to rise in Jughead, his attempted to stop Sweet Pea but Sweet Peas voice came harsher.

“You're seriously misguided Princess” 

“And you're seriously what's wrong with Riverdale” you said through gritted teeth, receiving scoffs from the gathering Serpents but Sweet Pea stated unreadable eyes fixed on you. 

“Guys just relax, YN I'll call you later” Jughead reached for your arm but you moved took a step back.

“Don't bother”

~ 

For the remainder of the week you avoided Jughead and the rest of them, instead spending time with your friends you missed so much. Catching up with all the chaos that had gone down since you left 3 years ago, and there was a lot. It was nice to feel like a senior around your friends, how it should be. You were shocked that for the most part everyone was understanding of Jughead joining the Serpents, you couldn't really understand it. Jughead continued to try to text or call you until you had enough. You needed a break from it, leaving your phone turned off on your dresser before putting on your runners. 

You tried to process how you felt as you jogged through Riverdale, trying to remember your old route. You were zoned out of the world as your legs took you from a jog to run, the burn growing from your thighs down to your shins. You had been out for an hour or so now and by the third wrong turn you landed out of your subconsciousness and back to the world in front of you. Lost. How could you forget the town you grew up in. Suddenly you became very aware of the dark night that had closed around you. You looked around for anywhere still open, only a gruby bar was in your sights. They probably had a phone you thought, walking right past the fading sign of the Whyte Wyrm. 

Upon approach you noticed the large amount of motorbikes outside the door.  Then the amount of Serpents jackets and their owners flowing in and out of the bar. Shit you thought. You turned to leave back through the carpark you just walked through and instead crashed directly into an older Serpent and his pint of larger, sending it all over him. 

“What the fuck?!” He half yelped at the cold hitting his chest. You stuttered apologies as you moved to walk past him. Instead he caught your wrist with bone crushing force. Without realising what you were doing, you sent the heel of your hand straight up and into his nose, contorting it completely. He shouted before releasing you and you moved from his shadow, other Serpents witnessing the incident and gathering quickly. You begged your tired legs to bring you running back to the main road as some began to follow you shouting. 

Sweet Pea walked around the wall of the car park boarder and was immediately confused by the several Serpents beginning to run towards his direction. You didn't even take notice of him as you ran past, your leg then spasming, sending you my into the pavement. He didn't know where to look. You pulled yourself cursing behind the pillar of the entrance, resting your head again the cement of its support, preparing to get mangled by Serpents. 

“Sweet Pea!” An older woman shouted his name bringing his attention from you and your attention to him. 

“Ehh yes Penny?” 

“Did you see a girl, Y/C/H, this tall or so” the woman made a guestimate of your height with her hand. You held your breath as Sweet Pea fought every instinct to not look down at you. 

“Emm I did see someonel go over the hedges towards the back there, maybe thats her?” 

“Great, she just broke one of the Seniors noses, girls dead meat” shock painted Sweet Peas face and he tried not to laugh at the thought. The woman then gave a wave before running off with the others in the direction he sent them. He exhaled loudly, looking at where you once were sat, now empty. Sweet Pea looked quickly to find your shadow hobbling down the road you think you came down. He gave a small laugh, rolled his eyes and began to jog to catch up with you. 

Part 2

[snows-2am-thoughts]

Uh so Gravity Falls x The Owl House is canon?! This is the best moment of my life guys

I'd like to think Luz decides to investigate anomalies on Earth when she can since Eda had told her weird stuff on Earth was just magic leaking from the Boiling Isles. She decides on Gravity Falls because it seems that's where the biggest traces of weirdness are. Mabel and Dipper decide to go back to Gravity Falls or attend college near there after high school because it's their home and they've already been away for long enough (and lets be real, everyone besides the stans are probably still there because it's a small town and families hardly ever leave those). Dipper studies paranormal sciences or an applied research major or both and helps continue studying Gravity Falls after he graduates since Ford is off on adventures with Stan. Mabel is studying Fashion Design or Graphic Design with a minor in Photography (the sweaters and scrapbooking stuck) and is now determined to make something (I'm thinking like a fashion line, plushies, or even a cartoon/comic series since she's very creative) inspired by the weirdness of Gravity Falls. 

Luz and the twins end up meeting by chance when they're researching some of the more elusive creatures and they just kind of pause when seeing each other.

Luz: *is sweating nervously because she thinks the twins are freaked out*

Dipper and Mabel: *are sweating nervously because the last time someone found out about the weirdness the FBI got involved*

I think after a very long and awkward conversation they'd actually be really excited to know there are other humans who are open to the weirdness! Luz spent her life not thinking she'd be able to fit in around other humans and the twins have probably felt a little outcasted since they'd been through something no one outside a select few in Gravity Falls can relate to. 

Hijinks ensue. Luz and Mabel feed off of each other's bubbliness and high energy personalities. Luz and Dipper are now combining their research with Luz's knowledge of the Boiling Isles and Dipper's knowledge of the mysteries of Gravity Falls. Luz ends up taking them to the Boiling Isles to introduce them to everyone and suddenly the twins feel like they're at home. Everything is going great until they recognize Eda as a woman from one of Grunkle Stan's old pictures and now they're on a mission to locate their grunkles from whatever adventure they're on to bring them to the Boiling Isles. Stan and Eda reunion (very awkward at first because they're cautious of lingering feelings from the other but they're both well established in life now and so the awkwardness fades, chaos buddies are back) as well as both sets of twins getting to explore the Boiling Isles.

Luz now has a human based support system that isn't her mother which helps her feel ok in her humanity. The twins are able to talk about their experiences with someone who understands and even thrives in the weirdness. 

Dipper and Luz experiment and find new combinations of King's titan glyphs while Mabel and Luz work on a campaign to introduce the two worlds to each other while preventing the creation of more witch hunters or the FBI from being scared because yeesh they don't wanna repeat their trauma. 

Dynamics between the gangs! I think Hunter and Soos would be an awesome pair of bros and I could totally see Amity and Wendy being the cool and composed duo of their respective groups. Luz, Willow, Amity, Mabel and Wendy having a girls night because lord knows they need it. The boys (Hunter, Gus, Dipper and Soos) simultaneously have a boys night but it’s Dipper introducing them to BABBA and Hunter having them carve wood while Soos and Gus try to spook them. Somehow the two groups end up combining and now it’s just a big sleepover with everyone getting into shenanigans. 

King and Mabel would be besties and I can totally see her making little sweaters for him so they can match. Luz catches on and now we have three matching besties. Eda and Stan fuel each other’s gambling habits while Ford and Raine stand on the sidelines getting ready to bail them out. Dipper and Willow would totally get along and I can see them researching the more unique plants of the Boiling Isles together. Gus and Dipper discuss the differences in the worlds of witches and humans. Hunter would introduce the palismans to Mabel and she’d start sprucing up their homes and making them little sweaters. Waddles meant everything to her and if she could help them find homes then she would. 

The Collector visits and all of a sudden the GF group gets PTSD from Bill because ‘oh looks its another all powerful interdimensional being.’ When questioned about it the Collector gets concerned and decides to look into it.

The Collector: *concerned because he knows how he was when he didn’t understand human mortality and thinks this ‘Bill’ just needs to be informed* “YEESH nevermind this guys a mess, you don’t have to worry, he’s being forced into interdimensional therapy. I wouldn’t put it past him to try his old tricks though so don’t make any deals or trust anything triangular’

The GF crew: “HE’S ALIVE????”

The GF group is lowkey paranoid after that because they risked so much to make sure Bill couldn’t hurt them again and the TOH group has to comfort them because they understand. The Collector is assuring them that he’s watching out for them so they don’t have to be too paranoid. The groups go back to doing what they're doing. 

I lowkey wanna see Mabel learning magic while Dipper is lowkey just fine studying and researching since actually doing the magic stuff lost its appeal when Bill possessed him. I haven’t even thought of what Mabel’s palisman would end up being

…. WHO AM I KIDDING, IT'S PROBABLY A MINI WADDLES

OR A LLAMA

Or maybe like a squirrel or beaver, Stan’s would definitely be a crow but he and Ford probably are a little put off of doing magic themselves because of similar reasons to Dipper. Actually, maybe Stan would be a little more open since Eda is there and he knows that while she’s mischievous and a troublemaker, she’s nothing like Bill. If Ford and Dipper did wanna learn magic I think Ford gives off hawk palisman vibes while Dipper’s is definitely an owl. I just realized that all the Pines besides Mabel have bird palismans in this. That’s actually pretty good angst potential. 

I COULD WRITE SO MUCH MORE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANT TO WRITE A FIC

I AM GONNA WRITE A FIC

[study-coffee-chicago]

Glasses (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine)

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for sticking around with my sporadic posting! Please don't forget to vote and comment! 

I start my second year of my doctoral program next week and have been working 60 hrs/wk these past few weeks to save up for when I have less time during the school year. I don't know when I will post next, but I have an idea that I want to write and I've also been trying to write 300 words/day, which is very helpful in getting writing done. 

Anyway, sorry for the long author's note! Enjoy!

"You gonna go see my teacher now?" you asked after you and Jay walked into your elementary school one spring evening.

"Yup," Jay answered while he led you over to the small table set up right outside the room. It was stocked with coloring pages, markers, crayons, and a couple of books. "And you're going to sit right here while I talk to her, okay? I'll be right inside."

"And then we get ice cream after?"

"What was our deal?"

You sighed. "If I get a good re- re--" you scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the grown-up word that Jay had used earlier. "What's that word?"

"Report."

"Oh, yeah! If I get a good report, then I get ice cream."

"That's right."

"Mr. Halstead?" your teacher said as she stepped out of your classroom.

"Hi, Miss H!" You waved. "Please tell Jay I was good because I get ice cream then!"

Jay chuckled. "You'll just have to wait and see, kiddo. Now, be good while I talk to Miss H, okay?"

"Okay!" Then, you started flipping through the coloring pages to try and find one that you wanted to color.

***

"So, tell me the truth, is she a troublemaker?" Jay asked as he sat down across from your teacher. "I know for a fact me and my brother were, so it wouldn't surprise me."

You teacher smiled. "Y/N is anything but that. She does her work as assigned, gets her planner signed at night, and stays on task very well. She struggles with math, but that's understandable. Some take longer to learn math than others. But, she excels at reading. She said that you read with her and do flashcards with her every night."

Jay nodded. "We're working through The Chronicles of Narnia right now. Me, my wife, Hailey, or my brother, Will, will read that to her before she goes to bed, depending on who's with her due to our schedules. Then, the next night, we'll have her try and read to us. She's working on Junie B. Jones."

"Well, it's working. And, she's making more progress in her mad minutes for math than she was a month ago. Do you work on flashcards every day?"

"We try to," Jay answered. "Those we try to do right after school and give her a snack with it. Some would call it bribery, but it works."

"Keep doing what you're doing. It's been working really well." She paused. "There is one thing that has been concerning me about, Y/N." Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to listen. "When we move seats for groups during partner reading and other times during the day, I noticed that she struggles to read what's on the board. Sometimes she'll squint really hard and sometimes she'll walk up to the board to write in her planner at the end of the day. I've moved her to the front row for class, but when we move for groups and she's further away from the board, it seems that it's hard for her to see. Do you have the time and money to get her eyes checked? If not, we have vision testing coming to school in a month, which is free and required for all students," your teacher finished.

"My brother's a doctor, and we'll make sure to see her pediatrician about this. It's getting close to her yearly physical anyway. Thank you for telling me. Is there any other times that you notice this?"

"During library days, she always makes sure to sit in the front so she can she the pictures better. I'm sorry. I wish I had more information to give you."

"No, thank you for telling me this. I know you have a lot of other kids to look out for. Is there anything else I should know? Behavior wise, she's good, right?"

"Very well behaved. The only thing I was concerned about is her vision."

"Great. Thank you again for telling me."

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you needed to discuss regarding Y/N?"

"No," Jay answered. "I'll get out of your hair now then. You've probably got more parents to see."

"I do. Have a good night."

"You, too," Jay replied and then made his way to the door and out into the hallway.

Your head shot up the second you heard the door open. "I was good, right?" you asked.

"You weren't good-"

You dropped your head. No ice cream. "But-"

"You were great, kiddo!" Jay exclaimed.

"Ice cream!" you cheered.

Jay squatted down to your height and looked at the picture you were coloring. "That's really pretty and you're almost done. So, how about instead of going out for ice cream, I call Will and have him pick up ice cream sundae stuff and we can make them at home. That way, you can finish your picture at home."

"Can we watch a movie, too?"

Jay looked at his watch. 5:33. You'd have time to watch a Disney movie before bedtime. "If you start it right when we get home, then yes, you can watch a movie."

"Yay!"

"Now, stay here for a couple more minutes while I go call Will, okay? And, what's my rule?"

"If I have to go somewhere and can't tell you, tell a good adult." Jay had taught it to you as trusted adult, but you couldn't remember that word, so you always said good adult.

"That's right. I'll be right back."

Then, he made his way all the way down the hallway and turned the corner and continued walking until he was sure that you weren't within earshot to call Will.

He picked up on the first ring.

"If you need help disciplining her based on a bad report, that's all you, Jay. You're the disciplinarian and I'm the fun brother."

Jay rolled his eyes. "It's not that. She did great, but her teacher said that she might need glasses. She said she struggles to see the board. Think you could check her out tonight?"

"Jay, she needs to go to an optometrist for that."

"I know, but can't you just do some preliminary stuff? Also, she wants you to come over for ice cream sundaes and a movie, so you'd be there anyway."

"Who says I don't have plans?"

"C'mon, man. I know you."

"Fine, I'll be there in 30 minutes. You need me to pick anything up? Maybe a pizza? Can't just give the kid ice cream for dinner, but you know that."

"If you bring pizza, at least bring a salad with it," Jay bargained.

"Deal. See you in 30. And, I'll put in a call to her pediatrician on the way to your place."

"Perfect. Thanks, man. See you later."

Then, Jay hung up the phone and walked back over to you. "Ready to go?"

"Yes! Ice cream!"

"Ice cream is right. Let's go, kiddo."

Then, you two made your way to his truck and went to the store to buy everything you, Jay, Will, and Hailey would need for ice cream sundaes. And, Jay kept an eye on you to see if you were squinting. But, it was a bit difficult because he was making a mental checklist and checking everything off while you two were in the store. He figured he'd investigate more when you got home.

***

When you got back, you quickly put on your Tangled pajamas and told Jay that was the movie you wanted to watch.

Then, you grabbed your stool from under the sink while Jay was in the living room getting the movie pulled up. Your hand was on the handle to the freezer and you were just about to open it when Jay walked back in.

"And what do you think you're doing, missy?" You turned around to face him and it was like you were a deer in the headlights. "Were you trying to get ice cream before dinner?"

"Maybe..." you answered slowly.

"That's what I thought. Now, how about you get down and start your movie so that you can finish it before bedtime? Will will be here soon and then I'll bring your food to you."

"I get to eat in the living room?" Jay almost never let you eat in the living room! You always had to eat at the table!

"If you eat over your plate, you can eat in the living room. But, if you start being messy, it's right back to the table."

"Okay!" You jumped down from your stool, put it away, and then made your way to the couch in the living room. You grabbed your favorite fuzzy blanket from the back of the couch and then hit play on the remote.

Jay chuckled and reached into the cabinet where he hid the stickers for your sticker chart. Then, he placed one on the line next to the chore that said Clean up when asked - No arguing.

Even though he didn't ask you to put your step stool away, you still did it. And, maybe he was giving you this because he felt guilty about not noticing that you were struggling to see. Either way, you were one step closer to getting a prize.

Five minutes later, Will walked in with the pizza.

"Will!" you exclaimed and jumped up off the couch and ran up to him. "My teacher said I was really good!"

"I heard that! Now let me put this down and then I can give you a big hug. And I even got you your own pizza!"

"You did?"

"Yes, I did, silly!"

"Jay, did you hear that? Will got me my own pizza! That way I don't have to pick the gross onions and black olives off yours."

"I did! Now, let's let Will put down the pizza, hmm?" Jay said and grabbed your hand to gently pull you out of the way.

You moved out of the way, allowing Will to set the pizza boxes on the table. Then, he crouched down and gave you a bone-crushing hug.

"Stop! Too tight!" you laughed, making Will just squeeze you harder while Jay tried his best to contain his laughter at the two of you.

"Alright, you two, Let's eat before the pizza gets cold. Y/N, go wash your--"

Jay was cut off by the door opening and you squealing.

"Hailey!"

You wriggled out of Will's hold and ran up to her. "Guess what?! Guess what?! Guess what?!"

"Guess we know who her favorite is," Will muttered.

"What?" Hailey asked with a giant smile on her face. She was also holding a pink box that you noticed sort of smelled like cookies.

"I did really good at school so I get pizza and ice cream sundaes!"

"I know! Jay told me! So, I thought we could have brownie sundaes!"

She moved toward the table and set down the pink box. Then, she opened the box, revealing fresh, warm brownies from the bakery a block from the district.

You reached for one, but Jay quickly swatted your hand away. "Nuh-uh. Dinner first, missy."

Jay then put your personal pizza on a plate along with a breadstick, baby carrots, and some ranch for you to dip the carrots in. He handed you the plate along with some napkins.

"Go ahead and watch Tangled while you eat, okay? We'll be in there soon."

"Okay!"

The minute Jay heard the movie playing again, he was all business. "So, how are we doing this, Will?"

Jay didn't need to explain to Hailey what he was referring to here because he texted her that you had gotten a good report, but that your teacher also said that you needed glasses after he called Will when you were at school.

"I called her pediatrician and she can see her on Friday. She said that if she does need glasses, the optometrist should be able to get her on Monday."

"Perfect, great. Me and Hailey both work Monday, so you can take her, right?"

"I can take her," Will confirmed.

"Okay, good."

"So, in the meantime, what do we do?" Hailey asked.

"I'm just gonna watch to see if she squints at all during the movie. Maybe if you guys take her to the park tomorrow ask her to see things that are far away, like, Hey! Look at that cool bird! or something and see if she squints or not. Can't really do much until she goes to the optometrist," Will answered.

"You guys are missing Flynn get hit with a frying pan!" you yelled.

"I blame you for her love of violence, Jay," Will joked.

"Coming!" Jay yelled. "Just a sec, kiddo!"

Then, the adults filled their plates and made their way to the living room.

***

Monday afternoon

Will was going to kill his brother. When you got in the car, he asked if you were ready to go. To where, you had no idea. So, you had asked if you were going home.

"No, to the doctor, silly. To get your eyes looked at," Will answered.

"But I already did that! No more, please! Wanna go home!"

Will sighed but continued driving. "Why don't you want to go to the doctor, kiddo?"

"Because I don't want shots! I didn't get shots last time, so I gotta get shots now! Don't want 'em!" you cried.

"Oh, no, no, no," Will quickly soothed. "No shots. They're just going to look at your eyes. Then, you have to tell them which picture is easier to see and what letter you're looking at."

"Really? No shots?"

"No shots," Will confirmed.

"And I get French fries after?"

Will took a deep breath. Did he want to have an argument with you while driving and then end up either in an accident or late to your appointment because he had to pull over? No. Neither of those sounded particularly appealing. So, he went with the safest option.

"Yes, we can get French fries after."

***

"Y/N Halstead," the optometrist called after you had been sitting at the office for ten minutes.

You stood up and so did Will and you quickly grabbed his hand, letting him know that he would be coming into that room with you no matter what.

"I'm not going anywhere, kiddo."

"I just making sure," you told him, causing him to chuckle lightly.

You walked into an office with a weird thing hanging from the ceiling. There were lots of different circles and it was really big. There was a chair in front of it, too.

While the doctor started talking to you, he lowered the chair. "So, Y/N, I hear you're having a little trouble seeing the board at school, hmm?"

You shrugged. "A little. But only when I'm far away."

"And that's okay. What I'm going to do is help you see better. I'm going to lower down this machine--I know it looks big, but it's not scary, I promise--. Then, I'm going to have you read some letters to me."

"Like I did the other day at the doctor's?" you asked as you looked up at Will.

"Exactly like you did the other day," he confirmed. "Now you just look into special stuff so we know exactly what glasses you need." Then, he quickly turned to the optometrist. "Sorry. I'm Dr. Will Halstead, an ED doc at Chicago Med. Also her older brother."

"He said I gotta go to someone else for my eyes, but he's a doctor," you said to the optometrist.

The optometrist laughed and then shook your brother's hand. "Well, he's right." Then, he got down to your level and said in a stage whisper, "and between you and me, I probably know more about eyes than him."

"Really? I didn't think anyone was smarter than Will!"

"Really. Now let's take a look at those eyes." He moved over to his chair and then had you look into the glass circles. "Now, read me the smallest letter you can see."

***

"How'd it go?" Jay asked when you and Will walked into his apartment. Then, he spotted the McDonald's bag. "Seriously?"

"Only way she was gonna go. You sure she doesn't listen to your interrogations at the district? She had to have learned blackmail from somewhere."

"Haha, very funny. Did it go well, kiddo?"

"Yeah, I had to look at these pictures and tell the not Will doctor what one looked better," you answered.

Jay held back a laugh at your description of the doctor. "Did you pick out any glasses?"

"Yeah, I got purple. Can I eat my food now?"

"Go wash your hands and then you can."

You ran off to go wash your hands so that you could eat your chicken nuggets and fries and then Jay turned to Will.

"She been like this all day?" Jay asked.

"Doesn't help when she has no idea what's going and I have to tell her thirty minutes before the appointment, Jay," Will quipped.

"Fries and nuggies!" you yelled as you ran out of the bathroom after washing your hands, which effectively cut your brothers' conversation about your lack of excitement to see clearly short.

***

3 days later, Thursday.

"You ready to pick up your glasses, kiddo?" Jay asked as you got in his truck in the pickup line at school.

You simply shrugged. "Yeah," was all you answered.

Today at school, during soccer at recess, a boy's glasses fell off and then someone accidentally stepped on them and broke them when you were playing! What if that happened with your glasses? What if you couldn't play soccer anymore because you wore glasses?

You loved soccer ever since you had started playing it last year. And, you and Jay always practiced on Sunday mornings at the park. And, when it was nice out, you two would always have a picnic. It was always a Jay and Y/N date (sometimes Hailey would come along, but only if you agreed to it). That time was sacred for you and Jay because of his demanding job, but what if you didn't get to do that anymore all because you needed stupid glasses to see the stupid board at stupid school?

"How was school?" Jay asked. He knew by your demeanor that your mood was more sour than it had been this morning, and he'd prefer to discuss it now than have you blow up at home. One would be shocked at how much anger you could hole up and spew out from your little body.

"It was good. Same old, same old."

Jay rolled his eyes. You had definitely picked up that saying from Will. "Do anything fun?" he probed. "Was recess good?"

"I played soccer during first and second recess, but I didn't score at all. Stupid boys. They're always faster than me."

If you hadn't added the last part, then Jay would probably have told you that boys have cooties anyway and to stay away from them until you're thirty. But, you did say that last part, so he knew he had to be comforting.

"Well, you gotta remember, you like playing defense, so what do I always tell you?"

"I gotta outsmart 'em...and slide tackle."

Last Jay checked that was illegal in kids' soccer. "I don't think me or Will ever taught you about slide tackling. Where'd you learn about that, kiddo?"

"Adam taught me when he took me to the park when you had to talk to some bad guys yesterday."

"Of course he did," Jay muttered. "Just remember, you can only do that to me, Will, or Adam. Don't try and do that to other people, okay?"

He knew that he should probably tell you to never do that, but eh, he figured he'd let you have a little fun. And, it wasn't like he never got kicked out of games for doing a slide tackle...okay, maybe multiple slide tackles in a game with one leading to the other team's captain getting a concussion.

"Okay," you answered. "I'm not good at 'em anyway."

Jay chuckled. "And let's keep it that way."

***

Jay was both happy and frustrated when he watched you put on your glasses and see the world clearly for the first time in who knows how long. He was frustrated because how could he have not noticed this? Hell, how could Will not have noticed this? And, he was happy as he watched your mouth fall slightly agape and mutter whoa to yourself.

After you made sure that your glasses fit and the optometrist did all the necessary checks, you made your way back to Jay's truck.

"I gotta stop at the district to pick up some paperwork," Jay said as he began driving. "You ready to show off your glasses to everyone?"

"Yes!" you exclaimed. You loved the color of your glasses and everything was so pretty! Nothing was blurry anymore!

When you walked into the district, you were first met with Trudy, who didn't see you at first.

"Looking for this, Chuckles? You left it here earlier and you and me both know that Voight will have your—" And then she noticed you and quickly shut her mouth before she swore in front of you.

"Good catch, sarge," Jay said and took the manilla folder from her.

"Y/N, I didn't know you had glasses! They look so pretty! So much better than my old lady ones," Trudy complimented.

Then, you heard someone coming down the stairs.

"So if I call you old—"

"Shut it, Ruzek," she snapped as Adam strode over to you.

"And, she's back. Thanks, man," Jay complained.

"I was just telling Y/N here how pretty her glasses were before you ever so impolitely interrupted," Trudy said to Adam.

Then, Adam crouched down to your height. "My, my. They sure are pretty." Then, he held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Adam!" you laughed. "That's not how they work."

"But I thought that's how glasses worked. How about you tell me how they do work?"

"I just can't see far away. You gotta back up and do that."

He did so and then reached into his pocket.

"So, can you read this?"

"Oreos! I can read the words now!"

That stopped Jay in his tracks. "What do you mean by that, kiddo?"

"I can read the words from far away now and not just close by me. It's because I have my glasses now, duh."

Adam almost burst out laughing at your sass, but held back his laughter when he saw Jay's death stare directed right at him.

"Right, of course, silly me," Jay answered quickly. "Go get your Oreos from Adam and then we can go upstairs and show everyone else your glasses, how's that sound?"

"Okay!" you excitedly ran up to Adam and he handed you the Oreos. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome!"

You started towards the stairs and Jay quickly whispered to Adam, "Boards flipped?"

"Did it before I walked down here since I heard her voice."

"Great, thanks."

"Jay! You gotta put your hand here to open it because I'm not special enough to put my hand here!" you exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, hold on a sec," he said and then gently pushed you to the side to put his hand on the palm scanner. The door beeped and then he pulled the door open. "Ladies first."

You walked in and immediately everyone's heads turned towards you.

"Y/N!" Hailey exclaimed "You got your glasses!"

"Yeah! Everything looks so much better and so pretty!" You took a moment to look around the bullpen. Despite being in this room with Jay and Hailey for two years now off and on since your dad died, you could finally see it clearly. You thought everything was always a little blurry around the edges.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Voight asked from the back of the bullpen near his office.

"Three!" you yelled confidently.

"That's right! Wow, she counts faster than you, Ruzek."

Jay held back a laugh while Adam exclaimed, "Why you gotta be like that, Boss?"

"Because it's true. You got the paperwork, Halstead?"

"Right here. I'll get out of your hair now because it's my RDO and I do not want to be here on my day off. C'mon, Y/N, let's go home."

"But I didn't see Kevin or Kim yet!" you whined.

"They're out doing police work, kiddo. You can see them later, okay?"

"But I want to show them my glasses!"

Hailey quickly saw the temper tantrum that was about to erupt and stood up. "How about I take a picture of you with your glasses and send it to them? Then you can see what they say when I get home tonight. How does that sound, Y/N?"

You nodded and walked closer to her. "Yes!"

While Hailey was taking your picture, Jay mouthed thank you to his wife for avoiding a meltdown in the bullpen.

***

3 days later, Sunday

You did not sleep good at all. You tossed and turned all night thinking about your Jay and Y/N date in the morning. You loved them and you loved soccer! But you couldn't go now because what if your glasses fell off when you and Jay were passing the ball and practicing? And, if you took off your glasses before playing, what if he got mad at you? Jay and Will had told you that you had to wear them all the time! And you didn't want Jay Jay to be mad at you!

So, when you went into the kitchen in the morning (wearing your glasses of course) and saw Jay and Hailey sipping their cups of coffee, one could only imagine your relief when you looked out the window and saw the sky was covered with dark gray clouds.

"Morning, kiddo," Jay greeted. "Doesn't look like we can play soccer today." Then, Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he got a better look at you. You had dark circles under your eyes that looked like they should be for a college student cramming for finals instead of a first-grader on a Sunday morning. "You feeling okay?" Then, he walked up to you and placed the back of his hand on your forehead. "Hmm, you don't feel warm."

"Didn't sleep good," you mumbled.

"I didn't sleep good either," Hailey sympathized. "Must be the weather." She knew it was her insomnia acting up, but you had no idea what that was--and she hoped you never would have to know what that was like--, but she didn't feel like explaining it to a first grader this early in the morning while she was running on fumes herself.

"How about we have a lazy day," Jay suggested. "Movies and coloring sound good, Y/N?"

"Yeah. Can Will come, too? He always does the best coloring."

It was true. Because of how steady Will's hands were due to being a surgeon, he could color in all the small areas in the pictures, even in adult coloring books that Hailey had, that you, Jay, and Hailey would typically make a mess out of and at least color outside the lines a bit.

"I'll give him a call. I don't see why he wouldn't want a lazy day," Jay said.

"And, I think we have some chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer to bake cookies," Hailey suggested.

Jay glared at his wife and then rolled his eyes. You've already gotten spoiled with treats and takeout more than enough this past week and a half. But, he knew as well Hailey knew herself that she had a sweet tooth and it only got worse when her insomnia was acting up.

"Before we do all that," Jay began, "let's get you some breakfast first. What sounds good, kiddo?"

"Can I have an omelet? With lots of cheese please?"

You were recently introduced to these a few months ago when you and Hailey were enjoying chocolate chip waffles at a diner and Jay had an omelet. You wanted some of his hash browns, but he said you had to try a bit of his omelet. You didn't really want to try this, but your want hash browns overpowered this. And, lo and behold, you liked it! So, now on Sundays when Jay wasn't working, you'd ask for an omelette. It has to be Jay who made them though because he made the best ones between him, Will, and Hailey.

"Omelet it is," Jay replied and then picked up a spatula. "How about you go get dressed while I make this, okay?"

"Okay!"

Then, you ran off to your room to put on some comfy clothes to spend the day in.

***

"Where's Y/N?" Will joked when he walked inside around 10:30 that morning.

"I'm right here!" you yelled while you sat at the table coloring. You had no idea how he couldn't see you when you were right there!

"Oh, I didn't recognize you with such pretty glasses."

You dropped your head. "You- You don't?"

Luckily Jay was behind you so that you didn't see him wipe his hand down his face. 

His brother, Jay thought. Thank god he didn't go into pediatrics.

"I was only kidding, silly! Of course, I recognize you! The only thing different about you is that you have glasses now. But, do you recognize me?"

"Yes! But your hair's really messy! Do you want to use my brush?"

Jay choked on his second cup of coffee at your comment and Hailey quickly hit him on the back.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry, went down the wrong pipe," he said and then coughed a couple more times.

Will smoothed down his hair. "Wind's pretty strong out there. Guess it messed it up a bit." Then, he walked over to the table and set a tray of drinks down. "Coffee for all three of us and hot chocolate for you." He handed you your drink. "Careful though. It might still be super hot. Now, what are we coloring?"

***

"She is totally out," Jay commented later that afternoon.

The four of you had started watching a movie and you had curled up next to Hailey under your favorite fuzzy blanket. Needless to say, after you struggled to sleep this past night, within thirty minutes of the movie, you were totally out with your head leaning against Hailey's chest.

Hailey smiled down at you. "She's so cute when she's sleeping."

"When she's awake she's a menace now apparently," Will joked.

"Just because she made one comment about your precious hair," Jay muttered. "Let the hair comment go, man. Let it go."

Will rolled his eyes. "So, how's she doing? She mention any headaches at all with her glasses?"

"Hasn't said anything to me," Jay answered. "She say anything to you, Hails?"

"Nothing," Hailey replied. "She also didn't say that kids were mean to her, so that's good, too."

"Yeah, I remember when Jay got his glasses. All the kids teased him about it," Will said.

"It wasn't all the kids. It was you! Just you! And, now they have more education for bullying and stuff, so maybe kids are nicer than when we were kids." Then, Jay changed the subject. "I'm just shocked she didn't throw a fit when I said we couldn't play soccer today because it was storming."

"But, she said she didn't sleep good last night," Hailey reminded him.

"Yeah, I know. But still, she loves Sundays. And, at the beginning of winter a few months ago, she threw a fit the first time there was too much snow on the ground to go."

"I would say consider it a good thing that she didn't fight with you this morning," Will began, "but you said she didn't sleep good. She say anything else to you? Her tummy or head hurt? I didn't notice anything off when I was here, but maybe she said something earlier."

Jay shook his head. "She seemed fine, other than her being tired."

"Okay, good. If she tells you anything else--especially if she's having headaches--let me know."

***

3 days later, Tuesday

You were usually so excited for Tuesday nights and soccer practice, but now, you were nervous. What if your glasses fell off and somebody broke them? You didn't want Jay or Will or Hailey to be mad at you!

So, when you were running at practice, you went exceptionally slow, which made Jay wonder if you were hurt. He watched you shake your head at your coach, so he must've asked you the same thing.

When you got in the car after practice, needless to say, Jay was slightly worried.

"You okay, kiddo? You didn't look like you were having fun out there."

"I was having fun," you answered, but that was only a half-truth. You only had fun when you were defending and didn't have to worry about running as much, and thus, your glasses falling off.

"Okay. You just didn't feel like it today then?" You shrugged. "That's okay. Everyone has days like that."

What he wasn't going to do was be like your dad and make it seem like you needed to be at 100% every single day. As long as you tried your best with what you had left in the tank, that was all that mattered.

You nodded and just looked out the window while Jay kept driving.

And once you got home, since you put your cleats away nicely without being asked, Jay added a sticker to your sticker chart. But, his detective senses were tingling.

Something was definitely off with you.

***

One week later

It had been a long week for both Hailey and Jay. They'd had their hands full at work trying to catch a serial rapist who ended up killing his last three victims.

During this time, you had spent most of your time with Will, except on Jay's RDO, and then Hailey's RDO when they each spent time with you instead. Even though each of them knew that the team would be a man down on each of their RDOs, they knew it would be difficult for Will to be the sole caretaker of you with his demanding job as well. So, even though they probably should've worked during their RDOs this week, they didn't.

But, they had been so mentally drained on their days off that neither of them remembered to check your backpack for important paperwork. And, both Jay and Hailey knew that Will always conveniently "forgot" to check this. (But, it was probably because he didn't feel like disciplining you if you got a bad report.)

Now, it was 8pm on Tuesday night, they had caught the guy, and both Jay and Hailey had quickly finished their paperwork so that they were home in time for bedtime.

Once Jay and Hailey had finished reading you a chapter of The Chronicles of Narnia, Jay did what he always did when he hadn't been able to see you on a couple of school days straight: he went through your backpack to see if he missed anything such as permission slips, notes from your teacher, and to ensure that Will had been making you do your homework.

When he went through your math folder, stuck between last week's homework assignments and this week's was a note written in cursive. Because it was written that way, he could only assume it was addressed to him or another adult.

Mr. Halstead, I'm writing you this to make sure that Y/N hasn't lost her glasses. I haven't seen her wearing them the past couple of days and wanted to make sure accommodations didn't need to be made. If she has lost them, please let me know and I will be sure to move her desk up to the front to help her see the board for the time being. If you have any questions, please call me at my office number or email me. I previously left a voicemail for you and emailed you, but I don't know if they went through. -Stephanie Harding.

Jay sighed, pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, and began scrolling through his phone. There, from Friday afternoon, was an email from your teacher as well as a phone call from yesterday morning. How could he have missed these?

"You okay?" Hailey asked as she walked into the kitchen, freshly showered. She grabbed two beers from the fridge, popped the cap off both, made her way to the table, and handed one to Jay. "We should be celebrating, not sulking."

"I know, and I'm glad that case is over and the guy's in prison because, you know, he's a monster, but look what I found in Y/N's backpack."

He slid her the note and she began reading.

When she finished, she looked up. "Don't talk to her tonight, Jay. You might dysregulate her so bad that she might go back to sleep because her routine got thrown off."

"I know, but when am I supposed to talk to her? I don't want her throwing a fit in the morning before school, and who knows what's going to come across our desks in terms of cases tomorrow."

Hailey grabbed one of Jay's hands. "Jay, we'll figure it out. And, if we need to wait for your RDO or the weekend when we both hopefully have off, then we'll do that, okay?"

"Okay." He gave his wife's hand a squeeze and then took a sip of his beer.

Thank god for Hailey Upton, he thought.

***

The next day, Wednesday

Once you and Jay got home after he picked you up from school, he made you a snack and you pulled out a chapter book to read to him to practice your reading skills like it was just any other day. He set the addition and subtraction flashcards next to him. You'd do those after you read to him.

But, when you took your first bite of your ants on a log (celery with peanut butter, topped with a few chocolate chips), he reached over and slid the book over to himself. Then, he set it down on the chair next to him so as not to distract you from the upcoming conversation.

"We're not reading?" you asked, furrowing your eyebrows at him.

"Listen, kiddo, we need to talk about why you are not wearing your glasses at school."

"I am!" you protested.

But, Jay saw how your eyes widened slightly when he first said it. He knew you were lying; now he just needed you to admit to it.

"Y/N, your teacher called me and told me that you aren't wearing them. You're not in trouble--"

"No!" you shouted and jumped off your chair. Then, you ran to your room and slammed your door.

Tears pricked your eyes as you threw yourself on your bed.

You couldn't play soccer when you were in high school if you had glasses! At all the games you went to, none of them had glasses! You couldn't give up soccer just to wear these stupid glasses! What did your brothers and your teacher know, anyway? None of them even wore glasses!

You were waiting for Jay to come yell at you for slamming your door, but he never came. And you were so tired from school and from the short conversation that you had with Jay, that you eventually just cried yourself to sleep.

As for Jay, the second he heard your door slam, he sighed and laid his head on the table. What the hell was he supposed to do?

***

You woke up to someone gently shaking your shoulder.

"Y/N, c'mon it's time for dinner, honey."

Hailey.

"No," you mumbled.

You didn't want to face Jay after everything!

"You need to eat, Y/N. You didn't even finish your snack earlier. Just c'mon out and eat dinner with me and Jay."

"Jay gonna be mad at me," you said quietly and rolled over so that you were facing the wall.

"He won't be mad; we just want you to eat something. He made your favorite, fettuccine alfredo, remember?"

That's right! You got to pick dinner once a week and told Jay last week that you wanted fettuccine! And today was Wednesday! It was your dinner day!

"Oh yeah! I forgetted!"

Then, you jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.

Hailey shook her head as she walked behind you. Kids and their moods.

When you got to the kitchen, your plate was set right where it usually was with fettuccine, broccoli, and garlic bread.

You eyed Jay suspiciously when you sat down.

Then, Jay noticed you weren't wearing your glasses. Hailey noticed the very slight tilt of his head, so she quickly jumped in.

"They're on her bedside table," she said. "She was sound asleep when I went up there."

"Mhm," you agreed and then took a bite of your pasta.

Jay figured it was better to let you eat almost all of your food before he started in on the glasses conversation again. He needed you to eat something because, at this point, you hadn't eaten anything except your one ant on a log since 11am at school, which was seven hours ago. He didn't know how you hadn't woken up and been hungry but hey, he knew as well as you did that tantrums made you utterly exhausted.

Once you only had half of your garlic bread left, Jay decided it was time to have another go at this.

"Y/N, me and Hailey were talking, and we thought that if you came home from school wearing glasses, you can get an extra sticker on your chore chart," Jay said. "How's that sound?"

You shrugged. "Okay." You had already been doing that. You'd put them on right when you got in the car. You didn't need them for up close stuff like talking with your friends anyway and you could see Jay, Hailey, and Will just fine without your glasses; they were just a little blurry around the edges.

"That means we need to see you wearing them when we pick you up," Jay continued. "You can't just put them on when you get inside the car." Your brother was nothing if not perceptive.

You could do that. You'd just put them on when you walked out of school for pickup. You couldn't wear them all the time because then what if someone said something about you not wearing them while playing soccer at recess? Then you'd have to wear them at recess and you couldn't play soccer with them on!

"Okay," you said.

"Okay, good," Jay replied.

But, he shot a glance at Hailey. That was way too quick for you to agree to this without a fight even with the added incentive of getting a sticker on your sticker chart.

Something was off and both he and Hailey knew it.

***

Two days later, Friday

Jay walked out of an interrogation, relayed the info to his team, and then sat down at his desk to do some digging into this guy's financials. But, his phone lit up, notifying him that he had a voicemail.

He saw it was from your teacher and his brow furrowed.

"Hi, Mr. Halstead. This is Stephanie Harding calling. I received your email a couple of days ago explaining how you talked with Y/N about wearing her glasses and she said that she'd wear them and that they are not lost. I just wanted to inform you that she hasn't worn her glasses at all throughout the school day, but will put them on for pickup.

I just wanted to inform you of this and please let me know if there's anything that I can do to help."

Jay clenched his jaw and sighed frustratedly after he finished listening. He thought he'd be dealing with this level of sneakiness when you were a teenager, not now!

"Nothing in the financials?" Hailey asked from across from him.

"Still working on that," Jay answered. "Y/N's teacher called. Said she still hasn't been wearing her glasses."

"What? She was wearing them yesterday when I picked her up."

"Her teacher said that she'll put them on at pickup but won't wear them at all during the rest of the day."

Hailey shook her head and rolled her eyes. "We are getting played by a first-grader, Halstead."

"Don't I know it. I'm gonna give Will a call and see if she wore her glasses at pickup. Maybe he can get to the bottom of it while she's at his house tonight."

***

"Alright, kiddo. Game plan today is homework, snack, and reading. Then we'll grab a quick dinner somewhere and go to the girls' soccer game. Sound good?" Will asked when you got inside and set your backpack down.

"Don't wanna do my math homework," you complained. "It's stupid."

"What are you working on?" Will probed. "Maybe I can help you."

"Subtraction. My friends say it's like adding, but the opposite, but it's not!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'll make you a snack and then we'll work through it together. How's an apple with peanut butter sound?"

"Do you still have the green apples?"

"I do. Green apple with peanut butter coming right up."

***

Will wasn't stupid. He knew why Jay probably couldn't get the answer from you about not wearing your glasses. And that was because he was asking at the wrong time and because he was the one who disciplined you. Will never had to do that except for taking away ice cream as a bedtime snack a couple of times when you mouthed off to him. You didn't have to worry about having to go to bed early or not being able to watch more tv because you had gotten in trouble with Will. And, you and Jay were very much alike; both of you bottled up your emotions and were stubborn to no end...which is probably why you argued more with Jay than you did Will and Hailey and why Jay couldn't get you to talk about your glasses.

So, Will didn't bring up the glasses at dinner. He didn't even bring them up when you were at the soccer game.

But now was the time for him to bring this up.

You were currently sitting down next to him on the pull-out couch with your teddy bear and your favorite blanket, all ready for a chapter of Narnia and then for bed. You were comfortable and there was nothing to overstimulate you. You had food in your system and the excitement from the day was over.

You were calm.

"Before we start reading, kiddo, I need to ask you a question," Will started.

"Okay, what is it? Is it about what happened in Narnia when me Jay and Hailey readed it last week? Because I can tell you so you're not con...con—" You scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the word. "So that you know what's happenin'," you said instead.

"It's not about Narnia, but you can tell me before we start reading if you want. But first, I want to know why you aren't wearing your glasses. Do they make your head hurt? Did someone laugh at you?" You shook your head. "Okay, then what is? What's going on, Y/N?"

"Soccer," you mumbled, but it was so quiet that Will couldn't even hear you.

"What was that?" Will asked softly. "It's okay. You can tell me. I won't be mad at you."

You looked up at Will's face. He didn't look mad. Maybe you could tell him. Maybe he wouldn't tell Jay either and then everything would be fine.

"I can't play soccer no more be-because I have glasses!"

At this, you started to cry. All of the nerves you had felt about lying to your brothers and Hailey and the sadness about not being able to play soccer anymore all came tumbling out of you. And, it didn't help that no one on the high school girls' soccer team that you just went and watched earlier wore glasses. That just proved your point!

Will sighed and held back a laugh. Leave it to a little kid to catastrophize from A to Z.

"Who told you that?" Will asked, now realizing that he needed to get to the root of the problem.

"No one did! But none of the big girls wear glasses when they play soccer! And one boy's fell off at school and they got smashed and I'm the only one on my team that has glasses and---"

"Hey, hey, slow down. Take a deep breath, okay?" He allowed you to take a few breaths before he placed a hand on your shoulder. "You can still play soccer."

You looked up at him and your eyebrows furrowed before your mouth fell slightly agape. "I can?

"Yes, silly! We just need to get a strap for the back of your glasses because then they'll stay on when you're running."

"And I can play soccer with Jay Jay on Sunday?!"

"And you can play soccer with Jay on Sunday, yes," Will confirmed.

"Yay!"

"Now what do you say you fill me in on Narnia before I start reading to you, hmm?"

***

"Tell me you got something out of her," was the first thing that Jay said when he answered Will's call later that night.

"Jay, this is our sister we're talking about, not a criminal investigation."

"I know that, smartass. Still...anything?"

"She thought she couldn't play soccer with her glasses."

"What? Where'd she get that idea?"

"Well, kids are very observant, Jay. Maybe more observant than you seeing as you didn't even catch this--"

"Neither did you!"

"Last I checked, my job doesn't involve me doing a stakeout or working undercover."

And then Will launched into a recap of the conversation he had with you.

"Come to think of it," Will began when he was done and had answered all of Jay's questions, "I'm shocked you didn't think to get one for her right away because you didn't get contacts until high school and wore your glasses with a strap when you played soccer all the way from elementary school to middle school. You know what? I think I still have some pictures of that from the family photo album I took from Dad's--"

"Don't you dare!" Jay threatened.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"Name your price...within reason."

"Breakfast tomorrow, 9am before me and Y/N go pick out her glasses strap. And you're paying."

"Deal!"

And years later, once you got to high school, you never did get contacts because one, you thought you looked better with glasses than without, and two, you wanted all of the little kids that came and watched your games to know that they could play whatever sport they wanted regardless of whether or not they wore glasses.

A/N: Thank you for reading and don't forget to vote and comment! Also, fun fact, I didn't get my glasses until I was 21. I went to renew my driver's license and barely passed the eye exam, so now I wear glasses.

[sweatervest-obsessed]

Sick Summer Days

WC: 2.6k

TW: Dry-heaving, Indiana Jones Spoilers, headaches/migraines.

A/N: Some comfort for our Steve. But also I tried something new and different with my writing and I don't know if I like it yet but oh well!!

If Steve could murder an idea, it would be this one.  

Dustin talked him into throwing a major pool party at the end of the school year for all of the little twerps that he was forced into babysitting. They had been passing around themes all month before Steve had butted in and told them that they have access to the pool, and he’ll grill some food, and that was the party they were getting. Maybe, since they were all sixteen now, he would let them have a singular beer.

But the morning of, he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. His hair was sticking up in all the wrong ways, his chest ached, his head felt like it was filled with fluid, and to make matters worse, he stubbed his toe twice in the kitchen. His bagel had burnt, the OJ was the kind that had pulp in it (Steve is not a pulp guy.), and the banging on the door was the final straw. 

As he swung open the door to curse out Henderson, he saw you. Sure, the little shit was there, along with Max and Lucas, but you were trying to corral the group into being a little quieter.

“Woah Steve, you look like shit man.” 

“Thank you so much for that Henderson.” 

You looked over at him, a smile across your face that immediately transformed into a frown at the state of his being. Steve usually was shirtless around his house, something you quite enjoyed, but today he was wearing an oversized hoodie along with the sweatpants, and his hair looked like it had not only been entered into an Einstein look alike contest, but won.  

While you pressed a quick peck to his lips, the three teens pushed their way into the Harrington Household, booking it to the back doors to get to the pool. 

“You okay there Steve?” 

He just nodded and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah….just—hasn’t been my morning.” he rasped, not realizing how shot his voice was until now. 

“If you want to go lay down while I set up the coolers then I will gladly—”

“No, no, it’s fine. I don’t want you to suffer outside with the delinquents by yourself, that’s just cruel. Plus it’s nothing.” Steve gave you as close to a flirty smile as he could given the circumstances, and squeezed your waist.

You nodded and smiled at him, “Then go clean yourself up Harrington, everyone else is not far behind.” 

And like always, you were right. Just as Steve had made it upstairs to change into his swimsuit the rest of the gang had arrived. He could hear them all piling out of their cars, like a wave of sound ready to crash over him and drag him out to sea. 

You had been outside, wearing some form of a short sundress, to cover up the bathing suit you were wearing since it was only 10 am, and unlike the kids, you didn’t need to be in the pool right then and there. 

Instead, you pulled off your dress, made Robin put sunscreen on your back, and grabbed your sunglasses. You sat down on one of the lounge chairs that you had draped your towel over, pulled out the book you had been reading, and started the sun’s rays on your skin. You didn’t really need to tan, but this process of “warming your body down to the bones” was the best way to start the season out. You were ready to enjoy your day in the sun. But the universe had other plans. 

Steve fucking Harrington stepped out of his house in his old Lifeguard swimshorts, the bright red catching your attention. It caused you to miss the fact that his eyes were still tired and he moved a little slower than usual. You moved the book up slightly, trying to cover your blatant stare as he walked by. 

He picked the lounge chair right next to you, and sat on it, legs facing you. He couldn’t take his eyes off of your body, almost drooling by the way you looked in your bathing suit, hugging you in all the right places. 

He cleared his throat, and smiled when you turned your head to look at him. He had been out in the sun before the summer started, and you could tell because more freckles had popped up, all over his chest, his shoulder, his nose. 

“What are you reading?” 

Robin snickered from the pool, watching as he tried to play it cool, when all he was trying to do was think about anything besides the things he wanted to do to you while you looked like that. 

“Oh, um. It’s part of the summer reading for one of the classes for next fall.” He nodded as you continued. “I’m taking this Dramatic Literature course, you know, like plays, and so we’re starting with this play called Faust, or Doctor Faustus. It’s kind of interesting. It’s about this like twenty-five year old who decides that just being a doctor and smart and hot isn’t enough, so he gets into witchcraft and summons a demon and makes a deal. Basically this demon, Mephisotpheles, or Meph, becomes his servant for like twenty years, or something, and the two of them go back and forth wreaking havoc and everytime Faustus gets a little too ‘God Save Me’, Meph basically throws another sin or indulgence at him and –” 

You quickly closed the book and shook your head. “Sorry, I’m probably boring the shit out of you with this.” 

Steve smiled at you, “Trust me, you are the last person here I could find boring.” 

Dustin and Eddie let out a respective protest, but Steve ignored them because a slight blush had risen to your cheeks, and that was much more interesting than those two. 

“Don’t say that too loud or your head will be on a pike before the day is over.” 

Steve just smiled and shook his head, placing his hand on your thigh. “Trust me, if I can handle the past three years of our lives, I can handle the two fucking idiots over there.” 

“Just be careful then Steve. If I get caught in the crossfire, I’m blaming–” You sat up slightly and pushed your finger against his chest. “You.” 

Steve bit his lip and nodded. “Yes ma’am.” He muttered and you rolled your eyes, settling back down into your lounger, reading your book. 

He was about to say something, but then felt an ache in his chest. Quickly, he excused himself form your side and went into the house, trying to cover up the cough in his throat. 

You exchanged confused looks with Robin before looking back at the slider door where Steve had disappeared behind. 

Steve was now in the bathroom, dry heaving like his life depended on it. The ache in his chest was making it worse since he felt like he couldn’t fucking breathe, and to make matters worse, the headache came back worse then before. It was one of those migraines that would have caused him to stay in bed all day and disappear from the world. Perks of being constantly bashed in the head. 

You knocked on his bathroom door gently and waited for a response. Steve groaned and leaned back against the tub, not really answering you. 

“Steve, can I come in?” 

When there was no reply, you gently opened the door and slid into the bathroom. You took one look at him and shook your head. 

“Harrington, when you aren’t feeling well, you have to tell us. You would make us do the same.” You spoke quietly, almost like you could sense that the problem was his head. Maybe it was the way he was quite literally cradling his head between his knees, but maybe it was because you liked to say you were just really in tune with Steve. 

Steve felt as you stood over him. “Steve?” 

And when he didn’t answer, he felt as you squatted down next to him; your leg brushing against his. 

“Why don’t we get you to lay down for a little bit yeah?” 

Steve grumbled an “I’ll be fine.” but did not move from his position. 

“Okay big boy let’s not be stupid.” You huffed and very gently placed your hand on his arm, squeezing it ever so slightly to indicate that you were going to win this. 

On a better day, Steve might have huffed and puffed, maybe he would have given you lip and told you that he would be fine, but today? Today he just moved one of his hands to yours, a silent plea for help to get up. 

“It’s that bad huh.” You whispered, smiling when you saw the ghost of a smile on his face, before another ripple of pain flashed across his face and took the smile away with it. After a minute or so, you had managed to get Steve standing, and leaning against the counter. You hadn’t turned the lights on so the bathroom was still relatively dark (since the curtain was pulled over the window). 

“Can you open your eyes or does keeping them shut like that help.” 

“I’m fine.” He whispered, opening his eyes, and almost immediately regretting it. He already hated the fact that you had managed to weasel your way into caring for him right now, but now he was trying to shove whatever pain he was feeling into the back of his mind so that you didn’t have to worry so much. 

He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful you were when your worried over him. 

“Thank you?” You blushed slightly and kissed his cheek. 

“I did not just say that out loud.” 

“Yeah you did sweetheart, but I appreciate the sentiment.” 

Steve thinks you have magiucal abilities or something because he swore the two of you had been standing in the bathroom, but suddenly he was sitting down on his bed. And then when he blinked again, he was laying down in his bed, with a blanket pulled over him. But when he blinked a third time, and his headache was gone, that when he knew he was going to have to have you tested for witchraft since suddenly it was now three in the afternoon, and you were nowhere to be seen, and his headache had all but subsided. 

He sat up slowly, and double checked the time on his clock, as well as the date because he had no fucking clue what day it was. When he apparently went to sleep, it was ten am and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but now it was three pm, and pouring rain. 

What tipped him off that maybe it was the same day was the scream that came from downstairs, followed by an immediate “COME ON” from one Maxine Mayfield. Steve almost started to run for the stairs, but then heard all of the kids arguing. 

Eventually Steve slowly made his way down the stairs, eavesdropping into the kid’s conversation about the fact that in the first Indiana Jones Movie, Indy is completely useless—

You and Steve made eye contact when his foot landed on the bottom stair; an amused look was plastered on your face as the kids continued to argue about the necessity of Harrison Ford. 

You had all made them change into dry clothes so that they didn’t get the Harrington’s furniture soaked and moldy, which is something Steve was going to have to thank you for later. You were standing in the door way, clearly moving back and forth from the kitchen to the living room to keep an eye on the kids. He followed you into the kitchen where Jonathan, Eddie, Robin, and Nancy all were sitting at the island, drinking and talking with one another. 

“There’s sleeping beauty. How ya feeling bud?” 

Steve flashed a quick look of annoyance at Eddie before turning and looking at you, hoping for some explanation. 

“Started to pour so we saved as much as we could. You fell asleep around 11, and were out for a few hours.” You explanation was simple was you wrapped your arms around his midriff and looked at him. “Feeling better?” 

He nodded and kissed your head. “Y-yeah, sorry just…” 

“I know.” 

He could not be more grateful for you and the way you treated him—with such love and tenderness. But you never babied him, it was something he despised really, and so when you showed him love and care without treating him like a toddler, he started to accept it more and more. 

“There’s some pizza left in the fridge for you, but I did have to literally almost stab Dustin for it so be grateful.” 

Steve hummed slightly and kissed your lips. “I would have been okay if you ran him through with the knife.” 

Dustin yelled an ‘I heard that’ from the other room, causing the group in the kitchen to let out a collective amused hum. 

“Who’s idea was it to put on a movie that causes so many arguments between Max and Dustin?” 

You smirked and shrugged. “It keeps them all really engrossed because Max has a crush on Harrison Ford but sees how pointless he is in the film.” 

“And this upsets Dustin.” Eddie chimed in. “Which then causes Lucas to get caught inbetween because he also gets offended by what Max says, but sees her point.” 

“Plus he’s jealous about her crush.” Robin laughed slightly and took a swig from the bottle in her hand. 

“Then Mike joins forces with Dustin and Lucas, while El joins in with Max because she’s not wrong. And then Will tries to calm them down for the whole movie, which then leads to the suggestion of watching the second one, and whether or not Indy is truly relevant to the series at all..” Nancy finished out for you. 

“You willingly set them up to argue?” 

“If it gives us a reprieve then…Yeah.” Jonathan nodded. 

Steve nodded. “Works for me. What happens when the finish with the second film?” 

The five of you in the kitchen all chimed in at the same time: “Star Wars”. 

You had this down to a science, and handed Steve a beer. “I bet Eddie ten bucks that Dustin’s head wouldn’t burst until the second Star Wars Film. If I win, I’m takin’ ya out ta dinnah babe.” 

Steve chuckled at the accent and nodded. “You’re going to lose since Dustin freaks the fuck out every time Luke and Leia kiss.” 

You glared over at Eddie who was in conversation with Robin. “That sick son of a bitch.” 

Steve kissed your cheek and smiled. “You know I love you so much right?” He whispered, only for you to hear, causing your cheeks to tinge pink. “I appreciate everything you do for me. I don’t tell you that enough.” 

Since you might as well start crying if you opened your mouth, you settled for a kiss instead, your insides melting at the way Steve talked to you. 

It was a quick kiss since you all heard as Dustin started to lose his cool, before the second Indiana Jones movie had even ended. 

“You all forgot one thing, Dustin can’t standing the scene where Indy drinks some sort of magic potion that causes him to almost fry up Willie.” Robin smirked and held out her hand, as Eddie handed over the money to her. 

You grumbled but did the same, making sure to not step out of his reach to hand her over the money. 

[delicateflowerss]

Scary Love (Tyler Galpin x Reader)

Tyler Galpin is a nice guy, always remembering your coffee order, and making sure to ask how your day is. So, when he asks you out, you don't have a reason to say no. Right?

Warnings: 18+, DUB-CON, slight violence, mentions of murder, blood, manipulation, obsession, pain kink, blood kink, dacryphilia

Word Count: 4.5k

Another person dead.

A bear attack, or that’s what they’re calling it.

It’s hard to fathom a bear did that, tore that man from limb to limb. But you’re not one to look under your bed for monsters before you go to sleep.

So, if the police are saying a bear did it, you have no reason to doubt them.

Even if it leaves a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.

At least no one else is that worried, the people of Jericho going about their everyday lives like people aren’t being slaughtered in the woods.

You tuck your hands in the pockets of your jacket, shielding them from the cold weather.

You set your eyes on the building in front of you, stepping into much warmer air. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee fills your nose, and a slight smile forms on your lips.

The Weathervane is your sacred place. Any worries instantly leave your mind when you walk through those doors. You can just sit in your favorite booth, sip on something hot, and not have to think about anything that is bothering you outside these walls.

“The usual?”

You’re met with a familiar voice. The same pair of bright eyes peeking under brown curls that you see almost every day.

“Yeah. Thanks, Tyler.”

You flash him an appreciative smile as he starts making your latte.

You can’t say you know Tyler Galpin that well. You went to school with him, always knew of him, but never really ran in the same circles. It wasn’t until he started working at the Weathervane that you two really spoke, usually just small talk. But it didn’t take long for him to start remembering your order.

“What are you up to today?” He asks as he sets down your cup on the counter.

A small sigh leaves your lips. “I wish I could hang around here today, but my mom really wants me to run some errands for her.”

“Bummer,” he says, laced with sarcasm. A smile traces his lips.

“I guess my life could be worse.” The smile on your face says you’re joking, but your voice is sucked dry of any humor.

He doesn’t seem to notice, and if he does, he pretends not to. You hand him the money for the drink, fingers brushing against his.

You don’t think too much of it, grabbing your cup. “Thanks again, Tyler.”

“See you later, Y/N,” he calls after you. You’re already walking out the door.

Cluelessly, you walk across the street, not noticing how he watches you through the window.

There’s an uneasiness that has settled over the town, even if no one wants to acknowledge it. Whispers are starting, quiet gossip wondering if it’s really a bear that’s responsible for these attacks. People want to point fingers, blaming Nevermore, the school for Outcasts that lies on the outskirts of town.

You’re not sure what to think, grouping yourself with the people who don’t want to speak or think about it at all.

So, you keep your eyes on the pages in front of you. The sun has gone down, the red neon sign in the window now illuminating the words you’ve been reading all afternoon.

You don’t realize how late it is, or how you’re the only person left at the Weathervane. Besides Tyler.

You don’t know it until a mug being set down in front of you makes your head snap up.

“Thought you might need a refill.” Tyler looks down at you and the empty cup on the table. “I made it decaf,” he adds.

Your hand inches towards your wallet.

“Don’t worry, it’s on the house,” he assures as he sits in the booth across from you.

You move your hand away, relaxing. “Giving me freebies now?” An amused smile on your lips. “Thanks.”

“Don’t get used to it.” The tone in his voice matching yours.

Your smile doesn’t leave your face even as you sip your latte.

“Is it good?” He asks, motioning in your direction.

“The coffee or the book?”

“The book.” Before you can respond, he continues, “I mean it must be, you haven’t been able to stop reading it since you got here.”

You laugh but end up narrowing your eyes at him. “Does that mean you’ve been watching me?” Humor still seeps into your words.

He blinks, sighing, almost taken aback.

“I guess you caught me.” He straightens back up, his eyes on you as a smirk slowly spreads across his face. “But how could I not?”

Now it’s your turn to be taken aback. Any hints of a joke, gone. Your smile falls a little, realization creeping in.

He notices, concern creasing his face. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No!” You’re quick to remedy the situation. “It just… caught me off guard,” you finish.

“That I like you?”

You don’t expect him to be so forward with you.

“We just don’t know each other that well.”

“That’s true,” he says, furrowing his brow like he’s deep in thought about something.

A few moments pass before he says anything else. “We could fix that.” He searches your face for any sign of hesitance. “You could go to the Harvest Festival with me tomorrow night?”

You inhale, looking over his face, finding how hopeful he is. There’s nothing wrong with Tyler. There’s no reason for you not to go out with him. He’s attractive, nice, and now gives you free coffee. You’re just surprised that he likes you.

“Okay.”

You see him relax, like he just let out the breath he was holding. A grin is back on his face.

“Great. Pick you up at eight.”

You smooth out the wrinkles in your shirt, pulling a jacket over it. You’ve been thinking about your date with Tyler all day, nervously waiting for it. You check the time, noting that he’ll be here any minute.

You head downstairs, finding your mom on the couch, watching some stupid reality TV show.

“I didn’t know you were going out.” Her voice rings out over the TV.

“I thought I told you I was going to the Harvest Festival.”

She turns down the volume, her attention more focused on you now.

“You’re going alone? Are you sure that’s a good idea? With everything that’s been happening-.”

“I’m not going alone,” you cut off her rambling. You continue at the sign of confusion on her face, “I’m going with Tyler, he’ll be here soon.”

“The sheriff’s son?”

You nod yes.

You can see her visibly relax. The worry being replaced with joy.

“Oh, that’s great, honey.”

The doorbell ringing saves you from anymore explanations.

“That’s him. Bye mom!” You call out, opening the door to your date.

“Have fun!” You hear before shutting the door, stepping outside to greet Tyler.

You don’t think you’re ready for any awkward introductions just yet.

The air around you is buzzing with excitement. People around you jump from ride to ride, from food stands to carnival games.

You didn’t expect Tyler to be such a gentleman. Out of all the dates you’ve been on, you’ve never had a guy open the car door for you, but Tyler did.

Once you two got to the festival, you’ve been on almost every ride. He made sure to buy you cotton candy, which you offered to pay for, but he insisted.

You two ended up playing some game where you try to pop balloons with a dart. Tyler was determined to win you a stuffed animal. After a few tries, he finally did. Or maybe the guy working the game just felt bad for him. You’re not exactly sure.

You cradle the teddy bear in your arms as you wait in line for the Ferris wheel. It’s been nice to get to know him more and for him to know more about you than just your coffee order.

Your eyes roam over him as he looks off into the trees ahead, where the festival stops, and the woods start. You wonder what he’s thinking about.

He must feel the weight of your stare because he catches your eye, face brightening. Your cheeks get warm at getting caught.

“Next!” The man working the ride, yells out.

You sit close to him as the ride starts to move, your thigh touching his. You try to ignore how warm he feels next to you.

“This has been really fun. Thanks for taking me,” you say, trying to slice through the silence.

“Yeah. Thanks for coming with me.” He has that boyish smile again. “I was worried you were going to say no.”

You shrug, a little unsure of how to respond. “I’m glad I didn’t.” You tighten your hold on your teddy bear. “No guy has ever won me a stuffed animal before,” you laugh.

“It took a while, but I got it eventually,” he says, chuckling.

“I’ll cherish it forever.”

His green eyes soften at your words. He looks at you like he’s trying to memorize you, like you’re the only thing of importance, not bothering with anything that’s happening around you.

Something flutters in your stomach as you feel almost embarrassed to hold his gaze. The moonlight shines off his curls and you can feel him lean into you.

Your eyelids flutter as his lips ghost over yours. His fingers find the back of your neck, and his lips finally capture yours. You match his movements, his thumb reaching up to your cheek to slightly caress it.

The kiss starts slow and gentle. But his fingertips press harder into your skin as he deepens it, licking inside your mouth.

It surprises you a little, the kiss beginning to feel hungry.

Teeth sinking into your bottom lip knocks you of your daze. You pull back from Tyler, your finger wiping the part of your lip that hurts, only to look down and see a bit of blood.

You don’t notice how he already licked away the taste of your blood on his own lip.

“Sorry, Y/N. It was an accident.”

You hear him apologizing, sincerity in his voice, but you catch a glint in his eye.

You decide to brush it off. He was just caught in the moment.

You reach over to press a chaste kiss to his lips. “It’s okay.” Your smile causing the guilt to leave his face.

A loud boom moves your attention to the night sky, colors dancing on the black canvas. His hand reaches for yours, squeezing it as you both watch the fireworks.

Tyler lied.

Ever since your date with him, you’ve gone to the Weathervane every day. He’s made it a habit to give you your coffee for free, pretending he never said he wouldn’t.

You and Tyler have wordlessly decided to take things slow. There’s hasn’t been any real conversation about it, but you can tell that he respects your boundaries.

When you went over to his house for a movie night while his dad was at work, Tyler didn’t try anything. The closest he got to you was him wrapping his arm around your shoulders.

It’s not like you don’t want him, but you feel like you moved too fast with your other relationships, and they didn’t turn out so great. So, you want to prevent anything souring between you two. Tyler’s a good guy, something that’s pretty rare to find.

You mostly enjoy talking to Tyler when the Weathervane empties. The only people there are you two, occupying a booth and feeling like you are the only ones that matter.

He’s told you all of the stuff you wouldn’t tell someone on a first date, like that he goes to therapy, and how he wishes his dad talked to him more, or more about one thing in specific.

The death of his mom weighs heavy on him. You can tell it’s a touchy subject for him. He stops himself from talking too much about her, an emotion passing through his eyes that you can’t name.

The only thing you can do is tell him you’re there to listen when he’s ready to talk about it, comforting him with a squeeze of your hand.

Whatever darkness that rolled over him, is now gone, returning to the Tyler you know and see every day.

You’ve wanted to ignore it, pretend that everything is fine in Jericho, believe that the police had everything under control.

But when another person is killed, it’s hard to ignore the danger that surrounds the town.

“Everything okay?” A deep voice takes you out of your thoughts. “You’re letting your coffee get cold.” You look down at your untouched drink.

“Just thinking.” You don’t hide the uncertainty in your voice.

Tyler doesn’t hesitate to sit down across from you, his elbows resting on the table.

“About?” He asks.

You shift, trying to figure out how you’re going to articulate your thoughts to him.

“It’s sad.” You look up, meeting his eyes. “The people dying,” you explain.

He waits for you to continue.

“I guess I’m just scared. I haven’t really wanted to think about it… but now I am.”

He considers your words, sympathy written on his face.

“It is… scary.” He pauses. “But it is only happening in the woods. Since it’s a bear-.”

“Some people are saying it’s a monster or something,” you interrupt him.

“Do you believe that?”

“I don’t know. That’s just what people are saying,” you say defensively. “I mean you should know.”

His eyes narrow, confusion on his face, and before he can say anything, you clarify.

“Your dad. Hasn’t he told you anything?”

“I told you. My dad tells me nothing.”

You lean back in the booth, sighing.

“I don’t like being in the dark either, but you’ll be okay.” You feel his thumb rub circles on the back of your hand. “Just stay away from the woods.”

Tyler’s warning echoes in your head as you drive down the empty road. Tall trees surround you, the headlights on your car illuminating the darkness in front of you.

You silently curse at your mom for making you go to the next town over, just because the store in Jericho was out of something she so desperately needed.

It was daytime when you left, hoping you’d be back before it got dark. But dread filled you as you watched the sun sink past the horizon.

What’s worse, is your car had trouble starting before you began your drive home. The grinding noise making you cringe. It finally worked and now all you can do is clutch your steering wheel and hope for the best.

You’ll be home soon, the outskirts of town starting to look familiar to you.

But is familiarity comforting in this case, or the opposite?

You keep your eyes on the road, but your brows furrow when your music turns off. Your headlights next. Finally, your car stopping in the middle of the road.

You step on the gas, nothing happening. You try turning your car on again. Still nothing.

“Shit,” you mutter.

Your worst fear has happened. Now you can only hear the sound of your breathing as you look around in the darkness.

You turn your phone on, the screen lighting up the car. Before you can call your mom, you find the sealing of your fate in the corner of your phone screen. “No Service”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

You throw your phone down onto the seat next to you, your jaw clenching.

You consider your options, either stay in your car and risk freezing to death or try to walk back to town and risk getting brutally murdered.

You know there’s something lurking in these woods but freezing to death feels more likely right now.

You make sure to grab your phone before stepping into the chilly, night air. You wrap your arms around yourself as you look around, beginning your trek to town.

You stay on the side of the road, the rustling of the trees in the wind makes you feel uneasy. You don’t see any sign of anyone or anything.

You used to not believe in scary stories. You never had a problem with any of the Outcasts you met, never thinking of them as “monsters.”

But now you’re not sure. You feel like you have to keep looking over your shoulder. Now you think any of those stories you heard as a kid could be true.

A loud scream stops you in your tracks, your blood turning to ice.

You look in the direction of where you think the scream came from, only seeing the rough outlines of the trees.

You check your phone again, grimacing at the fact you still don’t have service.

You want to run away as fast as you can, but guilt washes over you, unsure if you should leave someone to die with no one around to help.

Taking a deep breath, you step further into the trees. Out of all the dumb decisions you’ve made, this will probably be your dumbest, or your last.

But you can’t help but put yourself in that situation. You would want someone to come to your aid.

You try to keep your footsteps quiet, but they crunch down on the fallen leaves. You wince at the noise.

You try to find where the scream could have come from, but you don’t see anyone.

Until you hear something coming toward you, something loud and big. You stop and listen, eyes widening when you see the silhouette of something you could only see in your nightmares.

Before it gets too close, you hide behind the tree closest to you. You try to steady your harsh breathing, but as you hear it start to go past the other side of the tree, a loud breath escapes you.

You slam your hand against your lips, trying to quiet yourself. But it’s too late, the monster stops, almost like it’s anticipating your next mistake.

You squeeze your eyes shut, waiting for this moment to pass. Hoping that it won’t hear you and leave.

After what feels like an eternity, you hear it continue its path, away from you. When you know it’s gone, you put your hand down, almost sighing with relief. You gather yourself, processing your brush with death, and look at your surroundings.

You must’ve gotten turned around because now you can’t remember which way goes back to the road. You also have no idea where that scream came from. But after what you just saw, you can only think the worst.

You pick a path that you think will take you closer to Jericho and is away from the monster. You’re on high alert, eyes moving all around you. You don’t think you’ll ever be able to sleep again.

You slow down when you see a figure ahead of you. It’s a person, which automatically makes you feel better.

As you get closer, you make out the familiar face.

“Tyler?”

Your eyes rake over him, taking in the fact he’s only wearing a tattered T-shirt and pants that are unbuttoned, hanging low on his hips.

The blood is what makes your jaw drop. It’s all over him, like he got into a fight, or… was attacked.

You don’t hesitate to step up to him, taking a closer look.

“Tyler, are you okay? Did the monster-.”

You stop yourself, your arms falling to your sides. You instinctively step back, realizing he has no wounds for the blood to be coming from.

You finally look into his eyes, and you feel like you’re looking at a stranger. He doesn’t look at you with the affection he usually has, that gentle emotion, like you’re something that could slip away from him so easily.

Now all you see is darkness and hunger, like he could devour you. Instead of keeping his distance so he won’t lose you, he’ll take you anyway, holding you tight so you have no choice but to stay.

You swallow, your throat starting to feel tight, your eyes getting glassy.

You don’t understand exactly what’s going on, if he’s the monster or not. All you know is he’s scaring you and you need to get away from him.

He calls out your name just as you turn around, running away.

The adrenaline pumping through your veins forces you to move faster. You can hear his footsteps behind you.

But your adrenaline only takes you so far. You don’t realize how close he is to you when you slow down a bit.

All of a sudden, you feel your arm being tugged back. He uses the leverage to wrap his arms around you, his body pressed against yours.

You try to struggle out of his hold, but his arms are strong. He presses his lips to your ear, his breathing unsteady.

“Caught you,” he rasps.

That’s enough for a sob to erupt from you, pleading with him. “Let me go, Tyler.”

You think he listens to you, loosening his arms. But his hand goes to your waist instead, turning you around to face him.

He keeps his hand on you, his grip firm enough to remind you that it’s there but not tight enough to hurt.

You look up at him, the moonlight shining through the trees casts shadows on to his face, making him look sinister. You can’t see all of him, even if you tried, part of his face always in the dark.

You try to blink away the tears, but they run down your face. You’re nervous to say anything to him, but you’re scared. You want to know what he’s going to do to you.

“Are you going to hurt me?” Your voice cracks around the question, almost regretting the words once they’re out of your mouth.

He doesn’t react the way you feared he would.

Instead, he just furrows his brow and brings his finger to your cheek. You flinch a little at the sudden touch. But as he delicately wipes your tear away, you end up leaning into his caress.

He reaches down to your other cheek, his lips meeting your skin instead. A ragged sigh leaves your lips as he tastes your tears. Licking away your fear, despair, and heartbreak all at once.

He moves his lips to yours, the kiss almost painful. But you don’t stop him, letting him take the breath right out of you.

He pulls away, warm breath fanning over you as he whispers, “Only if you want me to.”

His lips are on you again, and he pushes you until your back hits one of the trees.

You’re sure your mind isn’t in the right place because somehow your fear has turned into desire. Or maybe the fear hasn’t left, instead fueling this fire in the pit of your stomach.

His teeth nip at the sensitive skin of your neck, and you can’t stop the whimpers that come from your throat. He soothes the stinging with his tongue while he peels back the layers of your clothes.

Goosebumps prick at your skin, but the freezing air doesn’t bother you, feeling so warm from everything he’s doing to you.

He keeps his rough hands on you, grabbing at your bare skin. He acts like a man starved, and you never thought Tyler had this side to him. But it’s obvious you knew way less about him than you thought.

You stand completely naked in front of him, and you don’t miss the way he drags his eyes over your body.

He moves his hand lower, fingers slipping inside of you. He rubs your bundle of nerves with his thumb, pushing his fingers deeper as your arousal coats your inner thighs. He could come right then and there from the sweet moans you’re making.

He doesn’t want to tell you how all he could think about was you, after a kill. He wished he could call you in the middle of the night or sneak in through your bedroom window. All he wanted was to bend you over and fuck you until your throat hurt from screaming his name.

But now he doesn’t have to chase you anymore, he’s finally caught you.

He takes his hand away from you, taking off his shirt, revealing his toned chest. You watch him, drinking in every detail of him.

He steps closer to you, pinning you against the tree. The cold touch of his hand on your waist makes your lips part as he turns you around.

You hear him pull down his pants and a shiver runs through you, waiting for him to finally be inside you, the ache in you getting worse.

The palm of your hand uses the tree for support as his large hands grab your hips. The tip of his cock pokes at you before he slowly thrusts inside you.

You gasp at the feeling, your walls stretching around him. His lips graze your ear, and you can hear the groans that fall from him as he starts to set a pace.

“Tyler,” you whine out.

One of his hands moves to your breast, cupping it, fingers playing with your already hardened nipple. The hand that stays on your hip, grips it harshly, and you know you’ll have finger shaped bruises in the morning.

“You feel so good.” His voice is low in your ear. He continues to rut into you, focusing on how tight and wet you are around him.

This is way better than stroking himself to the thought of you.

More moans leave you as your fingers claw the bark of the tree. You don’t think you’ve ever felt this good in your life.

His thrusts have become brutal and merciless, and all you can think about is the feeling of him inside you, how full you feel, and how he continues to hit a spot that has you seeing stars.

You feel him cover your hand with his, fingers intertwining. His breath is hot as his lips are on yours again, your head turning to meet his. The kiss is sloppy, but he swallows each and every one of your moans.

Your eyelids flutter at the way he pounds into you, and he moves his lips away from you.

You can feel yourself getting closer to your release.

“Tell me you’re mine.”

His breathing is shallow, and his pace is getting sloppier.

When you don’t answer right away, his fingers move to your throat, not squeezing but the hold rough enough to make your breathing ragged.

He repeats himself, this time, with a little more aggression.

“I’m yours. I’m yours,” you say over and over again, feeling the waves of pleasure wash over you, clenching around his cock.

He comes at the same time you do, his mouth on your shoulder, teeth sinking in. But you don’t pay any mind to the pain, just feeling pleasure.

When he’s done fucking you through your releases, he pulls out, his cum spilling out of you.

You take a moment to gather yourself, before turning around to face him. Both of you coming down from your highs.

“I knew it was you who was hiding behind that tree.” His voice startles you. “I can smell people’s fear.”

Your jaw goes slack as you take in what he’s saying.

“I can taste it.” He brings his fingers to your inner thigh.

“I’ve tasted yours…” He begins to push the stickiness on your thighs back inside you.

“…and yours was the most delicious of them all.”

[lowkeyerror]

Falling Fast

Wednesday Addams x Reader

Word Count: 2.6k

Notes: Hellhound reader

Summary: Y/n couldn't help but to bring out her violin once she heard the cello playing in the night. The new girl on campus intrigued her, but little did she know the interest was mutual. That doesn't get revealed until the two girls find themselves in the forest one night.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Masterlist

Though everyone would deny it, Wednesday was intriguing. Not in the normal way, the new student was intriguing. Nothing about Wednesday was normal, but for some reason her abnormality was viewed with hostility at Nevermore.

Y/n thought that was quite curious. She never truly understood how even amongst a whole group of outcasts, there could be lines of divisions as such.

Before Y/n spoke to Wednesday, they played a song together. Wednesday had started late one night with her cello. It rang out across the entire school grounds. It was brilliant.

Y/n's body had a mind of its own upon listening to the cello. She found herself just outside of her room with her violin perched under her neck. She waited for the right timing and jumped into Wednesday's symphony.

It was an intense piece and without a sheet in front of her, following along should've been harder. However, she let intuition guide her as she played. She followed Wednesday's lead, and by the time they were done, she felt like she knew something about the girl.

Y/n's eyes traveled up to the balcony Wednesday had been playing on. She found that the Addams girl was already looking down at her. The violinist almost waved, but she didn't. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Both girls held a certain curiosity in their respective glances.

It's Wednesday who turns away first. It's an abrupt movement as she takes her cello and re-enters her room. Y/n stares at the spot where Wednesday stood, for a moment longer.

" Goodnight, Wednesday," the words leave her lips, and then she slips into her room.

Enid is the one to set up a proper introduction between Y/n and Wednesday.

" Y/n this is Wednesday, Wednesday this is Y/n the girl you've been asking me about."

Y/n’s eyes land on the dark haired girl, who seems to be sizing her up. The taller girl sticks her handout for Wednesday to shake, " Nice to finally meet you."

There is a long hesitation in her movements, but Wednesday does eventually return the handshake," You were the one on the violin the other night?"

Y/n gave a curt nod," I was. Sorry if I interrupted, but I could hear it from my room, and got a little carried away."

Enid interjects," I thought the two of you sounded really good together."

The violinist scratches the back of her neck," The cello was definitely better than the violin that night."

" It was, but I suppose you did well, considering you played it all by ear."

Y/n smiled a bit at the compliment," Thanks."

Y/n and Wednesday seemed to be locked into a staring contest. Neither girl was able to take her gaze off of the other. Enid's gaze shifted between the two, sensing some underlying chemistry.

" Well… Wednesday and I have to go, but we'll catch up with you some other time," the blonde tries to drag Wednesday away.

The Addams girl untangles herself from Enid's grasp, but still follows the cheery blonde.

Y/n watches the pair leave before returning to her previous activities.

Enid hounded Wednesday as soon as Y/n was no longer in sight. A lot of the talking went into one ear and out of the other. That was until Enid insinuated that Wednesday liked Y/n.

" Why would you assume something so… trivial of me?"

Enid scoffs," It's totally normal to like someone, Wednesday, even for us."

" I don't like her," Wednesday deadpans.

" You gave her a compliment. You don't compliment anyone, ever. It's a part of your character," Enid rambles on.

Wednesday almost struggles to find a rebuttal," I did not compliment her. I simply acknowledged how complex it was to follow along with my music."

" So you're saying you found it impressive?" Enid questions.

" Precisely."

Enid smirks," And is that not a compliment?"

Wednesday stares down Enid," It would be quite curious if you went to sleep with a head full of hair, but woke up with a buzzcut, don't you agree? Thing knows his way around a good pair of clippers."

" I trust Thing to make sure I look my best," Enid shrugs.

Wednesday groans," Are friends always so insufferable?"

Enid gushes," Awe, you called us, friends."

Wednesday groans once more before the girls reach their class, effectively ending the conversation.

Throughout the day, Y/n's wandering thoughts all seemed to lead her back to Wednesday. There was something about the girl that was infectious. Or in other words, something about Wednesday felt like an infection.

Though the encounters were brief, Y/n found herself showing all the signs of having feelings for Wednesday. The girl was unapologetically herself, and there was something that Y/n admired in her. She wanted to curse herself for being so enchanted so quickly, but she knew that she wasn't the only one.

Y/n had seen Wednesday with both Tyler and Xavier. It might've been hard for Wednesday to decipher, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that they were both interested in the girl. Y/n couldn't blame them, maybe it was some sort of Wednesday effect.

A tapping on her window pulled Y/n out of her thoughts. Her eyes narrowed, but she hadn't seen anyone in the darkness. Y/n stood and cautiously edged towards the window.

" Hello?"

Her nerves stilled when the window opened. Y/n panicked seeing a hand crawl into her room, but her panic was quickly replaced by confusion. The palm opened and there was some writing on it.

Follow Thing- Wednesday

" I presume you're Thing."

Thing gives Y/n a thumbs up before pointing at her violin.

" She wants me to bring the violin?"

Thing confirms this. Y/n packs up her violin, then follows Thing. The final destination was Enid and Wednesday's room. Y/n didn't get a chance to knock as the door swung open.

" What're you doing here?" There was a slight confusion in Wednesday's voice.

Y/n furrowed her brow as her gaze dropped to Thing. The hand tried to scurry away, but Wednesday snatched him up. Thing tried to stay balled up, but a scary glare from Wednesday had the hand unclenching.

" Enid wrote this," Wednesday looked at the woman through her eyelashes.

" Oh, I can go if you-"

Wednesday cut her off," I'm going out, you're welcome to come, but you might die."

" Don't threaten me with a good time," Y/n joked, but Wednesday didn't laugh," Can I leave my violin in your room?"

That's how Y/n found herself walking through the woods with Wednesday Addams. The woods put Y/n on edge, mostly because people kept getting murdered. Whatever monster was out there spiked a fear into the girl.

" So, what are we doing in the woods?"

" Looking for evidence," Wednesday said bluntly.

" Evidence of what?" You pushed on.

The girl let out a huff," The monster or Rowan."

Y/n pauses," I thought Rowan was expelled."

This causes Wednesday to stop walking," If you think I'm crazy, at least have the courage to tell me to my face."

Y/n's hands shot up in defense," I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

The girl cocks her head to the side," You mean to tell me that you missed all the rumors and heckling surrounding my claim that Rowan was murdered by the monster."

"If he was murdered, how did he get expelled?"

Wednesday shrugged slightly," That's what I'm trying to figure out."

Y/n nodded to herself a few times," Ok, so what counts as evidence?"

" You don't think I'm crazy? Or lying? Or both?"

Y/n stares at the girl," What would you gain from lying about that?"

Wednesday stares back at her with a blank expression on her face. With the way everyone was treating at the school, it was hard to believe that someone wasn’t questioning her. She had made a reputation for herself (that she didn’t care about, but she was acutely aware of). So to her, it didn’t make any sense for Y/n to believe her without any scrutiny.

“ What’s wrong with you?”

The question takes Y/n aback. Wednesday sees the shock on the girl’s face and decides to elaborate, “ I mean, what makes you qualify as a Nevermore student?”

Wednesday sees the girl’s body tense. The silence engulfs them as she watches Y/n struggle to find the words that she wants to say.

“ I’m a hellhound.”

“ You don’t seem proud of it.”

Y/n kicks up some dirt at her feet,” It takes everything I have to control the monster inside of me. The werewolves change every full moon, as a hellhound I can change every night if I’m not careful. Once I’m there, it’s game over. Sometimes I remember and sometimes I don’t.”

“ Have you ever killed anyone?”

The question brings a mask of dread on Y/n’s face. Before she can elaborate, they hear something. The noise alerts the two girls. Y/n is the one to grab onto Wednesday’s wrist, but it’s then that the dark haired girl has a vision. Her body goes limp in Y/n’s arms.

“ Wednesday? Wednesday! Shit.”

Y/n tries to wake the girl, but then the noise from before returns. It sounds closer than before. Y/n begins to look around frantically, and that’s when she sees it. The two large eyes watching them from behind the tree. Her body goes rigid. Everything is still for a moment. Neither her nor the monster move.

She’s frozen in her spot, her mind is racing. With Wednesday in her arms, she doesn’t know what to do. The choice becomes clear as the monster finally charges at her. She drops Wednesday's limp body on the ground, then plants her feet.

The shift hurts as she can’t remember the last time it happened. All she feels is heat, and the only thing her mind is telling her to do is attack.

The hellhound charges the unknown creature. They meet in the middle. The creature takes a swipe at Y/n missing wildly. The fire burns brightly on the hound's skin as it pounces on the monster. Y/n snips at the monster's neck, going for the kill. However, the monster uses its long limbs to its advantage, kicking the hound away.

Then it turns its attention to Wednesday, who has started to gain her consciousness. As it stalks towards her, the hound gets between the two. The flames in its eyes fierce, almost daring the monster to touch the girl.

The monster stares Y/n down, but the hound shows no fear. It seems to assess the situation. It stalks away from the pair. The hound doesn’t take its eyes off the monster, waiting for it to disappear out of the forest.

When the hound knows it is gone, it drops its defensive stance.

“ Y/n?”

The hound turns around to come face to face with Wednesday Addams. The hound lightly nudges the girl’s hand. It wants her to follow it out of the forest. Wednesday follows the giant dog. Her hand can’t help itself as it trails down the back of the animal.

The black skin feels like ash, the heat radiating off of it warms her in the cold of the night. Wednesday is mesmerized by Y/n in this form. Once they are out of the forest, the hound knows they are safe. It gives up the control, and soon it’s shifting back into Y/n.

The change is harsh on girl. She ends up on her hands and knees with her eyes squeezed shut as her bones are riddled with pain. She isn’t sure if she can move. Y/n feels a coat being thrown over her and a presence kneeling by her.

“ That hurts you.”

Y/n tugs the coat over her exposed skin,” It’s just been a long time, so it was harder than usual.”

The hellhound tries to stand, but is unable to. Wednesday has to help her to her feet.

“ You could’ve left me for dead in the forest,” Wednesday speaks.

Y/n shook her head with the little strength that she had," That wasn't an option for me."

" Why not?"

" Because I-"

" Dear god, what happened!"

Y/n gets her sentence cut short by principal Weems. The woman is quick to help Wednesday with the battered girl.

" We got attacked in the woods. Y/n fought off the same beast that killed Rowan," Wednesday told the principal.

" I just need to lie down, and I'll be alright," Y/n tried to downplay her pain.

Wednesday was not allowing it," She needs to see the nurse."

Y/n wanted to protest, but Weems agreed. They led the injured girl to the nurse's office.

" You are no longer needed, Ms. Addams, why don't you go to your room."

" No," Wednesday said simply.

" No?" Weems questioned, but Wednesday didn't budge.

" She didn't leave me behind. I'm not leaving her," Wednesday glared at the bleach blonde woman.

" Wednesday," Y/n spoke softly, not wishing for the girl to get into any trouble with the principal.

Weems' eyes shifted between both girls before an irritated sigh left her lips," Very well then, but you better be in all of your classes tomorrow."

Weems left after that, leaving the nurse to tend to Y/n. Wednesday waited patiently for the girl to be placed in one of the beds. Once she was, Wednesday's gaze never left Y/n.

" Well now you know what the monster looks like," Y/n broke the silence.

" You could've died," there's malice in her tone. It's not necessarily directed at the other girl.

Y/n smiles a bit," You told me that before we went into the forest."

The pigtailed girl’s eyes meet yours, " It was never my intention to hurt you."

Y/n cautiously reaches for Wednesday's hand, scared that the dark haired girl will pull away. She doesn't.

" You didn't hurt me. That thing attacked me."

" It wouldn't have happened if I didn't bring you out to the woods."

Y/n shakes her head," I decided to go out there with you. I could've gone back to my room. You told me it would be dangerous. It's not your fault, Wednesday."

Her eyes are locked on your hands. Tears welled in her eyes, but didn't fall.

" Y/n, I swear to you that I will not rest until the beast is caught. It will pay for this," there's a fire in her voice when she speaks to Y/n. One that makes the injured girl's heart swell.

" If you think, I'm letting you do this alone, you're truly mistaken. We have to protect each other," Y/n squeezed the girl's hand gently.

Wednesday lifted their interlocked hands. She carefully placed her lips on the back of Y/n's hand," I will not let any more harm come to you."

Y/n's face blushed intensely at the tenderness of it all. She found herself kissing Wednesday's hand," I will stand by you as you fight your battles."

Both of the promises were different. However, the meaning was the same. They cared for each other. The fear of losing Y/n ignited something in Wednesday; just as the fear of losing Wednesday ignited something in Y/n.

There was an understanding between the girls. Nothing else needed to be said. They just paired well together. Wednesday was like a cello and Y/n like violin. Both beautiful on their own, but it was agreed that together they could create a masterpiece.

[pastel-charm-14]

dealing with academic burnout

hey lovelies! if you're feeling burnt out with school right now, you're not alone. here are some tips to help you push through and finish strong!! (long post incoming :))

BREAK IT DOWN -

big assignments can feel overwhelming, so break them into smaller, more manageable tasks. instead of "write a 10-page paper," think "write an outline," "research for 1 hour," "write the introduction," and so on. this makes the workload less daunting and helps you make consistent progress. it's also helpful to keep track of those smaller tasks in a list.

BE REALISTIC -

prioritize your tasks and set achievable daily or weekly goals. don't try to do everything at once. make a to-do list every day, and highlight your most important tasks. this helps you stay organized but also it feels really good to check things off your list :) for example, aim to complete two math problems instead of the entire set, or read one chapter instead of the whole book, and see where it goes from there.

TAKE BREAKS -

in order to be productive, you need to rest your mind!! try the pomodoro technique: work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. after four cycles, take a longer break (15-30 minutes). during your breaks, do something completely different from your study activity. get up, stretch, grab a snack, or go for a quick walk outside. it's refreshing for your mind and body.

STAY ACTIVE -

physical activity helps reduce stress and improve your mood. so you should aim to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. this could be a workout, a yoga session, or even just a really fast walk. if you don't have much time, try putting short bursts of activity in throughout your day. for example, do some stretches or a few jumping jacks between pomodoro cycles.

GET SUPPORT -

talk to friends, family, or a counselor if you're feeling overwhelmed. sometimes, just having someone listen can make a huge difference!! if you’re struggling with a particular subject or area, try forming/joining a study group or seeking help from a tutor. working with others can give you new perspectives and helps with loneliness.

HAVE A HEALTHY DIET -

your brain needs proper fuel to function at its best. try to eat balanced meals with fruits, veggies, whole grains, and protein. avoid too much caffeine and sugary snacks, because those can lead to energy crashes. keep a water bottle with you and make sure you're drinking enough throughout the day to keep your energy levels stable.

GET ENOUGH SLEEP -

pulling all-nighters is going to affect your concentration and memory. go for 7-8 hours of sleep each night. get a bedtime routine in place to help signal to your body that it's time to wind down. this could include stuff like reading a book, listening to calming music, or doing some mindfulness exercises. avoid screens at least an hour before bed, because the blue light can interfere with your sleep.

REWARD YOURSELF -

give yourself something to look forward to after completing a task. a favorite snack, watching an episode of your favorite show, or spending some time on social media, really anything that makes you happy. rewards reinforce your positive behavior and make studying feel more manageable. for example, tell yourself, "after I finish this chapter, I'll take a break to watch a funny youtube video."

STAY ORGANIZED -

keep track of deadlines and dates!! it will save you so much stress!! use a planner, calendar app, or bullet journal to log all your assignments and exam dates. you can also color code by subject/priority to make it easier to see what needs attention. review your schedule often and adjust it when you need to.

GIVE YOURSELF SOME LOVE -

it's okay to feel tired and stressed!! be kind to yourself and remember that you're doing your best. if you need to take a break, don't feel guilty about it. self-care is just as important as academic achievement. try some mindfulness or meditation and just take a moment to ground yourself.

hang in there, you've got this! just a little bit more to go and it'll be all worth it in the end. 🫶

[harlowhockeystick]

22- So High School with Princess and Nolan pleeeeeeeaase 🫶🏻

"you knew what you wanted, and boy you got her" | poetic prompts | warnings: anxiety, panic attacks, chaos, weddings

it was everything they could imagine, even though it was the most stressful day of their life.

the wedding day had finally approached. after almost five years of dating, a year of being engaged, the day arrived. typical wedding day jitters fell upon both parties, the usual last minute thoughts and touch ups, nothing prepared either of them for the massive chaotic crowd that was waiting outside the venue.

even though the bridal party did their best to keep it away from y/n, she knew that the flowers hadn't been delivered, the photographer was an hour late, and the shuttle was also late. as a group they decided to push the wedding back at least an hour to make room for adjustments. but nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop her from getting married today.

not even a nervous groom.

"y/n, i need to talk with you for a second." her maid of honor whispered in her ear. she was about to get in her dress, hair and makeup done and set, ready for pictures when the photographer would arrive. stepping to the side in her silk robe and slippers, she felt her stomach drop. god, what now?

"no bullshit. i know we're all done with that today, but you need to talk to nolan. travis texted me saying he is having a panic attack and won't come out of the bathroom. all of this massive chaos is probably freaking him out too," y/n was handed a tissue when she felt tears well up in her eyes, "no no, no crying, it'll all be okay. i'll go with you?"

"no, i can do it. when the photographer gets here y'all go ahead and take pictures and just wait for me."

walking across the venue and where the guys were getting ready, she knocked on the door and was greeted by travis. she made sure all the guys left before talking to nolan. it was like his soul knew she was there before she spoke. a few seconds before she knocked on the door he felt his breathing steady out.

"nolie it's me, please open the door. nobody else is here, just you and me." she softly spoke. he got up, leaning his forehead against the wooden door with a soft thud.

"it's bad luck to see each other before the wedding," his thick accent present in how he spoke, sniffling after he finished. he heard her giggle and slide her slippers across the wooden floor.

"we've had enough bad luck today, so i think we're gonna be okay." he unlocked the door then leaned against the wall, waiting for her to open it. her heart softened when she opened the door, noticed that he'd been crying a lot with tear tracks down his cheeks. his shirt was unbuttoned and his hair was messy. "oh baby," she placed her hand on his cheek, wiping another tear away.

"'m sorry, princess." he took in a sharp breath before letting out another cry. "i just got really nervous, y'know? i mean what if i'm not a good husband? i don't want you to get sick of me and...and leave."

she tucks a lock of loose hair behind his ear, grabbing a tissue from the counter and wiping his cheeks and nose for him. "if i was gonna get sick of you, i would have left by now." she kisses his forehead softly, "remember when we went on our first date? you were so confident, and it was really hot." nolan chuckled, "and when you came to the shop like ten times that next week? you knew what you wanted, and you got her. you got me, and i'm not going anywhere. i'm gonna be your wife, you're gonna be my husband, and we're gonna have a happily ever after together."

nolan places a hand on her cheek as she spoke, a smile on his lips and this time, happy tears filling his eyes. they share a sweet and emotional kiss, one she hopes to recreate in an hour at the altar. they pull apart and she helps nolan fix his tie and to get rid of some of the tear tracks on his cheeks.

"alright, nothing is stopping me from getting married to you today." nolan laughs with his head thrown back, "i'll see you in an hour," she walks to the door of the groomsmen suite, "i'll be the one in a pretty white dress." nolan kissed her on the cheek.

"i'll be the one waiting for you at the altar, princess."

[aithusarosekiller]

Black Brothers short fic: Sirius leaving

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Not edited

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It wasn't easy to pinpoint the precise moment the switch flipped in Sirius' mind. In fact, there was a high likelihood there wasn't one at all, that it wasn't one big moment setting him off, but rather the adrenaline climbing up so high that even the soulless dinner conversation was enough to give that final push. It had been a long time coming and nobody in the house would dare dispute it. His case had been packed for days; he hadn't even unpacked it since he came home, waiting for the opportunity to just grab it and leave. He almost had twice before Christmas Day came around. Both times he had been egging himself on to just stand up, grab the bag, and go but he'd backed down at the last minute both times.

The first time he hadn't even gotten up from the armchair and made his way down the hall to where it was hidden, just to the side of the coatstand. The second- he had made it all the way down the stairs in the dead of night, managing to bypass every tricky part of the path down to the front door. His hand had stopped just above the handle of his case, hovering, waiting for his brain to give the signal to pick it up and twist the handle. One moment has passed, two, three, before he let out a muffled groan and stepped back from the door in resignation. He's gone back to bed without a sound.

Maybe the frustration at two failed attempts to flee was what did it. There was no way of being entirely certain. The only thing that was for sure was that it came as a complete surprise to Regulus.

Sirius had pushed his seat across the ground with an awful screeching sound and left the dining room in silence. For a moment, Walburga tried to stand to call after him or perhaps follow him from the room, but she was stopped by a small tap on the wrist from her husband. Instead, Regulus darted up and after him. Nobody tried to stop him. He reached Sirius in the hallway, mere inches from the door.

“What are you doing?” The tiredness in his voice was typical by that point; it was almost exclusively reserved for Sirius and he didn't think he'd heard Regulus speak in any other way in years, not even when they were joking around. At the time when they did still joke around, that was. Sirius tightened his grip on the handle of his case -still not lifting it from the ground- and shook his head in what Regulus could only assume was disbelief.

“I'm going to James’, Regulus. Why else would I be standing at the door?” Admittedly it was a little curt but he was tired and just wanted to leave before he could chicken out or be stopped by his parents or Kreacher. “Just go back to dinner, you don't want to cause a scene.”

“Really? James’. You're with him every second you're at school and you can't even put aside a few hours for me? It feels like I haven't seen you in months, I don't know what you're doing in school, I don't know what drama is going on in your group, you haven't even asked me how I am and we've been home for 5 days.”

Sirius closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking similar to the way their father did when he was trying to remain calm about something while also wanting to let the person he was conversing with know that he found them pathetic. Regulus didn't know if that was what Sirius was trying to do or if he was simply stressed.

“You haven't spoken to me either, so don't put this crap on me, alright? I've been getting the silent treatment just as much as you have. If you want to sit miserably and pretend nobody loves you, you do that, but don't blame me. Go back to dinner and sit down or you'll get in trouble,” No response. “Reggie, go, please.”

Regulus’ nostrils flared slightly and the familiar name and he crossed his arms over his chest petulantly. He too didn't want to draw anybody else outside and start a screaming match but he wasn’t one to just drop something after he'd brought it up.

“Can we talk about it when you get back? Tomorrow?” Sirius looked at him with an expression akin to pity and Regulus could not help but roll his eyes. “Right. Have fun, then.”

“You cannot seriously think that this has come out of nowhere. I've been feeling like shit here since Andy ran and they decided I needed to be watched. Hell, it's been shit since I got sorted in first year. I can't stay here with their pathetic attitudes and their lack of compassion. I won't do it.”

“Hell?”

Sirius’ expression softened temporarily, it wasn't often that Reuus didn't know something, and it was even less often he asked for clarification on it.

“Muggle thing,” he explained before trying to return to the point at hand. “I'll see you at school.”

“No you won't.” Regulus interrupted sharply. “You never do. You always say that and then you spend all your time with James and Peter and whatever the other one is called and you never say hello. You never wave. It feels like I have to wait six weeks to see you again as it is and now you're saying I can't even have that time. It's like you don't think we're related.”

“That's just as much your fault as it is mine. You never put in any effort yourself. You don't come and find me, you don't send me notes asking about my day. You scrunch up your nose if I smile at you in a corridor. You're not some neglected puppy.”

Regulus had no answer to that accusation. He instead focused on stopping his eyes from stinging and looked up slightly, half to appear proud and half so he didn't have to watch Sirius pick up the case and open the front door. He heard a shuffle and then a pause. Then, Sirius was placing the case down and stepping over to him to loop his arms around his neck as lightly as he could possibly manage, resting his chin on the side of his brother's head. A few moments passed before Regulus’ brain caught up with the moment and he rested his hands on Sirius' back.

It was the first time they had hugged in years. Since they were seven, maybe eight at a push. The time had come years back where Regulus stopped finding hugs cool and so Sirius had played along and stopped bothering. For that reason, this was strange. It was different, like they'd never hugged each other before, the unfamiliarity added a level of awkwardness to the situation. Still, they stayed there for a while before Sirius stepped away, picked his case back up, and left without a further word, his eyes facing the ground.

Regulus went back into the dining room and told them the news of Sirius' departure before sitting back down at his place. They did not seem surprised.